Issue for June 23, 2022

Celebrating 34 years of local news

Make-A-Wish Maine grants Jordan’s dream

This past month, seven-year-old Jordan Garay (“Jojo”), of Winslow, traveled to Walt Disney World, in Florida, for his wish! Jojo was born with a heart defect that required him to have a pacemaker inserted at just nine days old. Jojo’s family was very familiar with Make-A-Wish, as his grandmother Cathy is a long-time wish granting volunteer, having worked with dozens of wish kids over the years… by Mark Huard

Your Local News

Voters pass all articles but one at ballot business meeting

CHINA — As reported last week, China voters at their June 14 written-ballot annual town business meeting approved all but one of the articles presented by their select board. The rejected article would have imposed a temporary moratorium on new commercial solar development…

Transfer station committee shares updates

CHINA — China’s Transfer Station Committee members held a short June 17 meeting to share updates on various projects, with acting committee chairman Mark Davis (former chairman Lawrence Sikora has resigned from the committee) presiding virtually…

China Broadband Committee (CBC) continues talks with Unitel

CHINA — China Broadband Committee (CBC) members met again with representatives of Unity-based Unitel to talk about a cooperative project expanding broadband service to China residents who currently have no service or inadequate (by 2022 standards) service…

LETTERS: Food pantry thanks community

from Ann Austin (China) — The China Community Food Pantry thanks all those in town who donated food in the US Postal Food Drive. Your generosity is greatly appreciated…

LETTERS: Kudos to wolverine article

from John Glowa (South China) — I want to thank Roland Hallee for his informative article on wolverines. Thank you also for this opportunity to add to the information contained in Mr. Hallee’s column…

Scott and Priscilla Adams honored

CHINA – Scott and Priscilla Adams were honored at Sunday morning service during Scout Leader Appreciation Sunday, at China Baptist Church, for their more than three decades of service to the church’s troop…

Bikes for Books at Windsor school

WINDSOR – On June 13 and 15, Windsor Elementary School celebrated reading at its ninth annual Bikes for Books awards program. Bikes and helmets were awarded to a boy and girl in grades PreK through fifth on June 13, and sixth through eighth on June 15. Bikes for Books is a reading incentive program…

PHOTOS: Boat inspectors standing by

CHINA – The Courtesy Boat Inspection Program is underway, checking boats for invasive aquatic plants at the four boat launches in the region…

PHOTO: Class C track state champions

WINSLOW – The Winslow boys outdoor track state class C champions team photo…

PHOTO: Waterville Dodgers Minors

WATERVILLE – The 2022 Waterville Dodgers Minors baseball team…

Name that film!

Identify the film in which this line originated and qualify to win FREE passes to Railroad Square Cinema in Waterville: “You don’t understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender.” Email us at townline@townline.org with subject “Name that film!” Deadline for submission is July 8, 2022…

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Native Americans – Part 4 (new)

CENTRAL ME HISTORY — Last week’s article talked about Native American sites along the Kennebec River between Fairfield and Sidney on the west bank, but the east bank between Ticonic (Winslow) and Cushnoc (Augusta) was skipped for lack of space. This week’s article will remedy the omission by talking about Vassalboro and about sites inland on the east side of the river (as was done for the west side last week)… by Mary Grow [1958 words]

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Native Americans – Part 3

CENTRAL ME HISTORY — The Kennebec tribe’s village at Cushnoc (a word that means head of tide, most historians agree) was on high ground on the east bank of the Kennebec River in what is now Augusta, about 20 miles south Ticonic village (described last week)… by Mary Grow [1967 words]

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Native Americans – Part 2

CENTRAL ME HISTORY — Earlier articles in this series have identified the Kennebec River Valley as a throughway connecting the coast and the St. Lawrence River, used by, among others, Benedict Arnold going north to attack Québec in 1775 and Canadians coming south to find jobs in Maine in the 19th century… by Mary Grow [1891 words]

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

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]

Give Us Your Best Shot!

The best recent photos from our readers!…

Webber’s Pond

Webber’s Pond is a comic drawn by an anonymous central Maine resident (click thumbnail to enlarge)…

CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Mr. Drew coming to China

CHINA — Mr. Drew and His Animals Too will visits the Albert Church Brown Memorial Library, in China Village, on Tuesday, July 5, 2 p.m. During his Mr. Drew operates an educational outreach and rescue program and will introduce us to some of his creatures… and many other local events!

Obituaries

VASSALBORO – Sylvia Taylor Bowman LeRoy, 85, passed away on Monday, May 30, 2022, at home. Sylvia was born September 28, 1936, in Skowhegan, the daughter of Elmer Taylor and Esther Grace (Brown) Taylor Lowell… and remembering 11 others.

Town Line Original Columnists

Roland D. HalleeSCORES & OUTDOORS

by Roland D. Hallee | It has been a while since I’ve seen one, but last week, on a couple of occasions, I saw a red-bellied woodpecker at one of our bird feeders. One had made an appearance a couple of years ago, but I hadn’t seen one recently. Of course, if you know what a red-bellied woodpecker looks like, it is one of the most misnamed creatures on the planet…

Peter CatesREVIEW POTPOURRI

by Peter Cates |  The sixth former First Lady, Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams (1775-1852) was born in London, England, and was one of only two first ladies not born in the U.S., the other being Melania Trump who entered the world in 1970 in Yugoslavia…

FOR YOUR HEALTH

(NAPSI) | For the world’s leading neuroscientists, unlocking the brain’s capacity to stimulate neural plasticity has become something of a Holy Grail. That’s because enhancing plasticity is perhaps the most important step towards repairing central nervous system (CNS) damage…

LIFE ON THE PLAINS

by Roland D. Hallee | This week we will continue our tour of The Plains. Last week we left off at Gold Street. From this point on it gets pretty simple. One of the first buildings you will come across on the east side of Water St. is the original home of Jean Baptiste Mathieu, presumably the first permanent FrenchCanadian settler in Waterville…