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This week's stories: (click on the headline
to jump to story)
 Creating
a special place
Budget
recount changes nothing
Man
charged with sexual assault of 15-year-old girl
Their
ingenuity is on display
Manchester
woman charged in animal cruelty case
New Boston
Creating a
special place
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By LARA SKINNER
Staff Writer
lskinner@yourneighborhoodnews.com
Halloween to St. Patrick's Day was a long
wait for fourth-grader Rebecca Manson.
She and the rest of the students at New Boston Central School
were eager to see the results from a semester of planning. But
they had to exercise some monstrous patience while architect
Ron King, the artist in residence this year, worked with all
of the information the fourth grade had gathered so they can
build a natural playground where the monkey bars and swing sets
now stand.
"We're supposed to start it this year and the rest of the
community will stagger it out over the years," Rebecca said.
But she and her friends were in for a surprise when King came
back on Friday, March 19, to present his plans to the whole community.
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SITE PLAN: There are a lot
of features in the playground plans to talk about, and fourth-grader
Alyssa Cramb points out how the area will change on a design
map created by architect Ron King.
(Lara Skinner Photo)
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Parents and teachers stepped up to the
challenge of creating the space, and they could possibly turn
a five-year project into a springtime reality, King said.
The all-natural playground for New Boston is about the eighth
or ninth space like this that King has helped children design.
He started working with playgrounds in 2000 after he found himself
with a six-week program to fill and a group of girls from Girls
Inc. who wanted to learn a bit about architecture and the design
process.
When he visited the program's office in Nashua, he said he noticed
there wasn't a playground for the girls to use. The organization
thought teaching the girls how to build a space to play was a
good idea, so King started looking at playground equipment.
"I was kind of upset with what you could find in catalogs,"
he said.
Metal and plastic climbing towers and obstacles didn't really
look like fun to him, and he wondered if kids thought they were.
He was surprised to find out that they didn't.
Designing a playground should start with what kids want, King
said, so he started asking.
In the past three years not one child or adult has ever mentioned
standard playground equipment as something they want to play
on. Slides and swings are always popular, he said, but kids seem
to want something other than equipment.
Manson and her friends, Alyssa Cramb and Eliza Fredette, were
particularly excited about the fitness trail and natural amphitheater
King had included in the plan.
All of the ideas came from the students. A fairy village, a labyrinth
painted on the pavement, a vegetable garden and a talk tube that
travels from one side of the amphitheater to the other.
What to put in the playground was far from the first step of
planning, though. First, the students in the fourth grade had
to graph and plot the entire 25 acres.
"Like, if there's a climbing tree," Fredette said.
"we'd put that on the map."
Students counted off 100-square-foot plots by walking them heel
to toe. Small groups then scoured the plots and reported finding
things such as a moss garden and a good flat place to build a
snow fort in the winter. During one trip the students found a
plant that looked something like milkweed, King said. They found
out later that it's an invasive plant, and students from the
first grade helped to cut the growth back so it wouldn't eventually
choke out the trees behind the school.
Once the land inventory was complete, students from all grade
levels drew pictures or created models of what features they
would like to have on a playground.
Students from the fourth grade had to review all of the ideas
and create a single model that incorporated all of the aspects
the other students were looking for.
Using features that already exist in the landscape is the goal,
King said. A natural playground has the least amount of metal
and plastic sticking out of the ground as possible.
Such intense planning got a little boring, Fredette said. But
King said the teachers were able to incorporate the planning
stage into lessons in every class.
"There's nothing that intergrates art more through the curriculum
than architecture and design," he said.
Classes and lessons aren't on Cramb's mind though. She has itchy
fingers waiting for the building phase to begin. Her father is
an electrician, and she makes things with him all the time.
"I think I got his genes for that," she said.
Students won't be out there alone with shovels and a will to
create. Art Teacher Judy Keefe said that parents, town officials
and the school staff have demonstrated a can-do attitude.
"That's what they're saying," she said. "We can
do this and we can do that."
Offers to lend excavation equipment have come in, and local experts
in gardening and sculpture have offered their services. King
was able to address everyone's concerns and needs, Keefe said.
Digging for features such as the embedded slide should start
in May, King said, and the grand opening is scheduled for Arts
Day on June 4.
Weare
Budget recount
changes nothing
By TIM RYAN
Staff Writer
tryan@yourneighborhoodnews.com
A recount of the votes on the school district
budget maintained a close margin of victory.
A recount of the votes on the $8,779,344 school budget on Thursday,
March 18, was 834-827 in favor.
The vote originally passed by only three votes, but school officials
had expressed concern that recounts in the past had not been
favorable to the district.
School Committee Chairman Matthew Thomas said he's pleased with
the results.
"I was a little surprised," he said. "But a victory
is a victory."
However, the district must now take steps to bring positive changes
as a result of the yes vote, Thomas said.
