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Epsom
Operation Backpack
Students send packs full of goodies to
hurricane victims
By JODI WOLFE
Staff Writer
jwolfe@yourneighborhoodnews.com
Students, parents, faculty and staff at
Epsom Central School have completed Operation Backpack, filling
260 backpacks with school supplies and toys for children in emergency
shelters in Florida.
The idea came to Principal Jane Fargo after watching CNN and
seeing what the hurricane victims were going through. She remembered
when she worked in the Watertown, N.Y., shelters during the ice
storm of 1998.
"There was nothing for the kids to do," she said.
After thinking about that and working with the Concord YMCA,
Operation Backpack was born.
The Concord YMCA has contacted YMCAs in Pensacola, Fla., that
are keeping track of children from their after-school programs
who are in emergency shelters. The backpacks will be distributed
directly to those children by the YMCAs in Pensacola.
"So they are a direct link getting them to kids," Fargo
said.
Monday morning, Sept. 20, the word got out to local businesses
and to the Epsom Central School parents about giving donations
for Operation Backpack.
Several area businesses including both the Concord and Hooksett
Wal-Marts, Target, Staples, Route 4 Motors, Epsom House of Pizza
and Shaw's in Fort Eddy
Plaza in Concord donated money for supplies and supplies of their
own.
The Concord YMCA donated 100 footballs and the children in its
after-school program donated toys and supplies for Operation
Backpack.
"We were just flooded with items," Fargo said. "The
response has been astronomical."
Fargo said she was trying to involve the Epsom Central School
students as much as possible.
Supplies were gathered in the libraries divided up for boys and
girls and groups of students came in to fill them. There were
pencils, coloring books, yo-yos and craft bead items, among other
things.
"We wanted to do more than school items because kids need
something to play with," said Fargo.
Kaitlin Cote, 13, and her friend Kaitlyn Moulton, 13, both in
eighth grade, helped stuff many of the backpacks being sent.
"It's for a very good cause," Moulton said. "It
was sad just watching it on TV not actually going through
it."
Thirteen-year-old Vincent Miranda, also in the eighth grade,
brought in $10, some school supplies and some toys.
"I think it's really cool because we get to help kids and
other people," he said. "I think it's really sad they
lost their homes and have to live in schools and stuff."
Fifth-grader Robby Begin, 10, agreed.
"I think it's for a good reason because they have nothing
and we have almost everything we want."
The backpacks were expected to be shipped out on Wednesday, Sept.
29.
Candia
Tempers flare over recycling
Warning letters given to residents with
recyclable items in their trash bags
By JENNIFER CLAISE
Staff Writer
jclaise@yourneighborhoodnews.com
If your garbage bag makes a "clink"
or a "thunk" against the cement of the recycling center's
floor on the way to the incinerator, chances are there's something
in there that should be recycled.
And, chances are, Gary York will find out about it.
In a little over a month since the selectman has taken over as
supervisor at the town's recycling center, York has stepped up
enforcement, and has already sent out more than 160 letters of
violation to people who are found to have recyclable material
mixed in their garbage. There are approximately 4,400 people
living in the town.
Steve Bunnell, the former supervisor, is on leave with a shoulder
injury that is unrelated to his work, York said.
York, a state-licensed Level IV incinerator operator, estimated
that only about 20 percent of residents fully comply with proper
recycling procedures, such as separating glass, aluminum, tin,
batteries, scrap metal, wood, and mixed paper products such as
cardboard boxes and junk mail "anything you can tear
in the paper world," York said.
And he said it is usually easy to identify bags containing these
materials, because of the noise they make when they're dropped
on the floor.
York demonstrated this point at a selectmen's meeting Monday,
Sept. 27, where he laid out a collection of items including
paint cans, metal scraps, lightbulbs, a propane tank and cardboard
beer boxes that must be separated from the regular trash.
He dropped several of the items on the table, illustrating the
noise they make when they are dropped.
"For the person who said you can't hear it when one light
bulb is dropped, you can," said York, dropping the bulb
wrapped in a trash bag.
Some of the metal and glass items York brought had already been
burned and were found in the ash stream, York said.
When a recyclable item is heard or suspected, the bag is opened
and searched for envelopes or anything else that might have the
name and address of the person who disposed of it.
