The Goffstown School Board is proceeding with plans to build a kindergarten school on a portion of townowned land across from the Glen Lake beach. The proposed site was identified in the 1997 Goffstown Master Plan as a possible location for both an elementary school and a town park. As of now the land remains undeveloped.

I believe it is important to provide the community with a history of the search for kindergarten land, and the actions taken by the board and selectmen so far.

The school board saw a need to reopen the process of finding alternative sites on which to build a kindergarten because of a lawsuit filed by the abutters to the Tibbetts Hill property. We firmly believe that this in the best interest of the community. Further delays would ultimately mean the loss of $2.3 million in state aid and we would lose kindergarten.

In our search for land, we contacted real estate agents, put notices in the newspaper, and sent a letter to the board of selectman asking them to provide us a list of all townowned parcels of land in excess of 10 acres.

We received a reply from the selectman shortly thereafter. Although there were several parcels of town land identified, all of them were described as unsuitable for a variety of reasons. The Glen Lake property was on that list, as it was long believed that there was a restriction on the property that prevented development.

Having no success finding land to build a school, a member of the Kindergarten Committee pressed the school board to revisit the Glen Lake property one more time.

In early December 2004, we received a copy of the deed and reviewed it with the board of selectmen.

The deed states that the land be used for a “public purpose.” There are no other restrictions on the land. Realizing this opportunity, the school board and the board of selectmen did two things: we sought legal opinions from our attorneys, and we researched the original land purchase by contacting HUD.

The superintendent of schools also contacted the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services and sought their opinion.

After a thorough review, it was determined that a school was a suitable purpose for the property.

In late December 2004 and early January 2005, the school board requested that an architect, construction manager, civil engineer and wetland scientist further investigate the site.

Based upon their work, we were advised that the Glen Lake site was a viable location to build a school.

The school board then presented a conceptual school plan and sought preliminary input from abutters to the property. Based upon feedback from that meeting, the plan was modified. In accordance with statute, the school board posted a warrant article allowing us to accept gifts and transfers of land and property, and the town posted a warrant to convey the land.

As you can discern from reading this article, the school board and the board of selectmen acted quickly to accomplish the due diligence needed for a public project.

We have recently received suggestions for alternative site locations, such as the gravel pit near the transfer station. We believe these options have come too late in the warrant article process and without documented study to be fully considered as viable alternatives.

Should you have any further questions about the history of the Glen Lake land or the school board’s land acquisition process, please call any school board member or the SAU office at 497-4818.

A yes vote on town Article 24 and school Article 5 will allow us to finally build the kindergarten school.

Please remember to cast your ballot on Tuesday, March 8, at either Goffstown High School or Bartlett Elementary School.

Scott Gross is a member of the Goffstown School Board.

Over the years, my husband and I have come to hold Collis Adams in high regard for his experience and intelligence in planning board matters and land-use issues.

Now that it is the “witching,” hour let us not repeat mistakes of the past, but demand “due diligence” as Collis has suggested.

Why is it that the school’s building committee does not investigate the town-owned transfer station parcel as a possible site to develop? Aside-byside unbiased comparison of this with the parcel across from Glen Lake should not take much time.

Why has it never been done? What’s the problem? Are there any hidden agendas? Is there something that the taxpayers might find out?

The cost of adjusting the power lines may prove to be a lot less costly than dealing with the seasonal water, grade change, and ledge on the proposed site.

It may have been prudent for the building committee to spend some money “up front” to get some professional comparison costs in order to save money down the line. Is there really room for expansion on the proposed site, or will it be another Mountain View site that was pitched to the taxpayers with loftier plans than feasible?

Why are the selectmen pushing for “transfer of land” without following typical protocol? Would required “public use” of this land mean the “public” of just Goffstown, or, was the intention, the “public” of the entire state?

I believe that I am reading more opinions than fact, with a lot of finger pointing, in the editorials. As a taxpayer who has had hopes of kindergarten for the last 10 years, I am tired of hasty proposals at the last minute with big loopholes!

