Vassalboro residents take care of 41 of 45 articles at town meeting

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

Vassalboro voters at the June 3 part of the annual town meeting took care of 41 of the 45 articles in this year’s warrant. The remaining four will be decided by written ballot on Tuesday, June 11, with polls open at the town office from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Of the 41 articles, 39 were approved as written. One was defeated, with David Trask, the voter who made the motion presenting it, urging everyone, “Vote no!” Another was amended, on the recommendation of Town Manager Aaron Miller.

The defeated article, Art. 12, asked voters to eliminate the quorum requirement for a special town meeting, which, since 1991, has said that 125 registered voters must be present to open a special town meeting. Select board members have therefore called very few special meetings; and, Miller said, sometimes an emergency might require one.

Former select board member Lauchlin Titus remembered two special meetings under the quorum ordinance. One was to deal with marijuana growing. The other was to deal with Vassalboro’s topless coffee shop – a reminder that drew chuckles from the audience. Titus agreed that the topic “kinda drew folks in.”

However, former select board member John Melrose said, the 1991 quorum was established by the state legislature, as a private and special law, and he doubted a town meeting could repeal it. Former state representative and state senator Elizabeth Mitchell, who sponsored the law – at the town’s request, she said – agreed with Melrose.

Other voters wondered if eliminating the requirement was a good idea anyway. They pointed out that a small group with an agenda might be able to impose their policy on the whole town.

The amended article was Art. 26, which had two parts: voters were asked to appropriate $110,475 for ambulance service, and to authorize the municipal officers to make agreements for such service. Miller pointed out that $110,475 for ambulance service had already been approved in Art. 5, as part of a 15-item, $2.9 million list of town departments and functions.

Voters approved an amendment to delete the duplicate funding, and then approved the article as amended. The money is intended to pay for Delta Ambulance’s service for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

All other articles were approved as presented, by show of voting cards. Where the select board’s and budget committee’s recommendations differed, the select board’s figure was moved and approved.

As the first few articles dealing with the 2024-25 municipal budget were discussed, former town manager Michael Vashon and others asked for a summary of the effect of decisions on the 2024-25 tax rate, information they said had been available at previous town meetings.

They were not pleased when Miller replied that until the assessment of town property values is complete, he cannot calculate possible tax rates.

Under Art. 2 of the warrant, voters re-elected budget committee members Richard Bradstreet, Nate Gray, Douglas Phillips and Frank Richards and elected Laura Jones to fill a vacant seat.

Holly Weidner asked whether the five nominees thought they need additional help, for example a separate committee, to fulfill their responsibilities. None did, though Gray and Richards agreed they deal with complex issue. Phillips praised select board and school board members for their “due diligence” as they prepare annual budgets.

Spirit of America award winner Melrose was recognized with a certificate from the town, presented by select board member Michael Poulin, and another from the Maine legislature, presented by Rep. Richard Bradstreet.

Chris French, select board chairman, recognized members of Vassalboro’s First Responder Service, to whom the annual town report is dedicated.

Moderator Richard Thompson told voters this would be his last year as a town meeting moderator. He estimated he had been elected to serve at 17 Vassalboro meetings, and thanked voters for their cooperation and help.

About 85 people were in the Vassalboro Community School bleachers, and another 18 residents – budget committee, select board and school board members – sat at the head table. The meeting lasted less than two hours, thanks partly to Trask, who repeatedly made motions to consider multiple articles in a single discussion and vote.

On June 11, voters coming to the polls will act on:

— Art. 42, to amend the town’s Solid Waste Ordinance;
— Art. 43, to amend the town’s Marijuana Business Ordinance;
— Art. 44, to re-approve the 2024-25 school budget that was approved at the June 3 meeting; and
— Art. 45, local elections, with two unopposed candidates for re-election, French for the select board and Jolene Gamage for the school board.

Summaries of the proposed ordinance changes are on the opening page of the town website, Vassalboro.net, titled “A synopsis of proposed changes to two ordinances.”

Vassalboro school board meeting routine

/0 Comments/in , /by

Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro School Board members’ May 21 meeting featured monthly reports and routine decisions.

Vassalboro Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer and Vassalboro Community School (VCS) Principal Ira Michaud presented written reports on past and pending activities, including numerous end-of-school-year field trips.

Pfeiffer announced that the new Director of Maintenance and Grounds for VCS and Winslow schools will be Cory Eisenhour, formerly with Regional School Unit #71, in Belfast. Eisenhour succeeds Shelley Phillips, who is retiring at the end of June.

The VCS grounds have received their annual treatment for ticks, from a licensed applicator using approved chemicals, Pfeiffer said.

The superintendent had prepared a summary of work done on VCS buildings and grounds from 2005-2006, when the original (1992) windows were replaced, to the current year. This year’s major projects included cleaning, repointing and, where necessary, repairing the exterior brickwork; installing ceiling fans in classrooms; and improving playground equipment.

Vassalboro residents will check out the new speaker system in the VCS gymnasium when they assemble there for the Monday, June 3, open town meeting, which begins at 6:30 p.m.

School board decisions May 21 included paying bills; approving the 2024-25 school calendar; and re-appointing returning teachers and educational technicians as they move up a step on the ladder from probationary to regular employees.

The next Vassalboro school board meeting will be Tuesday evening, June 18.

By then, voters will have acted on the 2024-25 school budget at the June 3 town meeting and again on June 11, and presumably will have re-elected school board member Jolene Clark Gamage, who is unopposed in her bid for another three-year term.

