Election Day is Tuesday, March 10. Polls will be open from 7 am to 7
pm. Voting will take place at St. Joseph Church Parish Center
located on Rt. 4 next to the town hall. The Northwood Voter Guide
was distributed in last week’s Sun. The voter guide provides a
complete list of all warrant articles that will be on the ballot.
Additional copies are available at the town hall during regular
business hours and may be viewed online at
www.northwoodnh.org The official ballot will also include
election of all open positions for town and school district.
Contested races include selectman: Robert Holden (i), Rick Wolf;
road agent: Ron MacElman, Michael Lockard; planning board-2 seats:
Robert Strobel (i), Joseph McCaffrey (i), Betty Smith; police
commission: Richard Cummings (i), Ken Rick and school board member-2
seats: Scott Bulger (i), Tim Jandebeur (i), Barbie Hartford. (i)
indicates incumbent. There are 3 people on the ballot for 4 open
positions on the budget committee. A resident may want to consider
promoting a write in effort if interested in the open seat.
The
print edition of the annual town report is available to pick up at
the town hall or at the polls on Election Day. A pdf version is also
on the town website-please note that it may take a few minutes to
download due to the size of the document. The annual report includes
town and school warrants, proposed budgets, financial reports,
reports of departments and commissions, and contact information and
schedules of town departments.
World
Day Of Prayer
The
2015 World Day of Prayer service will be held at St. Joseph’s
Catholic Church on Friday, March 6 at 1 pm. As has been the custom
for many years, all churches in Northwood will join together for
this community prayer service. St. Joseph’s Church is located next
to the town hall, near the intersection of Rt. 4 and Bow Lake Road
in Northwood Center. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Northwood School will be hosting a Red Cross Blood Drive on Friday
afternoon, March 13, 2015 from 2:30-7:30, in the cafeteria. The need
for blood donations is very high at this time. Due to the winter
weather, many blood drives have had to be cancelled causing an
increase in the need for donations. Appointments are recommended,
but not required. To schedule an appointment please call 1-800-RED
CROSS (733-2767) or go online at
redcrossblood.org.
Hope to
see you there!
Several
Local Volunteers Will Brave The Shave To Support Childhood Cancer
Research
St.
Baldrick’s Foundation event to raise money for lifesaving research
The St.
Baldrick’s Foundation, a volunteer-driven organization dedicated to
raising money for children’s cancer research, will host one of its
signature head-shaving events at Cooper Hill Pizzeria on March 21,
2015, from noon to 4:00 pm, where more than a dozen will brave the
shave in solidarity with kids with cancer and raise money to Conquer
Childhood Cancers!
Why all
the shaved heads? Worldwide a child is diagnosed with cancer every
three minutes, and one in five children diagnosed in the U.S. will
not survive. With only 4 percent of all federal cancer research
funding dedicated to pediatric cancer research, St. Baldrick’s
Foundation volunteers, supporters and donors are needed to continue
the battle against this devastating disease.
Sheila
Holmes from Halos and Cheryl Higgins from Cheryl’s Haircuts will
once again do the shaving of those heads, and the occasional beard,
of those who have signed up prior to the event as well as any who
stop by on the day of the event and wish to join in the fun. For the
donation of $20.00, anyone (male or female) is welcome to support
this great cause, and get their head shaved. For $50.00, a t-shirt
is given along with the shave.
There
will be drawings for donated items all afternoon, as well as a
couple of specials from the menu of Cooper Hill.
This is
the third year that this event has been hosted by Cooper Hill
Pizzeria, with last year realizing over $8,000 in donations. Please
join us for this worthwhile event. About St. Baldrick’s Foundation
The St.
Baldrick’s Foundation is a volunteer-driven charity committed to
funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood
cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives. St. Baldrick’s
coordinates its signature headshaving events worldwide where
participants collect pledges to shave their heads in solidarity with
kids with cancer, raising money to fund research. Since 2005, St.
