China transfer station accepting recycling

Recycling is now open at China Transfer Station. (photo: Town of China Facebook page)

In a press release from China Town Manager Dennis Heath, “If you didn’t see it on the town’s Facebook page and website, the Transfer Station resumed recycling on June 16. We plead with the public to be patient during the transition and to please comply with directions of the Transfer Station attendants. We anticipate there will be a mad rush to empty our storage locations at home, but hope folks will practice moderation and bring a little each day, rather than all at once.”

Becky Hapgood appointed to succeed Heath as China town manager

New town manager Becky Hapgood. (Photo by Roland D. Hallee)

by Mary Grow

At a short June 8 meeting, China selectmen approved public notices of two informational hearings that will precede the July 14 written-ballot town business meeting, and appointed Rebecca “Becky” Hapgood to succeed Dennis Heath as town manager and to fill Heath’s other positions.

[See also: Becky Hapgood honored for 25 years service to China]

The hearings will be at 7 p.m. Sunday, June 14, in the cafeteria at Erskine Academy, on Windsor Road (Route 32 South), in South China, and at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 30, in the town office meeting room on Lakeview Drive. Heath and selectmen will explain the warrant articles, which mostly ask voters to approve the recommended 2020-21 budget, and answer questions.

Heath said no more than 50 people will be allowed at each meeting, and they will be expected to practice social distancing. The meetings will also be available as zoom webinars in which people can participate on line and will be broadcast on the town office livestream system.

The June 8 selectmen’s meeting was an example of combining personal presence with distance participation and viewing. Heath and four of the five selectmen, all masked, sat on either side of a long table, separated by plexiglass screens down the middle. A fifth selectman joined via Zoom; and the meeting was live-streamed. Hapgood, also masked, participated from the audience.

Hapgood will become town manager on July 19, when Heath’s resignation is effective. The manager and his wife plan to return to Oklahoma to be near Heath’s mother.

Hapgood also becomes China’s treasurer and tax collector, beginning July 1 with the new fiscal year. The other positions to which she succeeds are ex officio member of all boards and committees; road commissioner; overseer of the poor; Civil Emergency Preparedness director; and public access officer. (State law requires each municipality to designate a public access officer to respond to requests for public records.)

In other business June 8:

  • Selectmen unanimously approved continuing with Purdy Powers & Company, of Portland, as China’s auditors. Heath said company employees planned to begin work in July.
  • Heath reviewed revenues and expenditures for the first 11 months of the 2019-20 fiscal years and concluded China is in good shape. Revenues have not fallen dangerously, and expenditures are where they should be with the fiscal year almost over. Property tax payments are on the same level as this time last year, the manager said, and a dramatic April decline in vehicle excise taxes was reversed in May.

The next regular China selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 22.

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: China Lake

A bathing beach on the Causeway, at the Head of the Lake, across from the China Baptist Church. (photo from the Bicentennial History)

by Mary Grow

China Lake is an important area resource for year-round recreation; drinking water in municipalities served by the Waterville-based Kennebec Water District; and, given the high value of waterfront property, taxes for the Town of China.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS), on an undated (but later than 2006) website, says China Lake has an area of 3,845 acres. The Maine Lake Stewards website puts the area at 3,949 acres. Other sites translate the acres to 6.155 square miles or 1,594 hectares.

The USGS and the Lake Stewards agree on a maximum depth of 85 feet, which the USGS says is in the circular west basin, which is mostly in Vassalboro. The long, narrow east basin has a maximum depth of 50 feet, according to the USGS.

There are five mapped islands in China Lake. Bradley Island in the west basin is owned by the Town of China. In the northern half of the east basin, from north to south, are: Green or Bailey on the west, almost side by side with Moody or Teconnet on the east, both privately owned; the privately-owned island listed on China tax maps as John Jones Island; and tiny Round or Indian, owned by the China Baptist Church. Pastor Ronald Morrell says the church welcomes visits to Indian Island by groups and individuals who are respectful of the environment.

