The Chichester Grange Baking Contest judging has been postponed
until the March 19 meeting. The program for the March 5 meeting will
be Show and Tell.
Remember that March is the month for exercising your vote on Town
matters. The Chichester School District meeting is Saturday, March
8, at 9 a.m. in the Multi-Purpose Room at Chichester Central School.
Voting for School District and Town officials will take place on
Tuesday, March 11, at the Town/Grange Hall beginning at 10 a.m.
Town Meeting will be held on Saturday, March 15, in the
Multi-Purpose Room at Chichester Central School.
Tuesday, March 11, is the 8th annual Spaghetti Dinner at Epsom
Central School to raise additional money for an award in remembrance
of Officer Michael Briggs. The dinner will be from 5-7 p.m. in the
Multi-Purpose Room. The cost is $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for
children. Tickets will be available ahead of time in the school
office or may be purchased at the door. “Take out” dinners will be
available, made fresh for you when you come in to pick them up.
Questions? – Call Mrs. Donovan or Mrs. Paine at 736-9331. The school
staff is working hard to make the Michael Briggs Scholarship a
reality. Please help them out in this endeavor.
The Old Home Day Committee will meet on Thursday March 13, at 7 p.m.
in the main room of the Library.
The Bee Hole Beavers Snowmobile Club will meet on Wednesday, March
19, at 7 p.m. in the downstairs meeting room of the Chichester
Library. Please enter the library by the back door on Pound Road.
Happy Birthday to Megan Morey on March 5th and Kara Merrill on March
10th.
Chichester Youth Association Fundraiser St. Patty’s Dance will be
March 22nd at the Elks Club at 6:30 p.m.
The CYA is now accepting registrations for T-Ball,
Baseball and Softball for this coming season. If you have a child
who will be attending Kindergarten in the fall, they are eligible to
play T-Ball this spring. Registration forms are available @
www.chichesteryouth.com.
Out Of Your Attic Thrift Shop News
Submitted By
Carol Hendee
Must send out a special “thank you” to a gentleman, no one knew who
he was, but he read the article about needing bath tissue and white
garbage bags, brought some in, spoke with Ruthie about what else we
needed, and handed her $40.00! She wasn’t sure if she was going to
cry or hug him. Thank you for your generosity.
We do want to thank everyone who donates to the Attic. We have some
“retro” rhinestone earrings that will look great on someone going to
a prom! We sold 120 butter knives, and we still have some left, 4
for .25! Single dinner plates, cups, saucers, and mugs.
We are having a raffle, 3 tickets for $1.00 on a beautiful handmade
doll. Made by one of our volunteers! You have to come see what
beautiful handwork still is done today!
Rte. 28, Chichester Monday 8-12; Tuesday and Thursday 8-4; Wednesday
1l-4; and Saturday 10-4. 247-7191.
Chichester
Letter To The Editor
The Chichester Planning Board has been working very diligently over
the past several months to draft voters; a new signage ordinance. We
have consulted and reviewed many nationally recognized ordinances,
spoken with sign design experts, met with community business leaders
and listened to our local residents. We don’t argue that our
existing ordinance has served the Town well for the past 26 years,
but the Town is changing.
The commercial corridors of Routes 4 and 28 present a vital economic
engine to our community. Recently, Route 4 has seen increased
development and we expect an exponential increase in the coming
decade.
We all know that traveling on Route 4 can sometimes require a prayer
before getting into your vehicle. There is more traffic, more speed
and countless distractions that we place upon ourselves with phones,
computers, music players and the occasional emergency make-up
artistry. With all these distractions, the local business community
needs a better method of grabbing your attention and this is through
larger, clearer signage.
The next time you drive through Chichester, there might be a new
business that you didn’t know was there; if only they had a way of
letting you know.
The new language provides for a permit procedure, exempt signage and
those that are strictly prohibited. Also included are prescribed
methods for determining the allowable signage size which has been
increased for visibility and the economic stability of the business
community.
Additionally there is an inclusion of Electronic
Message Centers. The Board has also maintained the residential and
agricultural integrity of Chichester by not imposing regulations on
farms and homes. The ordinance may be viewed at
www.chichesternh.org.
The Planning Board respectfully requests that you come out and vote
on March 11th and let your voice be heard. What do you want for
Chichester?
Kevin J Mara, DVM
Chairman
Chichester Town Library News
NHPTV is sponsoring a “KIDS WRITERS CONTEST” for
young writers in grades K-3. These stories and illustrations have a
deadline of March 25th, so there’s not much time left. Contest
guidelines and writing resources are available at
http://nhptv.org/kidswrite. Even though
there is only a short time left before the submissions are due, the
Down Cellar Writers group that meets at the Chichester Library is
willing to assist any young writer who wants to participate in this
contest, by answering questions and/or reviewing the work. Contact
between the young authors and the writers’ group can be made by
calling the library at 603-798-5613.
