Issue for January 18, 2024
Windsor Cub Scouts Pack holds holiday party
Cub Pack #609 held their holiday party on January 4, at Windsor Elementary School. The event was delayed due to the “Grinch” storm that left many in the area without power for days. Families brought food to share and Cubs learned a new song. The highlight of the evening came when each Scout received a new pinewood derby car kit… by Chuck Mahaleris
Town News
Planners return to talks on solar development
CHINA – China planning board members returned to an old topic, the proposed town ordinance to govern commercial solar development, at their first 2024 meeting, held on Jan. 9…
Board members consider amendments to marijuana ordinance
VASSALBORO – Vassalboro select board members have made progress toward livestreaming and recording their meetings. The Jan. 11 meeting was at least partly covered. Michael Picher donated the camera. David Trask provided technical support. Brian Lajoie helped with installing television screens and running wire. The selectboard was responsible for the directive and helping in coordinating with Picher and Trask…
Webber’s Pond
Webber’s Pond is a comic drawn by an anonymous central Maine resident (click thumbnail to enlarge)…
AARP accepting community challenge grant applications
CENTRAL ME – AARP Maine invites local eligible non-profit organizations and governments across the country to apply for the 2024 AARP Community Challenge grant program, now through Wednesday, March 6, at 5 p.m. Eastern…
Dawson White achieves Eagle Scout rank
WATERVILLE – Dawson James White, 18, of Sidney, was presented with Scouting’s highest rank, the Eagle Scout, during a ceremony at the Augusta Elks, on January 6, 2024, which capped off an eleven-year Scouting career. “I learned so much in Scouting,” White said. “I learned survival skills, people skills and how to be a decent person in Scouting”… by Chuck Mahaleris
Northern Light cancer care has new linear accelerator
WATERVILLE – Advances in technology provide more precise radiation therapy options for patients. On January 15, the team at Northern Light Radiation Oncology ushered in a new chapter by treating patients using a state-of-the-art linear accelerator…
PHOTOS: Looking back to a month ago
WINSLOW – Even though it happened a month ago, the flooding of Halifax Park, in Winslow, at the confluence of the Kennebec and Sebasticook rivers, and the water up to the decking of the bridges on Bay Street…
Name that film!
Identify the film in which this famous line originated and qualify to win FREE passes to The Maine Film Center, in Waterville: “They’re here!” Email us at townline@townline.org with subject “Name that film!” Deadline for submission is February 8, 2024…
SNHU Announces fall president’s list
CENTRAL ME – Ivette Hernandez Cortez, of Augusta; Sarah Neumann, and Matthew Bandyk, both of Jefferson; Sierra Winson, Quincy Giustra, and Talon Mosher, all of Winslow; Candice Eaton, and Grace Marshall, both of Waterville; Ashley Parks, of Anson; Stormy Wentworth, of Fairfield; Misty Ray, of Montville; Matthew Clements, of Rome; and Kassandra Grant, of Vassalboro…
Brianna Paine named to dean’s list
MADISON – Brianna Paine, of Madison, was named to the Fall 2023 dean’s list at Berry College, in Rome, Georgia. The dean’s list honors students who posted an academic average of 3.5 or better on a 4.0 scale while carrying a class load of at least 12 hours during the semester…
Matthew Parent on Clarkson U. dean’s list
OAKLAND – Matthew G. Parent, of Oakland, a junior majoring in software engineering, was named to the dean’s list for the Fall 2023 semester at Clarkson University, in Potsdam, New York…
Sarah Rodrigue named to Husson University Online’s President’s List
CORNVILLE – Sarah Rodrigue, of Cornville, has been named to Husson University Online’s President’s List for Term 1 of the 2023-2024 academic year, in Bangor…
Local student graduates from UW-Madison
WATERVILLE – Jorge Hernandez Lasa, of Waterville, College of Letters and Science, received a Doctor of Philosophy, Spanish, in August 2023, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in Madison Wisconsin. While there is no commencement ceremony in August, many of the graduates take part in the ceremonies the previous spring or in December…
Local happenings
EVENTS: AARP Tax-Aide program available in central Maine
CENTRAL ME – The AARP Tax-Aide program provides free federal and state income tax preparation and electronic filing to low-and moderate-income individuals. Returns are prepared by IRS-certified volunteers. The program is funded by the AARP Foundation, a tax-exempt charitable organization, and the IRS…
EVENTS: UMaine Extension offers backyard maple sugaring workshop February 3
AUGUSTA – University of Maine Cooperative Extension will offer an in-person maple syrup production workshop for beginners and enthusiasts interested in making it in their own backyard from 9 a.m.–3 p.m. Feb. 3…
CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Erskine Academy to hold 8th grade open house
SO. CHINA – All eighth grade students and their parents from the surrounding communities are invited to attend the Erskine Academy eighth grade open house, on Wednesday, February 28, at 6 p.m., in the gym… and many other local events!
