REMINDER
The Northwood CrankPullers Snowmobile Club will be hosting a
Snowmobile Safety Course for ages 12-15 at the Lake Shore Farm (275
Jenness Pond Rd, Northwood) on Saturday, November 12th from 8 am to
3 pm. Lunch will be provided. To register, contact Jeremy DeTrude @
603-833-7063. Space is limited so call early. And as always we
really appreciate our landowners and are always looking for new
members. www.northwoodcrankpullers.com
REMINDER
OHRV SAFETY CLASS
The Suncook Valley Sno-Riders will be holding their annual safety
class on Saturday November 12, 2016. It will be at the
Barnstead Parade Fire Station, 305 Parade Rd., Barnstead NH 03218.
Class time is from 8 am to 3pm but please arrive between 7:30 and 8
to sign in. A parent needs to sign the child in and are encouraged
to attend if they wish to do so. Students must be 12 years old
by the end of the riding season. Lunch will be provided.
Please Contact Joe Hough at (603) 269-2270 or
[email protected] to sign
up and reserve a spot.
Ham & Bean Dinner
The Suncook Valley Sno-Riders 16th annual Ham and Bean Dinner will
be on Saturday November 12, 2016 at the Barnstead Parade Fire
Station. A meal of ham, beans, mashed potatoes, cole slaw,
roll, drinks and dessert will be served from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
The cost will be $8.00 for adults, $4.50 for ages 6 to 12, with 5
and under being free.
Pittsfield Elementary School will be
hosting a Veteran’s Day Assembly on November 10 at 8:15 a.m.
Parents, community members, and veterans are welcome to attend.
2016 Veterans Day Observance
Everyone is invited to the Pittsfield American Legion Peterson-Cramp
Post 75 Veterans Day Observance. The ceremony will begin at
1100 on Friday, November 11, 2016 and will honor the 100th
anniversary of our involvement in “The Great War”.
Questions can be directed to First Vice Commander Vaughan at
603-344-0264.
C. Anderson’s Overview
11/1/16 Select Board Meeting
Submitted By Carl Anderson
The first hour was spent setting the tax
rate, which was a new experience, at least for me. Due primarily to
the budget approved last March and the Town’s valuation going down,
there was no way around an increase in the tax rate. However, due to
all expenditures being currently under budget and by using a portion
of this year’s sale of town property, the amount of increase was
held to $1.97 per thousand of assessed value- well under predictions
last year at this time.
Fire Chief Pszonowsky gave a review of his
department’s duties, responsibilities and command chain.
A property on Chestnut St. was deeded back
to the previous owner, TD bank, our having received the outstanding
taxes and fees. The bank had mailed their original payment to
Pittsfield, Maine by mistake. When the deadline passed, we tax
deeded the property. The error corrected, we were happy to deed it
back.
The third quarter sewer warrant was signed
and bills will soon be out. For reasons not entirely clear, a
portion of the second quarter bills were never received by the
ratepayers. Therefore some of the bills going out will include both
the current and the unpaid previous bill. There will be no penalties
for second quarter bills that were not received by ratepayers.
I was called to task for not reciting the
entire discussion regarding Officer McCormack’s promotion from
patrolman to sergeant on October 18 and the subsequent impact on the
police department budget, in that week’s SUN article. I try to keep
this overview brief to respect space constraints and also not to
wear the readers out. In this case however, instead of making the
situation clearer, it had the opposite effect. So, to clarify, the
pay-grade (step) that Mr. McCormack has been promoted to is below
the grade of recently retired Sgt. Walter, thus the annual cost to
the town is $4,992 less than it had been. The reason I cast the only
‘no’ vote was that the promotion from the mid-patrolman pay grade to
the Sgt. step grade being offered in this case represented about a
21% pay increase for the individual- more than I could find
acceptable. I was not in favor of more than 8% despite the $4,992
proposed savings to the police budget. I was alone however, and the
promotion passed 3-1. We all vote our conscience, in the best
interests of the Town as we see it- but that is subjective and we
don’t always agree. Nor should we. Hopefully that clears things up.
Christmas Fair Is Coming!
Mrs. Claus will be ready for Christmas in
this stunning apron fashioned by Freda Jones. The Dorcas Guild’s
Christmas Fair will be held November 19, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the
First Congregational Church, 24 Main Street, Pittsfield.
One of the area’s great Christmas Fairs is being planned at the
First Congregational Church, 24 Main Street, Pittsfield, Saturday,
November 19, from 9 to 2. The fair and bake sale sponsored by
the Dorcas Guild is one not to overlook.
