Maine Authors: Ghost Buck, by Dean Bennett; and Maine Sporting Camps, by George Smith.
Children’s: Finding Winnie, by Lindsey Mattick.
Adult: A Man Called Ove, by Frederik Backman; The Farm, by Tom Rob Smith; Driving Heat, by Richard Castle; and Warrior in the Shadows, by Marcus Wynne.
Vassalboro School Board members reaffirmed a list of existing policies at their Dec. 20 meeting, unanimously and without discussion.
Perhaps of most interest to town taxpayers is the policy entitled “Bidding/Purchasing Requirements,” which specifies when school officials must seek bids to buy things or have work done.
According to the policy, the school board expects all purchases to be “consistent with applicable laws and sound business practices.” The Superintendent of AOS (Alternative Organizational Structure) #92 is responsible for developing appropriate bidding and purchasing procedures.
The policy’s main provisions say that:
Other policies cover animals in classrooms, service animals in school and services for home-schooled students, among other topics. Policies, and a great deal of other information, are available on the AOS 92 web site under the heading “Our District.”
In other business Dec. 20, school board members accepted Libby Mitchell’s resignation from the board, with regret and appreciation for her services, because her Nov. 8 election as Kennebec County Probate Judge creates the potential for conflict of interest. Former school board member and state Representative Lori Fowle was appointed to take Mitchell’s place until June elections.
Board members approved two new staff members at Vassalboro Community School, Educational Technician I Kyle Irvine and secretary Alison Lessard.
The next Vassalboro School Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, Jan. 17.
China selectmen decided at their Dec. 29 meeting they should call a special town meeting to see if residents want a moratorium on recreational marijuana activities in town, instead of waiting until the town business meeting late in March to ask for voter action.
Earlier in the month board members were ready to put off action to respond to the Nov. 8 state-wide legalization of recreational marijuana production and use. They assumed no China resident could get licensed to grow or sell marijuana commercially or operate a marijuana club until late 2017 at the earliest.
At the Dec. 29 meeting, however, consensus developed that a town resident could apply for and perhaps receive a local license before state regulations are in place, although the hypothetical businessperson could not open the business without a state license.
Since there are no current town regulations applying specifically to commercial marijuana operations, selectmen voted unanimously to ask voters at a special town meeting to approve a 180-day moratorium to give time to develop regulations.
Then they directed Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux to schedule the meeting at the earliest possible date, allowing time for publicity. A special town meeting cannot be held without a quorum; the number of voters to constitute a quorum will not be known until after Jan. 3, according to the Quorum Ordinance on the town web site.
The ordinance says: “A number equal to four percent of the residents registered to vote as of the first business day of January in the year in which the meeting is held shall constitute a quorum.”
Milton Dudley, the only planning board member who accepted the selectmen’s invitation to participate in the discussion of a possible local ordinance, suggested a public hearing to see if voters want to take any action before investing in the special town meeting. Selectmen thought it unnecessary, pointing out that public hearings seldom draw a large attendance.
Other topics at the Dec. 29 meeting included plans for the 2018 bicentennial of the incorporation of the Town of China and the planning board’s reconsideration of a controversial Neck Road application.
L’Heureux said there has been no response to advertisements for a bicentennial coordinator, leaving Selectman Neil Farrington the de facto head of the project.
Farrington said he and resident Tom Parent are working with the digitized version of the China Bicentennial History, published in 1975 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the settlement of the area around China Lake and updated in 1984.
The manager said there are two applicants for the vacant at-large seat on the planning board, including Neck Road resident Tom Michaud. Selectmen would like to appoint a planning board member at their Jan. 9 meeting so he or she could attend the Jan. 10 planning board meeting.
A major item on the Jan. 10 agenda is likely to be Parris and Catherine Varney’s application for commercial use of their barn on Neck Road, sent back to the planning board by the board of appeals.
Michaud has said that his area should be represented, because Jim Wilkens, the district representative and board chairman, is a neighbor of the Varneys and therefore is recusing himself to avoid conflict of interest. Selectman Joann Austin asked if Michaud, too, would be obliged to recuse himself from the Varney case if he were appointed. L’Heureux said he would get an answer to her question by Jan. 9.
Marie Michaud reminded selectmen of the petition she submitted in November asking them to declare a six-month moratorium on new commercial development to give time to reconstitute the Comprehensive Plan Implementation Committee “in order to establish Land Use Districts in accordance with the goals and provisions set forth and prescribed by the China Comprehensive Plan,” adopted in 2008.
