Registrations are underway for the annual golf tournament sponsored
by the Pittsfield Basketball Program.
The 2015 Mid-Summer Classic will be played on Sunday, September 20th
at 9:00 AM.
Please contact Jay Darrah at 435-6701 or at
[email protected] for more
info on registering or sponsorship opportunities.
Colleen Corliss of Pittsfield was recently recognized for achieving
academic distinction at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Corliss, majoring in business administration, was named to the
dean’s list at UMass Lowell for the spring 2015 semester.
To qualify for the dean’s list at UMass Lowell, a student must have
completed no fewer than 12 graded credits for the semester and
earned at least a 3.25 grade point average with no grade lower than
C and without any incompletes.
Pittsfield Beautification Committee
Help the Pittsfield Beautification Committee landscape a new garden
on the Aranosian Lot by purchasing your fall “Mums” at a
Beautification Committee fundraiser, to be held on Saturday,
September 12th at the Aranosian Lot (next to Jack’s Pizza on
Catamount Rd ), from 8:00 am to 12:00 noon. We will be selling a
variety of colors in 10” pots, for $7.00, a great bargain
As always, thank you for your support!
80th Birthday
Open House
Stewart Boston, Sr.
September 5
5-8 PM
Community Center
Function Hall
Summer of Seuss, Dr. Seuss, That is!
Pittsfield Old Home Day 2015
Saturday, July 11th, was Old Home Day in Pittsfield and the theme of
the day was “Summer of Seuss, Dr. Seuss, That is!” The weather was
GREAT and everyone seemed to have a good time. Many THANKS are due
to lots of groups, organizations, businesses and individuals that
make this event possible.
Thank you to the Pittsfield Players for sponsoring the fabulous
music group, “Rockin Daddios” on Friday night at the Scenic Theatre.
The continued support and involvement of the Pittsfield Players in
the Old Home Day celebration is very much appreciated!
The Park St. Baptist Church served a delicious breakfast on Saturday
morning to start the day – Thank you to all the cooks. The Community
Fair at Dustin Park was bustling with vendors and local organization
booths. The free craft table for kids was manned by Carol Grainger,
Michele Karwocki, Lisa Fries, Tara Ash and members of the Girl Scout
Troop – THANK YOU to all of you.
Jujubee, the Clown provided balloon “art” for the kids – free!
Thanks to the Police Explorers for manning the jump tent and games;
to St. Stephen’s Church for supplying the power for the jump tent
and to Judy and Ray Webber for creating the “Dr. Seuss” cutout for
picture taking. A huge thank you to Bob and Eileen Legg for taking
photos of all of the Old Home Day activities.
Thanks to Don Smith for providing music at Dustin Park and to the
Historical Society for opening their doors and sharing their
fabulous collection of Pittsfield Memorabilia.
Many thanks to all the Car Show participants and to ME St. George
Engines for rounding up some mud trucks. Thank you to the residents
and businesses of Main Street for your cooperation with the street
being closed. We had a great turnout of classic, hot
rod, and vintage vehicles for the car show and all enjoyed the music
of Jackie Lee. Thank you to Sanels, Maxfields Hardware and
O’Reilly’s Auto Parts for donating raffle prizes.
The annual cookoff was “Best Berry Pie.” Thank you to all the
participants. The winners, by popular vote were: 1st – Corine
Miller (#1-Raspberry pie), 2nd – Bob Passella (#9-Quadberry pie)
and 3rd – Robyn Ladd (#8-Blueberry pie). A very special Thank You
to the Victory Workers 4-H Club for organizing and manning the
booth.
Thanks to all the kids (we had close to 40) who participated in the
Bike Parade. Thanks to our judges- they had a tough time choosing
the winners.
Pastor Jay Hardy of Pittsfield Advent Christian Church provided the
invocation before the parade – thank you for joining us on Old Home
Day. A very special thank you to Ms. Stephanie Joyce for her
beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner and a big thank you
to Stan Bailey for providing announcing duties for the parade.
We’d also like to THANK Granite Image for providing all the flyers,
posters and program printing for the day. THANK YOU to The SUNCOOK
VALLEY SUN for printing all of our articles, ads and the day’s
schedule. Thanks, also to our WEBSITE COMMITTEE for posting all the
events and information for the day and to all the Local Businesses
that posted flyers and posters for us.
Congratulations to Frances Marston on being named Pittsfield’s
Citizen of the Year! THANK YOU for your continued volunteering in
our community. Thanks to Sandi Adams for providing the “ride” for
our Citizen of the Year.
