Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Holman Francis Day

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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(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)

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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

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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)

EVENTS: Open Mic at Vassalboro coffee house

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East Vassalboro Grange

Vassalboro Open Mic and Coffeehouse at the East Vassalboro Grange Hall Saturday, May 11, 7 – 9 p.m. Everyone is welcome to perform or to enjoy. Might you be a musician who might enjoy a place to share your talent? This could be the perfect place to try out the neighborhood stage. Bring your friends and family. $3 – $5 suggested donation. Coffee, tea, and goodies for sale. FMI: grange322@gmail.com.

VASSALBORO: After long meeting, committee agrees to recommend school budget

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by Mary Grow

By the end of an almost-three-hour April 16 meeting, Vassalboro Budget Committee members had agreed to recommend the 2024-25 school budget as presented by the school board, and to recommend rearrangements and reductions in the almost-final municipal budget.

The vote on the school budget was four in favor to three opposed, with two members absent. The decision was preceded by renewed discussion of issues reviewed the previous week (see the April 18 issue of The Town Line, p. 2).

Committee members’ goals as they debated the municipal budget were to provide needed services and to limit the expected tax increase. They considered using money from reserve funds and Vassalboro’s undesignated fund balance (informally called surplus) instead of from 2024-25 taxation, and eliminating or postponing some expenditures select board members proposed.

The $629,826 administration account was recommended with one change: by a six to one vote, budget committee members recommended against select board members’ proposed cost of living increase ($240), leaving a $500 increase intended for the incoming board chairman (see the Feb. 15 issue of The Town Line, p. 2).

Proposed road paving, and costs, were rearranged after public works employee Brian Lajoie presented suggestions. Lajoie reported the lowest paving bid was $93.25 per ton. Committee members unanimously recommended $510,000 for 2024-25 paving.

Other expenditures discussed included the proposed new skidstreer to plow the expected new North Vassalboro sidewalks (and for other uses year-round) and the proposed replacement loader.

Committee members voted six to one not to recommend buying a replacement loader in 2024-25. By the same margin, they voted to set aside $26,436 for the first payment on the skidsteer.

Future projects include putting up a new building to shelter equipment at the public works department lot on Bog Road, replacing the Mill Hill bridge and buying a new plow truck. Committee members discussed how much money should be set aside in what type of account; they voted unanimously to recommend a $100,000 plow truck reserve fund.

Committee chairman Peggy Schaffer tried to calculate recommended savings and the effect on the tax rate. Results were estimates, because the Kennebec County budget was undetermined as of April 16, and Vassalboro’s total valuation had not been set by the town’s assessor.

Valuation helps determine tax rate; the greater the total valuation, the lower the rate required to raise needed funds from taxation.

Select board members will prepare the warrant – list of articles to be submitted to voters – for the Monday, June 3, annual town meeting, where voters will approve the 2024-25 budget. The warrant includes recommendations from the two boards on municipal monetary articles, and from the school board and budget committee on school funding requests.

Vassalboro select board discusses road work, sanitary district

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Town attorney rules protest letter does not meet requirement for petition

by Mary Grow

The April 18 Vassalboro select board meeting was in sections. After an hour and a half discussing road work, Vassalboro Sanitary District customers’ communication and other matters, board members recessed for an executive session with the town attorney.

They then spent another half hour in open meeting talking about the draft warrant for the June 3 and 11 town meeting, before another short executive session.

The only action taken after either executive session was a prompt adjournment after the second one.

Proposed road repaving has been discussed repeatedly among select board and budget committee members, with information and recommendations from Brian Lajoie of the public works department. After the April 16 budget committee meeting, attendees thought they had agreed that the big project for the summer of 2024 would be repaving the Church Hill Road to the Augusta line.

At the April 18 select board meeting, Lajoie advised reconsidering. Central Maine Power Company plans to replace lines along that road, he said, and the company’s heavy machinery would chew up the new pavement.

Although, he said, CMP is supposed to pay for any damage, he still preferred to postpone the repaving.

