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This week's stories: (click on the headline
to jump to story)
 Boaters
in Weare get creative
No public
kindergarten for 2005
Just
a few mouse clicks could win ballfield lights
Satellite
tracking station is researching its history
Weare
Boaters in Weare get creative
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By JENNIFER LORD
Staff Writer
almanac@yourneighborhoodnews.com
A shark, some lobsters, pirates, Olympic-wanna-be
athletes, the cast of "Gilligan's Island" and Santa
floated around Lake Horace on Saturday, Aug. 28.
Almost 30 boats turned out for the first Lake Horace Homeowners
Association Boat Parade. The theme of "Anything Goes"
generated some very creative ideas.
After motoring past the panel of judges, most of the boats circled
the whole lake to show their designs to people sitting on their
docks or lounging on the beaches at Chase Park and Lake Shore
Village.
The winners were announced Saturday night at the lake association's
social, held in the recreation hall at All Seasons campground.
First place went to the Moody family on
the pirate ship. The boat was transformed into a pirate ship,
complete with white sails and a skull-and-crossbone flag, and
the passengers were dressed with pirate hats and eye patches,
and a few carried swords.
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YO HO, YO HO The Moody family's
pirate ship sailed to first place in the first annual Lake Horace
Homeowners Association Boat Parade in Weare.
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Second place went to the Labonville family
on "Grandpa's Farm," designed with a cardboard fence,
scarecrows, passengers wearing overalls and straw hats, and a
young man wearing a very large cow costume.
Third place went to Bob Vaughn and his crew on the lobster boat.
On a very hot, hazy and humid afternoon, many viewers were impressed
with the endurance of the boater dressed in a lobster costume
from head to toe. Their boat design also included lobster traps,
nets and buoys, a lobster flag, and a chef with a lobster pot.
Each winner received an "'04 Boat
Parade" floatation cushion and a gift certificate to the
Hungry Moose restaurant in Weare.
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FARM FOLLIES The Labonville family
took second place in the parade aboard "Grandpa's Farm."
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FRESHWATER LOBSTERS Bob Vaughn
and his mates' lobster boat took third place.
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THE MINNOW WAS NOT LOST Family and
neighbors joined Rob and Kay Moore aboard the S.S. Minnow to
fill out a complete cast of "Gilligan's Island."
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EVERYONE OUT OF THE WATER
Perhaps the Masewic family was trying to scare away the competition
with their shark boat. (Jennifer Lord Photos)
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Goffstown
No public kindergarten for 2005
By RUSS CHOMA
Staff Writer
rchoma@yourneighborhoodnews.com
With just under a month until work on a
public kindergarten is slated to begin, and no resolution to
litigation threatening to block the plan, school officials are
saying the chance of opening kindergarten by September 2005 is
"extremely dim."
Saying they don't expect a judge to take up the litigation anytime
soon, school board members voted to begin looking into alternative
plans for the district.
In March, voters approved a $3.3 million proposal calling for
the school to be built on a Tibbett's Hill Road parcel
within a planned 24-lot housing development. The entire proposal
was approved by the planning board in April, but neighbors have
charged board members, in the face of "emotional blackmail"
from school officials, improperly approved a number of variances
to the site plan.
After the Goffstown Zoning Board of Appeals rejected an appeal
of the planning board's decision, three neighbors the McRae
Family Realty Trust, David and Christi Garrison, and Robert Wike
filed a lawsuit in Hillsborough County Superior Court asking
a judge to overrule the decision.
Scott Gross, a school board member and kindergarten supporter,
said architectural design work is supposed to start next month,
but without a resolution to the litigation by Oct. 1, it will
not. The chance of meeting that deadline is "highly unlikely,"
he said.
At their Aug. 23 meeting, school board members instructed SAU
19 Superintendent Darrell Lockwood to inform Nicholas Donohue,
commissioner of the state's Department of Education, that the
district will not have public kindergarten for the 2005-06 school
year. Additionally, letters were sent to private kindergartens
in the area, advising them to be prepared to continue accepting
most Goffstown kindergartners.
Gross said the decision was also made to begin looking at other
land parcels.
In the current proposal, the district will receive a 10-acre
parcel for free from the developer. Gross said he is not optimistic
a similar deal could be found.
"We had an awful time looking at the other sites over the
past two years," he said. "And the price tag, if anything,
has only gone up."
Another Goffstown builder, Ed Monty, said his development company,
Brookfield Investment Group, is willing to offer the district
a parcel of land near Goffstown High School, to build the kindergarten
on.
Monty said he has made the offer numerous times since 2002, but
Lockwood has said he has never seen a formal, written version
of the offer. Monty says this is not true.
"Our offer is still on the table, but they don't want to
talk to us," he said.
Lockwood was unavailable for comment by press time.
Last chance for settlement?
"From my point of view, this whole process of bringing the
public kindergarten to Goffstown has been a complete rollercoaster,"
Gross said. "And every time you turn the corner, it's a
high and a low again."
