China select board unanimously approves 38-article warrant

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by Mary Grow

CHINA, ME — China select board members have unanimously approved the 38-article warrant for the June 14 annual town business meeting.

The April 11 select board meeting was preceded by a very short budget committee meeting, at which that board endorsed revised wording of two articles.

A public hearing on the warrant is scheduled for 6 p.m., Monday, May 9, before that evening’s select board meeting. All 38 articles will be voted by written ballot June 14, so the May 9 hearing will be the only official public assembly at which questions can be asked and answered.

Select board members further agreed that a straw poll will be conducted June 14 asking those who vote that day whether they prefer a written ballot or an open town meeting.

June 14 voting will be in the former portable classroom behind the town office, with a moderator elected at 6:55 a.m. and polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. As during previous elections, the driveway from Lakeview Drive will be closed; vehicle access will be off Alder Park Road just south of the town office complex.

In other business April 11, select board members unanimously accepted the higher of two bids for the Harley Davidson motorcycle (taken in part repayment of a business loan from the Tax Increment Financing [TIF] Fund’s revolving loan program). Michael MacFarland bid $5,100.

They unanimously approved Anita Smith’s request to use $16,465 from the current year’s budget for groundwork and a building in the China School Forest (which Smith proposed renaming the Community Forest at China School).

Smith, a retired China teacher and for many years a manager and guardian for the forest east of China Primary School, said she got three companies’ prices for a building that will become a winter classroom. She chose a 14-by-32 building made by Backyard Buildings, the Amish company in Unity, for $16,465, including delivery.

Smith told select board members she has volunteers – and welcomes more – to clear the building site. A gravel pad will be installed.

Central Maine Power Company said running electricity to the building site would cost $20,000, she said. Therefore she intends to add propane heaters and a portable battery-powered generator, as well as finishing the interior and adding enough gravel to the access way to accommodate propane trucks.

Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood said there is more than $27,000 left in the 2021-22 budget to pay for the building.

Smith has requested $12,000 for the 2022-23 forest budget. The request is included in Art. 5 of the town meeting warrant, which asks voters to appropriate a total of $82,575 for town boards and committees.

The next regular China select board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 25. Hapgood issued a reminder that town departments will be closed Monday, April 18 for the Patriots’ Day holiday.

CORRECTION: This article has been updated. The size of the building at the China School Forest building was previously stated to be 13-by-42 feet. It should instead be 14-by-32 feet instead. (Correction supplied by Anita Smith.)

China Broadband Committee (CBC) members enthused about new expansion possibility

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by Mary Grow

CHINA, ME — China Broadband Committee (CBC) members are enthusiastic about a new possibility for expanding internet service in China, and so are officials at the possible providers, the Unity-based telephone and communications company Unitel.

However, both parties emphasized during an April 6 discussion that nothing is guaranteed, and that financing is likely to remain a challenge.

They plan to meet together again at 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 4, in the former portable classroom behind the China town office.

Unitel was acquired in March by a company called Direct Communications, based in Rockland, Idaho. The web says Rockland had a population of 246 in 2019 and is currently estimated to have 277 residents.

Unitel’s Director of Internal/External Support, Jayne Sullivan, told CBC members that Direct Communications is a third-generation family-owned business, similar to Unitel, which was founded in 1902. Recently, she said, Direct Communications has been buying small companies like Unitel all over the country and helping them expand their broadband offerings.

Sullivan said Unitel officials welcome backing from Direct Communications. Unitel’s first fiber was installed in 2015, Director of Network Operations Michael Akers said.

Unitel and Direct Communications are working with other area towns. Some, like China, are beginning discussion, while some are drawing close to agreements. Akers said nine other towns are ahead of China.

Competition would not necessarily delay work in China if the town and the company reached an agreement and China officials and voters endorsed it. “We’re pretty nimble; we get a lot done quickly – sometimes,” Akers said with a smile.

Consensus was that the first step is for Akers and/or Lead Communications Technician Scott Turgeon, who also attended the April 6 meeting, to survey China to see what infrastructure is available and what is needed. Planning the survey involved discussion about ground-clearance requirements for wires on utility poles.

The new information, combined with results of the Hawkeye Connections survey in the summer of 2021 and other information CBC members have collected, will lead to a cost estimate. Akers intends to forward Hawkeye’s information to Direct Communications engineers in Idaho for analysis.