Obituaries
CHELSEA – Falan Marie Copage (Durgin), 41, of Chelsea, passed away on Tuesday, January 2, 2024, at Maine Medical Center, in Portland… and remembering 10 others.
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Diary-keeping, Ballard & Bryant (new)
CENTRAL ME HISTORY — Kennebec Valley, your writer recently read Richard Beeman’s Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution (2009). Beeman described the 1787 convention in Philadelphia at which men from 12 of the 13 original states (Rhode Island refused to play) wrote what became the Constitution of the United States, succeeding the 1777 Articles of Confederation… by Mary Grow
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Streams of northern Winslow
CENTRAL ME HISTORY — As promised last year, this article finishes the story of mills and dams in 19th-century Winslow, or as much of the story as your writer has found, before moving south to Vassalboro’s Seven Mile Stream… by Mary Grow
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Winslow, Hollingsworth & Whitney
CENTRAL ME HISTORY — In addition to the historic mills on Outlet Stream and smaller flowages in Winslow, Kingsbury mentioned two larger mills on the east bank of the Kennebec in the 1890s. One he described as a new “large steam saw mill…on the historic grounds of Fort Point,” covering most of the “palisade enclosure of old Fort Halifax”… by Mary Grow
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Sebasticook dams & Josiah Hayden
CENTRAL ME HISTORY — An on-line map of Winslow, Maine (which readers might find helpful), shows the Kennebec River, running roughly north-south, as the town’s western boundary. The Sebasticook River joins the Kennebec from the east about halfway between the town’s north and south lines… by Mary Grow
Common Ground: Win a $10 gift certificate!
DEADLINE: Wednesday, February 15, 2024
Identify the people in these three photos, and tell us what they have in common. You could win a $10 gift certificate to Hannaford Supermarket! Email your answer to townline@townline.org or through our Contact page. Include your name and address with your answer. Use “Common Ground” in the subject!
Previous winner: Diana Gardner, Windsor
Town Line Original Columnists
SCORES & OUTDOORS
by Roland D. Hallee | All of a sudden, there they were. One was walking up the side of my computer monitor at work, the other, traversing across the top of my steering wheel on my home from work later that day. And finally, on the east side of my house, in the windows, the following morning at sunrise…
SMALL SPACE GARDENING
by Melinda Myers | As you scour the seed catalogs and websites for new and favorite flower and vegetable seeds, take time to inventory the seeds you have saved from previous years. You’ll save money by not buying more of the seeds you already have so you’ll have more to spend on something new…
REVIEW POTPOURRI
by Peter Cates | For some years, I have found that the only criticism worth reading, whether books, music, etc., is that which has a passion for the subject, and a sense that the writing is a means of putting one’s thoughts in order while bringing the reader along in this journey…
FOR YOUR HEALTH
(NAPSI) —Research shows that remote workers spend over half of their day—13 hours on average—looking at screens. This much time spent looking at a computer can produce digital eye strain, also known as Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS)…