Pittsfield
Citizen Of The Year
It is time to pick the 2016 Pittsfield
Citizen of the Year. Who’s activities and accomplishments to better
our town do you feel make them eligible for this year’s award?
Please send the name of your nominee and the reason they should be
Citizen of the Year to:
Citizen of the Year
P O Box 173
Pittsfield N H 03263
Nominations must be received by June 8,
2016.
REMINDER
The Pittsfield Beautification Committee will once again be
participating in the Town Wide Yard Sale on Saturday June 4th and
Sunday June 5th (8 am to 2 pm). We will be
set up at Nancy & John Barto’s house at 515 Dowboro Rd. Pittsfield,
just 3.5 miles from the center of Town.
Anyone who would like to donate items for our sale can drop them off
at Nancy’s house. We respectfully request that you do not
bring items of clothing or any heavy items.
If anyone would like to make a monetary donation to the
Beautification Committee, please send a check payable to The
Pittsfield Beautification Committee, c/o Tina Fife 1394 Upper City
Rd, Pittsfield NH 03263. Collection boxes can also be found at Town
Hall, Bell Brothers, Jack’s Pizza, Town Pizza and Danis Market.
The Suncook Valley Area Lions Club is seeking donations of new or
gently used items for the Town Wide Yard Sale to be held on Sat,
June 4 at Locke’s Location, Barnstead Road. We are willing to
take most anything (except we cannot accept TV’s or clothing).
If anyone is interested in renting a space from the Lions Club to
set up their own yardsale - spots are available for $10.
Please call Laurie Vien at 435-5052 for more information or to
arrange for drop-off or pick-up. The Lions Club thanks you for
your donations.
REMINDER
Drake Field Summer
Recreation Program
The Drake Field Summer Recreation Program
will begin on June 29 and end on August 6. The program is open
Monday through Thursday and FREE to Pittsfield students in grades
1-8.
The summer program consist of sports
activities, arts and crafts, children’s games, board games, field
trips, water games, story time and many other fun and educational
activities. Registration forms and calendars will be sent home
through the school by the end of May. Forms may be returned to the
school or you may register on June 29th at the park.
For more information please contact Mrs.
Louise Sawyer at 267-6733.
The men and women of the Pittsfield American Legion Peterson-Cram
Post 75 will hold its annual Memorial Day observance on Sunday, May
29th, 2016. The day will begin at 10:00 A.M. with a memorial
church service with Pittsfield First Congregational Church, 24 Main
Street. (All Post members are asked to be there by 9:45 A.M.)
Then at 1:00 P.M., the Memorial Day observance will begin at the
Veterans Memorial, in Dustin Park on Main Street.
At this time, final plans are being firmed up, however, we will have
a letter from United States Senator Kelly Ayotte, who is unable to
attend. We will, as in the past, pay a tribute to those who
have paid the price and to honor those who are now serving our
nation in a time of war.
For further information, contact the Post
Chaplain and Project Officer, Merrill Vaughan at 603-344-0264
Congratulations to Paige Corliss who
graduated May 7th from MCPHS University Boston with a Doctor of
Pharmacy degree. Paige has been accepted into a residency program
focused in ambulatory care, and is a 2010 graduate of Pittsfield
Middle High School.
South Barnstead Cemetery Association
annual meeting will be on June 5, 2016 at 11:00 AM at the South
Barnstead Church, Route 126 Center Barnstead, NH.
If you have a child under 3 or are
pregnant, Early Head Start will have openings soon! Fun activities,
information, support, and learning experiences are provided through
home visiting and play groups. Free for income eligible families.
Call us at 435-6611 to jump start your child’s learning.
If you have a 3 or 4 year old child, Head
Start has openings for the fall! We are a 5 day a week preschool
program that provides lots of fun and learning to prepare your child
for kindergarten. Breakfast and lunch are included. Free for income
eligible families. Please call Susan Ireland at 225-3295 for more
information.
Historical
Society Designates Old Barn
Submitted By Larry
Berkson
The Washington House and Attached Barns, c1864.
