Issue for September 28, 2023
Young man shows that one person can help save lives
The ribbon cutting ceremony held on September 23, 2023, in Palermo, was for a lifesaving resource added into the Recreational Field, on the Turner Ridge Rd. Family, friends, fellow scouts, first responders and law enforcement officers from Palermo and neighboring towns were present to celebrate this vital resource… by Roberta Barnes
Town News
Landowners seek moratorium on power line development
CHINA – The Sept. 25 China select board meeting began with a request from two landowners on the section of Parmenter Hill Road known as Moe’s Mountain. They seek a China moratorium on power line development, like those adopted by Albion and Palermo voters in the hope of influencing the proposed LS power line…
Resident proposes intervener status in LS Power issue
PALERMO – The Palermo Town Council met Thursday, September 21, to finalize the necessary preparations for the special town meeting scheduled for the following day to vote on a proposed transmission line moratorium ordinance…
Select board discusses changes in town operations
VASSALBORO – At their Sept. 21 meeting, Vassalboro select board members debated at length three changes in town operations they hope will benefit residents. One they approved: changed town office hours, effective at the beginning of the next calendar year for a 90-day trial (see box)…
HVAC main topic for school
VASSALBORO – A main discussion topic at the Vassalboro school board’s Sept. 19 meeting was HVAC – heating, ventilation and cooling – with the emphasis on cooling. Vassalboro Community School (VCS) was uncomfortably warm during the September hot spell. Assistant principal Tabitha Brewer said teachers in the top-floor classrooms were invited to move their classes to cooler spaces elsewhere in the building…
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: “If you build it, he will come.” Email us at townline@townline.org with subject “Name that film!” Deadline for submission is October 5, 2023…
Webber’s Pond
Webber’s Pond is a comic drawn by an anonymous central Maine resident (click thumbnail to enlarge)…
PHOTO: First day at China Primary School
CHINA – Students in Mrs. Dunn’s class had an amazing first day of school at China Primary School! They got to make crowns to celebrate the occasion, and everyone was smiling at the end of the day…
PHOTO: Football season in full swing
WATERVILLE –Waterville Junior High School running back, Alex Roth, #17 (eighth grader), during a recent game vs. Brunswick, held in Waterville. (photo by Galen Neal, Central Maine Photography)…
Golf Fore Kids’ Sake raises $31K
BELGRADE – Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mid-Maine’s 2023 Golf Fore Kids’ Sake, at Belgrade Lakes, presented by Kennebec Savings Bank, raised over $31,000 on September 1, to support one-to-one youth mentoring in Kennebec Valley…
SNHU announces summer 2023 President’s List
CENTRAL ME – Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), in Manchester, New Hampshire, announces the following students to the Summer 2023 President’s List…
Ashley Carrier graduates from Shenanhoah Univ.
MADISON – Ashley Carrier, of Madison, was among the 1,143 students who graduated from Shenandoah University, in Winchester, Virginia, during the 2022-23 academic year. Carrier earned a bachelor of science degree in public health…
Local happenings
EVENTS: UVD event rescheduled
OAKLAND – The United Valley Democratic (UVD) Committee ‘End-of Summer’ Event will instead celebrate Autumn on Saturday, October 7, at 327 Stevens Shore Road, in Palermo. It was originally scheduled the day the hurricane passed close to Maine’s coast, when many residents lost their power…
EVENTS: 5th Annual Nosh & Knock Off set
WATERVILLE – The Waterville Public Library is planning to get away with criminal mischief again this October as it hosts Nosh & Knock Off: An Interactive Mystery Event – an evening of mystery and magic at the Waterville Public Library, on Saturday, October 28, 2023! This 5th annual fundraiser will be a live-acted, not-to-be-missed once-in-a-lifetime event!…
EVENTS: KVCOG schedules household hazardous waste pickup dates
KENNEBEC VALLEY — The Kennebec Valley Council of Governments, based in Fairfield, plans to host Household Hazardous Waste Collection Days in October in Kennebec and Somerset counties…
CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Historical Society to hold raffle
VASSALBORO — Vassalboro Historical Society with be holding a fundraising Raffle September 9 – October 8, starting with Vassalboro Days and ending with a Quilt Show weekend. A quilt will be raffled off as well. Over $2,000 worth of prizes donated by businesses and individuals across the Vassalboro community… and many other local events!
Obituaries
SIDNEY – Norman “Norm” F. Poulin, 83, of Sidney, passed away peacefully on Monday, September 18, 2023, at the Androscoggin Hospice House, in Auburn. Norm was born in Sidney on October 11, 1939, the son of the late Alfred and Desange (Bernier) Poulin… and remembering 12 others.
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Agriculture – Part 4 (new)
KV HISTORY — Continuing with the agricultural theme, this article will move readers north on the west bank of the Kennebec River from Sidney to Waterville and will focus on 19th-century cattle breeders… by Mary Grow
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Agriculture – Part 3
KV HISTORY — This subseries began last week to talk about some of the central Kennebec Valley’s agricultural pioneers whom Samuel Boardman named in his chapter on agriculture in Henry Kingsbury’s Kennebec County history… by Mary Grow
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Agriculture – Part 2
KV HISTORY — Last week’s essay was about early farming in the central Kennebec Valley, as reported in local histories, with emphasis on Samuel Boardman’s chapter on agriculture in Henry Kingsbury’s Kennebec County history. This week’s work describes one important farming family and detours to talk about Boardman and another historian who contributed to Kingsbury’s opus… by Mary Grow
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Agriculture – Part 1
KV HISTORY — Families who settled the central Kennebec Valley in the 1700s were, of necessity, farmers: one of the first actions was to clear enough land to raise food crops, for both people and livestock. Alice Hammond wrote in her history of Sidney, “In the late 18th century, almost every Sidney home would have been a self-sufficient farm, with oxen, dairy cows, sheep, chickens, and steadily expanding fields that provided food for people and livestock…” by Mary Grow
Common Ground: Win a $10 gift certificate!
DEADLINE: Wednesday, October 12, 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: Mary Jane Vigue, Winslow
Town Line Original Columnists
SCORES & OUTDOORS
by Roland D. Hallee | That is the beginning of the popular child’s rhyme about lady bugs. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Many years ago, when our kids were growing up, we did a lot of camping in our popup camper. Every year, after the campgrounds closed, usually on Columbus Day weekend, we would take our “last picnic of the year”…
CRITTER CHATTER
by Jayne Winters | I wasn’t sure what this month’s column would be about, but I needn’t have worried. Don always has a story or two (or more) to tell about the critters and experiences at the Duck Pond Wildlife Care Center…
REVIEW POTPOURRI
by Peter Cates | Soprano Lily Pons (1898-1976) sang at the Metropolitan Opera at least 300 times between 1931 and 1960 and had a knack for using mass media to advance her career…
I’M JUST CURIOUS
by Debbie Walker | Recently I was given a book called Thinking of You, by Molly Hatch. As you flip through the book there are flowers and their meanings pictured. When the flowers along with each type of flower slides up the picture it looks as though they are a bouquet in a plant pot…
FOR YOUR HEALTH
(NAPSI) — Lady Gaga has been living with a silent disease – migraine – for most of her life, having been diagnosed when she was 14 years old. Her migraine attacks were so severe, she was often bedridden for days. She couldn’t read or keep lights on and would have to be alone in a quiet room for hours, or sometimes even days, until the pain subsided. Lady Gaga continued to experience migraine attacks into adulthood and the disease has impacted all aspects of her life…