Vassalboro select board approves suggested marijuana business ordinance changes

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by Mary Grow

VASSALBORO, ME — At their March 17 meeting, Vassalboro Select Board members recommended ways to spend part of the town’s $231,692.56 in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and discussed amending the town’s Marijuana Business Ordinance, approved by voters in June 2021.

They had anticipated two marijuana ordinance issues, a virtual interview with Town Attorney Kristin Collins and an in-person discussion with resident Richard Ferris.

Collins suggested clarifications in the wording of the ordinance, but no substantive changes. By consensus, board members approved her suggestions.

Ferris did not attend the meeting. Town Manager Mary Sabins said he had planned to ask select board members to consider an amendment that would allow an additional marijuana growing facility in town, so that he could convert the Ferris’ Market building on Main Street, in North Vassalboro, to that use.

The current ordinance prohibits new operations, defining “new” as an operation not in existence or approved by the planning board when the ordinance became effective Feb. 18, 2021, retroactively after voter approval. It does not cover marijuana grown for personal use, or medical marijuana grown in an area less than 1,000 square feet.

All three select board members agreed that they are not willing to present Ferris’ proposed amendment to voters. Ferris’ alternative, Sabins said, is to obtain petition signatures from 209 registered Vassalboro voters to put the question on the town meeting warrant.

ARPA expenditures were the topic of a special meeting March 2 and brief discussions at other meetings. Sabins said the $231,692.56 has been available since October 2021; must be spent by 2024 for approved purposes only; and is a little more than half Vassalboro’s ARPA grant. She expects the remaining $229,637.26 by early fall 2022.

Board members recommended grants of $100,000 to the Vassalboro volunteer fire department to buy updated equipment, especially self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) masks, accompanying Scott air packs and air bottles; $41,000 for the First Responder Unit, for 12 new automated external defibrillators (AEDs), N95 masks and other personal safety equipment; and $75,000 for the Vassalboro Sanitary District, primarily to fix manhole covers in streets and roads.

Board members again talked about using ARPA funds to reward town employees and volunteers who worked through the pandemic. Sabins said the ARPA regulations would allow grants to employees, but not to volunteers like firefighters and first responders.

Board Chairman Robert Browne commented that “It feels kinda funny” to reward employees but not volunteers. No action was taken.

Resident Amy Davidoff urged board members to put some ARPA money toward broadband service in town, at least a survey to see whether most town residents currently have adequate service. She further recommended that everyone with a home computer conduct a speed test. Instructions are on line.

Select board members thought a needs assessment a useful idea, and considered establishing a broadband committee. Again, they postponed a decision.

In other business March 17, board member Chris French suggested they create another new committee, a Transfer Station Committee to monitor planned work at the facility, consider recycling and look into similar issues.

By unanimous votes, select board members:

  • Raised the mileage rate for town employees using personal vehicles on town business from 51 cents a mile to the federal rate, 58.5 cents a mile.
  • Approved Sabins’ request to close the town office at 2 p.m. on Thursday, June 30, to give the bookkeeper time to close the books as the fiscal year ends.

The next regular Vassalboro select board meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, March 31. At this point it is scheduled for 6 p.m. with a budget committee meeting to follow; because schedules sometimes change during budget season, people planning to attend are advised to confirm the time on the town website, Vassalboro.net.

VASSALBORO: Fuel costs to affect several budget areas

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Budget Committee members started their second meeting on March 10 with a wrap-up of the previously discussed 2022-23 public works budget proposal. They moved on to solid waste, and then stopped until they have updated estimated fuel costs, which will affect several budget areas.

The price of paving material fluctuates with petroleum prices. The earlier discussion considered an estimate of $75 a ton for the 2022 season. Road Foreman Eugene Field told committee members he thinks the figure will be higher, and the draft paving budget was reworked at $85 a ton.

Town Manager Mary Sabins has locked in heating oil and diesel fuel at prices lower than current market prices. Committee members realized they need to reconsider petroleum prices in all relevant accounts.

Other topics included updates on planned work at the transfer station and on the proposed park on a tax-acquired lot on the west shore of Outlet Stream, between East and North Vassalboro.

Select board member Chris French asked whether the 2022-23 budget should include money to demolish the former church on Priest Hill Road, in North Vassalboro, condemned as a dangerous building.

