Bible study group holds last meeting of season

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On June 15, the Margaret Stotsenburg Bible Study group from the China Baptist Church had their last meeting until fall. It was a lovely breakfast with fruit, homemade breakfast casseroles and muffins. The group meets every Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m. in the church vestry for a time of Bible study, sharing and prayer. Any woman interested is invited to join when they resume in the fall, Thursday, September 7. This group began in the early 1970s and was named for the pastor’s wife who started it. It has been an important part of the church for over 45 years. Contributed photo

CHINA NEWS: Selectmen pay bills; seek office secretary

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by Mary Grow

Three China selectmen met briefly Wednesday morning, June 14, primarily to approve the biweekly payroll and pay other bills.

Joann Austin, Irene Belanger and Jeffrey LaVerdiere also talked about beaver control to protect the north entrance road into Thurston Park and about the need for more volunteers for town committees.

The budget committee needs a secretary, who can live anywhere in town (the committee chairman is also from the town at large, and four other members represent four geographic districts). Residents interested in helping plan China Community Days and town-wide economic development are invited to volunteer for what used to be one committee and, selectmen have indicated, will become two separate committees.

Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux said the selectmen’s meeting was rescheduled from the usual Monday evening to Wednesday morning to accommodate board Chairman Neil Farrington and member Ronald Breton, who were not available Monday, June 12. Neither was at the June 14 meeting.

The next regular China selectmen’s meeting ought to be Monday evening, June 26, unless board members again change the schedule.

Lydia Gilman awarded Alfond Youth Center talent scholarship

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Lydia Gilman

Lydia Gilman, daughter of Lance and April Gilman, of China, was selected as one of 10 finalists in the 2017 Kennebec Valley – Alfond Youth Center’s Youth Talent Search. Lydia won a $500 talent scholarship to be used anyway she deems appropriate in furthering her musical talents.

The talent award night was held at Colby College, in Waterville, on June 7. Lydia played the piano and sang the song, Almost is Never Enough ,in the style of Arianna Grande. Lydia is just finishing her freshman year at Erskine Academy, in South China, where she is a high-honors student and also participates in cross country, basketball, track and choir.

Erskine class of 1967 gathers for reunion

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Front row, from left to right, Noreen (Tobey) Golden, Judy (Durrell) Gidney, Melba (Brann) Brown, Caroline (Otis) Lewis, Pat (Conlogue) Dyer, Lorraine Glidden, Charlotte (Dow) Reynolds, Wanda (Hannon) Turner and Lois (Pass) Doe. Back row, Ray Gidney, Patsy (Bumps) Glidden, Mike Roach, Herb Crommett, Pam (Pinkham) Powell, Nancy (Miller) Camelio, Louise (Caswell) Reed, Tom Reed, Gordon Page, Nancy (Mosher) McAlley, Ken Cunningham and Bonnie (Smith) Barron. Absent from photo, Katrina (Thurston) Connolly.

On June 2, the Erkine Academy class of 1967 held its 50th class reunion at the American Legion Hall, in South China. Those attending were classmates and their guests.

Contributed photo

How three small towns in the U.S. ended up with the name China

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by William Hennelly (chinadaily.com.cn)

What is the largest “China town” in the U.S.? If you answered New York, you would be technically incorrect.

Because by China town, I don’t mean neighborhoods in major cities with large Chinese populations.

Three small towns in the U.S. — in Maine, Michigan and Texas — are actually named China. These towns came across their names not by any exotic history with Chinese settlers or some ancient silk trade, but rather by chance.

Maine, China, in Kennebec County on the Sheepscot River, northeast of the state capital of Augusta, has a population of 4,500, making it the largest of U.S. Chinas. The town’s website calls it “the friendliest town in Maine”.

In 1818, parts of Harlem, Albion and Winslow were broken off to become the current town of China. They had decided to call the town Bloomville.

Maine was then a part of Massachusetts, and in those days, Boston, the legislative seat, was a week’s trip by horse and wagon. The area’s legislative representative, Japheth C. Washburn, was discouraged from using the name Bloomville due to objections from nearby Bloomfield, which was concerned about mail-delivery confusion.

So Washburn, 200 miles away with no telephone or telegraph, needed an alternative.

The hymn China, written by Timothy Swan, of Northfield, Massachusetts, in 1790, was a favorite of his, and the rest is history.

“Over the years, I have had many, many Chinese tourists stop at our town office and come in and ask us questions about the name of our town,” Becky Hapgood, the town clerk for the past 23 years, told China Daily. “Often they are either seen out front posing by our town office sign or we kindly oblige and help them with a group photo.

“We all enjoy the visitors from away as they relish the town’s name that is the same as their country,” she said. “Many ask how we got our name and if there is anything with ‘Town of China’ on it that they may have as a souvenir. We normally offer them a town report. We have even had some stop by one year and return a couple of years later with others to show them the name of our town.

“We’d love to have a sister city/town (in China) …” she said. “Maybe you would be a good contact to spread the word!”

Next up is China, Michigan, in St. Clair County, in the southeastern part of the state near Lake Huron: population 3,551.