And for the record, the Adams family is an abutter of the “current” Glen Lake parcel of land in question. But, with subdivision and transfer of the proposed school piece, there would remain a large parcel separating them and they would then not be an abutter!

Take a look at the maps. Collis Adams is not speaking out as an indignant abutter, but as a concerned taxpayer who has our town’s interest in mind.

I truly feel that a few Goffstown residents and publisher Amy Vellucci owe Collis Adams an apology. I am amazed that he hasn’t thrown in the towel by now.
Susan Lauer, Goffstown

Information can be found at http://wms.weare.k12.nh.us , www.weareschools.com, Center Woods Elementary School, Weare Middle School, Center Store, town library and many other business locations. The deliberative session will be played on Channel 17 daily. Supporters of the new middle school appeal to all voters to do their homework prior to voting. Our future depends on it.
Lynda Fiala, Weare

While about 90 percent of Goffstown children entering first grade have a kindergarten experience, they are coming from 39 different private programs. Although most 5-yearolds attend such programs, curriculum content and staff qualifications vary significantly.

New Boston and Dunbarton school districts have shown significant increases in student achievement with the implementation of a public kindergarten.

Teachers in these first-grade programs have been able to accelerate the curriculum because students entered first grade with the necessary literacy and numeracy skills.

A public kindergarten experience provides a child with an easier transition to first grade and sets the foundation for the development of academic, social and emotional skills. The experience also ensures that a child is being taught by a state certified teacher. The state does not require private kindergarten programs to have certified teachers.

A public kindergarten provides programming based on the skills established for first grade. Currently 50 percent to 68 percent of Goffstown children enter first grade without the necessary readiness skills in reading and mathematics. As first grade teachers, we often spend the first six months catching children up.

We believe that children entering first grade would be better prepared as a result of participating in public kindergarten. The children would be offered consistent programming based on the state standards and district frameworks, facilities, and staffing.

Research has shown that children who participate in a public kindergarten score higher on the New Hampshire assessments, develop school social behavior skills and an enhanced ability to interact positively with their peers.

We believe that the solution to the public kindergarten for Goffstown problem lies in the acceptance of school district ballot Article 5 and town ballot Article 24. Please vote yes on March 8.
Jackie Hamilton
Katie Loi
Nancy Ghelli
Cindy Rivard
Brenda White
Gerri St. Gelais
Suzanne Pyszka
Rebecca Audley
Patricia Albene
Mary Starvich
Goffstown

We are confident that the Weare School board examined all the options and has presented the best one to the voters. Article 1 on the Weare school ballot requires our support. A new middle school in Weare cannot wait. Students in the current facility are learning in a sub-standard environment, where the basics needed for comfort and safety aren’t consistently provided.

Air quality is suspect, water isn’t always available, and portions of the buildings are either too hot or too cold at varying and inappropriate times. The proposed new Weare Middle School isn’t frivolous, it is a necessity.

Waiting to address this problem will cost more as construction costs rise, and we are forced to sink more tax payer money into maintenance of the existing buildings.

We encourage voters in Weare to join us in supporting Article 1 on March 8.
Jane and Gregg Elwood
Forrest Esenwine
Jane and John Whitmore
Patricia and Russell T. Ober
Cherry and Michael Palmisano
Jeanne and Robert Currier
Jean Heinemann
Joe and Terri Russell
April Hotchkiss
Vicki and Jeff Valcourt

Section 10 is titled “General Provisions,” which means miscellaneous. Here are items which do not fit with others or fit with several or many others.

For example, “vacancies” covers how they are determined and declared and how council vacancies and others are filled.

In case of a vacancy in the council, losing candidates in the most recent election, from the one with the most votes on down, would move into vacancies as they occur.

Vacancies in other offices are filled as specified in the charter and by law.

All meetings of all boards and municipal bodies are open to the pubic and their minutes are available. Specific provisions of the charter prevail over general provisions.

