Northwood Recreation REMINDER

Summer Sports

The Northwood Recreation Department has a variety of sports camps and activities for all ages to choose from this summer. 

Visit www.northwoodnh.org for registration information and additional information about these programs.  Details can be found in our brochure on the website. Or call the Recreation Department at 942-5586 x209 with questions.

PRESCHOOL OPENINGS!

Are you thinking about enrolling your child in preschool for next fall?  The Center School in Northwood is accepting registrations for the 2014-2015 school year.  The Center School is a parent cooperative preschool located next to the town hall in Northwood, which provides a developmental program for three, four, and five year-olds of Northwood and surrounding towns.  There are openings in our two-day (T/Th) program and three-day (M/W/F) morning programs.  Call or email us soon to get an information packet or to make an appointment to come for a visit!  For information, please email at  director Karen Andersen [email protected] or call her at the school at 942-7686.  Check us out on Facebook!  https://www.facebook.com/TheCenterSchoolNorthwood

U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) announced today that a member of her staff will be holding office hours on Tuesday, May 20th in Northwood to assist New Hampshire citizens with official business.

Residents who are interested in meeting with a member of the Senator’s staff should stop by the town offices from 1:00- 2:00 PM or call Simon Thomson at (603) 880-3335 to schedule an appointment.

NORTHWOOD FARMERS MARKET

starting May 22, corner of Rts. 4 and 202/9,  3:00-6:30.

The Market starts again in May, then once a week through Labor Day.

On Thursday afternoons you’ll see the flags and tents announcing we have local foods to sell to you.

So bring your friends and neighbors, too. See you at the NFM !

Holy Land Presentation

Have you ever thought of going to visit the Holy Land? Now is your chance - at least visually.  Peggy Wallace and June Leone have enjoyed the trip and will be showing their pictures to us on Saturday, May 17, at 6 p.m. at the Northwood Advent Christian Church, 113 School Street (Route 107-The Narrows).

Please take advantage of this opportunity to “travel” with us.  See you there.  Light refreshments to follow.

High School Registration

The Northwood School district is encouraging all parents of home schooled and private schooled students in 8th grade who are considering attending Coe-Brown Academy in the fall to please contact Coe-Brown Academy to initiate the registration process.  School for incoming freshmen starts in mid-August and there are summer expectations of incoming freshmen that will be important to complete prior to the start of school.  Please contact the main office at 942-5531.

Northwood Elementary Kindergarten Screening Day

The Northwood Elementary School is again seeking registrations for students entering kindergarten in the fall of 2014.  Kindergarten registration packets are now available at the school’s main office or on the website – http://www.northwood.k12.nh.us.  Materials required for registration are proof of a current physical, updated immunization records, and a copy of your child’s birth certificate, as well as documentation of residency in the town of Northwood.

The office will be contacting parents who have registered their child about bringing their child in for a screening and information day to occur on May 21, 2014.  The entire session will take about 90 minutes and will include some informal activities for the students, screenings for speech and occupational therapy, and basic early childhood academic skills in math and reading.  Parents will be given the opportunity to briefly meet Mrs. Lisa Magnusson, kindergarten teacher, and the current administration – Mr. Richard Hartford, Principal, and Mrs. Lisa LaBella, Assistant Principal.

Chesley Memorial Library

Get Caught Reading: Get Caught Reading at the Chesley Memorial Library! May is “Get Caught Reading Month” so we invite you to send in your photos of you, your family, and your friends reading…here at the library, at home, on vacation, wherever you are “caught” reading! We will post the photos on our library web site with your permission. “Get Caught Reading” is a nationwide public service campaign launched by the Association of American Publishers to remind people of all ages how much fun it is to read. 

Pajama Storytime: Pajama Storytime returns to the Chesley Memorial Library on Tuesday, May 13.  Join us at 6:00 pm in your favorite pajamas and sit back to listen to stories read by our special guest, Sandy Ross.  Find out how Billy’s pet spider, Helen, helps out at the zoo in “Be Nice to Spiders” by Margaret Bloy Graham…and enjoy some spider cookies before you leave!

DP-8 Workshop: The Chesley Memorial Library will host a drop-in work session for the New Hampshire Revenue DP-8 Form for Low and Moderate Income Homeowners.  For a fourth year, CASH VITA volunteers are again available to assist eligible homeowners with completing the form for FREE! A copy of the December tax bill and the federal income tax return is needed to complete the application. If homeowners have not filed a tax return for 2013, CASH VITA volunteers can also help taxpayers complete their federal income tax return or an informational copy for FREE. Join a CASH VITA volunteer at the library on Thursday, May 15, from 10:30am-12:30 pm; no registration required.