Vassalboro select board reviews draft of revised personnel policy

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

Vassalboro select board members spent more than an hour of their May 24 meeting reviewing a revised draft of the town’s personnel policy, with comments from an interested audience of town employees.

The most discussed section deals with how time off – vacation time, sick leave, personal days, for example – is calculated. There were questions about when an employee begins to accumulate these benefits and how they are measured.

Related issues (like overtime) and possible future benefits (like family medical coverage) were also topics. Town Manager Aaron Miller will continue to work on the draft policy.

Before the policy discussion, select board members reviewed and made a few changes in the draft warrant for Vassalboro’s June 3 and June 11 town meeting. Miller hoped to have the annual town report for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2023, which will include the town meeting warrant, ready for the printer on May 20.

After the policy discussion, board members reviewed two ongoing projects, reorganizing the transfer station and slowing speeders on Route 32 in East Vassalboro.

The transfer station discussion has two branches, rebuilding in pretty much the existing footprint or expanding.

Absentee ballots available

Absentee ballots for the state primary election and Vassalboro local elections are available at the Vassalboro town office through Thursday, June 6. State primary ballots may also be requested through the Secretary of State’s website.

State law allows voters to apply for absentee ballots after June 6 only under special circumstances.

Board members reviewed three plans for a drive-through building on the current site, prepared by Senders science engineering and construction, of Camden. Each would accomplish the main goal, improving safety by eliminating the need for drivers to back up to the hopper to dispose of trash.

They also discussed the possibility of incorporating at least part of an adjacent 5.5-acre parcel on the eastern border of the transfer station lot, on which the town has foreclosed. Miller said discussions with the heirs to the property are continuing.

If the town were to acquire the land, its usefulness would depend on numerous factors, from the extent of wetlands on the property to state regulations.

Board member Frederick “Rick” Denico suggested Miller consult engineer Jeff Senders.

East Vassalboro resident Holly Weidner and Miller said an East Vassalboro group and state Department of Transportation officials propose experimental Route 32 traffic-calming measures.

The first step is to collect statistics on traffic speed, Weidner said. Then the experiment will begin; continued monitoring will show whether it slows drivers.

Select board members approved spending up to $6,500 in ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds for the project. Weidner said there might be a $1,000 grant available to reduce the cost to the town.

The next regular Vassalboro select board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 30.

Vassalboro prepares for annual town meeting, election (2024)

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

Vassalboro’s annual town meeting will be, as usual in recent years, in two sections.

Voters will assemble at 6:30 p.m., Monday, June 3, in the Vassalboro Community School gymnasium to vote on the first 41 articles of the 45-article town meeting warrant. The meeting will then recess until 8 a.m., Tuesday, June 11, when written-ballot voting begins at the town office on Articles 42 through 45 and for state primary elections.

Town Manager Aaron Miller expects veteran moderator Richard Thompson will run the meeting, if elected under Art. 1 of the warrant.

Much of the warrant deals with familiar topics.

Art. 2 asks voters to elect five members of Vassalboro’s Budget Committee for two-year terms. In past years the warrant has listed the budget committee members whose terms end. In 2024 they are not listed; Miller had legal advice against appearing to limit choices.

The annual town report for the year ending June 30, 2023, now available at the town office, says Frank Richards’, Douglas Phillips’, Richard Bradstreet’s and Nate Gray’s terms end this year. There is a vacancy, because Michael Poulin’s seat was not filled after he was elected to the select board last year.

Art. 5 asks voter approval to spend more than $2.9 million for 15 municipal departments or functions. Biggest proposed expenditures include more than $648,000 for the public works department, almost $630,000 for administration; and $570,000 for road paving. The smallest request on the list is $3,000 for general assistance.

As in past years, most of the rest of the warrant deals with other expenditures and with authorizing a variety of select board actions.

New articles this year include:

— Art. 12, asking voters to adopt an ordinance called “Ordinance Eliminating Quorum Requirement for Special Town Meetings.”

The article refers to a 1991 town meeting vote. The state Law and Legislative Reference Library’s digital on-line version cites a 1991 private and special law that requires at least 125 registered voters to be present for a Vassalboro special meeting.

This legislative act amended an earlier requirement that at least 10 percent of the number of voters participating in the previous gubernatorial election take part in any special town meeting. The requirement has discouraged select board members from calling special town meetings.

— Art. 21, asking voters to approve spending up to $20,000 from surplus to run the Red Cross emergency shelter at Vassalboro Community School, if it is needed.
— Art. 23, asking voters to reallocate $5,500 from trailer capital reserve funds to buy a trailer for a new skid steer. The skid steer, a much-discussed topic at select board and budget committee meetings, will be used in winter to plow the expected new North Vassalboro sidewalks, and in other seasons for work on trails and elsewhere.
— Art. 25, asking voters to raise and appropriate $10,584 for Conservation Commission and the Courtesy Boat Inspection Program (CBI), directed by the China Region Lakes Alliance. Conservation Commission member Holly Weidner explained to select board and budget committee members that the commission will oversee the CBI, which is intended to keep invasive plants out of town lakes.
Art. 20 again gives select board members an emergency fund, from surplus. Last year, the limit was $15,000; this year, it is proposed at $25,000.

The 2024-25 school budget is in articles 29 through 41.