Any word in the charter which may be construed to be either masculine or feminine is to be considered to be gender-free.

Articles in the charter are separable; any found to be invalid do not affect any other section.

State law, if any, shall govern in place of any invalid section. Upon adoption, the charter shall be authenticated. It, and any revisions, are to be kept safely by the town clerk.

Any provisions of the charter which conflicts with state law shall be deemed to have been superseded by such state law. Willful violations of charter provisions are to be treated as legal misdemeanors and fined as per state law.

Rules, regulations and procedures for meetings are spelled out and are mostly unchanged.

However, the charter requires the chairman of each board and commission to vote on all motions, whereas in the past many have voted only to make or break a tie vote.

Also, it would now be necessary to adopt rules of procedure similar to Robert’s Rules of Order.

This is to avoid situations found in current procedure, where rules seem to be up as situations occur and are not already in place.

The council is given considerable latitude in reorganization and may act upon plans for such from a town manager.

There are prohibitions against discrimination, false statements, payment for favors and solicitations all spelled out in detail.

Section 12 covers Transitional Provisions, the details of what happens to this and that when the proposed charter becomes the ruling of the town of Goffstown.

All members of all town agencies would continue to perform their duties until successors are elected or appointed to replace them, discontinued agencies being the exception.

The selectmen/council, of course, would be in charge of orderly transition.

Personnel, and their compensation, are to flow along, according to schedule and agreements.

Records, property and equipment remain where they are unless transferred in part or whole to another town agency.

Obligations, taxes and legal acts are all to remain and continue as if no change in government had occurred.

The effective date of this charter is the first Monday after the 2005 Goffstown Town election, except as otherwise provided.

The selectmen would remain in office until a new council is elected, within 90 days of charter adoption.

At that first election, two councilors would be elected to one-year terms, two with twoyear terms and three with threeyear terms.

Likewise, the zoning board of adjustment would continue until replaced in that same first election and in a similar alternation of terms; so could the elected members of the budget committee. However, the cemetery commission would continue but as member terms end, they or replacements would be appointed for continuity.

Selectmen, zoning board or budget committee members may all run to continue in office It would be surprising if many decided not to do so.

In this brief summarization of the proposed charter, I have tried to bring out the changes and the most significant similarities.

Time and space prohibit cover all details and, unfortunately, our reasons for some of the decisions made.

We hope that many will avail themselves of the copies obtainable, the Web site and any presentations by charter commission members.

It is most important that you know what you are voting for or against, in any case, but certainly in the case of this charter, by which the town would operate for years to come.
Charles Carr, Goffstown

Dear Board Members:
Much has been made, over many years, about bringing public kindergarten to our community. I won’t go into the well-documented history other than to summarize that it has been long, arduous and often divisive for the people of Goffstown.

Most recently efforts have been focused on identifying town-owned land that is available and suitable for siting of the kindergarten and a possible future elementary school. I and many, many others believe this to be an appropriate approach and one that is worthy of careful consideration.

In a memo dated September 30, 2004, you responded to a request from the Goffstown School District asking to identify all town-owned parcels over 10 acres which might be suitable for the construction of a school. In that memo, you identified seven parcels and concluded, “It appears to us that these properties are not credible school locations, due either to their location, their inaccessibility or their current uses.”

It has since come to light that after closer examination you now consider the parcel at Map 5, Lot 14 to be a credible location.

For now, I will accept that determination. However, that change of mind has led me to take a closer examination of the other six parcels identified in your memo.

I agree that five of those other six parcels clearly are not credible school locations for the reasons that you stated. However, the same cannot be said about Map 5, Lot 24.

Lot 24 has essentially the same location characteristics as Lot 14, is completely accessible and is not currently being used for activities which could not be easily relocated to others areas on the lot.

So, this begs a question. Why has the board of selectmen not allowed the school district to examine lot 24 for the construction of a school the same as it has allowed them to examine Lot 14? In fact, you have been asked this very question on at least two occasions in public forums and each time you have remained silent and offered no explanation to citizens.