The east basin is surrounded by private homes, year-round and seasonal, many on lots covering a fraction of an acre and with 100 feet or less of water frontage. For comparison, standards in China’s current land use ordinance require a minimum 40,000 square foot lot (one acre is 43,560 square feet), at least 200 feet of shore frontage and space to set buildings at least 100 feet from the high-water line. Lots and buildings that don’t meet contemporary standards may continue as they are, but cannot be enlarged or otherwise changed (with a few exceptions).

The Kennebec Water District owns most of the shoreland around China Lake’s west basin in Vassalboro and western China and keeps it undeveloped to protect water quality.

[See also: The history of the Kennebec Water District]

As noted in the May 28 story about the town of China, the area around the lake was first surveyed and settled in 1775. The China Maine Bicentennial History including 1984 revisions (1984) says numerous varieties of fish supplied food for early settlers and still support a year-round recreational fishery. Before electric refrigerators became common in the early 1900s, local residents cut ice from the lake for personal iceboxes.

Like rivers, lakes are transportation avenues summer and winter. The Bicentennial History mentions a ferry connecting the end of Neck Road with South China in the 1850s. From the 1880s to the 1920s, commercial boats offered lake tours. Piers were built outside China Village and in South China and East Vassalboro. The long China Village pier, known as the clubhouse pier, had a shelter with benches at the end.

Boats’ stopping places included a dance pavilion near the shore in South China and Bradley’s Island. The Bicentennial History says in February 1879 the Maine legislature gave Albert M. Bradley, owner of the Revere House, in East Vassalboro, a 10-year exclusive right to operate passenger steamboats on the lake. He and his son, William Bradley, owned the steamboat Una and by the 1890s had built an amusement park with outdoor games and a 100-seat dining room on Bradley’s Island.

The last of China Lake’s big commercial boats, the Bicentennial History says, was Everett Farnsworth’s 35-foot Frieda. For about 10 summers, beginning in 1909, the Frieda made twice-daily trips starting in China Village and visiting South China and East Vassalboro. The schedule was regular enough that lakeside residents could hail Farnsworth as he went by and get a ride.

In the winter, China Lake was a highway for sleighs and later automobiles, as it is now for snowmobiles. The Bicentennial History includes an anecdote attributed to a native: two early vehicles, Model T Fords or contemporaries, collided in mid-lake on a clear winter day with no other traffic to distract their drivers.

Summer residents began arriving in the 1880s and 1890s. Early clusters of summer homes were around South China and off Neck Road, the Bicentennial History says; most summer places along the east shore were built in the 1920s and 1930s.

The Bicentennial History says the first children’s summer camp on China Lake was Camp Teconnet for Girls, founded in 1911 on Moody or Teconnet Island by Massachusetts residents who also ran a boys’ camp in Unity. Camp Teconnet operated until 1925. Campers and staff patronized the general store in China Village, and every summer they presented an evening’s entertainment in the village to benefit a local cause.

The co-ed Friends Camp opened in 1953 and is still in operation under the auspices of the New England Yearly Meeting of Friends. It started in the historic Pond Meeting House, built in 1807 and used for services until 1915. New buildings were added on the Lakeview Drive property from the 1950s on, plus a bathhouse on the Friends’ lakeshore lot where campers and staff take part in water activities.

Frederick Hussey founded Camp Abenakis (1929-1939) for boys on the Pond Road (Lakeview Drive) about three miles south of China Village. The Bicentennial History describes camp activities, based on an interview with Hussey.

China’s second religious camp is on Neck Road across the lake from the Friends Camp, using the grounds and buildings of the former China Baptist Conference Center. According to the history on the China Lake Camp website, the United Baptist Convention of Maine bought a former farm in 1961 and in 1962 opened the China Area Baptist Camp. Buildings were added over the years, but the property never became the year-round destination conference center its founders envisioned. Since 2008 it has been a Christian summer camp hosting different age levels and interest groups at different times.

