Regional biologist gives opinion

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[sam_pro id=”0_3″ codes=”true”]
by Nate Gray
Regional biologist, Maine Department of Marine Resources

Frank (Richards) and I went out in his boat to look at a floating island of weeds.  What I keyed out was elodea Canadensis.  Is it possible I was mistaken?  Unlikely, as I’ve looked at gobs of the stuff but still possible.  Given the level of angst about the “weed” issue in Webber I’m going to take another look at some different spots.  Many of the ponds in the mid-Maine basin are experiencing “better” water quality this year and there are multiple reasons for this.  Very low rainfall (drought) and higher than average atmospheric temps (and by default that includes water temps).  This can set up a dynamic in ponds that strongly stratifies the water.  The thermocline becomes very pronounced and through this effect limits the amount of phospherous available.  We’ve had very few storm events this summer.

Nate Gray

Nate Gray, regional biologist with the Maine Department of Marine Resources, displays Elodea Canadensis, also known as American pondweed, he plucked out of Webber Pond recently. File photo

It takes a good blow to disrupt the thermocline and allow the phospherous trapped in the anoxic zone to mix with the water above it.  Make no mistake, this will happen at one point or another.  A good strong wind will drive the water to the southwest shore (assuming a Nor’easter here).  All that water will have to go someplace – down.  The further into the season we get the lower the pond surface temps will be thereby “weakening” the thermocline.  Once that lens is broken there is a lot of phospherous available to mix in the upper water column.  Once the phospherous gets there…..boom!  Phytoplankton bloom!.  The pond goes green.  Meanwhile this thermocline/water clarity issue will in turn favor greater light penetration.  This greater light penetration will induce more plant growth.  In some cases explosive growth.  Especially in the shallower reaches of the pond, i.e. the north end.  The patch that Frank took me out to was about 2-3 acres of dense growth.  So, I think another visit to the pond is in order.

Erskine bus schedules, Fall 2016

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Students should be at their pick-up points 5-10 minutes before the stated pick-up times for the first few days of school.  Bus fare is $10 per week.  Parents of freshmen are advised to check the bus schedule at New Student Orientation.

Pat Vigue – Bus 13 (Palermo Area)

6:25 – Palermo School
6:30 – Turner Ridge Road
6:35 – Banton Road
6:40 – Level Hill Road
6:45 – North Palermo Road
7:00 – Weston Ridge
7:15 – Tobey’s
7:20 – Frontier Village
7:25 – Leave Frontier Village
7:30 – Arrive at Erskine Academy

Sheila Wescott – Bus 11 (Chelsea/Windsor Area)

6:12 – Leave Erskine to Tyler Road
6:17 – Weeks Mills Road
6:20 – Legion Park Road/

Lamson Road (turn-a-round)

6:23 – Barton Road
6:25 – 105 to Spring Road
6:50 – Chelsea School
6:53 – Wellman Road
6:55 – Route 17 to Windsor
7:00 – Hunts Meadow Road
7:10 – Route 126
7:15 – Vigue Road
7:20 – Route 17 to Route 32 Windsor
7:25 – Route 32 (Rideout’s Store)
7:35 – Arrive at Erskine Academy

Wayne Lacey – Bus 1 (Whitefield-Jefferson Area)

6:25 – Leave Country Corners Store
6:30 – Travel down Route 215
6:35 – Route 126 to Jefferson
6:40 – Jefferson Post Office
7:00 – Intersection of Route 32 & 17
7:10 – Intersection of Route 17 & 206
7:20 – Intersection of Route 105 & 32
7:23 – Choate Road
7:25 – Windsor Neck Road/South Road
7:30 – Kidder Road
7:30 – Arrive at Erskine Academy

Janice Cook – Bus 16  (Windsor/Whitefield/Coopers Mills Area)

6:18 – Leave Erskine- Rte 32 South
6:26 – Maxcy’s Mills Rd
6:28 – Griffin Road
6:33 – Vigue Road
6:37 – Townhouse Road
6:44 – 218N/194N
6:46 – Heath Road
6:50 – Hilton Road
6:52 – 218N //Mills Road
6:59 – Coopers Mills Main Street
7:00 – Windsor Road/Coopers Mills
7:02 – Erskine Road
7:04 – Wingood Road
7:08 – Erskine Road
7:09 – Windsor Road/Coopers Mills
7:15 – Route 105 to Rte 32
7:18 – Route 32 to Erskine Academy
7:30 – Arrive at Erskine Academy

Routes, drivers and bus numbers subject to change.