Baldrick’ s has awarded more than $154 million to support lifesaving
research, making the Foundation the largest private funder of
childhood cancer research grants. St. Baldrick’s funds are granted
to some of the most brilliant childhood cancer research experts in
the world and to younger professionals who will be the experts of
tomorrow. Funds awarded also enable hundreds oflocal institutions to
participate in national pediatric cancer clinical trials, and the
new International Scholar grants train researchers to work in
developing countries. For more information about the St. Baldrick’s
Foundation please call 1.888.899.BALD or visit
www.StBaldricks.org.
Letter
To The Editor
Please
be sure to vote next Tuesday to elect the candidate of your choice
who will represent you for the next three years. I feel privileged
by the voters of Northwood who have allowed me to serve as their
police commissioner for a number of years. I seek your support on
Election Day to continue to serve the community in this position. I
am a lifelong resident of Northwood, have served as chairman of the
recreation commission and currently represent the police commission
as a member of the safety complex committee. My other community
service has been with the Saddleback Lions Club as member and past
president. I am a veteran, having served in the U.S. Army in
Vietnam.
As
chairman of the commission this year, I endorsed the moving of our
meetings to the town hall at a later time of day to allow greater
access to the public. I ask for your vote to continue to serve you
as Northwood Police Commissioner.
Richard
Cummings
Letter
To The Editor
My name
is Yvonne Dean-Bailey and I am running in the Republican Primary for
the State Representative Special Election on MARCH 31ST in the towns
of Northwood, Nottingham, Deerfield and Candia. I am running because
I believe we need fresh, exciting, and passionate conservative
voices in Concord. I am running because I am tired of the reckless
spending, increased taxation, and the increased fees that have
become commonplace in the capital. My generation is the one that is
going to get the bill and quite frankly, we can’t afford it.
We need
young, passionate leaders that will advocate for fiscally
conservative policies in Concord so future generations will not have
to bear the burden of big government spending. If elected, I will be
a strong voice against risky spending and increased taxation in
Concord. I will work to bring local control back to New Hampshire
towns and school boards.
The job
of the government is to protect our liberties and our Constitutional
rights as American citizens and Granite Staters. I am a strong
supporter of the Second Amendment and a member of the NRA. I am free
speech advocate and I will fight for a better economic climate for
consumers and businesses in Concord. If elected, I will fight for
the Constitution, I will fight for our families and I will fight for
our businesses. Please consider supporting me in the Republican
Primary on MARCH 31ST. If you have any questions, please email me at
[email protected]
Yvonne
M. Dean-Bailey
Northwood
Discover Your Family Roots!
The
Chesley Memorial Library will hold a basic genealogy workshop led by
David Ramsey on Saturday, March 14, from 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Spend
an hour or two learning the basics of genealogy through Ancestry
Library Edition. Participants will learn how to use the Ancestry
programs to find information about their parents and grandparents.
Please
bring any information you have about your relatives… births, deaths,
and marriages all help to narrow down a search.
It’s
fun to discover who came before us! Where did previous generations
come from? How did they live? What did they fight for? And how did
their lives affect yours?
Historical records and photos hold so many answers about the
fascinating people in history. Ancestry Library Edition puts them at
your fingertips, enabling both research and inviting critical
thinking. Ancestry Library Edition provides access to billions of
historical documents, millions of historical photos, plus local
narratives, oral histories, indexes and other resources in over
30,000 databases that span from the 1500s to the 2000s.
The
Chesley Memorial Library once again has access to Ancestry Library
Edition thanks to the Friends of the Northwood Libraries. Join us
for the basic genealogy workshop or stop in and use one of our
public access computers to start your genealogy search today.