For a first offense, the letter of violation is just a warning.
"We notify them that we have found recyclables in their
waste stream, and that they need to do better in the future,"
York said.
The next letter carries a $25 fine, which can increase to up
to $1,000 for subsequent violations.
But fellow Selectman Clark Thyng, chairman of the board, thinks
York may be being a bit too overzealous in searching for prohibited
items.
While he admits the current regulations need to be enforced since
glass, metal and ceramic items can damage the incinerator, he
said the sudden barrage of letters has confused and upset town
residents.
For example, Thyng said he spent an hour talking with a resident
who was cited for having one light bulb mixed in with his regular
trash.
"We're understaffed already at the recycling center, but
we have people to search through the trash?" Thyng asked.
Thyng, whose wife received a letter of warning, said residents
should have gotten more education about the town's recycling
rules before the letters went out.
But Al Couch, chairman of the solid waste committee, said it's
not so much a matter of education as it is common sense.
"It's obvious that you don't put a propane tank into the
incinerator it's going to explode," Couch said.
Additionally, Thyng said, York might be jeopardizing future plans
for an in-town transfer station. If people are upset by the letters
and fines, they could vote down any proposal, regardless of its
benefits to the town.
The solid waste committee is working hard to bring its proposal
to construct the transfer station before voters again in March,
York said. The committee is considering several locations for
the facility.
At the March 2004 meeting, a majority of the voters approved
of building the station, but the town failed to get the required
two-thirds of registered voters necessary to pass a bond issue.
They were only short by about 25 votes, York estimated.
With the potential of a $1 per ton charge levied on a private
trash hauler, the town could take in as much as $500 a day if
the station brought in 500 tons a day. Trash from Candia and
other communities would be stored at the facility.
Currently, the recycling center takes in about 20 to 25 tons
of garbage each week, York said.
But for now, York said the town should be concerned with the
proper operation of the current facility.
"Education is our primary focus right now, and making sure
things are being done properly," York said. "It's in
everyone's best interest tax-wise, and in the best interest of
our incinerator, to keep things out that can be recycled and
can do severe damage to it."
The town is paid $50 per ton for mixed paper that is taken out
of the facility, York said.
He added there are only a handful of municipal-sized incinerators
left in the state. And, the selectmen are unsure whether the
town's incinerator will be issued a new permit when the current
permit expires in 2008.
York has also begun to issue new vehicle stickers to monitor
who is going in and out of the facility and to prevent illegal
dumping by out-of-town residents. Everyone who uses the facility
is required to display a sticker on his or her vehicle.
Hooksett
Hooksett studies future need for high
school
By JENNIFER CLAISE
Staff Writer
jclaise@yourneighborhoodnews.com
The New Hampshire School Administration
Association is studying the town's need for a new elementary
school, and is also considering when and where it might be wise
to consider the construction of a town high school, school officials
said.
School Board Chairman Jim Sullivan said the association had the
winning bid to do the study, which the board authorized earlier
this summer for an amount not to exceed $10,500.
According to Superintendent Armand LaSelva, the results of the
study should be delivered later this winter or early in the spring.
It is too early to project possible locations or costs of the
facilities, officials said.
Despite the recent construction of the Cawley Middle School,
and the massive renovation of the Memorial School, the town will
undoubtedly need more room to accommodate students in the near
future, LaSelva said.
"We're a growing community, and there are a lot of potential
building sites available," LaSelva said. "We still
have plenty of room in town, especially for residential housing
units, which will bring in families."
Which, in turn, will increase the student population, he said.
"That's why we need to look ahead and do this efficiently,"
he added.
Still, he added, there is no hurry to make either decision, since
the town is currently meeting its needs adequately.
School Administrative Unit 15, which consists of the schools
in Candia, Auburn and Hooksett, recently signed a 20-year contract
with Manchester. Hooksett students attend either Central or West
high schools, depending where in town they live.
"There's no real urgency to rush to a decision. We're just
being proactive and looking ahead," LaSelva said. "When
is this going to be an issue, and where would the schools be
going that's what we're looking at right now."
Additionally, the study committee will be looking at what types
of programs the high school could offer. This is important to
both parents and students, LaSelva said, since large high schools
such as Central and West can offer students a number of programs
that smaller high schools are usually unable to offer.
