Dear Fellow Barnstead Voters;

Once again it is time to get the Town’s business done for the upcoming year.  This year we have been able to keep the number of ballot questions to one from the Planning Board.  This question is important and deserves your full understanding and consideration before you vote.  With that thought in mind, we have placed an ad in this paper showing the question as it will appear on the ballot.

Please note that this year there will be two ballots: a white ballot and a yellow ballot.  The white ballot is for the election of Town Officials, and the questions from the Planning Board proposing changes to the Zoning Ordinance.  The yellow ballot is for School District elections.

Remember to vote on Tuesday, March 10, between the hours of 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM at Town Hall.  Town Meeting starts at 9:00 AM sharp on Saturday March 14, at Barnstead Elementary School where we will continue to discuss town business and vote on Warrant Articles.

The School District meeting will be on Saturday, March 21, at 9:00 AM sharp at the Barnstead Elementary School where we will discuss the school district budget for the coming year.

The Planning Board is holding a meeting on Thursday, March 5 at 7:00 PM at the Town Hall to provide an opportunity to discuss the question proposed by the Planning Board, so feel free to come and express your opinion or ask questions.

Barnstead Planning Board

Nancy Ann Carr, Chairman

Call To Restore The Old Grange Hall

Submitted By Paul Stohlberg

When I was growing up in a small community in Worcester, Massachusetts known to locals as “the village”, I felt that there was really no need to ever go anywhere else.  There was everything anyone ever needed within walking distance of my  house.  Almost anyway.  But that’s the way it seemed.  My mother and I would occasionally hop on a bus to go to up town but not very often.

There were all kinds of stores when you needed something to fix, build with or eat, places to play, places to explore, and places just to hang out with friends.  My uncle used to hang out at a corner lunch cafe that I can still visualize its back wall covered with built in wooden door refrigerated compartments full of all kinds of food stuff.  Other guys would hang out at one of the many barber shops. The old guy next door with the black marble counter top soda shop who made his own ice cream wouldn’t let anyone hang around there as he only had two booths.  You had to make room for other paying customers.  

Even in this small community there were a lot of meeting halls. Every church had a hall, then there was this group hall, and that group hall, all kinds of different community organizations that would meet together and do whatever they did in their own hall or maybe share one.  It seemed that there was always something going on somewhere and lots of places to do it in. 

Well as city folk move out to the country and country kids move into the city in a constant flow of soul searching, I now live in the community of North Barnstead. I’ve made acquaintance with lots of wonderful people since I moved here almost 25 years ago, but that’s still only a small fraction of the many others who reside here and around me. In this day and age it’s all to easy to just stay home and go to work, to buy everything you  need somewhere between the two and never really interact in any way with your neighbors.  I know, I’m as guilty as anyone.  But people are people, and even out here in the country, there have always been places for people to congregate if they wanted to.  To get together to talk, play games, music, share food and knowledge and foster that neighbor helping neighbor camaraderie know as community.

I know that there is plenty of community spirit around here as I’ve seen it over and over again.  In times of emergency and need, you always come together.  It’s fantastic!  Then it sort of fades back into the shadows.  Does anyone feel the desire to rekindle this community atmosphere?  We don’t need to wait for a disaster to get together.  Do we?

There is an old grange hall around the corner and down the hill from my house that used to be one of those such meeting houses I spoke of earlier.  They had bazaars, classes, dinners, dances and all kinds of social functions there for the greater North Barnstead community.  I had driven past this building hundreds of times not ever knowing what it was.  It still looks pretty much the same as I remember it did 25 years ago.  The trees have gotten a lot bigger.  It was built in 1850 as a Grange Hall, then it became a function hall for the church down the road.  They sold the building to a woman who used it for her antique business.  This lady passed away a few years ago.  

Presently, the old building is in need of some serious maintenance to avert it from returning to the ground from which it came.  The old hard wood dance floor is still in fine shape though, and the stage too.  So I started thinking,  I wonder what it would take to revive this old back woods meeting place.  It would be a larger project than I could ever take on myself, so I started asking around.

Since then I’ve been to a number of meetings with different local groups and I have found some other folks who share my interest in this project.  There are always lots of ideas as to how to use the place, everybody seems to have another new suggestion.  So maybe I’m onto something?  It’s obvious that there is a want for some kind of a local community center, so I figured that I’d spread the question around a bit farther to see if it might spark any more interest.  One never knows until he tries.

So if you are in any way interested in restoring an old local community activity center, or building a greater sense of community here in North Barnstead, please call me at 269-3282 or email to [email protected] and together we all might get something happening here.

