REMINDER
PMHS
Athletic Hall Of Fame
The nomination deadline has been extended to August
1st. If you are interested in submitting a nomination, please go to
the school website or contact Jay Darrah, PMHS Athletic Director, at
[email protected].
Suncook Valley Soccer Club registration is open until
August 1st. Forms can be printed from
facebook.com/suncookvalleysoccer or mypittsfield.com. Forms are also
available at Bell Brothers. Email
[email protected] with
questions.
A benefit Dance is being held on Friday, August 7th,
from 7-11 p.m. at the Epsom Elks to help raise money for medical
expenses for Baby Hayden. Hayden was born with Down Syndrome and a
Congenital Heart Condition (full Atrioventricular Canal Defect) that
will require her in the next month or so to have open heart surgery.
Medical expenses add up quickly even for this hard working family.
Please help out this local family in this difficult time. Mike and
Caitlin Shultz would greatly appreciate it. There will be a DJ,
raffles, appetizers and a cash bar. Tickets are $20 each or $35 for
a couple. Please contact Tammy Montambeault for more information or
to purchase tickets
[email protected] or 566-5771.
The South Pittsfield Friends Church will be open on Sunday, August
2nd with Henry Frost as the speaker. Services begin at 1:00 pm and
all are welcome.
The church will also hold services on August 9th with Nancy Talbott
as the speaker and on August 16th with Harold Muzzey as the speaker.
All services begin at 1:00 pm unless otherwise noted.
Congratulations to Felin Hernandez of Pittsfield, graduated from
Franklin Pierce University in the spring of 2015 with a Bachelor of
Science degree in Health Sciences.
Hernandez was named to the Dean’s Honor’s List for the spring
semester by maintaining a term grade point average of at least 3.85
on a scale of four.
Yard Sale
The Pittsfield Beautification Committee will be holding a yard sale
on Saturday, August 1, 2015 from 8am-1pm at the Aranosian Lot,
across from Rite Aid.
The committee is looking for clean donations, no clothing please. If
you are interested in donating any items please contact Paula at
435-8029.
All proceeds will go to the re-landscaping of the Aranosian Lot.
The Friday Night Kayaking Club meets at a different lake, pond,
river every friday night during the summer. On July 17, the group
paddled Lower Suncook Lake in Barnstead. Everyone is welcome. Just
show up at this week’s location. Visit our Web Site huffnpuff.info
for group information and details on this friday’s paddle.
Pittsfield Players’ Scenic Theatre Sign Is Down for Repair
Many thanks to AJ O’Hara and his crew from NH Electrical Coop who
made short work of taking down the Scenic Theatre sign with two
bucket trucks. They’ll be back to put the sign up as soon as it’s
repainted and new sign rigging is installed. AJ saw our plea for
help in the Suncook Valley Sun and came to the rescue. Thank you so
much for helping out!
American Legion Post 88 News
Submitted By Shawn Jones, Commander
To my Legion Family,
Our January meeting was very well attended with sixteen members
present. I gave a brief report regarding the 97th Annual Convention.
Congratulations to John Graham for becoming our newest Department
Commander. His fund raiser project this year is the American Legion
National Emergency Fund or NEF, He also wants to work on
strengthening our membership and increasing training of officers
within the Department of NH. Also while at the convention I was
sworn in as Senior Vice Commander of District 5. Commander Graham
has asked me to serve on two committees this year. One being
Children and Youth and the other, Community Service. Hopefully I
will learn a thing or two about these Legion programs that I will be
able to bring back to our post and implement similar programs
locally to better serve our town. Your post won the Department Cub
Scout Pack Achievement Award for Scout Craft & Community Service.
Thank you Cub Scout Pack 247 for all of your accomplishments in 2014
& 2015.
Cub Scout Award
We would like to welcome our newest member Mark Brogan a veteran of
the Air Force & NHARNG. We look forward to having him on board with
our post and seeing him in the future. Thanks also goes out to
recruiters Roy Fancy and Dave Zarges for talking to Mark about our
organization. Our current membership level is 93.42% and we need
five members to make our goal of 100% membership. We’ve sadly have
had a few members non renewing this year and despite my best efforts
they still have not renewed or have contacted me with their
concerns. Thanks to those of you that have already sent in your
renewal notices for 2016. National as begun to send out the 2016
renewal notices, please send in your dues payment of $25.00 ASAP. I
sure would like to see us make 100% membership by January 1st so
that we can receive an award at next year’s convention.
Once again we have our dates set for the Lakes Region Casino in
Belmont. The dates are 9/9-9/18 please patronize this establishment
as it will help your post bring in much needed revenue. The
charitable gaming proceeds is our biggest fund raiser. We pay for a
ten day license which allows the casino to run games and in turn we
get a percentage of each days take on those games. For more
information contact either Larry Elliot or Joe Piroso. We owe them a
thanks that we are able to do this year after year.