Allan Donovan and the Historical Plaque on Barn at 85 Tilton Hill
Road
The Pittsfield Historical Society recently
placed a plaque on Allan Donovan’s barn because of its age and
significance to the town. Oral history tells us that it belonged to
John Cram. Although the date that it was erected has been lost to
history, it was at a very early time.
The timbers are hand-hued and vary in
width from one end to another. The boards were cut with an up and
down saw.
The barn was originally attached to the
Washington House at the top of Factory Hill as shown in a picture
taken in 1864. It may have been moved to Mr. Donovan’s house when it
was owned by Charles T. Cram sometime before 1877 or between 1877
and 1879 when John Cram’s descendant John Cram owned it.
Support The
Local Bees
Submitted By Lauren
Martin
Lauren Martin is a senior at Pittsfield
Middle High School in Pittsfield. Lauren is earning a Biology credit
based on research and experiments with the bee population through
the Extended Learning Opportunity Program and amateur beekeeper Kate
Dockham.
This is the fourth in a series of five
articles that will focus on how to combat this problem locally.
Resources used, shared by request.
Supporting local beekeepers helps domestic
honey bees, but there are more bees that could use help. Often
native bees are not included in efforts to create space and
resources for their populations in conservation plans. Though what
benefits native bees also helps domestic honey bees, they are often
forgotten when planning efforts to help bees.
The first, and possibly most important, is
to not panic when hives begin to swarm in early summer! Often times
people worry that hives are setting up residence when they are only
taking a break during travel. But even if found late, the bee hive
can be taken care of by contacting a local bee keeper or bee
association, like the Merrimack Valley Beekeepers, as opposed to
exterminating them. Honey bees present no danger to most and often
can benefit a local beekeeper that needs a queen.
Bee hotels are a good option for those
that have the time for building one. Bee hotels can be built
effectively with some research and cardboard tubes. Most designs
include a basic wooden box built to be filled with cardboard tubes
of different diameters meant for bees, closed on one side to protect
the bees. The hotels have been shown to be more effective in
maintained and gardened areas. With some designs, especially
manufactured ones, the prevalence of pests- like wasps- makes the
situation of native bees in the area worse. The size of the
cardboard tubes can just as easily harbour pests that are within
easy reach of the bees that nest within the hive, putting them in
more jeopardy than if they simply made their own nests elsewhere.
If you don’t have a garden area for bees
close by, a watering station can be helpful. While flying to
retrieve food, bees need to stop for a drink occasionally. Unlike
many other animals, deep water can be life threatening. Without
water from sources like rivers or lakes honey bees rely on shallow
puddles. These can be hard to come by, especially on hot days in the
summer when the bees are at their busiest. To solve this problem,
you can build a “bee waterer” or a dish filled with both water and
stones or glass pebbles. This can be done in a bird bath or even
with self-filling pet dishes, that are fed with a jug to limit the
necessary maintenance.
Another option is to simply consider
becoming a beekeeper. The hobby can be expensive, but is rewarding,
and directly helps the bees in your care. You can participate in
your local New England Bee Association group, like the Merrimack
Valley Beekeepers, and take advantage of opportunities to learn all
you can about bees. The New England Bee Association also puts out a
newsletter to help stay informed, in addition to a resource page.
While facing the issue of CCD, every
little bit of help is important to all bees. Trying to be more open
in your residence by installing a water station and garden alone
could make the strain of their daily activity gathering food for the
hive more manageable. With this in mind, I hope you decide to help
the bees with one of the ways outlined in the article. For more
information and ideas, you can read the newsletters published by the
New Hampshire Beekeeping Association, at nhbeekeepers.org or the
Merrimack Valley Beekeepers at mvbees.org for their newsletter or
even their “bee school” that offers mentorship for beginning
beekeepers. These newsletters cover recipes, developments in
research, and connect beekeepers together to exchange information.
Loon
Preservation Committee Hosts Live Loon Cam
An image captured from the live webcam shows an adult
sitting on a nest on a lake in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire.
Both adults will take turns incubating the egg(s) for approximately
28 days.