I believe that you owe the residents of Goffstown an explanation as to why you, our elected leaders, have remained silent on this issue. As you know, time is of the essence so I urge you to provide leadership by taking immediate action to enlighten the public.

In doing so it will assure the public that the plan which goes forward will be the least impacting, most cost effective and best suited for meeting the future needs of our school children.

Please let the people hear from you on this matter.
Collis G. Adams, Goffstown

Current educational research in the area of reading reveals a sound foundation of phonological skills is the best indicator of reading success.

This instruction is the major focus of a kindergarten program. These phonological skills are easily developed at an early age. The longer the skills are undeveloped, the more remediation is required. A phonological deficit is the primary cause of reading disabilities.

As the rest of the nation, including school districts in New Hampshire, moves toward developing early literacy programs for preschoolers, we are still fighting to bring public kindergarten to all 5-year-olds in Goffstown.

The majority of voters in Goffstown understand the benefits and importance of a sound kindergarten program and have, therefore, voted in favor of the kindergarten building project. Sadly enough, a few individuals have created obstacles to prevent the construction of the school. A new school site has been found.

There is no cost involved, but voters do need to approve the transfer of a parcel of land from the town to the school district. The transfer of this property is urgent, as state funding for the construction project will be lost in June if not acted upon.

On March 8, vote yes to school Article 5 and vote yes to town Article 24. All children deserve an equal opportunity at reading success.

Goffstown is already behind the rest of the nation in early childhood education.

We need a public kindergarten!
Crystal Tilton, Goffstown

Article 7 would allow the planning board to change the current zoning on Mast Road from Henry Bridge Road to the Shell station from either agricultural, commercial or industrial to a newly created commercial/ industrial flex zone.

This will give the planning board carte blanche along this stretch of roadway to pretty much do anything with it that they – the planning board and developers – want to do.

However, as a concerned resident of Goffstown, I urge you to vote no on Article 7. I believe the zoning board is putting the cart before the horse.

Other than the Back Road, there is currently no convenient alternative way to get around Mast Road.

Both of these major thoroughfares are already heavily traveled. Henry Bridge Road, at peak times, is backed up down to the river.

By allowing this flex zone change on Mast Road, you will basically be giving the planning board the right to let this become like the Mast Road section of Pinardville – businesses adjacent to houses, additional stop lights and more traffic headaches without a convenient way to bypass yet another section of Mast Road in town.

If you think that the planning board already ignores their own rules, makes too many exceptions and oftentimes doesn’t consider what residents say on projects, then I would be very, very wary of passing any amendment which utilizes flex zoning.

Until the traffic issues are resolved on Mast Road, this zoning especially should not be changed.

I ask you to please vote no on town Article 7.
Tricia Wynne, Goffstown

He has become a part of the students’ lives outside of the classroom as well by attending many of their sporting events, dances, and other extracurricular activities.

The students are fortunate to have an adult who cares so much about each of them. Each year, the chief goes out of his way to visit with the students while they are spending the week away from home at Sargent Camp in Peterborough. The students have been able to see that a police officer is a human being, who laughs, faces challenges and can encourage others when the going gets tough.

In the spring of each school year, he organizes a barbecue with a K-9 police dog presentation as a culminating event for our DARE program. His evening DARE graduation ceremony has made many students and parents beam with pride as he recognizes students for their contributions during the DARE classes. The chief has been top on the list of important people who the sixth-grade students want to invite to their end-ofyear commencement activities. Not only does he attend their evening graduation, but also he comes to the Friendly Beaver Campground to celebrate their last day as New Boston sixthgrade students.

If Chief Begin is voted in as the Weare chief of police, we are pleased, but not surprised to know that his plan would be to finish his commitment to this year’s DARE class.

Next year’s sixth-grade students here in New Boston would miss out on his hugs, his humor, his compassion, his high expectations, and his great wishes for their future. In retrospect, knowing the man he is, we’re sure he will always have the town of New Boston and its youth at heart.