Future home of American Legion Post 88.
We have formed a building Committee that will work on the design and
remodeling of our new post location. The members are Gary Tasker,
Shane Labonte, Stan Prescott, Bob Ordway and myself. We’ll choose a
chairman who will report back to members at the August meeting with
some ideas that we can move forward on. The committee will meet as
needed to move the process along. The Committee will also be
responsible for contacting the various town boards and departments
to make sure we have the proper permits submitted and inspections
completed. Larry Elliot will contact Home Depot and Lowe’s to open
up accounts with them so that we can obtain materials and receive a
Veteran’s discount.
We would like to thank the Town of Loudon for reimbursing the Legion
for $795.00 to offset some of our Memorial Day Parade expenses.
Our Commander’s Fund Raffle winners for July where:
$50-K.Fisher,$25-G.Tasker,$10-G. Cole.,$10-H.Paradie & $5-R.Smith.
Congratulations to our winners.
I hope you all have a great rest of the summer, I know I’m looking
forward to some camping in Maine during the month of August with my
wife, Jenn, and our dog, Jada. Make sure you attend Old Home Day,
the committee works hard to make the event a success year after
year. Let people you meet know you belong to the Legion and who
knows you might meet a veteran who is in need of some assistance or
would like to become a member. It’s going to be a great year for our
little post having a place to call home again. Our next meeting will
be on August 19th at 1900 hours at Charlie’s Barn. Hope to see you
there.
Pittsfield Listens Now Accepting Application for the Family
& Community Engagement Working Group
Pittsfield Listens is working in collaboration with the Pittsfield
School District (PSD) to increase students’ success through a
thriving Family-School Partnership, with the hope of strengthening
this partnership through use of the Dual Capacity-Building Framework
(DCF). Pittsfield Listens will coordinate a Family and Community
Engagement Working Group comprised of parents, family, youth, and
teachers/staff to research DCF, develop an implementation plan, and
outreach to district and community stakeholders with the goal of
building understanding of DCF in the PSD and wider community. The
Working Group offers diverse and tiered leadership opportunities
with a stipend. Application Deadline is Friday August 7. To learn
more about the working group opportunity, how to apply, and about
the DCF and its use in districts across the country, visit
Pittsfieldlistens.org.
Pittsfield Listens works with youth, parents, family, and community
members to improve civic capacity and contribute to the redesign of
education in the town of Pittsfield, NH. Since 2011, we have worked
to reclaim, redesign, and reinvigorate the way our community and its
schools make progress. Pittsfield Listens is a civic engagement
project of the Pittsfield Youth Workshop.
The Same Old Pittsfield, Or Is It?
Submitted By The Pittsfield Economic Development Committee
The statement that nothing changes in Pittsfield is the furthest
thing from the truth! The Economic Development Committee would like
to introduce you to the real Pittsfield.
Within the past six years at least 15 companies have moved into, or
opened up in Pittsfield:
Liberty Machine - (Builds or refurbishes boilers) Moved from the
Manchester area.
Sage Wellness - (Provides spa and therapeutic massage).
Life’s Little Pleasures - (Makes dry soup mixes, dips, rubs, etc.)
This is their second shop. The other is in the Manchester area.
Atlantic Safety Products - (Distributes latex gloves around the
country) Moved from Massachusetts.
Legacy Medical Solutions - (Manufactures titanium surgical kits,
parts and equipment)
Luckern Steel - (Steel fabrication) Set up business in a vacant
building on Broadway St.
INOFAB - (Steel fabrication of entrance awnings to hospitals,
hotels, etc.) Moved into the empty pallet company building off of
Broadway St.
Jitters Café - A Main Street fixture for almost six years.
Pro Point - (Building restoration company) Purchased the Union Block
and is in the process of renovating it.
Family Dollar - Built new store where Twin M grocery store used to
be.
Epping Well & Pump - Opened a second store on Main St. The other is
in Epping, NH.
Silva Threads and Fabric - Opened a shop on Carroll St.
Molly’s Tavern - Renovated outside and inside of 32 Main St.
However, due to business issues had to close its doors. But, it is
now a quality location for another business to move into.
Mike’s Meats - Retail located at what was Heath’s Flower & Gift
Shop.
In addition to these new businesses, several have expanded:
Darrah Enterprises - (Landscaping, etc.) Built a large structure on
Barnstead Rd.
Osborne Transportation - Moved from Barnstead Rd. to Rt. 107 across
Rt. 28, expanding his business.
