Major Waldron Sportman’s Association*is offering the *NRA Basic Pistol Shooting Course *on *March 16, 2019*. This course is for all individuals, regardless of previous shooting experience, and includes gun safety rules, proper operation of revolvers and semi-automatic pistols, ammunition knowledge and selection, storage, shooting fundamentals, inspection, maintenance, marksmanship, shooting range safety, and live fire training.

You will receive a certificate upon successful completion of the shooting qualification and a short exam. Details and registration are available at: *https://www.nrainstructors.org/CourseDetails.aspx?Courseid=522414&seats=10&State=y&SearchState=NH&id=56&bsa=&youth=&women=

The Lead Instructor will contact you soon after you have registered.

A Potluck and Presentation about the Big Woods, Jenness Pond Area, & Beyond of Northwood will take place at the Northwood community center in the Narrows on February 27, at 6 p.m.

Enjoy the cheeriness of a neighbor get-together and learn more about the natural world around you! Photos of wild animals in the area will be shown.  Scouts welcome! 

Private well water isn’t regulated, so it’s up to the homeowner to know what’s in the water. There are natural, tasteless, odorless hazards in some water in Northwood, so protect your health by analyzing your water.

Learn about the water quality in Northwood, how to sample the water in your private well and which analyses to order.  The DHHS and DES will give a presentation on March 5th at 7:00 p.m. at Northwood town hall. Sample containers will be available at town hall all week, March 4-8.  Instructions will be available  (please don’t ask town hall staff, who will not be able to help).  

DES recommends analyzing your water every three years.

The Gulf Road Project… A Collective Success

Submitted By John Duffy, President, Pleasant Lake Preservation Association

Background/History

The Pleasant Lake Preservation Association (PLPA) has been monitoring water quality conditions of the lake since 1989. In 2014 we secured funding with a Water Quality Planning Grant from the Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission (SNHPC). We interviewed a number of environmental engineering firms and hired FB Environmental to prepare a Watershed Restoration Plan. This Plan provided the basis for our understanding of the causes and impacts within the watershed to our water quality and support for our applying for subsequent grants.

In the fall of 2015 the PLPA applied for a DES 319 grant to address the area around the NH Fish and Game boat launch on Gulf road that was identified as the most serious threat to water quality in the watershed. In 2016, we successfully received $90,000 in funding to implement recommendations from the Watershed Restoration Plan to reconstruct 900 feet of roadway (Gulf Road) from NH route 107 to the lake’s public boat launch. The best management practices (BMPs) put into place would help reduce the phosphorus load coming into the lake by as much as 14.2 kg/yr or nearly 10% of the total annual load in the watershed.

Project Implementation

The PLPA formed a Gulf Road Project Team under the leadership of Ann Scholz and Tim Mallette. Ann and Tim provided expertise and leadership in the effort to secure funding needed to resolve a major storm water runoff issue on Gulf Road. They spent countless hours on multiple weekends designing and supporting the implementation of the project. The design itself required working with town government as well as multiple state agencies to work out a functional concept that met the constraints of each. The project was completed on time and under budget. Ann is now the Chair of the PLPA environmental committee and Tim holds a seat representing PLPA members not living on the lake.

Results

It may take a few years before we are able to measure the specific results, but at this time it is readily apparent to anyone traveling Gulf Road how much better things look.

Acknowledgements

Like most projects of this scale it takes many hands. At the risk of missing some of the parties that went to making this project completion possible I want to acknowledge the following agencies and individuals that collaborated with us to make this success possible: (Please accept my apology for any omissions)

Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission (SNHPC): Jack Munn, Sylvia von Aulock; FBEnvironmental: Forrest Bell, Laura DIemer and team, DK Water Resourced Consulting, Hoyle and Tanner & Associates; NH DES: Steve Landry and Jeff Marcoux, NHDES Watershed Assistance Section, NH Fish and Game: Garrett Grasskamp, Richard Fink, Randy Curtis NH State Senator: John Reagan Town of Deerfield: Board of Selectmen, Conservation Commission Kate Hartnett, Serita Frey , Planning Board, Police Department, Road Agent Mark Young and John Harrington town administrator Town of Northwood: Board of Selectmen, Conservation Commission and Police Department, Eversource; Robert Berner Regional Arborist, who donate their services to cut and remove MANY trees along Gulf road. Tyler Reese: Who’s Eagle Scout Kiosk project was a key component of our getting the grant. Special thanks to Town of Deerfield road agent Mark Young. Ann and Tim’s contributions have both solved a real problem and enabled others in our organization to do the same. Their impact will be felt for years to come. 