For the third year in a row, the Loon Preservation Committee has a
live webcam focused on a pair of nesting loons on a lake in the
Lakes Region of New Hampshire. The first egg was laid on May
15 so LPC biologists expect to see a chick around June 11 if all
goes well. This pair is among the first loons in the state to
initiate a nest; the peak of loon nest initiation usually occurs
around the first week of June in New Hampshire. Since both
adults are banded with unique combinations of color bands LPC
biologists have confirmed that it is the same pair of loons as last
year. In 2014, the male of the pair was rescued by LPC staff
after webcam viewers reported the loon appeared to be tangled in
monofilament line, a potentially lethal condition. Just days
after the loon was rescued the pair hatched two chicks and both
survived to migrate to the ocean in the fall. Last year, this
pair hatched one chick that also successfully left the lake in the
fall.
The loon webcam gives LPC biologists an invaluable look at the
habits and challenges faced by nesting loons in New Hampshire,
including black flies, predators, flooded nests, and intruding
loons. It also allows LPC to share this intimate look into the
life of loons with its members and the public. To see the LIVE loon
cam please visit
www.loon.org/looncam.php.
Loon Preservation Committee biologists recorded 289 pairs of loons
on New Hampshire lakes in 2015, more than three times the number of
loons present in the mid 1970s when LPC began its work to protect
and grow the population. However, loons are facing growing
challenges and the impacts of climate change and other threats are
increasingly being felt by New Hampshire’s small loon population.
Loons are a threatened species in New Hampshire and are protected by
state and federal laws from hunting or harassment. If you see
a sick or injured loon, please call the Loon Preservation Committee
(603-476-5666) or if you observe harassment of loons, please contact
the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department (603-271-3361) or Marine
Patrol (603-293-2037) for assistance.
The Loon Preservation Committee monitors loons throughout the state
as part of its mission to restore and maintain a healthy population
of loons in New Hampshire; to monitor the health and productivity of
loon populations as sentinels of environmental quality; and to
promote a greater understanding of loons and the natural world.
To learn more about loons in New Hampshire, please visit the Loon
Preservation Committee on the web at www.loon.org or call the Loon
Preservation Committee at (603) 476-LOON (5666).
The Friday Night Kayak Group begins its
2016 Season on June 3 2016. The group is open to everyone and meets
at different local kayaking sites every Friday at 6 PM during June,
July and August. The paddling trips last just over an hour. Simply
show up at this week’s location. Visit our web site at
huffnpuff.info for information about the next trip and put yourself
on our email list. You can also call Paul Oman at 435 -7199 for more
information. The June 3 trip will be on Harvey Lake in Northwood.
Hope to see you there.
Letter
Dear Pittsfield Voters,
At the town election last March 8, voters
elected James Hetu to the zoning board of adjustment (ZBA) over
incumbent Carole Dodge by 400 to 213. James had campaigned against
the ZBA’s practice of being rude, ignoring abutter input, state
laws, and our zoning ordinance, and giving few or no reasons for the
board’s decisions.
But three ZBA members were determined to
continue the Carole Dodge era despite the town’s vote to end it.
Right after the election, one ZBA member had to resign, and the
remaining members Pat Heffernan, Jeffrey Swain, and Scott Aubertin
took this opportunity to have an unscheduled meeting on March 24 for
the only purpose of appointing Carole Dodge back to the board. James
Hetu did not participate in this meeting because he had not been
sworn in.
James complained and the NH Municipal
Association agreed that Carole’s appointment was unlawful because
she was still a member until James was sworn in. So Pat Heffernan
then asked for the town attorney’s opinion. This attorney felt that
Carole’s appointment was lawful because, he felt, the oath of office
was a “formality.”
This “formality” kept James from
participating in the March 24 meeting, where he could have insisted
that the vacancy be advertised. After the NHMA opinion, James did
insist that the vacancy be advertised, and two strong candidates,
Scot Palmer and Noreen Rollins, applied. But because of the town
attorney’s “feeling,” Pittsfield residents were denied
representation by James Hetu in filling the vacancy, and Carole
Dodge now sits as if she were a lawful member--which she is not.
It is time to fire this town attorney who
meddles in town politics. And next March will be time to clean house
on the ZBA.
Jim Pritchard
Selectman’s Update
Submitted By Carl Anderson
05/17/16 Select Board Meeting
Back to work with a full plate this night.
