|
This week's stories: (click on the headline
to jump to story)
 Artist-in-residence
bridges cultural divide
Zoning
proposal pulled
Morrissette
bill clears the House
School
board, budget panel agree on plan
It's
rough terrain for cell phone companies
Goffstown
Artist-in-residence
bridges cultural divide
|
By RUSS CHOMA
Staff Writer
rchoma@yourneighborhoodnews.com
Swinging his arms side to side and swaying
broadly, Braima Moiwai stands in the midst of a crowd of fifth-grade
students and urges them on.
"We have no weapons! We have no weapons!" he calls
out.
Even without his explanation, the message of this West African
dance is clear to anyone of any race or language. The dancers
are letting everyone know regardless of what language they
speak that they are unarmed, open and friendly.
The children respond, mimicking Moiwai's movement.
Moiwai, a native of Sierra Leone, is teaching the Mountain View
students as part of a special artist-in-residence program. In
past years, the artists have been sculptors, storytellers and
stained glass craftsmen.
|
 |
DANCE PARTY: Mountain View
Middle School fifth-graders Shayna Moran (left) and Erica Callvo
follow the lead of dancer Braima Moiwai. Moiwai was at Mountain
View teaching students about West African music, dance and culture
as part of an artist-in-residence program at the school. (Russ
Choma Photo)
|
This year, Moiwai and another West African
Osei Appiagyei are teaching the students about
West African culture through dance, song, drumming, folklore
and games.
The program has been running for several
weeks and is nearing its halfway point. At the end, the students
will put on a performance to demonstrate what they've learned.
Fifth-grade student Brittany Neuman said she and other students
like having Moiwai visit the school.
"It's really fun," she said. "(Moiwai) makes learning
fun. We're learning about African dancing and games, and a lot
of their language."
Behind Neuman, Moiwai is thumping a beat on an African drum and
leading several dozen other children in a game. As she answers
questions, Neuman breaks into clapping along with the other students
and hurries off to rejoin them.
This eagerness to learn about another culture is something which
Mountain View teachers say they appreciate.
Karen Bowden, one of several fifth-grade teachers watching their
students dance with Moiwai, said the eagerness to learn about
West African culture is infectious.
"When the kids come back (from Moiwai's classes) they are
so excited," Bowden said. "They're so energized
they're just so excited about this."
|
Bowden said the unique environment
and new experiences in Moiwai's class help students break some
of the traditional barriers to their learning.
"I think it's hard at the middle school age for kids to
do anything 'different,'" she said. "But with
this they can. And they're so enthusiastic about it."
Kathy St. Jean, a Mountain View art teacher and coordinator
of the artist-in-residence program, said enthusiasm for learning
isn't the only benefit of the program.
"The kids are so excited, but it also bring so many disciplines
together," she said.
St. Jean explained that teachers could teach African history,
art and culture in various classes, but Moiwai's lessons really
help bring it all together for the students.
"By bringing all those disciplines together, it just makes
it so much more meaningful," she said.
St. Jean said the artist-in-residence
program, now in its 12th year, is funded by a number of sources,
including the New Hampshire State Endowment for the Arts, the
school board and Mountain View Partnership the Mountain
View Middle School parent-teacher group.
|
 |
MUSIC MAN: Steve Ferraris,
a percussionist specializing in traditional African music, keeps
the beat on a drum. (Russ Choma Photo)
|
Each year, every fifth grade student
has an opportunity to participate. While students seem to be
enjoying the West African culture lessons this year, St. Jean
said that doesn't mean the artist-in-residence programs in other
years have been any less successful.
The reason, she said, is that every year a really unique program
like stained-glass art work is offered.
"They're all really good, because they're all so special,"
she said. "The experts bring enthusiasm and a lot of knowledge
for what they do. And the kids see that and know this is special."
Goffstown
Zoning proposal
pulled
By KATE BENWAY
Staff Writer
kbenway@yourneighborhoodnews.com
A zoning amendment that would begin to
reshape the Route 114 corridor was pulled from consideration
at a recent Goffstown Planning Board meeting after some board
members were concerned they were pitching it to residents too
soon.
Under the proposed amendment, interconnected back roads, sidewalks
and green space dividing roadways and development were among
the recommendations up for resident consideration at Town Meeting.
The concepts came out of the Route 114 Corridor Study, part of
an effort to help focus the upcoming master plan revision and
a means of addressing the growth the town will see in the short
and long-term.
At the board's Thursday, Jan. 15, meeting, members voted 5-2
to hold off on proposing the changes this year.
"It's not a decision to not go ahead with the concept of
the corridor study, but a proposal to wait a year," said
board chairman Jim Raymond, who cast one of the two dissenting
votes. Alternate Thomas Heany cast the other vote against pulling
the amendment.
The board held two public hearings on the proposal, inviting
residents to offer input on the changes.