THANK YOU TO ALL who participated in the Parade. A Huge THANK YOU
to NH Motor Speedway for the use of their “People Movers” and to Ray
Webber for hauling it. They worked perfectly for the band to ride
in and perform in the parade. Thank you to Ray Webber, Sr for
hauling our Old Home Day Committee float!
PARADE WINNERS!
Youth Division:
1st – Victory Workers 4-H Club
2nd – F.B. Argue Recreation Area
3rd – Pittsfield Youth Workshop
Open Division
1st – Pittsfield Players
2nd – Pittsfield Senior Center
Chichester was awarded a trophy for Best Firetruck.
The afternoon activities were free swim at the F.B. Argue Recreation
Area (thank you Parks and Rec) along with a cookout of burgers and
hot dogs. At Drake Field, a Grand Opening Ceremony for the new
Playground was held following the annual Duck Derby! Thanks to Jay
Darrah and the PMHS Boys Basketball team for organizing the Duck
Race and congratulations to the winner – P. Carpenter.
The day ended with a fabulous FIREWORKS show by Atlas. A Huge THANK
YOU to all the donors that made this show possible. Thanks to PMHS
for the use of Drake Field and the Old Home Day Committee would
especially like to THANK Joe Darrah and his helpers for cleaning up
the firework debris on Sunday morning. It is very much
appreciated by the whole committee!
The Old Home Day Committee would like to THANK the Pittsfield
Police, Fire and Highway Department; Parks and Recreation Committee
and the many extra volunteers that helped at any of the events. A
lot of planning and work goes into this day and it takes a lot of
people to make things happen…..so, THANK YOU!!!
We hope everyone enjoyed the day – We would love to
hear any suggestions or comments on the day’s events. Please feel
free to call Andi Riel at 435-6346 or email at
[email protected] or Louie
Houle at 435-6938 or
[email protected].
The Pittsfield Historical Society
The
Pittsfield Historical Society is in need of a new roof. A leak has
been discovered and your ancestor’s artifacts are in danger! We are
asking for contributions towards the endeavor. If you would like to
contribute, please contact the Society at 603-435-8004, stop by
our building on 13 Elm Street or mail your donation to the
Pittsfield Historical Society, PO Box 173, Pittsfield, NH 03263. We
are open to the public every Tuesday from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm .
Please help the Society to keep a roof over their heads. Thank you
for your continued support!
Globe, DuPont, And NVFC Announce More Winners In 2015 Gear
Giveaway
Departments in ME, ID are awarded 4 sets of new Globe gear Globe,
DuPont Protection Technologies (DuPont), and the National Volunteer
Fire Council (NVFC) have announced the second round of winners in
the 2015 Globe Gear Giveaway.
This is the fourth year that Globe has partnered with DuPont and the
NVFC to provide volunteer departments with critically needed sets of
turnout gear. The Georgetown (ME) Volunteer Fire Department and
North Fork (ID) Fire Protection District will each be outfitted with
four sets of new, state-of-the-art Globe turnout gear.
“We are pleased to announce two more recipients in the 2015 Globe
Gear Giveaway,” said NVFC Chairman Kevin D. Quinn. “Compliant,
correctly-fitting gear is paramount to keeping firefighters safe as
they work to protect our communities, yet many departments struggle
with providing adequate gear to their responders. We thank Globe and
DuPont for their generosity and dedication to the safety and
wellbeing of firefighters throughout the U.S. and Canada.”
The 2015 program will provide a total of 52 sets of turnout gear to
13 departments who demonstrate a need for gear. To be eligible to
apply, departments had to be all-volunteer or mostly-volunteer,
serve a population of 25,000 or less, be legally organized in the
U.S. or Canada, and be a member of the NVFC.
To help departments meet this last requirement, Globe sponsored NVFC
Department Memberships for the first 200 non-members to apply.
The Georgetown (ME) Volunteer Fire Department provides fire and
emergency medical services to their island community as well as
several mutual aid communities on the mainland. The island
population consists of approximately 1,200 year-round residents,
with up to 3,000 in the summer. They also provide emergency medical
services to many smaller island communities that can only be
accessed by boat. In addition to responding to calls, Georgetown
firefighters donate many hours to fundraising events, which accounts
for about half of the department’s annual budget. Currently, they
only have one set of gear that is less than 10 years old.
“The safety of our 30 volunteer firefighters is paramount… We need
to have current, serviceable gear to handle any eventuality,” said
firefighter Sharon Trabona. She added, “The donation of new gear
would benefit our Department and mutual aid communities greatly.”
The donation of gear from Globe, DuPont, and the NVFC will allow the
department to welcome new recruits with new gear as they work to
meet the needs of their community.
