Albion Neighborhood News, Week of August 18, 2016
by Mary Lee Rounds
The end of the Summer Reading Program will be celebrated with a story, music, ice cream party at the library on Tuesday, August 23, at 2 p.m.
Special guest will be Deanna Sawtelle playing the guitar.
Children have been reading and logging the books they have read. The Albion Public Library has received a copy of Hussey Road Neighborhood: Albion Corner & Environs 1850-1950. This has been compiled and composed by former Albion resident, Alice McKiel Hyerstay.
This is a very complete study of the Hussey Road neighborhood, the people and properties, over a period of 100 years.
At the request of Mrs. Hyerstay, the material may not be removed from the library. Pages may, however, be copied.
I think you will enjoy it! Look for it in the MAINE collection.
A reminder for those who order books through Amazon.com. Please type Amazon Smile Program in the search bar when you open Amazon, then select Albion Public Library as your choice (or choose any worthy charity). Whenever you start from Amazon Smile, the library will receive a donation at no cost to you.
The library is truly grateful for the support given annually by the town and its generous friends.
Thank you to whomever mowed the lawn at the prior Maxine Jones house. Many people expressed concern over how “seedy” the place was beginning to look. It may seem like a small thing, but people notice.
We finally have rain, a little late for many gardens, and Fall is on its way. Children in some other states have already started school.
Please, those of you who pass against the lines, especially on the Albion to Benton Road, remember, soon the children will be standing out waiting for the buses. If you don’t care about yourself being in the wrong lane with oncoming traffic, think of the children. They are out there early many days.
Track and field action
Photos by Mark Huard, owner Central Maine Photography
Logan Tardif, 11, of Waterville, competing in the USATF summer youth program through the parks and rec department. He was a double medalist earning two bronze medals.
Eric Booth, of Winslow, competing in the 100 meter hurdles at the state championships, in Augusta.
Movie of the Month in Palermo
Over the past 60 years, autism rates have risen from 150:1 to 65:1 in most of America. Interestingly, the Amish population seems less susceptible. What is this strange syndrome, and what causes it? How does it look and feel to be autistic? Some say it is a different form of awareness to be embraced. Bring a potluck dish (or a donation) to the Palermo Community Center on Turner Ridge Road on Friday, August 26th at 6 p.m. Join friendly folks for fine food and thought-provoking discussions–for free! For directions or more information, please call Connie at 993-2294.
Jefferson Food Pantry annual meeting
The Jefferson Area Community Food Pantry recently provided food assistance at St Giles Episcopal Church.
The food was purchased from Good Shepherd Food Bank, in Auburn. Donations of fresh garden produce was received from DRA CSA Food Bank Farm, Cindy Bea and County Fair Farm. Bread was given by the USDA.
Volunteers and donations are appreciated. Volunteers may call Richard St Amand at 530-3769. Anyone wishing to make a monetary donation may send a check made out to St Giles Church with JACFP written in the memo area, PO Box 34, Jefferson, ME 04348
The annual meeting is Monday, August 22, at 9:30 a.m., and is open to all with a potluck breakfast at St Giles Episcopal Church.
Distribution days are the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month, 4 – 5:30 p.m., at St Giles, 72 Gardiner Road, Jefferson.
For more information please call 315-1134.
SOLON & BEYOND, Week of August 18, 2016
by Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percy
grams29@tds.net
Solon, Maine 04979
Good morning, dear friends. Don’t worry, be happy!
After a blitz of some kind, my computer has decided to cooperate and let me start writing my column. Hope it behaves itself long enough for me to finish.
The Lexington Historical Society will be holding a meeting in their new building on Saturday, August 20, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., or longer. Nancy McLean will be giving a presentation about Lexington, and the flooding of Dead River and Flagstaff. I’m sure it will be a very interesting meeting, and I am so sorry that I won’t be able to attend…..even after all these years of writing, I haven’t figured out how to be in two places at once.
Anson Historical Society will hold an open house Friday, August 26, at Kennebec St., Anson, from 2 – 6 p.m. On display will be articles and photos from the collection. At the same time a yard sale will be occurring out front and games for children in the back. If you have any questions you may call Emily Quint at 635-2231.
On Saturday, August 20, from 7 – 10 p.m., there will be a Barbara Demo Band dance/show at the Embden Community Center Gym.
The next Saturday, August 27, there will be a comedy show by Bob Marley from 7 to 8:30 p.m., also at Embden Community Center Gym.