Financing was a major discussion topic. CBC members’ goal is to provide service to everyone in town who wants it without asking China taxpayers to pay part of the bill.

Funding options include China Tax Increment Financing (TIF) money (the revised TIF plan allocates $30,000 a year to broadband for the next 10 years); American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and other federal funds sent to the State of Maine, Kennebec County and the Town of China; and grant programs.

Most federal and state programs benefit areas that lack any service, or adequate service, and by many initial definitions of terms like “unserved” and “underserved,” China is considered adequately served. However, John Dougherty from Mission Broadband, the CBC’s consulting firm, said definitions are changing, in ways that might make China more grant-eligible.

Akers said Unitel works with Mission Broadband in other towns; he is pleased to work with them in China. He called Dougherty “the guy for the grants.”

China Primary School’s faculty lounge gets a nice face lift

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Faculty at China Primary School enjoy their redecorated staff room. (photo courtesy of Melissa Robbie)

Submitted by Melissa Robie Calouro
Pre-K teacher at CPS

As most people are already aware, teaching young children is already an exhausting profession – but with quarantines, masking, and social distancing, the last couple of “Covid” years have brought teachers to a new level of exhaustion! Our China Schools Parent Teacher Organi­zation (PTO) noticed this and wanted to show their love and support in a way that would be useful to our staff every day.

They noticed our staff room was dated, plain, and downright gloomy – so a team of parents set out to revitalize our break space – as a surprise! They worked tirelessly gathering donations from area businesses and set to work over Christmas break to transform our break room into a truly magical and relaxing environment. They painted all the walls and cabinetry (including mailboxes!) in coordinating bright aqua and tranquil grays with a splash of sunshine yellow.

The newly-renovated staff room at the China Primary School, through the hard work of the school’s Parent Teacher Organization. (photo courtesy of Melissa Robbie)

They equipped the room with:

  • New coordinating curtains;
  • Two brand-new microwaves;
  • A brand-new Keurig – complete with coffees, teas, hot chocolate, insulated cups/lids, creamer and sugar;
  • A brand-new refrigerator, fully stocked with healthy snacks and lunch options as well as sparkling waters and sodas;
  • A popcorn popper with popcorn kernels, popping oil, and popcorn seasonings;
  • A dining room table with chairs adorned with a fruit bowl and candy dish;
  • Two comfy chairs to sit back in;
  • A side table with a lamp to provide soft lighting;
  • A bar with bar stools to increase capacity and aesthetic;
  • A gorgeous painting of the ocean (painted and donated by a CPS parent);
  • Silverware, kitchen utensils, kitchen towels;
  • Shelving with decorations.

Specific PTO members and their families who dedicated hours into planning and the physical transformation of our staff room:

Megan Randazza, Bobbie and Ben Weymouth, Rebecca & Tim DeWitt, Raigan and Curtis York, and Percy O’Clair.

Community Donors:

Lakeview Lumber – Monetary donation;
Bry-Ann Mattingly – a parent and local artist who painted and donated the gorgeous ocean painting;
Bruce & Kathy Plaisted – bar stools;
Central Church — 2 microwaves and new Keurig coffee maker;
China Schools PTO – money, time, ideas, and effort;
Home Depot – Gift card;
Lowe’s – 5 gallons of paint.

(photo courtesy of Melissa Robbie)

The school staff had many positive feedbacks for the project:

“Every single teacher who walked into that room this morning instantly felt the love! We are so incredibly lucky to have parents and a community like ours who make us feel so appreciated in these crazy times. I’m looking forward to many lunches and laughs with my coworkers in the beautiful space you all created for us!” – Alyssa Bentley, Fourth Grade Teacher, at China Primary School.

“Everyone is so blown away at seeing this wonderful expression of appreciation from our PTO and community! Thank you to all who contributed to this project. We appreciate your generosity, time, and efforts. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!” – Linda Bengtson, administrative assistant at China Primary School.

“This beautiful makeover was just the morale booster we needed. Thank you so much for all of the hard work and creativity that you all put into this project!” – Lori Maxim, fourth grade teacher, at China Primary School.

