w w w . a m h e r s t c i t i z e n . c o m • J A N U A R Y 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 • THE AMHERST CITIZEN • 1

AMHERST – The Souhe-gan High School Music De-partment will host its sec-ond Jazz Night of the year on Friday February 13 at 7:00pm. This year marks the 14th anniversary of the Jazz Night series of con-certs hosted at SHS. To con-tinue our 14th anniversa-ry season, we are proud to welcome The Compaq Big Band back to SHS.

The exciting, high-ener-gy 20-piece Compaq Big Band showcases the pow-er of 14 horns, a cookin’ rhythm section, terrific in-strumental soloists, and phenomenal Feature Vo-calist. Formed in 1975, the

ensemble is one of the lon-gest continuously operating full-size big bands in New England. They perform over three dozen times a year, for a diverse range of clients

and events across the New Hampshire region. Their two CDs, Bandwidth and Hard Drive have met with rave reviews, and are played on New England jazz radio stations, on BBC2 in the United Kingdom, and on jazz radio shows in Sweden.

The band’s Feature Vo-calist is Boston-area jazz sensation Claire Dickson. Among her many accom-plishments, Claire is head-ed to the 2015 Grammy Awards selected as part of a nationwide all-star high school student jazz choir and big band for GRAM-

INSIDE THIS ISSUELetters ................................ 2, 3

Town News ........................... 4

Library ................................. 5

Arts & Entertainment ............ 9

Schools ............................... 11

SportsFolio ........................... 14

Business/Health ................... 15

Mont Vernon ........................ 15, 16

B R I E F S

Next Issue: February 10, 2015

Lions Club Roast Beef DinnerThe Amherst Lions Club Annual Roast Beef Din-

ner will be held on Friday, 6 February 2015 from 5:30PM to 7:30PM at the Amherst Middle School. Dinner includes roast beef, gravy, baked potato, vegetables, beverages, and salad. Desserts will be provided by the Amherst Junior Women’s Club. Adult tickets are $10.00. Tickets for children 6 to 12 years are $5.00. Meals for children under 6 years of age are free. Tickets will be on sale out-side the Amherst Post Office on Saturday 1/31/15 from 9AM to Noon, at the door, or call 465-1700 and ask for Lion Nate Jensen.

Past Lions District Governors Sandra Hurd and Tom Geno enjoying their Amherst Lions Club Roast Beef Dinner.

Winter Carnival Weekend 2015!We are pleased to announce the return of our

Winter Carnival this year. We have a fun-filled weekend planned with events Feb. 6th, 7th, and 8th. See schedule on page 4.

AMHERST REPUBLICANSMonthly Meeting Saturday, February 7, 8:00 AMJoey’s Diner, Route 101A, Amherst

Guest speaker will be the NH State Director for Amer-icans for Prosperity, Greg Moore. Read more about

AFP at americansforprosperity.org. We will also be discussing the upcoming town elections and the budgeting process for the town and schools. Please join us for an informative discussion.

For more information please visit the website: www.amherstrepublicans.org

Deliberative SessionsTown of Amherst – Bond and Warrant Articles

– Wednesday, February 4, 2015 at 7:00 PM atSouhegan High School Auditorium

Souhegan Cooperative School District - February 2, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. at Souhegan High School Theatre

Amherst School District – February 3, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. at Souhegan High School Theatre

Mont Vernon School District – February 4, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. at MV Village School

Voting will be Tuesday, March 10, 2015, 6:00am – 8:00pm at Souhegan High School.

Third Annual Amherst Candidates Night, February 11

The Southern New Hampshire Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) will hold the Third Annual Amherst Candidates Night on Wednesday, February 11 at the Amherst Town Hall in the Barbara Landry Room starting at 7 pm.

It will be shown live on ACTV20 and rerun at var-ies times through Election Day on Tuesday, March 10. It can also be viewed on your computer on de-mand at http://amherstnh.pegcentral.com - usually by the day after the event.

In the event of inclement weather, a decision about cancellation will be made by 4 pm. Please call 673-5171 or check ACTV20. There is no alter-nate date scheduled.

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V O L U M E 2 3 – N U M B E R 1 0 J A N U A R Y 2 7 – F E B R U A R Y 9 , 2 0 1 5

A M H E R S T , N E W H A M P S H I R E ’ S C O M M U N I T Y N E W S P A P E R

DELIBERATIVE SESSIONS FOR TOWN OF AMHERST AND SCHOOL DISTRICTS NEXT WEEK: WWW.AMHERSTCITIZEN.COM

Amherst Town Library

Hollywood Glamour Visit Planned to Boston’s MFA

Joan Crawford suite of custom jewelry

AMHERST – The public is invited to join the Friends of the Amherst Library on Tuesday, January 27th as we visit the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Presenting ex-hibits include, Hollywood Glamour focusing on the iconic style of sultry star-lets of the period, including Gloria Swanson, Anna May

Wong, Greta Garbo, Mar-lene Dietrich, Mae West, and Joan Crawford. Dra-matic costumes created for the screen by famous de-signers such as Adrian, Tra-vis Banton, and Chanel and dazzling jewelry from mak-ers of the era like Trabert &

Eli Moskowitz Named Gatorade NH Boys Cross Country Runner of The Year

Third Annual Amherst Candidates Night

The Amherst Town Library is welcoming the phenomenal Boston Saxophone Quartet in a Duke Ellington Concert scheduled for Sunday, February 8th from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. in the Main Reading Room.

Boston Saxophone Quartet Performs Duke Ellington: Beyond Category Concert

Compaq Big Band Returns to Souhegan High School For Jazz Night #2

Amherst Garden Club February Program

“Releasing the Bonsai Artist Within”

Town and School Districts Prepare Bud-gets for Deliberative Sessions

AMHERST – During the week of Febru-ary 2nd, voters will be asked to attend three deliberative sessions to consider the oper-ating budgets and warrant articles for the Town of Amherst, Amherst School District and Souhegan Cooperative School District.

Operating BudgetsThe FY 16 operating budgets for each

governing board are: Town of Amherst $12,427,814 (increase of $617,383); Am-herst School District $25,016,262 (increase

of $306,454); and Souhegan Cooperative $18,161,347 (increase of $37,845).

For the taxpayer, operating budgets have increased a combined total of $961,682.

Warrant Articles

Town of AmherstBridge Replacement Bond - $3,324,108.

This qualifies for 80% reimbursement from the State.

CHICAGO— In its 30th year of honoring the na-tion’s best high school ath-letes, The Gatorade Com-pany, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, today announced Eli Moskowitz of Souhegan High School as its 2014-15

Gatorade New Hamp-shire Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year. Mos-kowitz is the first Gatorade New Hampshire Boys Cross

Country Runner of the Year to be chosen from Souhegan High School.

The award, which recog-nizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic

achievement andexemplary character

demonstrated on and off the racecourse, distinguishes Moskowitz as New Hamp-

shire’s best high school boys cross country runner. Now a finalist for the pres-tigious Gatorade National Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year award to be an-nounced in January, Mos-kowitz joins an elite alum-ni association of past state award-winners in 12 sports.

The 6-foot, 140-pound senior finished 26th at the national Foot Locker Cross Country Championships with a time of 15:59 this past season. A three-time NHCCCA Division 2 All-State honoree, Moskowitz raced to individual titles at

Eli Moskowitz

David and Myrla Bryant

Vocalist, Claire Dickson

AMHERST – Learn about the ancient art of bonsai at Amherst Garden Club’s meeting on Febru-ary 5 at the Messiah Luther-an Church on Route 101 in

Amherst. David and Myr-la Bryant, owners of a bon-sai shop in Keene, NH, will present “Releasing the Bon-

AMHERST – The sec-ond offering of the Amherst Town Library’s very popu-lar Sundays at 4 Music Se-ries is scheduled for Sun-day, February 8th with the Boston Saxophone Quar-tet performing “Duke El-lington: Beyond Category Concert” from 4:00 to 5:00

p.m. in the Main Reading Room of the Library. This performance is part of the Library’s February themed programming, Hail to the Harlem Renaissance, cel-ebrating National Black History Month. The Bos-

Amherst Town Library

AMHERST – We’re here to help! That’s the bottom line. The new-ly established Amherst Community Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit with the following mission, “The purpose of the Foundation is to enhance the quality of life in Amherst by raising and providing funds for programs that benefit our community. The Amherst Community Foundation (ACF) will provide ways for individ-uals, organizations and corporations to channel their philanthropic giv-ing for educational, cultural,, envi-ronmental and/or health and well-ness initiatives with the Town” We believe that, for the first time, an or-

ganization is now in place to channel the energy and creativity of the com-munity and to identify those projects that will enhance our resources and subsequently, our pride in our town, as well as its livability and neighbor-liness. AFC’s role as a fiduciary enti-ty can play an important part in en-suring the successful completion of projects which it undertakes.

The Board of Trustees of ACF is composed of 8 community mem-bers from different backgrounds and of different ages. The Trustees se-lect the projects to undertake based

Amherst Community Foundation Seeks Donors To Fulfill Their Mission

Skaters lace up at the new Ice Skating Rink at Amherst Middle School

AMHERST – The South-ern New Hampshire Branch of the American Associa-tion of University Women (AAUW) will hold the Third Annual Amherst Candi-dates Night on Wednesday, February 11 at the Amherst Town Hall in the Barbara Landry Room starting at 7 pm.

It will be shown live on ACTV20 and rerun at var-ies times through Election

Day on Tuesday, March 10. It can also be viewed on your computer on demand at http://amherstnh.pegcen-tral.com - usually by the day after the event.

All candidates who have filed seeking to be elected to an Amherst town or school position will be invited, in-cluding those who are run-ning unopposed. Positions open are (all three year terms unless noted):

• Town – two Selectmen,one Cemetery Trustee, two Library Trustees, one Su-pervisor of the Checklist (for a one year term), one Town Treasurer, one Trust-ee of the Trust Fund and three Zoning Board of Ad-justment Members

• Amherst School District– one School Board Mem-ber

Kitchen Renovation Event!Come to our Kitchen 101 seminar February 3rd, 6-8pm

Turn to Page 8 in today’s Amherst Citizen for details

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2 • THE AMHERST CITIZEN • J A N U A R Y 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 • w w w . a m h e r s t c i t i z e n . c o m

Letters & Opinion

How to contact us: Phone: 603-672-9444 Fax: 603-672-8153 Mail: PO Box 291 Amherst, NH 03031 eMail: News: news@amherstcitizen.com Ads: ads@amherstcitizen.com on the World Wide Web:

www.amherstcitizen.com

NEXT ISSUE:Tues., February 10, 2015

Deadline: 5 p.m.Wednesday, February 4

Issue dates may be subject to change. Watch future issues for schedule updates.

Phone: 672-9444 Fax: 672-8153e-Mail: news@amherstcitizen.com

the Amherst CitizenSchedule of Issues

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Subscriptions: $17.50 per year (prepaid)P.O. Box 291, Amherst, NH 03031-0291Phone: 672-9444 Fax: 672-8153 e-Mail: news@amherstcitizen.com

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April 28May 12May 26June 9June 23July 28August 25

The Amherst Citizen is eager to serve as a community forum. We welcome your letters, opinions, and commentaries and make every effort to run them in their entirety. We do reserve the right to edit. The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily rep-resent the position of the staff of The Amherst Citizen.

Please direct your letters, views and commentary to the Editor, The Amherst Citizen, P.O. Box 291, Amherst, NH 03031-0291, or e-mail your submission to: news@amherstcitizen.com. We will attempt to run your letter as submitted (space permitting) providing it is signed and phone number is included.

Letters To the editor:

Souhegan Board Attentive To Size of Budget and Cost Per PupilTo the editor:

Souhegan Ranks Highest Among Its Peers in Cost per StudentTo the editor:

Concealed Firearms is a Form of Self Defense and Reduces Violent CrimesTo the editor:

The Souhegan budget for FY2016 needs to be viewed from a broader per-spective than its modest increase over last year as portrayed by the Board and members of the Souhegan Advisory Finance Committee. Evaluating a budget can and should be viewed from its relationship to other schools across the state. The way to look at this is by studying the cost per student which provides an apples to apples comparison to all high schools in the state. You can find this data at the NH Department of Education (DOE) website (http://education.nh.gov/data/financial.htm#cost). You will be told by proponents of the Board that these numbers do not provide a proper comparison because they are apples to oranges comparisons. However, if you inspect the root of the comparison, you can make up your own mind. The cost numbers are carefully constructed according to a NH DOE spec-ification called the DOE 25 and you can inspect this at: http://www.educa-tion.nh.gov/data/documents/doe_25_fy2013.pdf.

This is a carefully designed specification to get at the operational costs of the running a school. It eliminates items like bond issues, food services where government subsidies cause distortions, and transportation costs as well as other costs that distort the comparison of different schools. The cost of operating the school is divided by the enrollment to create the cost per student that can be used to compare the operational efficiency. Cost per student is a measure of relative efficiency of school’s use of taxpayer dollars.

By this measure, Souhegan is ranked #9 in the state with 76 high schools. However, the 8 schools above Souhegan are schools with an average en-rollment of 171 students. Studies have shown that the optimal size for a high school is between 600 to 900 students because they can offer a full curriculum at the lowest cost and also offer direct attention to students on the fringes. Larger schools lose the visibility of fringe students and smaller schools lose the economies of scale to create the best value. Souhegan sits in an optimal range to run a high school at an optimal cost, but do they?

The state average for cost per student is $14,109 and Souhegan is current-ly at $19,012 or 34.7% above the average for the state. SAU 39 has defined a peer group that it likes to develop comparisons. These 10 schools were selected because they are considered to be the “best” academic compari-sons and/or schools that Souhegan competes with for staff. They include Hollis-Brookline, Windham, Bow, Exeter, Hanover, Bedford, Milford, Mer-rimack, Con-Val, and Oyster River. In this peer group, Souhegan is the #1. The peer group average cost per student is $15,344 and Souhegan is 24% above the peer group.

The proposed Souhegan budget for fiscal 2016 of $18,163,195 (this $ amount is not the DOE 25 and should not be used for computing cost per student) shows an increase in budget of $39,693 or .22% increase. By most measures, this is a modest increase and the voters might consider it accept-able, but it deserves closer inspection. One of the key planning assump-tions for the Souhegan budget (or any school) for Fiscal 2016 is the project-ed enrollment. For Fiscal 2015, the enrollment planning assumption was 839. The Fiscal 2016 SAU 39 projection is 815 and was their planning as-sumption. This is a reduction of 24 students and a 2.9% decline.

Why is enrollment important?Enrollment drives most of the major expenses incurred in the budget.

The amount and number of books, computers, co-curricular activities,

classes, subject offerings, teachers and support staff, etc., is driven by the enrollment. The budget should scale up with increasing enrollment and down with declining enrollment; and they should be somewhat propor-tionate over time. There are some fixed expenses that are not driven by the enrollment such as the electricity and natural gas; and, these should be excluded costs.

A 2.9% decrease in enrollment should trigger a similar decrease in the budget less the cost of fixed expenses. Instead, the Board is proposing an increase of .22% rather than a decline. Using the decrease in enrollment would place the budget at around $ 17,589,803 plus fixed costs as compared to the Warrant Article #1 amount $18,163,195.

Beyond Fiscal 2016, there is a steady decline in enrollment over 5 years. At the start of 2020, the enrollment projection drops to 632. This is a loss of an additional 183 students resulting in 22% decline in enrollment. This steady decline in enrollment should be addressed in each year that it is in-curred. Delaying will cause a much larger disruption in the school than necessary. No forecast is perfect. The enrollment in future years are sub-ject to increasing variability, but the trend is unmistakable.

The Souhegan philosophy of education is a very positive aspect of the school. We have a set of thoughtful educators and by all accounts an out-standing staff. Souhegan is an outstanding school and educators come from long distances to come to see how it works. The citizens of Amherst and Mont Vernon have a great deal to be proud of. The Board should be commended for the FY2014 and FY2015 budgets which reduced the cost per student. However, they chose to reverse course for the FY2016 bud-get and ignore the downward trend in enrollment. Simply put, the budget should scale with enrollment; when enrollment rises, the costs should rise and when the enrollment declines, the costs should decline. Scaling with enrollment does not impinge on Souhegan’s education values or philoso-phy.

Recently, the Board wrote a letter to the editor titled Planning for Declin-ing Enrollment. This was hardly a plan. It talked about their past successes and nothing about how they are going to meet the challenges of the next five years. We are voting on the FY16 budget in the near future. This Plan for Declining Enrollment does not address the future in FY16 or beyond.

I support the school and the philosophy of education, but I do not sup-port the proposed FY2016 budget.

David Chen Amherst

The Souhegan board has been attentive to the size of our budget, and the resulting cost per pupil, for some time now. These topics came up again at our Public Hearing on the budget, echoing what we’ve been discussing with the Advisory Finance Committee throughout the budget develop-ment process: the proposed budget, at $18 million, is very large relative to the perceived decline in student population in town, and the cost-per-pupil is one of the highest in the state. The board is, and has been, very aware of these issues for a number of years, and has been working to address them through the last few budget cycles. While we are all voters and taxpayers, concerned about our taxes, board members are also charged with a duty to make decisions that are carefully thought through to minimize the impact on what makes our school successful, AND meet the needs of the taxpayers to develop an affordable budget.

Souhegan High School got to our current position with 14 years of growth that exceeded all expectations, and lead to quick overcrowding of a brand new building, the need for portables on the lawn for many years, and then the addition of the annex building. Along with growth in numbers, we saw demand for growth in services: more athletics to serve more youth, more advanced courses to meet the needs of high-achieving students who aspire to attend highly selective colleges, more support for students who struggle, so that every child succeeds in achieving a good education without choos-ing to become a dropout. We met all those challenges, but at a cost. The board proposed budgets each year to meet the challenges we faced, and in all but two years, the voters supported those budgets.

In 2006 the world changed for us. While the demands for programs that meet the needs of all students continue to grow, one element of the budget drivers changed direction, we had hit our peak enrollment at 1046 and the number of students began to decline. The board did not respond imme-

diately to that change, but has been taking measured step since to bring enrollment-based costs back to the design goals. To bring student-teach-er, teacher facing, and support staff ratios our desired target (or better), we have reduced staff by 15. With student enrollment now relatively stable for a few years, we cannot further reduce staff without having undesirable impacts on student learning and services. Similarly, we still have more stu-dents than the main building was designed for, so we cannot arbitrarily re-duce space usage without overcrowding.

Both the board and administration are well aware of the costs our pro-grams levy on the taxpayers of Amherst and Mont Vernon, and we see the potential for a larger decline in students in a few years if the reduced pop-ulation in the lower grades of AMS, Clark/Wilkins and the Village School continues. We are preparing for that, as well as examining our programs at a deeper level to determine what we can let go while retaining that which makes us a successful educational institution for all students. We want the voters to know we are all on the same page, and attending to the needs of all residents in a thoughtful way, which is not necessarily the fastest way, but intended to be the most satisfactory way.

The Souhegan Cooperative School Board Mary Lou Mullens, Amherst, Chair Fran Harrow, Amherst, Vice-Chair Howard Brown, Mont Vernon, Secretary Steve Coughlan, Amherst Pim Grondstra, Mont Vernon Chris Janson, Amherst Peter Maresco, Amherst

I take great exception to the recent letter from Clay Sammis regard-ing the above. He is certainly entitled to his opinions about the Second Amendment, but he is not entitled to his own facts, particularly those that are so blatantly wrong.

He claims that “30,000 plus Americans are killed with guns every year. This amounts to 85 deaths a day, or more than 3 an hour. Over 20% of those are children or young adults according to the Centers for Disease Control and Protection.” I checked the CDC data and could not find anything re-motely close to the above claims. However, a better source of gun violence statistics in the United States is available on the FBI website. (www.fbi.gov) and follow the links under “Stats & Services” to Table 20 which has the in-formation on all of the homicides committed in the US in 2013, the latest year available.

There were a total of 14,196 homicides committed and reported to the FBI during that year and of those, 8,236 were committed using a firearm. Further, of the total firearm deaths, 681 were considered “justifiable” by ei-ther a law enforcement officer or an armed citizen. The balance was com-mitted using edged weapons, blunt force, or hands, feet or fists. The state

with the highest homicide rate was California with a total of 1,745 homi-cides of which 1,224 were caused by firearms. New Hampshire reported 21 homicides of which 5 were committed with a firearm.

Mr. Sammis makes much about the firearm related deaths in the US ver-sus the UK and again he misses the point. Private gun ownership in the UK is almost nonexistent, so of course the difference would be significant. But if you measure the violent crime rate per 100,000 people in each country, the UK rate (776) is almost two thirds higher than the US (466) We are ranked 24th in the world in violent crime per capita which includes the 14,196 homicides listed above. It is estimated that 47% of the US popula-tion own one or more firearms amounting to 147 million people out of 313 million. It would appear that these gun owners are responsible citizens who enjoy shooting sports or keep a firearm for personal protection, and many are your neighbors here in Amherst.

James M. CoullAmherst

Get Involved or Wake Up With a Pipeline in AmherstTo the editor:

As Amherst is waking up to the real possibility of a high pressure Natu-ral Gas Pipeline in town, many are wondering how this has happened, and what we as a community can do about it.

This pipe line was supposed to go through Northern Ma, however they revolted, as did Hollis, and so now it’s in Amherst.

This is a 36in diameter pipe that will be carrying more than a billion cu-bic feet of gas a day, pressurized to 1,460 pounds per square inch. This is a large pipe line compared to others. Do you want this in Amherst no matter where you live? Montana just had a leak in their pipe line, and the Gover-nor has declared a State of Emergency. This pipeline was also underground as is the one planned for Amherst. The difference is that pipeline was car-rying oil not gas. Unfortunately when a pipeline is carrying gas it explodes which leads to loss of life, homes or schools in the area. Kinder Morgan has been sited for having a poor safety record. Kinder Morgan’s pipelines have been plagued by leaks and explosions. A Hedge fund has accused the firm of “starving its pipelines of maintenance spending”.

Amherst does not have the emergency response required to protect this town from a gas leak or explosion. In the event of a large rupture, the valves on each end of the rupture must be closed, (can be any where from 2.5 miles to 10 miles apart) and after that the gas has to burn off.