George Batchelder came to us with a bid he’d received from
Continental Paving for a road job intended to be in conjunction with
the “Safe Routes to School” project. He is concerned that the “Safe
Routes” job keeps getting pushed out by other agencies involved and
that we could miss out on an exceptionally competitive bid by
Continental. He indicated that we have other road work that we’ve
put off that could certainly use the bid work if we and Continental
would agree to simply change the location if it becomes obvious that
the “Safe Routes” project is going to have to be put off a year.
This made perfect sense to us, and we gave him our support to
proceed as necessary so as not to lose this opportunity.
The Building Inspector came before us with
a number of concerns regarding a definitive list of expectations for
the building department which were delivered to him at our last
meeting. He was encouraged to spend more time adapting to changes we
feel are imperative and we would meet with him again in a few weeks
to see if the expectations have become more workable with time.
A number of appointments to committees and
departments were requested with many being approved. A select board
representative, and an alternate, were chosen to get some
organization to the status and disposition of the many town owned
properties we have in inventory.
The most time consuming issue of the night
was the appointment with School Supt. John Freeman and School Board
Chairman Mike Wolfe and their ‘follow-up’ of a letter sent last week
to the Select Board in which Mr. Freeman expressed his indignation
and challenged the right of the select board to continue soliciting
input from the public with regards to exploring the viability of
tuitioning our high school students to a town other than Pittsfield
- a subject that wide support by taxpayers has been expressed to
many of us on the board. Without going into details (the full text
of the letter is available on-line), the basic issue seemed to be
Mr. Freeman’s position that the Board of Selectman was over-reaching
their authority exploring a school issue. Mr. Freeman “insisted” in
his letter that we leave this to the direction of the School Board.
Our position is that the question of ‘where’ (not necessarily how)
our children are educated is a matter for the whole town to consider
on its own, in a manner independent from the school’s direction, and
falls under the authority granted the Select Board in “managing the
prudential affairs of the town.” We feel the more approaches taken
in researching this important topic the better. After what I would
describe as an often contentious exchange of opinions by School
Board Chairman Wolfe, some members of the Select Board, and several
members of the public, the Board approved the formation of a
volunteer committee to research the viability of tuitioning students
outside the Pittsfield District. This committee will not be a
vendetta with a goal of “closing down the school”- rather a means of
gathering all aspects of the issue that satisfies our level of
consideration. It will be open to Pittsfield taxpayers that would
like to be a part of determining if this concept has sufficient
merit to be brought before the town. Please contact the Town
Administrator, Cara, at 435-6773 or bring a letter of interest into
the Town Office to be included in this research group.
Concert Celebrates America
With rousing American melodies, a salute
to our Armed Forces and many other national favorites, all ages will
certainly enjoy “A Slice of Americana,” a free patriotic concert,
Friday, June 10, 7 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 24 Main
Street, Pittsfield.
It will feature the church’s Chancel Choir
and JuBellation Handbell Choir and special guest, Bill Parker. You
will even have a chance to join in on a few special songs. Light
refreshments will be served.
Join us for this delightful event – an evening of magnificent music
honoring our marvelous country. Parking and wheelchair accessibility
at the Chestnut Street entrance. More information at:
www.pittsfieldcc.org or
435-7471. God Bless America!
Pittsfield School Board Public Input Session
About 75 Pittsfield
citizens participated in a public input meeting held by the
Pittsfield School Board from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday evening
in the lecture hall at Pittsfield Middle High School. The
public input session was expressly devoted to the question whether
the Pittsfield taxpayers would benefit from sending Pittsfield’s
high school students to an out-of-town school as opposed to
maintaining Pittsfield Middle High School as the primary source of
education and opportunity for Pittsfield’s youth.
This question was raised, during the Budget Committee public hearing
on February 3, when a citizen asked if the School Board had
considered potential financial benefits to the taxpayers of
Pittsfield could be realized by negotiating an agreement with a
nearby high school district that would send Pittsfield’s high
school’s students to one of those schools. The Pittsfield
School Board welcomed this inquiry and immediately directed the
superintendent to research options outside of Pittsfield.
The superintendent provided an interim report on findings at a
public School Board meeting in April. Also at that time, a
citizen presented a letter to the Board making the suggestion of a
financial benefit to sending high school students out of town, and
supported his question with several supporting arguments.