“What an amazing transformation! Thank you so much for creating such a peaceful, warm, and inviting space for us to enjoy. Every detail was completed with such love!” – Melissa Robie Calouro, pre-K teacher, at China Primary School.

“It was so wonderful to walk into this beautiful surprise! Thank you to everyone who helped make this project possible. We are so fortunate to have you.” – Kathy Jacobs, special education teacher, at China Primary School.

“Just incredible! My mouth seriously dropped when I walked in. Such a wonderful present. Thank you all so much for all of your hard work!” – Brittany Dunn, kindergarten teacher, at China Primary School.

“I don’t even have words for it! It felt like a whole different place. I’m still emotional thinking about it. Thank you to everyone who made this possible!” – Jennifer Gledhill, third grade teacher, at China Primary School.

Roderick receives MPA award

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Mackenzie Roderick

CHINA, ME — Mackenzie Roderick, of China, a senior at Erskine Academy, has been selected to receive the 2022 Principal’s Award, Headmaster Michael McQuarrie announced. The award, sponsored by the Maine Principal’s Association, is given to recognize a high school senior’s academic excellence, outstanding school citizenship, and leadership.

Roderick is a consistent high-honors student in a highly competitive academic program that includes all classes taken at the honors or accelerated level and numerous Advanced Placement and Concurrent Enrollment courses with nearby colleges. She has received recognition and accolades from within and outside of the school for her standout accomplishments in the classroom, athletics, and voluntary community service. Roderick has been awarded for outstanding achievement in calculus and statistics, excellence in Spanish, top performance in student council, and she is the Valedictorian for Erskine Academy’s class of 2022.

“Mackenzie is universally respected and esteemed by the school community. She is an exemplary student, school and community citizen, and a fine representative of Erskine Academy and young people. Mackenzie personifies the school’s core values of scholarship, leadership, stewardship, and relationships,” noted Headmaster McQuarrie when making the award.

Swift announces candidacy for House District #62

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Pam Swift

PALERMO, ME – Pam Swift, MD, a Democrat from Palermo, has announced her candidacy for Maine’s House of Representatives in District #62, which includes the communities of Palermo, China, Somerville, Windsor, and Hib­berts Gore.

“With decades of work experience in both healthcare and agriculture, I understand that the well-being of our families is fundamentally tied to affordable healthcare, access to nutritious food, and the health of our soil, air, and water,” Swift said. “My education and lived experience will make mine a valuable voice in the Maine Legislature.”

Swift earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science with the intention of becoming a veterinarian, but later decided to pursue a medical degree. After graduating from medical school and completing her residency in obstetrics and gynecology, Swift joined a large practice that specialized in high-risk obstetrical cases, where she worked her way up to full business partner. After 23 years practicing medicine, Swift returned to her animal science roots and purchased a farm in Palermo with her husband, Don, where they raise grass-fed sheep, free-range organic laying hens, and acorn-fattened pigs.

Swift is serving her second term on the select board, in Palermo. Although the board’s three members span the political spectrum, they work together with the common goal of doing what’s best for the community as a whole. Most recently, the select board worked cooperatively with the Palermo Volunteer Fire Department and Liberty Ambulance to create a new service for Palermo residents that will provide a more rapid response as well as a higher level of emergency medical care.

As a representative, Swift would focus on ensuring her neighbors have access to affordable healthcare, reducing the cost of prescription medications, and preventing and treating opioid addiction. She is also interested in issues related to food sovereignty, supporting Maine’s small family farms, and dealing with the threat imposed by PFAS (or forever chemicals). Regarding the environment, Swift notes observable changes that concern her. Due to drought, there have been years where she’s had to start feeding her sheep hay in August instead of December because the grass didn’t grow back after the first round of grazing. This dramatically increases the cost of production. Also, milder winters mean more ticks in the spring and fall resulting in a higher risk of contracting tick-borne diseases, not just for people, but for horses, cattle, and dogs as well. And Brown-tailed moths, the new scourge, are negatively impacting both quality of life and businesses—especially those involving tourism.

“In my previous work as a physician, and now as a member of the select board, I have a proven record of working effectively with people from all walks of life,” Swift said. “As a candidate, my goal is to help create and pass legislation that will lead to healthy, fulfilling lives for my fellow Mainers.”

Swift, who has qualified for the ballot, is running as a Clean Elections candidate.