Alewife restoration meeting set in Vassalboro

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An information meeting on Alewife Restoration Initiative  will take place on Monday, August 29 at 6 p.m., at the Vassalboro Grange Hall

There will also be an update on the East Vassalboro Water Company pipe relocation work, Masse saw mill and dam dismantling, and stream bank revegetation planning.

Palermo Days grand marshals

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Royce and Jeannine Nelson

Grand marshals Royce and Jeannine Nelson ride in the parade during Palermo Days. Their son, Troy, is driving the tractor. Contributed photo

Crockett achieves high honors at U. New Hampshire

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Christopher Crockett, of Manchester, has earned high honors for the spring semester of the 2015-2016 academic year at the university of New Hampshire, in Durham, New Hampshire.  Chris is the son of James “Jim” Crockett, of Manchester, and Linda Crockett, of Fairfield, and the grandson of Robert and Patsy Crockett, of Augusta.

Pelletier to perform with marching band

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Kaitlynn Pelletier, of Waterville, will march with the 2016 Pride of The Valley Marching Band, of Lebanon Valley College, in Annville, Pennsylvania. Pelletier, a graduate of Messalonskee High School, is pursuing a bachelor of science and bachelor of arts in music education and music at The Valley.

The marching band performs at all home football games as well as exhibitions including the Cavalcade of Bands Championships in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and the Collegiate Marching Band Festival held in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

During the upcoming football season, members of the 2016 Pride of The Valley Marching Band will present its show “Rhapsody.” The premise of this year’s show is to take three great pieces of music with the word ‘rhapsody’ in the name and make a great show. “Rhapsody” features music from and inspired by “Rhapsody in Blue,” by George Gershwin, “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini,” by Sergei Rachmaninoff, and “Bohemian Rhapsody,” by Queen.

Erskine freshmen orientation Aug. 29

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FRESHMEN ORIENTATION will be held on August 29, 2016 at 6:30 p.m. in the Erskine Academy gymnasium.  Parents and freshmen students are encouraged to attend.

Freshmen parents are reminded that the school does require a current freshmen entrance physical prior to the first day of school.  Any questions please call the school nurse at  445-2962.

Tuesday, August 30, 2016 – First day of school – Freshmen only.

Wednesday, August 31, 2016 – All Students will attend.

Friday, September 2, 2016 – Erskine will not hold classes.

Monday, September 5, 2016 – Labor Day Holiday – no classes.

Thursday, September 8, 2016 – School Picture Day.

NEW STAFF MEMBERS:

Charles Karter – Athletic Director;

Colby Foster – Director of Information Technology;

Marguerite Cullivan – Physical Education Instructor;

Betty Pierce – Food Service;

Robert Scholl – Custodian.

China selectmen to call special meeting to set 2016-17 tax rate

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by Mary Grow

China selectmen have scheduled a special meeting for 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 29, to set the 2016-17 tax rate – they hope.

At the board’s Aug. 22 regular meeting, Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux said he and assessor William Van Tuinen were “very, very, very close” to having the necessary calculations done to recommend a tax rate.  He expects it to be lower than the 2015-16 rate.

By town meeting vote, the first half payment of local taxes is due Sept. 30.

The TIF (Tax Increment Financing) Committee meets at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 29 to continue discussion of possible projects at both ends of China Lake.  The selectmen’s and TIF meetings will be in the town office meeting room.