There are many handcrafted things: sewn
items, aprons, knit items, artwork, jewelry, crafts, as well as
special gourmet and baked goods. Browse the “Unique Boutique” for
outstanding values and the “Silent Auction” for those special gifts.
Since the church’s Craft Fair will not be held this year, the Silent
Auction’s final bids will be taken Sunday, December 4 from
12:30-2:30 p.m. in the church vestry.
Come to shop and stay for a corn chowder
and sandwich lunch with homemade pies. Parking and wheelchair
accessible entrance at rear of church; enter at Chestnut Street. For
more info, call the church office at 435-7471.
St Stephen’s Annual Holly Fair
St Stephen’s Annual Holly Fair is a fun
shopping outing for the whole family. Many handcrafted holiday
decorations are available including decorated wreaths, centerpieces
and various sizes of snowmen and reindeer constructed from birch
logs. Pick out a pie, bread, cookies or preserves at the bake sale,
take a lunch break of sandwich and soup at our café.
Our silent auction features many
interesting and antique collectibles. This year we have pewter items
including a punch bowl and coffee set. One of our parishioners makes
lovely braided rugs. We’ll be auctioning one off as well as antique
sleds, dolls, linens, a drop leaf table, fine art and so much more.
Come find that unique Christmas gift 9 AM
to 2 PM Saturday November 19th. See you there!
Pittsfield Senior Center
On Tuesday, November 15, at 10:30am the
Pittsfield Senior center is sponsoring the workshop, “Health and
Mobile Technology” by the Concord Regional Visiting Nurses
Association. Many applications run on mobile communication devices
such as smartphones and tablets, which are creating new ways for
individuals to live their lives. This interactive workshop will help
you discover the world of apps and the assistance they can provide.
Call 435-8482 by Friday, November 11, to reserve your spot and
ensure the class occurs.
On Thursday, November 17, at 12:00pm we
will have our special Thanksgiving meal. Come and celebrate all the
things we have to be thankful for while eating some turkey with all
the fixings. Please call 435-8482 to reserve your place and make
sure the food can be planned accordingly.
On Tuesday, November 22, from 9:00 to
11:30am the Pittsfield Senior Center is having a Holiday Season
Kickoff with a live musical performance by Bill Parker and a Bake
and Craft sale. Bill puts on a great show by playing the harmonica,
keyboard, and singing all at the same time. He will be performing
form 10:30-11:30am. He sings a wide variety of music from the Great
American Songbook, the show is free, so please come enjoy the show
and stay for lunch. The Bake and Craft Sale is from 9:00-11:30am.
This would be a great time to pick up homemade pies and other items
for your Thanksgiving meal and do some Christmas shopping.
TOPS News
Left to right: Mickey King, Kay Snow, Pat
Smith, Joyce Pearson, Pearl Donavitch, and Peggy Driscoll.
Our TOPS chapter recently celebrated KOPS (Keep Off Pounds Sensibly)
anniversaries for two of our members. Mickey has maintained
her goal status for 3 years. She has been our chapter leader
for the past two years and is helpful in many ways. Peggy has
maintained her goal for 10 years. She is supportive of the
chapter and makes phone calls or sends notes to members. We look up
to these ladies who have accomplished their goals as it is a
challenge to maintain weight loss goals.
Pat also read an interesting article about Fructose. It stated the
cautions about too much fructose in the diet and detailed what foods
contained fructose. Jon read an article about healthy snacks,
what to include and what to avoid. Our members often share
helpful information about nutrition to help us make good food
choices.
We invite you to come to see what our meetings are like.
Hopefully you will receive benefits from information about healthy
eating as well as support from members. We meet on Tuesdays
6:30 at Berakah on Fairview Rd. Pittsfield. Call Pat 435-5333
or Beth 435-7397.
2016 Poinsettia Open House
Please come enjoy the spectacular color of
over 40,000 poinsettias and 20,000 cyclamen that have been grown for
the holiday season!
Location: D.S. Cole Growers (wholesale
location) 251 North Village Rd., Loudon NH
When: Saturday, November 19th from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Tours
are available at 10:00 and 11:00 or browse on your own.
*Learn about poinsettia growing and see
some of the new and unusual varieties
* Tour our state-of-the-art facility
*This could be a great photo opportunity
so bring a camera if you like.
*Please note that this is not a sales
event; as a wholesale operation we do not sell to the general
public.
Pittsfield 5/6 girls are the 2016 Suncook
Valley Soccer Club champions! They were UNDEFEATED through the
regular season and tournament.