However, the interim report, which did not yet include data from all
high schools surveyed, indicated that the out-of-town option would
be more expensive than the current operation in Pittsfield.
The School Board announced that a public input meeting would be held
to hear the community’s opinions on this alternate. At the
same time, the superintendent would report on his findings.
This is the session that took place last Thursday, May 19, in the
PMHS lecture hall. School Board Chair Mike Wolfe facilitated
the two-hour community conversation; the meeting began with the
superintendent’s report.
The superintendent explained the method of calculation of the
state’s “per pupil cost” data and contrasted the Department of
Education’s calculated cost with the actual cost to Pittsfield’s
taxpayers, which is significantly less. He then reported on
his contacts with the six geographically closest public high schools
to Pittsfield which resulted in cost estimates for the simple
tuitioning out of students to a nearby high school, without
consideration of the current facility, the fate of middle school
students who also attend the same school, and many other relevant
concerns.
The superintendent reported that of the six high schools under
consideration, five indicated an openness to considering the
acceptance of Pittsfield’s youth. When reporting on the
financials, the superintendent reported that if our current high
schools students were tuitioned to the five remaining high schools
under consideration, four of the five would immediately be more
costly to Pittsfield’s taxpayers than continuing the operation of
PMHS for high school students.
One out-of-town high school would provide a cost reduction when the
cost of the current high school enrollment is compared with the
current year cost of PMHS. However, when the projected
2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school enrollments were calculated, the
increased high school enrollment over the next two years would
result in tax impacts of $1.87/thousand in 2016-2017 and
$2.65/thousand in 2017-2018.
Community members asked a number of relevant and informative
questions; others made statements of opinion about property taxes in
Pittsfield, the Pittsfield community, and the quality of the
education provided by the Pittsfield School District. At the
conclusion of the meeting, Mike Wolfe thanked the citizens for
raising the question about potential cost savings in sending
Pittsfield students out-of-town for school and thanked the
participants for speaking to the issue at hand. The School
Board, which Mike Wolfe stated is opposed to the tuitioning-out
format, will consider the question at a future meeting, having heard
last week the voices of Pittsfield’s citizens.
Letter To The Editor
At the recent meeting of the Board on
Tuesday, May 17th, I tendered my resignation as the Chief lnspector.
I am doing so as I feel that continuing in my present capacity is a
detriment not only to me, but the Housing Standards Board as a
whole.
There have been a number of personal
attacks on me by certain town officials that had nothing to do with
my ability to perform my duties, however, all of this reflects in a
negative way toward the entire HSA Board.
I have a legal issue pending in court, but
at this point I have not been found guilty of any wrongdoing. This
case does involve the Board, but it was discussed and resolved at
our meeting.
It is my hope that the Board will be
looked at more favorable with my resignation.
Thank you to everyone who made my time as
inspector an enjoyable experience.
Hank FitzGerald
Obituaries
Inez E. St. Laurent
Pittsfield – Inez E. St. Laurent, 98, a
lifelong Pittsfield resident, passed away at Hanover Hill Healthcare
Center in Manchester on Sunday, May 15, 2016.
Born in Pittsfield on October 27, 1917,
Inez was the daughter of William and Rosa (Bourden) Clark.
She was primarily a homemaker after retiring in 1947 from the
Pittsfield Shoe Company. She developed a love of the outdoors
as a child and continued gardening as long as she was able.
Inez was predeceased by her beloved
husband, Maurice; her brothers, Everett and Caroll; and sisters,
Alnora and Ethel.
She is survived by her son, Gary;
grandchildren, Michelle Zyla, Gary St. Laurent, Jr., and Joshua St.
Laurent; great grandchildren, Katie Vasquez and Morgan Zyla; and a
great- great grandson, Ayden.
A graveside service was held in the Floral
Park Cemetery in Pittsfield on Friday, May 20.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may
be made to the Alzheimer’s Association or the Arthritis National
Research Foundation.
Tom Petit of the Still Oaks Funeral &
Memorial Home in Epsom is assisting with arrangements and offers an
on-line guestbook at stilloaks.com.
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