Selectmen voted Nov. 14 to reconstitute the committee, and board member Irene Belanger has been getting in touch with former members to see if they want to serve again. Michaud reminded the board of the moratorium, which they did not impose, and asked for a legal opinion on whether they can ignore part of the petition.
Board Chairman Farrington and member Ron Breton said the petition should go to the March town business meeting, doubting the selectboard’s authority to enforce it.
The Cops Care For Kids Program was created in 2006 by Detective Kingston Paul who started shopping all year for small stuffed animals, coloring books and crayons which he would deliver to struggling families within Fairfield. After several years, then Chief John Emery found out that the program was being funded solely by Detective Paul and challenged all officers to donate $5 per week to the program. He himself donated $10 weekly and now the program raises about $1,300 per year. Once the officers started donating, the list was increased to include as many Fairfield children as possible and has risen to as many as 250 children.
Front, dispatcher Jeanne Kempers. Front row, from left to right, Officer Casey Dugas, Sgt. Matt Wilcox, Officers Jacob Boudreau and Patrick Mank. Back, Officer Shanna Blodgett, Sgt. Matthew Bard, Chief Tom Gould, Officer Blake Wilder and Captain Paul St. Amand. Photo by Tawni Lively, Central Maine Photography staff
This year, members of the Fairfield Police delivered to about 90 households and they gave presents to around 200 children. They were able to get names of families and children in need with the help of the Fairfield Primary and Benton Elementary School staff. The schools handed out slips to Fairfield children and collect them for the officers. Fairfield officers then go to local stores and start shopping for gifts. This year, around 600 gifts were wrapped by about 15 people in the basement of the Fairfield Town Office. They were packaged with a small stuffed animal and a business card which was printed in memory of Kingston Paul who passed away earlier this fall. Some of Kingston’s family members attended the wrapping session as well as family and friends of the department’s officers and town office staff (who helped with wrapping most of the fall). Kingston retired as a captain in 2015 after serving 20 years with the town of Fairfield, and after his passing, we learned that he donated $20,000 to the program to ensure its existence long into the future.
Fairfield Police received gifts from many sources including local citizens, the VFW and the American Legion Ladies Auxiliary, although the officers are most proud of the fact that they donate the lions share of expenses for the program. Chief Tom Gould said, “It’s hard to put into words the emotions involved in the delivery process because it creates a unique connection between our department and the children who live in town. We’re just as excited to see them as they are to see us.”
Fairfield Police thank Skowhegan Printing for getting their 2016 program cards printed the same day they were needed. Also thank you to the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office for patrolling the town and covering calls while all of their cruisers were busy making deliveries.
Thank you Village Market and the Fairfield Family Dollar Store for their continued support to the program.
The Town Line office will be closed the week of December 26 so the staff can enjoy a well-deserved vacation. There will be no issue on December 29. The office will re-open at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, January 2, 2017, with regular hours. The next issue will be published on January 5.
Students perform in the Benton Elementary Holiday Concert on December 15. […]
Winslow third / fourth grade girls rec basketball team member Bethany Blakley gets set to shoot for the hoop during a recent game held in Winslow.
Winslow rec basketball team member Brady Poulin (25) makes his way down court during a recent game against Fairfield.
Waterville Youth Basketball team members Luke Quimby and Bryant Frost get into the Christmas spirit during a recent team photo shoot.
by Roland D. HalleeChristmas is here, and as everyone knows, it is the day that Santa Claus comes down the chimney bearing gifts. And, we also know, Santa arrives at your house in a sleigh powered by eight flying “reindeer.” So, what are reindeer?
The reindeer, Rangifer tarandus, also known as caribou when wild in North America, is an Arctic and Subarctic-dwelling deer, widespread and numerous in those areas.
reindeer or caribou
The name “caribou” comes, through French, from Mi’kmaq qalipu, meaning “snow shoveler,” referring to its habit of pawing through the snow for food.
Originally, the reindeer was found in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Russia, Mongolia and northern China north of the 50th latitude. In North America, it was found in Canada, Alaska and the northern contiguous USA from Washington state to Maine. They were once found as far south as Nevada and Tennessee.
Today, wild reindeer have disappeared from many areas within this large historical range, especially from the southern parts, where it vanished almost everywhere. Large populations are still found in Norway, Siberia, Greenland, Alaska and Canada.
A few reindeer were introduced to the South Atlantic island of South Georgia in Russia in the beginning of the 20th century. Today, there are two distinct herds still thriving there, numbering no more than a few thousand.