Letter
To The
Voters Of Northwood:
On
March 10th you will be asked to vote on authorizing the selectmen to
appoint the town highway road agent. Currently you, the voter elect
whom you prefer. Before you give up that privilege to vote would
you please consider this; currently State Statue says an appointed
or elected Highway Agent is under the direction of the Board of
Selectmen. We know this is true because the Selectmen directed our
Highway Agent to do other projects around town that do not pertain
to Highway Maintenance. The taxpayers spent money to send our
Highway Agent to UNH for a program to better educate agents on
maintenance, construction, paving, plowing, etc., which our border
towns have done also.
We also
have a Highway Advisory Committee made up of business owners and
very knowledgeable people in these areas. On two occasions I know of
we asked a resident who worked for the UNH Program to advise the
committee, Highway Agent and Selectmen on the needs of the roads and
how to meet the needs in a cost effective manor, none of which has
happened. As I see a difference in the roads in our border towns
where their agents have the same UNH education and under the
direction of their Selectmen I’m not sure our selectmen will make
the proper decisions for us.
I feel
the current way of electing our road agent is appropriate but at the
same time we must make sure the Selectmen take the advise of the
resources we currently have.
Thank
you.
Bruce
Hodgdon
Northwood Recreation Update
By
Kathy Coe, Recreation Director
Saturday, February 21st was a very cold day for ice fishing.
Despite the cold, many members of the community still participated
in the Ice Fishing Derby. The derby was held on Harvey Lake from 8
AM to noon. Thirty nine children competed to win prizes in four
categories in the following age brackets: 6 years & under, 7 – 10
years old, and 11 – 15 years old.
The
early birds caught the first fish of the day. The winner of the
first fish was Owen Wood, 7, at 9:32. The winners of the longest
fish were Emma-Lee Place, 6, fish length: 12 3/4”; Ben Place, 9,
fish size: 13 3/4”; and Cole Hodgdon, 13, fish size: 11 1/2”.
Participants then competed for the 2nd longest fish. The winners of
the 2nd longest fish were Allison Quinney, 6, fish length: 11” and
Spencer Conway, 7, fish length: 13”.
The
winner of the last fish caught was Corbin Carri, 8, at 11:28.
Congratulations to all that participated. Don’t forget to check
out the web site for information about upcoming programs at
www.northwoodnh.org or
contact the Recreation Department at 942-5586 x209.
Letter
To The Editor
The
Dying Middle Class
“The
middle class is being killed. The middle class has been slammed.
They are in worse shape than they have been at any time since the
20’s.”
So said
Vice-President Joe Biden the day before he visited New Hampshire
last week.
He
could have been talking about Northwood’s middle class, now facing a
possible huge tax increase as it considers all-day kindergarten, a
math specialist, another 7th grade teacher, cost of living
increases, new contracts for town employees, new additional fire and
highway equipment, athletic field construction, town hall
modernization, a public safety complex study, and other projects,
totaling some $1,300,000.
There
are also many articles squirreling away lots of our tax money in
rainy day trusts and funds. Some trusts charge taxpayers of today
for the needs and wants of taxpayers in the future. Others charge
taxpayers for potential unforseen expenses.
The
proposed town and school district budgets already total $15,437,433.
Add the proposals in the warrant articles and our total town budget
approaches 17 million, or about $4,000 for every man, woman, child,
and pet in Northwood.
Unfortunately, what with the taxes, trusts, and fees, many of us
middle class citizens can’t afford our own rainy day funds. Maybe
the middle class will end up drowning in a flood of old, new, and
growing taxes.
Michael
Faiella
Northwood
Letter
To all
Northwood Residents:
The
Board of Selectmen created a committee to look at the best way to
improve the Police Station and the Ridge Fire Station. The Public
Safety Complex Study Committee consists of elected officials, town
employees and members of the Northwood community. The committee
started meeting in May of 2014 and have met monthly since. The
committee did extensive research to include reviewing existing
facilities, toured newly constructed safety complexes in other
municipalities of equal size to our community and studied projected
demographics for the town of Northwood. The committee
discussed the best way to improve these buildings and believes the
best option is to build a safety complex combing Police, Fire and
Emergency Management facilities into one structure as a cost saving
effort.