The North Fork Fire Protection District in Lemhi County, ID, is an
all-volunteer department serving 34 square miles that are surrounded
by the Salmon-Challis National Forest. With logging and mining no
longer allowed in the forest, there are fewer employment
opportunities and consequently fewer residents below retirement age
remaining to serve as volunteer firefighters. The department has
recently been actively recruiting new members to fill the positions
being vacated. The department’s budget for turnout gear has been
exhausted by keeping the current members outfitted, and the few
surplus sets are old and not the correct sizes for the new recruits,
two of whom are the first women on the department. The four new sets
of gear will be used to get these new recruits response-ready.
Additional awards will be made each month through December. Stay
tuned to the NVFC web site, Dispatch newsletter, and page on
Facebook, as well as the Globe page on Facebook, for additional
award announcements and information regarding the Globe Gear
Giveaway Program.
About Globe Firefighters need to be prepared to
perform at their peak, on every call. That’s why Globe delivers the
most advanced, best-fitting, and longest lasting protection by
listening to our customers, creating breakthrough designs, and
applying the engineering skills of the nation’s most trusted turnout
gear manufacturer. Globe turnout gear is designed to protect you,
move with you, and improve your performance. It’s athletic gear for
firefighters. Learn more at
www.globeturnoutgear.com.
About DuPont Protection Technologies DuPont
Protection Technologies (NYSE: DD) has been bringing world-class
science and engineering to the global marketplace in the form of
innovative products, materials, and services since 1802. The company
believes that by collaborating with customers, governments, NGOs,
and thought leaders we can help find solutions to such global
challenges as providing enough healthy food for people everywhere,
decreasing dependence on fossil fuels, and protecting life and the
environment. For additional information about DuPont and its
commitment to inclusive innovation, please visit
www.dupont.com.
About the NVFC The National Volunteer Fire Council
(NVFC) is the leading nonprofit membership association representing
the interests of the volunteer fire, EMS, and rescue services. The
NVFC serves as the voice of the volunteer in the national arena and
provides invaluable tools, resources, programs, and advocacy for
first responders across the nation. Learn more at
www.nvfc.org.
Josiah Carpenter Library
September is Library Card sign-up month – free cup of coffee or
juice box for every new patron card.
Josiah Teen Book Worms Discussing “I’ll Give You the Sun” by Jandy
Nelson on Thursday September 3 between 7-8:30 pm at the library.
Closed on Monday September 7, 2015 in observance of Labor Day.
Library Board of Trustees Meeting Tuesday, September 15 , 2015, 7
pm.
New Hampshire Astronomical Society visit to the library Wednesday,
September 16 at 6:30; Skywatch at 8:00 pm. Sign up at the library
required.
Preschool story hour resumes September 17, Thursdays 10:00 am –
11:00 am. Join Mrs. Grainger for a fun filled hour of stories,
crafts and a snack.
New Wednesdays afterschool Lego club begins Wednesdays, September
23, 30, October 7, 14. & 21. Sign up required. Ages kindergarten
through 5th grade.
Read Meet & Talk Tuesday September 22 - Join us for an exciting
discussion of “The Boston Girl” by Anita Diamant at the Pittsfield
Senior Center @ 10:30- Noon. Stay for a leisurely lunch served by
the Community Action Program!
Pittsfield Writer’s Circle Thursday, September 24 at 7 pm at the
library- Writing prompt: “I’ve never been more frightening than
when. . . “
October is Teen Read Month- Spooky, scary story night at the
library and a Library survey concerning hours and services. . . .See
you soon!
Josiah Carpenter Library, 41 Main Street, Pittsfield, NH 03263
(603)435-8406
www.josiahcarpenterlibrary.org
Pittsfield Bounties: Removing Sources Of Danger And Destruction In
The Early Days
By Larry Berkson
[Note: The author would like to thank Eleanor Joyce for helping with
the research for this article]
The other day I was having a conversation on my porch when the
subject of wolves came up. The discussion was with a young person
who was unaware that there were wolves in New Hampshire at one time.
I went on to explain that there were catamounts as well, but
bounties had been paid to kill them and, as a result, they had
become extinct here. More questions were asked so I began doing some
research on the subject. Below is what I learned.
From the earliest of times in colonial America, bounties were placed
on predators that threatened people, livestock and crops. One of the
earliest, if not the earliest, bounties was established in Dover in
1657, which paid four pounds per wolf. The first on record in
Pittsfield was in 1788 when the town offered a bounty of $10.00 for
a good wolf and $5.00 for a wolf whelp. The following year the town
offered three pounds per head. The reason was that they were a
menace to livestock.
