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Gilmanton NH News

March 4, 2009

The Suncook Valley Sun News Archive is Maintained by Modern Concepts. We are NOT affliated in any way with the Suncook Valley Sun Newspaper.



 

Fire Diary


By Chief K.G. Lockwood
On Sunday February 22, 2009 at 22:30 hrs., the Gilmanton Fire Department was dispatched to a reported structure fire at 29 Grant Hill Road, this response received automatic mutual aid from Barnstead, Alton and New Durham Fire Departments. Due to an updated report from the homeowner coupled with extended response times due to the snowstorm in progress at 22:33 Belmont was also requested to respond with an Engine and Tanker.


The first company captain arrived on scene at 22:46 hrs. and reported a 2-story 30x40 wood frame structure with an attached garage and a fire in the garage believed to have extended to the basement. At 22:47 hrs. a full first alarm assignment was requested. This brought mutual aid from Barnstead, Belmont, Alton, New Durham and Gilford. The first arriving engine was not able to access the driveway due to the terrain and snow in the driveway. Extensive manpower was utilized to carry equipment to the fire and assist with extinguishment and overhaul. At 23:18 hrs. the fire was placed under control with extensive overhaul and the final companies cleared the scene at 01:34 hrs. This fire was very labor intense and damage is estimated at $15,000.00. The fire was kept in check by the homeowners throwing water on the fire while awaiting the arrival of fire department companies. While it is recommended that occupants exit the structure and not attempt to extinguish any fire, this did hold the fire until the arrival of the fire department.


The cause of this fire is still under investigation, but appears to be related to an electrical problem from a generator; the homes in the area were without power at the time. There were no injuries and the occupants and their two dogs were going to stay with friends in the area.


 

Letter To The Editor:
This Saturday, for all you Gilmanton taxpayers of voting age, the Gilmanton Year Round Library will host an open house ...... because they want something. What they want is your vote. They also want your money. Tens of thousands, to be exact. For them, it’s not so much an open house as it is an opportunity. An opportunity to convince. Convince you that they deserve your vote and yes, despite these tough economic times, that they deserve your money ... more than you do.


They want to show you their library. They’ll show you their books, their computers. You’ll see their desks and chairs, and the barn that houses it all, and then of course ...... they’ll have things to tell you. Not everything, though. What they won’t tell you is that they allowed the town of Gilmanton to be misled into believing their library project would never come to the town for taxes. What they won’t tell you is that unlike the vast majority of libraries built by private funding and gifted to towns, they’re retaining ownership and control of their library, and they want the taxpayers of Gilmanton to fund it .... forever. What they won’t tell you is that their original objective and goal, to build their library using private funds, and operating it entirely on an endowment, has failed, and they want the taxpayers of Gilmanton to bail them out. What they won’t talk about is the economy; in fact, they’ll tell you they read somewhere that libraries are important during economic crises and ..... they’ll hope you believe it. They won’t tell you that next year they’ll need even more money, that they’ve overbuilt for this small town, and that’s going to cost ... forever.


Gilmanton taxpayers: send them back to fundraising. Vote no on article 23.


Al Blake
Gilmanton, NH

 


 

Letter


Gilmanton Voters:
A $75,000 petition by the Year Round Library Association is on the Town Warrant. It is Article 23 (next to the last) and must be defeated! A secret ballot request is anticipated. Please stay to the end of the meeting and help defeat this unnecessary expense.


$75,000 represents an increase of $40 in the tax bill of an average Gilmanton household. At 16 cents per thousand, figure your own tax increase. Any increase in our tax burden is criminal when the icy fingers of tough economic times grip our citizens. Perhaps one of your neighbors has been laid off or their hours reduced. Our town welfare fund is severely strained and the local food pantry is under great pressure. Please vote no to this tax increase!


We are fortunate to have three library resources available to us in town. The heated Gilmanton Corner Public Library, staffed by volunteers, is open during the winter on Wednesday 3 to 5 and Saturday 10 to noon. In spring, summer and fall, the Gilmanton Corner Public Library is open daily and two evenings a week. The Gilmanton Iron Works Library is open May through October. The full resources of the Gilford, Belmont or Alton libraries are available for a modest annual out-of-town fee.

 
The requested $75,000 is for operating expenses – a part time librarian, and so forth. If we approve, then we must support the year round library forever! And the $75,000 is woefully inadequate for 2010 and beyond! The Gilford and Belmont library budgets, for example, exceed $200,000, per year.


