The
April 2017 meeting of the Peterson-Cram Post 75 will be held on
April 10, 2017 at 7:30pm. If you are new to Pittsfield or new
to the American Legion, we offer you open door to attend and become
involved. If you are looking to join, bring a copy of your DD
Form 214 and if you are new to the area and wish to join our Post,
bring your, membership card with you.
The
April meeting is special as we also hold our Post Elections for the
upcoming year, and finalizing plans for our Memorial Day observance
which is held on the Sunday of the Memorial Day weekend along with
other special days ahead for Post activities. If anyone has any
questions on American Legion membership or about the Post, feel free
to contact our Post Adjutant, Merrill Vaughan, 435-5207 (home) or
344-0264 (cell).
The
Contoocook Depot Model Railroad Show at American Legion Post #81,169
Bound Tree Lane, Contoocook, NH will be held Saturday, May 6, 2017,
starting at 10 am to 4 pm.
Admission: $5/person, under 10 FREE with a paid adult.
Operating
layouts, new/used model trains, accessories, raffles and food.
Dealer tables are $20 (add $5 for electricity).
ALSO: Come and
tour the restored Contoocook Depot and Covered Train Bridge!
Contact: Keith Wallace (603) 520-6601 or email:
[email protected]. We are
on the web: contoocookdepot.org
Disabled Veterans To Attend Annual Winter Sports Clinic Hosted By VA
And DAV Submitted Via Merrill Vaughan
WASHINGTON – Nearly 400
injured Veterans and active-duty military members will join
volunteers and leading medical and rehabilitative professionals from
across the nation for the 31st National Disabled Veterans Winter
Sports Clinic, scheduled March 26-31 in Snowmass Village (near
Aspen), Colorado.
The event, hosted by Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) and DAV (Disabled American Veterans), is made possible
by strategic corporate partnerships, nonprofit organizations and
individual donors.
“The National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports
Clinic is a life-changing event for the Veterans who participate,”
said Dr. David J. Shulkin, Secretary of Veterans Affairs. “I am
inspired by our Veterans and equally inspired by our staff, who
coach and encourage them to dream beyond their imagination, draw
from their inner strength and use this clinic to showcase their
resilience and courage.”
When Veterans go back to their
communities, they bring this experience of a lifetime back to help
others, while motivating themselves throughout the entire year.
Often referred to as “Miracles on a Mountainside,” the clinic
promotes rehabilitation through adaptive Alpine and Nordic skiing,
rock climbing, wheelchair self-defense, sled hockey, scuba diving,
and other adaptive sports and activities. Studies show adaptive
sports provide participants with physical and emotional benefits,
including stress relief, reduced dependency on pain and depression
medications, and higher achievement in education and employment. The
event has also been a starting point for numerous Paralympic
athletes.
“Involvement in this event has been life changing for
me,” said DAV National Commander David Riley, a past-participant and
quadruple amputee Coast Guard Veteran. “This event helped me
redefine the perceived limitations I had after losing my limbs. And
it does the same thing for hundreds of my fellow Veterans every
year.”
Participation is open to active-duty service members and
Veterans with spinal cord injuries, orthopedic amputations, visual
impairments, and certain neurological problems and disabilities.
For more information about the winter sports clinic, visit
www.wintersportsclinic.org.
Reboot
Program
If your life and health are not blossoming like you feel
it should, then your body needs a good cleanse. Foggy thinking, low
energy, and extra weight can all be the result of accumulated
toxins. Spring is the perfect time to get get rid of those
toxins with our new and improved 6 weeks Reboot Program.
What’s
included in the program? Simple strategies to clean up your diet,
your body care products and your household cleaners, Nutritional and
detoxification supplements to help your body gently release and
cleanse toxins, 6 Weekly Sauna sessions to aid in deep
detoxification and weight loss, weekly group coaching with Dr Liz
Kenndy, Chiropractor, where we will cover a new topic each week,
answer questions and support your journey, private Facebook group
where you can post questions, concerns, successes, challenges or
recipes.
Join us April 3rd to May 8th, from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. Call
the Sanctuary Bodyworks and Sauna to register at 603.509.8838
State
DAR Good Citizens Program
The Buntin-Rumford-Webster Greater
Concord Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) -
Several Chapter members attended the State DAR Good Citizens Program
on March 16, 2017 at the Holiday Inn in Concord. Chapter members
honored four of the six Concord area Good Citizens and their
families along with the other nominated students throughout the
State. The students were honored for dependability, service,
leadership and patriotism. The Concord area students who attended
the State Good Citizen program were Sohani Demian, Bow High School;
Elizabeth West, Merrimack Valley High School; Cole Sporcic, Pembroke
Academy; and Brienne Hill, Pittsfield High School.
Third picture:
2017 BRW Good Citizens with Regent and Counselors: Beth Corkum
(Bow High School Guidance Counselor; Sohani Demian (Bow High
School); Elizabeth West (Merrimack Valley High School); Beverley
Smith; Katherine McMurphy (Bishop Brady High School); Cole Sporcic
(Pembroke Academy) and Barbara Michaud, Director of School
Counseling, Pembroke Academy.