The budget committee’s schedule called for its March 15 meeting to be with the school board at Vassalboro Community School. However, Committee Chairman Rick Denico, Jr., said Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer said the school budget will not be ready, partly because state figures are not yet available.

Budget committee members therefore scheduled their March 15 meeting at the town office, beginning at 7 p.m. They will invite Vassalboro Public Library representatives to talk about plans for expanded activities and a resulting request for more town funds than in past years.

Pfeiffer said later the school board will not meet March 15; its next meeting will be March 22.

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Wars – Part 10

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Brigadier General John Chandler

by Mary Grow

Brigadier General John Chandler, profiled in the February 24 issue of The Town Line, was not the only area resident to have served in the Revolutionary army and again in 1812. Nor were these two wars the end of disagreements between the United States, and specifically the State of Maine, and Britain and British-controlled Canada.

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According to an on-line genealogy, Thaddeus Bailey (Nov. 28, 1759 – March 4, 1849) was born in Newbury, Massachusetts, served in the Revolutionary War from Lincoln County, lived in Palermo for some years and served in the War of 1812 while living in Albion.

In 1778, he was part of a Lincoln County troop sent to Providence. On June 30, 1779, he officially enlisted as a private in Capt. Timothy Heald’s company, Col. Samuel McCobb’s regiment.

(McCobb [Nov. 20, 1744 – July 30, 1791], who later became a brigadier general, was born and died in Georgetown. He had served at Bunker Hill, and led the Lincoln County militia in the unsuccessful July-August 1779 Penobscot expedition, in which Bailey participated for two months and 27 days, according to the on-line source.)

Bailey was discharged Sept. 25, 1779. The genealogy says he received a Revolutionary veteran’s pension in the amount of $30.65 annually, starting May 3, 1831.

In 1783, Bailey married Mary Knowlton, of Wiscasset. The couple moved inland to the north part of Pownalbourough, which an on-line source says is now Alna, where the first three of their 11 children were born.

In 1795 they moved inland again; Millard Howard’s Palermo history cites an 1809 record confirming on-line reports that Bailey bought (for $110) 100 acres in Sheepscot Great Pond Settlement, now Palermo.

In 1801, Bailey was among a large number of residents who signed a two-part petition to the Massachusetts General Court. The petition asked to have the settlement incorporated as a town to be named Lisbon, bounded by Harlem (later China), the Sheepscot River and Davistown (later Montville, from which Liberty was separated in 1827).

Further, the petitioners wrote, “from the new and unsettled state of their country they have a great proportion of roads to make and maintain within their aforesaid bounds and also at least ten miles of road to maintain outside of their aforesaid limits which road leads to the head of navigation on Sheepscot river, their nearest market. Wherefore, your petitioners pray that they may be exempted from paying State taxes during the term of five years next ensuing….”

(Howard went on to explain that while the Massachusetts legislators considered the request, another Maine town was incorporated as Lisbon. Sheepscot Great Pond’s clerk was Dr. Enoch Palermo Huntoon; and given the popularity of using famous cities’ names – like Lisbon — for new Maine towns, the petitioners chose Palermo as the fall-back name.

Palermo was incorporated June 23, 1804. Howard did not say how the tax exemption request was received.)

Mary Bailey’s on-line genealogy says the Baileys “were early members of the Baptist Church of Palermo, founded in 1804.”

The family soon moved again, and again inland. Census records from 1810 and 1820 show Bailey living in Fairfax (Mary died in January 1816).

Bailey served briefly and uneventfully in the War of 1812, going to Belfast Sept. 3, 1814, and coming back Sept. 14. Howard listed him among the privates in the Palermo militia (apparently he enrolled or re-enrolled there rather than in Fairfax). By then he would have been coming up on his 55th birthday.

In the 1830 and 1840 censuses, Bailey is still in the town that had become Albion in 1824. The Roll of Pensioners mentioned on line says in 1841, he was 80 years old and had returned to Palermo.

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Dean Bangs’ (May 31, 1756 – Dec. 6, 1845) Revolutionary service was summarized in the Jan. 20 issue of The Town Line. By 1812, Bangs was living in Sidney and doing business in Waterville.

In Whittemore’s history of Waterville, Bangs’ grandson, Isaac Sparrow Bangs, wrote in the military chapter that in the War of 1812 Bangs raised a company of men from Waterville and Vassalboro to serve in Major Joseph Chandler’s Artillery Company. The company was held at Augusta from Sept. 12 to Sept. 24, 1814, the period during which other Kennebec Valley units went to the coast to meet a British landing that never occurred.