Good Luck, Chief, in whatever and wherever your future leads you.
Danielle Wayland
Lisa Rothman
Jacki Filiault
Anne Christoph
New Boston

These funds are desperately needed in order to meet the requirements of a matching grant donation that has been pledged to the playground. If we do not receive the $13,000 from town funds, we will lose the matching grant.

To everyone in Weare who would like to see this amazing playground built in May, please vote yes for Article 44 on March 8.
Elizabeth Oliphant
Weare Athletic Club
Playground Committee

Whether or not abutter Collis Adams is speaking out of self interest or not, his comments at the town deliberative session came far too late to have been taken seriously.

However, considering Goffstown’s growing population, if that sand pit land was studied and suitable to build on, we certainly could put it to good use as a future fire station, park with playing fields, new library, new school, or town office complex.

The bottom line is that we have a good location to build a school and we already own the land. Let’s build this kindergarten school once and for all.

Please vote yes for town Article 24 and yes for school Article 5 on March 8.
Dianne Quigley, Goffstown

Agroup of Goffstown citizens have been meeting there from 5 to 5:30 p.m. each Wednesday since November.

We are sure that the concerns that have led us to congregate there each week for mutual support and witness are shared by many of our Goffstown neighbors as well.

We call ourselves Neighbors Advancing Nonviolence. We are united, not by religious faith, political party, gender, or age group, but by a conviction that we need to encourage and support the effective healing power of nonviolent action – in our own lives and the life of our community, state and nation.

We have no officers, no dues, and no by-laws. We do share a resolve simply to stand each week as witnesses to the need to speak out against all forms of violence across the whole spectrum of human relationships – including personal, domestic, ecological and international.

We live in dangerous times. Our government prefers the threat of violent and destructive means to resolve international conflicts. Confrontation and belligerence towards our perceived enemies – Iran, North Korea, and others – endangers the lives of millions of our fellow humans. The United States has over 10,000 nuclear warheads, and wants to build more. The world lives in fear of our destructive power.

What irresistible force brought independence to India? Freedom from oppression in Ukraine? Civil rights at long last in our country?

The power of nonviolent action – not the threat of imminent destruction.

We invite you to join us as we continue our dialogue on these issues each week, encouraging each other to act in such a way as to advance the cause of nonviolence.

We have changed our meeting time to 5:30 to 6 p.m. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
Thomas Lee, Goffstown

We appreciate the help and feel that such partnerships should be recognized and applauded by all who enjoy debris-free conservation lands.
Andy Fulton, Vice chairman
Weare Conservation Commission

One is that it is somehow giving the Conservation Commission a “blank check” to spend this money. That is not true. The article as stated requires this money to be used toward the purchase of land or easements.

If you read state law, RSA 36- A:4 requires the approval of the governing body – our board of selectmen – for the town to acquire any conservation land or easements.

The other has to do with the purpose of the land use change tax. Funds from this source are paid by developers, not the general taxpayer, when land is developed and taken out of current use. These funds have totalled $841,000 from 1990- 2004. This is over three times as much as our town has appropriated during this period for conservation.

Some people think this money is supposed to make up for “lost revenues” of land kept in current use. That’s not true.

Current use assesses undeveloped land at a realistic rate, considering it requires no tax dollars for schools, roads, or trash pickup and minimal cost for fire/police. Land in current use pays timber taxes to the town, and is often owned by older landowners, who pay taxes on their house but don’t have children in our schools.

In other words, owners of undeveloped land pay more in taxes than they use in town services.

All of the land use change tax is being used for the general fund. Many of us don’t think that’s the best purpose for this money. Developers are handing money to the town on a silver platter as they chop up land for house lots, and we ought to be using some of that to help save some of what’s left.

State law (RSA 79A) encourages the preservation of open space by specifically allowing towns to use this money to conserve land. Seventy-eight percent of towns in southern and southeastern New Hampshire do so. Let’s not get left behind.
Jason Sachs, Goffstown