Among those changes were zoning adjustments designed to encourage
mixed residential and business development, setback requirements
that would affect how far from the road both residences and businesses
are built and a rural overlay that would require compliance from
any builder or owner.
The goals of both the study and the amendment that was pulled
are to encourage the growth of the town's commercial tax base
while maintaining its character, said Raymond.
But with the concern some residents had about how the amendment
would impact their property and the questions some board members
still had, planners opted to hold off.
"Several of the board members thought there were issues
that still needed to be addressed on some of the changes and
didn't think it prudent to go ahead until there had been a more
thorough analysis done," said Raymond.
Town planner Steve Griffin said most of the response he heard
about the amendment came at the public hearings, but said he's
received a few phone calls from residents looking to find out
about the proposed changes.
"People were concerned about the building setback affecting
existing residences," he said. "And there were a couple
points of clarity. There was a property with frontages on two
roads and there was question about what applied where."
Resident Julie Grandgeorge attended the most recent public hearing
on the change and had questions for planners about how new zoning
would affect her land.
"I just want some time to really take a look at the corridor
study," she said when planners opted to hold off on the
amendment.
Residents will see some zoning amendments on the warrant, though
most are simply language-changing measures.
The larger, more meaningful changes, rest within the nixed zoning
amendment.
"The risk is we get some development in the interim that's
contrary to what the corridor study recommended because now we
don't get some of the zoning changes," said Raymond.
The corridor study will go hand-in-hand with the master plan
update being headed by the Planning Board.
The update will begin this year and planners have hoped to weave
the goals of the corridor study upping the commercial tax
base while maintaining the town's character with the creation
of a document that will guide Goffstown's growth over the next
few decades.
Morrissette
bill clears the House
By KATE BENWAY
Staff Writer
kbenway@yourneighborhoodnews.com
A bill sponsored by a local state representative
has passed successfully through the House and is a step closer
to protecting public employees who speak out against their employer.
House Bill 559 passed with a voice vote on Wednesday, Jan. 7,
and will head to the Senate for approval.
The bill came out of the controversy involving a licensed nursing
assistant who was allegedly stripped of her hours after criticizing
the administrator of the Hillsborough County Nursing Home.
Albertine Morrissette was critical of administrator Bruce Moorehead
in a letter to the editor published in The Goffstown News in
2002.
Upon arriving at work the week following publication of the letter,
Morrissette was ushered from the building by police.
Despite an order by county commissioners to reinstate the nursing
assistant to her 24-hour-per-week schedule, Morrissette said
she only worked 16 hours per week. She said Moorehead was carrying
out a vendetta against her for writing the letter.
Moorehead countered by saying he treated Morrissette as he would
any part-time employee, calling her for work on an as-needed
basis.
The incident prompted Goffstown state Rep. Randolph "Rip"
Holden to introduce the bill, which was co-sponsored by a number
of other legislators, including New Boston state Rep. Peter Bruno.
The bill stipulates that "no employer shall discharge, threaten
or otherwise discriminate against any employee" if that
employee has "exercised the right of free speech, including
the public discussion of issues of public interest concerning
his or her employment."
The bill does not include elected officials, commissioners or
others in such positions.
Also, those with a fiduciary or confidential responsibility are
not covered under the bill.
"To me, this is a black and white bill," said Holden.
"No one should be punished for speaking about something
that truly affects the public."
Under the bill, complaints made against a public employer would
be directed to the state Department of Labor.
"It's just too bad it has to come to this," said Holden.
There is no hearing yet scheduled on the bill in the state Senate,
though Holden said he hopes senators will decide on it within
the next few months.
He said he's met with Senate President Tom Eaton and spoken to
other senators about the benefits of making the bill a law.
Meanwhile, Morrissette was honored in November at the inaugural
Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment Award Dinner for her willingness
to speak out about the management at the home.
Goffstown
School board,
budget panel agree on plan
By RUSS CHOMA
Staff Writer
rchoma@yourneighborhoodnews.com
The school board voted to accept the budget
committee's recommendations to slash hundreds of thousands of
dollars from the bottom line of this year's district budget.
At the Jan. 20 school board meeting, board members considered
the committee's final cuts and contemplated even rejecting its
bottom line.
Such a scenario would have put the school board and the budget
committee on a collision course for the March 9 vote.
Several weeks ago, the budget committee proposed deep cuts to
the district's spending plan, including funding for the football
program, several proposed special education teachers, the adult
education coordinator, and cuts in a reading program at Mountain
View Middle School.
At the budget committee's Jan. 13 meeting, however, committee
members voted to return approximately $20,000 to the budget for
football.
Despite this move, the committee declined to add money back into
the academic side of the budget, including two separate proposals
to return proposed special education positions to the budget.
The budget committee's final recommended package is $27,135,334
approximately $494,000 less than what the school board
had asked for.
If the school board did not accept the cuts made Tuesday, the
budget committee's bottom line would still appear before voters
at the deliberative session of this year's School District Meeting.
