YourNeighborhoodNews.com: The Hooksett Banner

We look forward to having David Jodoin as Hooksett's latest town administrator. It must be a tough job. Yeah, yeah, we know the official reasons given for the last three people leaving, but they all sounded to us like the politically correct reasons to give, not the real reasons. It's apparently not the best situation for people who are used to military life or ready for an easy retirement job.

Hooksett needs someone who can bring together the varied personalities on the town council and department heads, listen to the needs of the residents and work to improve life in town. Jodoin certainly had similar issues in Allenstown, which is sorry to see him leave. While Jodoin must answer to the town council, he can also help them lead the town to a better standard of living.

We wish him the best of luck in the new job. Help us welcome him to town, his hometown, on Monday, July 11, 9 to 11 a.m., at the Hooksett Town Hall.

-Editorials published by Neighborhood News Inc. are written by an editorial board. The board is composed of Publisher and President Amy J. Vellucci, Executive Editor Ginger Kozlowski and Managing Editor Christine Heiser.
Ginger Kozlowski

In its third year, this ongoing project, "Proudly Our Colors Fly," would not be possible without their assistance.

In addition, their fast response in removing all the damaged flags after a recent severe storm was greatly appreciated.

Contributions to this ongoing program can be made to the Pembroke Woman's Club and forwarded to Lorette Girard, 181 Evergreen Lane, Pembroke, NH 03275. The cost per flag is $75. However, all monetary donations will be accepted for the replacement of broken poles and flag maintenance.

We seem to have a problem with that in my New Hampshire hometown. I suspect the town employees and department heads in my community know there is no official method in place for ordinary citizens to report and record town employee indifference or disregard to their requests. It seems to me that the some employees and their department heads take advantage of this situation to avoid responding to the requests of the very people that fund their paychecks.

Certainly other communities in New Hampshire have also experienced this problem and have developed some sort of system to resolve issues between taxpayers and their paid town employees.

I would like to learn what they have done. Please e-mail me your town's solution this is thorny problem. I can be reached at pauloman@pauloman.com.

Because of the community's generosity, the event was a huge success, and we were able to raise almost $10,000 that will be used to provide care for Manchester's homeless and neglected animals.

Photos of PetWalk are now available online at community.webshots.com/ album/363663768UvekQc (view in slideshow mode). Pictures will be added to this site as they become available.

FMAS, located at 490 Dunbarton Road, Manchester, is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to providing critical medical care, food and foster care for sick, injured and pregnant pets; as well as comfort and care for homeless animals and relies heavily on the local community for our day to day operational expenses. We believe that all animals are deserving of life, respect and care. To that end, our goal is zero population growth through spay and neuter programs and services that focus on education, medical care, fostering and adoption.

We are very excited to announce that our "11th Annual PetWalk" fundraiser has been scheduled for Sunday, June 4, 2006, with a rain date of Sunday, June 11, 2006. We hope everyone will be able to join us!

Thank you again to everyone for their generosity and helping us to make "PetWalk" a HUGE success! Not only do we appreciate it c the animals do as well.

Laurie Plumley
10th Annual
PetWalk Coordinator
Board of Directors
Friends of the Manchester
Animal Shelter

Effects on adults include memory and heart problems. Many animal species are also being seriously harmed by mercury, among them birds and fish.

The EPA has determined that 75 percent of fish in New Hampshire's waters have unsafe mercury levels, triggering a statewide fish-eating advisory. This jeopardizes our recreational fishing industry, which generates $316 million annually and employs more than 3,100 people.

New Hampshire is home to one of the nation's worst mercury "hot spots." Let's take advantage of the opportunity presented by SB128, and reverse this trend.

Please contact our legislators and urge them to clean up the mercury by supporting SB128.

Right now, there is mass genocide going on in Darfur. The majority of the United States population does not know of the existence of the mass murders going on in western Sudan.

Put yourself in the Darfurians . place. Family and friends are being murdered, raped and tortured (I shouldn't have to say what else . you can imagine). The sad thing is, us Americans are doing nothing about it and I hope that can change.

