Issue for August 11, 2022

Celebrating 34 years of local news

CLA annual meeting celebrates 50 years of Clean Water Act

The China Lake Association (CLA) annual meeting was held Saturday morning on July, 30, 2022, in the China Middle School, on Lakeview Drive, in China, Maine. The meeting was both a celebration of the alewives return to China Lake and a tribute to the 50-year anniversary of the Clean Water Act… by Jeanne Marquis

China icon, Jack Sylvester, passes away at age 83

Jack Sylvester, 83, was loved by many and affectionately known as “the Mayor of China.” Every person he met was a friend to be made. He passed away Saturday, July 30, at his China Village home, surrounded by family and certain as ever in his annual conviction that “the Red Sox won’t amount to anything this year”…

Your Local News

Discussions on local fireworks ordinance, town office addition continue

CHINA – China select board members spent a long Aug. 1 meeting going over a long agenda, with board member Janet Preston presiding in the absence of Chairman Ronald Breton. Ongoing issues included the proposed local fireworks ordinance; broadband expansion; the planned town office addition; using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money to help residents pay fuel bills; and town office hours…

Planners explain changes in land use ordinance

CHINA – China Planning Board members held an Aug. 4 public hearing to explain changes in the town’s land use ordinance that are expected to be on the Nov. 8 local ballot…

CBC, land conveyance on select board special meeting agenda

CHINA – China select board members had two main items on the agenda for their Aug. 8 special meeting: China Broadband Committee (CBC) members asked them to put on the Nov. 8 local ballot a memorandum of understanding leading toward expanded broadband service in town…

EVENTS: Recycled Shakespeare Company to perform Much Ado About Nothing

AUGUSTA – Recycled Shakespeare Company (RSC) is bringing fun and romance to the end of summer with their free performances of William Shakespeare’s much-loved comedy, Much Ado About Nothing

EVENTS: Delightful “All Things Blueberry” festival promises loads of family fun

WINSLOW – One of Maine’s all-time most popular, beloved, and downright yummy summer events—Winslow’s annual Blueberry Festival—is coming this year on Saturday, August 13, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., to Winslow Congregational Church, 12 Lithgow Street, Winslow. Admission to the festival grounds is free…

EVENTS: China to hold Window Dressers workshop

CHINA – To submit an order for window inserts, or to volunteer, please call the China Town Office at 445-2014, send an email to chinaforalifetime@gmail.com, or visit the Window Dressers website and fill out the request form

Local novelist launches “Read a story, feed a child” effort

WINSLOW – David M. Carew, author of the new murder mystery/love story Lucy’s in the Neighborhood — set in contemporary Waterville — has launched the “Read a Story, Feed a Child” effort to benefit Winslow Comm­unity Cupboard food pantry…

PHOTO: Central Maine Youth Football Senior Camp

CENTRAL ME – The Central Maine Football Senior Camp for ages 10-13 was directed by Lawrence H.S. head football coach John Hersom, with the help of Lawrence players, on July 25-27, at the Fairfield PAL field…

New Dimensions FCU announces results of Cruisin’ for Care

WATERVILLE – New Dimensions Federal Credit Union recently hosted its 8th Annual Cruisin’ for a Cure Car Show at the Lafleur Airport. On the morning of June 4, staff and volunteers arrived early to begin setting up for the biggest event they do all year…

Name that film!

Identify the film in which this famous line originated and qualify to win FREE passes to Railroad Square Cinema in Waterville: “Medulla oblongata.” Email us at townline@townline.org with subject “Name that film!” Deadline for submission is September 8, 2022…

Endicott College announces local dean’s list students

CHINA/PALERMO – Endicott College, in Beverly, Massachusetts, has announced its Spring 2022 dean’s list students. Hunter Scholz, of Augusta, a history major, is the son of Kimberly Scholz and Stephen Scholz. Hailey Hobart, of China Village, studies/education major, is the daughter of Deborah Hobart and Daniel Hobart. Alana York, of Palermo, a business management major, is the daughter of Cheryl York and Andrew York…

Cambelle Nutting named to spring 2022 dean’s list at Saint Michael’s College

VASSALBORO – Named to the dean’s list at Saint Michael’s College, in Colchester, Vermont, for the Spring 2022 semester was Cambelle Nutting, a junior business administration / gender studies major, from Vassalboro, and a graduate of Maranacook Community School…

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Kingsbury’s people (new)

CENTRAL ME HISTORY — This article is for people who enjoy an occasional glimpse into someone else’s life – nothing scandalous or earth-shaking, just odds and ends about the ordinary lives of people in another time. The main source is Henry D. Kingsbury’s Kennebec County history… by Mary Grow [2006 words]

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Natural resources – Part 5

CENTRAL ME HISTORY — Gold is unusual in Maine but not completely lacking. The Maine Geological Survey has on its website a list of streams, all but one in Franklin, Oxford or Somerset county, worth panning for gold. (The outlier is the St. Croix River, separating the United States and Canada; gold has been found in Baileyville, in Washington County)… by Mary Grow [1845 words]

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Natural resources – Part 4

CENTRAL ME HISTORY — “Augusta has been abundantly supplied…with the best of granite, easily quarried, and of convenient access,” Augusta historian James North wrote. He expressed surprise that the resource was not developed earlier; not only did the workers on the 1797 Kennebec bridge and the 1808 jail use boulders instead, but, he wrote, three gentlemen who built houses in the first decade of the 1800s brought granite for the foundations from the Boston area, “at great expense”… by Mary Grow [1858 words]

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Natural resources – Part 3

CENTRAL ME HISTORY — Attentive readers will have noted that the previous discussions of brickyards and brick-making have omitted the two cities in the central Kennebec Valley, Augusta and Waterville. Your writer deliberately saved them for last, because they have so many buildings of brick and granite as to deserve extra space… by Mary Grow [1929 words]

CALENDAR OF EVENTS: So. China Community Church Rummage Sale, BBQ

SOUTH CHINA — The South China Community Church, 246 Village St., South China, will hold a rummage sale, chicken BBQ and cookie walk, on Sat., Aug. 13, from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.; chicken BBQ 11 a.m. until sold out. The sale will run again on Sat., Aug. 20, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m…. and many other local events!

Obituaries

BENTON – Bonnie Laprise, 66, of Benton, passed away peacefully, at The Androscoggin Hospice House, on Friday, July 29, 2022… and remembering 11 others.

Town Line Original Columnists

Roland D. HalleeSCORES & OUTDOORS

by Roland D. Hallee | You catch a fast-moving, swooping bird navigate through the thick forest of trees. It looks more like a shadow. What was that? It lands on the trunk of a nearby tree, and begins a slow, rolling whacking sound against the bark of that dead tree. You look closer, it’s a pileated woodpecker…

Peter CatesREVIEW POTPOURRI

by Peter Cates | I have vivid 1950s memories of some very engaging shows that were syndicated to the five channels that came in on the television sets in East Vassalboro (I should add that we were the last family in the village to get a TV set – a bulky used Philco which my grandmother Annabelle Ingraham Cates purchased for $30 from our local repairman, Richard Dowe, who was based in South China, and it arrived in early November 1959. For myself, it was the equivalent of the Second Coming, heaven on earth)…

LIFE ON THE PLAINS

by Roland D. Hallee | A pictorial look at oldtime Waterville…

FOR YOUR HEALTH

(NAPSI) | Every step of the way, women, especially mothers, have a lot to juggle. While trying to conceive, being pregnant, raising children and going through menopause, their to-do lists are long. One important task which may not be the first to come to mind is maintaining good oral health…