In Vassalboro’s June 11 primary voting for the state and national legislatures, the only contest is on the Republican ballot for the District One Congressional seat. Andrew Plantidosi, of Cape Elizabeth, and Ronald C. Russell, of Kennebunkport, seek the nomination. The winner will run in November against Democratic incumbent Chellie Pingree, of North Haven, who has no opponent on the Democratic ballot.

In the State Senate primaries for District #15 (Augusta, Belgrade, China, Mount Vernon, Sidney, and Vassalboro), Republican Richard T. Bradstreet, of Vassalboro, and Democrat Raegan French LaRochelle, of Augusta, are unopposed.

In House District 61 (Vassalboro and most of Sidney) Republican Alicia Carol Collins, of Sidney, and Democrat Laura M. Jones, of Vassalboro, are unopposed.

State law says voters enrolled in a party may vote only on that party’s ballot; but unenrolled voters may request any one of the three party ballots.

The budget committee reviewed and made recommendations on financial articles. Its members agreed, often but not always unanimously, with the select board and the school board on all but Art. 8.

Art. 8 asks voters to raise and appropriate $126,936 for capital investments, for reserve funds and to buy the skid steer and trailer. The select board so recommends.

The budget committee recommendation is for $182,936, increasing the public works reserve by $6,000 and adding a $50,000 transfer station reserve.

Sample ballots for the June 11 meeting continuation can be seen on the town website, vassalboro.net, under “Elections,” which is under “Departments and Hours.”

The sample ballot headed “Municipal Election” has three questions, Articles 42, 43 and 44 of the town meeting warrant.

Art. 42 asks if voters want to approve an amended Solid Waste Ordinance, renamed the Solid Waste and Recycling Ordinance, with new provisions about recycling; use by commercial haulers and owners and occupants of multi-family buildings; and enforcement.

Art. 43 asks if voters want to approve an amended Marijuana Business Ordinance. It changes the word “marijuana” to the word “cannabis” throughout, and adds regulations for small medical growing operations, which, by state law, must be allowed in town. The new ordinance does not affect provisions of the current one that prohibit new commercial cannabis-growing operations.

Art. 44, the school budget referendum, asks if voters want to confirm the 2024-25 school budget that was approved at the June 3 open meeting.

The ballot for local municipal elections is the final article on the town meeting warrant. The only candidates listed are Christopher J. French for re-election to the select board and Jolene Gamage for re-election to the school board. There is space for a write-in candidate for each position.

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Holman Francis Day

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Holman Francis Day

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro native Holman Francis Day (1865 – 1935) was a well-known and prolific Maine writer. Starting as a newspaperman, he went on to write poetry and novels in verse, novels in prose, a play, non-fiction pieces and movie scripts.

According to Kristin Stred and Robert Bradley (writers of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission’s 1977 National Register of Historic Places nomination form for Holman Day’s Auburn house), while in high school Day published the Weekly Vassalboro News for two years. He continued newspaper work fresh out of college in 1887 with the Fairfield Journal (a weekly published from 1879 to 1925).

An on-line article in Maine An Encyclopedia says from 1888 to 1892 Day edited the Dexter Gazette, making it “a successful and sprightly country weekly.” (This newspaper became the Eastern Gazette, still published weekly in Dexter and advertising that it serves more than 17,500 households in 42 towns.)

For another two decades, Day was a “special correspondent and columnist” for the Lewiston Evening Journal (a daily published from 1866 to 1989, when it merged with its competitor, the Lewiston Daily Sun, to form today’s Lewiston Sun Journal). He spent a brief time in Portland in 1892, and wrote for newspapers in Boston and New York.

His first book-length work was published in 1900.

Starting in 1918 in Augusta, Day made black-and-white films; sources mention the 1920-21 Holman Day Film Company, which was not a financial success. By 1928, he had moved to California, where he wrote Hollywood scripts as well as novels of Maine life.

* * * * * *

Holman Day was born in Riverside, in southwestern Vassalboro, on Nov. 6, 1865. His father was Captain John Randolph Day (Aug. 1, 1828 – 1889), a Civil War veteran who enlisted in May 1861, was in several major battles and was twice captured by the Confederates, spending time in Libby and Andersonville prisons.

Holman’s mother was Mary A. (Carter) Day (1834-1908), from Etna. The couple named the second of their three sons Holman after a wartime friend of his father, and Francis after John’s brother, Thomas Francis Day.

The Day house was on what is now a section of Old Route 201 named Holman Day Road. Sources differ on the exact location.

The family moved to Wiscasset for six years, returning to Vassalboro about 1874. Sources indicate they lived in at least two different houses in the Getchell’s Corner area of northwestern Vassalboro.

Day graduated from Oak Grove Seminary, in Vassalboro, in the Class of 1881, spent a year at Coburn Classical Institute, in Waterville, and graduated from Colby College, in Waterville in 1887. At Colby, he was named class poet in his sophomore and senior years, and worked on the Colby Echo, the student-run newspaper. The on-line encyclopedia article says he gained a reputation “as a wit, writer, and drinker.”

While with the Fairfield Journal, Day met Helen Rowell Gerald (1870-1902), only daughter of Amos Fitz and Caroline Wood (Rowell) Gerald. They were married Feb. 6, 1889.

Amos Gerald built the newly-weds a house in Auburn. Stred and Bradley said Day lived and wrote there for 17 years; another source said from 1895 to 1914.

The Holman Day house at 2 Goff Street has been on the National Register of Historic Places since Jan. 17, 1978. It is privately owned and closed to the public.