"We want to see the number of alternatives we could offer
to students," LaSelva said.
Additionally, the superintendent said a new elementary school
is not an immediate priority, but that the school board will
be looking at potential improvements to Underhill School, which
now serves students in grades K to 2.
The newly renovated Memorial School, which now serves students
in grades 3 to 5, cost the town an estimated $8 million. The
construction of Cawley Middle School, which serves students in
grades 6 to 8, came with a price tag of about $13 million.
Hooksett
Emmanuel Baptist Church
celebrates its growth
By DEVON CORMIER
Staff Writer
dcormier@yourneighborhoodnews.com
Emmanuel Baptist Church now has a new addition.
But don't be mistaken, Pastor Ron Clow will tell you: A church
isn't the building, its people are. And now more people will
be able to participate thanks to the extra space.
Clow, 10-year pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, said he grew
up in a different denomination, though his heart wasn't in it.
Years later, he was going through hard times with his wife when
someone invited them to a tabernacle Baptist church in Litchfield.
"I went unwillingly, but it was there where I met Christ,"
Clow said. "That was the first time I accepted him as my
savior. Then he called me to preach. He didn't talk to me, he
just put it in my heart gave me the desire."
Clow joined Emmanuel Baptist Church when it was just a little
house in Manchester. As the members multiplied, the church moved
to two other spots in the city. Twenty years ago, the church
moved to Mammoth Road in Hooksett, where all its followers could
comfortably fit.
The church continued to grow and the members came together the
same way they did the first time. They got a bond and built a
new sanctuary where close to 600 people can now worship.
"This building was built by the congregation," Clow
said. "They physically came over here and put up the walls.
They did the new one the same way. They put their hearts and
souls and blood into it."
The original space barely fit about 350 people. Clow said it
certainly created a problem, but he is delighted to watch his
congregation continue to grow, especially in these times of crisis
in the Catholic church.
"It's wonderful," Clow said. "Anytime your life
can have an effect and touch someone else's that's success
in the eyes of God."
When the church was in a less-than-privileged Manchester neighborhood,
Clow said he could actually watch the church make a difference.
"It was a drug-infested neighborhood and a lot of the people
from the community came in and their lives changed completely,"
Clow said.
But it's not always that easy. Clow said some days he wonders
if he's helping people, if he's making a difference. But no matter
how discouraged he can get, he always finds the reward sooner
or later.
"Wherever there are people, there are difficulties,"
said Clow.
Clow is surprised and pleased that he has been the pastor of
Emmanuel Baptist Church for 10 years partly due to his shyness,
and because pastors usually only last five years before they
get moved, said Clow. His church isn't affiliated with any higher
authority.
"I am very shy, but God gives you what you need when you
need it," Clow said. "I'm glad I've been here for so
long. It's because our church has no authority except that of
God himself."
The dedication ceremony for the new sanctuary will be at 11 a.m.
on Sunday, Oct. 3. There will be a free barbecue afterwards and
everyone is invited to attend. The church is located at 14 Mammoth
Road.
"We are a big family," Clow said. "But we are
always looking to extend it."
Hooksett
Hooksett Memorial School to be rededicated
Oct. 2
By JENNIFER CLAISE
Staff Writer
jclaise@yourneighborhoodnews.com
The newly renovated Hooksett Memorial School
will be shown off to town officials and residents at its rededication
Saturday, Oct. 2, at 1 p.m.
According to school board member Joanne McHugh, who is working
with Memorial Principal Carol Soucy to organize the event, several
school officials and members of the board will speak about the
renovations. Students and staff members will then give tours
of the building after the ceremony.
School board member John Pieroni, who was on Memorial's building
committee, will speak about the construction, and member Ron
Dion will explain the meaning of the school's name, and why they
decided to stick with it.
School Board Chairman Jim Sullivan and SAU 15 Superintendent
Armand LaSelva will also speak, expressing their appreciation
to the community for the new facility, McHugh said.
"I think the community should be really proud of this project,
since it's their trust and support that enabled us to go forward
with the new school," McHugh said.
And all Hooksett residents are welcome to attend the ceremony,
she added.
"I think it's important for the people to see how their
tax dollars are being used," she said.
