The
January meeting of the Northwood Democratic Committee will be
held at the Community Center in Northwood Narrows, Wednesday,
Jan. 18, at 7:00pm. There will be a discussion of the town
budget and elective positions, as well as the upcoming
legislative session.
Letter To The Editor
Beach & Boat Ramp Warrant Article
Yes, once again a warrant article is on the ballot for Mary
Waldron Beach and Boat Ramp for Bow Lake. Why? Due to years of
neglect we have let this area that is Northwood’s only public
access to Bow Lake, fall into disrepair.
The
warrant article is for $61,000. The breakdown is $46,000 to
construct a wall separating the parking area from the beach
area, a safety issue. The wall will contain steps. Another
wall will be constructed between the beach and the boat ramp
separating the public and the boats launching. The ramp will
have concrete planks extending into the lake. At the end of the
ramp, all of the previous years of erosion will be dredged
providing for a depth of water that will allow for launching a
boat. Lastly, new sand will cover the beach. The balance of the
cost is $15,000 for permitting, site design, site survey, and
site layout. All permits are required by the State for minimal
impact on the environment. The cost to each home owner is 13
cents on each $1000 of assessed property value.
This repair and upgrade is needed to protect the only public
access Northwood residents have to Bow Lake. Northwood can take
pride that even though it is a little space; it serves its
community well.
Fred Tobbe
This Weekend’s LRPA After Dark Feature:
1946’s “The Stranger”
Join Lakes Region Public Access Television at 10:30 PM this
Friday and Saturday night (January 13 & 14) for our “LRPA After
Dark” presentation of 1946’s suspenseful thriller “The
Stranger,” starring Orson Welles (who also directed), Loretta
Young and Edward G. Robinson.
Wilson (Robinson), an investigator with the Allied War Crimes
Commission, is looking for Franz Kindler (Welles), a notorious
Nazi war criminal — the mastermind behind their death camps —
who has made his way from Germany to a sleepy Connecticut town.
There, he has carefully constructed a new identity. He is now
living incognito as Charles Rankin, a college professor and
antique clock enthusiast who will soon marry lovely Mary Rankin
(Young), the daughter of a respected judge. His cover is intact
until Wilson, tailing another escaped Nazi prisoner, begins to
suspect that there may be more to Professor Rankin than meets
the eye.
Released in 1946, “The Stranger” holds the distinction of being
the first American feature film to include documentary footage
of Nazi concentration camps. “The Stranger” is by far the least
well known, and perhaps most conventional, of Orson Welles’
movies. In fact, he only took on the project to prove to studio
executives that he could direct a film that came in on time,
within budget and without any problems, unlike his earlier
masterpieces “Citizen Kane” and “The Magnificent Ambersons.”
Welles readily accomplished that task, although the artistic and
personal compromises he was forced to make on “The Stranger”
resulted in it being his least favorite film.
Despite all of Welles’ misgivings, “The Stranger” is a tense and
suspenseful thriller with exceptional performances from its
entire cast. Variety reviewed it as “ … socko melodrama,
spinning an intriguing web of thrills and chills.” If you love
American film noir, this is the one for you. So grab your
popcorn and join LRPA after dark for this thriller from the
past.
Letter To The Editor
More
a Nightmare than a Dream
In
a previous letter, I argued against the passage of a petition
warrant article to raise and appropriate the sum of $61,000 to
be used in the repair of beach area, beach parking area, and
rebuild the boat ramp” at Mary Waldron Beach on Bow Lake Road.
As I noted, a member of the Board of Selectmen, in considering
the petition, said “only 6 or 8 people actually use the ramp,”
and another noted “there’s nowhere to park.” And I concluded
that maybe we don’t need to spend the money to rebuild a ramp
that very few people use.
Oh,
and not surprisingly, many of the petitioners have Bow Lake Road
addresses.
Here’s the “Field of Dreams” scenario: if we build it, they will
come.
If
the boat ramp is greatly improved, more boaters will come to use
it, not just the locals. This will greatly increase the
probability that milfoil will be introduced where it will thrive
in the shallow waters of the cove.
Once milfoil gets into a lake, according to the NH Lakes
Association, the property values on homes around the lake can
fall from 20-40%. The Northwood lakefront property around this
cove is currently assessed at $12,652,100. Milfoil could reduce
that value by $2,530,420 to $5,060,840. Quite a hit on the
town’s tax roll, and a deficit to be made up by the rest of us.
Then there would be the money requested for milfoil mitigation,
as the Northwood Lake Association is now doing, and will do, in
perpetuity.
I
suggest that we not pass this warrant article, and instead,
designate use of the boat ramp for “rooftop” boats – kayaks,
canoes, etc. And let those who need to launch a boat take the 10
minutes it takes to drive 4.9 miles to the boat ramp at Bow Lake
Village.
Tom
Chase
Northwood
Northwood Santa’s Helpers Thank You
Thank you from Northwood Fire Rescue Association to the citizens
and businesses of Northwood for your generous support of the
2016 Northwood Santa’s Helpers.
We
sincerely appreciate all of the new toys and gifts donated in
our collection boxes at local merchants and at the fire station.
Thank you to Heritage Hardware, Northwood Diner, Northwood Post
Office, Wilder Flooring, Northwood Garage, and TD Bank for being
collection sites. In addition we recognize the thoughtfulness of
students at Northwood School and Coe Brown.
With your assistance, we had the pleasure of wrapping gifts to
surprise 46 Northwood children at Christmas. Thank
you for making this another successful community project.
On
behalf of the families and our members we wish you and your
families a safe, happy and healthy New Year.