(Your writer has spent a great deal of time trying to find the relationship, if any, between General John [Feb. 1, 1762 – Sept. 25, 1841] and Major Joseph Chandler. One of several on-line Chandler genealogies lists the 12 children of Joseph Chandler III and Lydia [Eastman] Chandler as including Joseph IV [1755-1785] and John [1762 – 1840]; and 1840 is as close as genealogies sometimes get to the 1841 found in on-line sources. However, if this Joseph Chandler died young in 1785, he cannot have led an artillery unit in the War of 1812.)

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Michael McNally (about 1752 – July 16, 1848) must have been among the oldest Revolutionary War veterans to fight in the War of 1812. An on-line family history calls him “a man of superior education and strong intellectual powers.”

The history says he was born in Ireland and emigrated with his parents to Pennsylvania, where his father was wealthy enough to provide for his son’s education. On May 13, 1777, he is recorded as enlisting as a gunner in the state’s artillery regiment.

On Jan. 1, 1781, McNally received “depreciation pay,” described online as negotiable, interest-bearing certificates given to military personnel to compensate for the decreased value of United States currency during their wartime service. Family stories say he left the army and served on some kind of armed ship, “whether a man-of-war or a privateer is unknown.” Later, he received a pension as a Revolutionary veteran.

Around 1784, he moved to the Kennebec Valley. In 1785, he married his first wife, Susan Pushaw (1768-1811), of Fairfield. The couple settled in the part of Winslow that became Clinton in 1795; McNally built a log cabin on the Sebasticook, the family history says.

The McNallys had nine children between 1786 and 1809. Susan Pushaw’s on-line genealogy spells her father’s name Pochard and says he was born in France. Michael and Susan’s children’s names are variously spelled Mcnally, Mcnelly, Mcnellie and Mcknelly).

Despite being a single father, when the War of 1812 was declared, the family history says: “Michael’s martial spirit was aroused, and although a man of sixty years he enlisted at Clinton, May 17, 1813, in Capt. Crossman’s company of the Thirty-fourth Regiment, U.S. Infantry, and marched to the frontier. He received a severe wound in the collarbone at Armstrong, Lower Canada, in Sept., 1813, while serving in detachment under the command of Lieut.-Col. Storrs. He was mustered out in July, 1815. For this service he received a pension.”

McNally married for the second time about 1830, to a Pittsfield widow, Jane Varnum Harriman. Her death date is unknown, but the family history says McNally spent his last years with his sons Arthur (1796-1879) and William (1798 or 1799-1886).

William McNally was a farmer in Benton. His wife, Martha Roundy (Sept 13, 1803 – summer of 1903) was the daughter of Job and Elizabeth or Betsey (Pushaw or Pushard) Roundy and the source of much of the information in the family history.

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Louis Hatch’s 1919 history of Maine includes a summary of the final settlement of the boundary between the eastern United States and adjoining Canadian provinces, an issue that troubled relations between the two countries from 1783 until 1842.

The St. Croix River had been defined as the boundary line by the 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolution. But the St, Croix has three branches, and the two countries disagreed over which was the “real” St. Croix.

The Jay Treaty of 1794 (properly, the Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, Between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America) created a three-man commission whose members unanimously and permanently defined the St. Croix River boundary on Oct. 25, 1798, Hatch wrote.

The boundary north and west from the head of the St. Croix still remained undefined. The United States claimed an area reaching north almost to the St. Lawrence River; Britain, on behalf of Canada, claimed a good part of what is now northern Maine.

The Dec. 24, 1814, Treaty of Ghent that ended the War of 1812 included a clause establishing a commission to define this part of the boundary, from the source of the St. Croix River around the “northwest angle of Nova Scotia,” and south and west along the highlands that separated the watersheds of the St. Lawrence from the watersheds of rivers that ran into the Atlantic, all the way to the headwaters of the Connecticut River.

The treaty further provided that if the two commissioners disagreed or failed to act, the boundary question should be submitted to “a friendly sovereign or State.”

The commission was activated in the spring of 1816. Hatch wrote that after five years, its members had not even agreed on a map showing what areas each country claimed. The commission dissolved.