Memorial students are also scheduled to speak about what the
new school means to them, and some members of the band and chorus
will perform during the ceremony.
McHugh said she is also trying to get the town's Girl Scouts
and Boy Scouts, along with members of the American Legion, to
put on a color guard performance.
Teachers from the school will be providing free refreshments
for everyone in attendance as a thank you for the community,
McHugh said.
Memorial School reopened its doors to third-, fourth- and fifth-graders
on Sept. 1. The facility boasts a number of new features, including
a new cafeteria, media center and a new wing with 16 additional
classrooms. The renovations cost the town an estimated $8 million.
Hooksett
SNHU shows off new student housing
By JENNIFER CLAISE
Staff Writer
jclaise@yourneighborhoodnews.com
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Southern New Hampshire University officials
showed off the school's new East Side Apartment Complex, which
features 52 suites loaded with amenities, at a grand opening
Friday, Sept. 17.
The apartments, which are located off North River Road in Hooksett,
are the new homes of about 200 students mostly juniors
and seniors, since placement is determined by a lottery based
on credits.
The SNHU campus straddles the border of Manchester and Hooksett.
According to Robert Schiavoni, the director
of residence life, the construction took a little over a year
to be completed.
"We've gotten some really good feedback on it, and I've
heard a lot of positive comments so far," Schiavoni said.
Students who moved in Sept. 6 found themselves in fully furnished
apartments with a full-size bathroom, and a kitchen with a refrigerator,
stove, microwave and breakfast bar.
The kitchen seemed to be a big hit with students.
"It's good, since I'm an unbelievable
chef," joked Steve Iovanna, a junior economics major.
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RIGHT AT HOME Steve Iovanna,
a junior economics major, and Jon Becker, a senior business administration
major, relaxed and watched the Ryder Cup on television in their
living room Friday, Sept. 17, during the grand opening of the
school's new apartments. The students' four-bedroom suite, which
they moved into in early September, came fully furnished not
including the television. (J. Claise Photo)
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Additionally, the students each have
their own bedrooms, which are about 9 feet by 12 feet and are
wired for telephone, cable and Internet access.
Most of the suites are shared by four students, although some
have only three.
Both Conway and Lincoln halls also feature a game room with a
pool table and vending machines, and a laundry room. Conway Hall
has a meeting room.
Schiavoni said students were asked to contribute ideas for what
they'd like to see in the new apartments, and the final result
is a compilation of many of those ideas.
Jon Becker, a senior business administration major and Iovanna's
roommate, said that apartment living definitely beats life in
the dorms.
"We've got more space, our own rooms and our own bathroom,
which is really nice," Becker said.
According to the school's residence life Web site, students pay
about $7,000 a year to live in the apartments. This is an increase
of a few thousand dollars from what it costs to live in one of
the school's dorms, the figures show.
The university has approximately 1,800 on-campus undergraduate
students, Schiavoni said.
Candia
Town Web site in the works
By JENNIFER CLAISE
Staff Writer
jclaise@yourneighborhoodnews.com
Selectman Gary York is
working with a Newmarket-based design firm to create the town's
first official Web site, which he hopes will be launched in the
next six to eight weeks.
The site will be a comprehensive guide to Candia, and will include
mission statements, contact information and hours for the town's
various departments.
Meeting agendas and minutes will be able to be easily pulled
up there as well, York said.
All of the property appraisal information from the town's recent
revaluation will also be located on the Web site, which is being
designed by Chris Archilla of Fourae Graphics.
Archilla has also designed the official town Web sites for Stratham,
Exeter and Newmarket, York said.
York has already seen part of the site's template and is quite
pleased with it.
"It's going to be very creative and user-friendly,"
York said. "The good thing about it is that it's not identical
to the other towns' sites. It will have its own individual style."
York and Archilla are still working to fine tune the site, which
will eventually be run by one of the selectmen, York said.
He added that part of the cost to develop the site will likely
be covered by a $5,000 state grant from the Department of Resource
and Economic Development, since there is an interest in developing
the town as an economically viable location for businesses.
The other $5,000 will be matched by the town, York said.
Other bids he received to develop the site ranged from $20,000
to $30,000, he added, so the decision to use Fourae saved money
while still ensuring a nice presentation, York said.
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