Issue for May 30, 2024
Albert Church Brown Library receives two grants
The Albert Church Brown Memorial Library has announced that it has received grants from The Simmons Foundation and the Oak Grove School Foundation to support a new program for children ages 6-18. LEGOs Clubs for Kids also received very generous LEGO donations from Tom and Teresa Parent and Katrina Kilduff…
Tristan Morton’s essay entry selected for second place in the nation
Tristan Morton, 11, a student at St. Michael School, in Augusta, and Star Scout at Augusta Troop #603, was notified that his entry for the essay contest hosted by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) was selected for second place among sixth grade entries nationally. Tristan’s journey began with an essay on John Phillip Sousa’s Star Spangled Banner from the perspective of a reporter in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for its first public presentation…
Town News
Select board reviews draft of revised personnel policy
VASSALBORO – Vassalboro select board members spent more than an hour of their May 24 meeting reviewing a revised draft of the town’s personnel policy, with comments from an interested audience of town employees…
Town prepares for annual town meeting, election
VASSALBORO – Vassalboro’s annual town meeting will be, as usual in recent years, in two sections. Voters will assemble at 6:30 p.m., Monday, June 3, in the Vassalboro Community School gymnasium to vote on the first 41 articles of the 45-article town meeting warrant. The meeting will then recess until 8 a.m., Tuesday, June 11, when written-ballot voting begins at the town office on Articles 42 through 45 and for state primary elections…
School board meeting routine
VASSALBORO – Vassalboro School Board members’ May 21 meeting featured monthly reports and routine decisions…
Palermo veteran proudly marches in Washington DC parade
PALERMO – On Memorial Day, hundreds of veterans who served during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 were in our nation’s Capital to honor those who have died during their military service. Mark A. Audet, of Palermo, marched in one of the largest groups of veterans in the National Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 27, 2024, on Constitution Avenue, in Washington, DC…
PHOTOS: Memorial Day in China Village
CHINA – It was a bit rainy, but a small crowd gathered to honor our veterans who gave their lives for our freedom. The American Legion, the American Legion Auxiliary, the Boy Scouts, the Fire Dept, and the Children from China Baptist Church (thanks to Lemieux Orchards for the use of their farm wagon) were all represented… submitted by Linda Morrell
Stolen angel
WINSLOW – Nivette Jackaway, from Winslow, had her angel stolen from McClintock Cemetery, in Winslow. Nivette said, “Sad that my Angel was stolen from the McClintock Cemetery in Winslow. It’s been there for about 10 years. It’s an old cemetery and not many people go there so I’m shocked that it was stolen.” Anyone with information about the stolen angel, please contact The Town Line at townline@townline.org.
Manchester kindergartners tour China’s transfer station/recycling
CHINA – Today’s children are our future, and the future of our planet. What helps today’s children to form our future is learning through experience. To help students learn the importance of recycling Ms. Gross and Mrs. Wood, Manchester kindergarten teachers, arranged for the kindergartners to have a guided tour through the China transfer station’s recycling program… by Roberta Barnes
Local happenings
EVENTS: South China library fundraiser
So.CHINA – The South China Public Library, the oldest continuously operating library in Maine, began in a private home in 1830 and moved to Village Street in 1900. In 2018, having outgrown its space, the library launched a project to build a new facility, at 27 Jones Road. Despite pandemic and supply chain delays, the new library opened in January 2024. Funding is still needed to finish and furnish the children’s room and community activity room…
CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Public supper in Freedom
FREEDOM – There will be a public supper at the Freedom Congregational Church Hall, on Saturday, June 1, 2024, from 4:30 – 6 p.m. The menu will include ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, baked beans, vegetables, dinner roll, punch, coffee, assorted desserts. Adults $10, children 12 and under, $5, children 3 and under eat free… and many other local events!
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: “Worm’s gotta eat, too!” Email us at townline@townline.org with subject “Name that film!” Deadline for submission is June 6, 2024…
Obituaries
PALERMO – Gail Lynn Horak, 66, of Palermo, passed away on Thursday, May 16, 2024. She was born April 26, 1958, the daughter of the late Elmer and Rachel (Wood) Sheaff… and remembering 18 others.
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: City of Augusta (new)
AUGUSTA HISTORY — The City of Augusta began its legal existence as part of Hallowell, and has been named Augusta since June 9, 1797. It became the state capital in 1827, and transitioned from a town to a city in 1849. It is the only municipality in this part of the Kennebec River Valley that is still on both sides of the river… by Mary Grow
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Towns and cities’ names – Part 1
CENTRAL ME HISTORY — This series has been geographically grounded, mostly, in specific places: 12 municipalities in the central Kennebec Valley. Your writer’s next topic is how each of these got its name. As usual, there will be preliminaries, the first of which have taken up this entire introductory essay. They are a short detour along the coast and a summary of British settlement… by Mary Grow
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Holman Francis Day
VASSALBORO HISTORY — Vassalboro native Holman Francis Day (1865 – 1935) was a well-known and prolific Maine writer. Starting as a newspaperman, he went on to write poetry and novels in verse, novels in prose, a play, non-fiction pieces and movie scripts… by Mary Grow
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Eli & Sybil Jones, Mary Hoxie Jones
CHINA HISTORY — From Rufus Matthew Jones, your writer goes backward and then forward in the Jones family. Rufus Jones was the nephew of Eli Jones and his wife Sybil (Jones) Jones, well-known Quaker missionaries. Rufus and Elizabeth (Cadbury) Jones’ daughter, Mary Hoxie Jones, born almost a century later than Eli Jones, was a historian and poet… by Mary Grow
Common Ground: Win a $10 gift certificate!
DEADLINE: Wednesday, June 13, 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: Brian Plato, China
Town Line Original Columnists
PLATTER PERSPECTIVE
by Peter Cates | Camden/Rockland native Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) has been written about in this column previously. However, I wish to commemorate her during this Memorial Day week for her switch from being an anti-war pacifist during World War I to supporting the U.S. government’s entry into World War II against the Axis powers…
FOR YOUR HEALTH
HEALTH | If you’re like most Americans, you take a dietary supplement every day, according to a report from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Yet, adds the Cleveland Clinic, approximately 35 percent of adults in the United States have vitamin D deficiency. This can be a problem because, doctors at Yale point out, possible symptoms of vitamin D deficiency include…