The Hollis Selectmen and citizens stood arm and arm through out Hol-lis to protect their homes, children, real estate values and schools. I hope we stand together and do the same in Amherst. We need our Selectman to send a strong message to those involved, and be actively participating pro-tecting the citizens of Amherst,.

Everyone needs to get involved, or you will wake up with a pipeline in your town.

Alice BuryAmherst

Suppliers Trying To Stay Ahead Of The Curve By Avoiding Shortages.To the editor:

One thing those who oppose the possibility of a new natural gas pipeline coming through N.H. and Amherst fail to understand is that gas is a com-modity, and subject to global pricing and distribution. The quantity pricing and distribution and expansion on the local level is subject to review and grants by the Public Utilities Commission.

Presently there are over 2 million miles of gas pipelines in the U.S., enough to encompass the earth over 80 times, plus thousands of miles of lines carrying hazardous liquids. How many accidents have we had with these buried pipes? Very few. On the other hand, how many ships, trucks and railroad containers have lost oil, gas and hazardous liquids over the years? A lot.

Your streets are lined with multi-kilovolt wires crisscrossing the land-scape, and high pressure gas lines buried just a few feet down. So why not complain about that? The risk has been minimal. There is no such thing as zero risk in life. Utility companies have been very responsible in minimiz-ing the risk their products pose. The same assuredness should be granted them in burying pipelines to meet our future energy needs. Utility compa-nies have a pretty good track record in that respect. Having spent decades in a technical field, I respect the engineering involved in power distribu-tion.

Listening to some of the opponents of increasing the gas supply, you would think that the energy supplier had nothing better to do than dig up your community and keep heavy equipment operators busy. The suppliers are trying to stay ahead of the curve by avoiding shortages.

All commodities are, as mentioned before, subject to global pricing and distribution. Pipeline opponents, be it natural gas or oil, assume that which is locally derived should only be distributed as such. We import a fair amount of energy products. Shouldn’t the same exportation argument be afforded citizens of other energy producing countries? Pose that question to those whose passion is to return us to quill and ink well and the answer is silence.

Henry PerrasAmherst

w w w . a m h e r s t c i t i z e n . c o m • J A N U A R Y 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 • THE AMHERST CITIZEN • 3

More Letters

Not We/They, But Us.To the editor:

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Pool TablesRegulation slate tables by Brunswick, Olhausen and others.

Can Voters Trust the Souhegan Advisory Finance Committee?To the editor:

The Souhegan Advisory Finance Committee (SAFC) has been described as dysfunctional this budget year. I agree. This is due to two very different perspectives regarding the purpose of the Finance Committee. Until re-cently the SAFC charge was a nebulous statement that provided little clar-ity. This budget year started with a new charge that produced the conflicts that exist today. It is important for the voters of Amherst and Mont Vernon to understand the two perspectives if they use the SAFC’s recorded vote on the ballot and the voter’s guide in their decision to vote for or against the Souhegan District budget warrant article.

The two points of view in the SAFC disagree on the role/purpose and the charge given by the moderator (which is supported by the Souhegan School Board (SSB) leadership). This is caused by fundamental disagree-ment over who the SAFC members represent. The moderator, who is elect-ed, appoints the SAFC. One point of view believes that the SSB and the moderator are the elected officials; and, the appointed SAFC is an advisory body to help the board to get their budget passed by way of inspecting and advising the Board on the proposed budget. The other point of view be-lieves that the SAFC is an independent body and advises the public/voters on the appropriateness of the School Board and Souhegan Administration proposed budget in the spirit of the system of checks and balances.

An outcome of the former point of view is that the elected Board sets the educational philosophy, strategy, policy and model of education. I ful-ly agree. But, they also consequently believe that this sets the budget that SAFC must support. This is where I disagree. On the ballot, Warrant Ar-ticle 1 is to elect a member of the school board and Warrant Article 2 is the approval of the proposed budget. I believe that this was intentional on the part of the NH Legislature. Warrant Article 1 says the voter is elect-ing the school board based on their vision for the school; Warrant Article 2 says the voter authorizes only said amount of money to implement the educational program and no more. These two warrant articles are clearly separated and there is no language, implied or unimplied, that ties them together.

At the beginning of this budget review season and at the request of the Committee, the moderator issued a new charge to the SAFC. At first, it ap-peared innocuous. However, the moderator’s interpretations have restrict-ed the data and methods that the SAFC can use to evaluate the budget. It only allows the use of the current budget (and its projected actuals) and the proposed budget on a line item by line item basis to be used as a determi-nant by the SAFC to make their individual votes. This excludes any com-parative data from other school districts available at the NH Department of Education website, previous year’s track record, and top down/bottom up analysis of budget. It also disallows the Committee members from voting based strictly on the bottom-line budget number. This dictate forces the presumption that the current budget line items are correct. Setting such a narrow charge is an overreach of the moderator’s discretion and the School Board’s leadership.

As you will recall, the vote count of both the Board and the Committee are provided on the ballot for each warrant article. One SAFC member calls this a “super vote”. The Town of Amherst and Amherst School Dis-trict’s (ASD) ballots have similar bodies called Ways and Means Commit-tees which provide a non-elected reviewing body to examine the budgets of the Town and ASD. This “super vote” is intended to guide the voter with an alternative perspective of the appropriateness of the budget. There is an implicit assumption that this alternative perspective is independent of the Board and free to examine any and all data. Under the current charge, this is not the case. Members of the Town Ways and Means and the Amherst School District have confirmed that they are not constrained in any way.

Limiting the review to the line items only and disallowing consideration of the bottom-line $ figure is in sharp contrast to the decision that the vot-er must make - voting for or against a single budget number which will ap-pear in Warrant Article #2. The only thing that matters is the bottom-line budget number; no line items appear on the ballot. Once the budget is ap-proved, the School Board has the power to move money at will within the many line items of the approved bottom-line number; and, the line items are meaningless after the vote is cast. Why limit the Souhegan Advisory Finance Committee to only inspecting the line items when the voter only votes on the bottom-line; and, line items are rendered meaningless once the votes are cast. The bottom-line number is roughly 1/3 of your tax bill; and, it must be part of the decision process for both SAFC and all voters.

Trust in the Souhegan Advisory Finance Committee process has been deeply eroded. These limitations on the Committee are a form of censor-ship that is intended to win voters to the Board and school administration’s budget. Contrast this with how the Town Ways and Means and our Se-lectmen work together or how the Amherst School Board and their Ways and Means committee work. They are allowed, encouraged, and enabled to pursue data where ever it can be obtained with the purpose of producing the most efficient use of tax dollars possible. This is not a matter of getting an annual budget passed or not, but rather the voter’s right to the best in-formation possible without censorship to make their decision.

To the Voters of Amherst and Mont Vernon, look at the Souhegan Ad-visory Finance Committee’s 5-2 vote in favor of the School Board’s budget on the ballot and in the Voter’s Guide with high degree of skepticism. The SAFC might well be cast as the Souhegan School Board Budget Marketing Committee.

So, why is the data and process being restricted to evaluate the FY2016 Souhegan budget? More on that...

David ChenSouhegan Advisory Finance Committee Co-Chairman Former Town Ways and Means Committee member

At the January 14th Village Strategic Planning Committee meeting, some wondered whether a “we/they” attitude among people living in the Village and those living outside the Village really exists. One need only read Peter Hansen’s letter to the Citizen editor entitled What About “The Rest of Amherst” to dispel any doubt.

Mr. Hansen decries that the Village strategic planning process benefits Village residents to the detriment of the majority of residents that live be-yond the Village. It seems to me that this view is myopic for several reasons.

First off, Mr. Hansen seems to have overlooked that the Board of Select-men and the eight town departments that comprise town government un-dertook what is considered one of the most innovative strategic planning processes in the state two years ago to ensure that limited resources and tax dollars are expended as sensibly as possible in serving all residents of Amherst wherever they live. These plans have been refreshed again this year and now serve as the basis for annual municipal planning and bud-geting.

There has not been nor is there now a comprehensive strategic plan for the town as a whole. There should be. People may cite the existence of the 2010 Master Plan, but it is not really a plan; rather a list of several fine aspi-rational goals that lack any framework for achieving them and no context for understanding how/when we’d know if we have. Also, the multi-year Master Planning process, which consumed a lot of taxpayer money and was fraught with power-struggles and divisiveness, has left many reticent to revisit and refine those goals into a true land-use plan.

The schools have been working on their own strategic plan over the past year and have framed some key themes and goals, which they are starting to share with citizens. Specific initiatives, related costs, timing, and del-egation of responsibilities will be devised based on public input over the coming months.

Consider, too, the host of commissions, committees, and boards serving all residents of Amherst whose activities also deserve a strategic-planning context. The Board of Selectmen felt that these organizations along with residents from all parts of the town ought to be invited to engage in think-ing about and shaping the future direction of the town. Which is why the BOS selected a more bounded topic – the Village – with which to initially engage people in thinking strategically together.

The reasoning is thus: the Village is a town-wide resource that truly dif-ferentiates Amherst from other communities with whom, quite honest-ly, we vie for residents, businesses, and investments. For many of us, it’s what attracted us to move here in the first place. And, while the Village is a neighborhood for those who live there, it is unquestionably a valuable asset and locus of community activities for all residents. Thus, engaging other town organizations and citizens in thinking strategically about how to re-tain its value will help to maintain a vital town asset and expand collective strategic thinking.

Mr. Hansen’s assertion that residents are going incur multi-millions of dollars of taxation as a result of this process is quite off the mark. Indeed, working groups looking to address a number of identified issues haven’t yet framed possible initiatives, let alone costs associated with them. Indeed, it is very likely that a number of key efforts, such as managing traffic and safe-ty; enhancing access for children, youth, adults, and seniors; and enrich-ing the number and kind of community activities for all Amherst residents need not cost much at all to implement.

Mr. Hansen also cites investments in maintaining Amherst Town Hall as an example of economic inequity to those residents not living in its im-mediate vicinity. Would he forgo this argument if Town Hall were located at Cricket Corner or Walnut Hill? Does he believe we should let it crumble simply because it is located in the Village?

The process of engaging citizens in discussion of the Village has indeed pinpointed fissures among subsets of the populace. Village residents would like to see less traffic, while Village business-owners feel that traffic flow is vital to the ongoing success of their businesses. Residents within the His-toric District, of which the Village is a part, are quite willing to invest in keeping their homes “historic” and well maintained, but would like to im-prove the working relationship with the Historic District Commission to do so. And, yes, there is some we/they thinking regarding Village- versus non-Village residents. But there are ways to mitigate these matters. The goal for all citizens and public servants alike should be to bind those fis-sures through intentional dialogue, engagement, and collaboration rather than fracturing them any further.

Mike AkillianAmherst

Amherst Emergency Medical Services - “Did You Know..?”

Another in a series of articles about Amherst by the Ways and Means Committee

The Amherst Department of Emergency Medical Service provides basic and advanced life support emergency medical services for Am-herst and Mont Vernon.

The EMS station is located in the lower level of the police depart-ment building and is comprised of living quarters for the on duty EMTs, a training room, and vehicle storage facilities. The vehicle fleet consists of two ambulances and a one dedicated paramedic ve-hicle.

The department currently has about two dozen part time medical personnel who are trained at three different levels of emergency care:• EMT’s (Emergency Medical Technicians):

EMT’s receive 150 hours of training consisting of lectures, hands on training and field internships. They are trained in basic first aid and to assess patients to determine the appropriate medical course of action. They can take vital signs, care for wounds, deliver babies, and perform CPR.• Intermediate/Advanced EMT:

EMT intermediate/Advanced receive over 200 hours of training. This is the level is between EMT and Paramedics and is currently in transition. In addition to providing all of the same medical care as a basic EMT, advanced EMTs can start IV’s and administer some medications.• Paramedic:

Training for Paramedics can take up to two years to complete and involves between 1200 and 1800 hours of classroom and clinical study. In addition to providing basic and advanced levels of life sup-port, a Paramedic can diagnose certain medical conditions, (such as a heart attack), conduct and interpret EKGs, intubate, and adminis-ter up to 60 different medications.

EMS is staffed 24x7 with up to 3 employees, an ideal shift would consist of an EMT, an advanced EMT, and a Paramedic.

The Amherst EMS provides two levels of medical care and service:• Basic Life Support (BLS): Any EMT can provide BLS, which not

only pertains to assessing Airways, Breathing and Circulation (ABCs), but can also include several other functions such as test-ing for blood sugar levels or taking vital signs.

• Advanced Life Support (ALS): ALS can only be provided by an intermediate/advanced EMT or a paramedic because it requires a higher level of care or treatment, such as an IV.

All current employees are paid per diem and are not eligible for benefits from the town. Most of the staff work full time elsewhere as either EMT’s for hospitals or as EMT certified firefighters for lo-cal area towns but they are responsible for maintaining and updating their Amherst EMS training. The staff is notified of any changes in-volving policy or equipment through email.

When an emergency call comes through, the duty crew is dis-patched. If there are three personnel on duty, they will deploy to the emergency site in two vehicles, the paramedic vehicle and the am-bulance.

Upon arrival at the scene the situation is evaluated and appropri-ate care is administered. If transport to a hospital is required, at least two staff members will ride in the ambulance, one drives and the other one tends to the patient. Unless the third member is needed to provide additional care during the transport, he or she will return to the EMS station and notify dispatch that he/she is ready for a sub-sequent call.

If there is an additional emergency call, Dispatch will page the re-maining Amherst volunteers to determine if there is a second per-son available to respond. If there is no one immediately available, Dispatch will issue a mutual aid request to fill the need. (Amherst EMS has a reciprocal agreement with all of the surrounding towns for such mutual aide).

Only calls that actually involve transporting a patient to a care fa-cility (about 70% of the time) get billed to insurance companies and therefore generate revenue for the town. Last year the Town was re-imbursed for over a third of the operating budget for our EMS de-partment.

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After 24 years, Mont Vernon Karate Studio is changing names and location to:

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4 • THE AMHERST CITIZEN • J A N U A R Y 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 • w w w . a m h e r s t c i t i z e n . c o m

Town NewsBulletin Board

Happy New Year! Be sure to visit our new website design at www.amherstcitizen.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and other social media for frequent updates on events and celebrations.

AMHERST RECREATION DEPARTMENT4 Cross Rd, Amherst, NH 03031603 673-6248Peabody Mill Environmental Center66 Brook Road603 673-1141www.amherstrec.orgLike us on FacebookFollow us on Instagram @amher-strecreation

Winter Carnival Weekend 2015!

We are pleased to announce the return of our Winter Carnival this year. We have a fun-filled weekend planned with events Feb. 6th, 7th, and 8th. Please see schedule below:February 6th: Family Skate/Bonfire

Join us for the Ribbon Cutting of our AMS Ice Rink. We will kick off the winter carnival weekend with some family skating, a bonfire, and music!Where: AMS Ice RinkTime: 6pmFee: FREE!

February 7th: Disney’s FrozenLet it go and relax for a night

while watching Disney’s Frozen on the big screen! There may even be a special guest...stay tunedWhere: AMS CafeTime: 6pmFee: FREE!

February 8th: Winter CarnivalCome out for a FREE afternoon

of Winter fun! Activities include: skating, snowshoeing, face paint-ing, make a craft, build a snow quinzhee, raffles, food... and more!Where: Middle StreetTime: 1-3pm

And that’s not all…Hockey Clinic with the Souhe-gan Sabers:

This 2 Hour FREE clinic will pro-vide students in grades 1-8 the op-

portunity to meet, skate, and play hockey with Souhegan Sabers girls ice hockey team. Students will even get a chance to scrimmage with the Sabers. Helmets and ice skates are required. All other equipment will be supplied.Where: AMS Ice RinkWhen: Sunday, February 8th Time: 9am-11amFee: FREE!

The Inaugural Bear Fest Broomball Tournament:

The Amherst Recreation Depart-ment presents the first ever Broom-ball Tournament! This is a co-ed family tournament for ages 14 and up. We encourage YOU to rally up your friends and family for a week-end of friendly competition.Details:February 7th-8thCo-ed teams of 7-10Games will be 6v6Double EliminationAges 14+Fee: $40 per team

Complete rules and registration can be found at www.amherstrec.org

All proceeds will benefit future projects and maintenance for the AMS Ice Rink

Youth Programming

NEW Baseball for YouthBatter up! Baseball is open for

kids 5-15 years old. Practices will be held Monday-Friday between 5:30 and 7:30pm. Games will be held on Saturdays between 8am and 8pm. Baseball age is based on partici-pant’s age on April 30, 2015

NOTE: We are hoping to start baseball practices the week of April 12th, depending on weather and field conditions.

*** Register by Friday February 27 to avoid a $25 late fee. Teams will be formed and uniforms will be or-

dered Friday March 20***5&6 year olds: T-Ball

Introduces the player to orga-nized baseball Who: 5&6 year old boysWhat: T-ballWhere: The back of Wilkins Elemen-tary SchoolWhen: 52015-6/13/2015Fee: $40R; $65NR

7, 8 & 9 year olds: Instruction-al and Rookie

All 7 and 8 yr olds will participate in skills screening. Numbers will dictate if we will be able to separate into two levels

The instructional level will be coach pitched

The rookie level will begin to de-velop player pitchingWho: 7, 8 and 9 yr old boysWhat: Instructional baseballWhen: Tentative start date of 42015Fee: $45R; $70NR

9-12 year olds: Minor/Major League

Players will play regulation Cal Ripken baseball

Team placement will be based on the screening

Minors play on a 60’ diamond, Majors play on 70’ diamondWho: 9-12 yr old boysWhat: Minors/MajorsWhen: Tentative start date of 42015Fee: $95R; $120NR

13-15 year olds: Babe RuthGames and practices will take

place on a 90 foot diamond with home games at Souhegan High School

Babe Ruth games generally play on Wednesdays and Saturdays, not to conflict with the Middle School Schedule

We encourage all 7th and 8th grade players to sign up. If your player makes the school team and

decides not to play for this program you will get a full refund

Who: 13-15 yr old boysWhat: Babe RuthWhen: Tentative start date of 42015Fee: $100R; $125NR

NEW Softball for YouthCome join girls ages 5-16 on the

softball diamond. Whether you want the experience of an instruc-tional league or are ready for some fun and competition there is a spot for you on one of our many teams.

All instructional, minor/major and juniors teams will play teams surrounding towns.

Softball age is based on the par-ticipant’s age on December 31, 2014.

***Registration by Friday March 6 to avoid a $25.00 late fee. Teams will be formed and uniforms ordered Friday March 27***

NOTE: There is a mandato-ry screening for the Minor/Major League players. Time and location TBA5&6 year olds: T-Ball

Introduces the player to orga-nized softball Who: 5&6 year old girlsWhat: T-ball (Softball)Where: The back of Wilkins Elemen-tary SchoolWhen: 52015-6/13/2015Fee: $40R; $65NR

7 & 8 yr olds: InstructionalFundamentals of softball rein-

forced. Games will be played with surrounding townsWho: 7 & 8 yr old girlsWhat: Instructional softballWhen: Tentative start date of 42015Fee: $45R; $70NR

9-12 year olds: Minor/Major League

Amherst Recreation Programs and Events

Continued on page 6 u

Historic Amherst

Mr. Perkins Nichols, Esq., of Boston and New York City – Part One

Amherst’s Native Son Who Gave Milford Its Paul Revere Bell BY KATRINA HOLMAN

Our neighboring town of Milford, N.H., has a great historical treasure – a genuine Paul Revere bell. It has never cracked, mak-ing it the oldest intact Revere bell in New Hampshire. It bears the molded inscription “REVERE & SON BOSTON 1802” on one side and “THE GIFT OF PERKINS NICH-OLS ESQR” on the other side. The donor, Perkins Nichols (1773-1855), at that time an importer and wholesale merchant at Bos-ton as well as register of probate for Suffolk County, Massachusetts, was born and raised in Amherst, N.H.

Paul Revere (Jr., 1735-1818) is famous for his role as a patriot in America’s Revolution-ary period. Lovers of antiques know that he was a fine silversmith in Boston. He cov-ered the dome of the Massachusetts State House in Boston with copper in 1802, and is credited with being the first American to roll copper into sheathing in a commercially viable way. Paul Revere began his career as bell caster late in life, in 1792, when a Boston church needed to recast their cracked bell. That was the first bell cast in Boston. At that time there were hardly any skilled bell mak-ers in America, so this meant that Revere had to learn by trial and error, but it also meant that there was considerable demand for his bells. Milford’s bell was no. 56 in the Revere foundry’s catalog. Perhaps it was particu-larly good luck in the metallurgy that Mil-ford’s bell has lasted. As an aside, Amherst was not so lucky with its early bells. The first bell, bought in 1793, soon cracked in use. The second and third bells in the Amherst meet-ing house (now Congregational Church) also cracked; it was the 1839 bell that lasted into the 20th century.

Perkins Nichols commissioned the bell from Revere to celebrate the settlement of the first minister of Milford, Rev. Humphrey Moore (1778-1871), who would serve as pas-tor 1802-1836. Moore accepted the call in August and was ordained in October 1802. In anticipation of this gift, the Town of Mil-ford held a special town meeting a month after the ordination in which they voted to build a belfry onto the meetinghouse with a cupola similar to that in Francestown. At this time, the meetinghouse was owned by the Town and served as both town hall and church, and taxes supported the Congrega-tional minister. Milford sold four pews be-longing to the town, for $99 to $136 each, to-wards the expense of the belfry.

The bell weighs 802 pounds (364 kg) and is 30 inches high with a diameter at the mouth of 33 inches. It was a generous gift. Milford’s

first town historian, David Goodwin (1801-1881), a shoemaker and farmer, wrote that it cost about 50 cents per pound, which comes to $401, a significant sum in those days. (For comparison: An invoice from Revere & Son to the town of Newington in 1804 charged $210.40 for a bell weighing 505 lbs.) A bit of trivia about Goodwin (from Ramsdell’s His-tory of Milford): The first building raised in Milford without the use of spirituous liquors was Rev. Humphrey Moore’s barn in 1827. The first time a dwelling house was erected without aid of intoxicating beverages hap-pened three years later when David Goodwin raised the frame of his new house. In Am-herst, when the Unitarians raised their meet-inghouse, now the Baptist Church, in 1835, it was a newsworthy event that it was raised “without accident and without rum.”