The Days had two daughters, Ruth, born and died in 1893, and Dorothy, born in Auburn on Feb. 19, 1895. Dorothy married Ralph Burton Drisko, Jr., on March 15, 1918, in Mobile, Alabama, according to Find a Grave (which does not explain why she was in Alabama). He was lost at sea in 1924. On March 14, 1926, Dorothy married again, in Waterville, Maine; her second husband was Roy LeChance Kilner.

Helen Day died July 12, 1902, of heart disease and is buried in Fairfield’s Maplewood Cemetery with her parents and her daughters.

Day’s second wife was Agnes M. (Bearce) (Nevens) (1867-1954), a divorcee, from Lewiston. The City of Auburn report for the municipal year ending Feb. 28, 1906, lists Agnes Bearce as a (new?) teacher at North Auburn Primary School, who had trained at Hebron Academy.

They were divorced in 1927.

Day’s third wife was Florence Levin, from Portland.

Day died Feb. 19, 1935, in Mill Valley, California. He is buried in Vassalboro’s Nichols Cemetery, with his parents and Fred Mortimer Day (1870-1938), who your writer assumes was his younger brother.

* * * * * *

In 1898, Stred and Bradley said, Day added to his journalism a daily poetry column, Up in Maine. It “was carried by newspapers across the country” for half a dozen years.

Wikipedia quotes a 1928 article from a Carmel, California, newspaper in which Day said his first poem for the Lewiston Evening Journal resulted in a libel suit against the newspaper that gave his poem a value “never received by the great Longfellow in his palmiest days.”

In 1900, a collection of these poems became Day’s first book, Up in Maine: Stories of Yankee Life Told in Verse. It was followed in 1902 by Pine Tree Ballads: Rhymed Stories of Unplaned Human Natur’ up in Maine; and in 1904 by Kin o’ Ktaadn: Verse Stories of the Plain Folk who are Keeping Bright the Old Home Fires Up in Maine.

Stred and Bradley wrote that these “books of catchy verse…entertained more than 30,000 readers.”

The first poem in Up in Maine, titled Aunt Shaw’s Pet Jug, is about Uncle Elnathan Shaw, “Most regular man you ever saw!” For 30 years, at 4:40 every afternoon he would pick up “the big blue jug from the but’ry shelf” and go down the cellar stairs to draw two quarts of old cider for the evening.

And every afternoon, “Auntie Shaw would yap through her old cross mug” telling him not to fall on the second step and break her favorite jug, inherited from her great-aunt Sue.

One day, Nathan did fall all the way from the second step. He did not break the jug:

And he’d saved the jug; for his last wild thought
Had been of that; he might have caught
At the cellar shelves and saved his fall,
But he kept his hands on the jug through all.

Now, “as he loosed his jealous hug,” his wife’s only concern was “Did ye break my jug?” Enraged at her disregard for his “poor old bones,” Nathan replied, “No, durn yer pelt, but I swow I will” and smashed it against the wall.

The poem titled The Stock in the Tie-Up celebrates life in a well-heated house with a good hot meal on a stormy night and ends with “the stock in the tie-up is warm.” It contrasts the speaker, willing to spend a Sunday doing the extra work to make his barn weather-proof, with his church-going neighbors, who have “cracks in the sides o’ their tie-ups…wide as the door o’ their pew” through which sleet and snow enter.

Day did not approve. He wrote:

And I’ll bet ye that in the Hereafter the men who have stayed on their knees
And let some poor, fuzzy old cattle stand out in a tie-up and freeze,
Will find that the heat o’ the Hot Place is keyed to an extra degree
For the men who forgot to consider that critters have feelin’s same’s we.

One of your writer’s favorite poems is in the third collection, Kin o’ Ktaadn. Titled The Latest Tip from ‘Patent-Right’ Belcher, it invites investment in Patent-Right’s new invention, a two-part device for letting the family cat out the door and back in the window – after the family dog identifies him or her and opens the window – so that people need not get out of warm beds on cold nights.

Day’s first novel, Squire Phin, came out in 1905 and was followed by another 29, plus “300 short stories and poetry,” according to an on-line article about the Auburn house.

Squire Phin opens at the village store in Palermo — a coastal town, not the Kennebec Valley Palermo. Squire Phin has his law office upstairs. The second chapter introduces Squire Phin’s prodigal brother, accompanied by an elephant.

Several sources call King Spruce (1908) Day’s best-known and most popular novel. Stred and Bradley wrote that this book “became a prototype for books about Maine lumbering” – certainly a prototype for many of Day’s later novels, which repeat the dual themes of timber barons’ rivalry and their children’s romances.

King Spruce, according to Stred and Bradley, “firmly established Day’s reputation as a novelist, and delighted President Theodore Roosevelt so much that he invited Day to the White House.”

The novel features a young, college-educated hero named Dwight Wade who deals competently with uneducated, good-hearted woodsmen whose livelihoods depend on city-based lumber companies. Corporate rivalries make life extra hard for the low-level workmen.

Day explained that the term King Spruce stood for an unseen tyrant, a “vast association of timber interests,” visible only in the form of local officers who worked from headquarters in Maine mill towns. Most of his sympathy was with the loggers; but at times he sounded as though he would like the woods left alone, with references to “destruction” by logging and “slaughter” of deer and moose.

In addition to relations among loggers and logging companies, Day introduced several independent, opinionated, stubborn and attractive young women who added love stories to the already-complicated plot.