The
committee, in an effort to be transparent, further recommended an
independent study and conceptual design and ultimately created a
warrant article that will be #23 on the ballot on March 10th. The
purpose of the warrant article is to conduct an independent
assessment of the functionality of the fire and police stations,
determine the needs of each department, recommend potential land
locations for a combined safety complex, and develop a visualization
of a possible facility that would meet the determined needs.
Thank
you for your consideration,
Chief
Glen Drolet
Chair,
Public Safety Complex Safety Committee
Gibson
Picks Up Second Career NEWMAC Academic All-Conference Selection
14th
honoree in program history
Wheaton
College junior Mike Gibson (Northwood, N.H./Coe-Brown Northwood
Academy) has been named to the New England Women’s and Men’s
Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men’s swimming and diving Academic
All-Conference list for the second time in his career.
With
his second career selection this week, Gibson now joins Aaron Fix
’05, current head coach Barrett Roberts ’07 and Matt Sexton ’14 as
the only members of the men’s swimming and diving program to earn
multiple NEWMAC Academic All-Conference honors.
Gibson
is currently majoring in economics with a minor in community health.
Gibson also has earned several Dean’s List selections at Wheaton
along with serving as a writing tutor, tour guide, peer tutor and
public service assistant during his time at the college.
Honorees must have met the following criteria to be included on the
Academic All-Conference list: earned a minimum cumulative GPA of
3.5/4.0 scale or 4.35/5.0 scale after the 2014 fall semester,
achieved second year academic status at his institution, and been a
member of the varsity team for the entire season.
Wheaton
wrapped up its 2014-15 campaign with a fifth place finish at the
NEWMAC Championships last weekend.
Letter
To The Editor
There
has been a full court press by a small group of residents to get the
remainder of the residents to spend 100 thousand dollars or so
(which then will reoccur in the budget every year), and to be clear,
the small group genuinely believes it’s to their benefit.
There
are “studies” that come down on both sides of the argument. I have
questioned what passes for quality education, not “adequate”
education far too many are apparently satisfied with... I also, to
the irritation of many in the “small group”, pointed out that
kindergarten serves as day care, a simple fact that some act as
though it never occurred to them. Is it only day care? of course
not.
But
then as though to rub salt in the wound of a mediocre education
process the common core curriculum is going to become part of the
kindergarten program with the excuse that we will lose funding (read
“bribing”) to turn the children of this community over to a national
program of one design inculcation. Forget creative, spirited
teachers (who are always the ones that make the difference!) or
tried and true methods of teaching. “Teach to the test” (we detest)
was the constant complaint by many good teachers – well, common core
will be (and is in other states) testing on steroids. Data mining
(of students and teachers) on steroids too - 1984 here we come.
Ironically a past letter by one who has chronicled Northwood
history, Joann Bailey, pointed out how Northwood dealt with the
issue of kindergarten from the 1950’s through the 1970’s. Gladys
Gardner conducted class for 24 years apparently to great
satisfaction of parents, who by the way paid for it themselves. A
genuinely hometown solution. No federal grants, no common core, no
Big Brother.
Joseph
McCaffrey
Northwood
Letter
To The Editor
MacElman for Road Agent?
If you
missed Candidates Night last Wednesday, 2/28, don’t feel guilty.
Most everybody did. But you did miss an opportunity to interview
the two candidates for the Road Agent position: Ron MacElman and
Mike Lockard.
I use
the word “interview” because this is how I saw it: an opportunity
for the three Selectmen who were in attendance (but not absentee
would-be selectman Rick Wolf) and us few voters to conduct a job
interview of these two applicants. Unfortunately, neither performed
very well.
Selectman Holden began by asking their qualifications. I hoped that
this would lead to a list of learnings – both formal and on-the-job
– and a summary of work experience, including companies worked for,
positions held, responsibilities taken on and achievements or
accomplishments. You know. It’s called a resumé!