Caribou and reindeer numbers have fluctuated historically, but many herds are in decline across this range, with the decline linked to climate change and industrial disturbance of habitat for sedentary, non-migratory herds.
The reindeer travels the furthest of any terrestrial mammal, walking up to 3,100 miles a year, although in Europe, the animal does not migrate as far. Normally traveling from 12-34 miles a day, the caribou can run at speeds of 37-50 mph.
The reindeer hooves adapt to the season: in the summer, when the tundra is soft and wet, the footpads become sponge-like and provide extra traction. In the winter, the pads shrink and tighten, exposing the rim of the hoof, which cuts into the ice and crusted snow to keep it from slipping.
The reindeer coat has two layers of fur, a dense woolly undercoat and longer-haired overcoat consisting of hollow, air-filled hairs.
Males and females grow antlers. The males lose their antlers during December while the females lose theirs during the summer. So, that punches a hole in the Santa story. If he delivers gifts in late December, does that mean all the reindeer are female since the male would have shed their antlers by then?
There are a variety of predators that prey heavily on reindeer. Golden eagles prey on calves and are the most prolific hunter on calving grounds.
Wolverines, brown bears, polar bears and gray wolves also prey on newborn calves or sickly animals. The gray wolf is the most effective natural predator of adult reindeer.
Reindeer hunting by humans has a very long history and are today the main predator in many areas. Norway and Greenland have unbroken traditions of hunting wild reindeer from the ice age until the present day.
The reindeer has had an important economic role for all circumpolar peoples. Reindeer meat is popular in the Scandinavian countries where reindeer meatballs are sold canned, and sautéed reindeer a best known dish in Lapland. In Alaska and Finland, reindeer sausage is sold in supermarkets and grocery stores. Reindeer meat is very tender and lean. Caribou have been a major source of subsistence for Canadian Inuit.
The Canadian quarter features a depiction of a caribou while it is the official provincial animal of both Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. A caribou statue was erected at the center of the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial, marking the spot in France where hundreds of soldiers of Newfoundland were killed and wounded during World War I.
The first written description of reindeer is found in Julius Caesar’s Commentarii de Bello Gallico (chapter 6.26), from the first century BC: “There is an ox shaped like a stag. In the middle of its forehead a single horn grows between its ears, taller and straighter than the animal horns with which we are familiar. At the top of this horns spreads out like the palm of a hand or the branches of a tree. The females are of the same form as the males, and their horns are the same shape and size.”
Getting back to Christmas, Santa’s reindeer were first named in the anonymously-written 1823 poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” (“Twas the Night Before Christmas,” later credited to Clement Clarke Moore), and were called Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dunder and Blixem. Dunder was later changed to Donder, and still again to Donner (German for “thunder.”). Blixem was later changed to Bliksem, then Blitzen (German for “lightning”). Some consider Rudolph as part of the group as well, though he was not part of the original work. Rudolph was added by Robert L. May in 1939 as “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.”
So, if you leave cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas eve, don’t forget some lichens, and leaves of willows and birches, for the reindeer.
Notice is hereby given by the respective petitioners that they have filed petitions for appointment of personal representatives in the following estates. These matters will be heard at 10 a.m. or as soon thereafter as they may be, on January 11, 2017. The requested appointments may be made on or after the hearing date if no sufficient objection be heard. This notice complies with the requirements of 18-A MRSA §3-403 and Probate Rule 4.
2016-325 – Estate of MARISSA ROSE LIBBY, minor of Skowhegan, Me 04976. Petition for Change of Name (Minor) filed by petitioner Joseph L. Magee, 11 Main Street, #3, Skowhegan, Me 04976 and petitioner Jessica Libby, requesting that minor’s name be changed to MARISSA ROSE MAGEE for reasons set forth therein.
2016-236 – Estate of DAVIS ELDON HARVEY, minor of Cambridge, Me. Petition for Appointment of Guardian of Minor filed by petitioners Michael Bailey and Jodi Waterhouse of 112 A Ham Hill Road, Cambridge, Me 04923 requesting their appointment as guardians of minor.
SPECIAL NOTICE: THIS NOTICE IS ESPECAILLY DIRECTED TO FATHER UNKNOWN OF WHEREABOUTS UNKNOW.
2016-337 – Estate of KELLY BALDIC, adult of Fairfield, Me. Petition for Change of Name (Adult) filed by Kelly Baldic, 18 Robinson Street, Fairfield, Me 04937 requesting her name be changed to Kelly Buck for reasons set forth therein.