Farther south on Neck Road, another boys’ camp, Bel-bern, was started in the 1930s by Saul Greenfield, from New York, who built most of the buildings and furniture. After Greenfield’s death about 1950, the camp closed. In 1956 Warren and Doris Huston, from Massachusetts, reopened it as Camp Ney-a-ti and, according to Doris Huston’s May 2005 obituary, ran it for 16 years. Camp Ney-a-ti was still operating in 1984, directed by Robert True and Bradford Harding. By then the property consisted of about 100 acres on both sides of Neck Road.

A yellow and black highway sign in a tree near Camp Ney-a-ti’s driveway read “Cool It.” The Bicentennial History explains that after the road was paved in 1963, traffic went faster; and after the directors built a ballfield on the west side of Neck Road, they worried about campers’ safety crossing the road. Conventional pedestrian warning signs were ineffective, but the Bicentennial History quotes Harding as saying the new sign didn’t merely slow motorists, it made them “back up to make sure they read what they thought they read.”

The Killdeer Lodge at it appeared in 2017, minus the roof over the porch which collapsed several years ago. Left, the lodge as it lays following its razing in October 2018. (Photo by Bob Bennett)

The Bicentennial History lists four former tourist businesses on the east shore of China Lake’s east basin. From north to south, they were: Willow Beach Camps, started in 1936, where the China Food Pantry is now located; Candlewood Camps, also started in 1936 as Cole’s and later Lakeview before it became Candlewood, probably in the 1950s; Killdeer Lodge, part of a recreational and development project started in 1929 on Lakeview Drive and Killdeer Point; and Cony Webber and George Starkey’s four lakeshore rental cabins opened in 1937, about opposite the present MAJEK seafood restaurant, on Lakeview Drive.

China Lake has no public swimming beach. In an effort to implement part of the town’s comprehensive plan, a Lake Access Committee developed a proposal to buy the former Candlewood Camps property. At the polls on Nov. 5, 2013, voters rejected spending $575,000 for the property by a vote of 314 in favor to 1,004 opposed.

The China Baptist Church at the head of the lake has a small waterfront park, which Pastor Morrell says welcomes courteous guests. The China Four Seasons Club owns a beach for its members part-way down the east shore.

There are two public boat launches, one at the head of the lake east of the causeway bridge and one in East Vassalboro south of the Civil War memorial. A former boat launch in South China is no longer maintained.

Main sources

China, Town of Miscellaneous town records
Grow, Mary M. “China Maine Bicentennial History including 1984 revisions” 1984
Web sites, miscellaneous.

China selectmen act on town manager resignation; summer work

by Mary Grow

In addition to acting on Town Manager Dennis Heath’s letter of resignation (see The Town Line, May 28), China selectmen used their May 26 virtual meeting to review bids received for summer work and award those they decided were necessary.

Heath had divided the bids into topics, as follows: materials, such as sand and gravel (one bidder); mowing, subdivided into cemeteries, ballfields and town properties (four bidders); and paving, subdivided into two categories, a per-ton price for asphalt and a price for chip seal (six bidders).

For materials, selectmen consulted Public Works Manager Shawn Reed, who said some of the bidder’s prices were “pretty decent” but others above current market prices. Board members voted unanimously to reject the bid and in future not to ask for materials bids, but let Reed shop.

For mowing, selectmen rejected bids from one out-of-town contractor, with appreciation for his interest, and awarded all three mowing jobs to low China bidder Colby Rumpf, doing business as Rumpf’s Backyard Services.

They awarded the contract for asphalt paving to Pike Industries, next to lowest bidder, recommended by Heath and endorsed by Selectman and contractor Wayne Chadwick.

Selectmen awarded the chip seal contract to All States. Heath said the process will be used on part of South Road, outside Weeks Mills village. Chip seal, he explained, lays a protective coating over a paved road that should make the paving last longer.

Reed said using chip seal has been discussed for two or three years, as he began hearing that other towns had tried it with good results. It needs to be applied on a very smooth road, he said, and China has lacked suitable roads.

Heath assured selectmen chip seal is not the same as the fog sealant that the state highway department tried in Rome in the fall of 2019, which was said to have made the road slippery and caused accidents.