According to local lore, Perkins and Hum-phrey were close friends. Perhaps they met in Boston or Cambridge while Humphrey was studying at Harvard University. When Rev. Moore married Miss Hannah Peabody in 1803, the year after his ordination, the two men became relatives. Mrs. Moore was a granddaughter of Amherst’s first minis-ter, Rev. Daniel Wilkins, through her mother

Abigail. Abigail’s brother John Wilkins was married to Lucy Nichols, a sister of General Moses Nichols (1740-1790) of Amherst. And Gen. Nichols, who was a Revolutionary war hero, physician, and county register of deeds, was the father of Perkins Nichols.

The bell moved four times. First it made the journey from Massachusetts to New Hampshire, either by ox cart or, more like-ly considering that it was winter, on a sledge pulled over snow-covered roads by a team of horses. The bell was first installed in 1803 in Milford’s meetinghouse (built 1784-1796), when it was located on the west side of the Oval. When, for the separation of church and state, the Congregationalists built a separate church in 1833/4, the bell remained in the meetinghouse. In 1846, the meeting house was moved across the Oval; and in 1869 it was moved yet again nearer the bridge, where it stands today, known as Eagle Hall for the eagle on top. For its third move within Milford, the Revere bell changed buildings, installed in 1870 atop the new, brick Town Hall where it hangs and clangs to this day. The tower that is part of Milford’s logo is the belfry of the Revere bell. One cannot really

TOWN OF AMHERST Town Election – March 10, 2015

Amherst, New Hampshire

Filing Period for Town OfficesJanuary 21, 2015 – January 30, 2015

2 Selectmen for 3 years 1 Treasurer for 3 years

1 Cemetery Trustee for 3 years2 Library Trustees for 3 years3 ZBA members for 3 years

1 Moderator for 2 years1 Trustee of the Trust Funds for 3 years1 Supervisor of the Checklist for 1 Years

Candidates shall file with the Town Clerk during regular business hours which are Monday – Friday from 9AM – 3PM and Tuesday night for 4:30PM – 6:30PM. On January 30th, the last day of the

filing period, the office will be open until 5PM.

Nancy A. Demers, Town Clerk

LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE

Evening Meeting The Amherst Garden Club“Feeding and Caring for your Backyard Birds”

The Evening Meeting of The Amherst Garden Club will meet on Thursday, Feb-ruary 12 at Pankhurst Place (11 Veterans Road, Amherst).The February (12) Eve-ning meeting will take place at Parkhurst Place at 11 Veterans Road in Amherst starting at 7:00 pm. The speaker for this meeting will be Gene Harrington from Nashua Farmers Exchange. Gene will be speaking on “Feeding and Caring for your Backyard Birds”. Gene and his wife Judy are owners of the exchange, where their mission is to bring to the consumer top quality nutrition for animals as well as plants. Gene holds a degree in both Wildlife Biology and Entomology. If you enjoy attracting birds to your yard, you will want to hear this informative talk. A question and answer period will follow. Guests are welcome. If inclement weather, the can-cellation will be listed on WMUR-TV. Gene had been scheduled to speak in January and unfortunately was cancelled due to weather. WE are happy he can come this month!

Nashaway Chapter of the New Hampshire Audubon SocietyUpcoming EventsNH Bald Eagle Recovery

On Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at 7pm, the Nashaway Chapter of NH Audu-bon welcomes Chris Martin, raptor biologist for NH Audubon. Chris has coordinated Bald Eagle recovery in the Granite State for a quarter century. He recruits, trains, and supervises an enthusiastic corps of volunteers and coordinates breeding re-covery with NH Fish and Game. Learn about the success story that has led to the 2007 removal of the Bald Eagle from the federal Threatened and Endangered Spe-cies List. This program takes place in the downstairs theater room of the Nashua Public Library and is free. Registration is not necessary. For more information, con-tact Richard Maloon 424-5621 or richard.maloon@att.net.Wintering Owls and Raptors, Salisbury & Newbury, MA

On Saturday, February 21, 2015, from 8am to 3pm, the Nashaway Chapter of NH Audubon will have a field trip to Salisbury Beach State Park and Parker River Wildlife Refuge, at the mouth of the Merrimack River. These places are winter ha-vens for birds of prey. Rodents and birds are often exposed in the salt marshes, attracting Short-eared and Snowy Owls, Bald Eagles, and numerous hawk species. Bring your scope if you have one and pack a lunch. Dress WARMLY. There will be a small entrance fee per car at Parker River, and dogs are not permitted on the refuge. Meet us in Nashua at the Exit 7 Park & Ride, on the hill behind the Fireside Inn and Suites, or contact Richard Bielawski at 429-2537 or rbielawski@mac.com to arrange to meet nearer the coast.

Amherst Area Newcomers Club Monthly MeetingsAmherst Area Newcomers Club holds monthly social meetings both informative

and entertaining. We have many interest groups that also meet weekly or monthly including book group, knitting, bunco, crafts, golf (is still meeting), out to lunch, movie night, poker and more.

For more information on our activities visit our website at www.nhnewcomers.com. We would love to meet you!

DISCUSSION GROUP at TOADSTOOL BOOKSHOPOn the first Thursday of each month, the discussion group meets from 7PM

to 8:30PM. We share ideas on philosophy, current affairs and familiar truths. For more information contact: Norah at 673 – 6948.

Open to All Southern New Hampshire WomenThe Amherst Area Newcomers Club has been an active social organization in

the area for 45 years. The club is open to all women in the Souhegan Valley, regardless of how long

she has lived in the area. We hold monthly general events on a wide variety of topics along with smaller special interest groups which cater to socializing with others of similar interests. The club is a great way to meet new people, get to know the area if you’re new, or cultivate a new passion. We currently host interest groups for crafts, knitting, bunco, walking, charity, lunch, poker, healthy eating and golf. For information and a calendar of events visit: NHNewcomers.com

Amherst Junior Women’s Club Announces 2015 Call for Volunteers

The Amherst Junior Women’s Club is an organization of energized, dedicated Amherst-area women who volunteer their time, energy and talent to the commu-nity. Our mission is focusing our efforts on civic needs, educational advancement and those less fortunate. Our goals are achieved with the assistance and generosi-ty of businesses, organizations and individuals and fundraisers.

We are in need of women with motivation and dedication to join us in growing our mission even further within our surrounding communities. If you have that en-ergy and would like to “burn it off”, we would love to have you join us to accom-plish these goals. The advantage is the opportunity to meet new people and make new friends at the same time. This is a great opportunity especially for, but not limited to, those with children in the school system. The AJWC sponsors several of the elementary and middle school events.

If you are interested in joining or just learning more about Amherst Junior Wom-en’s Club, visit: www.ajwcnh.org or look for our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/AmherstJuniors. Also, please feel free to contact the membership chair Su-sanne Lynch at ajwcmembership@gmail.com. Thank you!

Paul Revere Bell (1802) in town hall belfry of Milford, N.H. was donated by Perkins Nichols (1773-1855) of Boston, who was born in Amherst, N.H.

Milford’s brick town hall with belfry beneath the clock, current home of venerable Revere bell.

Sponsors Needed for 2015 Student Art Awards

The Friends of the Amherst Town Library is looking for tax-de-ductible donations of $100 to sponsor awards for exceptional piec-es of art at the 22nd Annual Student Art Show held at the Amherst Town Library in May.

If you are a local business or a patron of youth art and would like to sponsor one of the 15 art awards or have question please e-mail: Christine.farris@mac.com for more information.

Continued on page 6 u

w w w . a m h e r s t c i t i z e n . c o m • J A N U A R Y 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 • THE AMHERST CITIZEN • 5

AMHERST TOWN LIBRARYAmy Lapointe, Library Director14 Main St., Amherst NH Phone 673-2288 Fax 672-6063email: library@amherstlibrary.orgweb http://www.amherstlibrary.orgMon-Thu, 9:30 a.m. - 8:30 p.m.Fri & Sat, 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.Sun, 1:00 - 5:00 p.m.

ACC to Review Kinder-Morgan ProjectRegionally, the need for additional sources of en-

ergy is the major issue in the licensing of the Kind-er-Morgan (KM) Northeast Energy Direct natural gas pipeline. That issue will be one of the decisions to be ruled on by the NH Site Evaluation Commit-tee and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commis-sion after public hearings.

Locally, the communities through which the pipeline is proposed to pass will be studying the impacts of construction and operation on their residents and natural communities.

The Amherst Board of Selectmen has named a task force chaired by Selectman John D’Angelo to assemble comments and develop information for the Town to submit in the state and federal pro-ceedings, should the voters approve the warrant article authorizing the Town’s interventions. The task force has, in turn, requested that the ACC evaluate the environmental effects of the project.

A working group of the ACC will be assembling data on the KM project to substantiate whatever conclusions are reached by the full commission by early March. The group members and their areas of expertise include:

Dr. Paul Indeglia Water resources and quality, public health and safety, hazardous mate-rials and waste, air quality and noise.

Dr. Jack Gleason Wetland species and impacts, including bogs and vernal pools.

Rob Clemens Land use, geology and soils, vi-sual impacts, recreation.

Bruce Beckley Construction, natural habitats and speciesOpen Space Accounting

Land conservation-wise, the Town of Amherst isn’t doing too badly. Let’s look at some numbers which include the year end generous gift of 240

acres for conservation purposes by Jane Hager.

The Amherst Conser-vation Commission manages 2,442 acres of fee-owned land and 195 acres more on conservation easements for a total of 2,637 acres. This acreage is found in 95 separate parcels. In addition, 858 acres owned by other organizations; namely, the Amherst Land Trust, Audubon Society of NH, the State of New Hampshire, and the Department of Defense. The total protected acreage of 3,495 com-prises 16 percent of the town’s area.

The largest protected parcel in town is the 665 acre portion of the New Boston Air Station lying in Amherst. This parcel is well managed for wildlife although closed for non-military personnel enjoy-ment. And, of course, the Base’s future is always in the hands of Congress. The parcels comprising the Joe English Reservation total 558 and the Hag-er parcels sum to 240 acres.

There are 25 managed parcels of 40 acres or larger and 18 parcels smaller than 5 acres – a wide spread for management. Every open space; that is parcels without homes on them; including wood-land, wetland, and utility rights of way, serve the town and wildlife species. Other town-owned open spaces include scattered parks, school dis-trict parcels, and cemeteries.

At this point, the ACC is without the resources to acquire any fee or easement parcels except by gifts. Nevertheless, the Commission continues to woo landowners with lands that are important to Nature and present passive recreation opportuni-ties. Three of these blocks of special interest total-ing over 800 acres are held by out-of-town owners.

We aren’t doing too badly but we can do more.It will not be with smoke or mirrors.

It’s About Conservation

Not Smoke & MirrorsBy Bruce B. BeckleyCONTRIBUTING WRITER

Town News

Children’s Programming at the Amherst Town Library

COME TO STORYTIME AT THE LIBRARY!SESSION 3Starts Jan. 5 and runs through Feb. 13

Baby Listeners ( newborn-2yrs.)Fridays at 10:30Caregivers present

Our “baby” group offers an opportunity for babies and their caregivers to gather for rhymes, songs and puppets. Emphasis is on traditional rhymes that rein-force language patterns and provide for parent/child interaction. A simple book or two intended for this age is generally highlighted.Toddler Time (2 and 3-yr. olds)Tuesdays at 10:00Caregivers present

Toddler Time is for our 2 and 3 year olds who are just beginning to discover the joy of books and stories!

We mix it up with simple rhymes, songs, and pup-pets to appeal to a toddler’s attention span. Each ses-sion concludes with a simple craft for the caregiver and child to create together. Come and join us, we have lots of fun!Book Bunch (3-6 yrs.)Thurs. at 10:00Thurs. at 1:00pm

Our “Book Bunch” storytime is designed for the lon-ger attention span of the preschool-kindergarten set.

These action-packed 40 minute programs in-clude a wide variety of books, finger plays,

and songs. At the conclusion of each ses-sion, caretakers are invited to come in

and assist their children with a simple craft.Pajama Storytime! (ages 3-6 yrs.)Mondays at 6:30pm

This is a ‘Book Bunch’ for the af-ter-hours set!

Put on your ‘jammies’ and head on down to the library for some sto-ries and fun. Then it’s home to brush

your teeth and hop into bed. The per-fect program for working families, or

for those kids who like a little ‘nightlife’!All groups meet once per week for six-

week sessions which run from September un-til June. No registration is required.

For more information, please call 603-673-2288 and ask for Miss Sarah or Miss Sue. For up-to-date infor-mation concerning library programs and events, please visit our website, www.amherstlibrary.org and click on Calendar of Events.

COMING SOON:

ELLA FITZGERALD FOR KIDSTuesday, Feb. 3 at 4pm

Sing along with the Queen of Swing: Ella Fitzgerald! Hear her story in images and video and dance to the swinging sounds of her Big Band! Come dance along to the jazzy movement, singing and storytelling by vo-calist and educator, Nanette Perrotte. This program will get us all dancing and singing, and while we’re at it, we’ll learn a lot about one of our greatest Jazz mu-sicians!

For kids ages 4 and up.Space is limited, so please register online at www.

amherstlibrary.org or call 673-2288Nanette will present a program for adults on Tuesday

evening—see our website for more information.

Minecraft At The Library - Session 2 Starts January 9th - Sign Up Now

AMHERST – Minecraft at the li-brary is a smashing success! Session 2 starts Wednesday January 7th from 4:00pm to 5:30pm and will run for six weeks, ending February 11th. Registration is REQUIRED, so please contact Kim Ayers at 249-9108 or kimberlyayers@comcast.net to reserve your spot.

Kids currently on the waiting list are guaranteed a spot in Session 2. If you plan to participate this ses-

sion, please sign up as soon as pos-sible as Session 2 is already nearly full. We will also start a waiting list for Session 3 (starting March 4th).

The library laptops are a bit un-derpowered for the Minecraft ap-plication, so participants are asked to bring a laptop from home if at all possible. There is also an iPad/iPod table for kids who prefer to play on those devices.

I am looking for parents of par-ticipants who would be willing to help moderate at least one meet-ing. The only requirements are (1) be able to help trouble shoot com-puter issues such as WiFi not con-necting, (2) keep players interacting appropriately. Most of the kids are quite knowledgeable and can help out with any game related problems

Exploring The iPadAMHERST – It is a New Year

and time to get up to speed with all those technology online won-ders! The Amherst Town Library is pleased to help you with that goal by offering our three part January series for adults called Tackling Technology… and Winning. “Ex-ploring the iPad” kicks off the series and is followed by “Succeeding on Craigslist,” and “Facebook Work-shop: Going Beyond Getting Start-ed.” Mark your calendars for these Winning Wednesday scheduled for Wednesday, January 28th from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM.

If you are an iPad owner, or want to become one, come and learn about all the things an iPad can do in the “Exploring your iPad” pre-sentation with Marjorie Wein and Carol Wein, technology profession-als and owners of WizeGuides—a company that helps people get comfortable with all types of tech-nology. A short time ago, only a few people had even held an iPad in their hands and now millions of people own them. It is surprisingly fun and easy to use as you hold it in your hands and interact with it by touch. This course will introduce you to all the basic iPad functions—

from settings, organizing, surfing the Web, checking email, texting messages, making FaceTime calls, and exploring Apps.

This Library program for adults is free and open to the public. How-ever, registration for this program and all programs in the series is RE-QUIRED due to space limitations. You can register for this event, and all events, by calling 673-2288, emailing library@amherstlibrary.org, or by visiting our website at www.amherstlibrary.org and se-lecting the “Community Services” tab, then click on drop down “Sign-Up for Programs.”

ton Saxophone Quartet is a unique blend of musicians who have per-formed with the Boston Pops and Boston Symphony Orchestra and leading Broadway theaters through-out New England. The BSQ musi-cians are proficient on all the wood-winds including flute, clarinet, oboe, and bassoon, in addition to, of course, the saxophone. The four members of the BSQ are Tom Fer-rante (soprano saxophone and bass clarinet), Greg Floor (alto saxo-phone and flute), Brent Beech (bari-tone saxophone and clarinet), and Peter Cokkinias (tenor saxophone and clarinet). The Library is grate-ful to be hosting these stellar pro-fessional musicians under our roof!

Sharing a dual career as an in-strumentalist and conductor, Peter Cokkinias has conducted the Bos-ton Ballet, Boston Pops, Springfield Symphony (MA), and the Atlan-tic Sinfonietta (NY). He has per-formed with the Boston Lyric Op-era, Boston Ballet, and Cincinnati, Hartford, Pittsburgh, and Boston Symphony Orchestras. Presently, Dr. Cokkinias is in his 30th season as Music Director/Conductor of the Metrowest Symphony Orches-tra (MA), Professor at Berklee Col-lege of Music, and is a woodwind doubler at the North Shore Music

Theater in Beverly (MA) and Colo-nial and Wang Theaters in Boston (MA). Tom Ferrante’s performing career has been in the orchestras of the Colonial, Wang, and Schubert Theaters of Boston. Other credits include membership in the Herb Pomeroy Jazz Orchestra, The Vio-la Premier Saxophone Quartet, and the Greg Hopkins Big Band. A for-mer Director of Bands for Waltham (MA) High School, Tom has been featured jazz clarinet soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra for the past twenty seasons. Music is in the blood of renowned saxophon-ist Greg Floor. Clarinet was the in-strument of choice for his grand-father and father and his sister is a pianist. Greg graduated from the New England Conservatory in Bos-ton where he received his Master of Music (Jazz Performance) under the instruction of virtuoso tenor saxo-phonist, Jerry Bergonzi. Greg was a featured soloist with the Boston Pops under the direction of the leg-endary John Williams. He has ap-peared in Jazz Festivals across the world. Brent Beech rounds out the quartet with his exuberant baritone saxophone and clarinet. Brent re-ceived his Master of Arts in Clari-net Performance at Louisiana State University. With Duke Ellington on

the menu, this is a concert perfor-mance not to be missed.

The Amherst Town Library is ap-preciative for the funding provided by the Friends of the Amherst Town Library for this 2015 Sundays at 4 music series which also includes the following upcoming programs: “Gateway Trio: Music as Language” on March 1st ; and, “Klezwoods Quintet” on April 12th. We invite you to join us for all of these amaz-ing concerts!

While here for the concert, we in-vite you to leave some extra time for a “Walk Thru Harlem,” an interest-ing visual exhibit on loan from the Seacoast African American Cul-tural Center in Portsmouth, NH. The exhibit is open during regular library hours in the Main Reading Room and stairwell areas. The ex-hibit will continue through the en-tire month of February.

All events are free and open to the public. However, registration is REQUIRED for each performance due to space limitations. To regis-ter for any or all of the Sundays at 4 concerts, please call 673-2288, email library@amherstlibrary.org or visit our website at www.amher-stlibrary.org and select the “Com-munity Services” tab, then click on drop down “Sign-Up for Programs.”

Amherst Town Library

The Pleasure of Our Company: Harlem and The Origins of Its Renaissance, 1910-1940

AMHERST – The Amherst Town Library welcomes Dr. Dan Breen, Legal Studies Professor at Brandeis University, for the presentation, “The Pleasure of our Company: Harlem and the Origins of its Re-naissance,” on Tuesday, February 10 at 7:00 p.m. in the Main Read-ing Room as part of the Library’s se-ries for adults entitled, Hail to the Harlem Renaissance. Presenter Dan Breen received his Ph.D. in Ameri-can History from Boston College in 2003.

The artistic explosion known as the Harlem Renaissance occurred in a part of upper Manhattan with a particularly rich and colorful his-tory, dating back to the Dutch set-tlement of the seventeenth centu-ry. It was a place first of farms and pastures, then of great estates, and finally of modest tenements oc-cupied by Germans, Italians, and Eastern Europeans. How did the crowded precincts north of 110th street finally evolve into the center of African-American thought and culture for which Harlem has ever since been famous throughout the world? Why Harlem? And why

did that neighborhood of churches and numbers rackets, “rent parties” and jazz clubs, develop as it did? Why did tens of thousands of Af-rican-Americans, from all points of the compass, pour into Harlem be-ginning with the turn of the Twen-tieth Century? We will try to an-swer these questions as we discuss the unique physical setting of the Harlem Renaissance.

In a 1928 interview with the radio program “The World Tomorrow”, African-American anthropologist/novelist Zora Neale Hurston was asked about her view on racism to which she answered, “Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my com-pany? It is beyond me.” Hence, the title of the presentation…

Coordinating with the Hail to the Harlem Renaissance series is an ex-hibit, “Walk Thru Harlem,” on loan from the Seacoast African Ameri-can Cultural Center in Portsmouth. From Billie Holiday to Zora Neale Hurston, to the Savoy Ballroom and Rent Parties, visual items of interest

grace the Amherst Town Library walls from mid-January throughout the month of February. We invite you to take a “Walk Thru Harlem” during our regular library hours.

Please join us for the other up-coming programs in the Hail to the Harlem Renaissance series that celebrate National Black History month: “Poets of the Harlem Re-naissance,” on Tuesday, February 17 at 7:00 p.m.; “Miss Anne of Harlem: The White Women of the Black Re-naissance,” on Thursday, February 19 at 7:00 p.m.; and, “Every Man’s Wish On Board: The Art of the Harlem Renaissance” on Tuesday, February 24 at 7:00 p.m.

All programs in the Hail to the Harlem Renaissance series for adults are free and open to the pub-lic. However, registration is RE-QUIRED for each program due to space limitations. You can register for all these events by calling 673-2288, emailing library@amherstli-brary.org or by visiting our website at www.amherstlibrary.org and se-lecting the “Community Services” tab, then click on drop down “Sign-Up for Programs.”

Amherst Town Library

Ella Fitzgerald, Queen of Swing – February 3rdAMHERST – The Amherst Town

Library welcomes Nanette Per-rotte in a multi-media presentation and performance, “Ella Fitzgerald, Queen of Swing,” on Tuesday, Feb-ruary 3 at 7:00 p.m. as part of the Library’s series for adults entitled, Hail to the Harlem Renaissance. This is the story of the singer that all other singers call the best, Ella Fitzgerald, who against impossible odds achieved fame as a Jazz sing-er by the age of seventeen. At that young age she found herself at the heart of the Harlem Renaissance and American Jazz. She would go on to perform around the world for another 58 years.