Everything’s Up To Date At The Scenic Theatre
The Pittsfield Players
will present their fall musical, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s’ classic
Oklahoma! at the Scenic Theatre on Friday, Saturday and Sunday,
November 11, 12 and 13, and again on Friday and Saturday, November
18 and 19. All shows are at 7:30 pm, except the Sunday matinee,
which is at 2 pm. Tickets, which are $17 per person, are now on
sale. You can purchase them by visiting the Players’ website,
www.pittsfieldplayers.com and
clicking on the TicketLeap button, or you can reserve seats by
calling 435-8852. When you call, be sure to spell your last name as
part of your message.
This year marks the 61st anniversary of
the opening of Oklahoma! on Broadway, and it is known as the show
that changed the face of musical theater forever. Prior to Oklahoma!
musicals were simply plays interrupted by songs, but the first
collaboration of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein changed that
format by seamlessly blending the dialogue and the music into a
brand new format that became the standard from then on.
Everything is definitely up to date at the
Scenic Theatre now that the Players’ new sprinkler system has been
installed and activated. And in Oklahoma!, Everything’s Up To Date
in Kansas City.
Will Parker, played by Pittsfield resident
Jared Griffin, has just come back from Kansas City after winning $50
in a cow roping contest, so he can win the hand of Ado Annie Carnes,
played by Cindi Bell. Jared, after a 15 year absence from the stage,
returned to acting last year with 70 Girls, 70 at the Scenic
Theatre. This year he returns to Oklahoma! as Will Parker, a part he
played in 1999 with Auburn, Maine’s Community Little Theatre. Jared
is in the Air National Guard at Pease, enjoys coaching his kids in
softball and soccer and is finishing his BS in Business Management
at Granite State College. A treat for the audience will be to see
Jared, his wife Elisha and their three children Spencer, Faith and
Carly on stage together, a new family first. o:p>
John Chinn of Epsom is taking on the
sinister role of Jud Fry in this production. John is a relative
newbie to the Pittsfield Players, and this is his first major role
after appearing in Dearly Beloved, as the Detective in 70 Girls, 70
and acting as stage manager for The Game’s Afoot.
Although Jeff Gregoire has been with the Players for more than 25
years, this is his first time performing in a Players’ production in
over seven years. This time he is appearing as the Persian peddler
Ali Hakim, who Ado Annie has taken a shine to while Will Parker was
away in Kansas City. Jeff has acted, directed, and produced with the
Players and last fall he co-directed 70 Girls, 70 at the Scenic
Theatre.
Stay tuned for more cast information next
week. And get your tickets now for this wonderful show at The Scenic
Theatre, the home of the Pittsfield Players!
Pittsfield’s Secret Santa
Although Christmas is still weeks away, here at the fire department
we are already hard at work preparing to meet the needs of
Pittsfield’s residents. We aree accepting applications from those in
need of assistance this holiday season. Applications will only be
accepted until December 1st to allow time to prepare gifts for
everyone. Children must be 14 years of age or younger to be
eligible. The child’s parent or legal guardian must be the one to
apply, and both they and the child must be residents of
Pittsfield. Please contact the Pittsfield Fire Department at
435-6807 during regular business hours for more information or to
apply.
This year we are also offering the ability to email applications, as
we know that traveling is sometimes difficult for our residents. The
email address is [email protected].
We will have a link to the application available on the Pittsfield
Firefighters Association facebook page. This program is operated by
volunteers, so if you leave a message it will be returned as quickly
as possible but response may not be immediate.
The Secret Santa Fund relies on the
generosity of residents and local businesses eager to help those
less fortunate. Those interested in making donations may call
435-6807 to discuss specifics with Santa’s helpers. Financial
donations may be sent directly to: Pittsfield Secret Santa, PO Box
392, Pittsfield NH 03263.
Foss Family Pittsfield Town Scholarship
Trust Joins Global #GivingTuesday Movement
Donations to support
scholarships for Pittsfield’s graduates.
The Foss Family Pittsfield Town Scholarship Trust is
participating in #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving that
harnesses the collective power of individuals, communities and
organizations to encourage philanthropy and to celebrate generosity
worldwide. Occurring this year on November 29, #GivingTuesday is
held annually on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) and
the widely recognized shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday
to kick-off the holiday giving season and inspire people to
collaborate in improving their local communities and to give back in
impactful ways to the charities and causes they support.
The Foss Family Pittsfield Town Scholarship Trust is participating
in #GivingTuesday to provide the Pittsfield Community, and its
school alumni with a convenient way to support students who desire
to further their education beyond the high school level.