LETTERS: Happy to support Smith

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To the editor:

I am happy to write to support Katrina Smith for State Representative for District #62 China, Hibberts Gore, Palermo, Somerville and Windsor. Katrina brings a true passion for conservative values to this race with a deep understanding of the issues facing Maine. As the chairman of the Waldo County Republicans she tirelessly worked to engage with constituents and educated them on legislation within the state house. Over the past three years Katrina has spoken often and boldly against the policies that threatened the well-being of the people of Maine.

I’ve worked with Katrina for a few years and when Katrina says she will get things done you can absolutely count on her.

Anne Kurek
Palermo

China select board wraps up “almost final” warrant

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by Mary Grow

CHINA, ME — China Select Board members put the warrant for the June 14 annual town business meeting in almost-final form at a two-hour special meeting April 4.

The draft document they came up with has 37 articles and a potential 38th. Most are requests for voters to act on proposed 2022-23 expenditures and town policies.

Art. 37 asks if voters will approve a solar moratorium ordinance (see The Town Line, March 31, p. 3). Select board members debated whether to present it, because three of the five do not want a moratorium.

A majority consisting of Chairman Ronald Breton, Jeanne Marquis and Janet Preston voted to leave the question on the warrant and let voters decide. Breton then joined Blane Casey and Wayne Chadwick in recommending that voters reject the moratorium.

(The “Large Scale Solar Facilities Moratorium Ordinance” is not the “Solar Energy Systems Ordinance” that is on the China website, but an ordinance that would prohibit new commercial solar systems until the “Solar Energy Systems Ordinance” is in place to regulate their installation. The moratorium ordinance was not on the website as of April 5.)

Proposed Art. 38 would ask voters to approve China’s updated comprehensive plan. Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood had just received notice of state approval. Voter approval requires a public hearing, and Hapgood needed to make sure there is time to meet state-required deadlines for the hearing, with appropriate notification, before adding the warrant article.

Select board members intend to prepare and sign a final warrant for June 14 at their regular meeting, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 11, in the town office meeting room.

The June 14 town business meeting will be by written ballot, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the former portable classroom behind the town office.

China budget committee holds final spring meeting

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by Mary Grow

CHINA, ME — China Budget Committee members held their final spring 2022 meeting on March 31, rediscussing a few of the proposed 2022-23 expenditures and making recommendations on warrant articles.

Ultimately, budget committee members changed only one proposed figure. At Elizabeth Curtis’ suggestion, and on a split vote, they recommended reducing the contingency fund appropriation from $123,80 to $88,290.

When select board members reviewed the draft warrant at their April 4 special meeting, they unanimously accepted the lower figure.

Curtis insisted that funds will not be needed to cover increased health insurance costs if a town employee with a policy covering only him – or herself leaves and is replaced by an employee who elects more expensive family coverage. The gap in salary while the position is unfilled and, if necessary, leeway in other expenditure lines should be adequate, she said.

Budget committee members also advised voters to reject one proposed expenditure. The list of projects to be funded with federal ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) money includes buying a portable speed control sign that Hapgood said could also be used for announcements, like a road closing.

The amount proposed is $20,000. Hapgood had found two signs to consider, so far; one was 45 by 80 inches and solar-powered, the other 48 by 96 inches with batteries.

Only Curtis and Trishea Story supported the expenditure. Committee chairman Thomas Rumpf, Kevin Maroon and Michael Sullivan voted against it and Timothy Basham abstained.

Five other proposed ARPA expenditures got unanimous support: $20,000 for two new generators for the town office complex; $38,000 for 911 identifying numbers on each house; $33,000 for a digital sign on Route 32 South, shared with the South China volunteer fire department; and $5,000 for future senior events and activities – maybe a bus trip, Hapgood suggested.

Curtis cast the only “no” vote on the recommendation for $15,212 from ARPA funds for extra pay for town employees who worked through the pandemic.

Sullivan asked whether putting up the 911 numbers would be mandatory, thinking of homeowners who might object on aesthetic grounds. Hapgood, thinking of the need for emergency personnel to find the right address in a hurry, said no; but if only most houses were visibly numbered, it would be helpful.

