Week of June 4, 2020

Celebrating 32 years of local news

The Town Line Office Hours:
Monday thru Wednesday, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Two Maine outdoor recreation startups collaborate to get more Mainers outdoors

TreeFreeHeat founded by Thomas College senior Dylan Veilleux

Bioenergy startup TreeFreeHeat has signed its first distribution deal with Back40, a fellow Maine startup that operates an e-commerce site for outdoor gear rentals. Founded to make outdoor adventures as comfortable, convenient, and accessible as possible, Back40’s mission has become more powerful and urgent due to the social distancing restrictions recommended in response to COVID-19…

Your Local News

Selectmen act on town manager resignation; summer work

CHINA — In addition to acting on Town Manager Dennis Heath’s letter of resignation, China selectmen used their May 26 virtual meeting to review bids received for summer work and award those they decided were necessary…

Unity College offers innovative program called hybrid learning

UNITY — In the fight against COVID-19, many college students across America were forced to pivot away from the traditional, four-year residential model to remote learning for the remainder of the spring semester. For most students, this was a disruption not only in their education, but in their extracurricular and social lives… by Joel Crabtree

Maine International Film Festival (MIFF) still on at new venue

SKOWHEGAN — The 23rd annual MIFF will be held July 7–16 with in-person screenings held exclusively at the Skowhegan Drive-In Theater in Skowhe­gan, Maine. The twenty-third annual celebration of American independent, international, and classic film will showcase nine feature films…

Country Manor to host parade

COOPERS MILLS — The Country Manor, in Coopers Mills, will be hosting a “Parade of Families” on Saturday, June 13, 2020, at 10:30 a.m.. A rain date has been set for June 20. Family members will be assembling at the Sheepscott Health Center and Lions Club, on Main Street…

giveIT getIT offers electronics recycling service

WATERVILLE — Community Electronics Recycling update from give IT get IT (formerly SKILLS recycling and eWaste Alternatives) – has announced that all Maine businesses, schools and households are welcome to participate in this service…

Dakota Bragg named a Presidential Scholar at Clarkson University

ANSON — Dakota Bragg, of Anson, a senior majoring in civil engineering, was named a Presidential Scholar for the spring 2020 semester at Clarkson University, in Potsdam, New York…

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: China Lake (New!)

CHINA — China Lake is an important area resource for year-round recreation; drinking water in municipalities served by the Waterville-based Kennebec Water District; and, given the high value of waterfront property, taxes for the Town of China…  [1436 words] by Mary Grow

The history of the Kennebec Water District

CENTRAL ME — The Kennebec Water District (KWD) was incorporated on March 17, 1899, the first such quasi-municipal district in the country and the pattern for generations of future water, sanitary, sewer and school districts. It was the brainchild of a lawyer named Harvey Doane Eaton…

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: China

CHINA — The Town of China lies north of Windsor and west of Vassalboro. Much of the town is in the watershed of China Lake, a major influence in the town’s history. Two of the town’s four villages, China Village and South China, lie at opposite ends of the lake’s east basin. The other two, Branch Mills and Weeks Mills, are on the West Branch of the Sheepscot River in eastern China, upstream of Windsor…  [1566 words] by Mary Grow

Up and down the Kennebec River: Water power and industry on the river

CENTRAL ME — Another use for the Kennebec, and for its tributary streams, was to provide water and water power for a variety of mills and other industries, beginning in the 1790s and continuing well into the 20th century. Kingsbury, in his History of Kennebec County, says sawmills came first, with lumber used locally and exported down the river…  [1843 words] by Mary Grow

Webber’s Pond

Webber’s Pond is a comic drawn by an anonymous central Maine resident…

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Local Town Meetings Schedule 2020

Local town meetings schedule for 2020 for Albion, China, Fairfield, Vassalboro and Solon. To add your town to this list, email us at townline@townline.org

Obituaries

NORTH VASSALBORO – Bernadine Arlita Dutil, 88, of North Vassalboro, died at Glenridge Nursing Home of Augusta on Sunday, May 24, 2020. She was born April 23, 1932, a daughter of the late Bernard and Yvonne (Bovin) Poulin… and remembering 7 others.

Town Line Original Columnists

Roland D. HalleeSCORES & OUTDOORS

by Roland D. Hallee | We’ve been doing some extensive outdoors renovations at camp this spring. With the tick population at record high numbers, we’ve been clearing and pushing back growth and decaying leaves further back into the woods, away from the camp. We have also torn down our old screened-in room, and preparing a new platform for the new one to be installed later…

TIM’S TUNES

by Tim Forsman | Gordon Lightfoot surprised fans in March 2020 with his first album of new music in nearly 16 years. Some background: Solo is a collection of songs that Lightfoot had initially started to record between 2001 and 2002…

AARP OUTREACH

by Japhet Els | I followed my mother up the town hall steps, into the large meeting room wondering why this didn’t feel like “just another errand.” I was at the age where everything was “up” – everyone was taller, countertops might as well have been rooflines, ceilings were skies of sorts, and the floor was comfortably close at all times…

ROTARY NEWS

by Gary Kennedy | Well friends, it is so great to be back home and able to write for you, again. Before I fill you in on the veterans issues I want to tell you of me and my team’s experiences in Southeast Asia. As you all are aware I, and my group, do humanitarian projects primarily for children in the Philippine Islands…

THE MONEY MINUTE

by Jac M. Arbour | A 401(k) (or a 403(b), 457 Deferred Compensation Plan, Thrift Savings Plan, Profit Sharing Plan, SEP IRA, SIMPLE IRA, etc.) is a retirement account that is sponsored by an employer and offered to the employees, also known as the participants in the plan…

Peter CatesREVIEW POTPOURRI

by Peter Cates | Biddeford poet Grenville Mellen (June 19, 1799- September 5, 1841) was the son of Prentiss Mellen (1764-1840), Maine’s first Chief Justice of its Supreme Court from 1820 to 1834. The son was admitted to the bar after reading law with his father, got married and settled in North Yarmouth…

I’M JUST CURIOUS

by Debbie Walker | This chapter will be about RUM. The favored drink of many. As usual I was searching the internet and I typed in Other Uses for Rum, immediately, this website pops up that read, 101 Uses for Strong Rum. Hurray! Pay dirt! 101 uses on one site, how lucky!…

Marilyn Rogers-Bull & PercySOLON & BEYOND

by Marilyn Rogers-Bull | This morning I’m going to write about Water Witching! This information is from an old yellowed bit of paper that I saved from years gone by… “Nearly every rural community in the United States has a water dowser who claims to be able to locate underground water by means of a diving or dowsing rod”…

FOR YOUR HEALTH

(NAPSI) —According to a recent Harris Poll, too many people don’t know all they should about the dangers of coronavirus—particularly how it can affect the kidneys. COVID-19, it seems, attacks more than just the lungs…