After many adventures, the villains were defeated, dead or had experienced changes of heart; the loggers had a better deal; and the central pair of lovers rode away together in a pony-drawn carriage.

These themes recur in later novels, like The Rider of the King Log (1919) and Joan of Arc of the North Woods (1922). Day even wrote a North Woods novel for young readers: The Rainy Day Railroad War (1906) was first serialized in The Youth’s Companion magazine. It lacks a romantic subplot.

Some of Day’s novels are unabashed romances, like The Red Lane a Romance of the Border (1912) and Blow the Man Down: A Romance of the Coast (1916). The Skipper and the Skipped (1911) and The Landloper (1915) are examples of more varied themes.

Stred and Bradley commented that Day “had an eye for unusual Maine characters, and an ear for their unique dialect. He then wove stories around the personalities and exploits of the woodsmen and seafarers he had observed and with whose ways he was familiar.”

The historians called his writings “an important part of the literary heritage of Maine.”

Holman’s work can be seen at Vassalboro Historical Society

The Vassalboro Historical Society owns Holman Day memorabilia, including, president Janice Clowes said, his books, movies made from his books and a movie about him, movie posters, newspaper clippings and other items.

The society’s Holman Day files include a biography, written as a master’s thesis at the University of Maine at Orono in 1942.

The museum is located in the former East Vassalboro schoolhouse, on the east side of Route 32 on the south edge of East Vassalboro Village, close to the outlet of China Lake and the boat landing. Hours are Mondays and Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and the second and fourth Sundays of each month from 1 to 4 p.m.

Main sources

Day, Holman various writings.
Stred, Kristin (student assistant), and Robert L. Bradley, National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form Holman Day House, June 1977.
Vassalboro Historical Society files.

Websites, miscellaneous.

Vassalboro planners approve new business, review planned expansion of another

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

At their May 7 meeting, Vassalboro Planning Board members approved a new business in North Vassalboro and reviewed preliminary expansion plans at Sidereal Brewery, at 771 Cross Hill Road. Sidereal owner James D’Angelo is likely to present a formal application at the board’s June 4 meeting.

Ray Breton, owner of two small commercial buildings on the east side of Main Street in North Vassalboro, presented Paula Stratton’s application to use 913 Main Street as a studio for her business, Passion Photography Maine.

Board members unanimously approved the application, which explained that Straton planned no exterior or other changes that would affect neighbors or the neighborhood.

Breton initially applied on behalf of Stratton at the March board meeting. Board members rejected the application as lacking specific information.

Following up on that experience, board member and former codes officer Paul Mitnik recommended the board be more strict about requiring applicants to fill out forms as directed in town ordinances. For example, he said, each application should have a scale drawing of what is proposed; many do not.

Codes officer Jason Lorrain said he would help applicants meet requirements by reviewing applications with them and pointing out deficiencies.

D’Angelo, accompanied by sons and employees, came to the meeting by request, in response to reports of changes on the Sidereal Brewery property.

He explained that he was seeking the board’s “guidance” on his proposed “master plan” for the Cross Hill Road business, which opened in October 2022. He described the present set-up, which includes the brewery building, a residential building, an outdoor firepit area and a bocce court.

Proposed changes include:

— Moving outdoor activities – the bocce court (around which he plans to plant fruit trees) and the firepit with chairs around it – to a graded area behind the brewery;
— Extending the driveway to a site where he wants to build a second house and a four-bay storage garage for tractors, other equipment and brewery supplies;
— Creating a turn-around for travel trailers at the end of the driveway;
— Renaming the driveway Sidereal Road, so that on-line directions can identify it and customers will no longer mistakenly turn into neighbors’ driveways; and
— Applying to the State of Maine for a full kitchen license to allow indoor cooking, without enlarging the existing building, David D’Angelo said.

Making the driveway a road is a 911 issue, not in the planning board’s jurisdiction, Mitnik said. Discussion of the rest of the plan revolved around the definition of “expansion” in town ordinances. Expansion requires an amended permit.

D’Angelo said he wants to relocate the firepit and bocce court immediately, for this summer’s trade. Fearing delay, he offered to scale back the plan to something board members could approve promptly in June.

Board chairman Virgina Brackett urged him to apply for the whole plan. “We’re not putting limits on your business; we just want to know what’s going on,” she told D’Angelo.

Neighbors Peter and MaryBeth Soule said conditions on the original brewery permit have been ignored. The required buffers do not exist, though trees have been planted, died and been replanted; and a required noise report has not been done.

The Soules asked for copies of the paperwork D’Angelo submits for the June 4 board meeting. D’Angelo said he would provide them. Brackett said there will be time for public comment when the board reviews D’Angelo’s application.

MaryBeth Soule asked whether the board can approve amendments to a permit before all original conditions have been met.

The June 4 meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in the town office meeting room.

Vassalboro select board looks at VSD finances in hour-long discussion

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

The May 2 Vassalboro select board meeting featured an hour-long discussion among board members, Town Manager Aaron Miller, Vassalboro Sanitary District trustees and Megan McDonough and other VSD customers, with frequent references to information supplied by or to be sought from attorneys.

The goal is to find ways to manage VSD finances, especially repayment of the debt from connecting the Vassalboro sewer system to Winslow, without making already-high sewer bills even higher.

NOTE: The May 2 Vassalboro select board meeting again included an hour-long executive session with the town attorney, during which the recording of the meeting shows the empty meeting room. After a little more than two-and-a-half hours from the beginning of the meeting, board members returned for another quarter of an hour.