Letter
To The Editor Community Business Update
Dear Pittsfield
Taxpayer, Another year of town business is behind us, not soon to
be forgotten. Despite fiscal disparity amongst voters, it was
reassuring to have a stronger voter turnout than in prior years at
the School District and Town Meeting.
Financial highlights…
School: $10.2 million budget passed (4 votes) representing
approximately $656,000 increase over last year ($2.49 on tax rate).
Teacher’s contract failed and will be taken up at a special meeting.
Next year the school budget will be SB2. Watch for the date of the
first deliberative session, the only meeting where the budget and
warrant articles can be amended! For more information on SB2 go to
www.lfda.org.
Town: $4.4 million operating budget passed,
approximately $85,000 increase over last year. Full time police
officer positions remain at 7; school resource officer will not
continue. A five-year lease was approved for a small highway truck.
Capital reserve warrant articles passed, with the exception of the
sidewalk tractor. The Budget Committee is to be commended in its
effort to minimize the tax impact!
The town had a 2016 surplus of
approximately $679,000, bringing the undesignated fund balance to
$1.64 million. I have total confidence that the Board of Selectmen
will do the right thing in using enough fund balance to offset the
increase in the 2017 tax rate.
Fellow believers, how encouraging
to see many of you! We live in turbulent times, leaving our
neighbors searching. “You are the light of the world. A city that is
set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it
under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who
are in the house” (Matthew 22:37-39). May we be light and salt,
always ready to give an answer as to the hope that is within us!
Optimistically, Linda Small
Concord
Regional VNA Holds Annual Memorial Service
Concord Regional VNA’s
Annual Memorial Service is Tuesday, April 18 at 7 p.m. at Temple
Beth Jacob, 67 Broadway in Concord.
Join us to remember those we
have lost through the reading of names, music, candle-lighting, and
reflection. Pre-registration is not required. For information, call
(603) 224-4093, ext. 2828 or e-mail
[email protected].
Letter
To The Editor
Select Board meeting 3/22/17- 1st BOS meeting after
Town Meeting relatively conflict free. Appointments made to all the
additional boards and committees Selectmen must attend besides our
own. No doubt this will be a challenging year due to a bare bones
municipal budget which is a reduction in our portion of the tax
rate.
The school budget passed last Thursday night is predicted
to run our rate up another $2.49, despite up to 8 positions
remaining unfilled. Too many mandates and too little funding is a
huge part of the problem.
The BOS is doing all it can to rein in
expenditures, but sometimes it seems we’re shoveling against the
tide. We will keep insisting we live within realistic means, which
will also mean we have to do without some things we’re accustomed
to. The BOS tries to do its part- our annual stipend (another word
for low pay) of $500 is about 10% of neighboring towns, and even
that is returned to the town by some board members. Compensation was
the same amount the year I was born- 1952. We’re all in this
together, and doing what we can.
A part-time administrative
assistant has been hired at the PD. This should alleviate the
problem of their office being closed sporadically during some
business hours. Chief Cain was given the nod to advertise for part
time patrolmen as well.
This year’s board is the same as last
and although we don’t always agree, we work well together.
Overburdened taxpayers are more critical of all town departments and
high taxes deter new or improved taxable construction. I see it as
the true root of most of our problems and I’m still focused on
reversing it. We can do better.
Carl Anderson
A Barn
Preservation Workshop Trio
Presented by the New Hampshire
Preservation Alliance in partnership with Prescott Farm
Environmental Education Center
A Barn Preservation Workshop Trio
The New Hampshire Preservation Alliance and Prescott Farm
Environmental Education Center are pleased to announce their
partnership in a series of three barn preservation workshops at
Prescott Farm as a part of the enhanced programming the Alliance is
offering with its 52 Barns in 52 Weeks initiative. Prescott Farm
will begin a major barn preservation project of its two late 19th
century barns this spring, making necessary repairs and
modifications to provide much- needed program space.
Does your
barn, or another you love, need work? Want to learn more about barn
history and features? Join us for one or all of these informative
workshops to help you find answers and move forward with your
project. These workshops will offer participants a great opportunity
to be on the job site of an active barn project and be involved in a
detailed discussion of the repairs, and barn preservation strategies
and stewardship, with barn experts.
In the first workshop of the
series (April 15), “Assessing Old Barns: Setting a Game Plan for
Repairs,” Ian Blackman of Blackman Restoration and Preservation,
will lead participants through a condition assessment of the two
late 19th century barns at Prescott Farm. Before restoration work
begins on an historic structure, an assessment provides critical
information on current conditions and helps prioritize repair needs
in order to establish a preservation plan. Blackman will explain
what to look for while conducting an assessment, what the findings
might tell us of the history of the barn, and discuss how to develop
a game plan for repairs. Prescott Farm will be starting a complete
restoration of its large 1882 barn and attached dairy barn this
spring. The workshop will include an overview of the Alliance’s barn
assessment grant program and the statewide tax incentive program for
barns.