"We said this is what we need to do to improve the schools,"
he said. "Now we have to do it."
Despite the recount, the vote was very close, and Thomas said
the district must make a better case for its budget to the whole
community.
"We clearly haven't found a way to communicate with the
voters," he said. "This will move us up a little bit,
but despite this victory, it's not the end of the road."
Weare Town Clerk Evelyn Connor said the reason for the disparities
in the count were because some voters corrected their votes.
Some marks, she said, were clearly changed, but because two choices
were marked, the voting machines didn't count them.
"It was just a matter of what the human eye can see versus
the machine," she said.
At the Tuesday, March 16, school committee meeting, voters and
officials grappled with what appeared to be a losing vote and
discussed ways of encouraging higher turnout in the future.
Resident Dave Getzin said he feels that he needs to do more than
vote; he should have also worked to encourage others to go to
the polls.
Getzin also said that while he is in favor of being fiscally
conservative, the town must also ensure that administrators like
Weare Middle School Principal James Spadaro have the resources
they need.
"I'm determined to try to fix the consequences of my inaction,"
he said."At some point, forcing (the district) to do without
stops being frugal and starts being neglectful. It must have
been tough to want to improve Weare Middle School while being
stymied every year."
After the March 9 vote, Spadaro announced he was resigning his
position because of what he perceives as a failure on the part
of the community to support educational needs.
Spadaro had asked for enough funding to support a second guidance
counselor at the 615-student school. He was also hoping voters
would fund improvements to the building. Neither of those is
possible with the budget amount voters approved this year.
Many residents in town have lamented Spadaro's resignation. One
of them is Joe Fiala, who said if people had turned out to vote,
there would be a clearer message that the community supports
the schools.
"For three years, Jim asked for nothing but a guidance counselor,"
he said. "If we had this guidance counselor, I believe he'd
be here for one more year. He's completely irreplaceable."
Spadaro said despite the recount, he is leaving Weare Middle
School, with his last day June 30. Spadaro said the close vote,
affirmative or not, was still not a vote of confidence for the
schools.
"I really needed to feel more support from the voters,"
he said. "It was clear to me things weren't going to change."
Spadaro said he was touched by the turnout of support at the
school committee meeting, and he feels that the members of the
middle school community would understand his decision.
"I'm close to the kids and the staff, and I thought they
would understand," he said.
Weare
Man charged
with sexual assault of 15-year-old girl
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By TIM RYAN
Staff Writer
tryan@yourneighborhoodnews.com
A local man was arrestedd March 18 on a
charge of sexual assault after police said he had sexual intercourse
with a 15-year-old girl.
Joseph A. Goffinet, 34, of 161 Old Town Road, Weare, was charged
with one count of felonious sexual assault, which, if convicted,
could carry a three- to seven-year sentence.
Goffinet was arraigned Saturday, March 20, and was remanded to
Valley Street Jail on $9,000 personal recognizance and $1,000
cash bail, which he posted later that day.
A probable cause hearing is set for March 30 at 11 a.m. in Goffstown
District Court.
According to Weare Police Lt. Mark Bodanza, the incident occurred
in December of 2003; the victim was a friend of Goffinet's step-daughter.
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IN CUSTODY: Joseph A. Goffinet,
charged with sexually assaulting a minor, is set for a probable
cause hearing on March 30. (Weare Police Photo)
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A complaint was filed in February, and
police found physical evidence inside the vehicle in which the
assault allegedly took place, as well as DNA evidence to get
a warrant for Goffinet's arrest.
The DNA evidence has been sent to the state police forensics
lab in Concord.
Bodanza said Weare officer Bill Duffy conducted a thorough investigation
leading up to the arrest.
"Officers worked for two months to put together the physical
evidence and they finally came through," he said.
Dunbarton
Their ingenuity
is on display
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By LARA SKINNER
Staff Writer
lskinner@yourneighborhoodnews.com
Everyday problems need everyday solutions.
That's why Dunbarton Elementary School's enrichment coordinator,
Karen Landsman, challenged her third-grade students to think
of an everyday problem and then make an invention to solve it.
This is the second year the students have participated in the
New Hampshire Young Inventors' Program, sponsored by the Academy
of Applied Science in Concord.
"I like the fact that it emphasizes the effort and
not the output," Landsman said.
On Wednesday, March 17, the two third-grade
classes set up tables in the gymnasium and got down to some invention
business. Each student had a packet of information they created
based on the steps they took to solve a problem.
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NAILED Tyler
Bohlin invented an easy way to pick up nails using magnets attached
to a broom. (Lara Skinner Photo)
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Shawn Snook had a problem with soap. It never seems to dry completely
when it's left in the shower, and has a layer of "goo"
on it when he picks the soap up.
"It's really gross," Snook said.
Two small fans and a plastic soap dish with large holes later,
he had something to dry the soap off a bit quicker and keep the
goo factor down.