What’s Next

The Gulf Road Project was a major milestone in our history as an organization. It has defined a path forward and a set of actions that will significantly improve our effectiveness in addressing environmental challenges. Just as important as what the team was able to accomplish is what we have learned from Ann and Tim’s leadership. They exposed us to the opportunities that exist to obtain grant funding for projects that would help us protect and preserve the health of Pleasant Lake.

We are following in their footsteps and have applied for additional grant funding to address other high priority storm water runoff and pollution issues. In the fall of 2018 we applied for 2 grants:

1. Route 107 Inlet: In September under the leadership of Patrick Brochu we applied for a 2019 Watershed Assistance Grant offered through the State of NH Department of Environmental Services. The goal is to help reduce and filter stormwater runoff coming down route 107 to the inlet at the south end of the lake. At the same time we are working with NHDOT and the Town of Deerfield to make significant improvements outlined in our report. We expect to hear back from DES by May of this year. This project has been led by Patrick Brochu with a PLPA support team consisting of Ann Scholz, Tom Brennan, Joe Coronati, Jim Irish and John Duffy.

2. Also in September, we applied for a Moose Plate Grant;This grant is made available by the New Hampshire Conservation Commission. Onni Irish is the lead on this project with a goal of Stormwater Education and improvement on shoreline properties.

Congratulations on a splendid performance of the Nursery Rhyme Show by the students in Mrs. Magnusson’s and Mrs. Boudreau’s Northwood School kindergarten class.  Bravo to all students!

Letter To The Editor

My name is Stephanie Arroyo and I am running for one of two open seats on the Northwood School Board. I have served and advocated for the educational needs of children  for 22 years as a former Educational Technician III and Elementary Special Education Teacher (Maine), Special Education Senior Specialist developing alternate statewide assessments, and currently, as the Education Coordinator & Training Specialist  for KNOW & TELL with the Granite State Children’s Alliance. 

My family, which includes my husband and three children (1st and 6th grades at NWS and a CBNA graduate), moved to Northwood about 21/2 years ago because of the education my oldest daughter received during her high school years at CBNA. We wanted our youngest children to have the same, if not more, opportunities by being able to grow and learn with the curriculum at the elementary/middle school level to prepare them for high school.

I am running for school board as a parent and extension of my current job, so that I can continue working and advocating for the education/needs of all students, educators, and the community. I am committed to improving the quality of our school system and believe that serving as a policy maker is one of the most direct ways to make that difference.

If elected, addressing topics such as the direction of curriculum, assessments, and reporting, the safety of our students and staff, and maintaining a tax balance are top priorities for me. To continue moving Northwood forward in a positive manner, we need a school board who will be responsive to needs of students, staff, and the community as a whole, will balance needs vs. wants, and exhaust all avenues to provide a balanced, well thought-out budget, seeking out all funding opportunities. 

I am here to be your voice!

Letter To The Editor

To the Editor,

I’d like to talk about property taxes. As you know, we have no personal income tax or sales tax in NH. Most revenue to manage our town and school comes from property taxes instead.

While we are one of the least taxed states in America, our system can make it hard for senior citizens on a fixed income. TC found out that 4% of Northwood property owners are behind in their taxes. In pimping for an $8.5m total cost safety complex he didn’t think that 96 % should suffer for the 4%.  Of course a safety complex for under $3m, one that we could afford, would be out of the question for him. Where would our tax rate go if the complex and all of the other ridiculous warrants were passed? Would then 8% or 10% of our fellow citizens be underwater? I care.