During the second workshop (May 13), “Repair and
Restoration of Stone Foundations and Stone Walls,” Blackman will
discuss the dry-laid stone foundation restoration, drainage
improvements, and cribbing techniques of this barn project with
master stone mason Kevin Fife, Twin Elms Landscape. After a 30
minute break for lunch, Fife will discuss the history and
preservation of New England stone walls.
On July 15, the final
workshop of the series, “Step-by-Step Profile: 1882 Timber Frame
Restoration at Prescott Farm,” Blackman will discuss framing styles,
joinery, and wood selection for replacement timbers, while
demonstrating the repair and restoration of the 1882 frame. Blackman
will be repairing sills, sections of first floor framing, and some
posts during the project. The workshop will be followed by a
discussion of timber framing tools and their sharpening for those
interested.
Participants are encouraged to bring photos of their
own barns for discussion at the end of each program. Lunch not
included, but feel free to bring a picnic to eat at the farm after
the programs.
Registration is required for these workshops
because of space limitations. For a single workshop:
Preservation Alliance or Prescott Farm members - $20; non-members -
$25. Participants are encouraged to register for all three workshops
at a discounted rate:
Members - $50/Non-members - $65.
Register online at
www.nhpreservation.org or
call 603-224-2281. In 2017, the Alliance’s 52 Barns in 52 Weeks
initiative has a goal of helping at least 52 barn owners across the
state with assessment grants, assistance in securing tax relief, and
educational workshops to help save their historic barns. Throughout
the year, barns and their owners will be showcased by the
Preservation Alliance to celebrate good work and offer practical
information and inspiration to others. To learn more about the 52
Barns in 52 Weeks initiative, go to
www.nhpreservation.org.
The New
Hampshire Preservation Alliance supports and encourages the
revitalization and protection of historic buildings and places which
strengthens communities and local economies. More information at
www.nhpreservation.org.
Prescott Farm Environmental Education Center is a nonprofit
organization dedicated to providing environmental education and
encouraging preservation of our natural resources.
More
information at www.prescottfarm.org.
Letter
To the Voters of Pittsfield: Thank you for turning out to vote
during the snowstorm on Town Election Day. I am very pleased that we
had no injuries, even though some vehicles did slide off our roads.
A big thanks to George Bachelder and his crew for doing a good job
under the most difficult conditions.
Our turnout was right on
average, but still lower than I would have liked to have seen.
Remember, this is your chance to make a difference in the way the
Town is run. If you didn’t vote, don’t complain.
On another note,
we have two empty positions on the HSA Board. Please E-mail me at
[email protected] to apply.
Fred M. Okrent Town Moderator
Pittsfield, New Hampshire
Letter
To the good citizens of Pittsfield, I spent the last two days
recovering from Town Meeting. Tuesday was brutal with the blizzard.
Anyone participating in the vote that day, I can only say that we
have many dedicated residents in our town. I, like everybody else,
lost some and gained some.
The School District meeting was
tough. The teachers deserved better treatment as far as their
contract not being approved. That meeting was just about a total
loss for me. Eight positions cut, no contract, tax rate increasing
for school tax estimated $2.49.
Town Meeting was rough. I was
skeptical about Fred Okrent moderating, but he came prepared,
listened to suggestions and let me carry my therapy rock. I wanted
to smash my head with that rock when we voted to get ride of two cop
positions, but I didn’t want to disrupt the meeting and if I did
that, they wouldn’t allow rocks in the meeting anymore.
I ran the
numbers. It’s about 1 million dollars in personal and societal
costs, if one person goes down the wrong road. It’s $150,000 per
year for two good cops.
Dan Schroth Piermarocchi
Letter
Dear Pittsfield Voters, Thank you for approving the planning
board’s five proposed zoning amendments.
Jim Pritchard
Eating
In Manhattan Has Never Been So Much Fun
There are three more
performances coming up for the Pittsfield Players’ production “Eat
Your Heart Out” and the word from the first two shows is out: this
is good and funny.
The comedy play takes the audience through
six different restaurants where we follow the plight of an
out-of-work actor trying to be discovered and make it big in show
business. The humor continues to build as the various
customers share their life problems with their waiter, Charlie.
Showing this weekend on March 31 and April 1 at 7:30 p.m. and April
2 at 2:00 p.m., “Eat Your Heart Out” tickets are available for $15
by calling 435-8852 or reserving through TicketLeap through
www.pittsfieldplayers.com.
Don’t miss this unusually funny play.
Our
TOPS chapter recently had another celebration. Pearl
Demyanovich celebrated her one year anniversary of reaching her
weight goal to become a KOPS (Keep Off Pounds Sensibly). Pearl
transferred to the Pittsfield chapter last May from the Conway
chapter. Pearl takes interest in chapter events and is a high
ticket seller for various raffle baskets. She is friendly
towards all the members. We are delighted to have her in our
chapter. TOPS stands for Take Off Pounds Sensibly. We
would enjoy a visit from you to learn about our group and how we
strive to take off pounds in a sensible way. Our meetings are on
Tuesdays 6:30 at Berakah on Fairview Rd. Pittsfield. Call Pat
435-5333 or Beth 435-7397 if you have questions.
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