On Sept. 29, 1827, the United States and Great Britain agreed to submit the dispute to the King William I of the Netherlands. Hatch summarized the king’s responsibility: to interpret the 1783 treaty provisions by fitting them to the geography. The king needed to locate for the disputants the headwaters of the St. Croix, the “northwest angle of Nova Scotia,” the significant highlands and the “Northwesternmost head of the Connecticut River.”

King William issued his judgment on Jan. 10, 1831. Hatch called it “a compromise, pure and simple.”

Between the 1816 commission’s creation and King William’s 1831 report, Maine had become a state, with its own legislature and representation in the United States Congress. An increasing number of United States citizens were expanding settlements in Maine, as far north as the St. John River valley.

The 1831 Maine legislature established a committee to review King William’s judgment; the ensuing resolutions strongly condemned it. In June 1832, the United States Senate refused to ratify it.

The 1831 Maine legislature also incorporated the Town of Madawaska on the St. John River, including, Hatch wrote, the present Madawaska south of the river and some land north of the river. The area north of the river is now Upper Madawaska, New Brunswick, he said.

Hatch quoted part of Governor Samuel Smith’s 1832 annual message summarizing what happened next. The governor said Madawaska residents had organized their town, apparently acting before the state’s approval, and had elected town officials and a legislative representative. New Brunswick officials, “accompanied with a military force,” had arrested and imprisoned many residents.

Smith had appealed to the United States government. Though neither he nor federal authorities were sure the Madawaska residents had acted legally, President Andrew Jackson promptly intervened, and the prisoners were freed.

In following years, Maine governors and legislatures continued to push for a resolution of the boundary issue that would get the British out of the state. Hatch quotes from an 1837 Maine legislative resolution that referred to “British usurpations and encroachments” and said:

“Resolved, that [British] pretensions so groundless and extravagant indicate a spirit of hostility which we had no reason to expect from a nation with whom we are at peace.”

How that peace turned into a war, or at least a pseudo war, will be next week’s topic.

Main sources

Hatch, Louis Clinton, ed., Maine: A History 1919 (facsimile, 1974).
Howard, Millard, An Introduction to the Early History of Palermo, Maine (second edition, December 2015).
Whittemore, Rev. Edwin Carey, Centennial History of Waterville 1802-1902 (1902)

Website, miscellaneous.

VASSALBORO: Junkyard, marijuana licenses approved by planners

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by Mary Grow

The March 3 Vassalboro Select Board meeting began with two public hearings, followed by unanimous approval of applicants’ licenses, as recommended by Codes Officer Ryan Page.

Robert Parise, owner of Platinum Core, LLC, at 1702 Riverside Drive (formerly RAP’s Auto – see The Town Line, Feb. 10), received a junkyard license, with no discussion.

Five medical marijuana business licenses were approved for the property at 55A Old Meadows Road, for building owner Leo Barnett and growers Colin Dorsey, William Cunningham, Zeena McMullen and Jason Luce.

After the decision, audience members asked about other medical marijuana businesses in town. Page said a total of nine licenses are current, valid through Dec. 31, 2022. In the future, Barnett has planning board approval for operations on Sherwood Lane (see The Town Line, Dec. 17, 2020) and in two more Old Meadows Road buildings (see The Town Line, Nov. 19, 2020).

In other business, Page reported no change in the situation of the former church on Priest Hill Road, in North Vassalboro, currently slated for demolition.

Select board members appointed John Fortin a member of the Recreation Committee.

Town Manager Mary Sabins reported on three foreclosed properties. The town now owns them; she is trying to locate former owners or their heirs.

The next regular select board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m., Thursday, March 17. Like the March 3 meeting, it will start an hour earlier than usual and be followed by a budget committee meeting.

Vassalboro committee begins pre-town meeting budget talks

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Budget Committee members began their pre-town-meeting considerations at their March 3 meeting with a two-way virtual discussion with human resources consultant Laurie Bouchard, of LBouchard and Associates of Jefferson.

Bouchard explained the salary schedule she and Town Manager Mary Sabins have been working on for weeks. When select board members approved contracting with Bouchard almost a year ago, they intended to implement results of her work in the 2022-23 fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2022 (see The Town Line, March 25, 2021).

Bouchard and Sabins developed a survey asking about other municipalities’ employees’ pay and benefits. Bouchard mailed the survey to 23 municipal offices; she got 11 replies. She tabulated and analyzed the answers and came up with a suggested plan intended to treat Vassalboro employees comparably with their peers.

