Letter To The Editor
Remember when the field at Drake Field was brown? Neither do I. And
yet apparently, the school board, in their infinite wisdom, have
decided to install an irrigation system there.
One must wonder how many thousands the installation is costing us,
the long-suffering taxpayers, struggling under an already-heavy
burden. But the installation itself is only the beginning. Water
will be pumped from the river, which is great, and probably cheaper
than using our overly-expensive town water. However, that requires a
pumping station, run by electricity. There will be filters to deal
with, as well as other regular maintenance issues of the entire
system, and thus an annual cost.
One wonders why this is being done. We’ve been told that it’s
because Drake “looks run-down”, and has issues with the occasional
dog waste, and “vandalism,” although what that has to do with
installing an irrigation system is anyone’s guess.
Perhaps the hope is that the irrigation system out in the field will
somehow magically wash away any dog waste deposited along the path
on the perimeter. Perhaps the thought of being, at any moment,
suddenly drenched in water is supposed to deter any would-be
“vandals.”
The only vandals I am aware of are the occasional gangs of children
we have seen during the day, pulling down branches of trees, and
eventually breaking them. Yes, the very children we are going to
great expense to provide an education are vandalising Drake Field.
If you try to tell them anything about what they are doing, all you
get is lip for your trouble.
Perhaps instead of installing an expensive, and completely
unneccessary irrigation system, they could try teaching the children
how to value what we have here, instead of trying to destroy it.
Bruce Cobb
Pittsfield Listens Announces New Program Assistant
Pittsfield Listens is pleased to announce the new Program Assistant,
Kathy Bleckmann!
Kathy is a near life long resident of Pittsfield and is excited to
be working in the community she grew up in. After several years in
manufacturing and some time exploring artistic pursuits, Kathy says
“it will be gratifying to focus on building up the positive in my
hometown.” As an active member of The Greater Pittsfield Chamber of
Commerce and a new Girl Scout leader, Kathy is no stranger to
community service and event planning at the town wide level. In
addition, she brings skills in marketing and communications,
volunteer management, and facilitation. Kathy is a trained
facilitator with NH Listens, and has been involved in several of the
Pittsfield Listens dialogues already.
Kathy is no stranger to Pittsfield Listens, Pittsfield community
involvement and service, and to many of you. It is all joy and
privilege to have her join in this exciting work as part of the
Pittsfield Listens’ staff team.
What can all of us do to make Pittsfield a better place for everyone
to live, learn and play? Pittsfield Listens is a community
engagement project of the Pittsfield Youth Workshop. For more
information visit pittsfieldlistens.org.
Floral Park Cemetery Fence Fund Update
Submitted By Carole Richardson
Phase One of the Floral Park Cemetery Fence is complete. This phase
of the project cost $18,690. The Barnstead Road portion of the
fence was completely replaced with aluminum fencing and granite
posts, and 15 fence sections and granite posts were installed on
High Street. The Superior Fence Company did a wonderful job and the
fence is a beautiful addition to the cemetery. I have received many
positive comments and words of encouragement to keep the project
going.
I would also like to reiterate that I am not a Floral Park Cemetery
Trustee nor have I asked for any funding from the Cemetery Trustees
or the Town of Pittsfield. This project is solely made possible
through your generous donations. Please do not let the article that
was written in the SUN by the Cemetery Trustees deter you from
donating to the Fence Fund – there is no connection – all funds
donated go directly to the fence fund not the upkeep of the
cemetery. The future of the upkeep of the cemetery is a topic which
is being discussed between the Selectmen and the Cemetery Trustees,
and I am sure we will be hearing much more on this topic soon.
I am now collecting funds for Phase Two of the project for
additional fencing on High Street which I hope will be complete by
Memorial Day of 2015. I would like to thank all those individuals
who have so generously given to this fund and ask that you continue
to send donations so that funding will be available for phase two of
the project. A special thank you to Paul Rogers at Jitters for
allowing me to have a donation box there, and his continued support
trying to raise funds (a one foot portion of the fence is $35 and
that does not include the granite posts). Thank you to all of his
patrons who have donated with their spare change – remember every
penny counts. I would also like to thank the SUN for continually
printing my articles seeking donations for this much-needed project
and to Andi Riel for mentioning the project in her Sunday Monitor
column. Remember your contributions to the Fence Fund are tax
deductible.
Thank you for your suggestions and kind words, and please continue
to send your donations to the “Floral Park Cemetery Fence Fund” P.O.
Box 98 or 595 Tilton Hill Road, Pittsfield, NH 03263. If you should
have questions, please call me at 435-8351.
Multi Town Yardsale Thank You
We hope everyone had a great weekend at the Multi Town Yardsale June
7th and 8th!
If you have any suggestions for next year please feel
free to PM/inbox The Greater Pittsfield Chamber of Commerce through
Facebook or email
[email protected]
A Huge Thank You to our advertising sponsors on the 2014 Multi Town
Yardsale Placemat: Jitters Cafe of Pittsfield; Sage Wellness Center;
White Buffalo Trading Post; Granite Image; Stonewall Surveying;
Freight House Consignment; Michele’s Totally Awesome Gourmet
Popcorn; Suncook Valley Chiropractic; Suncook Valley Area Lions
Club; The Innate in You; Get Fit NH; Tom Barker of Annie Mac Home
Mortgage; The Circle Restaurant; Patricia Houle, CPA; The Suncook
Valley Sun; Barnstead Country Store; Epsom House of Pizza; Vintage
Hill Assisted Living.