Barry Podmore - (Manufactures micro parts for medical, electronic
and computer equipment) Their building and employment has doubled in
size.
Kentek - (Manufactures laser safety equipment) They moved from Elm
St. to the empty Eclipse building on Broadway St. It has been
totally renovated.
Noble Spirit - (Buys and sells rare coins and stamps) The owner
moved from his residence to a under utilized building on Concord
Hill Rd.
Rustic Crust - (Manufactures flatbread pizza and sauce) Due to the
fire that leveled the original building, a new, larger, up-to-date
building was built, expanding their capacity.
New England Mechanical Overlay (NEMO) - Built a large facility on
Barnstead Rd. They recently purchased the previously state owned
property adjacent to them and plans on building a welding school for
their employees (with possible expansion to include non-employees).
The physical appearance of Pittsfield is also changing:
A Public Works salt and sand shed was built at the town gravel pit
off from Dowboro Rd. (Long term plan is to move all of Public Works
operation to that location).
The exposed foundations at 14 Depot St. have been removed and a
gravel parking area is now there. (After approximately 15 years as a
safety issue).
The burned out building at 8 Depot St. has been torn down. That
unsafe structure had been there for approximately 20 years.
The unsafe house at 79 Tilton Hill Rd. (tax deeded) was removed last
year.
A walking trail was created behind the elementary school by a boy
scout as his Eagle Scout project. (Hopes are that a trail running
from the Babe Ruth Baseball Fields on Tilton Hill Rd. will be
created to connect with this one).
Highway directional signs have been placed at various locations on
Rt. 28 and corresponding signs in town provide directions to
Pittsfield restaurants.
A grant enabled the building of a children’s playground at Drake’s
Field.
The town received grant money for a Safe Routes To School project.
Next year a statute compliant sidewalk will be constructed on Tilton
Hill Rd. (from Catamount Rd. up to Berry Ave.) and along Berry Ave
up to the PMHS. Along with this project Berry Ave. will be rebuilt
and paved.
Finally, a couple of significant events have and are occurring:
The Conservation Commission made a donation to Bear Paw (a
conservation organization) that resulted in the completion of their
fund-raising efforts for the creation of a several hundred acre
conservation area next to Wild Goose Pond. The area encompasses land
in Strafford, Barnstead and Pittsfield. As a result Pittsfield has
become a member of this organization. Another result is that
property owners on or near Wild Goose Pond are in the process of
having their land designated as a conservation easement.
The Beautification Committee, Pittsfield Historical Society, Hanging
Flower Basket group (lead by Donna Keeley), and Police Station and
Town Hall flower/plants continue to beautify Pittsfield.
The Economic Development Committee (EDC) sponsors quarterly All
Board and Committee Forums. These are designed to improve
communications between boards, committees and members of these. They
also have important discussions on Pittsfield’s downtown, Rt. 28
development, expansion of water and sewer, broadband capacity and
accessibility, etc.
The public is ALWAYS invited to attend. The next one is scheduled
for Wednesday, September 16th. Stay tuned for more information.
The EDC has been working hard to make a difference in Pittsfield.
Much of what we a striving to accomplish takes a lot of time
researching information ,and contacting people and businesses. Our
committee now has only five appointed members. We are all volunteers
making sacrifices for the town we love. There is currently four
vacancies. If you want to help us in our mission to “promote and
improve the economic quality of life for the citizens of Pittsfield”
we urge you to join us in making Pittsfield a place where young and
old want to live. Please attend our next meeting on Wednesday,
August 13th, 6:30pm at the town hall.
Pittsfield is on the move.
Letter To The Editor
Parking Ban/Citizens of Pittsfield
I wanted people to know that I, for one, was at the Selectmen’s
meeting the night the parking ban was initiated. The Police Chief
presented it to the Selectboard and they agreed with one hesitation
of one selectboard memeber at first. Nobody did their homework on
this. Shame on them all.
The Police Chief presented this and stated Concord has the same
policy about NO PARKING OVER NIGHT YEAR ROUND. Looking into this
myself, Concord did away with this policy January 2008. When I
called the Concord ordinance dept, and asked Why?, it was stated to
me the reason being, that when the old houses were getting made into
apartment buildings, they knew it needed the parking spaces, so that
the ONLY RESTRICTIONS are snow EMERGENCY times. NO OTHER TIMES AS
STATED AT THAT MEETING. I thought we lived in a small community??
Why are we different than the city??
When the parking ban went into effect due to snowstorms, wasn’t that
something that needed to be voted on at Town Meeting? How can this
just be adjusted, legally?? I can’t believe the MICRO-MANAGING
THAT IS HAPPENING. Does anyone else see this?? What is next??