The only other decision selectmen made May 26, besides the usual bill-paying, was to approve installation of a holding tank to replace a malfunctioning cesspool at a Fire Road 49 property. Codes Officer Bill Butler said he had approved; state approval is also needed.

The next China selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 8. As of May 26, Heath and selectmen plan an open meeting in the town office meeting room.

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: China

China Village, circa 1914. (Archive photos)

by Mary Grow

The Town of China lies north of Windsor and west of Vassalboro. Much of the town is in the watershed of China Lake, a major influence in the town’s history. Two of the town’s four villages, China Village and South China, lie at opposite ends of the lake’s east basin. The other two, Branch Mills and Weeks Mills, are on the West Branch of the Sheepscot River in eastern China, upstream of Windsor.

China Lake consists of two basins connected by a short strait called The Narrows. The long, narrow east basin runs from the northern end of town about two-thirds of the way to the Windsor line. The irregular circle that is the west basin extends westward into Vassalboro.

The Kennebec Proprietors, who have been mentioned earlier in this series, owned a vast tract on both sides of the Kennebec River. In 1773, they sent John “Black” Jones and Abraham Burrill (or Burrell) to begin surveying the area that became China.

Like earlier surveys along the Kennebec, the Jones-Burrill plan shows rectangular lots starting from the water on both sides of China Lake (then called Twelve Mile Pond, because it was 12 miles from Fort Western in Augusta). In the south end of town, similar lots ran east from the shore of Three Mile Pond. Rangeways separated each tier of lots as the surveyors moved inland.

According to the China Bicentennial History (1975; revised edition 1984), Jones and Burrill started work in the fall of 1773 and finished in the spring of 1774. Jones spent the winter in Gardiner, where he knew the Clark family.

In the summer of 1774, two generations of Clarks and several other families settled around the southern part of China Lake. The Bicentennial History and Kingsbury’s Illustrated History of Kennebec County Maine 1625-1892 (1892) disagree on which Clark came first.

The Bicentennial History quotes from the diary of Benjamin Dow, who wrote on July 17 that he, one of the Clarks, a Burrill (perhaps Abraham), Job Chadwick and Michael Norton had felled the first tree in what they had named Jones Plantation.

The China Causeway at the Head of the Lake, heading west, circa 1914. (Archive photos)

Much of present-day China was settled, if sparsely, before 1800, according to the Bicentennial History and the sources it lists. Wards and Stanleys chose land west of the north end of the lake, toward northern Vassalboro, on Stanley (once Ward’s) Hill. The Wiggins family was apparently the earliest to choose land at the north end of the lake.

Joseph Evans was said to be the first settler in the backland east of China Lake, leaving his wife and family there while he served in the Revolutionary army. By 1802 Caleb Hanson was in the same area. Evans Pond and the Hanson Road that runs along its eastern shore are named after those families.

Farther east, along the West Branch of the Sheepscot River south of Branch Pond (which is mostly in Palermo), records list nine families who started the village called Branch Mills in 1790 or 1800. One of the Clark brothers was probably the first to settle at the south end of the lake, where South China Village developed. To the southwest, at Chadwick’s Corner (where the Arnold Road forks west off what is now Route 32 South or Windsor Road), Ichabod Chadwick was the earliest resident.

The southwestern part of town, now the Weeks Mills and Deer Hill area, seems not to have been settled until the early 1800s. The Bicentennial History says there were a sawmill and a gristmill in Weeks Mills by the fall of 1807, and lists several men surnamed Gray among Deer Hill residents in and after 1809.

Jones Plantation kept its name from 1774 until February 1796, when the Massachusetts General Court approved incorporating it as the town of Harlem. Ava Harriet Chadbourne says in her Maine Place Names and the Peopling of Its Towns that the name was taken from Harlem in the Netherlands, but she does not offer a reason or supporting evidence.

In 1796 Harlem’s north boundary line ran across China Lake south of the present town line. What is now northern China, including China Village, was part of the Freetown settlement, which became Fairfax in 1804 and is now Albion.