Thousands of placemats were on the tables and pizza boxes in local
restaurants in the days leading up to the 2014 MultiTown Yardsale.
Thank you to the restaurants that helped with this advertising:
Jitters Cafe of Pittsfield; Jack’s Pizza; Town Pizza; Village Pizza;
Barnstead Country Store; White Buffalo Trading Post; Epsom House of
Pizza; Circle Restaurant.
The Greater Pittsfield Chamber of Commerce
Huge Silent Auction
Antique mission-style oak student
desk: one of the many items on offer at the huge Silent Auction on
July 18-19 at St. Stephen’s Church, 50 Main Street, Pittsfield.
You are invited to attend the annual Silent Auction at St. Stephen’s
Episcopal Church, 50 Main Street, Pittsfield. Bidding will begin on
Friday, July 18, from 4 to 7 PM and continue on Saturday, July 19,
from 8 AM to 2 PM during Pittsfield’s Old Home Day.
Bid on a wide range of items including “barn-fresh” primitives,
antiques, gift certificates, vintage toys, vintage sports trading
cards, a stamp collection, silk flower arrangements, handcrafts,
home accessories, and so much more! If you cannot come
on Saturday, you may leave a sealed bid.
You do not need to be present when high bidders are announced
promptly at 2 PM on Saturday.
Pittsfield Players Present “Living Together"
Reg and Tom (played by Gordon
Brooks and David Victory) contemplate what to do with Norman’s body
in The Pittsfield Players’ production of Alan Ackbourn’s “Living
Together” July 11, 12, 13, 18 & 19. Call 435-8852 for tickets.
The Pittsfield Players present Alan Ayckborn’s “Living Together”,
which takes place from the perspective of the living room. The play
is a wonderful comedy that centers on Norman Dewers, a clever, over
the top personality who tries to seduce his way through various
in-laws, all the while trying keeping his equally over the top wife,
Ruth, happy and at bay. Throw in a brother in law who has a penchant
for making terribly confusing board games, and a slightly dim, yet
very gullible next door neighbor who says the wrong thing at the
wrong time, and you have a recipe for a terrible weekend, but a
great night of theatre!
The play will be performed on July 11, 12, 18, 19 at 7:30pm, and
July 13 and 19 at 2pm.
Tickets, $12.00 are available at our website
pittsfieldplayers.com or by calling 435-8852.
TOPS News
Submitted By Terrie Azotea
We have been busy at Tops lately. We had a yard sale the day of the
town wide yard sale that went well. We had voted for our new leaders
and talked about our up coming Kops honor society.
Our Kops best loser last week was Pat S. and our Tops best loser was
Joyce. We had runners up that also did a good job. I say, “Kudos” to
those members. April and I were noticed for having a four week
weight loss. We also handed out our Kops of the year award that went
to Pat. Congrats, Pat, on all your hard work and everything that you
do for our chapter. A beautiful rose was given to her to plant to
remind her of what a special person she is.
Awesome job to everyone that had a loss and to those who were almost
there, keep up the good work.
We had a great time playing the Family Feud that a couple of our
members had put together. Some of our topics were questions about
the 5 food groups, low impact excerises, the top 7 herbs that are
good to cook with, the nutrition food chart that is labeled on the
back of our food that we sometimes don’t take the time to look at
but is very important, and name some green veggies. All in all we
had a great time playing the game and hope that we can play it again
soon with some other questions.
Thanks ladies, for doing such a great job... At Tops we are a non
profit support weight loss group that has a good time and good
friends. If anyone is interested in joining us we meet on Tuesday
nights at 5:30 for weigh-in and at 6:30 for our meeting. We are
located on Fairview Road in Pittsfield. Any questions please call
Janis White at 491-5532 or Claire Coll at 435-7271, they would be
glad to help you. We always welcome new faces! Hope you all have a
good week and see you all lighter next week!
Obituaries
Clifford F. Gray, Jr.
Clifford (Spider) F. Gray, Jr. 83, of Pittsfield, died June 27th at
his home following a long illness.
He was born in Pittsfield, the son of Clifford F. Gray, Sr. and Edna
I. (Riel) Gray, and lived there all his life. He was a Pittsfield
High School graduate, class of 1949. He worked in the insurance
business, starting with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and
later with the Paige Agency. In 1984, he founded the Pittsfield
Insurance Agency and operated it until his retirement. He was an
Air Force veteran, having served as a cryptographer at the Pentagon
in Washington, D.C., where he met his wife, Shirley (Leddra) Gray;
they were married for nearly 60 years. He was a longtime member of
the Peterson-Cram American Legion Post #75 in Pittsfield.
Cliff is survived by his wife, Shirley; daughter, Tobi Gray Chassie
and her husband, James of Laconia; granddaughter, Hannah Chassie and
her fiancée, Michael Kivikoski of Somerville, MA; step
grandchildren, Caryn Chassie of Gilford, NH and Derek Chassie, of
Fort Mill, SC and their families; two uncles, Richard Riel and Paul
Riel.
There will be no visiting hours. A graveside service with urn
burial will be held Saturday, July 5th, in the Floral Park Cemetery
at 10:00 AM. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be
made to the Pittsfield High School Alumni Association, 23 Oneida
Street, Pittsfield, NH 03301 or to a charity of one’s choice.
The Perkins & Pollard Memorial Home is assisting with arrangements.
To sign an on line guest book, log on to
perkinsandpollard.com.
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