On an earlier article, Sullivan pointed out that the proposed cemetery budget of $49,500 is a substantial increase over the current year and more than double the $24,000 appropriated in fiscal year 2020-21.

There has been an unusual amount of tree damage from storms, and the cost of mowing will go up, replied Curtis, who is a member of China’s Cemetery Committee. Hapgood added stone repairs and the plan to hire a summer intern to catalog and photograph graves and create a computer file.

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Wars – Part 13

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Capt. James Parnell Jones (left), Capt. Charles W. Billings (right)

by Mary Grow

Civil War

Henry Kingsbury lists four men who served in “the late war” in the personal paragraphs in his chapter on Benton in the 1892 Kennebec County history.

Stephen H. Abbott enlisted from Winslow and served six months with the 19th Maine; he moved to Benton in 1872 and served as postmaster from 1890 and for three years as a selectman.

Gershom Tarbell was in the 19th Maine for three years. Albion native Augustine Crosby was in the 3rd Maine, credited to Benton. Hiram B. Robinson was in Pennsylvania when the war started and enlisted from there not once but twice; he fought in 37 battles and returned to Benton in 1865.

Kingsbury does not mention Benton-born Frank H. Haskell (1843-1903), described in on-line sources as enlisting in Waterville June 4, 1861, when he was 18. Sergeant-Major Haskell was promoted to first lieutenant in the 3rd Maine Infantry after being cited for heroism during the June 1, 1862, Battle of Fair Oaks (also called the Battle of Seven Pines) in Virginia. His action, for which he received a Medal of Honor, is summarized as taking command of part of his regiment after all senior officers were killed or wounded and leading it “gallantly” in a significant stream crossing.

Another Civil War soldier from the central Kennebec Valley who was awarded the Medal of Honor was Private John F. Chase, from Chelsea, who enlisted in Augusta and served in the 5th Battery, Maine Light Artillery. As the May 3, 1863, battle at Chancellorsville, Virginia, wound down, Chase and one other survivor continued firing their gun after other batteries stopped and, since the horses were dead, dragged the gun away by themselves to keep it from the Confederates.

Grave of Horatio Farrington

At least 40 China residents died of wounds or disease, including, the China bicentennial history says, the five oldest of Mary and Ezekiel Farrington’s seven sons. Horatio, age 27, Charles, 25, Reuben, 20, Byron, 19 and Gustavus, 18, died between June 1, 1861, and Oct. 30, 1864.

Records do not show how many Civil War veterans were permanently disabled, the author commented. She retold the story told to her by Eleon M. Shuman of Weeks Mills about Jesse Hatch, from Deer Hill in southeastern China, who (for an unknown reason) fought for the South and came home so disfigured from a powder magazine explosion “that his appearance frightened the neighborhood children, but his friendly words and gifts of apples made him less terrifying.”

One of China’s best-known Civil War soldiers was Eli and Sybil Jones’ oldest son, Captain James Parnell Jones. As the author of the China history pointed out, pacificism is a central Quaker tenet, but in 1861 some Quakers decided ending slavery and maintaining the Union outweighed religious upbringing.

She quoted from the Jones genealogy an account of James Jones (who was 23, married with one son) and his 18-year-old unmarried brother Richard at a troop-raising event.

“Richard immediately raised his hand when the call came but James walked over to his brother, pulled down the raised arm and slowly raised his own. ‘Thee’s too young, Richard.’ ”

Jones was in the 7th Maine, first a company captain and from December 1863 a regimental major, as the troops fought in Virginia and at Gettysburg. In 1864, in the Battle of the Wilderness, he allegedly replied to a demand to surrender his embattled regiment with, “All others may go back, but the Seventh Maine, never!”

Jones was killed in the fighting around Fort Stevens July 11 and 12, 1864, as the 7th Maine helped defend Washington.

From Clinton, Kingsbury listed Daniel B. Abbott, born in Winslow, who served in the 19th Maine until June 1865 and after the war bought a farm in Clinton and became commander and grand master of Billings Post, G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic, the Civil War veterans’ organization that was disbanded in 1956 after the last member died).

The post was named to honor Captain Charles Wheeler Billings (Dec. 13, 1824 – July 15, 1863), Company C, 20th Maine, who was wounded in the left knee July 2, 1863, at the Battle of Little Round Top and died in a field hospital.