The town of China came into existence on Feb. 5, 1818, by act of the Massachusetts legislature. It consisted of the northern half of present-day China plus parts of Fairfax and Winslow, establishing the north boundary substantially where it is now. The southern half, from approximately the location of the current town office on Route 202 (Lakeview Drive) remained Harlem. Records do not show why the separation occurred.

The story of the naming of the town is well-known locally. Japheth C. Washburn, from China Village, represented the new town in the Massachusetts General Court, with instructions to have it named Bloomville. The representative from Bloomfield (which was separated from Canaan in 1814 and added to Skowhegan in 1862) objected that the similarity in names would confuse mail delivery. Washburn proposed China because it was the name of one of his favorite hymns.

The Bicentennial History says on Dec. 18, 1820, Harlem voters asked to become part of China. China did not want them; but town meeting votes and negotiations with legislators – after March 1820, Maine legislators – were unsuccessful. (A June 18, 1821, vote showed one China voter in favor of accepting Harlem and 81 opposed.) In January 1822 the two towns combined and China acquired most of its present dimensions. Harlem continued to elect town officers to close out town affairs for another six years.

The final significant boundary change was on the southeast, where the line between China and Palermo was redrawn in 1830, adding to China a long narrow triangle of land. The Bicentennial History quotes from the description of the new boundary between the two towns, which was also the line between Kennebec and Waldo counties, with its references to lot numbers, “the house of Joseph Hacker” and a beech tree on the north side of the road from Augusta to Belfast.

Each of China’s four villages was a commercial center for most of the 19th century and the first part of the 20th century. The Bi­cen­tennial History lists a wide variety of businesses. Unusual for such a small town, each village had at least one hotel. Probable reasons are roads and China Lake’s summer visitors.

In China Village at the north end of the lake, the hotel was in the building still standing (now a private residence) on the northeast corner of the intersection of Main Street, Causeway Street and Neck Road. The Bi­centennial History says the building dates from the 1820s and was a hotel until the mid-1940s. From 1827 to 1864, General Alfred Marshall was the innkeeper; the inn was a stagecoach stop. Marshall was born around 1797 in New Hampshire; he was a general in the state militia, a state representative for three years and from 1841 to 1843 representative from Maine’s sixth or seventh (depending on the source) district in the U. S. House of Representatives.

The 1907 and 1913 editions of the Maine Register or State Year-book also list the Starkey House in China, run by G. L. Starkey. In 1913, the Gordon House, operated by E. Gordon, was also listed.

South China is now bypassed by both main roads, Route 3 (Belfast Road) running roughly east-west from Augusta to Belfast and Route 202 (Lakeview Drive) coming south along the east shore of China Lake and intersecting with Route 3 and Route 32 (Windsor Road). In the 19th and first half of the 20th century the village surrounded a four-way intersection; incomplete records suggest it had at least two and perhaps four or five hotels.

The Bicentennial History and websites provide evidence of the South China House, in business by 1855 on Main Street east of the church, once run by Sabin Lewis; the J. R. Crossman Hotel in the southeast corner of the intersection by 1879, and an unnamed hotel in that location rumored to have a secret room where fugitive slaves were hidden in the 1850s; T. M. Jackson’s Jackson House in the early 1890s and the Whitehouse from at least 1907 to 1917, neither with a location provided; and a nameless 20th-century hotel on Weeks Mills Road east of Chadwick’s Corner.

Weeks Mills had one long-running hotel and apparently a second early in the 20th century. The Bicentennial History points out that the 1879 map shows the village at the intersection of west-to-east roads connecting Augusta to Belfast and south-to-north roads connecting Windsor and points south to China Village and points north.

Kingsbury writes the large hotel on the south side of Weeks Mills’ Main Street was started as a tavern around 1875, converted to a hotel by Alden McLaughlin, and in November 1887 sold to Abram McLaughlin, who still owned it in 1892. The Maine Register calls it the Weeks Mills House in 1882, the Union Park House in 1888 and 1890. The 1907 Register again lists the Weeks Mills House, run by Charles Chisam; the 1913 edition lists Frank Gardiner’s Lonsdale House and adds Joseph Segee’s Segee House, which reappears in the 1914 and 1915 editions.