As in the past, Vassalboro needs to play catch-up for some employees who are comparatively underpaid. After a basis is established, the plan Bouchard and Sabins developed calls for annual two percent pay increases plus annual cost of living increases. The two percent step increases would end after 17 years of employment.

Sabins estimates going ahead with the plan would add about $37,000 to the 2022-23 budget. She had already recommended a larger-than-usual six percent pay raise for town employees, because, as Bouchard commented, “compensation’s gone crazy,” with Covid, inflation and “everyone competing for a small pool of people.”

Budget committee members asked many questions clarifying the plan. They made no decision.

Select board members are leaning in favor of the salary scale, although they are waiting to see the whole budget picture, including the 2022-23 school budget request, before making a decision. Chairman Robert Browne told budget committee members $37,000 is a small piece of the total municipal budget and added, “It doesn’t make any sense to quibble about this [amount for salaries] this year.”

Budget committee members’ first action was to re-elect Rick Denico, Jr., to another term as committee chairman.

The committee is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 8, and Thursday, March 10, at the town office; Tuesday, March 15, at Vassalboro Community School; and Thursday, March 17, after the 6 p.m. select board meeting, at the town office.

ARPA funding topic at special meeting

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by Mary Grow

At a special meeting March 2, spokespeople for the Vassalboro Sanitary District (VSD), the Vassalboro Volunteer Fire Department and the Vassalboro First Responders told select board members how they would use federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds if they got some.

Select board members made no decisions. Renewed discussion is tentatively scheduled for their March 17 meeting.

They reminded everyone that ARPA funding is probably a one-shot deal. Vassalboro has received $231,692.56, according to Town Manager Mary Sabins, or a little over half of its $461,000 appropriation. She expects the rest by early this fall.

Engineer Stephen Green spoke for the VSD, with the mostly-silent support of the entire board of trustees. Top priority, Green said, is fixing most if not all of the 72 manholes in Vassalboro streets and roads.

The manholes date from the 1980s, he said. The supporting walls are brick-and-mortar, with the mortar deteriorating so that many of the manhole covers have sunk below the pavement level. He said about one-third of the manholes have been inspected; 90 percent of those inspected need repair.

Green estimated about 30 manholes are on Route 32 (Main Street) and have been “pounded the worst” by comparatively heavy traffic. They have generated many complaints to VSD officials, the town office and the select board.

Route 32 is a state highway. Green said he is waiting to hear from state officials whether the VSD can cut into the pavement to make repairs.

VSD officials are already planning the manhole work. Green’s current cost estimate is $250,000. He believes the work qualifies for ARPA money under the category of wastewater infrastructure, and said the VSD has access to some matching money.

After funding is obtained, Green expects the work to take at least six months, two to award a contract and four for construction.

VSD officials gave selectmen a list of lower-priority projects several weeks ago, and Green briefly summarized them: installing bulk tanks to hold odor control chemicals at pump stations, repairing the office building, paving access ways, adding water at the pump stations (to wash pumps) and perhaps, if there is renewed demand, extending sewer lines.

Sabins calculated the total VSD request at more than $2.2 million, far in excess of expected ARPA funds.

Fire Chief Walker Thompson’s priority is replacing Scott air packs for department members. If he were to get 20 new ones in a single year, Sabins pegged the cost at over $163,000. Thompson talked about spreading the purchases over two years and buying 16 rather than 20.

Thompson’s second priority is stipends for firefighters who continued to work through the pandemic. He recommended allocating any money on a per-call basis.

Rescue Chief Dan Mayotte said his top priority is buying 11 new AEDs (Automatic External Defibrillators). The unit’s current AEDs are failing one by one, and they’re so old replacement parts are no longer available.

He would also like money for ENVO masks (reusable N95 masks) for volunteer firefighters and other town employees and volunteers who regularly interact with the public, and a $10,000 fitness test machine to go with the masks. Sabins said all town employees are considered essential workers and all deal directly with the public at least part of the time.

Training funds would also be useful, Mayotte said, and his volunteers would appreciate stipends.

Sabins had estimated the First Responders total request at almost $70,000.

Sabins suggested an electronic sign for the town office dooryard to help keep residents informed of upcoming events. She had a cost estimate of $30,000 to buy and install a sign, based on the cost of the new one at Vassalboro Community School.

At the March 3 select board meeting, member Chris French suggested using part of the second half of the ARPA money for a second sign at the Riverside Fire Station on Riverside Drive (Route 201).