These are reasons to defeat Article 23 at Town Meeting! Please stay to the end and help say NO!


William Angevine
Gilmanton

 


 

Letter To The Editor


To the Editor,
In 1999 a group of residents discovered that Gilmanton was one of only two towns in NH without a year-round library and formed the Gilmanton Year-Round Library Association (GYRLA). Understanding how difficult it would be for taxpayers to fund library construction, the group decided to attempt construction through fundraising.


It was always the Association’s goal to progress as far as possible without requesting any public funds. However, the Board never pledged that Town support would not be considered. If a decision never to seek Town funds had been made, it would have been so significant that it would have been reported in annual letters, Town Reports and Selectmen’s minutes. Since such a commitment was never made, it won’t be found in any communications.  Perhaps, in the excitement of building the library, some may have discussed doing everything with private funds, but that has never been the Association’s official position. 


After ten years of effort, thousands of volunteer hours and financial contributions from over 600 households, Gilmanton voters have an opportunity to have a $1.2 million, full service public library without the tax burden of constructing it. The $75,000 operating budget that is being requested will cost a little more than $3/month in taxes on the average Gilmanton property.  When forming your opinion, we ask that you consider the history and community importance of this project.  We respectfully request your support by voting YES on the petitioned warrant article to fund the GYRL at $75,000 at Town Meeting, March 14, 2009.


Sincerely,
The Gilmanton Year-Round Library Association Board of Directors,
Elizabeth Bedard, Bill Foster, Carol Mitchell, Alice Bean, Carolyn Baldwin, George Kelley, Stan Bean, Ann Kirby, Sue Barr, Carolyn Kelley, Nancy Stearns, Steve Bedard, Carolyn Dickey

 


 

Gilmanton Year-Round Library Invites Voters


This year’s Gilmanton Town warrant includes a request that the Town provide an operating budget of $75,000 to open and operate the Year-Round Library. The library, constructed entirely with private funds, including in-kind services and donations from about 600 individuals and families, and thousands of hours of volunteer labor, is ready to open. Books are on the shelves, computers are ready to be activated, and inviting reading spaces beckon. Especially welcoming is the children’s area, stocked with books for younger readers.


Voters are especially invited to inspect the library at an open house scheduled for Saturday, March 7th 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with a snow date of Sunday March 8th, from 11 a.m.  to 3 p.m. 


Thousands of books have been donated to the library by Gilmanton residents and friends. Many have been shelved for the permanent collection. Two book sales have given people opportunity to purchase duplicates. Books not sold were offered to the existing seasonal libraries in town for their collections. 


Residents eager to see the Library, ten years in the planning and building, finally opened for the benefit of all citizens of Gilmanton are urged to attend Town Meeting on March 14th to support the operating budget article on the Town Warrant.

 


 

Gilmanton Corner Public Library


March is “Quilt Month” at the Gilmanton Corner Public Library. No matter how many quilts you have seen, it is the next one you are sure will be the ultimate in design, color and workmanship. Whether your taste in quilts is for appliquéd, embroidered or pieced quilts, we have the quilt book for you.


Stop by the Library and peruse our display of quilts, and pick up your free pattern for the Bear Paw quilt design. Happy Quilting!!!


Watch for the flag waving in the breeze on Wednesdays, 3:00-5:00 and Saturdays, 10:00-Noon to see our quilt display and check out a book. We are the white historic building located at the entrance to the Town Offices.


 

Letter


Gilmanton is a small town. Most people who live here don’t work in town. They leave home in the morning and return late in the day.


With that scenario in mind, a small group of residents decided that Gilmanton needed a full time library, in spite of the presence of a library at the Corners and three summer facilities in the Iron works. This private endeavor on private land was to be funded by private contributions.


Many townspeople did not feel the necessity for yet another library in the town since other first class libraries are available close by. They may not be as convenient, but they are not that inconvenient either.


The private group has asked the town to allocate $75,000 to fund a year’s operating cost for the private endeavor.


In this economic environment our priorities and public funds must be for necessary services such as fire and police departments. We cannot afford to give $75,000 to a less than necessary project.


As children, we were raised with an understanding that people had wants and needs.
I hope the townspeople will put their wants and needs in perspective. The private endeavor group may have their wants but the town doesn’t have the need.


A Concerned Taxpayer
Respectfully
Mary Ellen Erickson
Gilmanton, NH

 


 

 

 











 
 

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