Neither
candidate provided one. Mr. MacElman spoke vaguely about working
for 20 years on all kinds of jobs with various companies. Mr.
Lockard spoke vaguely of taking some courses at UNH and elsewhere
and being able to operate all kinds of equipment.
More
was said, but neither spoke knowingly about the Road Agent’s
position, nor did they provide compelling evidence as to why they
should occupy it. But one of them will.
I will
probably vote for Mr. MacElman, if only because he is not currently
employed by the town, as is Mr. Lockard, in the Road Department.
Electing Mr. Lockard, assuming he keeps his laborer’s position,
results in a situation where he becomes his own boss, in my view.
The way
out of this situation is to vote for Article 20, that authorizes the
Selectmen – in 2016 - to appoint the highway (road) agent, and in
the process, to set standards and job qualifications. So we will
live with this arrangement – and one of these men – in the short
term.
Tom
Chase
Northwood
Letter
To The Editor
To the
Editor,
Elections are next week; I’m running once again for School Board.
Why? Almost four years ago we had a mess. Our million dollar debacle
of a SAU along with our elected officials couldn’t answer easy
budget questions. They were in a raging battle with the Budget
Committee who was threatening to sue. We were in a ridiculously
stupid and costly lawsuit with our previous Superintendent. The
budget was illegally overspent by $538K. The education of our
students was in a free fall and our teachers wanted a $7,000 raise.
Daunting.
Today,
the lawsuit is settled. We have a new Superintendent, Sped. Director
and Business Administrator. No lawsuits. We have a new Principal
that is hands on and in every corner of Northwood School. I do not
expect to run out of toilet paper, ink and envelopes this year. The
School Board is working well together and we have given back
substantial money two years in a row. We have a mutual respect with
the Budget Committee, they having approved unanimously our budget
two years now. Our ducks are all lined up and I think you’ll see
some great improvements, both strategically and quickly.
So why?
I still have goals. There are no excuses now to really get into gear
educating our students to the best of their ability. I’d appreciate
your vote.
If you
want to help, vote. If you want to help me help you please approve
the school budget, the teacher contract, the support staff contract
and finally the teacher retirement incentive plan which will save
many dollars. These warrants are all integral parts of our long term
goals. I appreciate your support and I won’t let you down.
Tim
Jandebeur
Northwood
Letter
To The Editor
To The
Concerned Citizens Of Northwood:
I have
been a resident of Northwood for 27 years and a member of the
Northwood Fire Department for 24 years. I’ve gone through the ranks
from firefighter, lieutenant, captain, to deputy chief and have
enjoyed the ride and representing the town as a firefighter.
Through
those years I have seen 5 chiefs in which the members of the fire
department vote in, every 3 years, and then the selectmen have the
final say and appoint and swear in the chief. This policy has always
worked out well.
This
year we voted in a new chief by a 15 to 10 vote. The selectmen
changed their thoughts and decided to interview both candidates, who
by the way were, I thought both equally qualified. They decided by a
2 to 1 vote to put in the existing chief, who lost to the Fire
Department vote by 5, as they felt he would be a better candidate.
Why
should we keep on voting for chief if the selectmen put in who they
want? Are the firefighters not smart enough to decide on their own
chief? If you support the Northwood Fire Department then help get
back our small town and vote for Rick Wolf for selectman.
Fred
Bassett
Letter
To The Editor
I am
THE candidate running for Selectman who resides in Northwood full
time, year round.
My
objective is to restore Northwood to a higher level of transparency
and confidence with Town leadership. We appear to have gone from
having the best Town Administrator (David Stack) to oversee and
effectively manage our town to a questionable current Administrator.
I
presently serve on the Northwood Planning Board and am one of 3 Town
Police Commissioners.
I have
resided with my family in Northwood for more than 3 decades.
I am
endorsed by Northwood’s N.H. State House Representative, Bruce
Hodgdon.
Rick
Wolf
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