Issue for January 26, 2023
Town of Fairfield to host public workshop on park development
As part of a planning process to re-envision Fairfield’s waterfront and downtown assets, the Town of Fairfield’s Economic and Community Development Committee (FECDC) is inviting the public to participate in a community input and planning workshop to provide feedback on the redevelopment of Mill Island Park. The Park, which features remnants of the historical United Boxboard and Paper Company at the northern tip of Mill Island, offers expansive views of the Kennebec River…
Town News
Thurston Park group to ask for TIF funds
CHINA – Four members of China’s Thurston Park Committee spent most of their Jan. 19 meeting talking about money, both the 2023-24 budget and the long-term future of the almost 400-acre public park in northeastern China…
China Village VFD working on grant for new pumper
CHINA – China Village volunteer fire department chief Joel Nelson told board members his department is working on a grant to help buy a new pumper truck, to replace a 32-year-old one…
Planners to forward draft ordinance on solar development to town attorney
VASSALBORO – After their Jan. 17 meeting, Vassalboro Planning Board members have a draft ordinance section that would regulate commercial solar development in near-final form. They plan to forward it to the town attorney for her review…
Select board listens to ARPA spending suggestions
VASSALBORO – Vassalboro select board members preceded their Jan. 19 meeting with a 45-minute public hearing to collect suggestions for spending federal ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds in the 2023-24 fiscal year…
School, day care provider reach agreement
VASSALBORO – After several months’ discussion, at their Jan. 17 meeting Vassalboro School Board members approved a lease agreement for the daycare that Jennifer Lizotte runs at Vassalboro Community School (VCS)…
Clerk resigns; select board hears road report
WINDSOR – At an abbreviated meeting of the Windsor Select Board on December 27, 2022, it was reported by Town Manager Theresa Haskell that she had received a letter of resignation from Kyoko Roderick…
Legislative Report as of Friday, January 13, 2023
CENTRAL ME – List of legislative bills sponsored by local senators and representatives…
Name that film!
Identify the film in which this famous line originated and qualify to win FREE passes to Railroad Square Cinema in Waterville: “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.” Email us at townline@townline.org with subject “Name that film!” Deadline for submission is February 2, 2023…
Local happenings
Northern Light Inland Hospital receives national award
WATERVILLE – Northern Light Inland Hospital announced that it has been named a 2022 Human Experience (HX) Guardian of Excellence Award® winner for Clinical Quality by Press Ganey, a global leader in healthcare experience solutions and services…
Cub scouts complete building projects
SKOWHEGAN – Cub Scouts, in Skowhegan Pack #485, recently built birdhouses during their meeting which gives Cubs and parents a chance to work together on a project while teaching the Cub Scout about safe use of woodworking tools and the importance of being kind to animals…
EVENTS: Maine Sci-Fi & Fantasy Nerd Fest coming to Vassalboro
VASSALBORO – A fun family event is coming up Sunday February 5, 2023, in Vassalboro. The Olde Mill is the perfect place for what many call the “Nerd Super Bowl”…
EVENTS: SMASH proudly presents “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
MONMOUTH – Southern Maine Association of Shakespearean Homeschoolers (SMASH) proudly presents A Midsummer Night’s Dream, February 2 & 3 at 6:30pm and February 4 at 2pm. It will be performed at Cumston Hall in Monmouth, Maine. Tickets are available at the door or online…
EVENTS: Gaslight Theater presents 2023 Season of Laughter
HALLOWELL – Gaslight Theater proudly presents its “2023 Season of Laughter” starting with Love is Murder in February. Love is Murder, a comedy by Tim Kelly, will be directed by Gaslight Theater’s Matthew McLaughlin, at Hallowell City Hall Auditorium, at 1 Winthrop Street, in Hallowell. The show will be produced over two weekends, including Sunday matinees, February February 10, 11,12,17, 18, 19. Friday and Saturday shows start at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday matinees start at 2 p.m…
Emma Elwell enrolls at York College of Pennsylvania
WHITEFIELD – Nearly 750 first-year and transfer students arrived at York College of Pennsylvania, in York, Pennsylvania, for the opening of the Fall 2022 semester. Among them is Emma Elwell, of Whitefield, who plans to study nursing…
Local students on Springfield College dean’s list