The attacks on the people of Darfur are led by paid mercenaries (Arab militia) known as the Janjaweed. Is there something wrong with the Darfurians? No, it's just that they're taking up space . isn't that sad.

What happens is the government goes in and sprays the housing of the Darfurians with bullets and bombs. Then after their attacks, the Janjaweeds come in, on the ground, take all their valuables and make sure everyone is dead. Those who survive flee to refugee camps where they are dying of starvation and disease. So do you think we should do something?

The bad thing is the Bush administration is doing nothing about Darfur because "it does not affect us." I hope my letter will affect you and will lead to other citizens writing letters to newspaper companies, U's. and world officials. Then finally, President Bush might do something about this genocide and realize that we do care about the innocent people being killed and tortured in Darfur, Sudan.

Then I found out that genocide is still occurring today in the Darfur region of Sudan.

What saddened me even more is that very little is being done to stop what is going on.

Horrible events are happening in Darfur, Sudan. So far, it is estimated that more than 400,000 Darfurians have died in the attacks or in the camps that they are in. Recently, the death toll has risen to 500 a day due to illness or starvation.

The most disturbing part about it, though, is that the Sudanese government is supplying the group leading the attacks. The Janjaweed are hired thugs that are doing all the killing, and with their government behind them, there is no one to stop them.

The African Union has sent around 2,300 troops to Darfur, but they are no match against 20,000 Janjaweed. It's believed that 50,000 troops are needed to control the situation . that's more than half the amount of soldiers the U's. currently has in Afghanistan.

Not much is being done by other countries to stop this genocide either. The topic has come up in the U.N., but any chance of intervention has been put down for the time.

In the U's., Bush has complicated the Darfur Accountability Act. The act would freeze all bank accounts of those helping the attacks and create a no-fly zone over Darfur.

What happened during the Holocaust is still happening today. After the recent tsunami hit southern Asia, people from around the globe came together to help. The world was powerless to stop the tsunami. What is even worse is that something can be done to halt the genocide occurring right now in Darfur, Sudan. But the world is not responding.

To me, not doing anything is just as bad as the Sudanese government, the Janjaweed or even the Nazis. How many innocent people have to die before the world acknowledges that there's a problem that needs to be fixed?

The Wolves run a great show and our players and staff are a cut above the rest. No matter where we see them, on the field or off, they represent all that's positive about professional sports.

My teenage son saw one of the players at the mall the other day and he took the time to stop and talk to my son. I work at the Greater Manchester Family YMCA where several of the players come to work out. One of our staff has a mentally challenged son who went to a game and has not stopped talking about the Wolves since. A player not only brought him a shirt, but it was signed by the entire team.

These are just some of the reasons our team is a cut above the rest. These are the role models I want for my children. Not so in other arenas. Friends and I had the opportunity to attend an away game for the first time this past weekend in Albany. We were shocked and disappointed in our entire experience there.

Having become used to the pride, determination and motivation that we see here, we expected the same there. But there was none of that there, even their own fans are unsupportive. Which is not surprising considering the ethics of that organization.

The Albany Conquest coach's behavior after that game was appalling, the entire organization should hang their collective heads in shame. I was struck by a wayward ball during the game and as I was trying to see straight, an Albany Conquest staff person picked up my ball and handed it to a corporate sponsor.

That's OK guys, you keep the ball. We got the win. We've also got the most stand-up organization in the league. Come to a game and see what I'm talking about. Kudos to the owners, staff, coaches and players for making the Manchester Wolves a gold standard in arena football.

Locally, the Irving Gas Station in Raymond raised more than $2,300 for Special Olympics.

I would like to thank Teresa Bolduc and her staff from the Raymond Irving along with Officer Vic Barard and his fellow officers from the Raymond Police Department for making this a tremendous event.

My team looks forward to this yearly event and meeeting the generous people of Raymond.

Once again, thanks to all who helped in making this event successful, especially the folks of Raymond and its surrounding communities.

They are targeting people driving without a license. I believe that charge would allow the police to ask the criminals why they don't have a license. The individuals arrested have all said they couldn't get a license because they were illegal immigrants.