Tickets available for sale at the Embden Town Office (Tues. & Wed. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.; Thurs. 1 – 6 p.m., and Fri. 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.) and the Embden Thrift Shop (Wed.,Fri. & Sat.) 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
As always, we had a wonderful family get-together up to Flagstaff Lake at Dave and ‘Pete’s” camp last weekend. All 27 of us ranging in age from 9 months to ? ! arrived up there on Friday. They had built another bunk house and a platform for tenting, so with the five bed rooms in the camp, a spill over room and the screened in porch there are plenty of places for a good nights sleep.
We always look forward to breakfasts at the camp prepared by Buck Saw Sherry and Cookee Peter in their large Jim Eaton Kitchen….. and we weren’t disappointed !
Mark and Karen always make T-shirts for everyone each year and this year’s games name was Star Wars. Dave and Pete always help with planning and making any of the things needed for games, etc. We are always devided into three teams, (this year each person had been asked to bring an empty 2 liter soda bottle) and we soon found out why. Each team was presented with a large bag of materials to make an airplane with the materials given and the empty soda bottle. (Lief was in his glory!!) Some amazing looking aircraft was constructed after the given time allowed…and then the fun intensified big time! Quite a bit of effort had gone into making a launching pad for each one’s maiden flight. Each person got soaked by the rain and a big splash of water in the face when they pulled the chain to set their plane in flight. It was a glorious, fun time and each year I say it was the best one ever, but they keep coming up with great ones again the next year. Saturday night all the awards were handed out to much clapping, young and older always look forward to this yearly family occasion.
Percy’s memoir: If the soul works with nature and God as the trees work together with the soil and the sun, He will ripen all those beautiful fruits named happiness and the blessedness that come from hope and faith and love. (words by Newell Dwight Hills.)
CHINA News – TIF committee eyeing two major projects for consideration
by Mary Grow
Members of China’s TIF (Tax Increment Financing) Committee are discussing two major projects on China Lake, one near China Village and the other involving a good part of South China Village. They are also debating whether to set aside part of the TIF income for a revolving loan fund for small businesses in town.
The project that committee members call the causeway project, referring to the boat landing at the head of China Lake and nearby areas, is more advanced. At the committee’s Aug. 15 meeting, Mark McCluskey, of A. E. Hodsdon Engineers, presented detailed plans for additional parking on the north side of Causeway Street and fishing platforms extending over the water west of the bridge. His preliminary cost estimate for the work is $517,500.
The South China project is the brainchild of committee member Dale Worster, and so far is only a concept, not approved for serious committee review and lacking detailed planning or cost estimates. It involves improving the current South China boat landing for lake access and buying most of the properties in the village east of Old Windsor Road and creating a village center running uphill from the former Farrington’s store to the south end of Lakeview Drive, with fancy stores, eateries and other attractions.
Worster would also like to see China partner with a development company to build a retirement community either on the east side of Lakeview Drive or south of Route 3 close to the Hannaford supermarket.
At the Aug. 15 meeting there was preliminary talk of time frames needed to get the causeway project on the Nov. 8 ballot for town voters’ action. Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux suggested inviting local residents to the committee’s first September meeting to give them information on the plans.
Since the South China project is still in an early stage, there was no discussion of involving South China residents. Committee member Frank Soares, who also chairs the planning board, predicted many would object.
Worster responded, “Some people might just have to learn to live with progress.” The causeway project requires at least two preliminary steps, amending China’s land use ordinance and buying a piece of land opposite the boat landing.
Codes Officer Paul Mitnik explained a simple ordinance amendment that would exempt “functionally water-dependent uses” from setback requirements from the lake. State law allows such provisions, he said. Local ordinance amendments require voter approval.
The land committee members want to recommend buying is owned by Susan Bailey and is currently used as unofficial parking for the boat landing. L’Heureux said Bailey is willing to sell the town that lot, which is mostly wetland, plus another lot across Lakeview Drive.
Committee members considered Bailey’s asking price too high and agreed they do not favor buying the other lot at any price. L’Heureux suggested it might provide a new site for the China Village volunteer fire department, whose members would like more room for a larger building; committee members did not want to combine two separate projects.
In one of two substantive votes Aug. 15, committee members unanimously asked L’Heureux to ask Bailey whether she would sell only the lake lot and if so for what price. New committee member Tom Michaud, whose wife Marie heads China’s LakeSmart program, and China Lake Association President Scott Pierz urged adding measures to protect China Lake water quality. McCluskey said his plan includes a swale to absorb run-off from part of the proposed parking area. Committee member and Selectman Joann Austin recommended additional measures, like pervious paving that would absorb water; McCluskey is willing to consider such steps.
Another suggestion discussed inconclusively was to replace the bridge over the China Lake inlet with a box culvert like the one under Routes 202 and 9 a short distance north. L’Heureux and Robert MacFarland, chairman of the board of selectmen, said the bridge is deteriorating.
