YourNeighborhoodNews.com: The Hooksett Banner

For the people who live on Brown Road in Candia, the idea of a large building to process trash will likely never sound desirable. Who, given a choice, would want to live near that? And, of course, these people feel like they are being given no choice.

However, they and others in Candia are not giving the plan to create a transfer station a full hearing. They are assuming there will be too much noise, too many trucks, too nasty a smell. would happen with a transfer station there. It was a bitterly fought project. Now you never hear complaints.

It’s a shame voters didn't make clear at last year's Town Meeting whether the trash processing center itself was at issue or if it was only the location. Selectmen were left with the job of figuring out how to most responsibly take care of the problem, but with no direction from voters on how to proceed.

Candia’s making plans now for what Candia will do with its trash in the coming decades. Waste disposal is a pressing problem in all towns, but even more so for Candia with its aging incinerator. Candia must decide now how it will deal with its trash because simply trucking it away is not always possible and always expensive.

Those who think this plan will cost more than curbside pickup or simply continuing with dump and incinerator need to take a close look at the numbers. It just solve the waste disposal problem, by 2008 Candia will be scrambling to figure out how to keep its incinerator burning or begging other towns to take its trash.

-Ginger Kozlowski, Editor

On Saturday, Jan. 22, 2005, at 11 p.m., Bedford, N.H., was reported by the television station, WMUR, meteorologist to have 6-plus inches of snow already on the ground, with snow falling at the rate of 1 to 2 inches of snow per hour. I had the winning number of inches of snow, “at least 6 inches,” as your contest dictated, on that exact date of Jan. 22. After calling your office and speaking directly to the editor's office, I was told that the winner picked was for 11 inches of snow on the next day?

Editor's Note: The contest was for the total amount of snow at the finish of a snowstorm that had to amount to at least 6 inches, which was on Jan. 23. We had many entries for both Jan 22 and Jan. 23, and the official measuring station at our office did not record 6 inches on Jan. 22. Therefore, we took our measurement on Jan. 23, with the total snowfall as the tiebreaker. Since two entries were the closest to 11 inches, we conducted a random drawing. The rules never changed.

We're sorry Ms. Stevens is unhappy with the result, but we also said Neighborhood determination of the winner was final. We hope our readers had fun with the contest, which had a record number of entries for contests run by this newspaper.

Question: Why are we supporting two principal positions at salaries of $65,000 (AES)and $70,000 (ARD) for this enrollment?

Department of Education Rule Ed 306.16 specifies a maximum class size of 25 for grades 1 and 2 and 30 for higher grades.

Kindergarten: 12 per class
1st grade: 14
2nd grade: 17
3rd grade: 22
4th grade: 18
5th grade: 20
6th grade: 16
7th grade: 21
8th grade: 21

Why are our fifth-graders being housed in expensive mod-ulars at ARD when we have ample space at AES without the expense of an addition and renovations?

When we vote on March 8, let us remember the elderly, many of whom live on fixed incomes.

Sandy & Jerry McKenney
David & Pauline Boutin
Allenstown
Sandy McKenney is an Allenstown slectman.

To the Editor:
It seems that there are several people in Hooksett that do not understand what/who CEDCOH is. I'd like to take a moment to clear up any confusion.

The Community Economic Development Corp. of Hooksett was born out of the master planning process. This organization was co-founded in 2003 by me and Steve Korzyniowski. Steve was the chairman of the master plan committee, and I have a background in community economic development. We formed a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation after having a series of planning sessions with a group of community leaders who had an interest in this opportunity.

These sessions were focused around how volunteers from the community can effectively assist the town government in reaching the goals stated within the master plan. Community Economic Development is a grassroots approach to development, recognizing that the people who live here should make the decisions on how they want their community to be - not others from outside.

As a nonprofit entity, our organization can attract additional investment into Hooksett, without burdening taxpayers. We are not a town-funded agency and have not been hired by the town as a professional consultant.

Our mission is to promote balanced and sustainable community economic development that benefits Hooksett residents, enhances and protects the environment and our quality of life. CEDCOH advocates public policy consistent with its mission, and engages in development projects to create good-paying jobs, preserve housing affordability, improve the business climate, foster a more stable and diversified economy, a healthy tax base and effective transportation, increase public interaction and recreation, and enhance the quality of life in Hooksett.

We are not here to take the place of town government, but rather collaborate with them.

Our board is made up of local residents, business members and a town-appointed member (thus we have Charles Watson - a true asset to our group, with a door that's always open to anyone that seeks information).

Our projects are determined by what residents have asked us to do including the development of a chapter in the master plan specific to the Village section of town, Web-based interaction such as Hookett_online, surveys on various issues of importance, and most recently, our involvement in creating a community center for the town at the former Village School - something that's been a top priority since the Community Profile was done by residents in 2001. (See ceinfo.unh.edu/CommDev/Pubs /HooksCPR.pdf for the full profile report.)