WE WILL HAVE 2 SEATS ON THE BOARD OF SELECTMAN COME ELECTION TIME,
PLEASE CONSIDER RUNNING, WE NEED NEW BLOOD, AND OPEN MINDS FOR THE
CITIZENS OF OUR COMMUNITY. WE ALSO NEED PEOPLE TO GET OUT AND VOTE,
WE ALWAYS HAVE SUCH A LOW TURNOUT AT THE POLLS... VOTE, VOTE, VOTE.
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
Paul Rogers,
business owner/taxpayer
Walmart Foundation Awards Grant to
New Hampshire Coalition of Aging Services
The New Hampshire Coalition of Aging Services (NHCAS) is pleased to
announce the receipt of a $50,000 grant from the Walmart Foundation
and its State Giving Advisory Council. These funds will assist in
providing 36,000 meals to 2,900 isolated seniors and disabled adults
in six New Hampshire counties via the member agencies’ Meals on
Wheels programs.
The Walmart Foundation State Giving Team wrote to the NHCAS: “Your
organization is doing important work in the communities you serve,
and we are proud to support you in your efforts. Thank you for
expanding our mission and joining us in fighting hunger and
improving nutrition, creating economic opportunities, and
strengthening communities through support of local causes.”
Pam Jolivette, Director of Elder Services of Community Action
Program Belknap-Merrimack Counties, Inc., said, “This generous grant
from the Walmart Foundation will aid us tremendously as we provide
older and disabled adults in our communities with access to
nutritious food and reliable safety checks from trained Meals on
Wheels drivers. Government funding does not cover the full cost of a
meal and requires substantial fundraising on the part of the
agencies that run Meals on Wheels programs, so contributions like
this one are essential.”
NHCAS is a collaboration among five non-profit agencies that are
dedicated to improving the lives of older and disabled adults in New
Hampshire. NHCAS members offer services over six counties: Belknap,
Carroll, Coos, Grafton, Hillsborough, and Merrimack. This service
area includes more than 50% of the state’s population. Last year,
coalition agencies served more than 820,000 Meals on Wheels to 4,900
New Hampshire residents. NHCAS members are the Community Action
Program Belknap-Merrimack Counties, Grafton County Senior Citizens
Council, Ossipee Concerned Citizens, St. Joseph Community Services,
and Tri-County Community Action Program.
NHCAS member agencies share the long-term vision of a community
where older and disabled adults are able to live independently, are
treated with respect and dignity, and have access to resources to
meet fundamental needs.
Saved From The Shredder Yet Destined For Recyling
By E. F. “S.” Wingate, Third, I.T.A.
Interested correspondents and other sports fans will remember last
week’s puzzler, the Estate which isn’t an Estate but owns some land
in town, at risk for tax deed. Well, detectives, step up for your
Junior Ranger badges! There’s rumored to be two! Count ‘em two!
Davises living in Pembroke (of all places), related to Olin. Haven’t
rung the bell yet, but we’re gainin’ on ‘er.
This week’s issue: Constipation. You may have noted the hole in Elm
Street. This came from the digging. To get to piping. Which had The
Plug.
George said, “4 feet of grease.” Pipe was blocked tight with 4 feet
of white grease. A pipe which had flowed like the mighty Merrimack
since time immemorial (or 1976, give or take).
The gentleman (he certainly was that, and it was appreciated) came
in with a request: Could he be paid back the 17 grand or so he paid
to pluck the pipe and clear the clog? After all, it’s a sewer pipe.
Problem is, there’s sewer pipes and there’s sewer pipes. Our
Ordinance says that the Town owns the Main. The owners own the
branches. This was a branch. This branch has, I understand, 7 (lucky
7) properties on it. The gentleman SHOULD get help from the people
he himself helped.
But 17 grand is 17 grand. And lawyers are always game. (Ask me how I
know.)
Speaking of sewer thingies, I learned some this week. Did you know
that if you’re hooked to the sewer and you don’t have Aqueduct
water, it is perfectly possible to escape a sewer bill? Possible,
but we learned, illegal. So I called the Department of Redundancy
Department, Coagulator Meter Valves Unit, and voila! Got the answer!
So peeps, if you’re on the sewer and the sewer bill is generated by
the water you use, and there’s no record of water use because you
have a private well, yer gonna get a letter. Because the Ordinance
says you gotta have a meter.
Two complaints this week, both about the same thing, different ends
of town. Junky properties. I think it’s rude to leave a bunch of
junk out on your lawn where people have to look at it. But illegal?
We’re still workin’ on that. (Do NOT come to my house with a camera.
Just don’t.)
Coming up next month: Free sidewalks = no squashed kids. Keep those
cards and letters comin’.
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