CBNA Holiday Craft Fair

Mark your calendar. The 12th Annual Craft Fair is to be held at Coe-Brown Northwood Academy on Saturday, November 1, 2014, from 9-2.  Crafts from all over New England will be represented along with an amazing Cookie Walk and HUGE raffle.  Start your Christmas shopping early!

The Northwood CrankPullers Snowmobile Club is looking for volunteers to assist with fall trail clean up. They plan to meet at the Northwood Country Market at 8:00 am on Sunday, October 19th and every Sunday after until we have snow.

An invitation for history and travel enthusiasts in our community…

Here on Antique Alley, Northwood has a rich appreciation for stories and artifacts of the past.  We have community members who travel extensively for work or pleasure.  If you have knowledge or treasures to share about our country or our world, past or present, please consider presenting your information to our inquisitive and lively 7th and 8th grade students.  Email Tracey Groskopf at [email protected] for more information about visiting our classroom.  Thank you!

Letter to the Editor

The Mann to Call

In this time of political pledges and promises, an often overlooked attribute of candidates is constituent service: can they and will they help us get things done in Concord?  In the case of Rep. Maureen Mann, the answer is yes.

More than 10 years ago, the Jenness Pond Shoreowners Association got legislation passed that allowed the construction of a dam to control the lake’s level.  But the final bill omitted a crucial element: authorization to seasonally raise and lower the level using a stop log.

Years passed as association officers attempted to correct the omission, without success, until this year.

With Rep. Maureen Mann’s guidance and support, the legislation was drafted and submitted, hearings were scheduled and held, votes were cast, and the legislation was passed and signed by Governor Hassan.

Rep. Mann came to our assistance, and I know we can count on her to get things done in Concord for the citizens of Northwood, Deerfield, Candia and Nottingham.  I’m voting for her on Nov. 4.

Charles Dunbar

Dam Committee

Jenness Pond Shoreowners Association 

Northwood

Letter To The Editor

New Hampshire senior citizens, their families, and neighbors should do their homework and vote in self-defense on November 4th!  Candidates running for federal office are on record as supporting cuts to our Social Security and Medicare. Some want these programs to go away completely, being replaced by vouchers and Wall Street accounts. Others propose cuts using the Chained Consumer Price Index and repeal of the Affordable Care Act, including the prescription drug donut hole fix and no co-pay preventative care additions.

One in five New Hampshire residents got Social Security benefits in 2013, bringing $4.1 billion dollars in income into our state. Over 231,000 of us receive Medicare benefits, allowing us to remain healthy and contribute to our communities. 

These earned benefits mean that families and communities do not have to worry about carrying the full cost of housing, food and healthcare for those who are retired or disabled. The income from these benefits is spent in our communities, supporting the businesses here. Healthy and secure seniors provide many hours of volunteer time, the unpaid work that we depend on to run our towns. Retirees volunteer in schools, at churches and food pantries, and even as $100 a year legislators! 

The New Hampshire Alliance for Retired Americans has joined the national Alliance in endorsing Senator Jeanne Shaheen, and Congresswomen Carol Shea-Porter and Ann McLane Kuster for re-election this November.  All three were endorsed for their work to preserve and protect our senior safety net for all New Hampshire citizens, retirees of today and our children and grandchildren.

Be sure you check out the candidates before you vote!  Look at voting records, if they have served before (http://retiredamericans.org/issues/congressional-voting-record).  See what they have said in past campaigns. Vote in self-defense!

Lucy Edwards, President

New Hampshire Alliance for Retired Americans

Letter To The Editor

To the Editor,

There was a motion to reconsider the HVAC issue. It passed. There was a motion to re-award the bid, it failed, 1 for, 1 against. Ties fail.  We’ll see where we go from there. We need the HVAC system. As you can imagine, I am persona non grata. I’ve been there before. If we need 58K for an HVAC system then we should ask you for that amount. It is your money.

I would let it go, water off a ducks back as they say, except for one comment tonight. The comment (from memory) was something to the effect that the speaker hoped that we, the BOS didn’t become a circus like down the street.

You won’t get an apology from me for my methods in trying to facilitate a change in a system that is very wrong. I totally understand that I am a pot stirrer, a pusher that has no desire to continue doing things just because that is the way they have always been done. “Down the street” is my School Board position and how I have brought to your attention lots of stuff. We now have a completely new SAU Administration and Principal. You approved a school budget that while including over 100K in new technology was reduced by $363K. The school is returning something over $200K to the taxpayers from the ‘13/’14 year. With your approval six teachers were given incentives to retire saving the town over $600K in five years. I do not believe that there is one penny of slush fund money in this year’s budget. I am so, so proud of the Northwood School Board in accomplishing all of that.

I made a bad decision based partially on wrong information. As a School Board member and Board of Selectman member I need and frankly expect accurate unfiltered information.

It is simple, just don’t vote for me when you, the voters, get tired of me. I’ll get over it.

