To those of us who shop regularly on Goffstown’s Main Street, the old buildings and history they represent are just a part of our daily landscape. We tend not to give old building much thought, especially if they are in disrepair. But they’re our history and they can easily be lost to the ravages of time and lack of care.

A few caring people would like to see Main Street on the National Registry of Historic Places and have started the process to gain that designation. It sounds like a wonderful idea, one that would allow Goffstown to continue the work started by the Main Street Program to spruce up that area and make it more economically viable. Grants would be made available to property owners in the historic district. And, unlike some other designations, this would not require property owners to go before review boards before making changes or even tearing down a building.

What they need now is public support. If it sounds like a good idea to you, tell the selectmen.

Support kindergarten again, Goffstown, by voting in favor of funding the new school. The school is already under construction as a result of previous voter approval, so it’s already clear the town is behind public kindergarten.

Voters, make sure you get out again this year and show your support so Goffstown can shed the dubious distinction of being one of a remaining handful of towns in the entire country without public kindergarten.

The cost to operate the school will only result in a tax increase of approximately 38 cents per $1,000 of property valuation, or $57 on a $150,000 home.

The school district’s efforts to open a public kindergarten have been stymied in the past, with delays due to the defeat of the Jason Drive location, a lawsuit over the Tibbetts Hill site, and court action from Collis Adams and Kurt Lauer, who tried to stop kindergarten from being built at its current site, near Glen Lake Beach. But the kindergarten is nearly finished. Now it’s time for voters to put their finishing touches on this project by giving the final green light on March 14.

— 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, Managing Editor Christine Heiser and News Editor Susan Clark.

To the Editor:
I am writing this as an open letter to the Goffstown Board of Selectmen and budget committee.

Several other concerned citizens and I debated whether to propose a warrant article this year to request conservation funding. At this moment, landowners of several properties are working with the Piscataquog Watershed Association (of whose Open Space committee I am a member) and the town’s conservation commission to protect their land with conservation easements. The town’s existing conservation funds can accomplish some of these projects, but not all. Some of these projects have slim windows of opportunity and are facing a potential catch-22: they can’t be made public until the landowners are satisfied their projects are financially viable; none is far enough along to discuss before Town Meeting; and next year may be too late.

Last year we proposed that 50 percent of the land use change tax go toward a conservation fund, and it passed. We chose 50 percent rather than 100 percent because the town had been putting $80,000 per year aside, and we felt that this was an effective combination; in years of heavy development, more money would go into the fund, and in years of little development there would still be the $80,000. We were disappointed that the town has discontinued the $80,000 funding and has assumed that 50 percent of the LUCT money is sufficient.

Goffstown has received approximately $1 million of LUCT funds from the destruction of hundreds of acres of open space (land which imposed only a tiny cost in town services) and only a fraction of this money has gone toward conservation purposes.

Nevertheless, we decided not to pursue a warrant article. We felt it would be unproductive to act unilaterally. Both your boards have stated, repeatedly, what we consider a pledge on conservation funding – that you have a willingness to support it, but only in the context of particular projects. We respect that position, and there is no warrant article this year. But we also expect that there will be projects to discuss this year and anticipate you’ll show your leadership by supporting them when that happens.

We also need some leadership to think about the longer term. I repeat what I said at last year’s deliberative session: Both your committees need to sit down with the conservation commission and discuss longterm conservation funding. This town needs a viable financial strategy, with your input and your support, to save some of our open space before it’s all gone.

There is no conservation warrant article in 2006. But that does not mean these thoughts are not on our minds.

Jason Sachs
Goffstown

To the Editor:
In reviewing the Weare School District ballot which will be cast on March 14, the Weare School Board would like to provide information on Article 4, the cost of the newly negotiated teachers’ contract.

The most important factor in providing a quality education for students is the skill level of the teacher. Ensuring a quality education for our children means having the ability to hire talented teachers. As New Hampshire experiences a teacher shortage, it becomes more difficult to attract and retain quality staff.

Our goal is to remain competitive with the surrounding communities in both salaries and benefits to assist us in continuing to build an effective teaching force. Teacher retention builds a core of experienced teachers who are better able to attain instructional goals.

Under the new contract, the starting salary for a firstyear teacher with a bachelor’s degree will remain at the current $28,500 in 2006-07 and will rise to $29,506 over the threeyear contract. The average salary increase for all Weare teachers in 2006-07 is 4.16 percent. This increase keeps Weare competitive with surrounding communities. The starting salary in Goffstown is $28,266, and in Henniker it is $29,000. The average starting salary in the state is $29,185.

With respect to health care, the new contract will require teachers to pay 10 percent ($1,702 in year one) of the least expensive family health care plan and 15 percent ($2,749 in year one) of the next, more expensive, health care plan. The board has capped its contribution at 15 percent of the middle cost option family plan for the duration of the contract. This is in line with school districts in the region where school district contributions to family plans range from 85 percent to 88 percent.