Nanette Perrotte tells Ella’s ex-traordinary story of traveling from being homeless in Harlem to the Queen of Swing. Along the way she had great mentors: Chuck Webb, Duke Ellington, Marilyn Monroe, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, and Frank Sinatra. Then there is the Battle of the Bands—the Cut-ting Contest at the Savoy Ballroom where she wins the battle over Bil-lie Holiday. All of this is played out in the context of the Harlem Re-naissance, the Great Depression, Segregation, and World War II: the critical years, 1935-1955. Through singing her signature songs and telling her story, this presenta-tion illuminates the Social Histo-ry of that time. The Man I Love, It Don’t Mean a Thing, It’s Only a Pa-per Moon and Azure among others. The multimedia presentation allows Perrotte to combine her singing, storytelling, and teaching talents to showcase Ella Fitzgerald’s masterful work and complex life story.

Born to an Ecuadorian mother and a French father, Perrotte was

raised in Amsterdam, Holland and Orlando, Florida before attending Boston’s Berklee College of Music where she received her BA in Jazz Composition and Arranging with a principal instrument of Voice. This course of study was the fulfill-ment of a childhood spent singing and performing that continues on as a professional vocalist. Perrotte’s Master’s Degree in Education from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA focused her work on Arts as a tool to learn and experience cultural diversity. With her college teaching career, private coaching and voice students, college choir and acting/improve troupe, Perrotte has now evolved a new lecture/presentation form that combines social history, musicology, and storytelling in her program on Ella Fitzgerald.

Perrotte will also be performing in our Children’s Room at 4 p.m. on the same day, Tuesday, February 3, to the younger set (ages 4 and up) in a specially created program on Ella for their age group.

Coordinating with the Hail to the Harlem Renaissance series is an ex-hibit, “Walk Thru Harlem,” on loan from the Seacoast African Ameri-can Cultural Center in Portsmouth. From Billie Holiday to Zora Neale Hurston, to the Savoy Ballroom and Rent Parties, visual items of interest grace the Amherst Town Library walls from mid-January throughout the month of February. We invite you to take a “Walk Thru Harlem” during our regular library hours.

Please join us for the other Feb-ruary programs in the Hail to the Harlem Renaissance series that celebrate National Black History Month : “Boston Saxophone Quar-tet performs Duke Ellington: Be-

yond Category Concert,” on Sun-day, February 8 at 4:00 p.m.; “The Pleasure of Our Company: Harlem and the Origins of its Renaissance, 1910-1940,” on Tuesday, February 10 at 7:00 p.m.; “Poets of the Har-lem Renaissance,” on Tuesday, Feb-ruary 17 at 7:00 p.m.; “Miss Anne of Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance,” on Thursday, February 19 at 7:00 p.m.; and, “Ev-ery Man’s Wish On Board: The Art of the Harlem Renaissance.

All programs in the Hail to the Harlem Renaissance series for adults are free and open to the pub-lic. However, registration is RE-QUIRED for each program due to space limitations. You can register for all these events by calling 673-2288, emailing library@amherstli-brary.org or by visiting our website at www.amherstlibrary.org and se-lecting the “Community Services” tab, then click on drop down “Sign-Up for Programs.”

Nanette Perrotte

u Boston Saxophone Quartet Performs Duke Ellington continued from page 1

6 • THE AMHERST CITIZEN • J A N U A R Y 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 • w w w . a m h e r s t c i t i z e n . c o m

Town News

sai Artist Within”. They will discuss bonsai history, various styles of bonsai, and perform a live demon-stration of the bonsai process. Some large bonsai trees will be exhibited, and the care and watering proce-dures explained.

Myrla Bryant’s beginnings as a bonsai artist began over 46 years ago in her hometown of San Pab-lo City, Philippines. She has always had an interest in art, especial-ly beautifying her home and envi-ronment through bonsai culture. Shortly after she began cultivating her first bonsai trees, a local Bon-sai Master saw her talent and be-gan encouraging her as an “artist in the making”. She studied under Mario Estiva and soon she was hav-ing one person shows of her own in her garden. Later she progressed to showing her art at local garden and flower shows in her province. She eventually developed a thriv-ing business of cultivating and sell-ing her trees from her home garden courtyard.

David Bryant comes to the busi-ness with a diverse background in business management, sales, mar-

keting and advertising, web design and teaching. For the past fifteen years he has been developing new skills in bonsai design.

Both Myrla and David believe that participating in bonsai art has a nurturing and creative effect on the artist. They know from their own experience that a bonsai tree has the potential to teach several wonderful characteristics: mindful-ness, attentiveness, creativity, dis-cipline and purpose. The tree has a way of accomplishing these lessons in a very quiet and serene manner.

David and Myrla run bonsai workshops for high school horti-culture students. Following their demonstration, medium bonsai trees will be available for sale at 10% off and a door prize will be awarded. The club’s general meeting will be-gin at 9:00 AM, followed by a short social time. The bonsai program will begin at 10:15 AM. Guests are always welcome to meetings with no fee. During the winter months if the Amherst Schools are cancelled the day of the meeting then the meeting will be cancelled.

Save the date!

Winter Carnival The Amherst Recreation Department Presents the 2015…

February 6th Family skate/Bonfire

Join us for the Ribbon Cutting of our AMS Ice skating rink. We will kick off the winter carnival weekend with some family skating, a bonfire, and music!

Where: AMS ice rink

Time: 6pm

February 7th Disney’s Frozen

Let it go and relax for a night while watching Disney’s Frozen on the big screen! Come to the AMS café with your PJ’s on and blankets ready for our winter carnival movie night.

Where:AMS café

Time: 6pm

February 8th Winter Carnival

Snowshoeing

Face Painting

Meet the Amherst Bear!

Make a craft

Pony Rides

Build a snow quinzhee

Raffles

Food

….And more!!

Where: Middle St

Time: 1-3pm

The Inaugural Bear Fest Broom Ball Tournament:

The ARD presents the first ever Broomball tournament! This is a co-ed family tournament for all ages 14 and up. We encourage YOU to rally up your friends and family for a weekend of friendly competition.

Details: February: 7-8 Co-ed teams of 7-10 Games will be 6v6 Double elimination Ages 14+ Fee: $40 per team

Rules and registration are located on the back of this form or online at www.amherstrec.org

All proceeds will benefit future projects and maintenance for the AMS Ice Rink

Join us February 6th, 7th, and 8th for a FREE weekend filled with fun, games, food, and more!

Hockey Clinic with the Souhegan Sabers! Come out for a morning of Ice Hockey lead by the Souhegan Sabers girls Ice Hockey team. This 2 hour FREE clinic will provide students in grades 1-8 the opportunity to meet, skate and play hockey with the Sabers. Students will get the chance to scrimmage with the Sabers! Helmets and ice skates are required. All other equipment will be supplied. Where: AMS Ice Skating Rink When: Sunday, February 8th Time: 9am-11am

Boston Flower Show Trip Wednesday, March 11

Amherst Garden Club Annual Scholarship

AJWC Funds Available for Area Non-Profits

The Amherst Junior Women’s Club invites non-profit organiza-tions in need of charitable contributions to apply for a donation. Throughout the year, the AJWC raises money and then disburses those funds within the community.

Request must follow these guidelines:Requesting organization must be affiliated with a 501(c)(3)

non-profit. • Organization does not need to have an Amherst address but

must service the local community.• Request must be submitted by March 31, 2015, in writing or by

e-mail.Request must contain the following information:Name of organization, mailing address, e-mail address, website

(if available), telephone number, contact name.• Dollar amount requested.• How would donated funds be used?• How does requesting organization currently benefit Amherst and

greater community?• How does organization’s objective correspond to the mission of

the AJWC? AJWC mission is explained below.• When was organization established? Provide short history of

organization.• How does organization fund itself, ie. federal/state/local grants?• What is organization’s annual budget? Include any expected

shortfalls.The AJWC is an organization of women who volunteer their

time, energy and talent to enhance the community. The club’s mis-sion is to focus efforts on civic needs, educational advancement and the less fortunate.

All requesting organizations will be notified when applications are received. Once approved, funds will be distributed no later than June 15, 2015. Only chosen recipients will be notified of dis-bursements.

Questions may be e-mailed to Christina Zlotnick at cip.ajwc@gmail.com. Please reference “CIP Request” in subject line. For more information, please visit our website at: ajwcnh.org. Our mailing address is: AJWC, CIP Request, P.O. Box 513, Amherst, NH 03031.

The Amherst Garden Club is of-fering scholarship awards to quali-fied students this spring. $4000.00 is available to Amherst or Mont Ver-non residents who will be attend-ing an institute of higher learning to study horticulture, botany, plant science, landscape design, or envi-ronmental science as it relates di-rectly to horticulture. The Garden Club believes it has the opportunity to impact our planet in a beneficial way by supporting the education of students who have an interest in a field closely allied in some way with horticulture.

Applications are available from student services or guidance offic-es at Souhegan High School, Bishop

Guertin High School, and the Der-ryfield School. Other Amherst and Mont Vernon students or graduates can get the application from Sue Al-ger at 673-5664 or on the Amherst Garden Club website, www.amher-stgardenclub.org. There are two ap-plications forms available, one for high school seniors and one for high school graduates who are presently college age or older.

Souhegan High School students need to return their applications to the high school student services of-fices by April l. All other applicants should mail their applications to the Amherst Garden Club, Attn: Schol-arship Committee, PO Box 694, Amherst, NH 03031 by March 16.

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MARJORIE ALLEN

Bring A Smile To A Child…Help bring a Smile to a Child February 2 - 27. Boxes will be col-

lecting donations for Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock (CHaD) at the Amherst Town Library and at the Mont Vernon Vil-lage School during the month of February. Boxes are sponsored by Emma Farris, a Girl Scout in Troop 22752 in Amherst as her Bronze Award Project. Donate new board games, plastic toys, puz-zles, DVDs, coloring books, crayons, gift cards or books and you can help bring a SMILE to a CHILD as children receive treatment at CHaD. If you have any questions please contact Troop Leader Shannon Daniels 672-3552.

Marjorie Allen, creator of so much beauty, died peacefully at home in Sandwich, NH, overlooking her be-loved Squam Lake on November 15, 2014. She was born December 25, 1946, grew up in Eastchester, NY, and graduated from Eastches-ter High School. Marj completed a BA in Education at Pace University and graduate coursework in gifted education at the University of Con-necticut.

Marj taught for over 25 years at Putnam Valley Elementary School in New York. She was a dedicat-ed teacher and volunteer coach of both children and adults in cre-ative problem solving for 33 years in New York and New Hampshire. She changed many lives by giving others the ability to tackle any chal-lenge they faced.

Marj is warmly remembered for her irresistible holiday cookies that led many to schedule a January diet each year. She won numerous blue and best-in-show ribbons for her flower arrangements, often con-taining beautiful blooms from her own prolific garden. Her elegant arrangements also graced antiques

shows in which she was an exhibi-tor. She enjoyed sailing, swimming and traveling, especially to places of natural beauty.

Marjorie was married for 49 years to Mark Allen and partnered with him in Mark & Marjorie Allen An-tiques. She generously volunteered at The Samuel H. Wentworth Li-brary, Destination Imagination, the local garden club, and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the East-ern Slopes.

Marj is survived and cherished by her husband Mark; her daughters, Stephanie Allen (Xavier Becquer) and Samantha Allen; her parents, Dr. Martin and Vivienne Sokoloff; and siblings Myka-Lynne Sokoloff, Stephen Sokoloff and Beth Enger-son.

A private burial took place on November 16, 2014, in Sandwich, NH. A memorial service will be held on June 27, 2015, on Squam Lake. In lieu of flowers, donations to the following would be appreciated: The Marjorie Allen Scholarship in care of New Hampshire Destina-tion Imagination or Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Amherst Area Newcomers enjoyed food, good cheer and a Yankee swap at their annu-al champagne brunch on Janu-ary 10th. Amherst Area New-comers Club holds monthly

social meetings both informa-tive and entertaining. We have many interest groups that also meet weekly or monthly includ-ing book group, knitting, bun-co, crafts, out to lunch, movie

night, poker and more.Our next general meeting

will take place on Feb. 8th at the home of one of our members on Baboosic Lake. Depending on the ice conditions we will either

ice skate or snowshoe and enjoy a fire pit and hot chocolate.

For more information on our activities visit our website at www.nhnewcomers.com

We would love to meet you!

Amherst Area Newcomers

Obituary

The Boston Flower Show trip has been arranged for Wednesday, March 11, by The Amherst Garden Club. Leaving at 2pm and arriving during the late afternoon is a less crowded time to view the show. This years theme for the flower show will be “Season of Enchantment” and it promises to explore the mystical joys of the spring garden. The shows lush and inspiring landscapes will get you excited for the coming sea-son. It is a great opportunity to learn more about garden design as each display is critiqued by judges. Also available to answer your ques-tions are the garden designers. Each garden display will be label it plants with latin and common names.

Don’t miss the floral arrange-ments which are also judged and the judges critiques are very inter-esting and educational. This year professional florists will conjure up “Wizards Hats and Wands” in cel-ebration of the theme and the con-tainer Garden Invitational will of-

fer dozens of ideas for creating your next potted masterpiece. Venders are prolific and always fun to see what is new in gardening!

There is the opportunity to get in on one of the lectures. At 3:30 Andi Ross, a landscape designer and Gar-den Coach will speak on Hydran-geas for those who are interested.

The Amherst Garden Club will be arranging for a limo bus to do all the driving. The cost which includes the trip, ticket to the flower show and gratuity for the bus driver is $53.00. Email Marti Warren (mar-tiwarren@comcast.net) to sign up. This is open to anyone to attend, why not invite a friend. We leave from the Meeting Place at 2pm and return at 7pm. Everyone will be on their own for dinner. You can eat on site, or wander across the street to the Seaport Aura Restaurant and enjoy a light dinner. The deadline for sign up and payment is Febru-ary 10. Please make check payable to Amherst Garden Club.

u Releasing the Bonsai Artist continued from page 1

w w w . a m h e r s t c i t i z e n . c o m • J A N U A R Y 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 • THE AMHERST CITIZEN • 7

AMHERST – The Amherst Town Library welcomes technol-ogy professional Kim Reddington presenting, “Facebook Workshop: Going Beyond Getting Started,” on Wednesday, January 28th from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. as part of the Library’s series for adults entitled, Tackling Technology…and Winning.

You may have a Facebook ac-count, you probably have a few “friends” and maybe you’ve even posted a few things, but you still get confused when you are out there. You want to make sure that the pho-to you are uploading is only visible to certain people, but there are so many options. Maybe you can fig-ure it out, and maybe you just get frustrated, but either way isn’t it nice to have someone sit down with you and show you how it all works? This workshop is geared towards the person who already has a Face-book account but wants to know more about how to use Facebook and how to stay safe.

Topics planned to be covered in the workshop include: attaching pictures and tagging photos; down-loading photos from your friend’s post; working with photo albums; discovering and following certain friends; sharing something you see with other friends; hiding a friend’s post without unfriending them; sharing certain photos with only your family and not others; under-standing and modifying your pri-vacy settings to work for you; and understanding why you see some friend’s posts all the time and not others; and, other topics you may have questions about.

Kim Reddington is a speaker, trainer, and business coach and founder of Cereus Women. She works with success-driven women entrepreneurs and exceptional “Ce-

reus” men to help them use speak-ing to build their practice and get all the clients they want. Kim has been an entrepreneur since 1995 and has been using Facebook since 2007.

All programs in the Tackling Technology…and Winning series for adults are free and open to the public. However, registration is RE-QUIRED for each program due to space limitations. You can register for all these events by calling 673-2288, emailing library@amherstli-brary.org or by visiting our website at www.amherstlibrary.org and se-lecting the “Community Services” tab, then click on drop down “Sign-Up for Programs.”

Team placement will be based on screening. All players will screen. Games will be played with sur-rounding townsWho: 9-12 yr old girlsWhat: Minors/MajorsWhen: Tentative start date of 42015Fee: $90R; $117NR

13-15 year olds: JuniorsPlay games with surrounding

towns. Games generally play on Wednesdays and Saturdays, not to conflict with the Middle School Schedule.

We encourage all 7th and 8th grade players to sign up. If your player makes the school team and decides not to play for this program you will get a full refund.Who: 13-15 yr old girlsWhat: Junior League When: Tentative start date of 42015Fee: $90R; $117NR

Softball Clinic at AMSCome get a jump on the Softball

Season with a 4 week skills, drills and activities program geared to develop your softball abilities. This program runs Mondays through March at the Amherst Middle School. Be prepared each week to participate for an hour and a half of softball. Who: 5th-8th gradeWhere: Amherst Middle School GymWhen: Mondays March 2nd -23rd from 6-7:30pm (see website for more details)Fee: $25R; $35NR

Homeschool Science Pro-grams

Amherst Recreation offers envi-ronmental and science programs to home school students throughout the school year at the Peabody Mill Environmental Center!

Who: Home school students ages 3-14Where: Peabody Mill Environmental Center (PMEC)When: February 17th from 1-3pm (3-5yr olds from 1-2pm)Fee: $5 for 3-5 yr olds, $10 for 6-14 yr olds

please visit www.amherstrec.org for activity descriptionsSpanish Workshops

Senora Rowley is a Span-ish-speaking native and veteran ed-ucator. She will expand and deep-en their knowledge of grammar, phonetics and pronunciation. They will work on reading and translat-ing written Spanish. This class will also explore Spanish culture and history.Spanish Workshop for Begin-nerWho: K-4th gradersWhen: 7:55-8:25am Wednesdays 215-4/15/15Where: Wilkins School, classroom #5Fee: $75R; $85NR

Spanish Workshop for Ad-vancedWho: 2nd-4th gradersWhen: 7:55-8:25am Thursdays 215-4/16/15

Where: Wilkins School, classroom #4Fee: $75R; $85NR

After-School Spanish at AMSWho: 5th-8th gradersWhen: Wednesdays 215-4/15/15 2:30-3:30Where: Amherst Middle School, Portable classroomFee: $150R; $160NR

February Vacation Day CampFebruary School Vacation will be

here before you know it! What bet-ter way for your children to spend it than take part in a fun-filled week at camp. This February, The Amherst Recreation Department will be run-ning a day camp from Feb. 23-27 for children in grades K-5. Each day of the week will be geared towards a specific theme. Campers will be-come mad-scientists for the day, explore the adventures of the great outdoors, and even create their own Winter Wonderlands!

Who: Grades K-5What: February Vacation Day CampWhen: February 23-27, 2015; 8:30am-4pm

Extended care available from 7:30am-5:30pmWhere: Peabody Mill Environmental CenterFee (after 1/15/15): Res: $45 per day, or $175 for the week; NonRes: $50/$185Extended care Fee: $10 extended care fee per child, per day

Pre-School Programming

Toddler Trails and TailsDuring this 4 week program we

will explore a nature based theme through a story, a simple craft, movement and song, and an outside adventure! Instructor Nicole Col-vin-Griffin brings 20+ years of ex-perience in creating programs and teaching children of diverse ages.

This program needs a minimum of 4 participants to run.Who: 3-5 yr oldsWhat: Toddler Trails and TailsWhere: Peabody Mill Environmental CenterWhen: March 3, 10, 17, 24 from 10:30-11:30amFee: $35R; $40NR

Exploring Nature TogetherJoin us for a parent/caretaker and

child (ages 3-6) adventure! This is a hands-on class with seasonal themes will be followed by outside fun, with themes that will include: NH Animals and Plants, Habitats, Animal Tracks, and more!

This program needs a minimum of 4 participants to run.Who: ages 3-6What: Exploring Nature Together; A Parent Child ClassWhere: Peabody Mill Environmental CenterWhen: March 3, 10, 24; 1-2pm Fee: $25

Adult ProgrammingCooking with Paula Garvey- Sim-

ple Comfort Food February is the perfect time

for warm, satisfying meals. I will

demonstrate how to make a ver-satile bread stuffing from scratch to be used in Stuffed Mushrooms- perfect for a starter, a side or a sim-ple lunch.

This menu is ideal for Valentine’s Day, for what better way is there to show your love than with a home-made plate of deliciousness!

The Menu: Stuffed Mushrooms with Garlic

and Bacon Lamb Tagine with Couscous Traditional Bread and Butter

PuddingWho: adults 18+ What: Cooking demonstrationWhere: Amherst Middle School- Life Skills room When: 2/11/15; 7-8:30pm Fee: $20R; $25NR

Weekly Walks in AmherstLet’s get out and explore some of

Amherst’s best kept secrets. The Amherst Parks and Recreation Staff will meet you at the selected trail-head on Tuesdays at 10am. Once the snow flies we will bring snow shoes for hikers. Please wear orange during hunting season. If it is rain-ing...please call the Recreation office for cancellations after 9am.

Who: General PublicWhen: Tuesdays @ 10amFee: Free

Schedule: TBD -please check back as we are waiting for the icy conditions to subsideZumba Gold® (Low Impact for Beginners)

If you have ever enjoyed any kind of dance in your life...ballet, tap, swing, ballroom, folk dance, coun-try line dance or Jazzersize...you’ll pick this up in no time!

Class Format: 45 minutes of dance including: 10 min. warm-up, 20 min. moderate intensity aerobic dance, 10 min. cool-down and a 5 min. standing stretch. Clark School Option

Who: adults ages 40-75What: Zumba GoldWhen: January 12- March 23, 2015: Once a week (Mon or Thurs) Twice a week (Mon & Thurs)Time: 3:45-4:45pmWhere: Clark School; Multipurpose roomFee: once a week for 9 weeks $54R; $64NR

twice a week for 9 weeks $81R; $91NRNEW Souhegan High School OptionWho: adults ages 40-75What: Zumba GoldWhen: January 26- February 18, 2015: Once a week (Mon or Wed) Twice a week (Mon & Wed)Time: 5:30-6:30pmWhere: Souhegan HS Annex RoomsFee: once a week for 4 weeks $24R; $29NR twice a week for 4 weeks $36R; $41NR

Adult Basketball and Adult Vol-leyball

Pick up games at AMS have be-gun. The registration fee covers the

entire school year. See our website for details and to register.Game Days

Amherst Recreation offers a fun afternoon of table or card games for adults.Thursdays 1:00-3:30pm @ the Amherst Fire Department Training Room. No registration required, It’s free!