In Branch Mills, the Bicentennial History refers in a footnote to the Shuman House, described as a wooden building that could accommodate 25 guests. The 1908 Maine Register lists Mrs. Nellie E. Shuman as the owner. It was one of many buildings burned in a fire that destroyed most of the village on June 26, 1908.

Main sources

Grow, Mary M. China Maine Bicentennial History including 1984 revisions 1984
Kingsbury, Henry D., ed. Illustrated History of Kennebec County Maine 1625-1892 1892

Web sites, miscellaneous

China planners approve second solar development

by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members have unanimously approved a second solar development by SunRaise Development LLC, this one on land leased from Daniel Ouellette on the south side of Route 3 (Belfast Road), near the China Area Wash and Dry.

The May 19 virtual planning board meeting began with a public hearing. No one from the public had signed in to speak at the hearing, and Codes Officer Bill Butler said he received no advance comments or questions.

Board members then compared SunRaise’s application to the criteria in China’s Land Use Ordinance and voted unanimously that the project met all requirements. They added conditions duplicating those in SunRaise’s earlier permit for a larger solar project off Route 32 South (Windsor Road): no more than three buildings on the site, no mowing before mid-July without prior approval (to protect ground-nesting birds) and provision of a surety bond.

SunRaise spokesman Lisa Vickers said the Route 3 project requires cutting trees taller than eight feet along the west boundary of the property. They will be replaced by native evergreens, she said, and the planning board specified native species only.

After board members completed action on the SunRaise application, Butler had two more questions for them.

The first was whether they had seen, or wanted to see, a draft ordinance regulating what are called hobby farms, non-commercial farm activities.

Butler said about two years ago a Hanson Road resident questioned the presence of multiple farm animals, including chickens and horses, on his neighbor’s property. Butler said former Codes Officer Paul Mitnik and Town Manager Dennis Heath drafted a hobby farms ordinance; neither of the two longest-serving planning board members, Toni Wall and Jim Wilkens, remembered seeing it.

Wall, acting chairman May 19 in Tom Miragliuolo’s absence, asked Butler to send copies of the draft to current board members for future discussion.

Butler’s second issue involved Amanda Gower’s Little Learners Child Development Center, on Tyler Road. The facility has a town license for 49 children, he said; pre-pandemic enrollment was 75. It appears that 75 children will not exceed space, septic tank capacity or any other standard; but the state threatens to revoke Gower’s state license unless she is in conformity with the town license.

Butler’s question to board members was whether Gower needs to file a complete re-application for the expansion in enrollment. Board members agreed unanimously that she did. They plan to review an application at their June 9 meeting if Gower submits it in time.

Scaled back Memorial Day observances in central Maine

On Memorial Day, members of American Legion Post #126, in Vassalboro, went to each veteran monument and bridge on Oak Grove Road, placed a wreath and played taps. Pictured, from left to right, James Kilbride, Kevin Labrie, Robert Whitehouse and Donald Breton. (photo courtesy of Rachel Kilbride)

With official Memorial Day ceremonies canceled in Fairfield, several people still gathered to honor the fallen heroes at the veterans monuments in Maplewood Cemetery and Fairfield Memorial Park as well as at the river. Pictured, from left to right, are Joshua Fournier who led a prayer while Emily Rowden Fournier, who organized the event, laid wreaths. Army veteran Margaret May Lambert served as colorguard. UMO student Nathanael Batson played taps with LHS band director Loren Fields (not in photo). Chris Batson, pictured, was in attendance with his entire family along with Joe Rowden, back, and several community members. (photo by Lyn Rowden)

China town manager resigns

Retiring China town manager Dennis Heath

by Mary Grow

China Town Manager Dennis Heath submitted his resignation to selectmen at their May 26 meeting, “with a heavy but grateful heart.” He asked that it become effective July 18, after the planned July 14 written-ballot town business meeting.

Heath exp­lained that because his mother in Oklahoma is in declining health, he and his wife Mary want to fulfill their longstanding commitment to be with her as her life winds down.

