The Town Line

The Town Line is a community newspaper that operates as a nonprofit entity in South China, serving over 20 towns in central Maine. Managed by a volunteer board of directors, The Town Line, Inc. relies on a team that includes a managing editor, bookkeeper, and advertising manager. Additionally, many volunteers play a crucial role in helping with the newspaper's weekly production and are always welcome to join. Incorporated under the Maine Nonprofit Corporations Act, The Town Line has received nonprofit status under §501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. The paper fulfills its mission primarily through revenue generated from local business advertising, along with memberships, subscriptions from community members, and support from private and municipal grants.

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Up and Down the Kennebec Valley: Early land titles

4 days ago | townline.org | Mary J. Grow

by Mary GrowThe lawyers discussed in this series earlier this spring were undoubtedly important in the lives of European settlers in the central Kennebec Valley. Before the lawyers, and equally if not more important, were another group of professional men: the surveyors. Several surveyors’ names appear in 18th-century records, usually because the men were hired by the Plymouth Company/Kennebec Proprietors, the Boston-based companies with deeds to large parts of the area.
QUINN MINUTE: Good manners

4 days ago | townline.org | Rix Quinn

by Rix QuinnDid you know that 4,000 years ago people lived without rules? With no restrictions, imagine the chaos, imagine the confusion…imagine the fun. That changed when Babylon’s King Hammurabi pulled out his ball-point chisel, and carved his 282-law Code. Among his commands: If you owed somebody a debt, you could give them your spouse. This became a primitive form of “no-fault divorce.”We continued to refine human interaction with “etiquette,” or rules of polite conduct.
Cemetery committee deals with erosion at East Vassalboro site

4 days ago | townline.org | Mary J. Grow

by Mary GrowVassalboro Cemetery Committee members have another item on their maintenance list, after their June 16 meeting. They were already planning the summer’s work, to include stonework by Joseph Ferrannini from July 10 through July 13 in the North Vassalboro cemetery and tree removal in the Nelson Road and Farwell-Brown cemeteries. Select board members are scheduled to open three bids for the tree work at their June 26 meeting.
Up and Down the Kennebec Valley: Waterville City Hall

1 week ago | townline.org | Mary J. Grow

by Mary GrowThis article will return to the history of a series of buildings, more cheerful than the Augusta jail(s) described in the June 5 story: Waterville’s town hall that became a city hall that was – and still is – combined with a large gathering space called an opera house. As with the public buildings in Augusta, there are gaps and inconsistencies in the information. A small part of the problem is nomenclature.
QUINN MINUTE: Multi-talented

1 week ago | townline.org | Rix Quinn

by Rix QuinnMy dog gets excited when I say the word “dog park.” He knows he’ll see friends there. But yesterday was different. There was only one other mixed breed dog, working with his owner. “Your dog appears really alert,” I said. “Does he do tricks?”“Sure,” the guy said.
Issue for June 19, 2025

1 week ago | townline.org | Jeffrey Morton |Mary J. Grow |Roland D. Hallee |Peter Cates

Issue for June 19, 2025It rained Friday, May 23, soaking the ground and pulling the temperature into the 50s for the start of Paul Bunyan Training the next day. Scouts arrived smiling as rain is good news when working with Maine Forest Rangers – a lower chance of the Rangers being called out on a fire. Senior scouts from Troop #603 arrived at the Bolton Hill Regional Facility eager to learn, demonstrate, and train.
Vassalboro resident asks for action on after school traffic

1 week ago | townline.org | Mary J. Grow

by Mary GrowResident Albert Ferland was welcomed at the June 11 Vassalboro School Board meeting, as he urged board members and school administrators to do something about the traffic congestion weekday afternoons when parents come to pick up their children at Vassalboro Community School. Board members and school officials have been concerned about the on-going safety issue, as parents meeting their children mingle with motorists trying to get through the intersection of Bog and Webber Pond roads.
China transfer station committee discusses future of facility

1 week ago | townline.org | Mary J. Grow

by Mary GrowAt their June 10 meeting, China Transfer Station Committee members started what is planned as an ongoing discussion of the future of the facility. They had been invited beforehand to consider three issues: plans for the next five years, potential improvements and “one really great thing about our transfer station.”The “really great thing,” committee members made clear, is the staff.
China select board presented with two traffic problems

1 week ago | townline.org | Mary J. Grow

by Mary GrowChina select board members were presented with two different traffic problems at their June 16 meeting, and took preliminary steps toward solving both. Seven residents of Danforth, Dutton and Pleasant View Ridge roads attended the meeting in person, another zoomed in and more sent emails, all urging a lower speed limit on the three roads in the northern part of town. Currently, people said, Danforth Road is posted at 40 miles an hour. The limit is 45 on the other two roads.
China planners prepare for ordinance discussions

1 week ago | townline.org | Mary J. Grow

by Mary GrowChina Planning Board members held a very brief June 10 meeting to prepare for ordinance discussions, to start at their June 24 meeting. First priority is a new ordinance to regulate high impact transmission lines through town. In November 2024 voters approved a moratorium on such developments, to give the board time to prepare an ordinance. The moratorium expires in November 2025. Chairman Toni Wall had just distributed a draft new ordinance, based, she said, on the Town of Benton’s.