Other suggestions that might be eligible for ARPA money included repairs to the China Lake outlet dam in East Vassalboro; a Zoom or similar system that would allow residents to view select board meetings from home; and a donation to Waterville-based Delta Ambu­lance.

ARPA regulations explained

The federal regulations for using ARPA funds, approved by the Secretary of the Treasury and effective on April Fools’ Day, 2022, are in a two-inch thick blue binder that Town Manager Mary Sabins brought to the select board’s March 2 discussion.

Inside are 437 pages of mostly single-spaced typing. The stated purpose is to “implement the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund and the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund” established by Congress.

The document has no table of contents, no index and no definitions section.

The introduction says that the document is supposed to explain what ARPA money can be used for and how to apply for it. It notifies people that “each eligible use category has separate and distinct standards for assessing whether a use of funds is eligible.”

Applicants need to figure out which category their intended expenditure fits into, and then decide whether the expenditure meets that category’s standards.

Furthermore, “In the case of uses to respond to the public health and negative economic impacts of the pandemic, recipients should also determine which sub-category the eligible use fits within (i.e., public health, assistance to households, assistance to small businesses, assistance to nonprofits, aid to impacted industries, or public sector capacity and workforce), then assess whether the potential use of funds meets the eligibility standard for that sub-category.”

Parts of the document describe eligible uses; other parts list restrictions on uses. Some restrictions apply only to some types of government.

Types of government are listed as “state, territory, Tribal government, county, metropolitan city, nonentitlement unit of government.” Sabins said the last category means small towns like Vassalboro.

The document says federal officials do not preapprove ARPA expenditures. Vassalboro Select Board Chairman Robert Browne has explained that Vassalboro spends the money, then submits the bill. If it is rejected, the town pays.

ICE OUT 2022? Take a guess. Win a prize!

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SEND US YOUR BEST ICE OUT GUESS FOR 2022

Write down your best guess (one per person) and send it to The Town Line, PO Box 89, South China, ME 04358, or email us at townline@townline.org with the subject “ICE OUT 2022“. If more than one person guesses the correct date, a drawing will be held to determine the winner. Get your guess to The Town Line office by noon, Friday, March 18, 2022.

Email: townline@townline.org. Or use our Contact Us page!

PRIZE: To be determined

The records below, of ice out dates on China Lake, were provided by China residents Bill Foster, Captain James Allen and Theresa Plaisted.

Bill Foster brought in the ice out dates from 1874 to 1883. They came from a 215-page log/diary. In the log/diary are recorded the comings and goings from 1870 to 1883 of the F. O. Brainard Store, as well as personal notations of special and everyday events.

Captain James Allen brought in the ice out dates from 1901 to 1948. They had been recorded on the outhouse wall of the old Farnsworth house, also located in China Village.

Theresa Plaisted brought in the ice out dates from 1949 to 1991. She explained to us that a friend and neighbor, Ben Dillenbeck, had kept the record on his cellarway wall until his death on December 12, 1987.

Theresa transcribed Mr. Dillenbeck’s record and has kept the record up to date ever since.

This year, we will be checking China Lake to determine the official date for “Ice Out” in 2020. We will not be looking in hard-to-access areas for that very last crystal to melt, so the definition of “Ice Out,” for the purpose of this contest, is: “When, to the best judgment of the assigned viewer, the surface of the lake appears to be free of ice.” The judge’s decision is final.

Can you guess the day The Town Line declares China Lake free of ice?

Ice Out dates for the last 148 years!