Local Students Named To The Dean’s List At MCPHS University

MCPHS University is pleased to announce the students who have been named to the Dean’s List for the Fall 2014 semester:

* Kristin Prime is a native of Center Barnstead and is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.  Kristin will graduate in 2015 from the Manchester, New Hampshire campus.

* William Coyne is a native of Epsom and is pursuing a Doctor of Pharmacy.  William will graduate in 2016 from the Manchester, New Hampshire campus.

* Michael McAlister is a native of Loudon and is pursuing a Doctor of Pharmacy.  Michael will graduate in 2017 from the Worcester, Massachusetts campus.

* Lindsay Young is a native of Suncook and is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.  Lindsay will graduate in 2017 from the Boston, Massachusetts campus.

The Dean’s List recognizes those students with a full-time course load who have achieved outstanding scholarship with a 3.5 GPA or higher for the academic term.

BARC’G To Meet On Tuesday, March 10

The Barnstead-Alton-Gilmanton Republican Committee (BARC’G) has announced that their next monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 10 at 6:30 pm at J.J. Goodwin’s Restaurant (upstairs dining room), 769 Suncook Valley Highway (Rt 28), in Center Barnstead.  

The Committee will provide details of the upcoming grass-roots training that will be held in Concord in mid-March which includes a visit by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.  

Announcement of the BARC’G guest speaker for the March 10 meeting is pending; it’ll be posted on the Committee’s website, www.barc-newhampshire.com. 

BARC’G meetings are open to Republicans and like-minded Independents from Alton, Barnstead, and Gilmanton, and any other towns in New Hampshire.  

Per their usual meeting format, if you’re interested in having dinner (at your option) or wish to socialize before the meeting, plan to arrive as early as 5:30pm.  

The Committee reminds you to bring a non-perishable food item (cans of soup, tuna fish, etc, etc) to the meeting for distribution to local food pantries.    

For more information, please send an email to [email protected]

or [email protected].

Belknap County Republicans To Meet Wednesday, March 11

The Belknap County Republican Committee has announced that their next monthly meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, March 11 at 6:30 pm at the Top of the Town Restaurant, 88 Ladd Hill Rd in Belmont. 

Now that New Hampshire is seeing many potential presidential candidates, the Committee will be discussing the need and the opportunity for its members to vet the candidates to determine which one(s) meet their requirements, and then work with those candidates in their quest to win the NH Presidential Primary scheduled for Feb 9, 2016.  

Announcement of the guest speaker for the March 11 meeting is pending; it’ll be posted on the Committee’s website, www.BelknapCountyGOP.org.

Belknap County GOP meetings are open to ALL Republicans and like-minded Independents. Per their usual meeting format, if you’re interested in having dinner (at your option) and/or wish to socialize before the meeting, plan to arrive as early as 5:00 pm.

The Committee once again reminds everyone planning to attend to please bring a non-perishable food item to the meeting for distribution to local food pantries.

For more information, please check their website at www.BelknapCountyGOP.org, or send an email to [email protected].

Center Barnstead Christian Church News

Dublin Christian Academy from Dublin, NH will be sending one of their ministry teams to the Center Barnstead Christian Church on Sunday March 15 for their 10 AM service.  The team consisting of 18 young men and women will be putting on a multimedia drama entitled “What’s the church anyway?”  Everyone is welcome to come.  If you have any questions please contact the church at 603-269-8831. 

Russell Sargent, Sr.

Center Barnstead – Mr. Russell R. Sargent, Sr., 79, of North Road, died Thursday, February 19, 2015, at the Lakes Region General Hospital in Laconia after a lengthy illness.

Born in Pittsfield on October 6, 1935, Russell was the son of the late Charles and Selma (Moody) Sargent.  He was raised in Pittsfield and spent more than 60 years in that community before moving to Center Barnstead 10 years ago.

He was self-employed as a logger, sawyer, and equipment operator.  He also worked for Yeaton Sawmill, logging with horses, and for Royce Auto as a mechanic and gas station attendant. 

Mr. Sargent was an avid hunter and a talented carpenter and woodworker.  He ranged from building houses and furniture to detailed finish work.

He was the widower of Jo-Anne (Mayotte) Sargent, who died in 2012 and to whom he had been married 55 years. He was also predeceased by 6 siblings, his twin Roy Sargent, Leon Sargent, Charles Sargent, Madeleine Foss, Caroline Robinson, and Maxine Grant.

He is survived by 6 children, Debra Morin of Northfield, Dolores Batchelder of Meredith, Russell Sargent, Jr. of Holderness, Donna Sargent of Allenstown, and Jay Sargent and Samuel Sargent, both of Center Barnstead; 13 grandchildren and many great grandchildren; a sister, Esther Rhuland of SC; a brother, Lonnie Sargent of FL; and many nieces and nephews.