If anyone wants further information, I'd encourage you to spend some time on our Web site at www.CEDCOH.org. I'm also available via phone or in person for anyone that has additional questions.

Our organization is not exclusive, has no hidden agendas, and is very open and willing to help make Hooksett a better place to live. We are all volunteers and appreciate assistance from anyone that wants to get involved in a productive, positive manner.

To the Editor:
During the month of January, the students, staff and community of Hooksett Memorial School participated in a fundraiser called "The Power of the Penny," sponsored by the New Hampshire Partners in Education and our local Hooksett Memorial School volunteers.

Its purpose was to teach children the importance of saving pennies while reaching a specific goal. The school and community was moved by the recent tsunami disaster, and set a goal of collecting $600 in pennies to send to the American Red Cross for tsunami relief.

Each week, school volunteers would collect the donated pennies and deposit them in the Bank of New Hampshire. Thank you to Cheryl Andrew, Kellee Manning, Laura Duchesne, Paula Rowley, Monika Kehas, Lynn Cote and Barb Brennan for all of their help. The employees at the bank would welcome our volunteers with smiles and a willingness to help. They provided money bags for collection, and effortlessly counted each and every penny that was brought in.

We would like to thank the branch supervisor Joanne Clark for her patience and support. We would also like to thank Marie, Sabine, Kristin and Mary for spending so much time helping to count and sort our pennies.

We are very pleased and proud to announce that our original goal of $600 was easily surpassed. The school collected $894.74 in pennies. The community did not stop there. An additional $1,008.35 was collected in loose change, dollars and checks. All in all, the total to be presented to the American Red Cross is $1,903.09!

The generosity of the community of Hooksett is overwhelming! We are thankful for all of your support with this month long activity. The students learned the value of a penny, and that saving can achieve a specific goal. It is amazing that one penny, one child, one adult - one community can make a difference.

To the Editor:
"All this for a dollar!" Remember that? Quite a few more have been spent since, and now they want 1,500,000 more dollars from us to pour into the "Cash-Cow"! Of course, that doesn't account for the entire building. This is just for the town offices. The rest of the building will be "leased" to some committee which will then "sublet" to other groups. This idea was said to simplify things. Really? How many new "trustees" will this take? We may need even more office space and file cabinets.

The main reason for the numerous upgrades is due to the changing of the use for this building from a "grandfathered" school building to a "new" multi-use building. The historical value of this building will be diminished by making these major changes. The intrinsic value of it being a school building will be lost. How long will it be before Hooksett needs more school space? Considering the "master plan" and the major developments planned by Boston, oops, Manchester Sand and Gravel (and now Cement) Co., that time may not be far off.

The offer to keep the buildings use as a school, intact, was soundly rejected without any further discussion considered. I believe the offer was made more than once. There was "no way" that the town would consider even discussing it. The claim was made that it was "impossible." No, it wasn't and still isn't.

I am not empowered to give any specific numbers, but Hooksett and the SAU could reap some benefits from this building, as is. Instead of spending money, we could get some! The building would still be there and our money would too. Town hall can be better used and much of the needs could be addressed in a far more efficient manner. Perhaps the "records storage" place just down the road could help with the "historic" files. Shift some of the offices to another location. Many towns have their building codes and planning offices separate from the clerical and administrative offices.

Let the planners plan a building for themselves. Maybe they could use one of those portable classrooms at the Underhill school. Maybe then they would notice and remember that school zone is still unmarked!

To the Editor:
Jan. 29 brought a winter thaw and, at Manchester's Salvation Army, it was especially warm and bright with the laughter and shared stories of past and present Mayhew boys, staff and friends of the program now living in the Manchester area. More than 40 people perused old and new photos, played a Mayhew-themed game of "Charades" and caught-up on the latest with one another.

Mayhew wishes to express its deep gratitude to the staff of the Manchester Salvation Army for being welcoming hosts for this very special event.

Mayhew is a nonprofit program dedicated to helping atrisk New Hampshire boys find their best. It does this through its unique summer program based in Bristol, and through regular school-year visits with the boys, always emphasizing the importance of respect, responsibility, community and challenge.

Mayhew is a member agency of the Heritage, Lakes Region, greater Seacoast, Monadnock, Merrimack County, Upper Valley and North Country United Ways. For more information, contact the Mayhew office, 744-6131 or www.mayhew.org.

To the Editor:
On behalf of the nursing home and the activities department, I would like to extend my sincere thanks and gratitude to our organization, business or club for your generosity this holiday season.

Through your time and generosity, you have made the lives of residents at our home more enjoyable. For many of them, the holiday season is not a time to rejoice and be happy.

So when people like you take the time out of your busy lives to give and think of the folks at the nursing home, I know that it is appreciated beyond words.

The blanket drive sponsored by your company (Neighborhood News) aided 37 residents of our facility.

From the families, residents and staff, we extend to all of you a happy and safe year and hope to hear from you next holiday season.