However, the school board would have the opportunity to pitch
its own spending package to voters.
School Board Chairman Scott Gross told other board members that
as the district's representative on the budget committee, he
had watched the deliberations and thinks they were fair. He also
said the budget committee approved numerous other new positions
without hesitation.
"I would say, overall, the budget committee did a fair job,"
he said. "There were many (new positions) they did approve,
such as all the positions at the high school a new math
teacher, science teacher and a dean of students."
Gross also urged fellow board members to accept the budget committee's
recommendation and consider the long-term situation. He suggested
budget cuts now could help the district in future years.
"I'm looking at it not just from this year's horizon, but
next year and the year after that," he said. "Let's
think positively if the kindergarten does pass, we're going
to have an operating budget (next year) and a teacher's contract.
Therefore, looking at the two-, three- or four-year horizon,
I think we've made some progress."
Gross said voters generally do not respond well to a budget that
does not have the budget committee's recommendation. Several
board members acknowledged Gross' warning.
"I think about the alternative (to any budget passing)
a default budget," he said. "That would be far more
damaging."
A default budget freezes all spending at the previous year's
level except for contractually obligated increases like health
care and teachers' salaries.
Gross also said that just because the budget committee had made
these particular cuts in special education positions, that does
not mean the school cannot fill those positions if it desires.
Gross said the budget committee's recommended cut was a reduction
in the district's bottom line, and the board could choose on
its own what programs it wants to keep.
"It's still within our right to move monies, depending on
the needs of the students," he told other board members,
suggesting if board members felt the special education positions
were important enough, they could choose to cut the dean of students
position at the high school.
Following Gross' appeal, board members voted 5 to 1 to accept
the budget committee's recommendation.
Prior to debating on whether to accept the budget committee's
cuts, SAU 19 Superintendent Darrell Lock-wood told board members
that earlier in the budgeting process, district health care expenses
had been over-estimated.
"We built a budget with estimates of health and dental (costs).
We now have guaranteed maximum rates," he told board members.
"It changes your original budget, the (budget) committee's
budget and the committee's budget cuts."
Originally, Lockwood said, officials had calculated health care
costs would be up 25 percent, but the actual figures were much
less.
The over-estimation allowed the overall budget to be reduced
by approximately $228,483.
It's rough
terrain for cell phone companies
By LARA SKINNER
Staff Writer
lskinner@yourneighborhoodnews.com
Making a call from a cell phone is tricky
in the hills of Dunbarton or the valleys of New Boston. Connecting
to a cell phone service depends on how many hills are between
a phone and a communications tower.
"Our towns have negative topography for these folks,"
Ken Swayze said about the cellular companies.
Swayze is the co-chairman of the Dunbarton Planning Board. Residents
on Powell Lane have requested a variance from the zoning board
of appeals so they can lease land for a tower to U.S. Cellular.
When the request came in, Swayze said the Planning Board realized
there weren't any ordinances for cell phone towers.
Public hearings to find out what the people of Dunbarton think
about the Powell Lane tower will help the zoning board determine
if it will go up. But the Planning Board also started to draft
an amendment to handle any other requests that will come in.
Where to put the towers for increased coverage without ruining
the rural feel is a challenge for many communities.
Lease agreements with private land owners are a common approach.
On Thursday, Feb. 12, the Goffstown Planning Board will hold
a public hearing for a cell tower on Pattee Hill Road.
"With hills we do have some areas of coverage that aren't
very good," Planning Director Stephen Griffin said.
A big metal tower can still take away from the scenic view when
it appears in the middle of the trees though. A balloon test,
where a weather balloon is tied to where the tower will go and
allowed to float up to the height of the tower, was done last
year. It gives the neighbors a chance to imagine how the tower
will affect their view.
Wetlands could get in the way of the tower approval, Griffin
said, and the board is still reviewing all of the effects a cell
tower on Pattee Hill Road would have.
Towers don't always break-up the tree line. Space in the clock
tower at the New Boston Town Offices will soon house a microwave
tower for AT&T to improve cell phone service downtown.
"If (the companies) can't find a place to hide it then they
go for co-location," Planning Board Assistant Michele Brown
said.
It wasn't any easier to approve a tower for inside a building.
Staff at the town offices were concerned with how the radio waves
from the tower could affect their health.
Town Manager Burton Reynolds said AT&T had health experts
speak at the public hearings about the radiation emitted from
a tower.
"It is my understanding that the emissions are very low,"
Reynolds said. "Way below the threshold that's been set
(by the Federal Communications Commission)."
The town signed a lease agreement with AT&T for $900 a month.
When the tower will go in is up to AT&T, Reynolds said, and
the company has agreed to emissions testing before and after
the tower is installed.
Brown said there are three cell towers in town now, and called
the one proposed for the Town Offices an uneasy truce. A microwave
tower in the down town will fill a void in the town's coverage,
but she is still concerned about the long term effects of working
in the same building as the tower location.
|