JEFFERSON/UNITY – William Banks, of Jefferson, and Kyle Ingraham, of Unity, were named to the dean’s list at Springfield College, in Springfield, Massachusetts, for academic excellence for the 2022 fall semester. Banks has a primary major of physical education, and Ingraham in sport management…
FICTION: The House, part 3 (continued): Tiger, tiger, burning bright
“Is that a Katana?” Pointed Dave to a beautiful sword from the Japanese medieval period. “How did the old guy get his hands on this?”… by Peg Pellerin
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Floods of central Maine – Part 3 (new)
KENNEBEC VALLEY HISTORY – Before this series moves on to describe the year without a summer, one more flood needs mention and another a description. The Fairfield Historical Society’s bicentennial history says a March 2, 1896, freshet took out the last remaining of the three 1848 covered bridges between Fairfield and Benton, the easternmost one between Bunker Island and Benton… by Mary Grow [1877 words]
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Kennebec River floods – Part 2
KENNEBEC VALLEY HISTORY – After the great freshet of 1832, with which last week’s article ended, Augusta business leaders went ahead with their plan to build a dam across the Kennebec River to power mills; and a Fairfield company dammed part of the river there… by Mary Grow [1940 words]
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Kennebec River floods – Part 1
KENNEBEC VALLEY HISTORY – January in Maine seems like a good time to talk about weather, including floods. Some local historians collected a lot of information on the topic; others paid it little attention. Here is your writer’s proposal to share some past events… by Mary Grow [1978 words]
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: The Burleigh family
PALERMO HISTORY – The Burleigh (sometimes spelled Burley) families were among the earliest to settle in the Kennebec Valley. One of Palermo’s early settlers was Moses Burleigh, and there were 19th-century Burleighs in other area towns. Millard Howard, in his Palermo history, said the Palermo family had been in America since 1648, when a Burley ancestor lived in Ipswich, Massachusetts… by Mary Grow [1782 words]
Webber’s Pond
Webber’s Pond is a comic drawn by an anonymous central Maine resident (click thumbnail to enlarge)…
CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Benefit supper for the Bako family
PALERMO — On Saturday January 28, 2023, there will be a Spaghetti/Bake Bean supper at Erskine Academy, in South China, for the Bako family that lost everything to a house fire on January 5, in Weeks Mills. The Bako family is well known around this area for their generosity in helping others and all the different organizations in our area… and many other local events!
Obituaries
ALBION – Beverly Lynne Sawyer Kelley, 82, better known as “Gram”, passed away on Wednesday, January 11, 2023. Beverly was born on March 17, 1940, the daughter of the late Norman Sawyer and Phyllis (York) Pratt… and remembering 12 others.
Common Ground: Win a $10 gift certificate!
DEADLINE: Wednesday, February 9, 2023
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: Bob Poulin, Winslow
Town Line Original Columnists
SCORES & OUTDOORS
by Roland D. Hallee | Last Saturday night, my wife and I hosted our annual after holiday party with our camping friends. Everyone invited attended, however, unfortunately one couple had to bow out due to illness. During the evening, we had a party crasher in the form of an uninvited, unwelcomed guest…
CRITTER CHATTER
by Jayne Winters | When I stopped by the other day to deliver some muffins to Don Cote at the Wildlife Care Center, I was interested in a recent admission: a flying squirrel that had probably been hit by a car. I was hoping to get a close-up peek at it, but flyers are nocturnal animals, so it remained hidden under the bedding while I was there…
REVIEW POTPOURRI
by Peter Cates | Jazz trumpeter Woody Shaw (1944-1989) recorded a very fine LP, United, in 1981 for Columbia records which can also be heard via YouTube. It consists of six tracks, of which three are original compositions by Shaw and one is an imaginative reworking of the Cole Porter classic What is this Thing Called Love…
LIFE ON THE PLAINS
by Roland D. Hallee | The winter storm that blew through our area on Monday, and a story I read in the daily newspaper about eliminating snow days in lieu of remote learning, it reminded me of the days back in the 1950s and ‘60s when we would, on rare occasions, experience a snow day from school…
FOR YOUR HEALTH
(NAPSI) | The ball, the confetti and the 2022 wall calendars have all come down, and our attention turns to the annual tradition of making New Year’s resolutions. This can include health goals, such as deciding to have 2023 be the year to finally quit tobacco successfully…