The agenda on the town website, www.vassalboro.net, includes a 29-page document titled “Outline of May 2 VSD-TIF-Discussion.pdf,” available for viewing or downloading.

The VSD serves about 200 of Vassalboro’s about 2,700 households, select board chairman Chris French said. Its lines run along Route 32 (Main Street) from East Vassalboro through North Vassalboro to the Winslow line, and along some side streets off Main Street.

The first topic was whether some of Vassalboro’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds could be allocated to the debt repayment. Miller and select board member Frederick “Rick” Denico, Jr., said Vassalboro’s TIF document says money must be spent in town; but they have not been able to get from VSD trustees an accurate figure on what proportion of the lines is in Vassalboro and what proportion is in Winslow.

Engineer Richard Green, representing the consultant that operates the VSD system, said the question shows a lack of understanding of how funding agencies work. Funds are allocated by purpose, not by geography, he said.

After more discussion of legal advice, TIF requirements, the difference between construction and debt service and related topics, Green said he could provide the information town officials initially requested in February.

Miller and select board members agreed they still need the town auditor’s input. A meeting of town and VSD officials and the auditor is tentatively scheduled for the end of May.

A second issue was how VSD trustees are chosen. Denico pointed out that the VSD charter allowing board members to elect new members contradicts state law.

State law, he and Miller said, requires an open election by sanitary district residents; they cited Title 38, Chapter 1105, in the Maine Revised Statutes. Denico said the town would cover the cost of VSD elections along with municipal election costs.

Trustee Rebecca Goodrich said VSD’s attorney thought the charter did not need amending. She planned to talk with the attorney again the next day.

After their executive session with the town attorney later in the meeting, select board members voted unanimously to ask the trustees to change their method of election as soon as possible.

The third major topic was other funding sources. Select board members suggested two: joining the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments to get grant-writing assistance, and creating housing districts to encourage residential (and associated commercial) growth in North and East Vassalboro, so more sewer users would share the costs.

McDonough urged acceptance of both ideas. Neither would provide prompt relief, everyone agreed.

The May 2 select board meeting began with a short presentation by Matthew Weaver, of Damariscotta-based First National Wealth Management, who said Vassalboro’s investments are doing well. The conservative investment portfolio had an overall return rate of 9.66 percent in the previous year, he said.

The other major topic for which select board members had time before the executive session was review of Miller’s draft warrant for the June 3 and June 11 town meeting. Select board members suggested minor changes.

After the executive session, Miller summarized a Delta Ambulance report for the first three months of 2024. The service responded to 97 percent of Vassalboro’s 911 calls, a total of 117; in 19 percent of the calls, no one was transported (and Medicare did not reimburse Delta for the call). Average response time was 14 minutes, 15 seconds.

Board members unanimously nominated Miller to serve another term on the Maine Municipal Association’s Legislative Policy Committee.

The next regular Vassalboro select board meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, May 16. Two topics postponed from May 2 are likely to be on the agenda: review of plans for the transfer station redesign, and updates to the town personnel policy.

Mothers-to-be honored at tea party

/1 Comment/in , , /by

(photo by Roberta R. Barnes)

by Roberta R. Barnes

Even before a baby is born it is best for his or her mother to have every ‘i’ dotted and every ‘t’ crossed. While expecting a new bundle of joy is exciting, unless an expecting or new Mom has supportive relatives or friends close by, she can feel alone. January 2023 the ladies of Sew for a Cause, decided on a way to give support to mothers-to-be, and celebrate the joy of new life in young families.

(photo by Roberta R. Barnes)

Saturday May 4, 2024, was the second ‘Mothers-to-be Tea party’ at the St. Bridget Center in, Vassalboro, hosted by the ladies of Sew for a Cause. These ladies who meet twice a month planned and created a special day. Armed with their personal sewing machines, knitting needles, donated materials, and a lot of passion to help others designed and created the needed and fun things to help mothers, and fathers, with their new babies.

Even though the tea party did not begin until 1 p.m., the ladies hosting began setting up long before noon. By noon one of the Knights of Columbus was already at the parking lot entrance to wave attendees into the parking lot with a smile. Once in the parking lot the scout master of Troop #210, along with one of the boy scouts, was already guiding cars into the best spot to park for all those attending.

The weather on May 4 was good so attendees could pick up their first gifts on the outside walkway to the center’s front doors. On the left side of the walkway was a table of maternity pants in varying sizes. On the right side of the walkway were cozy warm hats handmade by the ladies with the heartfelt intention of keeping little heads warm.

Once inside the doors each mother to be who had registered by April 15 was checked off by one of the ladies at the registration tables and given directions to one of the numbered tables on the two sides of the open room. Each woman when registering was asked her expected due date, so those with similar due dates were seated at the same table.

Babies do not come with instruction manuals or calendars. A few of the mothers-to-be were blessed with their bundles of joy arriving before the expected due days. Those mothers whose babies arrived at a time that allowed them to attend the tea holding their babies were seated together. This seating arrangement gave mothers things in common to talk about. One or two of the ladies hosting the tea party also sat at each table to help as needed.

For the mothers of the babies who arrived too close to May 4 for them to attend gifts were set aside for someone to pick up for them. Not all the tables in the room were for attendees. On tables in the middle of the room, which remained covered until after lunch, sat handcrafted tote bags filled with handcrafted baby quilts, blankets, nursing quilts, changing pads, bibs, and adorable stuffed toys. Each tote bag and the items within it gave off a special glow created by the joy of the lady handcrafting it, and the sponsor who donated the materials.