Last year an individual filed a right-to-know request and learned who every delinquent taxpayer was. Her aim was to humiliate. It said more about her than any taxpayer struggling to stay afloat. There are many reasons to be delinquent. Illness, divorce, job loss, and so many others. There is a property on Sherburne Hill Rd. where the owner finally, not able to work with the select board, just gave up and left. That property still sits rotting away years later.

This is not the last that I am going to say on the subject. This town, our school, can be managed for the benefit of everyone, not just a few.

Tim Jandebeur

Northwood

Letter To The Editor

Someone using the transfer station recently asked Joe what I was talking about when I mentioned mandatory recycling in the paper, he said that we don’t have it. 

Mandatory recycling has been in effect since 2002. Unfortunately, in the last few years, no one in a position of authority has been interested in enforcing the rules. 

We are supposed to be recycling! Those people taking the time and effort to sort and depose of their trash properly are doing the right thing, but unless we start enforcing the rules it’s unfair to those doing the right thing. The BOS has been so lax and unconcerned with the transfer station it’s a wonder we’re recycling anything. 

One example comes to mind, issuing new TS stickers is a joke! No one knows when or where to get them. Tho BOS had the attendents handing them out, willy­nilly, at the transfer station. This is not the right way to do that. When there is a change of stickers it has to be within a time frame not when you register your car. 

As with everything else there are rules. Without rules, we fall apart. The transfer station is falling apart! With no support from the selectmen, the attendants cannot do their jobs. We need better pay, more hours for the supervisor and much more support from the selectmen and the people using the facility. 

It would seem a shame to have the state step in and start shutting down things that aren’t being addressed. There are definitely safety issues and state rules that we are not dealing with. 

The selectmen have alienated evoryone on the recycling committee, so that no longer exists. It’s beyond time to pay attention. to start enforcing mandatory recycling and support our attendants when they do enforce the rules.

Until next time,

Viena Dow

Letter To The Editor

Still the best way?

More than 20 years ago, the citizens of Northwood confronted a situation similar to that which confronts us now: the elementary school was in need of expansion and the modular classroom units had deteriorated to the point of becoming health hazards.  Think mold.

A committee of concerned citizens worked with architects to design an addition to be built with a 20-year bond.  I and others worked to present this to the voters who passed the necessary warrant article, over - as now - the vociferous objections of some.

But there is one critical difference between then and now.  Then, the State had a School Building Fund with monies to support projects such as ours.  Now, such a fund no longer exists.  Nor is there state money to help us with the Public Safety Complex.

Instead, the State has down-shifted this and other costs to towns. Towns have had to pick up the full cost of employee retirement when the state stopped paying 30%.  More recently, the State has stopped paying ultra-property-poor towns - think Berlin and Pittsfield - supplemental school support. It’s a long list.

The withdrawal of State support and the resultant down-shifting of costs over the last 20 years has left us with, among other things, the highest state college tuition and the highest student debt load in the country.

Help may be on the way as the newly elected legislature considers bills to restore supplemental school aid and increase the per-pupil adequacy payment.

In the meantime, we are left to fund a safety complex through local property taxes.  It won’t be easy for some, but necessary for all.

Meanwhile, consider whether a tax system that relies so heavily - 40%! - on property taxation is still the best way to fund governmental services.

Tom Chase

Northwood

Celebrate The Academy Awards All Month Long On LRPA After Dark!