Dated: December 19, 2016 /s/ Victoria Hatch, Register of Probate
The Town of Norridgewock intends to file an application for federal funding from the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development for the purposes of financing wastewater treatment facility and pump station upgrades. Any interested party may attend an informational meeting at the Norridgewock Town Office (16 Perkins St.) on Wednesday, January 4, 2017, at 6:00 p.m.
Let It Snow!! NOT!! I’m writing this column Saturday afternoon with the snow coming down. It does make for a pretty picture (but who’s taking pictures!).
My days of rushing outside to go sledding or build a snowman are over. Do kids still do all that? We were lucky to have our own hill to slide on. Mom didn’t worry about us because at that time she had a clear view of the hill. The other day I noticed the clear hill of years ago is trees and shrubs now. (Seemed a lot bigger back then.)
Sadly, I imagine kids now are spending their sliding time on various computer games or applications. I remember coming in from outside to hot homemade cocoa (not a mix) and curling up with a blanket and good book, while our outside clothes dried out. Then it would be “to the outside again.”
Dad wasn’t much of a carpenter but occasionally he’d make an effort. Someone gave me a pair of skis. However I have never done well on skis. So dad took some wood to build the body (seat) and the ski would be the “runners.” Well the “sled” and I went down the hill and promptly ran into a tree. I wasn’t hurt but one ski broke off. The end of that sled!
Let It Snow!! Okay we have snow on the ground so I guess people who wanted a “White Christmas” will be happy. It made for tough shopping the weekend before Christmas but on the news it looked like plenty of people were still out there shopping. Bless their hearts!
I have about 30 Florida Christmas’s behind me. No, I was never upset about the lack of snow for Christmas. People tend to go nuts with lights down there. Really neat. They are so pretty every evening. My neighbor added a few new things every year. I’d hate to see his electric bill! He LOVES all things Christmas.
Let It Snow and it is still snowing. I hope you’ll all have a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful, Happy, Healthy New Year.
Contact me at dwdaffy@yahoo.com , sub line: Let it snow. I would love to hear some of your thoughts, favorite Christmas stories, or Snow stories.
by Peter Catesstarring Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, David Kross, etc.; directed by Stephen Daldry; the Weinstein Company, 2008, 124 minutes, DVD.
Kate Winslet
Ralph Fiennes
Based on the 1995 novel by Bernhard Schlink – which I have on my shelves but haven’t read, The Reader is a depiction of two people, Hanna and Michael, whose lives intersect at very crucial points during the 50 years, after World War II, in Germany. From the 1950s, when the two have an intense romance (there is an R rating here; thus a resulting advisory similar to that of Schindler’s List), to the ‘60s and ‘80s, when a very tragic legal situation results from the cowardice of one and the stubborn pride of the other, the story is a gripping one that is impossible to summarize in two paragraphs.
Kate Winslet as Hannah and David Kross and Ralph Fiennes as, respectively, the younger and older David, give exceptional performances. My copy of the DVD will bear repeated viewings and is very fairly labelled a masterpiece by a long time favorite critic of mine, the very colorful and delightfully opinionated Rex Reed.
David Kross
Happy Holiday
Columbia CL 691, 12-inch LP, recorded 1955.
Jo Stafford (1917-2008) was one of the most accomplished singers in history, earning the admiration of Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra and Judy Collins for her phrasing, breathing – she could sing 18 or more bars without exhaling, and all around musicality. I own many of her records and have derived hours of listening pleasure. She was also married to the phenomenally gifted arranger and composer Paul Weston (1913-1996), with whom she collaborated on most of her records, live concerts and TV and radio appearances.
Jo Stafford
The 1955 Happy Holiday featured the usual high quality vibrant singing and instrumentation of the Stafford/Weston team, with the voice of the couple’s then three-year-old son, Timothy, and the exquisite backup harmonies of the Starlighters. They provided a varied selection of the well known — Silent Night, Toyland, Let It Snow, O Little Town of Bethlehem, etc.; a musical recitation by Jo of ‘Twas the Night before Christmas with Timothy’s help; and, finally, the unfamiliar Winter Weather. This was not the usual boring Christmas platter but one of newly minted freshness.
It is available as a CD reissue on Amazon but watch out for Stafford’s 1968 Xmas collection, with the title adding an S on Holiday. Scroll on each entry for info on recording date. Finally the CD has several extra tracks!