92Y − a cultural center in New York City that, since 1874, has
been bringing people together around its core values of community
service and giving back − conceptualized #GivingTuesday as a new way
of linking individuals and causes to strengthen communities and
encourage giving. In 2015, the fourth year of the movement,
#GivingTuesday brought together over 45,000 partners in 71 countries
and helped raise nearly $117 Million online in the US alone.
“We have been incredibly inspired by the generosity in time, efforts
and ideas that have brought our concept for a worldwide movement
into reality,” said Henry Timms, founder of #GivingTuesday and
executive director of 92Y. “As we embark on our fifth year of
#GivingTuesday, we are encouraged by the early response from
partners eager to continue making an impact in this global
conversation.”
Those who are interested in joining The Foss Family Pittsfield Town
Scholarship Trust’s #GivingTuesday initiative can visit
www.pittsfieldnh.gov/post/foss-family-scholarship. For
more details about the #GivingTuesday movement, visit the
#GivingTuesday website (www.givingtuesday.org),
Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/GivingTuesday)
or follow @GivingTues and the #GivingTuesday hashtag on social
media.
About The Foss Family Pittsfield Town Scholarship Trust The Foss
Family Pittsfield Town Scholarship Trust was established by Richard
and Lois Foss in 2007 for the benefit of Pittsfield Middle High
School graduates who wish to further their education beyond the high
school level. To-date the Trust as awarded scholarship
totaling over $323,000 to 127 Pittsfield graduates.
About #GivingTuesday
#GivingTuesday is a movement to celebrate
and provide incentives to give—the 2016 iteration will be held on
November 29, 2016. This effort harnesses the collective power of a
unique blend of partners—nonprofits, businesses and corporations as
well as families and individuals—to transform how people think
about, talk about and participate in the giving season.
#GivingTuesday inspires people to take collaborative action to
improve their local communities, give back in better, smarter ways
to the charities and causes they celebrate and help create a better
world. #GivingTuesday harnesses the power of social media to create
a global moment dedicated to giving around the world.
To learn more about #GivingTuesday
participants and activities or to join the celebration of giving,
please visit:
Website: www.givingtuesday.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/GivingTuesday
Twitter: twitter.com/GivingTues
Pittsfield Elementary School Thanksgiving
Food Drive
Submitted By: ABC Kindness Club
This year, the Pittsfield
Elementary School ABC Kindness club is going to start the
Thanksgiving Food Drive like every other year. Our goal is to
collect enough food to donate to the Pittsfield Food Pantry for
families in need of these items.
For this Food Drive, we would like
donations such as canned food, things that don’t need to be
refrigerated, and cereal (non-perishable items). There could be more
items you could bring in; these are just examples (just make sure
they don’t expire soon). This year we will also donate hygiene
items, such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, etc.
We hope that everybody can participate in this Food Drive in any way
possible to help these families. In the end, at PES we will weigh
and count the items. The class who has the heaviest or has the most
items will win a prize. That means two classes will get a prize at
the end. Happy Thanksgiving!
Revs. Tim and Bethany Groves, along with
their four children, Mackenzie, Mikayla, Megan, and Micah, travel
full time advancing God’s Kingdom through praise & worship, anointed
singing and sign language, and the preaching of the Word. Join them
at the Lighthouse Church of God (29 Watson Street, Pittsfield),
Sunday, November 13th at 11am and 6 pm. All are welcome to this free
event.
Obituaries
Clarence Gerlack, Sr.
PITTSFIELD- Clarence
Gerlack, Sr., 76, of Pittsfield, passed away suddenly on October 31,
2016 with his family by his side.
Born on May 29, 1940 in Ware, MA, he was
the son of the late Henry and Dorinda (Come) Gerlack.
Clarence was an outdoorsman through and
through. He loved to hunt, ice fish and was always looking for
something to keep him busy. He worked for over 40 years as a
mechanic before his retirement. Mr. Gerlack proudly served as a
member of the New Hampshire Army National Guard Besides his parents
Clarence was also predeceased by his sister Cecilia and brother
Billy.
Mr. Gerlack is survived by his wife Doris
(Joy) Gerlack of Pittsfield; son, Clarence Gerlack, Jr. of
Pittsfield and Scott Gerlack and his wife Becky of Gilmanton;
daughter Penny Gerlack and her fiancé Jeff Hatch of Pittsfield;
sisters, Madgeline, Della, Shirley and Elleanor; brothers Henry,
Frank, Rollo and Alfred; grandchildren, Trisha, Trevor, Greg and
Devin; seven great grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.
A Graveside Service was held at Floral Park Cemetery, Pittsfield on
Friday, November 4th. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to
http://www.gofundme.com/clarence-pete-gerlack-sr-burial To share
a memory or leave a condolence, please visit
www.stilloaks.com
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