Michigan’s China got its moniker in 1834, after an early explorer, Captain John Clark, landed there.

As China Township Clerk Dan Turke tells the story, Clark’s wife inspired the town’s name because it reminded her of their old hometown — none other than China, Maine.

China, Texas, in Jefferson County, near Beaumont in southeast Texas, is the smallest of U.S. Chinas, with 1,160 residents. The town is supported by agriculture, especially rice, and by nearby oil and natural gas fields. Coincidentally, China recently agreed to expand imports of U.S. natural gas.

China, Texas, was first known as China Grove, for a water stop on the Texas and New Orleans Railroad that sat amid a chinaberry tree grove. In the 1860s, a small community grew around the water stop. as did another a few miles away called Nashland.

A post office with the name China was established in Nashland in 1893. When fire destroyed the China Grove depot in 1906, the railroad rebuilt in Nashland, but kept the name China for the depot.

The Nashland post office changed its name to China shortly afterward. It wasn’t until 1971 that the since merged communities incorporated as the city of China, Texas.

(For the record, there is an East China, Michigan, and a China Grove, Texas, near San Antonio.) Contact the writer at williamhennelly@chinadailyusa.com.

Submitted by Neil Farrington, of China, ME.

CHINA NEWS: Agencies agree on reimbursement plan

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by Mary Grow

At a special meeting June 8, China selectmen listened to suggestions from three representatives of the town’s four emergency services, made two minor revisions to a draft memorandum of understanding between the town and the services and unanimously approved the memorandum.

The point of the memorandum is to express agreement on a reimbursement plan for fire and rescue personnel, as authorized at the March town meeting.  Or, as the lawyer-written memorandum describes its purpose:  “to identify how the town would contribute financially to the collective effort of the emergency services departments in China to increase membership numbers and also to incent participation of membership in response to incidents, participation in ‘in house’ training offerings, engaging in after incident reloading and refueling and other duties assigned.”

The memorandum goes on to the make it clear that the town does not run the emergency services.  “Each department is independent; each of the departments will be controlling how the volunteers for the respective departments do their work.”

The reimbursement program is on a one-year trial basis, beginning July 1, with a six-months’ review by selectmen in consultation with emergency services chiefs.   The $40,000 voters appropriated in March sets a ceiling for the town’s 2017-18 contribution.   If the next fiscal year does not see more recruits or higher participation at fires and rescue calls, China Village Fire Chief Timothy Theriault has said he will not support another year of stipends.

The accompanying reimbursement plan sets hourly pay at $10 per hour, with additional stipends for the four chiefs and their assistants, deputies and other officers.  (ep)

Disbursements will be twice a year, in response to reports on hours worked from each service.  Recipients will be responsible for paying income taxes.

South China Fire Chief Richard Morse, backed by Theriault, said references to officers’ discretion allows paying a flat fee for some of the work firefighters do as part of their duties, like snowblowing station entrances.  The two chiefs also want to be able to use stipends for occasional out-of-town training sessions; selectmen added that provision.

Morse and Theriault strongly supported extra pay for deputy and assistant chiefs, a clause in the reimbursement plan but not in the memorandum.  They pointed out that if the chief were absent from a fire or accident scene, the next officer in line would have the responsibility to make what could be life-or-death decisions.

Selectman approved another amendment allowing annual stipends for officers other than the four chiefs, as defined by the services.

Morse had serious reservations about the whole memorandum with “all these whereases and bureaucracy.”  Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux replied there are two reasons to supplement the reimbursement plan with a formal agreement, which, he pointed out, says pretty much the same thing as the plan:

  • When the current selectmen and emergency services chiefs leave office, the memorandum will guide their successors.
  • The memorandum makes clear what both sides want clear to state and federal officials: emergency services personnel are not town employees. In addition to Morse and Theriault, the June 8 special meeting was attended by David Herard, representing China Rescue and the Weeks Mills Fire Department.  The memorandum designates as “lead people” responsible for carrying it out Morse, Theriault, Herard for China Rescue and Weeks Mills Chief Webb Shaw.   An authorized official from each of the four services needs to sign it.

China residents approve ban on marijuana

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by Mary Grow

China voters approved every question on every ballot at the polls June 13.

Their votes were decisive only on three town questions, one new ordinance and two expenditures.  According to Town Clerk Rebecca Hapgood, those results were as follows:

  • In favor of a new ordinance that will ban all retail marijuana operations, as defined in the state-wide referendum question voters approved in November 2016, 193 yes to 172 no.
  • In favor of spending up to $25,000 for a well and septic system for the former portable classroom where the vote was held, 245 yes to 120 no.
  • In favor of spending $12,000 to buy a lot on Alder Park Road adjoining other town-owned land, 203 yes to 163 no.

The ordinance was the most controversial question, with Selectman Joann Austin and others arguing that the town should not ban possible new businesses.  The state allows commercial marijuana growing and testing and marijuana social clubs.  State law gives municipalities the option of limiting or prohibiting such operations.

Ordinance supporters countered that most large-scale marijuana operations would be owned by out-of-state corporations and would export profits.   They reminded opponents that a majority of China voters voted against the November referendum question.