Junior Book Club: The Junior Book Club (third grade and up) will meet at the Chesley Memorial Library on Wednesday, May 21, to discuss “The Dark Hills Divide” by Patrick Carman.  Read about twelve-year-old Alexa as she fulfills her lifelong wish to explore the mysterious forests and mountains that lie beyond the walled city she lives in after finding the key to a secret passageway.  Multiple copies of the book are available at the library now; pick up your copy today and join the fun!

Letter To The Editor

The Embattled Farmers

It’s spring. New Hampshire farmers markets are back in business. Farmers markets around the country are leading America back to local self-sufficiency, family farming, backyard gardening, and less dependence on petroleum-based food supplies. They encourage healthy eating and healthy land use. And they foster humane treatment of farm animals, so shockingly absent from factory farms.

Yet these local markets face many obstacles, as outlined by Joel Salatin, one of the nation’s leading organic farmers.  Made famous by Michael Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma and the documentary film Food, Inc., Salatin says the main problem facing local farmers is what he calls “the food police.”

He says the farmer’s problems, “from drought to predators to flood to cash flow, are nothing compared to the emotional, economic, and energy drain caused by government bureaucrats.”  For example, “in the early 1970s when, as a young teen, I operated a farm stand at the curb market, precursor of today’s farmers markets, the government said I couldn’t sell milk.”  These and other experiences with government regulations caused him to write a book called “Everything I Want to Do is Illegal,” describing his “run-ins with government officials.”

However, the problem is not just government, according to Salatin, but the agricultural corporate/government partnership in league against small farmers:

“As the food police have demonized and criminalized neighbor-to-neighbor food commerce, the food system has become enslaved by the industrial food fraternity. And just around the corner is the National Animal Identification System coming on strong, under the guise of food safety and biosecurity, which will annihilate thousands of non-industrial farms. We don’t need programs; we need freedom. If we really had freedom, farmers like me would run circles around the corporate-welfare, food-adulterated, land-abusing industrial farms,” he says.

The Northwood Farmers Market opens May 22nd.

Michael Faiella

Northwood

Letter  To The Editor

On May 1, 2014, I was fortunate to chaperone Northwood’s 4th grade field trip to the State House in Concord.  During this trip, we were able to meet with Representative Hodgkin who did a great job talking to the kids about his role in our government.  We also had a wonderful tour guide and enjoyed seeing the Chambers of both the House and Senate.

What diminished our visit was Senator Reagan’s presentation to the kids.  Senator Reagan turned what was intended to be a learning experience into an opportunity to present partisan politics, when he chose to compare taxation to stealing.  This opportunity should have been a factual presentation focused on helping our 4th graders understand what taxes are and what the role of our legislature is. 

As a follow-up to the visit, I wrote an e-mail to Senator Reagan indicating my disappointment.  His response was to accuse me of not wanting my “children to pay attention to the world in which they live” and suggesting that my recommendation that presentations to 4th graders be factual “is the partisan stance.”  If you’d like to read the full text of the e-mail exchange, please let me know.

To Senator Reagan, I’d like to suggest that teaching young children that stealing and taxation are the same thing is NOT civic responsibility or being a good role model.  Nor is it unpartisan. You will not have my vote in the upcoming election cycle and I hope other parents consider joining me. 

To the teachers in Northwood and elsewhere in NH - Thank you for teaching and providing information and knowledge in an unbiased way so that our children can grow up to think critically and develop their own thoughts about the role of their government.

Nikki Roy

Northwood

Helen (Gaspar) Mainheit

Helen (Gaspar) Mainheit, 54, passed away Sunday May 4th.        

She was born in North Truro MA of Helen and Raymond Gaspar. She graduated from Provincetown High school, in 1977, and married two years later, on April 21st 1979 to Joseph Mainheit. In 1991 the two settled in Northwood with their three children.

She was known for her charismatic attitude and enthusiasm in everything she did. She loved to be around children and over the years was active in girl scouts and FFA. 

She was survived by her husband Joseph Mainheit, of Northwood and three children; Joseph Mainheit, of Lexington KY, Jesse Mainheit, of Strafford, and Cheryl Toussaint, of Sanbornville. She was also survived by seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

A memorial will be held on Saturday, May 17th from 10am to 2pm at her daughter’s home in Sanbornville. For more information please contact family.