Rattle, an award-winning poetry magazine, is promoting an annual
anthology of young poets, aged 15 or younger when the poem was
written and 18 or younger when the poem is submitted. The deadline
for submission of these poems is June 15th, 2014. The guidelines
for the Rattle Young Poets Anthology are available at
htttp://www.rattle.com/poetry/children/guidelines. The Down Cellar
Writers group is also making themselves available to help for this
contest. Young poets can make a contact with a member of the
writers’ group by calling the library.
Another contest is one sponsored by The Poetry
Society of New Hampshire. It also has a poetry contest for students
from grade 1-12 in New Hampshire. There is a three poem limit.
Further information on requirements for this contest can be found
at:
http://poetrysocietyofnewhampshire.org/contest.html. Again, the Down Cellar Writers group is willing to help
our young poets with their expertise, if it is wanted. Call the
library (603-798-5613) to make contact with a member of the group.
The March art display at the Library is being provided through the
courtesy of Eleanor Graham and Ralph Vinson. Eleanor was an
educator for 43 years, as well as a wife, mother and grandmother.
She was able to start working with her art and become involved in
art education after retirement. The late George Loring was an
earlier mentor, followed by Mary Crump. She is now being mentored
by Kim Roth and continues to learn. She paints on canvas, but also
on wood, glass metal and ceramics, i.e., “usable art.” Ralph Vinson
has had a full life and been involved with art throughout his
lifetime, from creating personal greeting cards to painting signs
and name plates. His works will reflect a lifetime of travels and
experiences.
Joe Smiga, a published New Hampshire writer and blogger, is coming
to the Library on March 13th at 7 p.m. to present a program for
other aspiring writers on how to get their books published. Its
focus includes an interactive discussion with the participants on
how they started writing, and how they develop the content. What
genre have they chosen and what do they do to get through writer’s
block? Who should do the editing and what are the next steps? The
Down Cellar Writers group is also involved with facilitating this
program.
Story and Craft Hour for the preschoolers and kindergartners will
continue on Monday afternoons at 3 p.m. This activity is such a
natural way of introducing the little ones to storytelling and
reading, as well as creativity of other forms. It’s a
good way to start a process of learning being fun.
Don’t forget the Lucky Basket o’ Green for the March raffle. Hope
to see you at the Library!
Organization of the Week
Bill Lane, president of the Bee Hole Beavers Snowmobile Club, talks
to Kevin Belval and Mary West of Chichester Grange at the
Organization Fair.
This week’s organization is the Bee Hole Beavers Snowmobile Club.
Established in the 1970’s, the club takes its name from the Bee
Hole Brook in Loudon. Members of the club come from Chichester,
Loudon, and surrounding towns. The club has a new meeting place in
the downstairs meeting room at the Chichester Library. They meet on
the third Wednesday of the month from September to April.
The Bee Hole Beavers maintain State Corridor Trail 15 through
portions of Chichester and Loudon, as well as numerous local trails.
The club operates four Ski-Doo Skandic snow machines for pulling
various groomers on the trails. Trail grooming is performed by
volunteers from throughout the club.
A lot of work, and money as well, are involved in maintaining
snowmobile trails. Landowners must be contacted, brush must be cut,
and when there is snow the trails must be groomed. If you enjoy
using local trails, you might want to step up and help out.
The club also has social events and does fundraising.
They are a registered non-profit. Check out their website at
www.beeholebeavers.org. Find out about the
benefits of membership in a snowmobile club. An application for
membership is there, too. You can also find them on Facebook.
Letter To The Editor
Vote “NO” on Zoning Amendment One
In the last Community Survey, Chichester residents voted to keep our
small town image and to strictly control our commercial corridor.
Our Master Plan states, “Chichester citizens resoundingly want to
preserve Chichester’s rural character and small town image.” The
Master Plan also recommends that the Planning Board “Modify the
Zoning Ordinance to further restrict lighting intensity and use in
the CI-MF Zone.”
Instead of following citizens’ wishes, the Planning Board went in
the other direction by proposing Zoning Amendment One that will
allow huge signs and huge increases in lighting in the Commercial
Zone. This will turn our Commercial Zone into an ugly, glaring
lighted strip and will ruin your enjoyment of the night sky by
increasing sky glow and light pollution at night. It will also add
to the distraction of drivers on Route 4. Zoning Amendment One also
allows larger signs for home occupations than any of our neighboring
towns.
Zoning Amendment One more than doubles sign sizes and increases
lighting by more than six times in the Commercial Zone! It also
allows freestanding signs up to 35 feet high! That is almost double
what Loudon and Epsom allow, four and one-half times what Bow allows
and three times what Hopkinton allows!
If Zoning Amendment One passes, Chichester’s commercial zone will
become an ugly glaring strip – exactly what we continually vote
against. It will have signs larger, taller and brighter than almost
all our neighbors – including Loudon, Bow, Hopkinton and Epsom, just
to name a few!
Vote “NO” on Zoning Amendment One to preserve our small town image
and keep our Commercial Zone under control.
J. Brandon Giuda
Chichester
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