China’s ordinance does not prohibit individual use as allowed by state law, nor does it affect medical marijuana.

On the rest of the ballots, China voters approved a state-wide bond issue question and two Regional School Unit 18 expenditures, the 2017-18 school budget and borrowing for repairs to China Middle School, China Primary School and Belgrade Central School.

The RSU 18 questions were also on ballots in Belgrade, Oakland, Rome and Sidney.

Hendrikse property receives China Lake Smart Award

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Mike and Linda Hendrikse display the China Lake Smart Award their property recently received. Contributed photo

Award winners Mike and Linda Hendrikse have worked to create a strong buffer at their lake front cottage. They have created vegetated buffers (areas of vegetation situated between the built environment and the water), to trap sediments, excess nutrients, and other pollutants, preventing erosion and helping to stabilize the sloped areas and the shore line. For more information on China Lake Smart Program contact: Marie Michaud, China Lake Lake Smart Coordinator 207-242-0240.

China Planning board meeting canceled

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The China Planning Board meeting scheduled for Tuesday evening June 13, has been canceled.

CHINA NEWS: Thurston Park work awarded to Palermo company

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by Mary Grow

China selectmen took care of miscellaneous business at their May 31 meeting, including:

  • Finishing the awarding of bids for work on the north entrance road to Thurston Park, started at their May 15 meeting, by awarding the bid for road improvements to S. D. Childs, of Palermo. On May 15 selectmen were not sure his bid and Robin Tobey’s covered the same work; after Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux said they did, the board voted 4-1, with Joann Austin opposed, to accept Childs’ low bid. Board members expressed appreciation to Tobey for assistance he has given the Thurston Park II Committee.
  • Approving a $300 appropriation for trapping out the beavers whose debris under the bridge on the way to the park has flooded the road. Thurston Park II Committee member Jeanette Smith said a public tour of the park is scheduled for Saturday, June 17, so restoring access was imperative. • Appointing Sheldon and Joyce Goodine as members of the China for a Lifetime Committee, which is scheduled to meet Thursday evening, June 22.
  • Seeking volunteers for other positions, including budget committee secretary (who can be chosen from anywhere in town), members of the committee to plan and supervise China Community Days Aug. 4-6 and people to do trail work in Thurston Park.
  • Approving a liquor license renewal for the China Dine-ah, on Lakeview Drive. • Agreeing to give the owner of a foreclosed property additional time to redeem it by paying all back taxes and fees, after L’Heureux explained that the bank holding the mortgage had been expected to pay the town but had not.

Approving a consent agreement, including a fine, recommended by Codes Office Paul Mitnik to allow a resident to use the addition to his house even though the resident failed to comply with state-required inspection rules.

Board members did not proceed with plans for administering the stipends for emergency services personnel approved at the March town meeting, because they were waiting for advice from Town Attorney Alton Stevens. They had an estimate for repairs to the Weeks Mills schoolhouse, now a town-owned historic building, but took no action. They heard resident Dale Worster’s repeat request that they activate the town’s Economic Development Committee and assigned the task to L’Heureux.

TIF (Tax Increment Financing) Committee member Tom Michaud said the committee hoped to have an RFP (request for proposals) ready for review and recommendation at a June 5 meeting, so selectmen can begin choosing a contractor for planned recreational improvements at the head of China Lake’s east basin.

The May 31 selectmen’s meeting was attended by members of the Greater Neck Road Neighborhood Association, who asked selectmen to ban parties in Parris and Catherine Varney’s barn at 701 Neck Road. The town planning board denied the Varneys’ application to use their barn for commercial events in October 2016; the Varneys appealed to the board of appeals, who in December 2016 remanded the issue to the planning board to redo with clear explanations for its decision. Before the planning board could act, neighbors, including Greater Neck Road Association members, filed an appeal with Kennebec County Superior Court, which had not acted as of May 31.

Association members alleged the Varneys are holding events in the barn without the needed permit and in violation of state Fire Marshal’s regulations. They asked selectmen to enforce the town ordinance. Selectmen, L’Heureux and Mitnik declined to act at the May 31 meeting, on four grounds: • Board Chairman Neil Farrington did not want to discuss the issue without advance notice (it was not on the May 31 agenda), in the absence of the Varneys and before the court acted. He expects the court to return the question to the planning board, not to the selectmen.

  • Selectman Jeffrey LaVerdiere questioned whether the Varneys’ activities constitute a business; if they do not, he defended residents’ right to use their own property as they choose.
  • L’Heureux said after the town received a request for enforcement action from the association, he sent it to attorney Stevens to determine the proper legal response. Until he has Stevens’ reply, he said, the issue should not be on the selectmen’s agenda. • Mitnik said from what he has been told, the barn parties are for Varney friends and family and are non-commercial. “If you have to have a planning board permit to have a party for friends and family, that’s a pretty sad state of affairs,” he commented.

The next regular China selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, June 12.

On Tuesday, June 13, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the former portable classroom behind the town office for voting on the RSU (Regional School Unit) #18 school budget for 2017-18 and a state bond issue.