Family Programming

Birthday Parties at PMEC!Create amazing birthday memo-

ries this year with a Birthday Party for your child age 3-12 at the Pea-body Mill Environment Center!

We have several themes to choose from or we can work together to tai-lor one just for your Birthday Girl or Boy. Please visit www.amherstrec.org for more details.Snowshoeing at PMEC

The snow is here! Head on up to PMEC for a fun-filled afternoon of snowshoeing. Snow shoe rentals will be available Saturdays, start-ing December 6, 2014 from Noon to 4pm. Fee: $6R; $8NR

Trips

Irish CabaretJoin Best of Times in 2015 for one

of our hallmark programs...our St. Patrick’s day celebration program. A show not to be missed!

Who: Adults 18+What: Tony Kenny’s Irish Cabaret day tripWhen: Wednesday, March 11, 2015. Arrival time 11:30am; depar-ture time TBAWhere: Venus De Milo Swansea, MA. Pickup location TBAFee: $85 per person (includes transportation, show, and luncheon)

NEW Cherry Blossom Festival & Washington D.C. Sightsee-ing Trip(April 9-12)

Join the Amherst, Merrimack, and Milford Recreation Depart-ments for a trip of a lifetime! Expe-rience the history and attractions of this great American City.Trip Includes:5 mealsCoach Buss transportationNative Washington D.C. tour guideOvernight stay at the embassy Suites

Who: Amherst, Merrimack, & Milford ResidentsWhat: Sightseeing TripWhere: Washington D.C.When: April 9-12, 2015Fee: $559 pp Double $549 pp Triple$689 pp Single $459 Child w/ 2 Adults

Coming soon: youth baseball clinics, preschool playgroup, track and field, archery and summer camps!

We add programs weekly, so check our website often…

And make time in your life for Recreation!

u Amherst Recreation Programs and Events continued from page 4

see the bell from outside because of the louvers. To see it up close and personal, as I did earlier this month, one must first take the stairs to the attic, carefully make one’s way past the clock mechanism enclosed in glass walls, and then, in the tight corner, take a few steps up and poke head and upper torso through the small trap door. Alas, the Revere name is on the opposite side.

Amherst, too, received a gift from Perkins Nichols that survives to this day. Do you know what it is? Hint: It’s in Amherst’s Town Hall.Inspiration

Often I’m asked where I get the ideas for my columns. Well, Per-kins Nichols of Boston turned up in the deed chain while I was re-searching the origins of the Wil-liam Read House, now standing at 14 Middle Street but formerly locat-ed in the block of the Brick School. William Read (1754-1834) owned & occupied the house at its original location from 1806 until his death. Shortly after buying the house, Read bought the store that formerly stood on the Soldiers’ Monument Com-mon. Perkins Nichols happened to provide a mortgage for the store in 1803 to an earlier owner; and as an “assignee” (trustee) of the estate of the prior bankrupt owner of the house, Robert Fletcher (1762-1809), Nichols was one of the grantors in Read’s purchase deed of the house. The role of Perkins Nichols as a real

estate owner in Amherst turned out to be negligible – but his was an in-teresting 19th-century career – and an example of native sons who left Amherst near the end of the 18th century to pursue business careers in ‘the city.’ His final home was New York City, where he left a concrete – or maybe I should say, marble – lasting legacy, namely the New York Marble Cemetery which he orga-nized and developed in 1831.Sources

My thanks go to Polly Cote, Mil-ford’s present-day town historian for sharing sources, explaining the moves of the meeting house and therefore of the bell, and pointing out the family connection between donor Nichols and Rev. Moore. “Milford’s Paul Revere Bell” by An-drew E. Rothovius (1923-2009) of Milford, N.H. in his “The Olden Time Historical Newsletter,” 1 Oc-tober 1953; and a letter dated 22 Nov. 1956 by Rothovius to Mr. Ad-ams, chairman of the Historical So-ciety, giving his primary sources as the studies of Dr. Arthur Nich-ols (1911) and the recent researches of E. C. Stickney of Bedford, Mass. “Historical Sketch of the Town of Milford New Hampshire” by David Goodwin, hand-written, 1846, pub-lished along with a typed transcrip-tion by Milford’s Historical Society in 1987. Colonial Amherst by Emma Boylston Locke, p. 41, for Amherst’s bell history.

on its mission. In its infancy, ACF undertook very small projects. Two projects in 2014 were the Souhegan Valley Youth Resource Poster and a Bike Rodeo. The Resource Poster provides guidance to the members of the Souhegan Valley communi-ty in need of assistance in solving problems, which, when solved, will ultimately enhance the quality of life for those citizens of our com-munities. The Bike Rodeo’s pur-pose was to instruct youth on bi-cycle safety in a fun and interactive way. Both of these small projects were done in collaboration with lo-cal police departments, organiza-tions, and private businesses. All working together.

With the winter of 2014-2015 ap-proaching, the Amherst Recreation Department and the ACF began collaborating to bring a larger town ice rink to reality. The intent of this partnership was to secure funding for the purchase of a PortaRinx ice skating rink for the Town of Am-

herst. The project will be funded by donors. If you go by the Amherst Middle School, you will see the re-sults of this partnership. The rink is there for all ages to use. A win for everyone. ,

We ask the public to visit our Facebook page or our web site, www.amherstfoundation.org, to keep up with our endeavors and contribute when possible. At the present time, we are still accepting donations for the ice rink! Checks may be sent to The Amherst Community Founda-tion, Box 256, Amherst, NH 03031 or, if you prefer, you can use our on-line link with a credit card by going to hhtp://www.amherstfoundation.org/ice-rink/ The ice rink will be having a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, February 6th at 6 pm just prior to the Winter Carnival’s Fam-ily Skate/Bonfire. For more infor-mation on the Winter Carnival go the Amherst Recreation Facebook page or visit their web site www.amherstrec.org.

• Souhegan School District (Am-herst resident) – one School Board Member.

In the event of inclement weather, a decision about cancellation will be

made by 4 pm. Please call 673-5171 or check ACTV20. There is no alter-nate date scheduled.

Contingency Fund - $100,000 to come from undesignated fund bal-ance. No tax impact in FY16 be-cause it was raised through taxation in FY15.

Capital Reserve Funds: $15,000 Assessing Revaluation; $15,000 Communications Center; $55,000 Fire Station Renovation to come from LUCT funds; $150,000 Fire Truck Refurbish.

Sidewalk Construction Project $65,620 ($262,480 comes from fed-eral grant money).

Public Health Mosquito Program $40,000.

Article 32 does not have a tax impact. It grants the Board of Se-lectmen to act as Pipeline Interven-er Status. “in order to present the claims of Amherst residents and property owners and protect their rights.”Souhegan Cooperative District

Souhegan Cooperative contract agreement with professional and support staff for first year - $29,894. SHS track replacement - $220,000 with $110,000 to come from School

Maintenance Trust Fund. Mainte-nance Trust Fund $65,000 from un-designated fund balance. Amount to be raised through taxation: $204,894.Amherst School District

Expansion of Kindergarten pro-gram to full day $620,593; Amherst School District collective bargain-ing agreement with Amherst Sup-port Staff Association for first year - $40,660; and $50,000 from undes-ignated fund balance for educating students with disabilities.

All of the budgets and warrant ar-ticles will be thoroughly explained and debated at the appropriate de-liberative session. Souhegan Cooperative District

– Monday, February 2nd at 6 p.m. at Souhegan High School Theatre.

Amherst School District – Tues-day, February 3rd at 6 p.m. at Souhegan High School Theatre.

Town of Amherst - Wednesday, February 4th at 7 p.m. at Souhe-gan High School Theatre.

Hoeffer-Mauboussin and Paul Fla-to. Along with eye-catching gowns once worn by famous figures and the sparkling jewels that contribut-ed to their allure from the MFA and

private collections, photography by Edward Steichen along with period photographs, film stills, and film clips capture the style of the silver screen era.

n Cost: Bus & Driver Gratuity $22n Entrance Fee: Member of the MFA $0; Non Member $20,

Senior (65+) $18n Check Payable to: Friends of the Amherst Libraryn Mail to: Jane Cosmo, 12 North Meadow Road, Amherst, NH

03031n Note: Please include your telephone and cell number n Depart: 8:30 a.m. - The Meeting Place, Amherst (Rte. 101),

Return: 5:00 p.m.If you have any questions, please call Jane at 673-3192 or Jan at 673-8718.

Amherst Town Library

Facebook Workshop: Going Beyond Getting Started - Jan. 28

2015 Joe English Trail ChallengeAMHERST – The Joe English

Trail Challenge incorporates 12.5 Loop to Complement 25K Original!

Registration for the 2015 Joe En-glish Trail Challenge opens this week. The Trail Challenge, which is sponsored by the Amherst Land Trust, is an event designed to push runners and hikers to complete a course through beautiful New Hampshire forest, filled with steep ascents and descents, rough terrain and other natural obstacles. The event, held at Freestyle Farm thanks to our gracious host Ariel Taylor, is named for the Pennacook man who once escaped his pursuers by run-ning over the hillsides through the woods. Although the Challenge is timed, the competition is not be-tween the participants as much as it is between each participant and the trail: as demonstrated last year when the lead runner, the late Chad Denning, stepped aside at the fin-ish line to let a companion cross the line first. The most challenging sec-tion of the 25K course has now been named the Denning Loop in honor

of Chad, who died unexpectedly last autumn on Mount Moosilauke.

Runners are encouraged to re-turn each year to attempt to bet-ter their personal times. New this year is a 12.5K option for those who are just starting out in trail events or are otherwise not interested in taking on the full Challenge. Be as-sured, however, the 12.5k course is a challenge in its own right!

The Trail Challenge is one of two annual Joe English Challenge events. Last fall saw the inaugural running of the Joe English Twilight Challenge, a one-of-a-kind moon-light marathon for solo runners and relay teams. The mission of Am-herst Land Trust is to preserve open space for the benefit of the citizens of Amherst and the surrounding communities. The Joe English chal-lenges invite people to experience the forests of Amherst in different and exciting ways. For more infor-mation, or to register, visit the event webpage: Joe-English.org or Like us on Facebook.

Brandon Baker and Chad Denning ran neck and neck to the finish in the first Joe English Challenge, until Denning broke stride, allowing Baker to finish first with the one-second lead. Spectators lauded Denning’s sports-manlike gesture to forgo a final push for first, yielding to the younger Baker. Tragically, Denning died a few months later on a training run on Mt. Moosilauke.

Technology Professional Kim Reddington

u Amherst Community Foundation from page 1

u Amherst’s Native Son Who Gave Milford Its Paul Revere Bell continued from page 1

u Third Annual Candidates Night from page 1

u Hollywood Glamour Visit to MFA from page 1

u Town and School Districts Prepare Budgets for Deliberative Sessions from page 1

8 • THE AMHERST CITIZEN • J A N U A R Y 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 • w w w . a m h e r s t c i t i z e n . c o m

Time to Renovate Your Kitchen?Discover how easy and affordable it is at our Kitchen 101 event

Tuesday, February 3rd, 6-8pm

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HHHHH GSK worked with me to keep within my budget. Their designers were great! We didn’t have many options for changing blue print of the kitchen, but they were able to come up with great storage solutions. We have a log home and one of my biggest goals was to lighten things up. I love my new bright efficient kitchen!! I would highly recommend them to anyone.

HHHHH We had our kitchen completely remodeled with Plain & Fancy cabinets. The entire company, from sales staff to carpenters, contractors, and customer service were a joy to deal with. We felt they were the utmost in professional, did a great job, and we could not be happier with our kitchen! We would highly recommend this company to anyone in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, or Maine.

See their reviews on Houzz.com, they’re leading the industry in happy customers! Here are just three of the forty reviews on Houzz from local customers just like you! See all their reviews on Houzz.com

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SCHEDULE – KITCHEN 101 EVENT:6 - 6:30pm: libations & hors d’oeuvres6:30pm: kitchen seminar begins7:30pm: Q&A session and bring in pic’s of your kitchen

If that kitchen of yours needs renovation, this night is designed especially for you…· Come and see before and after photos of kitchens just like yours

· Hear how easy and affordable a kitchen renovation is in a space your size

· Pick the brains of the experts about your kitchen – come with photos

· We assure you it will be time well spent – No fees or sign up required –Just show up... it really is that simple

Granite State Cabinetry, 384 Route 101, Bedford, NH • 603-472-4080

Winter Bird Feeders in AmherstBy Tom Sileo

Many Amherst residents main-tain bird feeders. These feeders provide easy access to food for birds and hours of entertainment for those who maintain them. But, what do we know about the birds that frequent our feeders? Where do they come from and how long have they been in our area?Northern Cardinal

Let’s begin with the Northern Cardinal. Most New England resi-dents know the cardinal as well as they know the robin and the chick-adee, but this was not always the case; during the early 1800s, the cardinal resided in the southern states, and only rarely appeared in the north.

“After listening with so much de-light to the lively fife of the splen-did cardinal,” wrote Thomas Nut-tall in Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and of Canada (1832), “as I traveled alone through the deep and wild solitudes which prevail over the Southern States, and bid, as I thought, perhaps an eternal adieu to the sweet voice of my charming companions, what was my surprise and pleasure, on the 7th of May, to hear, the first time in this State [Massachusetts], and in the Botanic Garden [Nuttall was curator of Harvard’s Botanic Garden from 1825 to 1834], above an hour together, the lively and loud song of this exquisite vocalist, whose voice rose above every rival of the feathered race, and rung al-most in echoes through the bloom-ing grove in which he had chosen his retreat.”

Nuttall also writes that these birds were so esteemed for their melody that, “according to Gemel-li Careri (1699), the Spaniards of Havanna, in a time of public dis-tress and scarcity, bought so many of these birds, with which a vessel was partly freighted, from Florida, that the sum expended, at 10 dollars apiece, amounted to no less than 18,000 dollars!”

In Birds of New England and Ad-jacent States (1867), Edward A. Samuels did not include the cardi-nal, and it was not until 1955 that Ludlow Griscom and Dorothy E. Snyder in their Birds of Massachu-setts were able to write that the car-dinal “has crossed the Hudson Riv-er and has been pushing northward almost throughout its range since 1930; it now occurs annually in this state and is an uncommon, rather than rare or casual vagrant.”

They also predicted that “a breed-ing record can be expected at any moment.” And they were right; in 1961, two eggs were found at Wellesley on May 29th.

In 1963, the Allen Bird Club of Springfield surveyed the num-ber of cardinals and titmice from Worchester westward. Then, in 1965 John Laestadius of Amherst, Massachusetts compiled the find-ings of a group of volunteers who surveyed the entire State of Mas-sachusetts. Their numbers reflect the steady growth of the cardinal in the northeast: 1,168 (1965), 1,041 (1966), 1,422 (1967), 2,113 (1968). Tufted Titmouse

“Comparatively little has been written about this bird,” wrote Neltje Blanchan in his Bird Neigh-bors (1897), “because it is not often found in New England, where most of the bird litterateurs have lived.”

“The Tufted Titmouse, or Crested Titmouse as it was called formerly, is a mere straggler in New England,” wrote Edward H. Forbush in his Birds of Massachusetts (1929). He cited 4 reports.

By 1955, concerning the tuft-ed titmouse, Ludlow Griscom and Dorothy E. Snyder were able to write in their Birds of Massachu-setts, “Rare vagrant from the south, with an increasing number of re-cords in the state in recent years, since the bird has moved northward into Connecticut.”

According to Richard K. Walton in Birds of the Sudbury River Valley, “Prior to 1957, this species was rare in Massachusetts. During the fall

of 1957 there was a general inva-sion into our state as the tufted Tit-mouse expanded its range north-ward.”

In 1963, the Allen Bird Club of Springfield surveyed titmice and cardinals from Worcester west-ward. They counted 156 titmice in 1963 and 210 in 1964. In 1965, John Laestadius of Amherst com-piled the number of cardinals and titmice counted throughout Mas-sachusetts by a volunteer group. Their numbers give an indication of the increase in titmouse population occurring at that time: 741 (1965), 619 (1966), 912 (1967), 1,192 (1968).

In 1993, Veit and Peterson in their Birds of Massachusetts, wrote the following: “Tufted Titmice are currently widespread as breeders in Massachusetts, although they are notably absent from the offshore islands and from forested areas at higher elevations in the interior.”

In our area today, we can hardly step outside in mid-to-late March without hearing the clear, quick whistles - phew - phew - phew - phew - of this friendly little com-panion of the black-capped chick-adee (also called the black-capped titmouse), the white-breasted nut-hatch and the downy woodpecker. Pine Siskin

Pine siskins are irregular visitors to our area; one year, they’ll be to-tally absent, another, flocks will ar-rive at our feeders. These Canadi-an breeders will move south when the seed crop is poor up north. This year, moderate numbers of siskins are hanging around Amherst. Re-lated to finches, they look like heav-ily streaked sparrows with a wash of yellow across their wings. They feed on sunflower seeds and remain close by when not feeding. It’s al-ways a pleasure to have siskins in our area. White-Throated Sparrows

White-Throated Sparrows come to Amherst from farther north. Their ethereal “Oh sweet Can-ada-canada” song is common-

ly heard on any mountain hike in the Presidential Range, but can be heard in the southern portion of the White Mountain National Forest as well; I’ve heard them while hiking up Welch and Dickey Mountains in Waterville Valley (Thornton, MA), for instance. In winter these spar-rows arrive in flocks and enjoy our sunflower seeds. Northern Junco

Like the White-Throated Spar-row, the Northern Junco breeds in the mountains. Also common in the White Mountains, they’re seen and heard in the Monadnock region as well. I’ve heard their subtle twit-terings on Bald Mountain above Willard Pond in Hancock, for in-stance.

Juncos feed on the ground, but they also wait patiently in low shrubs, and will sometimes fly to a feeder. Unfortunately, their ground feeding habit makes them vulnera-ble to cats. House Finch

The house finch came to the east as a released cage bird, which is no surprise to those who have enjoyed this bird’s lively, musical and notes.

Oliver J. Austin, quoted in Ar-thur Cleveland Bent’s Life Histories (1968), explains that in 1940, “cage-bird dealers in southern California shipped numbers of these birds, caught illegally in the wild, to New York dealers for sale as ’Hollywood finches.’ Alert agents of the Fish and Wildlife Service spotted this viola-tion of the International Migratory Bird Treaty Act and quickly put an end to the traffic. To avoid prosecu-tion the New York dealers released their birds. The species was soon noted in the wild on nearby Long Is-land, and has slowly been increasing its range ever since.” They reached Massachusetts about 1955.

The common finch of the last century was the purple finch, and today many people who grew up during the early part of this century mistake the house finch for the pur-ple finch. There are two important distinguishing features: first, while the house finch is most often found in suburbs and cities, perched on phone wires or on the eaves of roofs, the purple finch prefers more

secluded woodland haunts; sec-ond, the purple finch has more red throughout its body, and it is hard to beat Roger Tory Peterson’s de-scription of it as “a sparrow dipped in raspberry juice.”Carolina Wren

Carolina wrens are a spar-row-sized bird with a beautiful chestnut color with a white eye-line. They’re active around a feeder, mostly focused on suet. They seem to show up earlier in the morning than other birds; and when they’re not feeding, they don’t hang around nearby shrubs like other birds; in-stead they fly to woodland edges, every so often releasing a beautiful warbling song.

Carolina wrens have always been common in America’s southeast-ern states. In 1920, Charles Wen-dell Townsend in Supplement to the Birds of Essex County, Massa-chusetts, mentioned an invasion of wrens into New England in 1908 and 1909. But, this was a fluke.

During the 1950s, however, they began moving more steadily toward Massachusetts. By 1984, Walton wrote that the “Carolina Wren is a permanent resident in southeast-ern Massachusetts where its num-bers fluctuate according to the se-verity of the winters.” During the early 1990s, however, they entered New England: “This wren is gradu-ally expanding its northerly range,” wrote Bertrand B. Hopkins in Birds of Groton & Ayer (1995). American Goldfinch

American goldfinches are per-manent residents in New England, nesting, however, later than most other birds. After bull thistles go to seed in late summer, goldfinches use the plant’s downy filaments to line their nest.

By winter goldfinches lose their bright yellow feathers, but not en-tirely. Closer observation reveals that some birds retain more of their yellow feathers than others. They’re also not as vocal in winter. Throughout the summer months, their undulating flight is accompa-nied by a sweet characteristic song. In winter, however, they arrive in relatively quiet flocks that will often dominate our feeders. Surprisingly

pugnacious for a small bird, a gold-finch – unlike a chickadee - will sit perched at a feeder for a long time as if to guard the contents for itself. Eastern Blue Jay

These rambunctious birds seem to behave themselves around feed-ers. They’re cautious and will of-ten feed on the ground. A blue jay perched next to a bright-red cardi-nal, against the white snow creates a beautiful winter scene. Black-Capped Chickadee

Black-Capped Chickadees are active little birds, curious, but ever vigilant. They’ll pull a sunflower seed from a feeder and then fly to the cover of a nearby shrub to eat it. Chickadees are hardy year-around residents in New England. Downy Woodpecker

Like the black-capped chickadee, the downy and hairy woodpeckers are New England born and bred, and we identify these year-around residents with our forests. Downy woodpeckers are black and white with a powerful bill and a tongue that wraps around the inside of their skull. Their knocking on trees as they search for insects below the bark is a common woodland sound. These birds are also up with the times; my mother recently showed me an article showing how their heads are studied for clues to how human concussions can be avoided.

At our feeders, downies are drawn to suet, wrapping their tail below the feeder and pecking at the block of suet. Sometimes, they’re unfortu-nately attracted to nearby wooden rails or the siding of a home where they habitually drill for insects, in a similar way that a dog might habit-ually dig a hole in the backyard.

Note: All photos taken this winter by the author at his backyard bird feeders.