Tim Jandebeur

Letter to the Editor 

A Promise to Show Up

As I have said, I am not inclined to make campaign promises or pledges.  The world is too complicated for that.  Who knows what the future will throw at us?  And it is uncertain whether I would be serving in a Democratically-controlled House with a Democratic Governor and Senate or in a world where Republicans are in control.  So rather than speculate on what I might do, let me comment on what I would have done in this last legislative session.

Candidate Nancy Heath from Epsom anticipated this in her letter last week, enumerating some of the accomplishments of the Hassan administration.  At the top of her list – and mine – was the bipartisan passage of a state budget that restored funding to education and social services that had been cut by Bill O’Brien and his minions in the previous session.

I would have strongly supported this initiative.

A second accomplishment was the 4¢/gal. increase in the gasoline tax to fund DOT projects and to provide monies to the towns for their road projects.  I supported this modest increase.  Sitting on Northwood’s Budget Committee, I know that these monies that are passed back to the town are a critical part of our road maintenance budget.  And if you drive on Bow Lake Road or Jenness Pond Road, you know that we need every penny.

I’m not sure how our current representative voted on these issues. I do know that the record shows that in his first year in the legislature, he participated in 177 of 177 roll call votes – 100%. His second year, he only made 169 out of 255 – 66%.  If he is re-elected and that 33% drop-off continues, he’ll only represent you 44% of the time.  I promise to do better than that!

Tom Chase

Northwood

Candidate for NH House if Representatives, Rockingham District 1

Northwood Recreation Update

REGISTER NOW FOR YOUTH BASKETBALL!!! The Northwood Recreation Department is now registering for youth basketball including kindergarten through 6th grade.  The cost to register for K-2 is $25.00/$35.00 after November 17th.  The cost to register for 3rd – 8th grade is $40.00/$50.00 after November 17th.  Register by November 17th to ensure a spot on the team.  After November 17th space becomes limited due to the need to finalize team numbers and complete season schedules. Visit www.northwoodnh.org for additional registration information and information about these programs.  Details can be found in our Brochure on the website. Or contact the Recreation Department at [email protected] or 942-5586 x209 with questions.

Letter To The Editor

“NH Officials, Hospitals Prepare for Possible Ebola” reads the headline in the Concord Monitor. Although an outbreak here seems unlikely, according to state officials, they are worried enough to prepare for a possible pandemic.

There’s good reason for concern.  According to the Center for Disease Control, by year’s end there could be 1,400,0000 infected people, with 62% of them dying.

Marine Corps Gen. John F. Kelly, head of the US Southern Command, says “There’s no way we can keep Ebola [contained] in West Africa.” He predicts that if the disease gets to  Latin America, “there will be mass migration into the US. ‘They will run away from Ebola, or if they suspect they are infected, they will try to get to the United States for treatment.”

According to Thomas Sowell, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, “There was a time when an outbreak of disease overseas would bring virtually unanimous agreement that our top priority should be to keep it overseas. Yet Barack Obama has refused to bar entry to the US by people from countries where the Ebola epidemic rages.” Polls show most Americans want such a travel ban.

Meanwhile, the President has ordered thousands of troops (any from NH?) to the affected African nations. Critics fear they may bring the disease home when they return.

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. “Jerry” Boykin says the President doesn’t think “like a commander-in-chief who takes his responsibility for his troops seriously. At a time when our military has been at war for 13 years, suicide is at an all-time high, [post-traumatic stress] is out of control, and families are being destroyed as a result of 13 years of war, the last thing the President should be doing is sending people into West Africa to fight Ebola.”

Michael Faiella

Northwood 

Helen J. (Emmons) Kemp

New Hampton – Mrs. Helen J. (Emmons) Kemp, 86, died Thursday, October 2, 2014 in Bedford with family by her side.

Born in Keene on November 2, 1927, Helen was the daughter of Ernest and Jennie (Chase) Emmons.

Helen was the widow of Reginald Kemp who died in 2003 and was also predeceased by her son, Reginald Kemp, Jr.

During the 1960’s, she and her husband owned the Oakdale Clam Bar in Northwood. In the following decade, she had the proud distinction of being the very first female driver for North American Van Lines, operating an 18 wheeler. She enjoyed gardening and entertaining, had a love for all animals and cherished the times she was with family and friends. Along with her husband and her beloved pets, she spent many winters traveling out West in their RV, visiting loved ones along the way.

She is survived by 5 children, Stephen Thompson of Scenic, AZ, Matthew Thompson of Jacksonville, FL, Carol Larouche of Merrimack, Susan Hatley and her husband Wayne of New Hampton, and April Elzinga and her husband Jerry of Humble, TX; 24 grandchildren, including Justin Burckhartte of New Hampton and Tammy Mores of Manchester, with the remaining residing from Maine to Alaska; numerous great-grandchildren including Amanda Caron of Manchester; several great-great grandchildren; and a great-great-great granddaughter on the way. Helen also leaves a sister, Goldie Ehrhardt of Fortuna, CA; and extended family members, Leah Brown of Henderson, NV and Herve Riel of Merrimack.

Graveside services were held on Thursday, October 9th at the NH State Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen.

Tom Petit of the Petit Funeral Home is assisting with arrangements and offers an on-line guestbook at petitfuneralhome.com.