1874 – April 22
1875 – May 6
1876 – April 30
1877 – April 16
1878 – April 12
1879 – May 3
1880 – April 21
1881 – April 19
1883 – April 29
1901 – March 27
1921 – March 28
1932 – April 27
1933 – April 20
1934 – April 19
1935 – April 25
1936 – April 4
1937 – April 20
1938 – April 20
1939 – May 4
1941 – April 16
1945 – April 2
1947 – April 12
1948 – April 8
1949 – April 6
1950 – April 14
1951 – April 9
1952 – April 19
1953 – March 19
1954 – April 19
1955 – April 13
1956 – April 27
1957 – April 10
1958 – April 16
1959 – April 22
1960 – April 21
1961 – April 30
1962 – April 20
1963 – April 22
1964 – April 21
1965 – April 18
1966 – April 18
1967 – April 29
1968 – April 13
1969 – April 23
1970 – April 23
1971 – April 30
1972 – May 1
1973 – April 8
1974 – April 2
1975 – April 23
1976 – April 11
1977 – April 18
1978 – April 21
1979 – April 12
1980 – April 10
1981 – March 18
1982 – April 22
1983 – April 1
1984 – April 17
1985 – April 6
1986 – April 8
1987 – April 6
1988 – April 6
1989 – April 22
1990 – April 11
1991 – April 8
1992 – April 15
1993 – April 21
1994 – April 20
1995 – April 9
1996 – April 5
1997 – April 23
1998 – April 9
1999 – April 2
2000 – April 4
2001 – April 27
2002 – April 6
2003 – April 21
2004 – April 14
2005 – April 16
2006 – March 26
2007 – April 23
2008 – April 17
2009 – April 11
2010 – March 19
2011 – April 17
2012 – March 21
2013 – April 6
2014 – April 19
2015 – April 22
2016 – March 15
2017 – April 17
2018 – April 23
2019 – April 12
2020 – March 27
2021 – March 30
2022 – ?????

VASSALBORO: Special select board meeting acts on tax abatement requests

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro select board members held a special Feb. 24 meeting, partly to act on a tax abatement request (approved after a discussion in executive session) and partly to consider again Road Commissioner Eugene Field’s request that the town buy a roadside mower.

Specifically, Field wants a mower that can be attached to the front-end loader the town already owns. An alternative would be a tractor-mower, but that would be a single-use piece of machinery, he said.

A new mower currently costs $106,000, Field said. A used one might be available for around $89,000.

Vassalboro’s past procedure has been to rent a roadside mower. Field said summer mowing is standard. There was no second mowing in the fall of 2021, and he thinks there should have been one – tall grass was blocking motorists’ sight-lines in some places, he said.

By consensus, select board members left in their draft budget $106,000 for a town-owned mower. The budget is for fiscal year 2022-23, from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023. Since Field expects a July order will take weeks to fill, they added $8,800 to cover a fall 2022 mowing with rented equipment.

If voters don’t approve a mower in the 2022-23 budget, Field said he will need to repeat the request for the next year. By then, he said, he will also be asking voters to begin setting aside money for a new public works truck.

Select board members further debated whether they should recommend paying for the equipment from next year’s budget, or extending payment over two or three years (with interest added).

Discussion of the 2022-23 budget will continue at the select board’s Thursday, March 3, regular meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m., half an hour earlier than usual. It will be followed by the Vassalboro Budget Committee’s organizational meeting at 7 p.m.

Sabins said human resources consultant Laurie Bouchard, of LBouchard and Associates, who did an area salary survey and offered recommendations for Vassalboro town employees, will explain her work to budget committee members.

Vassalboro Business Association ice fishing derby winners

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Pike

1st Logan Cummings 13.95#
2nd Noah Cummings 12.20#
3rd Hannah Cummings 10.50#

Togue

1st Mason Guerette 4.35#

Pickerel

1st Brady Loiko 4.20#
2nd Kayden white 2.90#
3rd Nick Perry 1.65#

Children 12 and Under

1st Hunter Brown 2.85#
2nd Tim Knowles 1.30#
3rd Elliot Rafuse .85#

Large Mouth Bass

1st Xavier Martinel 4.55#
2nd Jessica Breton 3.15#
3rd Trevor Tibbetts 2.70#

Small Mouth Bass

1st Elliot Rafuse 3.10#
2nd Hunter Brown 2.70#
3rd Hannah Cummings 2.85#

Black Crappie

1st Brendon Wood 1.25#
2nd Brody Loiko 1.10#
3rd Tucker Greenwald 1.00#

White Perch

1st Noah Cummings 2.05#
2nd Hannah Cummings 1.95#
3rd Devon Turcotte 1.80#

Brown Trout

1st Nick Cummings 4.75# and winner of the Biggest Fish trophy and $100
2nd Devon Turcotte 2.55#

Yellow Perch Poundage

1st Brendon Wood 0.8#

Special thanks to the judges including VBA members, the Vassalboro Masonic Lodge #54, and Nate Gray.

Sponsors for the Derby prizes were 201 Tire Battery & Service, AMP Electrical LLC, Antique Classics and Fords, Attention to Detail, Curly’s Carpentry, Dead Wood Designs, Freddie’s Service Center, Fieldstone Gardens, Lemieux’s Orchards, Maine Savings Federal Credit Union, Vassalboro Car Care, and Yankee Pack Rats.