Clinton’s Brown Memorial Library website and a “Central Maine Morning Sentinel” article found on line describe the June 6, 2015, rededication of Clinton’s Civil War monument and the monument at Billings’ gravesite in Riverview Cemetery. The newspaper quotes speaker Bruce Keezer, then President of the Friends of Brown Memorial Library, as saying Clinton had a total population of 1,600 in the early 1860s; 252 men enlisted and 32 died.

The website says Billings was the highest-ranking 20th Maine officer to die at Little Round Top.

Billings left a widow, Ellen (Hunter) Billings, whose 30th birthday was July 1, 1863, and two daughters: Isadore Margaret, born in 1850, and Elizabeth W., or Lizzie, born in 1860. Another daughter, Alice, born in 1856, had died in 1860; and Elizabeth died Dec. 7, 1863. Isadore died in 1897, the day after her 47th birthday. Ellen lived until 1924.

Also from Clinton, according to Kingsbury, were Isaac Bingham, Rev. Francis P. Furber, Joseph Frank Rolfe and Laforest Prescott True.

Bingham had gone to California in 1852; he came home in 1861 and served two years with the 1st Maine Cavalry. After the war he moved back and forth between his Clinton farm and California.

Furber, a Winslow native who moved to Clinton in 1845, served in the 19th Maine for three years. A wound received May 6, 1864, “destroyed the use of one arm,” Kingsbury wrote. He was ordained a Freewill Baptist minister Sept. 27, 1885, after serving as a minister in Clinton and nearby towns since 1875.

Rolfe, born in Fairfield of parents who moved to Clinton when he was about three, served in the 2nd Maine Cavalry from 1863 to the end of the war. True was in the 20th Maine from 1862 to 1865 and was wounded twice.

Fairfield’s Civil War monument is one of the oldest in Maine, according to the town’s bicentennial history. The writers noted that its dedication day, July 4, 1868, was a scorching Saturday: the temperature reached 105 degrees in the shade.

Soldiers came from all over Maine. Ceremonies included a parade; cannon salutes; speeches, including one by Governor (former General) Joshua Chamberlain; dinner prepared by townswomen and served “in the old freight depot”; and a baseball game with a final score of 60 to 40 (the history does not record the names of the teams).

“The day was not without its tragedy,” the history says. A veteran named William Ricker, who had survived the war unscathed, lost a hand when one of the cannons went off too soon. Chamberlain promptly canceled the remaining salutes.

Kingsbury found that one of Sidney’s soldiers, Mulford Baker Reynolds (Aug. 5, 1843 – Aug. 3, 1937) served in Company C of the 1st Maine Cavalry from August 1862 to July 1865, “and spent about six months in Andersonville prison” in Georgia.

Reynolds married Ella F. Leighton on Nov. 23, 1881, according to an on-line source. Kingsbury wrote that in 1892 Reynolds was farming his family place in Sidney and he and Ella had four children.

Among the many Vassalboro men whose personal paragraphs in Kingsbury’s history list Civil War service is Edwin C. Barrows (April 2, 1842 – April 20, 1918). Educated at Waterville and Bowdoin colleges, he enlisted Nov. 19, 1863, in the 2nd Maine Cavalry.

Transferred in June 1865, he became second lieutenant (but acted as adjutant, the officer who assists the commander with administration, Kingsbury wrote) of the 86th U.S.C.T. (United States Colored Troops), serving until he was discharged April 10, 1866.

After the war, Barrows got a law degree from Albany Law School in January 1867 and practiced four years in Nebraska City, Nebraska. He married Laura Alden (Sept. 5, 1842 – Dec. 19, 1909) and returned to Vassalboro in 1872. By 1892, he had been a supervisor of schools in 1882 and 1883 and since then a selectman, “being chairman since 1887.”

Edwin and Laura Barrows are buried under a single headstone in Vassalboro’s Nichols Cemetery.

Vassalboro’s G.A.R. Post was named in honor of Richard W. Mullen of the 14th Maine, one of 410 Vassalboro Civil War soldiers, Alma Pierce Robbins wrote in her town history. After the war, town meeting voters appropriated money to the G.A.R.’s Women’s Relief Corps for Memorial Day services and veterans’ grave markers. The Post disbanded in 1942 and the appropriation was transferred to Vassalboro’s American Legion Post and Auxiliary.