A resident of Amherst, Tom Sileo is a Financial Advisor with a pas-sion for the outdoors and local his-tory. He has written hundreds of ar-ticles and columns on the outdoors and five books.

w w w . a m h e r s t c i t i z e n . c o m • J A N U A R Y 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 • THE AMHERST CITIZEN • 9

&Entertainment

Arts

NH Master Chorale

Exhibits

NASHUA – As one of New En-gland’s finest choral ensembles, the 2014-2015 concert season of the touring Chorale features the New England premiere of John Rat-ledge’s cantata The Divine Siren. This lush, new work based on the life and poetry of Gaspara Stampa- a 16th-century Italian poet- and her affair with Count Collaltino di Col-lalto inspired many of the 311 po-ems she published and dedicated to the Count.

The work is sung in English and Italian, interspersed with virtuosic solo work, accompanied by piano.

The NH Master Chorale makes its first return to Nashua since 2005.

Dan Perkins will conduct works by Brahms, Esenvalds, Ratledge and others

At the FIRST MUSIC CONCERT SERIES, The First Church (UCC), 1 Concord Street, Nashua on Sunday, February 1 at 3PM.

Admission: $20/Adults - $15/Se-niors - $1 Students under 21

Information: www.first–music.org, 882-4861.

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Massabesic Audubon Art Exhibit

Great Sky at Lake Massabesic, 11x14 oil by Elaine Farmer

AUBURN – Featuring the artists of the Manchester Art-ists Association with an exhibit of Art titled “The Heart of Na-ture” on exhibit from January 5 thru February 21, 2015

Location: Massabesic Audu-bon Center, 26 Audubon Way, Auburn, NH 603-668-2045

Regular Hours: Tues. - Fri. 9-5, Sat., 10-4 and Sunday 11-1

Visit: http://www.nhaudu-bon.org/locations/centers/massabesic

The Manchester Artists As-sociation is a non-profit orga-nization founded in 1966 and is run by the artists. One of the purposes of the organization is to provide venues for showing and selling artwork which in-cludes venues like the Massabe-sic Audubon Center. Members of the Manchester Artists As-sociation have come together to

present this exhibit of fine art interpreting their love of nature will inspire the viewer to also embrace The Heart of Nature.

Participating artists from the area include the following:Amherst: Richard Dye, Elaine Farmer, Howard MuscottAuburn: Barbara HuntressBedford: Noella BreaultDerry: Sharon AllenEast Kingston: Heather CrowleyEpsom: Judy PalfreyGoffstown: Libby LaliberteHooksett: James O’DonellManchester: Roberta Banfield, Virginia Demers, Paul Ducret, Linda Feinberg, Macy Fox, Dee Lessard, Guy Lessard, Aline Lotter, Rollande Roussell

For more information on the Manchester Artists Asso-ciation visit www.manchester-artists.com

Oil Paintings by Ann CrossMulti Media Winners at Jaffrey Civic CenterThe Jaffrey Civic Center announces the Winners of the recent Annual Autumn Art Show.

Photographers Forum Camera Club Members Exhibition

Dream Of MidsummerA Midsummer Night’s Dream Comes to Midwinter NHFEBRUARY 13-22, 2015

NASHUA – Peacock Players, New Hamp-shire’s premiere award winning youth the-atre, is proud to present the raucous love crazed Shakespeare comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream for two romantic weekends in February at the Janice B. Streeter Theater, located at 14 Court Street in Nashua. Tickets are now on sale at the Peacock Players Box Office by phone at (603) 886-7000, and on-line at www.peacockplayers.org.

In the palace woods outside of Athens, lovers confront the mysteries of romantic desire in one of Shakespeare’s most popu-lar comedic plays. Threatened with death if she marries against her father’s wishes, Her-mia elopes with her lover, Lysander, pursued by rival suitor Demetrius and his spurned admirer, Helena. In the enchanted woods, love’s lunacy reaches its giddiest heights – both for the bewildered mortal couples and for an aspiring actor transformed into the unlikely consort of a vengeful fairy queen.

Theseus, Duke of Athens, who has won a war against the Amazons and is now about to marry their queen, Hippolyta, is peti-tioned by Egeus, whose daughter, Hermia, is refusing to marry Demetrius – the suitor he favors – because she loves another, Lysand-er. When Theseus rules against Hermia, she and Lysander flee to the woods nearby. De-metirus follows – pursued in turn by Helena, whose love he spurns.

Meanwhile, a group of tradesmen gath-er in those same woods to rehearse a play they hope to perform at the wedding feast of Theseus and Hippolyta. But these are no ordinary woods: their inhabitants include Oberon and Titania, the quarreling king and queen of the fairies, whose interactions with their human visitors will entail some ex-traordinary transformations.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be di-rected by Broadway veteran performer and multi-award winning director Keith Weirich - who also proudly serves as Artistic Direc-tor for Peacock Players. The production will also receive assistant direction from Peacock Players alumni and Resident Artist, Andrea Underhill.

“Our production of Dream is beautifully unique,” says Weirich. “We have carefully chosen to set the action of the play within an actual wedding ceremony. To celebrate their friends’ wedding, a troupe of actors will present a backyard performance of A Mid-summer Night’s Dream.”

In addition, Weirich and company have also decided that the wedding ceremony specifically be a same-sex union. “We see a powerful connection between the text’s themes of forbidden love, wedding celebra-tions, and the tremendous ongoing transfor-mation of our society to one that embraces freedom of choice in love. We undeniably see a powerful and living connection between Shakespeare’s time and our own, embod-ied by those who have persevered against all odds to be with the ones they love.”

Weirich also adds, “We wanted to cele-brate this struggle and the play’s transfor-mative power of love. We also want to cele-brate an increasingly new normal – one that is normal for our young artists and their ide-als for our future.”

The cast of A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be led by Mac Galinson (of Amherst) as Demetrius, Elayna Gardner (of Milford) as Philostrate, and Delaney Kipp (of Mont Ver-non) as Cobweb. The rest of the ensemble is rounded out with New Hampshire’s most recognized and awarded theatre performers.

Please note that A Midsummer Night’s Dream is rated PG. Parental Guidance is suggested for extremely young children.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream perfor-mances are scheduled for Friday, February 13th @ 7pm; Saturday, February 14th @ 2pm & 7pm; Sunday, February 15th @ 2pm; Fri-day, February 20th @ 7pm; Saturday, Feb-ruary 21st @ 2pm & 7pm; and Sunday, Feb-ruary 22nd @ 2pm. Tickets are currently on sale. To purchase tickets, or for more infor-mation, please call the Box Office at (603) 886-7000 or visit www.peacockplayers.org.

Peacock Players. Proudly bringing color to life through Theatre and Education. www.peacockplayers.org

For thirty-nine years, Peacock Players has been proud to serve as New Hampshire’s premiere award-winning youth theatre. Pea-cock Players produces year round Mainstage productions, select performance troupes, and provides a full compliment of theatre arts classes, workshops, and summer camps.

The mission of Peacock Players is to cre-ate theatre that entertains, educates, and in-spires the community, and to offer theatre arts educational programs that encourage, enlighten, and challenge our students. Pea-cock Players, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)3 or-ganization.

The Jaffrey Civic Center is proud to announce an exhibit of oil paint-ings by Ann Cross in the first floor Display Cases from January 15 through through February 12. 

The majority of works are oil on canvas realistic landscapes, in which Ann specializes, and will be for sale. 

She began painting in 1976 and has become enthralled with ab-stract design within the parame-ters of composition and value.  She has studied with many instructors including Jean Pratt Fisher, Peter Granucci, Robert Collier, Richard Whitney, and Numael Pulido.

Her works have been shown in many places throughout the New

England states, and has received awards from Fitchburg Art Muse-um, Keene Art Shows, such as “Art in the Park”, Jaffrey Civic Center, and Miller Art Center in Spring-field, VT.

Ann was raised in Langdon, New Hampshire, left for a few years, re-turned and remained since 1973.

The Jaffrey Civic Center is locat-ed at 40 Main Street, Jaffrey, New Hampshire, next to Library, park-ing in rear. Hours are Tues: 10-6, Wed-Fri 1-5.  Admission is always free. For more information about us, call 603-532-6527, e-mail us at jaffreycntr@aol.com, find our web-site, www.jaffreyciviccenter.com, or “Like” us on Facebook.

Shown left to right are: Shannon Stirnweiss, of New Ipswich, NH, holding his Honorable Mention oil, ”Storm”, Jan Mercuri Grossman, of Amherst, NH, with her first place oil painting, “Red Sock”, and Michele Carter, of Jaffrey, NH with her second place acrylic painting, “Autumn Aspens”.

The show was held in two por-tions: Photography and Multi Me-dia, and ran from November 21 through December 20, 2014. The winners were determined by pub-lic voting and received awards from the Kana Riley Poetry and Artistic Fund.

The Jaffrey Civic Center is locat-ed at 40 Main Street, Jaffrey, New Hampshire (next to Library, park-

ing in rear.) Hours are Tues 10-6, Wed-Fri 1-5, Sat 10-2. Admission is always, free.  For more information about this and other shows, events and classes, please either call the Center at 603-532-6527, find us at our website, www.jaffreyciviccen-ter.com, or like us on Facebook.

Sunset by Brother Ralph Lebel

Photographers Forum Camera Club of Nashua will be exhibiting the works of members throughout the month of February at the Rod-gers Memorial Library in Hudson.

An artists’ reception will be held on Wednesday, Feb 4 from 6:00- 8:45. Come meet the artists and share in light refreshments.

Peacock Players, New Hampshire’s premiere award winning youth theatre, is proud to present the raucous love crazed Shakespeare comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream for two romantic weekends in February at the Janice B. Streeter Theater, located at 14 Court Street in Nashua. Tickets are now on sale at the Peacock Players Box Office by phone at (603) 886-7000, and online at www.peacockplayers.org.

Ann Cross on exhibit through February 12

10 • THE AMHERST CITIZEN • J A N U A R Y 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 • w w w . a m h e r s t c i t i z e n . c o m

Obituary

Keene State’s Redfern Arts Center Presents ‘Dogs Of Rwanda’

Next Installment of Pauley’s Beethoven ProjectFeatures Three Sonatas in the “Emperor’s Key”

New Hampshire Institute of Art Presents “Ross MacDonald, One-Man Show

Exhibition “Simultaneous Perspectives” Hargate Art Center at St. Paul’s School

CONCORD – On view January 9 - February 21 at the Hargate Art Center at St. Paul’s School, 325 Pleasant St, Concord, NH, the exhibition Simultaneous Perspectives, featuring the sculptures, paintings and digital works of Concord’s Thomas Devaney.

Simultaneous Perspectives is an exhibition of Thomas Devaney’s works created by utilizing a variety of traditional methods and modern techniques. Devaney’s work is influenced by love, zealotry, capitalism, and religion and conveys some of the struggles faced in culture and society. Join the artist and the SPS Community for an opening reception on Friday, January 9th from 6-8 pm. Always free admission. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Satur-day, 9:00 am - 4:00 pm.

Poems: In a Larger Frame

Call For Entries – Annual Spring Show

Let The Good Times Roll At The Jaffrey Civic Center

Redfern Arts Center Continues 2015 Season Celebrating Risk, Thrill And Public Participation

The Redfern Arts Center at Keene State College will present the riveting one-person play Dogs of Rwanda written and performed by Sean Christo-pher Lewis, February 11, at 7:30 p.m. in the Alumni Recital Hall. Musician Michael Finley will perform his original compositions to accompany this intimate performance about human perseverance and forgiveness.

The works of illustrator, artist and prop designer Ross MacDonald will be on display now through February 21.

MANCHESTER – The New Hampshire Institute of Art wel-comes the work of illustrator, artist and prop designer Ross MacDon-ald, which will be on display at the Institute’s French Building Gallery at 148 Concord Street now through February 21, 2015.

MacDonald’s illustrations have appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair. He has written and il-lustrated several children’s books including Henry’s Hand (Abrams, 2013), and co-wrote (with James Victore) and illustrated the adult book In and Out with Dick and Jane, a Loving Parody (Abrams, 2011).

His illustration and prop design for stage, television and movies appear in HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, Cin-emax’s The Knick, Seabiscuit and Van Helsing, among others. He also works as a consultant on historical design, paper, printing and writing instruments.

To learn more about MacDonald and view examples of his wide range of work, visit ross-macdonald.com. For more information about Ross MacDonald, ONE-MAN SHOW: Illustration, Letterpress & Prop De-sign, please visit nhia.edu.

There is no cost to attend the ex-hibition, which is open to all.

JAFFREY – The Visual Poetry Collective will present an exhibit of poems and art on display in the first floor Auditorium Gallery of the Jaffrey Civic Center. The show will run January 9th through February 7, and a poetry reading of the fea-tured work on Friday, January 23rd at 7p.m.

This idea is not new, of course. Poems as public art have been find-ing their way onto the sides of bus-es, subway walls, parks, and closer to home, have appeared in windows in the Monadnock region when shops and cafes displayed poems by New Hampshire poets as part of the Keene Literary Festival, Sept, 2012.

The six members of the Visu-al Poetry Collective, (Candace Bergstrom, Stoddard; Alice Fo-gel, Acworth; Kate Gleason, Keene; Rodger Martin, Hancock; Patrice Pinette, Wilton; and Becky Sakel-lariou, Peterborough) have taken a further step by pairing their po-ems with visual arts such as pastels, photographs, paintings, pen and ink, collage, graphite, and assem-blage.

The poets reflect on their works-in-progress: Kate Gleason describes her interest in braided poems that “weave together the strands of many different topics in an attempt to cre-ate a simultaneous sense of frag-mentation and wholeness, multi-plicity and oneness, reflective of the contradictory nature of our post-modern times.” Her poem for the exhibit, “After My Father Died in His Hospital Room” is a long med-itation that includes such diverse topics as her father’s death, Darwin, human genetics, “opera-bots” (op-era-singing robots), and dying lan-guages. Her assemblages, inspired by Joseph Cornell’s boxes, are a nat-ural choice for a medium to com-plement her poem. “Each assem-blage is a small Orphic quest to put the lost and scattered beauty of the world back together, the fragments hinting toward what Charles Simic called ‘an unutterable whole.’”

“When I was invited to partici-pate in this ‘visual poetry’ project,” Alice Fogel adds, “I was thrilled, partly because of the company I’d be in, and partly because the theme

of it fits right in to what I’ve been doing this past year. I’ve been writ-ing what I think of as abstract ex-pressionist poems. Each one is based on a specific piece of Ab-stract Expressionist art. Although I might include a reference to a col-or or texture or other feature, the poems don’t describe the paintings that inspire them, but are more a kind of response to their emotional or material tones as I perceive them. Mostly, these poems strive to mim-ic what happens when we are (or at least I am) in the presence of ex-pressionist art. In this sense, the po-ems are about consciousness.” Alice asks herself, and therefore her read-ers and viewers, “Can language put us in that realm of pure experience, however unsettling, inexplicable or thrilling, that abstract art does?”

In some cases artwork has in-spired the poems, and in others, the poem has prompted the artwork, as for example, with Rodger Martin’s pieces. Chad Gowey’s pen and ink creations were inspired by the his-torical poems of Martin, and then elaborated by his own vision. “His-tory means little if we cannot make that metaphorical leap which gives it value to a contemporary, makes it relevant and personal,” Martin says about the content of both art and text.

Becky Sakellariou, who discov-ered subtle and otherwise hidden elements when pairing her poems and photographs, spoke of this link as a marriage between words and images. She refers to the creative process, as well as the power of the blended art form, to add an element of surprise, and to change the way we read when she says, “The expe-rience of the poem will be exponen-tially expanded and something very different and unexpected will hap-pen–to all of us because of this.”

The Jaffrey Civic Center is locat-ed at 40 Main Street, Jaffrey, New Hampshire, next to Library, park-ing in rear. Hours are Tues: 10-6, Wed-Fri 1-5. Admission is always free. For more information about us, call 532-6527, e-mail us at jaf-freycntr@aol.com, find our web-site, www.jaffreyciviccenter.Com, Or “Like” Us On Facebook.

KEENE – The Redfern Arts Cen-ter at Keene State College will pres-ent the riveting one-person play Dogs of Rwanda written and per-formed by Sean Christopher Lewis on Wednesday, February 11, at 7:30 p.m. in the Alumni Recital Hall. Musician Michael Finley on gui-tar, synthesizer, and percussion will perform his original compositions to accompany this intimate perfor-mance about human perseverance and forgiveness.

Tickets range from $20 to $15 de-pending on seating and $5 for KSC students. For tickets, contact the Redfern Box Office, which is open Monday to Friday, from noon to 6 p.m., call 603-358-2168 or order on-line at www.keene.edu/racbp. See a video clip and more information about Dogs of Rwanda and the free activities surrounding this perfor-mance at www.keene.edu/racbp.

Based on interviews Iowa City playwright and actor Sean Chris-topher Lewis did in Uganda, Dogs of Rwanda focuses on David, a man who cannot forget his heartrend-ing experiences in that war-torn African country in the 1990s. At 16 years of age David found him-self in Uganda as a church mis-sionary. When he follows the girl of his dreams into the woods to help a Rwandan boy, he enters a horri-ble world from which he will nev-er fully be able to escape. On the 20th anniversary of the genocide he witnessed firsthand, a book Da-vid wrote regarding his experiences

arrives with a note from the Rwan-dan boy he once tried to save. “You didn’t tell them everything,” it says. This play completes the story as Da-vid tells of his experiences talking as if a friend in your living room fol-lowing dinner.

Sean Christopher Lewis is the Artistic Director of Working Group Theatre the recent winner of the 2013 Rick Graf Award from the Hu-man Rights Commission. His previ-ous monologues and plays have won the Kennedy Center’s Rosa Parks Award, the National New Play Net-work Smith Prize, the NEA Voic-es in Community Award, the Bar-rymore Award, the Central Ohio Critic Circle Award, and more. His plays have been performed at ma-jor theaters, colleges, prisons, de-tention centers and living rooms in the United States, Canada, East Af-rica and Europe. He can be heard as a contributor to NPR’S This Amer-ican Life and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Huffington Post, and numerous literary jour-nals.

Michael Finley, a multi-instru-mentalist, is self-trained and profi-cient in musical styles from jazz to hip hop and metal. In addition to Dogs of Rwanda, his composition work has been featured in the new play premiere of Jennifer Fawcett’s After Ana (Englert Theatre’s In The Raw Series). His scoring for film can be heard in the short film Sad Dad from WG Pictures and the upcom-ing horror feature The Janitor.

KEENE– Redfern Arts Center at Keene State College returns this February to offer an exciting spring season of multidisciplinary live per-formance that explores a range of relevant themes such as love, liber-ation and civil rights, human perse-verance, the grand spectacle of his-tory, the joy of family music, and the awe-inspiring wonder of evolution.

The Redfern’s diverse spring sea-son comprises six performances.• Voice: If Music Be the Food

of Love with Special Guests, Wednesday February 4, 7:30 p.m. in the Main Theatre, tickets $5-$25. Celebrate the coming of Valentine’s Day with the wonder-ful British ensemble Voice.

• Dogs of Rwanda by Sean Christo-pher Lewis, Wednesday, February 11, 7:30 p.m. in the Alumni Recital Hall, tickets $5-$20.

• The Grand Parade (of the 20th Century) created by Double Edge Theatre, Wednesday, February 18, 7 p.m. in the Main Theatre, tickets $5-$35. The Grand Parade depicts major events of the 20th century in a theatrical style inspired by Marc Chagall’s kaleidoscopic vision of human-ity at play, at war, and at rest. (Recommended for children ages 10 and up.)

• Vanessa Trien and the Jumping Monkeys, Saturday, February 28, 11 a.m. in the Alumni Recital Hall, all tickets $5. The Redfern’s family show is back! Boston based singer-songwriter and chil-dren’s performer Vanessa Trien and her lively band, the Jumping Monkeys, have become local rock stars among the young and young at heart.

• Nevabawarldapece created and performed by Robert Moses’ Kin dance company, Wednesday, March 25, 7:30 p.m. in the Main Theatre, tickets $5-$25.

• This World Made Itself created and performed by Miwa Ma-treyek, Wednesday, April 8, 7:30 p.m. in the Alumni Recital Hall, tickets $5-$20. This World Made Itself combines projected anima-tion and the artist’s own shadow silhouette as she interacts with the fantastical world of the vid-eo.

To find out more about these per-formances and free activities sur-rounding each event, check out the information and video clips on the Redfern’s website: www.keene.edu/racbp. For tickets, call the Box Of-fice at 358-2168, or order online at www.keene.edu/racbp.

”Laissez les bons temps rouler!” The Jaffrey Civic Center invites you to a Mardi Gras fundraising eve-ning & dinner on Saturday, Febru-ary 14, from 6 - 9:30 pm in the first floor Auditorium Gallery at the Center.

Spice up your Valentine’s Day!Enter a glittering world of beads,

balloons and brightly colored masks or bring your own! Let your taste buds savor a New Orleans in-spired buffet dinner followed by a peak into the intimate life of Anne Hathaway’s marriage to William Shakespeare in a staged reading by Project Shakespeare and top off the evening with a decadent dessert ac-

companied by light jazz music. And who will win the coveted Mardi Gras prize?

You will have to pop a balloon to find out!

Tickets may be purchased from the Civic Center at $40 per person (limited seating). All reservations must be made by Tuesday, Febru-ary 10.

All are welcome! Call the Center at 532-6527 to reserve and purchase tickets or for more information. The Jaffrey Civic Center is located at 40 Main Street, Jaffrey, NH, next to Li-brary, parking in rear. Information: 532-6527, e-mail: jaffreycntr@aol.com, www.jaffreyciviccenter.com.

JAFFREY – The show will run from Friday, February 13 through Saturday March 14, 2015. This first show of the season in the second floor Cunningham Gallery and first floor Auditorium Gallery will start with an opening on Friday, Feb 13 from 5-7 pm.

If you are interested in submit-ting your work, please note:

Each artist may submit two piec-es in any medium, and 2 shrink-wrapped, matted pieces of art for the floor portfolio. The entry fee is $25 per person.