When it comes to all these handcrafted things there are no shortcuts. Rachel Kilbride, the organizer who, with a smile, kept the events of the tea party flowing smoothly, estimated the ladies had put in over 3,000 volunteer hours. Thinking back to a woman who told me when sewing a free style quilt, it took her six hours to do the wing of one butterfly, that sounds like a low estimate.

Nevertheless, it was easy to see that each of the over 30 ladies hosting the tea party was, and had been, focused on the quality of what she did to help these new moms with their bundles of joy. The hours required to make it happen did not matter.

(photo by Roberta R. Barnes)

The tables at the very back of the room were filled with donated baby needed things that cannot be handmade. All of those, which were raffled off at the end of the tea, reflected the kindness of the business and people who donated them. By the side door there was even a crib that had arrived as a donation the day before the tea party.

The tables at the back of the room in front of those donated items were for healthy luncheon foods and yummy homemade cupcakes and cookies. Once everyone was seated the sandwiches were brought in from the kitchen. As the number for each table was drawn the mothers, and fathers who were able to be there, sitting at that table would have their plates filled with the foods they wanted by the ladies serving from behind the food tables.

After lunch, there were sit-down games for the attendees to play and then the sheets were removed from the tables holding the handcrafted tote bags. As the number for each table was drawn the new mothers could choose which tote bag best matched their baby. All the things within each tote bag reflected the theme of the tote bag.

As you can imagine, there was a lot of activity in the room. All the giggles that came with smiles as things were taken out of tote bags and clapping when names were drawn for the raffled donated baby items created noise.

However, mixed in with all of this was the subtle kindness of all the ladies who volunteered and those people who donated baby items. While the adults might not have noticed that gentle wave, the babies attending seemed to be tuning into the caring that filled the room. As I looked around the room they were either sleeping or smiling. One tiny baby was sleeping peacefully in his father’s arms. One mother I spoke with commented on how good her baby was during the entire event. Another baby in his mom’s arms smiled as he posed for the camera.

None of this could have happened without the kindness of the 50 plus ladies of the Sew for a Cause donating their time and skill, and all the other donations ranging from businesses, organizations, churches to individuals.

(photo by Roberta R. Barnes)

Vassalboro Community School honor roll (2024)

/0 Comments/in , /by

Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

GRADE 8

High honors: Juliet Boivin, and Abigail Prickett. Honors: Zoey Demerchant, Ryleigh French, Cooper Lajoie, Bentley Pooler, Judson Smith, Hannah Tobey, Alana Wade, and Reid Willett. Honorable mention: Tristyn Brown, Lucas Cormier, Caleb Marden, and Katherine Maxwell.

GRADE 7

High honors: Zoe Gaffney, Allyson Gilman, Cheyenne Lizzotte, Grace Tobey, and Ava Woods. Honors: Samuel Bechard, Bryleigh Burns, Basil Dillaway, Fury Frappier, Baylee Fuchswanz, Savannah Judkins, Jack Lapierre, Kaitlyn Lavallee, Mia McLean, Elliot McQuarrie, and Agatha Meyer. Honorable mention: Peyton Bishop, Mason Brewer, Emily Clark, Lillyana Krastev, and Jayden Portillo.

GRADE 6

High honors: Xainte Cloutier, Samantha Craig, Mariah Estabrook, Leah Hyden, Sarina Lacroix, Juliahna Rocque, Charles Stein, and Cameron Willett. Honors: Zander Austin, Grace Clark, Twila Cloutier, Kaylee Colfer, Riley Fletcher, Aubrey Goforth, Isaac Leonard, Olivia Perry, Elliott Rafuse, Cassidy Rumba, and Haven Trainor. Honorable mention: Aliyah Anthony, Lukas Blais, Dawson Frazer, Aubrey Judkins, Kaylee Pease, and Isaiah Smith.

GRADE 5

High honors: Hunter Brown, Kamdyn Couture, Cooper Grant, Brooklyn Leach, Landon Lindquist, Simon Olson, Tyson Speropolous, and Robert Wade. Honors: Ryder Austin, Alexander Bailey, Rylee Boucher, Maverick Brewer, Reese Chechowitz, Braiden Crommett, Molly Dearborn, Levi Demerchant, Liam Dowe, Anthony Dyer, Chase Fay, Ashlynn Hamlin, Avery Hamlin, Sophia-Lynn Howard, Tanner Hughes, Kendall Karlsson, Olivia Lane, Landon Quint, Willa Rafuse, Alexis Reed, Jackson Robichaud, Christopher Santiago, Asher Smith, Addison Suga, and Mason York-Baker. Honorable mention: Grayson Brown, Eli Dulac, Hunter Green, Owen Mayo, Keegan Robinson, Gabriel Tucker, and William Vincent.

GRADE 4

High honors: Olivia Booker, Camden Desmond, Marley Field, Henry Gray, Tucker Lizzotte, Evelyn Meyer, Sawyer Plossay, Allysson Portillo, Gabriella Reynolds, Preston Richmond, Alivia Twitchell, Mayla Wilson, Haley Witham, and Alivia Woods. Honors: Freya Caison, Francis Farrell, Emma Freeman, Norah French, Brayden Lang-Knights, Finn Malloy, Anthony Malloy, Gage Nason, Raistlyn Russell, Wesley Stewart, Oliver Sugden, Trenten Theobald, and Roman Wentworth.