The Waterville G.A.R. Post, chartered Dec. 29, 1874, was named in honor of William S. Heath, who was killed in action at Gaines Mill, Virginia, on June 27, 1862. The first post commander was General Francis E. Heath, the second General I. S. Bangs. Francis Heath was almost certainly William Heath’s brother (variously identified as Frank Edw. and Francis E.; died in Waterville in December 1897), I. S. Bangs the author of the military history chapter in Edwin Whittemore’s Waterville history.

Ernest Marriner added information on William Heath’s life in “Kennebec Yesterdays”. In 1849, he wrote, Heath was 15 and “somewhat tubercular”; his father, Solyman, thought a trip to the goldfields in California would be good for him.

Young Heath “did survive the rigors of the terrible trip across plains and mountains, worked a while in a San Francisco store, then shipped off to China, from which distant land the anxious father soon had him returned through the intercession of the United States government.”

Back in Waterville, Heath graduated from Waterville College in 1853. When the 3rd Maine’s Company H was formed in Waterville in April 1861, Heath was captain and his brother Francis/Frank was first lieutenant. By the time of his death, William Heath was a lieutenant colonel in the 5th Maine Infantry, Marriner wrote. Francis ended the war as a colonel in the 19th Maine, according to Bangs.

Linwood Lowden, in his Windsor history, wrote that Charles J. Carrol, one of seven Windsor men who fought in the Battle of Gettysburg July 2-4, 1863, was mortally wounded. Three more Windsor men, George H. B. Barton, George W. Chapman and George W. Merrill, were killed May 6, 1864, in the Battle of the Wilderness.

Windsor’s Vining G.A.R. Post, organized June 2, 1884, was named to honor Marcellus Vining. Post members met every Saturday night in the G.A. R. Hall, which was the upper story of the town house, Lowden said.

At an 1886, meeting, “a Mr. Bangs presented a picture of Marcellus Vining” to the organization. Kingsbury added that the Vining family donated Marcellus Vining’s army sword, “his life-size portrait and an elegant flag.”

Lowden believed Vining Post continued “well into the twentieth century.” Windsor voters helped fund the G.A.R., usually at $15 a year, he wrote. In 1929, however, “$30.00 was appropriated for G.A.R. Memorial and paid to the Sons of Veterans.”

Kingsbury wrote that Vining was born on the family homestead on May 2, 1842, third child and oldest son of Daniel Vining by his first wife, Sarah Esterbrooks of Oldtown (Daniel and Sarah had three daughters and three sons; after Sarah’s death, Daniel married Eliza Choat, and they had six more daughters).

On Jan. 25, 1862, Marcellus Vining became a private in the 7th Maine. He served for two years, during which his “ability and courage” (Kingsbury) earned him two promotions. On Jan. 4, 1864, he re-enlisted in a reorganized 7th Maine. On March 9 he was made second lieutenant of Company A, and on April 21 made first lieutenant. On May 12 he was wounded at Spottsylvania, Virginia; he died a week later.

“A captain’s commission was on its way from Washington to him, but too late to give to the brave soldier his richly earned promotion,” Kingsbury wrote.

He continued with a paraphrase from a letter Vining, knowing he was dying, wrote to his father, saying it was better “to die in the defense of his country’s flag than live to see it disgraced.”

Kingsbury concluded: “Thus the oft-repeated tale—a bright, promising man with the blush of youth still on his cheek, willingly laid down his life to preserve that of his country.”

Main sources

Fairfield Historical Society, Fairfield, Maine 1788-1988 (1988)
Grow, Mary M., China Maine Bicentennial History including 1984 revisions (1984)
Kingsbury, Henry D., ed., Illustrated History of Kennebec County Maine 1625-1892 (1892)
Lowden, Linwood H., good Land & fine Contrey but Poor roads a history of Windsor, Maine (1993)
Marriner, Ernest, Kennebec Yesterdays (1954)
Robbins, Alma, Pierce History of Vassalborough Maine 1771 1971 n.d. (1971)
Whittemore, Rev. Edwin Carey, Centennial History of Waterville 1802-1902 (1902)

Websites, miscellaneous

China planners shift gears on ordinance amendments

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by Mary Grow

CHINA, ME — China Planning Board members have abandoned their plan to have three ordinance amendments presented to voters at the June 14 town business meeting.