The sales commission is 30%.You may bring your artwork to

the Center beginning Tues. Febru-ary 3 through Sat. Feb. 7. After the exhibit, your work should be picked up from Tuesday, March 17 through Saturday, March 21. Please mark this on your calendar.

Forms and more information are available at the Center. 532-6527, and on our website, www.jaffreyciv-iccenter.com.  

We are open Tues: 10-6, Wed.-Fri: 1-5 and Sat 10-2.  Admission is always FREE.

Vanessa Trien Band

CONCORD — Pianist Gregg Pauley presents the fifth of nine concerts in his Beethoven Project at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, January 30 at the Concord Community Music School Recital Hall, 23 Wall Street in downtown Concord.

Pauley’s January 30 concert will highlight the color and quality of one of Beethoven’s most famous keys—the key of three flats, which includes E-flat major and C minor. Pauley will feature three of Beetho-ven’s sonatas composed in these keys.

Composers often gravitate to-ward specific keys to communicate particular ideas or emotive quali-

ties. Many of Beethoven’s most im-portant works were written in the key of three flats, including six of his 32 Piano Sonatas (four in E-flat major and two in C minor) and his piano concerto No. 5, known as the “Emperor.”

Gregg Pauley’s Beethoven Project began in 2013, when Pauley set out to perform what he calls “the Ever-est of piano literature”—the com-plete cycle of the Beethoven’s piano sonatas—in three years.

Admission $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors. To purchase tickets, please visit www.greggpauley.com. More informa-tion at 603-228-1196.

Arts & Entertainment

w w w . a m h e r s t c i t i z e n . c o m • J A N U A R Y 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 • THE AMHERST CITIZEN • 11

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The February 13th performance will include vocal charts popular-ized by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Diane Schuur, Natalie Cole, Joan-ie Sommers, Queen Latifah, and more, plus instrumental selections

from the books of Gordon Good-win’s Big Phat Band and the bands of Buddy Rich, Maynard Ferguson, John Clayton, Count Basie and oth-ers.

The CBB will be joined by jazz en-sembles from Souhegan HS, Wood-bury MS and Alvirne HS. Gener-al Admission at the door is $10.00. Doors will open at 6:30pm. For more information about The Compaq Big Band, go to www.compaqbigband.com . For event information, please contact Carl Benevides at cbenevi-des@sprise.com.

Putting on a play takes more than the magic of pixie dust! The Crew of AMS Theater Club is hard at work preparing for Disney’s Peter Pan Jr. Teams are creating costumes and props, painting set pieces, designing hairstyles, writing articles and printing posters, taking photos, and preparing their Market-place. In the coming weeks, the technical aspects of sound, lights and stage crew will be added when those crews start practicing their “roles”. Come to a performance on March 12th, 13th or 14th and be amazed at how these talented students transport you to Neverland! Tickets are $5 and will be available for purchase starting January 31st at The Black Forest, The Homestead and the AMS Main Office.

William Hunter of Amherst, a 4th grader at Applewild School in Fitchburg, is a finalist in the school’s round of the National Geographic Bee contest. The top scorer from the school will take a qualifying exam to be eligible for the Massachusetts State bee to be held in Worcester in March. The National finals will be in Washington, DC in May.

Amherst Middle School Announces Geography Bee Winners

Amherst Middle School Spelling Bee Winners and Finalists

The AMS school wide spelling bee was held last week. Our cham-pion was seventh grader Riley Mu-larien, and our runner up was fifth grader, Miles Lim. The bee went 12 rounds and the winning word was circumflex.

We are very proud of all of our participants and wish Riley the best as she moves on to the NH State Spelling Bee in February.

Students represented their grade in the spelling bee were:Grade 5 – Jack Dermody, Miles Lim, and Kayli PikeGrade 6 – Anna Goyette, Austin Pollio, and Erika RoldanGrade 7 – Claire Dudek, Caroline Lamar, and Riley MularienGrade 8 – Seth Facey, Alana Hoskins, and Abigail Kirk

Debbie Hinrichs, Social Studies Curriculum coordinator, Abby Kirk and Andrew Taylor.

On Friday, January 9th the Am-herst Middle School conducted their annual school wide geography bee finals. 28 students representing grades 5-8 had qualified to be in the finals after answering 7 rounds of preliminary questions on team.

During the school wide finals, in-dividual and whole room questions were asked as the finals rounds continued for over an hour in the Amherst Middle School Cafete-ria. In the end, it came down to a multiple round battle between 5 students battling for a spot in the championship round. Ultimate-

ly, the two finalists were Andrew Taylor of grade 7 and Abby Kirk of grade 8. The championship ques-tions were asked and each finalist was asked to answer each question on a paper in front of them. Abby Kirk became the school wide cham-pion after correctly answering 2 out of the 3 championship round questions. Abby will now prepare to take a written exam to see if her score will be high enough to qualify her to compete in the NH Statewide competition in March held at Keene state college.

AMS Spelling Bee Champion, Riley Mularien, grade 7 and Spelling Bee Run-ner Up, Miles Lim, grade 5

Amherst Middle School student finalists in the “Bee”

AMS Play, “Peter Pan, Jr.” Performances – March 12-14

u Compaq Big Band Returns to Souhegan High School For Jazz Night #2 from page 1

12 • THE AMHERST CITIZEN • J A N U A R Y 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 • w w w . a m h e r s t c i t i z e n . c o m

Notice to the Citizens of Amherst, NH FILING DATES FOR AMHERST SCHOOL DISTRICT OFFICES:

Wednesday, January 21, 2015 through Friday, January 30, 2015 no later than 5:00 pm

School District Officer to be elected March 10, 2015: For three years: One School Board Member If you are a candidate or seek reelection, you must file a declaration of candidacy with the school district clerk.

Catherine Jo Butler Amherst School District Clerk 673-1925

LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE

Notice to the Citizens of Amherst and Mont Vernon, NH FILING DATES FOR SOUHEGAN COOPERATIVE

SCHOOL DISTRICT OFFICES:Wednesday, January 21, 2015 through Friday, January 30, 2015

no later than 5:00 pm

School District Officer to be elected March 10, 2015:

For three years: One School Board Member (Amherst)

If you are a candidate or seek reelection, you must file a declaration of candidacy with the school district clerk.

Catherine Jo Butler Souhegan Cooperative School District Clerk 673-1925

LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE

80s Night! Saturday February 7, 2015

8pm-Midnight Amherst Country Club

72 Ponemah Road, Amherst, NH 03031

$20 per ticket *21+ ONLY

Come decked out in all your 80s gear to dance the night away at

this funky PTSA Scholarship fundraiser!

Tickets available at Moultons and The

Homestead (Checks Preferred) Go to www.http://www.sau39.org/shs

School News

AMHERST SCHOOL DISTRICT PUBLIC NOTICE

The Amherst School Board will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, January 14, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. at Souhegan High School to consider the FY16 Amherst School District budget and other warrant articles. (Snow Date: January 16, 2015 at 7:00 p.m.) The Deliberative Session of the Amherst School District will be held on Tuesday, February 3, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. at Souhegan High School. Voting for School District Officers and warrant articles will be held on Tuesday, March 10, 2015, at Souhegan High School from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE

AMHERST SCHOOL DISTRICT PUBLIC NOTICE

The Amherst School Board will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, January 14, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. at Souhegan High School to consider the FY16 Amherst School District budget and other warrant articles. (Snow Date: January 16, 2015 at 7:00 p.m.) The Deliberative Session of the Amherst School District will be held on Tuesday, February 3, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. at Souhegan High School. Voting for School District Officers and warrant articles will be held on Tuesday, March 10, 2015, at Souhegan High School from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

SOUHEGAN COOPERATIVE SCHOOL DISTRICT PUBLIC NOTICE

The Souhegan Cooperative School Board will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, January 14, 2015, at 6:00 p.m. at Souhegan High School to consider the FY16 Souhegan Cooperative School District budget and other warrant articles. (Snow Date: January 16, 2015 at 6:00 p.m.) The Deliberative Session of the Souhegan Cooperative School District will be held on Monday, February 2, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. at Souhegan High School. Voting for School District Officers and warrant articles will be held on Tuesday, March 10, 2015, at the following locations: Amherst Voters-Souhegan High School, 6:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. Mont Vernon Voters-Mont Vernon Village School, 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.

LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE

SOUHEGAN COOPERATIVE SCHOOL DISTRICT PUBLIC NOTICE

The Souhegan Cooperative School Board will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, January 14, 2015, at 6:00 p.m. at Souhegan High School to consider the FY16 Souhegan Cooperative School District budget and other warrant articles. (Snow Date: January 16, 2015 at 6:00 p.m.) The Deliberative Session of the Souhegan Cooperative School District will be held on Monday, February 2, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. at Souhegan High School. Voting for School District Officers and warrant articles will be held on Tuesday, March 10, 2015, at the following locations: Amherst Voters-Souhegan High School, 6:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. Mont Vernon Voters-Mont Vernon Village School, 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.

Pops Concert at SHS

Community/Family Climbing Continues at SHS Monday Evenings, 6:30–8:30pm

Local College Scholarships AvailableThe Souhegan Scholarship Foundation is pleased to announce

that its scholarship applications are posted for the 2015 scholar-ship year. In addition to our Memorial Scholarships, we have post-ed scholarships for Arts & Humanities, Business, Career & Tech-nical, and STEM categories.

The SSF college scholarships are available to any high school se-nior who is a resident of Amherst or Mont Vernon, NH, regardless of school attended, including public, private, and home school stu-dents. To date, the SSF has given more than $105,000 in scholar-ships.

Please visit our website, www.souheganscholarshipfoundation.org, for more information and to download the applications.

All applications are due by March 16, 2015. Scholarships will be announced in mid May.

An Evening of Poetry and MusicWith a little tense competition thrown in – what could be better?

Amherst PTA to Host Annual Family Math & Science Night Featuring Superhero Science!

Annual Blood Drive at SHS a Success! Nashua Catholic Junior High Open House

Souhegan’s Community Council: Not Your Grandmother’s CouncilBY SALLY VARANKA

The lasting impact of one Council member’s experience with leadership

Souhegan’s Community Council does not follow the model of “stu-dent council” that many adults ex-perienced or that may be operating in other high schools today. At the founding of Souhegan High School in 1985, Community Council was charged with providing leadership for the school’s day-to-day activities and direction to its future.

The membership of Communi-ty Council reflects its mission to include all members of the school community – students, faculty and staff, administrators, as well as school board and community mem-bers. Each class elects five students to total twenty student represen-tatives on Council. Ten additional students also serve, having run for “at large” positions open to any stu-dent. Faculty and staff elect ten rep-resentatives, two of which serve as the Community Council Advisors. The administration is represent-ed by the Dean of Faculty, and the School Board by one of its members. Five volunteers from the communi-ty also serve. The entire body meets each Monday, mostly after school for 45 minutes, but also one eve-ning per month for two hours. This schedule accommodates the sched-ules of Council’s diverse mem-bership and the hefty agenda with which it is charged. Great value is placed on hearing all voices when proposals come before the Council.

The experience can be life-chang-ing for the members, particular-ly students. Robert “Bobby” Gra-ham, SHS class of 2012, was part of Community Council for two and half years as a class representa-tive and an additional year, as a se-nior, as Community Council Clerk and Executive Board member. He is currently a junior at Keene State College and KSC Student Body President.

Graham’s most memorable Com-munity Council experience oc-curred in his senior year with brain-storming, researching, writing and presenting a Decile Proposal. SHS seniors including Bobby and others

on Council had revisited the issue of class rank and the non-weighting of grades at SHS. A SHS senior’s class rank was formulated with-out weighting grades for advanced courses; during the college applica-tion process they competed against students from other schools whose class rank was boosted by weight-ed grades. SHS students learned through discussion with SHS Stu-dent Services that colleges had dif-ficulty dealing with the differing strategies used to determine class rank of their applicants. Further-more, SHS Student Services noted that some respected high schools had eliminated class rank. Ja-cob Rettig, Scott Doyle, Alexander Kempf and others including Gra-ham began to research a proposal to eliminate class rank at SHS, calling colleges from “Harvard to NCC” about how they dealt with class rank as part of the application pro-cess. The SHS students brought the issue before Council, proposing the elimination of class ranking at SHS.

There was immediate and vocal negative reaction in the communi-ty, particularly parents of SHS Stu-dents. The debate in Council was intense, but ultimately the Decile Proposal was passed by the Com-munity Council and the Souhe-gan School Board. The experience with controversy and confrontation would serve Bobby well in his next experience with student govern-ment, this time on the college level.

But the route to student govern-ment at Keene State was not direct, the student government at KSC was increasingly fractured and experi-encing a crisis in leadership. Bob-by’s voice, when he contributed, seemed experienced. Finally, as a second semester sophomore he was challenged to run for Student Body President. “Had I not spent time on Community Council at Souhegan, I would never have abandoned base-ball and run for Student Body Pres-ident.” He won, and as a junior as-sumed the role in what would prove to be a healing year for student gov-ernment but difficult year for the college and community.

The riots at the Pumpkin Festival last October cast KSC in a negative light. Bobby, as Student Body Pres-ident, led a group of student leaders

to visit businesses on Main Street to offer apologies and their assistance. They visited the fire and police de-partments to offer their thanks. Firemen, policemen and EMTs were invited to dinner at the KSC Dining Commons and the event proved to a large success. Bobby stepped up to speak with media covering the fallout from the riots. Bobby said, “I was able to calmly deal with the an-gry community members and knew how to address some of the hard-er questions since my experiences with decile proposal discussions at SHS.”

Bobby Graham will run for Stu-dent Body President at the end of this school year, hopefully to serve a second term during his senior year. The KSC student government has already undertaken the writing of a

mission statement and plans to in-corporate it across campus, so that every student can identify and fur-ther it; it is a natural process for an SHS alum, agreed Bobby, as much time and effort at SHS is spent iden-tifying the “essential question” and “reflecting” on answers and practic-es.

A career in politics is not out of the question. Part of Bobby’s drive is the advice he received from Souhegan teacher and then advisor to Community Council Kevin Proc-tor, who shook Bobby’s hand at his high school graduation and said, “Keep fighting the good fight, you are good at it.” Those words have been Bobby’s “compass through my trials and tribulations throughout my time in college.”

The Amherst PTA Family Math & Science Night is bound to be a hit with the kids! This year’s theme is “Superhero Science.” Students in grades Kindergarten through Grade 5 are encouraged to attend the event with their families. We hope to see you between 6:30 and 8:30pm on Monday, February 9 in the Multipurpose Room at Wilkins. This is a Monday before a late start.

If you are curious why spiders don’t get caught in their own webs, then you should check out the Spi-derman station. Learn how to send and decode secret messages among your Superhero friends! Design Su-perman’s best cape and help Aqua-man identify which undersea crea-ture is talking to him. Create your own Cyborg robotic hand or test your strength with the Hulk.

Brilliant industrialist Tony Stark (Iron Man) is a great inventor. There will be a special appearance by some amazing local inventors. The Mont Vernon First Robotics Team that created Pickup Patrol will be on hand to answer questions.

Are you curious about Wolver-ine’s claws? PMEC will be bring-ing native NH mammal furs, skulls and claws for the public to see and touch to learn about these import-ant creatures. Some pieces will in-clude skunk, fox, coyote and even a black bear! Be sure to visit PMEC to

see more of their collection.Come and check out amazing

artwork created by AMS students! AMS students were asked to de-sign the posters for each Superhe-ro station. Help us to judge their artwork by voting for your favorite. The Grand Prize winner will be an-nounced at the end of the event and at AMS the following day.

In conjunction with the event, Girl Scouts from Troop 22171 are sponsoring a charity coat drive: “Be a Superhero! Donate your gently used cape to someone in need.” All donations will go to the Salvation Army. There will be a donation box at Wilkins on the night of the event through Friday, February 13.

Don’t forget to wear your favor-ite Superhero T-shirt or costume! We will also tally attendees’ prefer-ence on which Superhero they like the most. Will it be Magneto, Flash, or Elastigirl (Mrs. Incredible)? How about GoGo Tomago or another Big Hero 6 Superhero? Make sure you vote and help to graph the results.

An adult must accompany each student.

Please contact Francine Brown at francinebbrown@gmail.com for volunteer information or for gener-al information on this year’s event. Come join us and watch your child’s interest in math and science soar!!!

If you have never experienced the power and joy of a live poet-ry recitation, then you are in for a treat. Come hear an old favorite or discover a new one as the top rec-itations from a field of nearly 500 students recite poems at Souhegan High School on the evening of Feb-ruary 5th. It is an impressive night that celebrates the diversity found among the best published poems spoken in the fresh and distinct voice of each high school student

competing in this year’s Poetry Out Loud national recitation competi-tion. Vying for tens of thousands of dollars in college scholarships, the program delivers an entertain-ing mix of culture and competition. Join us on Feb. 5th, at 7:00 pm in the Souhegan High School theater. Live music and refreshments; free and open to the public – a wonderful way to warm up on a cold winter’s night.

Come climb with us on Souhegan High School’s indoor rock climbing wall. Ages 5 and up are welcome. Climbers will have the opportuni-ty to push themselves and support others as they do so. All equipment will be supplied. No prior experi-ence is required.

The sessions will be led by John Dowd, founding Souhegan HS fac-

ulty member and senior climb-ing instructor at the Hurricane Is-land Outward Bound School. Fee is $5.00 pp. or $20.00 per family. All proceeds will benefit the 2015 SHS Wintercession Joshua Tree Climb-ing Trip. If you have questions, please contact John Dowd: jdowd@sprise.com.

Souhegan High School is proud to present its annual midwinter Pops Concert on Wednesday eve-ning, February 11, at 7pm. The pub-lic is invited and there is no admis-sion fee. The event will feature the SHS Concert Band, Handbell En-semble, Acapella Singers and Con-

cert Choir. All will perform light-er selections of concert literature and “Pops” style music. The concert will also preview selections that the Band and Choir will perform during their trip to Disney World later in February.

The National Honor Society at Souhegan HS hosted an American Red Cross Blood Drive at the school on Friday, January 16. ARC staff were greeted by the SHS custodi-ans and NHS members at 6am as they arrived to transform the gym into a donor site. All was ready by 8am. Throughout the day, 22 NHS members greeted over 80 potential donors from the school and wid-er community. The NHS members assisted donors at registration, in moving from station to station and finally recovering with snacks and drink at the canteen. Staff report-ed that five donors were first tim-ers! 63 pints of blood were collect-ed. Four donors were able to make “double red” donations. A double red donation is one in which two

pints of blood are taken and the red blood cells are separated from the plasma and platelets. The plasma and platelets with some saline solu-tion is continuously sent back into the donor during the process of his donation. It is no more taxing a pro-cess for the donor than a regular do-nation. A double red donation max-imizes the most used portion of the blood, the red blood cells, for trans-fusions, so that the single donation goes farther.

By 2pm, donors had been served, ARC staff and NHS members began to pack up, and athletic team prac-tices reclaimed the gym. The SHS National Honor Society/American Red Cross Blood Drive is an annu-al event each January so mark your calendars for 2016!

Nashua - Nashua Catholic Re-gional Jr. High School will hold an Open House Tuesday, February 3 for prospective parents and stu-dents, beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the school’s gymnasium at 6 Bartlett Avenue in Nashua. The program begins with a presentation followed by self-guided and student-led tours providing families a chance to ex-plore the facilities, learn more about the programs, and chat with faculty and staff.

Nashua Catholic Regional Junior High School offers an outstanding education based on a solid curric-ulum rooted in the Catholic faith. Nashua Catholic recognizes out-standing achievement through membership in the National Ju-

nior Honor Society. Accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Nashua Cath-olic follows diocesan guidelines and surpasses state curriculum stan-dards. Interscholastic athletics pro-vide a wide variety of opportunity for our student athletes. A broad spectrum of extra-curricular ac-tivities includes clubs from drama to chess, Math Counts to writing, service to Minecraft. A vibrant and exciting Christ-centered school, Nashua Catholic exceeds expecta-tions every day. For more informa-tion, please contact the Admission Office at 882-7011 or learn more by visiting the school’s website at www.ncrjhs.org.

80’s Night Dance To Benefit PTSA Scholarship FundThe Souhegan High School Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) is hosting an 80’s

Night Dance at the Amherst Country Club on Saturday February 7th, 2015! It starts at 8:00 p.m and goes to 12 a.m. This “ totally tubular” night is going to be fun “to the max”! All proceeds go to the SHS PTSA Scholarship Fund. The SHS PTSA awards two scholarships of $500 each year. The scholarships are awarded to those students who have excelled in the area of Community Service. We are hoping to be able to provide at least one addition-al, if not two, scholarships this year! Tickets are $20 each and are on sale now at Moulton’s and The Homestead (*checks are appreciated). So those of you aged 21 and up--this event won’t “gag you with a spoon”. Come listen to great 80’s music, indulge a little at the cash bar, and support a fantastic cause! You can also get details at the SHS website: http://www.sau39.org/Domain/8 We hope to see you there!

Robert “Bobby” Graham, SHS class of 2012, was part of Community Council for 2-1/2 years as a class representative and an additional year, as a senior, as Community Council Clerk and Executive Board member. He is currently a junior at Keene State College and KSC Student Body President.

w w w . a m h e r s t c i t i z e n . c o m • J A N U A R Y 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 • THE AMHERST CITIZEN • 13

First Baptist Church of Amherst25 1/2 Middle StreetPastor: Mike SaccoChurch Office: 673-4063Website: www.amherstfirstbaptist.com

Sunday Morning Worship 10:00 a.mFor the childrenNursery: to age 3; Super Church: ages 4 thru grade 4; Puppet Ministry: grades 5 through 7

Congregational Church of Am-herst UCC

11 Church StreetSenior Pastor Richard LeavittAssociate Pastor Maureen FrescottChurch office: 673-3231Web site: www.ccamherst.org

The church is located at 11 Church Street in Amherst Village. For more in-formation, go to ccamherst.org or call the church office at 673-3231.

Christ’s Church of Amherst58 Merrimack RoadAmherst673-8292www.ccnh.orgPastor Darin Shaw

Sunday Morning Worship 10:30 a.m. with Nursery Care up to age 3 years and Children’s program 3 years to grade 5.