In 1806 a bounty of 12¢ was placed on crows. It was increased to
12½¢ in 1808 and apparently remained at that price until 1816 when
it was voted to increase the bounty to 20¢. Crows damaged seedling
corn by pulling out the sprouts and consuming the kernels. They also
damaged ripening corn, destroyed various fruit crops and consumed
the eggs of water fowl and other nesting birds.
There is no record of bounties being offered on catamounts (pumas,
panthers, mountain lions) and in 1811 the town specifically voted
not to provide a bounty on “wild cats.” Whether the reference was to
catamounts or bob cats (lynx) is uncertain.
Exactly when a bounty on foxes began is not recorded but in 1835
Jacob Jones, the clock maker, was paid $3.70 for foxes and crows and
others were paid $16.15. The following year $17.80 was paid. At the
time the bounty on foxes was likely 25¢, for that is the amount paid
to John Chesley and Bracket Norris in 1839 for one fox apiece.
Bounties continued to be paid on foxes throughout the 1840s and
1850s. In 1877 bounties were paid to three men in the amount of
$17.50. Foxes were a menace to turkeys, ducks geese, young pigs, and
lambs, were particularly destructive of small flocks of chickens.
A bounty was paid for killing a bear in 1872 in the amount of $4.00.
It was taken by the infamous dentist and jack of all trades, Dr. G.
G. Wilkins, who operated out of the building on Main Street referred
to as Fort Wilkins, now housing Epping Well & Pump Co., Inc. This
was probably not the first or last bounty paid on a bear but it is
the only one that has been found recorded in Pittsfield Records.
The first recorded bounty on hawks was paid to J. W. Paige in 1878.
The amount was 20¢. Bounties continued to be paid on hawks
throughout the 1880s and 1890s. The last reported went to Henry
Osgood, the photographer and ornithologist. In 1896 he was paid a
bounty of $18.25, for hawks and in 1897, $12.75. They were of
particular danger to poultry.
In the meantime considerable amounts were paid for the heads of
crows. In 1881 C. D. Clark was paid $7.20 for 72 heads and in 1883,
$31.50 for killing 315 crows. In 1884 William Tasker killed 39. The
last bounties paid on crows were apparently in 1884 when C. D. Clark
was paid $3.30, E. W. French, $5.60, and William Tasker, $3.90.
The first recorded bounty on woodchucks was paid to William Tasker
in 1884. He received 20¢ for killing two. In 1885 three men were
paid $41.10 for killing 411, and in 1886 the same three men, E. W.
French, C. C. Rogers, and William Tasker, were paid $22.50 for
killing 225. Apparently these were the last bounties paid on this
animal which ate all kinds of truck vegetables and destroyed
people’s gardens.
The first recorded bounty on porcupines (hedge hogs) was paid in
1937. The number killed and to whom the payment was made is not
recorded. Payments continued to be paid each year in amounts ranging
from $4.40 in 1938 to $8.40 in 1941. A precipitous rise took place
in 1944 when $63.70 was paid to eradicate porcupines. The last
recorded payment was in 1963 when 50¢ was paid for a single animal.
Bounties were placed on them because they are a threat to dogs and
children and often damaged buildings and equipment.
Apparently timber rattle snakes did not pose a great threat to the
community. There is no mention in the records of a bounty being
place on them as in some areas. Today they are all but extinct in
New Hampshire.
Thus, the history of Pittsfield’s attempts to eradicate threats to
humans, livestock, crops, buildings and equipment by animal
predators. Catamounts and wolves were hunted to extinction. Bobcats
were hunted to the verge of extinction but their numbers have
rebounded in recent years. There are still numbers of bears, foxes,
and porcupines. Crows and wood chucks are plentiful and often still
a nuisance.
Ross Morse is pleased to announce the engagement of his father, Art
Morse of Pittsfield to Renée Raymond of Barnstead. July 13, 2016 has
been set as their wedding date. Congratulations to the happy couple!
The South Pittsfield Community Club held its Picnic and Annual
Meeting at Tina Metcalf’s home in South Pittsfield. It was decided
to hold the Annual Turkey Supper on Saturday, October 17th at the
old Schoolhouse in South Pittsfield.
Karla Brown is Pittsfield’s new Postmaster. Karla started her Postal
career in Visalia, California in 1987, then transferred to Concord,
N.H. in 1988. In 1992 she was promoted to Supervisor of Customer
Service in Concord. She became the Postmaster of the Center
Barnstead Post Office in 1998. Next, she accepted the position of
Postmaster at the Epsom office in 2004.
In May of 2015, Karla accepted her current position as Postmaster of
the Pittsfield Post Office. She has completed 28 years of Postal
experience. She resides in Chichester with her husband, Brett and
they have two adult sons.
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