GRADE 3

High honors: Marie Cote, Estelle Ford, Levi Hotham, Rose Matulis, Lillan Noll, Orion Paulette, Tristan Plossay, Bianca Pooler, Dominic Poulin, Sydney Suga, Aria Tardiff, Anastaysha Timberlake, Meaghan Trask, and Samuel Tuttle. Honors: Airibella Bossie, Cameron Bossie, Christopher Bourgoin, Payton Bowring, Alexander Buckley, Jaxon Crommett, Preston Dupont, Colton Fletcher, Mariskah-Avril Grant, Thyri Kimball, Jocelyn Parsons, Wyatt Richard, Quentin Tarr, Wynn Trainor, Jens Tyrol, and Ryan York. Honorable mention: Jackson Ingerson.

SCOUTING NEWS: Area Scouts make a difference with clean-up activities

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

Vassalboro Cubs, front, from left to right, Kasen Maroon (Tiger), Lux Reynolds (Wolf), Finn Arsenault (Wolf), and Declan McLaughlin (Wolf). Second row, John Gray (Wolf), Boone McLaughlin (Lion), Beckett Metcalf (Wolf), Alex Madison (Lion), Samuel Madison (Wolf), Walter (Pack #410 Recruit), Henry Gray (Webelos I). Back Tiger Den Leader Shane Maroon, Cubmaster Chris Reynolds, and Asst. Cubmaster Ben Metcalf. All are from Vassalboro. (photo by Chuck Mahaleris)

by Chuck Mahaleris

Winslow Cubs, from left to right, Wolf Ryder Johnston, Arrow of Light Ashish Dabas, Wolf Easton Vigue, Bear Freddie Pullen (behind Easton), on the right side Lion Lorelei Pullen, Webelos Colton Vigue, Wolf CJ Mihalovits, Arrow of Light Alex Parsons, Wolf Simon Giroux. Not pictured are Wolf Abel Byroade, Lion Stevie Hodgdon, and Bear Peter Small who also took part in the clean-up. (photo by Chuck Mahaleris)

Earth Day has a special place in Scouting’s culture. Cubs and Scouts know that responsible stewardship of the planet is key to being a good Scout. Since Boy Scouts of America’s early beginnings, Scouts have been caring for the planet. The organization’s “Leave No Trace” principles demonstrate how Scouts show respect for the great outdoors.

BSA makes a point to recognize other friends of the planet with the Hornaday Awards, which honor not only Scouting units, Scouts, Venturers, adult Scouting volunteers, but also other individuals, corporations, and institutions that contribute to natural resource conservation and environmental protection.

Caring for the environment is considered one of the core values of Scouting, which is why BSA and its members are constantly taking action to champion sustainability and conservation. Area Scouts were busy putting into practice what they had been learning in Scouting this Earth Day.

On April 21, Skowehgan Pack #485 Cubmaster Shanna Brown said their Cubs Scouts and leaders picked up litter, raked and removed debris around the Federated Church near the Kennebec River filling three contractor bags with trash and a pencil box filled with needles that was given to the Skowhegan Police Department. Scouts had received instructions prior to the start of the clean up to leave any items that looked like medical equipment alone and alert an adult. Scouts and leaders from Troop #485 also assisted in the clean up effort. Shanna said, “Doing our best to clean up the earth one location at a time.”

Cub Scouts in Gardiner Pack #672 gave up some of their Saturday on April 13 cleaning along the rail trail near the Kennebec River. Cubmaster Scott St. Amand said, “They collected ten bags of trash as well as some miscellaneous car parts. It was a beautiful day for a clean-up and the folks on the rail trail weren’t shy about expressing gratitude for the Scouts getting out there and tidying up.”

In Vassalboro, members of Pack and Troop #410 took part in a clean up of the storytime trail at the Vassalboro Community School. “It was a wonderful day to bring both Troop #410 and Pack #410 together to work on a service project in honor of Earth Day, but to also say thank you to Vassalboro Community School for their partnership. It was a perfect collaboration cleaning up storm damage on the story walk created by Eagle Scout Nathan Polley,” said Scoutmaster Christopher Santiago.

Sabrina Garfield, Cubmaster in Winslow said, “Cub Scout Pack #445 spent the day (April 21) walking around Winslow cleaning up litter making the town cleaner and greener. They went to Norton Park, Halifax Park, Winslow Elementary, High School, Jr High, Town Office and Halifax hill cemetery just to name a few of the places. One of our Lion Cubs did 3.2 miles of walking and cleaning up litter. The bottle drive was also a huge success. And a big thank you to Winslow Town Councilman Adam Lint and his wife for their support with their bottle donations and coming out to say hi and thanking the cubs for their work.” Garfield said that many people stopped by, dropped off bottles, beeped, waved and shared encouragement for what the Scouts were doing. Cheryl’s Pizza provided pizza after the work was done. “It’s not too late to help out! Grab a bag, some gloves and an adult and clean up your street. The Earth will thank you.”

Skowhegan Cubs, from left to right, Bear Cub Jaxson Lewis, of Norridgewock, Bear Cub Ian Dickey, of Anson, Tiger Cub Dylan Dickey, of Anson, Tiger Cub Philo Augustus, of Smithfield, and Tiger Cub Casey Barden, of Norridgewock, took part in an Earth Day Clean Up near the Skowhegan Federated Church and the Kennebec River. (photo by Chuck Mahaleris)