Issue for June 2, 2022

Celebrating 34 years of local news

Vassalboro holds Memorial Day ceremony

American Legion Post #126, in Vassalboro, laid wreaths at the various veteran monuments in Vassalboro on Memorial Day, Monday, May 30, 2022. The wreath laying ceremonies began at 9 a.m., on Main St, North Vassalboro, at Main Street Veteran Monument…

Scouts honor fallen warriors

China Boy Scout Troop #479 participated in the Memorial Day ceremonies, on Monday, May 30, by marching to the cemetery. Below are photos of the China Scouts…

South China remembers fallen soldiers

At the South China Veteran Monument ceremony on Monday, Memorial Day, May 30, Ron Emery, left, had the opportunity and honor to help a young veteran display the POW/MIA banner…

Your Local News

Residents prepare for June 6 town meeting

VASSALBORO — Vassalboro voters who assemble in person at 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 6, at Vassalboro Community School will decide on the 2022-23 town budget and numerous other issues, including whether to establish a new fund, whether to let select board members buy a new town truck and whether to amend the town’s Marijuana Business Ordinance…

Two reserve accounts have lost money in market

VASSALBORO — Vassalboro select board members discussed two main topics at a short May 26 meeting: plans to offer amendments to warrant articles at the June 6 town meeting, and two proposals from resident Amy Davidoff…

Planners take solar field trip: pleased with results

CHINA — Three China Planning Board members took a field trip to Three Level Farm community solar farm on Route 32 (Vassalboro Road) before their May 24 meeting, and were pleased with what they saw…

Name that film!

Identify the film in which this line originated and qualify to win FREE passes to Railroad Square Cinema in Waterville: “You can’t handle the truth!” Email us at townline@townline.org with subject “Name that film!” Deadline for submission is June 9, 2022…

LETTERS: Renewed appeal for litter-free roads

from Richard Dillenbeck (China) – Time for the annual plea to stop littering Lakeview Drive and other China roads. Is there a way to appeal to otherwise thoughtful drivers?…

LETTERS: Stover champion of working people

from Geoff Bates (South Bristol) – I had the privilege of driving Rep. Holly Stover as she knocked on doors in South Bristol this week. The experience of riding and chatting informally with Holly and witnessing her interaction with voters only deepened my commitment to this champion of working people…

Maine Gov. Mills attends alewife restoration ribbon cutting

VASSALBORO – It was drizzling lightly on Thursday, May 19, at the Box Mill Dam, in Vassalboro, as a good-sized crowd gathered behind the Olde Mill Place to witness a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the completion of the Alewife Restoration Initiative’s project to bring migratory fish back to China Lake… by Eric W. Austin

Maine Ventures partners with Central Maine Growth Council

CENTRAL ME Maine Venture Fund has announced a new partnership with Dirigo Labs, a startup accelerator launched by the Central Maine Growth Council, to increase capital investment into companies located in central Maine…

Allison Pease receives full tuition scholarship at KVCC

CENTRAL ME Ten Maine community college students were awarded full tuition scholarships in honor of Leon A. Gorman for the upcoming 2022-2023 academic year. The students were celebrated Monday, May 23, 2022, in an online event with Gorman family members and L.L.Bean leadership…

Local residents named to Simmons University dean’s list

CENTRAL ME The following local students were named to the 2021 fall semester dean’s list at Simmons University, in Boston, Massachusetts. Allyson Cunningham, of Augusta; Kaili Shorey, of Vassalboro, Abigail Bloom, of Waterville, and Maddie Beckwith, of Winslow…

EVENTS: Lois Eastman – Ukrainian Folk Art at Gibbs Library

WASHINGTON – The Gibbs Library will present works of Ukrainian folk art by Lois Eastman, including a display of the process and materials used in creating psyankyi eggs. The exhibit will run through June…

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Native Americans – Part 1 (new)

CENTRAL ME HISTORY — Logically, your writer should have started this series on the history of the central Kennebec Valley with the first human inhabitants, the groups once called Indians and now more commonly called Native Americans. Your writer is a coward. She did not want to take on a topic about which there is no contemporary written evidence and limited later evidence… by Mary Grow [2029 words]

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Immigrants

CENTRAL ME HISTORY — The French-Canadians and the Irish were not the only groups coming to the central Kennebec Valley from other countries. Stephen Plocher wrote in his Waterville history (found on line) that in the 1860s, people he called “Syrian-Lebanese” from Syria (Lebanon and Syria were French mandates until 1943, when they became two separate countries) began arriving… by Mary Grow [1807 words]

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: French-Canadians – Part 2

CENTRAL ME HISTORY — The story of French-Canadian immigrants in the Augusta and Waterville area, as presented by the writers cited, is partly a story of separateness and discrimination evolving into cooperation and mutual respect… by Mary Grow [2066 words]

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: French-Canadians – Part 1

AUGUSTA HISTORY — Two distinctly non-British peoples who came to live mainly in Augusta and Waterville, the largest manufacturing centers in the central Kennebec Valley in the 19th and early 20th centuries, were French-Canadians who came south from Canada’s Québec Province, and Middle Easterners, especially Lebanese and Syrians… by Mary Grow [1841 words]

CALENDAR OF EVENTS: ACBM Library annual meeting with guest musician

CHINA — Join the Albert Church Brown Memorial Library on Wednesday, June 8, 2022, at 6 p.m., for its annual meeting and entertainment… and many other local events!

Obituaries

WINDSOR – Valida C. “Coline” (Crochere) Tillson, 63, passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday, May 17, 2022, at Eastern Maine Medical Center, Bangor. Coline was born Sep­tember 15, 1958, in Augusta, daughter of the late Normand and Mary (Higgins) Crochere… and remembering 10 others.

Common Ground: Win a $10 gift certificate!

DEADLINE: Wednesday, June 17, 2022

Identify the people in these three photos, and tell us what they have in common. You could win a $10 gift certificate to Retail Therapy Boutique in Waterville! 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: Frank Hersey, Winslow

Town Line Original Columnists

MY POINT OF VIEW

by Gary Kennedy | June 6, 1944, five naval assault divisions landed on the shores of Normandy, France. An assault of this magnitude has never been seen in the history of mankind. The landings sites were given code names, Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword…

Peter CatesREVIEW POTPOURRI

by Peter Cates | Former 5th First Lady Elizabeth Kortright Monroe (1768-1830) was one of the most anti-social FLs to live at the White House during her eight years (1817-1825) while her husband James Monroe (1758-1831) ushered in what was known as the Era of Good Feelings, that period of “happiness” sometimes referred to by cynical misanthropes as the Era of Good Stealings, that story for another week…

FOR YOUR HEALTH

(NAPSI) | When your children graduate, there are two things you should know. First, congratulations. Second, consider their health insurance needs. Perhaps this is the last thing you ask yourself but it may be among the most significant…