His contraption appeared a bit like an octopus that had lost
six of its tentacles, but his soap dryer looked like it could
get the job done.
Five teachers were judging the inventions based on originality,
the written description and presentation, the working model and
illustration, the research the students performed and how useful
the invention was.
School nurse Lynn Cote was one of the judges, and she has a special
insight into the invention convention.
Her son, now fully grown, won an invention convention at the
state level for an automatic milk dispenser.
"We actually used it," Cote said. "And I think
that's strange. It was actually functional."
Her son now has a career as a mechanical engineer.
It took a little over an hour for the judges to finish talking
with the young inventors.
The variety of problems to solve was astounding. Three boys from
Mrs. Bateman's class were demonstrating the stair slide, created
by Jake Austin.
It was a simple, elegant design of a cardboard tube with a basket
at the bottom. Austin said his mom is always asking him to take
his toys back to the playroom downstairs. So, instead of multiple
trips with armloads of hand-sized dinosaurs and Matchbox cars,
he folded a long piece of cardboard into a triangle where small
toys would fit and slide down the tube.
Across the gym was a book stand to assist the "lazy reader"
who likes to read in bed. Inventor Erin Hussey said it holds
the book up so she doesn't have to keep switching positions to
give her arms a rest.
Another simple design of sponge rollers on wooden dowels helps
to squeeze the water out of wet hair for people who don't like
to use a hair dryer.
"My head gets too hot," inventor Kendall Ives said.
She hadn't actually tried the invention yet, she said. The model
wasn't quite as sturdy as she'd like it to be.
The two inventions that caught the attention Both of the students
will go on to the state level of the Young Inventors' Program
for the state celebration on Saturday, April 17.
Though the judges had to narrow the choices down to only two
inventions, the students learned the process of inventing from
concept to working model, and got to show off their results.
"They really believe they are inventors," Landsman
said.
Dunbarton
Manchester
woman charged in animal cruelty case
By LARA SKINNER
Staff Writer
lskinner@yourneighborhoodnews.com
Public awareness about the abused dog found
on the side of a road helped Police Chief Jeff Nelson quickly
solve the case of the abused brindled boxer.
"There was no other way we were going to solve the case,"
he said.
Nelson and Master Patrolman Christopher Connelly arrested Melissa
Cere, 22, of Boyton Street in Manchester on Friday, March 19.
They had met with Cere earlier in the week to talk about the
case, and an affidavit filed by Connelly shows that she admitted
to the animal abuse.
Because she cooperated, Nelson said they gave her the oppportunity
to turn herself in.
Connelly's statement shows that they followed up on a lead that
came from Cere's co-workers Kelli Vallier and Lisa Boczanowski.
Both of the women said Cere had owned a male boxer by the name
of Tyson, and that they had taken care of the dog at different
times.
Before the dog was found on Black Brook Road, they said that
Cere had complained about the animal barking too much and urinating
in the house.
When reports of the abused dog started coming out in the newspapers
and on the television, they said they became suspicious and called
the Dunbarton Police Department on March 12.
When Connelly and Nelson met with Cere in her home, she said
she had given the boxer to a woman named Joan, in Salem. Cere
said didn't have any more information on the woman, and Connelly
stated in the affidavit that she appeared nervous.
He then told Cere "that he felt there were a number of inconsistencies"
in her story.
Her fiance, Sean Oloughlin, was there, and Connelly stated that
Oloughlin told her to tell the police what she had done.
Cere told Connelly that she wanted to get rid of the dog but
she wasn't sure how to do it. The boxer didn't get along with
the poodle she had recently purchased, and she considered putting
the boxer to sleep.
According to Connelly's affidavit, Cere also said the boxer had
some severe medical problems.
On March 2, Cere said she got some zip wire ties from her work
and drove the dog out to a road past Weare on March 2.
Cere told Connelly she remembered pulling over next to a large
rock, putting the zip ties around the dog's muzzle and then letting
the dog out of her truck onto the side of the road.
When the boxer was found along the side of Black Brook Road on
March 3, he was thin and lethargic.
Judy Champagne, who is one of the women who found the dog, took
the boxer to the Manchester Animal Shelter after cutting the
zip ties off of its muzzle.
Dr. Feltz of the Caring Hands Animal Hospital in Manchester examined
the dog and, according to Connelly's affidavit, said the animal
was malnourished and had pneumonia. It was also possible the
dog had some kidney problems.
Cere was charged with felony and misdemeanor cruelty to animals.
She was released on a combination of $300 cash and $5,000 personal
recognizance bail.
On the felony charge of beating or torturing an animal, Cere
faces up to seven years in prison and up to $4,000 in fines.
The boxer, who was named Fraser by the staff at the Manchester
Animal Shelter, is still recovering from his pneumonia. He was
taken to the Second Chance Boxer rescue in Woolwich, Maine, and
information on the organization's Web site states that they hope
he will be adopted soon.
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