Selectmen unanimously accepted the resignation, with regret. They also accepted Heath’s recommendation that Town Clerk Becky Hapgood be appointed interim manager, effective July 18. They then voted to seek a legal opinion on whether they are required to advertise the position, and if there is no legal or other impediment to hire Hapgood as Heath’s full-time successor, it would become effective July 19.

Hapgood, participating in the virtual meeting, said she would be honored to accept the position.

Heath was hired to succeed Daniel L’Heureux in mid-May 2018 and became town manager when L’Heureux retired June 30, 2018.

Erskine Academy announces top 10 seniors Class of 2020

Erskine 2020 top ten seniors, from left to right, TOP: Sarah Jarosz, Hunter Praul, Miina Raag-Schmidt, Summer Hotham, Lyndsie Pelotte; BOTTOM: Ben Lavoie, Lucy Allen, Jordan Linscott, Dominic Smith, Richard Winn.

Valedictorian is Sarah Jarosz

Erskine Academy has announced the Class of 2020 Top Ten Seniors.

Valedictorian is Sarah Jarosz, daughter of Karen and James Jarosz, of Fairfield. Throughout her four years at Erskine, Sarah has participated in such activities as National Honor Society, LEO Club, Student Council, the HOPE Club (Helping Others Persevere at Erskine), Tennis, Prom Committee, and she has completed nearly 150 hours of community service projects. Sarah has received high honor roll distinction every trimester, awards of excellence in the areas of English, Social Studies, French, US History, and PreCalculus, and she is a Renaissance Senior of the Trimester award recipient. In addition, Sarah also received the Bausch & Lomb Honorary Science Award and she is a Maine Principal’s Association Award recipient. Sarah plans to attend Colby College, in Waterville, to study mathematics and dance.

Salutatorian is Hunter Praul, son of Erika and Darryl Praul, of China. Hunter is a member of National Honor Society and he has participated in such activities as AFS (American Field Service), Chess Club, the EA Theater Club, and he has completed 150 hours of community service projects. A student who has received high honor roll distinction every trimester, Hunter has received awards of excellence in the areas of English and Physics, and he has received a Renaissance Senior of the Trimester award. Hunter plans to attend the University of Maine where he will major in biology.

Third in academic standing is Miina Raag-Schmidt, daughter of Tarja Raag and Michael Schmidt, of Vassalboro. Miina is a member of such activities as the EA Theater Club, Math Team, the Breakfast Book Club, and the Gay/Straight/Transgender Alliance (GSTA) Club. Miina has received high honor roll distinction every trimester, awards of excellence in the areas of English, Spanish, and Advanced Art, and she has received a Renaissance Senior of the Trimester award. Miina plans to attend Lesley University with an undeclared major.

Fourth in academic standing is Summer Hotham, daughter of Heide and Charles Hotham, of Palermo. Summer is a member of National Honor Society and she has participated in such activities as the EA Leadership Team, Yearbook, Prom Committee, Soccer, Basketball, and Softball, and she has completed over 300 hours of community service projects. Summer is a four year high honor roll student, she has received awards of excellence in English, Spanish, and Health, and she has received Renaissance Recognition and Senior of the Trimester awards. Summer plans to attend Thomas College to pursue studies in the area of accounting.

Fifth in academic standing is Lyndsie Pelotte, daughter of Shasta and Jerad Pelotte, of China. Lyndsie is a member of National Honor Society and she has been a participant of Student Council, the EA Leadership Team, the LEO Club, Prom Committee, and she has completed nearly 220 hours of community service projects. Lyndsie was a recipient of the SWE Certificate of Merit, she has received high honor roll distinction every trimester, she has received Renaissance Recognition and Senior of the Trimester awards, and she has received awards of excellence in Integrated Science and French. Lyndsie plans to attend Studio School Los Angeles with a major in commercial dance.