Improvements in education in Weare have been made with the help and input of our teachers. Over the last three years, there has been:

• Implementation of a research-based reading program that is consistently used in grades K-5, with more class time spent on basic literacy skills and increased individualized instruction;

• Individualized testing, which has shown encouraging gains over the last year, of students in reading, grammar usage and math, at least twice a year and more often for struggling students, in order to maximize personalized instruction;

• Increased consistency, coordination and collaboration in delivering core curriculum;

• Adoption of teacher performance standards that clearly lay out high expectations for effective teaching.

We are proud of our highly qualified teachers, what they have accomplished and the direction in which they are moving education in Weare.

In order to continue to improve and make progress, the board believes that Weare teachers who need family health care plans cannot keep taking home smaller and smaller paychecks. As the board supports our teachers, the teachers support our students.

The board urges Weare voters to consider the benefits of this fair and equitable settlement as they mark their ballots.

The Weare School Board
Matt Thomas, Chair
Marge Burke
Helen Dutton
Judy Lamont
Paul Levandowski

To the Editor:
It has been touted that if Medvil buys the park and we become a co-op, we will be eligible to finance manufactured homes. The reality is this: Citizens Bank doesn’t mortgage manufactured homes, Laconia Savings Bank will only finance 1985 or newer with 20 percent or 25 percent down and 7 percent interest with no reverse mortgages. TD Banknorth says they mortgage 1990 or newer and your score has to be 675 or higher, 25 percent down with three rates: 10 years at 9.23 percent, 15 years at 9.67 percent, and 20 years at 10.14 percent, and – check this – manufactured house must be made in New Hampshire. That leaves all the homes in the Medvil co-op out.

As you can see, it is easy to use some of their words as sales pitches for the co-op, but, when it comes time to use such gimmicks, they just are not available to the residents. One of the banks did ask if the manufactured home was on its own land, but that didn’t make any difference to them as far as the loan was concerned.

Barry McCabe of Hometown America was quoted in the January/February issue of “Where to Retire” publication (page 60) because they have their own finance division and they know the homes in their communities.

They would be able to finance the units even though they were older. Their finance rates are 5 to 11 percent.

If you were thinking that owning a piece of the co-op would make it easier for someone to buy your home with financing or to take a loan or reverse mortgage in the future, it won’t work. It will cost more than it is worth.

Stop trying to bamboozle us. New Englanders are smarter than that.

Marilyn Buxton
Goffstown

To the Editor:
Come on, Collis. Let it go. Kindergarten in Goffstown has been delayed by others before your belated campaign. It was delayed by the defeat of the Jason Drive site. It was delayed by the Tibbetts Hill site litigation (you see, there was some!). And, it might have been delayed by the court action of your group, except that the work was continued while you tried to delay it.

And, as time went by, construction costs went up. That is happening all the time, and sometimes causes losses. I am sure that, having made a contract, John Neville had to swallow the higher cost of fuel for his trucks and other equipment. He deserves our gratitude for a job well done, in spite of reduced profits.

As far as exercising your rights, you and your cohorts had plenty of opportunity to suggest other school sites, well before the Glen Lake site was decided on. Why didn’t you exercise your rights earlier, even four or five years earlier? You and your group knew we were looking for school sites, but you uttered not a word until the site chosen was next door to your own property. How can you claim that was not a factor? Honestly.

As to responsibility, honesty and integrity being taught in school, they are, but some people seem to learn these qualities, and live them up to a certain age.

Then, what the heck, there is so little of these in the world, why bother? But you can still seem to have them if you demand it of others.

You lost, and sour grapes will get you nowhere. You look much better if you accept the loss gratefully. And you’ll feel better if you get into something productive and forget this battle.

Charles W. Carr
Goffstown

To the Editor:
I fully support the Goffstown Fire Department in their efforts to provide fire and EMT services 24 hours a day, seven days per week. And I support the proposed article number 30 that will be on the ballot March 14.

Comments made against this proposal don’t justify voting against it. “We don’t know the whole plan,” has been said. “Let the selectmen and the fire chief each swallow their pride, then work out a plan,” was said. “Can we afford it?” has been asked. We don’t like that our taxes continue to rise.

The selectmen were charged with the responsibility of developing a plan for the 24/7. They failed to do so. The fire department created a plan and explained it at the deliberative session. Who better than those who do the job regularly to know the number of firefighters needed to get the job done? To know the shift schedules that will work. Barbara Griffin admitted the BOS and fire department aren’t far from each other in the number crunch.

It has been said the number of fire calls has decreased so we don’t need a 24/7 fire department.

It takes only one fire to create the need. Do you remember the January fire on Addison Road? It was three alarms and a total loss. It happened at 3 a.m. when the fire department wasn’t staffed. But for the grace of God, that could have been any one of us – our homes, our business. Let’s not remedy the situation AFTER someone dies.

The question isn’t if we can afford it. The question is, “Can we afford not to?” The small rise in taxes attributed to this plan is less than the deductible most of us would pay if our home or business burned down.

Not to be dramatic, but that is – if we were still alive to pay it. There are many needs and issues important to the town. But safety - for the town, our homes, our businesses, and our lives – should be a top priority. Vote yes on Article 30!

Gail Labrecque
Goffstown