In their second substantive vote, committee members unanimously asked L’Heureux to get cost estimates from the contractor who installed the box culvert, so they will have an idea of additional expenditures for bridge replacement (which do not need to come from TIF funds, MacFarland said) and to seek a cost estimate for additional stormwater run-off controls.
The proposed revolving loan fund, as L’Heureux explained it, would be used to provide funding, in small amounts at low interest rates, to supplement bank loans to help local businesses start or expand. Committee members are undecided whether they should prepare a detailed plan before they ask voter approval, or whether the concept should go on a Nov. 8 ballot with details, like interest rates and maximum amounts per business, to be worked out if voters approve.
The question of lake access was also on the Aug. 15 committee agenda, separate from the China Village and South China projects, but committee Chairman Amber McAllister said she didn’t have the energy to deal with it.
The next TIF Committee meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, Aug. 29, in the town office.
Nomination papers available in China
by Mary Grow
Nomination papers are now available for China’s Nov. 8 local elections. According to Town Clerk Rebecca Hapgood, the following people’s terms end this year:
• On the Board of Selectmen, Joann Austin, Neil Farrington and Chairman Robert MacFarland.
• On the Planning Board, Toni Wall (District 2) and Thomas Miragliuolo (District 4), and the currently vacant alternate position elected from anywhere in town.
• On the Budget Committee, Thomas Rumpf (District 2), Timothy Basham (District 4), Al Althenn (secretary, elected from anywhere in town) and Jonathan Vogel (at-large position).
• Robert Bennett’s position as one of China’s two representatives on the RSU (Regional School Unit) 18 board. Hapgood said Bennett will not be a candidate for re-election.
Hapgood said signed nomination papers must be returned to the town office by 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, for candidates’ names to appear on the ballot.
Letters to the editor, Week of August 18, 2016
Not seeking re-election
To the editor:
I am writing this letter to notify the residents and voters of the Town of China that I have chosen not to run for re-election for a position as one of our two representatives on the RSU #18 School Board. I hope that one or more interested and committed China citizens will seek the post.
I ran for and was elected to this position three years ago with the intent of trying to ensure that China’s students from pre-K to eighth grade level are receiving the best education available to them. As a retired teacher and concerned citizen, I believed I was qualified to make this decision. I found the attempt to be both extremely rewarding and definitely challenging. I got to meet and interact with great people on the RSU board and in the schools’ staff and administration. In addition, I had many opportunities to interact with and observe a large number of our town’s students and see their excellent achievements, both in and outside of the classroom.
The position also brought with it some factors that I did not anticipate and that were most certainly daunting in some respects. This was especially true during budget season and I pass on to you my absolute belief that while the quality of education cannot be measured in dollars and cents, our childrens’ learning must be supported by our tax dollars. I am totally convinced that the RSU #18 administrators do their utmost to provide the best educational results at the lowest feasible cost.
And so, I leave this position with very mixed feelings. I believe that I have done my job in validating our kids’ learning at the lowest possible price. While the time spent has at times been frustrating, I enjoyed it in almost all respects. My fervent hope is that another individual with a passion for young people, and their education, will come forward to follow in my footsteps.
Bob Bennett
China
Vassalboro tax rate set at 14.05 mil
by Mary Grow
Vassalboro selectmen have set the 2016-17 tax rate at 14.05 mils ($14.05 for each $1,000 of valuation), Town Manager Mary Sabins reported after the board’s Aug. 8 meeting.
Sabins said the new rate is 0.35 mils (35 cents per thousand dollars) higher than the 2015-16 rate. Tax bills should go out this month; by town meeting vote, the first quarterly payment is due Monday, Sept. 26.
Because the state has increased the homestead exemption, the increase will have more effect on owners of businesses and seasonal homes than on people whose Vassalboro home is their primary residence. In other business Aug. 8, Sabins said selectmen decided to put two local questions on a Nov. 8 ballot. One will ask voters to approve or reject changes to the Shoreland Zoning Ordinance developed by the planning board; the other, not yet worded, will deal with proposed sidewalks in East Vassalboro.
Public hearings on both questions are scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, before that evening’s selectmen’s meeting, with the shoreland ordinance hearing first, Sabins said.
Selectmen accepted with regret the resignation of Police Chief Richard Phippen and expressed appreciation for his service, Sabins said. She will be advertising for a new police chief.
Tom Richards was reappointed to the cemetery committee.
Sabins reported that the recently formed senior citizens’ working group is focusing on transportation, seen as a major need in Vassalboro. At the group’s next meeting, scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 23, in the town office meeting room, a representative of the Neighbors Driving Neighbors program will explain it and a representative of the medical office in North Vassalboro will talk about programs for the elderly offered there.