After hearing objections and suggestions at a March 22 public hearing, they voted unanimously to leave the record open for written comments for two weeks and to reconsider parts of the proposed changes.

Their next chance for a town vote will be Nov. 8.

The proposed changes are to Chapter Two of the China Land Use Ordinance, which includes the principal regulations; Chapter 11 of the ordinance, definitions; and Chapter Eight, now unused, slated to become a “Solar Energy Systems Ordinance.”

The ordinance sections are on the town website, china.govoffice.com, under the Elections tab.

Comments on the draft documents should be emailed to codes officer Jaime Hanson at ceo@chinamaine.org, or mailed or delivered to the town office, 571 Lakeview Drive, China ME 04358, marked Att. CEO. Comments must be received by Friday, April 8.

Most of the Chapter Two changes are required by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which has so far given China’s ordinance only conditional approval. Chapter 11 changes are partly DEP requirements and partly for the new solar ordinance. Board members added Chapter Eight to define standards specifically for solar panels.

Most of the discussion at the hearing was over lot coverage by man-made constructs. State and town ordinances limit the percentage of a lot that can be covered. In China, the limit is 15 percent in three protected zones, shoreland (the focus of the discussion), stream protection and resource protection, and 20 percent in the rural zone.

Specifically, China’s ordinance has said for years that no more than 15 percent of a lot in the shoreland zone can be covered by “structures of all types.” It adds that “Impervious surfaces, driveways, parking areas, etc. do not apply to lot coverage.”

DEP required the last sentence be eliminated. The proposed new wording says, “non-vegetated surfaces shall not exceed a total of fifteen (15%) percent of the portion of the lot located within the shoreland zone. For the purposes of calculating lot coverage, non-vegetated surfaces include, but are not limited to the following: structures, driveways, parking areas, and other areas from which vegetation has been removed.”

The point of the limit is to minimize run-off into water bodies from development that pre-dates land use ordinances. Because of its history of poor water quality, China Lake is of particular concern.

The owner of a shoreland lot whose impervious surfaces (including structures) reach or exceed 15 percent cannot expand them. The proposed change, if approved by town voters as it stands, would increase the amount of a lot already covered, since driveways and parking areas would count.

The increase in lot coverage, said residents Brent Chesley and Michael “Mickey” Wing, would mean people who planned to add a deck or a patio or a car-cover would have to abandon their plan. Wing added that the effect might be the opposite of protective; for example, if someone wanted to move a garage farther away from the water, with a longer driveway, the driveway, and hence the relocation, might no longer be allowable.

Speakers said that China’s lot coverage requirements are stricter than the state’s. State regulations allow up to 20 percent in protected districts and 30 percent in rural districts, they said. They agreed that protecting China Lake’s water quality is necessary, environmentally and to maintain property values and the town’s tax base.

Former codes officer Scott Pierz pointed to difficulties deciding what an impervious area is. For example, does a woodpile count?

Depends, Planning Board Chairman Scott Rollins replied. If it sits in the same place for years, it should, but a temporary woodpile shouldn’t. Leaving some things to the codes officer’s discretion is unavoidable, in his opinion.

Chesley and others suggested other issues planning board members should address – for example, Chesley found a direct contradiction between two ordinance sections that had not been addressed. He objected both to the shoreland restrictions and to the 20 percent maximum lot coverage requirement in the rural area, recommending an increase to 30 percent.

China Lake Association President Stephen Greene commended planning board members for their hard work and transparency. He considers the balance between development and lake protection difficult to determine and maintain; there is “no perfect solution,” he said.

Other speakers asked whether the planning board should have given two weeks’ notice of the public hearing, and whether the town attorney had reviewed the proposed ordinances. Codes Officer Jaime Hanson said China ordinances do not require notice for this type of hearing. Rollins said if Town Attorney Amanda Meader has not reviewed all proposed changes, she will be asked to before they are deemed final.

A digression onto septic systems in the shoreland led to Hanson saying that a recent Maine law requires a septic system inspection as a condition of any transfer of ownership. Not even all realtors are aware of the requirement yet, he said; and it applies to all transfers, not just to sales.

The next regular China Planning Board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 12.