Selectmen also rescheduled their next regular meeting, which would have fallen on Labor Day Monday, to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 6.  The meeting will be preceded by a 5:55 p.m. public hearing on the annual amendments to the General Assistance Ordinance (state changes in allowable amounts of aid the town can give).  The agenda is likely to include a report on the survey of China’s population, with a focus on senior citizens, L’Heureux said.

Also likely to be on the Sept. 6 agenda is discussion of whether commercial haulers who bring China household waste to the transfer station should be charged a fee.  Selectman Irene Belanger has argued for months that they should not, because householders are already paying taxes that help support the transfer station.

To Belanger’s surprise, board Chairman Robert MacFarland made a motion to eliminate the fee.  Action was postponed because the item was not on the Aug. 22 agenda.

Selectmen made two unanimous decisions Aug. 22.

They voted to appropriate either $9,450 or $9,475 – no one could remember the exact figure – for Violette Construction to build a new handicapped access ramp at the portable classroom behind the town office.  After a long discussion of whether the money should come from the selectmen’s contingency fund or from the capital improvements reserve fund, they agreed on the latter source, and asked L’Heureux to seek clarification from the Maine Municipal Association on appropriate uses of the contingency fund.

They voted to use left-over funds from the grant for the new police vehicle plus the trade-in for the current vehicle to add a radar kit and a defibrillator to the new car’s equipment.

At a future meeting board members will need to decide on local warrant articles for Nov. 8 voting.  L’Heureux sent them a nine-item list, which was not discussed Aug. 22.  It includes:

• Possible amendments to the Transfer Station Ordinance.
• Possible amendments to the Transfer Station Flow Control Ordinance.
• Land Use Ordinance amendments discussed by the Planning Board Land, including changes dealing with seasonal residences, shoreland zoning and signs and changes needed to accommodate TIF Committee proposals for expanding lake access at the causeway at the head of China Lake.
• Possible uses of TIF money, including establishing a revolving/forgivable loan fund for local businesses, purchasing the Bailey property at the head of the lake as part of the TIF plan and providing a trails grant for the China Four Seasons Club.  (ep)
— Purchase of the Ortega property behind the town office.
• Acceptance of the 13-lot subdivision on the east side of Lakeview Drive offered to the town by Wachusetts Property.
•  Setting up a capital fund for the transfer station, to be funded by Palermo’s annual contribution once Palermo residents begin using China’s facility in January 2017.
• Setting up a fund for Thurston Park.
• Adding the Central Maine Power Company substation expansion off Route 3 to China’s TIF.

Area students spend fall in areas across globe

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No education is complete without the opportunity to discover the world and our role in the global society. Stonehill college students, in Easton, Massa­chusetts, traveled to countries near and far in the pursuit of knowledge, humanity and service during the fall 2015 semester.

Marissa L. Jordan, of Whitefield, studied in Italy at John Cabot University, Rome. A member of the class of 2017, is studying communication and political science and international studies.

Abigail S. Weston, of Waterville, studied in Germany at Freie Universitat Berlin European Studies Program. A member of the class of 2017, is studying graphic design.

Have you seen the signs?

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If you drive through Vassalboro proper or on the Dunham, Oak Grove or Bog roads, you may see a sign with the Vassalboro Historical Society logo advertising an Audio Tour stop, with a name, stop number, a QR code (like a barcode only square), and a phone number.Vassalboro Historical Society

If you call the phone number and at the prompt enter the stop number, you will hear a short description of the history of the stop. Using the QR scanner on a smart phone will link to the same site, but in a different way. The first of at least seven stops have been entered. Can you find them all?

Using OnCell technology which “is the leading digital storytelling platform for cultural destinations and other interesting places,” the historical society joins the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Denver Botanic Gardens, and the National Park Service in providing a technology-based way to reach out.

It is hoped this is a first step in connecting the technology savvy with the wonderfully rich history of Vassalboro. For more information about how you can be a part of the Vassalboro Historical Society, call the museum at 207-923-3505 or by e-mail at vhspresident@hotmail.com.