This Weekend’s Feature: 1951’s “Cyrano De Bergerac”

Throughout February, Lakes Region Public Access Television will celebrate the Academy Awards with a month of Oscar®-nominated films. This weekend, (February 15 & 16) we present the 1951 historical romance “Cyrano de Bergerac,” starring José Ferrer, Mala Powers and William Prince. Cyrano de Bergerac (Ferrer) is a charming and highly accomplished soldier, swordsman, philosopher, poet, provocateur … he is an almost-perfect specimen with the exception of his absurdly enormous nose. Cyrano believes that his appearance is too objectionable to earn any women’s affection. Despite this, he falls in love with the beautiful and intellectual Roxane (Powers), but she is hopelessly in love with the handsome (but dim-witted and tongue-tied) guardsman Christian (Prince). Devastated but ever the stoic gentleman, Cyrano hides his feelings from Roxanne. He decides to help Christian woo Roxane by supplying him with eloquent love letters, rich with poetry that Christian could never have written on his own.  What starts as an innocent deception becomes complicated, eventually leading to tragic results. José Ferrer had only been in Hollywood for two years when he took on the role of Cyrano de Bergerac. However, he was no stranger to the character, having played him in a Tony Award-winning performance on Broadway in 1946. Ferrer won the Best Actor Oscar® for “Cyrano de Bergerac,” making him one of only a handful of actors to win both the Tony and the Oscar for the same role. He repeated his performance as the doomed lover twice more on television, and once in an animated short. Critics and moviegoers agreed that Ferrer made the movie; his performance is spellbinding, and one that you won’t want to miss. What are you waiting for? Grab your popcorn and join LRPA after dark for this swashbuckling romance from the cinematic past. 

Mark your calendars as LRPA After Dark celebrates a month of Oscar®-nominated films:

March 1 & 2: 1952’s “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” (Noms: Art Direction & Cinematography)

From The Desk Of The Northwood Police Chief

Respectfully Submitted By Chief Drolet

In the last few weeks there has been a lot of discussion comparing the Farmington Public Safety Complex to the one we are proposing here in Northwood.  In order to compare these two projects we need to look at it as an apples to apples rather than apples to oranges comparison. 

There are several issues we need to address with our complex that Farmington did not or chose not to:

• The first thing we need to look at is escalation of cost since Farmington passed their building in 2016. The builder that built the Farmington complex states that today he could build that same facility under the same exact conditions for approximately $3,000,000. That is $600,000 more than they spent in 2016. 

• Now let’s look at what we face in our project that Farming did not. Farmington owned the 88 acre lot they built their complex on. We do not own the land and need to purchase the land for $229,000.

• The Farmington complex is on town water, so they did not need a well ($10,000), a fire pump ($50,000), or a Cistern ($85,000).  We do not know if they needed a new septic or not, but that is another $25,000 potential cost that we need that they may not have being on a town system. 

• Comparing their site costs to our budgeted costs is another $264,310, as their lot had been a sand and gravel pit for many years. So there were significant savings for them when it came to excavation on their site.

• There are two buildings currently on our site that will have to be demolished. We have budgeted $25,000 to do this.  Hopefully, we can have the fire department use the buildings as a training exercise and they can burn them, rather than having to demo them and we can save $25,000 on that.

• Our design is for a two-story building which requires us to have an elevator, which Farmington does not have. Our site is narrow so a one story building would not work, so we have budgeted $100,000 for the elevator. 

• We are proposing an epoxy finish on the floor of the fire department apparatus bay that Farmington did not choose to use. The finish is budgeted for $36,000.

• Being on Route 4, we anticipate NH DOT requiring us to upgrade Rt. 4 in the area of the complex and have budgeted $75,000 to do that and $40,000 to relocate the utility poles that are in the area that will need to be moved.

• Farmington did not budget for a generator or a Plymovent exhaust system in their project.  These two items are in our budget for $110,000. 

• From what we can tell, they used $25,000 in contingency.  We are carrying $400,000 on the town side and $400,000 on the construction manager side for this project.  That is a $725,000 difference. 

• There are approximately five other areas that we believe we have budgeted for that Farmington did not, in the amount of $607,200, for a grand total difference between the two buildings of $2,381,510.  

So their building today, with the escalation costs and our expenses figured in, would bring their building to $5,381,510. If we reduce the contingencies on our side and the construction manager’s side by $250,000 each, for a total of $500,000, our new project, not to exceed budget, would be $5,475,000.  That savings alone brings us to within $93,490 of the Farmington price and I envision even more savings.