Special thanks to the Foster Agency, Mane Management Salon, McCormack’s Building Supply, and the Vassalboro Recreation Committee for tickets and trophies!

Vassalboro Community School honors

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Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

GRADE 8

High honors: Emily Almeida, Ava Lemelin and Alexandria O’Hara. Honors: Anna Deaborn, William Ellsey, Jacob Lavallee, Paige Littlefield, Emily Piecewicz, Leahna Rocque and Addison Witham. Honorable mention: Saunders Chase, Madison Estabrook, Kaiden Morin, Lilian Piecewicz and Leah Targett.

GRADE 7

High honors: Henry Olson and Bryson Stratton. Honors: Madison Burns, Owen Couture, Ryley Desmond, Eilah Dillaway, Peyton Dowe, Alora Esquibel, Madison Field, Adalyn Glidden, Bailey Goforth, Kaitlyn Maberry, Jack Malcolm, Josslyn Ouellette, Natalie Rancourt and Mackullen Tolentino. Honorable mention: Emma Charleston, Tyler Clark, Wyatt Ellis, Xavier Foss, Kylie Grant, Caspar Hooper, Mason Lagasse, Olivia Leonard, Sawyer Livingstone, Alexis Mitton, Ayden Norton, Noah Pooler,Taiya Rankins and Kaleb Tolentino.

GRADE 6

High honors: Drew Lindquist, Caleb Marden, Paige Perry, Judson Smith and Reid Willett. Honors: Benjamin Allen, Juliet Boivin, Trustyn Brown, Gariella Brundage, Zoey DeMerchant, Jennah Dumont, Ryleigh French, Drake Goodie, Cooper Lajoie, Bentley Pooler, Abigail Prickett, Brooke Reny, Hannah Tobey and Alana Wade. Honorable mention: Dominick Bickford, Dylan Dodge, Zachary Kinrade, Trinity Pooler, William Trainor and Jade Travers.

GRADE 5

High honors: Samuel Bechard, Keegan Clark, Allyson Gilman, Jack LaPierre, Keighton LeBlanc, Cheyenne Lizzotte, Agatha Meyer, Grace Tobey and Ava Woods. Honors: Bryleigh Burns, Emily Clark, Basil Dillaway, Ariyah Doyen, Fury Frappier, Baylee Fuchswanz, Zoe Gaffney, Lillyana Krastev, Kaitlyn Lavallee, Mia McLean, Elliot McQuarrie, Mackenzy Monroe, Weston Pappas, Kassidy Proctor and Emma Robbins. Honorable mention: Peyton Bishop, Olivia Dumas, Tess Foster, Bayleigh Gorman, Aiden McIntyre, Jaelyn Moore and Kaylee Moulton.

GRADE 4

High honors: Twila Cloutier, Mariah Estabrook, Dawson Frazer, Lucian Kinrade, Sarina LaCroix, Olivia Perry, Cassidy Rumba, Haven Trainor and Cameron Willett. Honors: Zander Austin, Lukas Blais, Jayson Booker, Sophia Brazier, Xainte Cloutier, Kaylee Colfer, Samantha Craig, Riley Fletcher, Brandon Fortin, Peter Giampietro, Aubrey Goforth, Isaac Leonard, Jade Lopez, Juliahna Rocque, Isaiah Smith and Meadow Varney. Honorable mention: Aliyah Anthony, Kiara Apollo, Grace Clark, Wyatt Devoe, Dekan Dumont, Camden Foster and Landon Lagasse.

GRADE 3

High honors: Hunter Brown, Addison Dodge, Simon Olson, Alexis Reed, Jackson Robichaud and Robert Wade. Honors: Ryder Austin, Alexander Bailey, Rylee Boucher, Kamdyn Couture, Braiden Crommott, Mikkah-Isabella Grant, Cooper Grant, Tanner Hughes, Kendall Karlsson, Brooklyn Leach, Landon Quint, Willa Rafuse, Christopher Santiago, Asher Smith and William Vincent. Honorable mention: Maverick Brewer, Reese Chechowitz, Levi DeMerchant, Liam Dowe, Hunter Green, Aubrie Hill, Sophia-Lynn Howard, Jase Kimball, Aria Lathrop, Landon Lindquist, Elliot Stratton and Mason York-Baker.