Select board members therefore tentatively added back into the 2024 paving schedule several shorter stretches of town road. As of April 18, Art. 5 in the draft town meeting warrant allocates $570,000 for road paving.

The other road issue discussed was the state Department of Transportation’s (MDOT) planned replacement of the Meadow Brook bridge on Bog Road, about seven-tenths of a mile west of the four-way intersection in East Vassalboro.

MDOT Project Manager Gary Libby said the current schedule calls for the work to be bid out in December 2024 and done in the summer of 2025.

The plan is to replace the bridge with a box culvert. Libby described the culvert and the roadway above, which he said will have 11-foot travel lanes and three-foot shoulders, making it a bit wider than the current bridge.

Work will include installing a dry hydrant for the Vassalboro Fire Department. The department is to provide materials and oversee the contractor’s installation.

An on-line public forum in May, dates to be announced, will let residents ask questions and offer comments.

Libby expects work to start after June 15 and to take about six weeks.

MDOT’s proposed detour uses Taber Hill and Gray roads. Gray Road runs west from Route 32 to its intersection with Taber Hill, where traffic would make a sharp left turn to go south to Bog Road on the west side of the detour.

Board and audience members questioned whether trucks would have trouble with the sharp turn at the intersection, and whether increased traffic would be hard on Gray Road. Lajoie and others said Gray Road is scheduled for repaving this summer, and it does not have a very strong base.

Libby was willing to investigate a truck route following Taber Hill Road north to Oak Grove Road, where traffic could turn east and join Route 32 in North Vassalboro. The sight lines where Taber Hill Road joins Oak Grove Road would be one factor to consider, he said.

The Vassalboro Sanitary District discussion was sparked by what Town Manager Aaron Miller called a letter of protest from residents served by the District, who have repeatedly asked for help with high user fees. The document was intended as a petition, Miller said, but the town attorney said it did not meet requirements, and it lacked the needed 219 signatures.

Miller said he had advised the senders what to do if they wanted to submit an article for the warrant for the June 3 town meeting.

During the first part of their meeting, select board members:

— Appointed Albion resident Cindy Spaulding to the Vassalboro Cemetery Committee. Miller summarized her credentials and said current cemetery committee members were satisfied.
— Approved $15,000 in ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds for the volunteer fire department for turnout gear (see the April 18 issue of The Town Line, p. 3).
— Agreed by consensus to postpone buying a new backhoe.

After the first executive session, they reviewed Miller’s preliminary draft of the town meeting warrant. As of April 18, the warrant had 41 articles to be acted on at the open meeting, scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Monday, June 3, in the Vassalboro Community School gymnasium.

Another three articles are to be voted by written ballot on Tuesday, June 11, at the town office, with polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Local elections will be held at the same time and place.

Town Clerk Cathy Coyne reported two incumbents submitted nomination papers for two positions on local boards: Christopher French for a three-year term on the select board, and Jolene Clark Gamage for a three-year term on the school board.

Miller said veteran moderator Richard Thompson has agreed to moderate the town meeting, for the last time; he plans to retire after this year.

John Melrose is Vassalboro’s 2024 Spirit of America choice

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John Melrose

John Melrose will be honored with Vassalboro’s annual Spirit of America award at the June 3 town meeting, in recognition of his many volunteer activities in the town.

Select board member Michael Poulin announced the board’s choice, “appreciative of the depth and length of selfless service rendered to our community.”

Melrose’s service, “so far,” Poulin wrote, includes several terms on the select board; serving on the budget committee; serving as a scoutmaster and baseball coach; and membership (often leadership) on the Vassalboro Cemetery Committee, Kennebec Land Trust, Vassalboro Grange, Vassalboro Historical Society, Vassalboro Trails Committee and Maine Woodland Owners.

Melrose and his wife Molly have been Vassalboro residents since 1976. Melrose worked for the Maine Municipal Association for seven years; served as commissioner of the Maine Department of Transportation from 1995 to 2001; and worked as a private consultant, including running his company, Maine Tomorrow, for 20 years.

The Spirit of America Foundation was established in Augusta in 1990 to recognize and honor volunteers in Maine municipalities.