Issue for May 26, 2022
PHOTOS: Box Dam fish ladder dedicated in Vassalboro
The Alwife Restoration ribbon cutting celebration was held in Vassalboro on May 19, with Gov. Janet Mills present to cut the ribbon at the new fish ladder installed on the Box Dam…
Your Local News
Select board moves to purchase new loader
CHINA — After a long discussion at their May 23 meeting, China Select Board members unanimously voted to buy a new Volvo loader from Chadwick-BaRoss, Inc., of Westbrook…
Committee will not recommend new storage building
CHINA — China Transfer Station Committee members decided at their May 17 meeting they will not recommend a new building to shelter the second compactor just north of the main trash hopper, because cost estimates are too high…
School board chairman stepping down
VASSALBORO — The May 17 Vassalboro School Board meeting was Chairman Kevin Levasseur’s last, after 21 years on the board, and was marked by expressions of appreciation on both sides…
EVENTS: Memorial Day Festivities
CENTRAL ME – Memorial Day events for South China, China Village, Fairfield and Madison…
EVENTS: Taste of Waterville: Save the Date
WATERVILLE – Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce’s 30th annual Taste of Waterville is planned for Wednesday, August 3, from noon to 11 a.m., at the Head of Falls, off Front St., in downtown Waterville…
EVENTS: Wreath laying ceremony in Vassalboro
VASSALBORO – American Legion Post #126, in Vassalboro invites the community to join them as they lay wreaths at the various veteran monuments in Vassalboro on Monday, May 30, 2022…
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: Smith will fight for Mainers
from Al Fereshetian (Turner) – Please vote for Katrina Smith for House District #62, serving China, Palermo, Somerville, Windsor and Hibberts Gore. Katrina is a voice of reason and principle that will stand up for freedom and liberty for all Mainers…
LETTERS: Smith will help regenerate businesses
from Bonnie Hunter (Palermo) – Please join me in voting for Katrina Smith as State Representative on June 14 in the primary elections. The representative area will be District #62, which includes China, Palermo, Somerville, and Windsor…
LETTERS: Russia: stop this madness, please
from Richard Dillenbeck (South China) – As a great-grandfather, old enough to remember the horrors of WW II, I again appeal to the sensibilities of the Russian people to stop this insanity of armed conflict in Ukraine…
LETTERS: Thanks to China For A Lifetime
from Rosalyn Vance/Roni Newton (China) – We want to thank the volunteers from the “China for a Lifetime’ committee and others who came to help cut up “Grandfather Pine” (as we always called him) and did so much more. We truly never could have done any of that ourselves. We will never forget your kindnesses. Thank you…
Memorial Day: Let us never forget our solemn pledge
by Joseph Reagan – On Memorial Day, 1945, the war in Europe had ended but the fighting in the Pacific continued, Lt. Gen. Lucian Truscott voiced remarks at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery at Nettuno, Italy. Turning his back on the assembled VIP’s he faced the rows upon rows of headstones and apologized to the 20,000 fallen Americans who had been laid to rest far from home…
Area student named to Caldwell University dean’s list
OAKLAND – Brooke Martin, of Oakland, was among 663 students named to Caldwell University’s fall 2021 dean’s list, in Caldwell, New Jersey…
Bradstreet announces re-election bid
VASSALBORO – Representative Dick Bradstreet is announcing that he is seeking re-election to the Maine House of Representatives. He has served three terms representing the people of House District #80, which includes the towns of Windsor, Somerville, the Unorganized Township of Hibberts Gore, part of Augusta and his home town of Vassalboro…
Area residents named to University of New England dean’s list
CENTRAL ME – The following students have been named to the dean’s list for the 2021 fall semester at the University of New England, in Biddeford. Dean’s list students have attained a grade point average of 3.3 or better out of a possible 4.0 at the end of the semester…
Mikala Ferland named Ezhaya scholarship
FAIRFIELD – Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce has announced the 2022 Joseph B. Ezhaya scholarship winner. Mikala Ferland was selected as the scholarship recipient from a field of applicants. Mikala is one of the top students in her class at Lawrence High School, in Fairfield…
Elvis in the garden: a neighborhood garden competition in Palermo
PALERMO – The air smells warm and fresh. The leaves have that bright new green color, only seen at this time of the year. The grass is soft to walk on as we move over to the garden that we left bare last fall. We all hear the call for planting again this year… by Jim Metcalf
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Immigrants (new)
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]
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Blacks in Maine – Part 4
MAINE HISTORY — The Samuel Osbornes discussed in last week’s article were not the only Black family in 19th-century Waterville. Various sources mention several others, though details are often scanty and/or confusing. Local historians did not consistently state the race or nationality of people they wrote about… by Mary Grow [1754 words]
CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Kennebec River Brewfest set for Aug. 6
The Kennebec River Brewfest will feature a variety of local breweries, wineries, distilleries, and meaderies that will take your taste buds on a tour of the great state of Maine and quench your thirst for delicious craft beer and spirits… and many other local events!
Obituaries
SIDNEY – Mark Glazier Gould, 68, passed peacefully in his sleep on Saturday, May 14, 2022, at the Alfond Center for Health, in Augusta. He was born on May 17, 1953, in Augusta, to George and Lorraine “Tillie” (Glazier)…. 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
SCORES & OUTDOORS
by Roland D. Hallee | Recent news reports have indicated a high rate of deaths among young moose in northern Maine. Lee Kantar, the moose biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW), said the winter ticks are to blame…
VETERANS CORNER
by Gary Kennedy | The last Monday in May is strategically placed as to generate the name Memorial Day weekend. As you can see placing this holiday in this position allows for a long weekend for most of us. Schools, federal and state agencies as well as others will be closed…
CRITTER CHATTER
by Jayne Winters | You never know what you’ll find in Don Cote’s living room at the Duck Pond Wildlife Rehab Center, in Vassalboro. When I visited him a few weeks ago to decide on a topic for this month’s article, as soon as I walked in, I knew what it would be: weasels. I’ve never seen one in the wild and feel fortunate to have arrived at Duck Pond the same day Don had one that had been captured locally…
REVIEW POTPOURRI
by Peter Cates | During my senior year at Kent’s Hill boarding school the spring of 1969, I lived in Wesleyan Hall dormitory and was acquainted with a fellow whose father was a wholesale record distributor. He provided me with five LPs for sale at $2 each and gave me several days to audition them…
FOR YOUR HEALTH
(NAPSI) | According to recent research by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 2 million middle- and high-school students use e-cigarettes…