Gross said the school board would be filing a motion for an expedited
hearing, on the basis that the proposal is a "community
project," and any delay will affect all citizens.
Gross said efforts will also be made to settle the matter out
of court.
"We've asked our attorney to extend an olive branch to Mike
Ryan," he said, referring to the Goffstown attorney representing
the three abutters in their lawsuit.
"Just knowing that litigation can cost huge sums of money,
we offered to mediate this dispute," Gross said. "It
could save the litigants thousands of dollars in legal fees and
save us hundreds of thousands in construction costs (because
of delays in building.)"
Ryan could not be reached for comment.
Lockwood and developer Tony Marts a principal in Timberstone
Realty, who is proposing the housing subdivision have traded
shots with Ryan over his allegations kindergarten supporters
pressured the planning board into making a hasty decision. In
July, Marts said he intended to file a lawsuit of his own against
one of the abutters, and as recently as three weeks ago, Lockwood
said the abutters' litigation is holding public kindergarten
"hostage."
Despite the recent animosity, Gross said he wants to avoid a
prolonged battle.
Aside from the money, Gross said the dispute is emotionally taxing
and ultimately would harm the community's children.
"This thing has been a very, very emotional process for
everyone involved and it's very tiring," he said.
"For me, it's definitely a very gut-wrenching dilemma to
be in knowing that upwards of 200 kids aren't going to
get that education we thought they would.
That's a difficult pill to swallow."
Weare
Just a few mouse clicks could win ballfield
lights
By JENNIFER CLAISE
Staff Writer
jclaise@yourneighborhoodnews.com
The president of the Weare Athletic Club
said he views the online contest to win lighting for the Bolton
baseball field as a showdown between David and Goliath.
That's because the town of about 8,000 people is competing against
several larger cities and towns in the state and in
Massachusetts to win a $40,000 lighting system for the field
from Granite City Electric the same company that lights
Fenway Park.
"Winning this contest is the only way we'll ever get lights
out on that field," said President Robert Nelson.
According to Nelson, the club brings baseball to about 450 children
each year, about half of whom play on the field in the running
to win the lights. They do so without receiving any money from
the town, he added.
There are 27 other cities and towns vying to win the Hubble Sports
Lighting Four-Pole System, which includes ballasts, housings,
mounting hardware, lamps and installation.
As of Aug. 18, the latest date for which vote tallies were available,
Weare was in 11th place with 951 votes. The leader was Pembroke,
Mass., with 2,434 votes. The only other New Hampshire community
with more votes than Weare was Nashua, with 1,347 votes.
"That's pretty impressive for such a small community,"
Nelson said. "We're not out of the running at all."
In the essay he wrote to enter the town in the contest, Nelson
explained how the field's remote location makes it a perfect
place for a lighted baseball field.
"The field is surrounded by woods, which gives us a decided
advantage because there are no neighbors to upset by using the
lights at night," Nelson said.
Additionally, having a lighted field would loosen up the field's
tight schedule by allowing some games to be played at night.
This is important, since the club does not have the money necessary
to build another field, Nelson said.
"Help us, please," Nelson urged. "We're competing
against the Goliath of Massachusetts, but we can win."
New
Boston
Satellite tracking station
is researching its history
New Boston Air Force Station
wants to hear from those who know stories from the past
By DEVON CORMIER
Staff Writer
dcormier@yourneighborhoodnews.com
Mysterious and interesting
town history may resurface soon, thanks to an oral history project
at the New Boston Air Force Station.
The station will be attempting to find people who witnessed different
stages of the station's land, which began as farm land, then
became a bombing range and is presently a vital piece of the
space program.
Natural Resource Planner Stephen Najjar said they have been searching
for people to interview through September to talk about all of
the stages of the station's history.
"We want to get people or relatives that have seen this
and capture it before it's too late," Najjar said.
In 1942, the U.S. military bought some small farms from town
families and turned the land into a bombing range. During World
War II, the area was a bombing range for the U.S. Army Air Corps
from Greinier Field.
In 1956, the land ceased being used as an active bombing range.
By 1960, the Air Force had set up the satellite tracking station,
where they continue to track satellites to this day.
Najjar is working with forest archeologist Milo McLeod to conduct
oral history interviews as part of a cultural resources plan.
They hope to conduct interviews in mid-September and urge anyone
with information about the earlier days of the station to contact
Najjar at 471-2426.
"There were still a few people living on the land when the
government took it over," Najjar said. "There are relatives
in the area and people worked here pilots bombed it. We
need to find some people."
Najjar said they have been able to track many space operators
that worked at the tracking station to interview, but are still
searching for some pre- and post-World War II subjects to speak
with. They are also looking for any photos, newspaper articles
or information about the station.
McLeod said this is just one of the projects they have been pursuing
for their cultural resources plan. This by far is the most exciting,
he said.
Interviewees will be given a copy of their interview and the
collection will likely go to the New Hampshire Historical Society
upon completion. All recordings will be available to the public.
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