Sixth in academic standing is Benjamin Lavoie, son of Nina and Louis Lavoie, of Winthrop. Ben is a member of the Breakfast Book Club, the Cooking Club, and the Speech and Debate Team. Ben has received high honor roll distinction, awards of excellence in Algebra 2 and Chemistry, and he has received a Renaissance Recognition award. Ben plans to attend The Culinary Institute of America with a major in culinary science.

Seventh in academic standing is Lucy Allen, daughter of Shirley and Patrick Allen, of Windsor. Lucy is a member of National Honor Society and she has participated in such activities as the EA Theater Club, LEO Club, the EA Leadership Team, Prom Committee, Field Hockey, Tennis, and she has completed over 200 hours of community service projects. Lucy was a recipient of the George Eastman Young Leaders Award, she has received four year high honor roll distinction and awards of excellence in Spanish and Clay, and she has received a Renaissance Senior of the Trimester award. Lucy plans to major in brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester.

Eighth in academic standing is Jordan Linscott, daughter of Susan and Thomas Linscott, of Windsor. Jordan is a member of National Honor Society and she has been a participant of Student Council, the LEO Club, Future Business Leaders of America, Soccer, Basketball, and Lacrosse, and she has completed over 200 hours of community service projects. Jordan has received high honor roll distinction every trimester, and she has received awards of excellence in Algebra 1 and Watercolors. Jordan plans to attend the University of Maine with a major in biology.

Ninth in academic standing is Dominic Smith, son of Katrina and Dan Jackson, of Whitefield. Dominic has participated in such activities as the EA Theater Club, Robotics, the Breakfast Book Club, and Youth in Government. Dominic is a Rensselaer Medal recipient, he has received honor roll distinction every trimester as well as awards of excellence in Algebra 1, Integrated Science, Social Studies, Algebra 2, German, PreCalculus, US History, and Calculus, and he has received a Renaissance Senior of the Trimester award. Dominic plans to major in computer science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Tenth in academic standing is Richard Winn, son of Jamie and Jason Winn, of China. Richard is a member of the National Honor Society and he has participated in such activities as the EA Leadership Team, the LEO Club, Robotics, Prom Committee, and he has served as Class President for two years. Richard has earned honor roll status every trimester, and he has received Renaissance Recognition and Senior of the Trimester awards. Richard plans to major in medical biology at the University of New England.

Local municipal offices set to re-open

Vassalboro town office

ALBION

The Albion Town Office is open regular business hours. Monday 12 p.m. – 4 p.m., Tuesday 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., Thursday 12 p.m – 6 p.m. Limit 2 customers in the building.

BENTON

The Benton Town Office is currently open to the public Monday – Friday 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. Limit two customers in office at a time.

CHINA

The China Town Office is currently open for walk-up service Monday – Friday 7:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.

FAIRFIELD

The Fairfield Town Office will be re-opening to the public on Tuesday, May 26. We will be limiting members of the public allowed in the building to no more than two at a time. The hours will be shortened to 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., Monday through Friday. Masks, gloves and own pens required. Residents may call for an appointment or curb side service if they are unable to meet the PPE requirements. The Lawrence Public Library is working on a plan to re-open on June 1. This plan is still being finalized but may entail no public in the building, pre-ordered books, shortened times to sign out new releases, curbside pick-up, and seven-day quarantine of returned materials.

PALERMO

The Town of Palermo is discussing plans to re-open but nothing has been finalized.

VASSALBORO

The Vassalboro Town Office will re-open to the public on Monday, June 1, at 8 a.m., with a few restrictions.

All town office visitors will be asked to wear a face mask and that no more than two customers enter the lobby at the same time, all while practicing social distancing. If possible, do not bring friends or family members with you. It is understood that some will need to have children with them. Hand sanitizers have been installed and residents are encouraged to use them when entering the building. Plexiglas has been installed at work stations and people are asked to bring their own pens.

Remember that most transactions can be done online by visiting Vassalboro.net, scroll to the bottom and click on the purple house. The public restroom will be closed until further notice.

WATERVILLE

All departments at City Hall, in Waterville, will re-open on Monday, June 1, at 8 a.m., with social distancing requirements in place.

UPDATE: This story has been updated for additional town office information.