Messiah Lutheran Church Rev. Tom Teichmann, Pastor 303 Route 101 PO Box 488 Amherst, 673-2011 (office) 673-7707 (meeting and fax)

messiahnh@comcast.net

Worship 9:30 am Sunday School (Sept-May) 10:45 am

St Luke Anglican Church St. Lukes Anglican Church3 Limbo Lane, AmherstRev. Dr. Alexander H. WebbChurch office: 672-6054Website: www.st-luke,amherst.nh.us

All welcome and invited to attend Sun-day Worship and Celebration of Holy Eu-charist using the Traditional 1928 Book of Common Prayer weekly at 8:30 and 10:00 AM

Church School at 10:00 AMRefreshment & fellowship following the

service.Weekly Bible Studies:Tuesday Evening Soup & Study,

5;45~7:00PMSaturday Morning 11:00 AM ~ Noon.

Amherst Christian ChurchCorner of Patricia at 134 Hollis Rd. Am-herstPhone: 672-1541Sunday Discipleship classes 9-10Children’s class (Grades 1-6) 10-10:30Worship Service 10:30Children’s church for pre-schoolers during serviceChildcare provided for infants

St Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church

Craftsman Lane, AmherstPastor Peter Korthals821-9891pastor@stpaul-amherst.org

St. Paul Ev. Lutheran Church welcomes you to join us each Sunday for our worship

service. Our Sunday Service begins at 9:30 a.m. with our Sunday School at 10:55 and adult Bible study at 11:00. Nursery service is available. Please be our guest as we celebrate the Lord and all he has done for us. Pastor Peter Korthals 821-9891 pastor@stpaul-amherst.org

Church of Our Saviour, Episcopal 10 Amherst StreetMilfordPhone: 673-3309E-mail: office@coosmilford.orgWebsite: www.coosmilford.orgInterim Rector: Rev. Hays Junkin

Sundays – 8 a.m. Holy Eucharist - 10 a.m. Choral Eucharist

Wednesdays – 11:30 a.m. Lectionary and Lunch

Eucharist followed by bring-your-own-lunch (coffee provided) and a discussion of the week’s lessons.

We strive to live the message of Christ, in which all are welcome.

Mont Vernon Congregational Church

United Church of Christ4 South Main StreetMont VernonChurch Office: 673-3500 (open Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.Web site: www.montvernonchurch.orgE-mail: montvernonchurch@montvernon-church.org

Pastor: Rev. Judie Bryant – office hours Tuesday and Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., or at other times by appointment.

Join us for Sunday Worship at 10:30 a.m. Sunday School is available for chil-dren aged 6 and old. Child Care provid-ed for children under 6. All are invited to

coffee hour in the Round Room following worship.

House of Prayer every Wednesday from 6:30 to 7 p.m. – everyone is welcome.

Saint Patrick Catholic Communi-

ty of MilfordWebsite: www.ccnh.org Phone: 673-1311Website: saintpatrickmilfordnh.org

First Church Of Christ, Scientist103 South St., MilfordSunday Service: 10:30 a.m. Sunday School: 10:30 a.m.Wednesday Meeting: 8 p.m.- Child care available.

Christian Science Reading Room87 Union Square, Milford Mon. through Fri. 11a.m. - 3 p.m.Sat. 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Wed. 7 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.First Sun. of the Month 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.Telephone – 673-5274Email – readingroom@csmilfordnh.orgWebsite – www.csmilfordnh.org

Unitarian Universalist Congrega-tion

20 Elm St.MilfordRev. Barbara McKusick Liscord, minister.Johanna Seale, Director of Lifespan Reli-gious Educationwww.uucm.org or call 673-1870.

Office HoursTues 10:30-5, Wed & Thu 1-5 and Fri

10:30-2:30UUCM is a liberal religious community

and a voice for social justice drawn from diverse traditions. Rev. Barbara McKusick

Liscord, Minister; Cyn Fennelly, Director of Lifespan Religious Education. Sunday services begin at 10:30 AM. Childcare (in-fant to two years) and children’s program-ming is available. Fellowship hour follows each service at 11:45 AM.

Worship Service −February 1, 2015 The World According to Joe

Joe PollockAll about blindness, music, and listen-

ing. Bring your ears.The community dinner every 3rd

Wednesday from 5:30-6:30pm is free and open to everyone.

We are located at 20 Elm St. just past the oval. For more information, visit www.uucm.org or call 673-1870.

Please call ahead to ensure availability. Building is secured; ring bell for entry.

St. John Neumann Catholic708 Milford Road - Rt 101AMerrimack880-4689www.sjnnh.orgFr. Chris M. Martel

Weekend Mass: Saturday 5:30pmSunday 8:00am & 10:00am6:00pm Labor Day through Memorial

DayWeekday Mass: 12:15pmHoly Days: 5:30pm vigil, 12:15pm and

7:00pm

Household of Faith30 Merrimack Rd. Amherstwww.hofonline.org

Household of Faith is launching a new Saturday evening service at 6:00pm. The Saturday service is in addition to regular Sunday services at 9:00 and 11:00am.

Church Services

Students in the News

The Derryfield School Announces Fall Honor RollMANCHESTER - Head of School Mary Halpin Carter is pleased to an-

nounce that Nicole Anthony ’15, Samantha Carbery ’15, Eric Anthony ’16, Jessey Bryan ‘16, Ryan Quinlan ’17, and Isabell Plotsker ’18 of AMHERST received Academic Highest Honors for the fall term at The Derryfield School. Highest Honors are awarded to those students who maintain at least an A- average, with no grade below a B. James O’Brien ’15, Ethan Chen ’17, Victoria Imbriano ’17 and Anna Quinlan ’18 of AMHERST re-ceived High Honors for the fall term. High Honors are awarded to those students who maintain a B+ average, with no grade below a B-. In addition, John Cissel ’15, Jonathan Devine ’16, Alexander Kaufman ’16, Thomas Cis-sel ’17, and Lauren Rohlfs ’17 of AMHERST received Academic Honors for the fall term at The Derryfield School. Honors are awarded to those stu-dents who maintain a B average, with no grade below a C.Keene State Announces the 2014 Fall Dean’s List

KEENE - 1,467 students have been named to the fall 2014 dean’s list at Keene State College. .

To qualify for the dean’s list, Keene State undergraduates must be en-rolled in a degree program and must have completed a minimum of six credit hours in the semester, receiving no failing or incomplete grades. Stu-dents must achieve a 3.5 or higher grade point average on a 4.0 scale to earn dean’s list honors.

The following local students have been named to the dean’s list:Hannah Beauchesne of AmherstHolly Bourassa of AmherstEvelyn Cauchon of AmherstNicholas Doiron of AmherstAllison Mensh of AmherstShannon Nugent of AmherstEmily Payrits of AmherstBrendan Poor of Mont VernonKatelyn Shaw of AmherstKatarina Silva of AmherstCassandra Stepanek of AmherstThomas Troie of AmherstMicaela Wilson of Amherst

Paula MacLellan awarded diploma from Arizona State UniversityTEMPE, AZ - Paula MacLellan of Amherst, NH graduated from Arizona

State University at the Spring 2014 commencement ceremony.Local Residents Named to Lasell College Dean’s List for Fall 2014

NEWTON, MA -Lasell College in Newton, Mass. has released the Dean’s List for outstanding academic achievement during the Fall semester of the 2014-15 academic year. During the Fall semester 634 students received this recognition.

Alexa Katsigianis of Amherst a member of the class of 2015 is majoring in Entrepreneurship. To achieve the Dean’s List, each student must be full-time carrying 12 or more graded credits for the semester with a grade point average of 3.5 or above.Tufts University announces 2014 graduates

MEDFORD, MA - More than 3,000 students graduated from Tufts Uni-versity on May 18, 2014 during a university-wide commencement ceremo-ny with public policy expert Anne Marie Slaughter as the speaker.

The graduates from the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering included:

Molly Mirhashem of Mont Vernon, NH, with a Bachelor of ArtsDean’s List at Lehigh University in Fall 2014 Announced

BETHLEHEM, PA - Dean’s List status, which is awarded to students who earned a scholastic average of 3.6 or better while carrying at least 12 hours of regularly graded courses, has been awarded to William Brown, of Mont Vernon in the Fall 2014 semester.Daniel Webster College’s Dean’s List for the Fall Semester

Amanda C. Gendron, daughter of Michael and Evelyn Gendron, Mont Vernon, NH, is a Freshman at Daniel Webster College named to the Dean’s List for the Fall 2014 semester with a 3.53 GPA. In addition to a 15-cred-it semester pursuing psychology and homeland security degree program requirements, she enjoys successes as a member of two DWC athletic programs: volleyball and basketball. She graduated from Souhegan High School. To be eligible for the Dean’s List at Daniel Webster College, a stu-dent must achieve a 3.5 or better GPA completed while carrying a min-imum of 12 credits during a semester, with no course grade below 2.0 during the term. Area Students Named to Colby College Dean’s List

WATERVILLE, ME – Amherst student was named to the Dean’s List at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, for her outstanding academic achieve-ment during the fall semester of the 2014-15 year. The Dean’s List at Col-by is highly selective, this fall reserved for students whose semester grade point averages were 3.68 or higher.

Victoria A. Chistolini of Amherst, a member of the Class of 2018, is the daughter of Jennifer Kendrick of Amherst and Thomas Chistolini of Am-herst and attended Souhegan High School.Bentley University Names Local Students to Honors Lists for Fall 2014

Waltham, MA - Bentley University President, Gloria Cordes Larson, along with Dean of Business, Roy (Chip)

Wiggins, and Dean of Arts and Sciences, Daniel L. Everett, recently an-nounced the names of local residents who were honored for their outstand-ing academic achievement in the fall 2014 semester.

Ryan Redmond, a Senior from Amherst was named to the Dean’s List.Connor Holbrook, a Sophmore from Amherst was named to the Presi-

dent’s List.To be named to the President’s List, a full-time student must have a grade

point average of 3.7 or higher with no course grade below 3.0 during the term. To be named to the Dean’s List, a full-time student must have a grade point average of 3.3 or higher with no course grade below 2.0 during the term.Lyndon State College Announces the Fall 2014 Dean’s List Re-cipients

LYNDONVILLE, VT - Lyndon State College announced its Fall 2014 Dean’s List recipients. For inclusion on the Dean’s List, a student must have completed at least 12 graded credits with no incomplete or failing grades and a minimum grade-point average of 3.50.

The Dean’s List recipients included:Chandler MacKenzie of Mont Vernon. MacKenzie is a freshman major-

ing in Electronic Journalism Arts.Cori Sousa of Amherst. Sousa is a freshman majoring in Business Ad-

ministration.Local Students Named to Stonehill College’s Fall 2014 Dean’s List

EASTON, MA - The following local residents were recently named to Stonehill College’s Dean’s List for the Fall 2014 semester:

Patrick O’Mara of Amherst. O’Mara is a member of the Class of 2015 and is studying Political Sci & Int’l Studies.

Megan Brown of Mont Vernon. Brown is a member of the Class of 2016 and is studying History.

Alison Sumski of Amherst. Sumski is a member of the Class of 2016 and is studying Psychology/English.

Shaunna Barry of Amherst. Barry is a member of the Class of 2018 and is studying Psychology.

To qualify for the Dean’s List, students must have a semester grade point average of 3.50 or better and must have completed successfully all courses for which they were registered.Local student named to fall 2014 Bucknell dean’s list

LEWISBURG, PA - Bucknell University has released the dean’s list for outstanding academic achievement during the fall semester of the 2014-15 academic year. A student must earn a grade point average of 3.5 or higher on a scale of 4.0 to receive dean’s list recognition.

Morgan Pagliocco of Amhers, daughter of James and Jamie Pagliocco .Amherst student earns dean’s list recognition at Norwich Uni-versity

NORTHFIELD, Vt. - Ryan Sickler of Amherst has been recognized on the dean’s list at Norwich University for the fall 2014 semester.Local Residents Make Nichols College Dean’s List

DUDLEY, MA - More than 400 students have earned Dean’s List or Dean’s High Honors during the just-completed fall term at Nichols College in Dudley, Massachusetts. The Dean’s List recognizes students who have achieved high grades during a single semester.

In order to be included in the Dean’s List, a student must maintain a min-imum grade point average of 3.2 for at least 12 credit-hours and receive no grade below a C+ during the semester. Freshman Tyler Trottier of Mont Vernon has achieved Dean’s List.ENDICOTT ANNOUNCES DEAN’S LIST STUDENTS

Beverly, MA – Endicott College is pleased to announce the Dean’s List students for fall, 2014. In order to qualify for the Dean’s List, a student must obtain a minimum grade point average of 3.5, receive no grade be-low a “C”, have no withdrawal grades, and be enrolled in a minimum of 12 credits for the semester.

The following students have met those requirements:Grace E Bonenberger is the daughter of Howard and Kathleen Bonen-

berger of Amherst. Grace is a Sophomore majoring in Nursing.Brendan Michael McKenna is the son of Robert and Victoria Kennedy of

Amherst. Brendan is a Senior majoring in Business Administration.University of Rhode Island names more than 4,700 to the Fall 2014 Dean’s List

KINGSTON, RI - The University of Rhode Island is pleased to announce that more than 4,700 students qualified for the Fall 2014 Dean’s List.

Students who have completed 12 or more credits during a semester for letter grades with at least a 3.30 quality point average qualify for the Dean’s

List. Part-time students qualify with the accumulation of 12 credits with a 3.30 quality point average.

The following students from your area were named to the University of Rhode Island’s Dean’s List:Ryleigh N Mullens of AmherstMadison J Adams of AmherstKelsea Bemis of Mont VernonKonstantina Chouramanis of Mont VernonHaley E Aiken of Mont Vernon

Phillips Exeter Academy Announces Fall 2014 Honor Roll Exeter – Phillips Exeter Academy is delighted to share that the following

student from Amherst has achieved academic honors during the fall 2014 term. To qualify for the honor roll, students must maintain an overall av-erage of (B), or a grade between 8.0 – 8.9 on an 11-point scale. High honors are given for grades 9.0 – 9.9 (B+); highest honors are given for grades 10.0 – 11 (A-).

Peter A. Duff, grade 11, of Amherst earned Highest Honors for the fall 2014 term.

Roger Williams University Announces Fall 2014 Dean’s ListBRISTOL, RI (01/22/2015)(readMedia)-- The following local residents

are among those to be named to the Roger Williams University Dean’s List for the Fall 2014 semester. Full-time students who complete 12 or more credits per semester and earn a GPA of 3.4 or higher are placed on the Dean’s List that semester.

Riley Connor of Amherst majoring in International Business and Charles Driscoll of Mont Vernon majoring in Undecided.Saint Anselm College Dean’s List Fall 2014

MANCHESTER - Mark W. Cronin, Dean of the College, announces the following students that were named to the Dean’s List for the Fall 2014 se-mester at Saint Anselm College, Manchester.

Sarah L. Dalton of Amherst, a International Business major is a member of the Class of 2016.

Michael P. Horgan of Amherst, a Psychology major is a member of the Class of 2015.

Ashley E. Ireland of Amherst, a Computer Science major is a member of the Class of 2016.

Alexandra J. Safarz of Amherst, a Education Studies major is a member of the Class of 2018.Students Named to Champlain College Dean’s List for Fall 2014 Semester

BURLINGTON, VT - The following students have been named to the Champlain College Dean’s List for the fall 2014 semester for achieving a grade point average of 3.5 or higher.

Jade Soucy-Humphreys of Amherst was named to the Dean’s List for fall 2014. Soucy-Humphreys is majoring in Digital Filmmaking.

Trever McConnell of Amherst was named to the Dean’s List for fall 2014. McConnell is majoring in Computer Information Technology.

Brianna Kinville of Amherst was named to the Dean’s List for fall 2014. Kinville is majoring in Computer and Digital Forensics.

Parker Desborough of Amherst was named to the Dean’s List for fall 2014. Desborough is majoring in Computer Networking & Cybersecurity.Students Named to Colby-Sawyer College Fall 2014 Dean’s List

NEW LONDON - Colby-Sawyer recognizes students for outstanding ac-ademic achievement during the 2014 fall semester. To qualify for the Dean’s List, students must achieve a grade-point average of 3.50 or higher on a 4.0 scale while carrying a minimum of 12 credit hours in graded courses.

Nicholas Chouramanis of Mont Vernon is a member of the class of 2017 majoring in Exercise Science.

Jane Martina of Amherst is a member of the class of 2017 majoring in Health Promotion.Students named to Dean’s List at Grove City College

GROVE CITY, PA - The following students were named to the Dean’s List for the fall 2014 semester at Grove City College.

Valarie Weber is a junior Music major named to the Dean’s List with Dis-tinction. Valarie is a 2012 graduate of Homeschooled and is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Weber (Beth) from Amherst.

Benefit Spaghetti Dinner and Variety Show January 31

In preparation for the group’s annual summer service trip, the Senior High Youth Group (SHYG) of the Congregational Church of Amherst, will host their annual Spaghetti Dinner and Variety Show on Saturday, January 31, at 6:00 p.m. in the church community room. Attendees will enjoy a hearty spaghetti dinner followed by an entertainment extravaganza featuring talented local young people and adults. All are invited to attend this evening of food, friends, family, laughs and entertain-ment. There is no charge for the event, but a free will offering will be taken. All proceeds will benefit the SHYG’s 2015 Mission Trip to Washington, DC, where the young people and adult chaperones will be working with the Youth Service Oppor-tunities project serving inner city communities and families in need. Questions? See the church website (http://www.ccamherst.org/) or contact PastorMaureen@ccamherst.org.

School News

14 • THE AMHERST CITIZEN • J A N U A R Y 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 • w w w . a m h e r s t c i t i z e n . c o m

SportsFolio

both the Division 2 championships in 15:58.20 and the Meet of Cham-pions in 15:32.40. Also the Runner of the Year as named by the New Hampshire Cross Country Coaches Association and Nashua Telegraph, Moskowitz took seventh at the Foot Locker Northeast Regional cham-pionships in 15:40.50. He finished fifth at the New England Cross Country Championships, clocking a 15:54.

Moskowitz has maintained a 3.39 GPA in the classroom. In ad-dition to mentoring refugee chil-dren from Asia and fundraising for Solar Cooker International’s efforts to provide sustainable cooking ma-

terials in Africa, he has also vol-unteered at the Lowell Transition-al Living Center and as part of the Hope for Gus Foundation’s efforts to benefit muscular dystrophy re-search. Moskowitz has also main-tained trails at Acadia National Park and served as a trail monitor for USA Track & Field.

“Eli Moskowitz has been a force in New Hampshire running for his entire high school career,” said Stan Lyford, head coach of rival Ports-mouth High. “And this year was clearly his best.”

Moskowitz will attend Brown University this fall, where he will continue his running career.

u Eli Moskowitz Named Boys Cross Country Runner of The Year continued from page 1

Souhegan Track & Field Results 1/25/15

Amherst Residents in College Sports

Julie Kellndorfer Competes in First Season For Simmons Field Hockey

BOSTON, MA – Julie Kellndorfer has just completed her first year of competition for the Simmons College field hockey team.

The first year back performed in six matches for the Sharks, each resulting in shutout victories. The back made her collegiate debut on September 2 in a 5-0 victory over Becker College. The Souhe-gan graduate helped her backline reach eight shutouts in total and managed to limit opponents to just under six shots on goal per game on the season.

The Sharks finished the season with a 13-6 mark, while winning the Great Northeast Athletic Conference crown for the first con-ference championship in program history. Simmons bowed out of the first round of the NCAA Tournament with a 2-0 loss to host University of New England on November 12.

Little East Conference Announces 2014 Fall Academic All-Conference Teams

KEENE - Holly Bourassa of Amherst majoring in Safety & Oc-cupational Health and a Keene State College student-athlete was named to the Little East Conference Fall Academic All-Confer-ence team.

To be named a Fall All-Academic awardee, a student-ath-lete must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.3 or higher through the 2014 spring semester and be at least a sophomore aca-demically and athletically. The student-athlete must also be a full-time member of a varsity sport and be enrolled in its institution for a full academic year.

At the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) conven-tion in Philadelphia during the week of January 12, Souhegan boys coach David Saxe was recognized as the Region 1 (New England) High School Coach of the Year. He is pictured above (second from left) with the other regional winners from around the country. The NSCAA is the world’s largest soccer coaches’ organization and serves members at every level of the game.

SHS Soccer Coach Receives National Honor

Souhegan Girls Nordic team at their Lebanon race. (L to R): Julia Apiki, Hannah Culver, Sophie Oehler, Kelly Delovo, Kathleen Foley, Lily Sullivan, Anna White, Sadie Lowell, Carly Seguin.

PHOTO COURTESY JIM OEHLER

Rank NH D2 Girls SL 01/22/15 Points1 Souhegan 3842 ConVal 3523 Hollis-Brookline 3504 Pembroke 3215 Derryfield 2946 Portsmouth 2677 Milford 79

Rank NH D2 Boys SL 01/22/15 Points1 Derryfield 3832 Hollis-Brookline 3673 Souhegan 3453 Portsmouth 3454 Milford 3405 ConVal 2546 Pembroke 241

01/22/15: Division 2 Slalom at Crotched MountainTeam Results: Souhegan Girls in 1st Place, Souhegan Boys tied for 3rd Place

Souhegan Girls Top 20 finishers: Rhiannon Allison (1st), Anna Farrow (5th), Alana Barretto (6th), Katie Taylor (8th), Ellie Noble (11th), Kate Ber-mingham (13th), Jen Catrambone (19th).

Souhegan Boys Top 25 finishers: Jasper Jones (11th), Dean DeFilippo (18th tie), Sam Ezequelle (18th tie), Matt Chistolini (21st), Monty Jones (22nd ), Jonathan Kempf (23rd).

Rhiannon Allison (1st)

Anna Farrow (5th)

Jasper Jones (11th)

DURHAM – Souhegan track teams competed at UNH in the first of two open qualifying meets for the Division championships in two weeks. Madeleine Hunt led the way for the Sabers by setting a new Souhegan record in the 1500 me-ters. Her time of 4:54.2 earned her second place in the meet, and the 2008 record of 4:58.6 set by Chantal Croteau was eclipsed. Other Souhe-gan top performances included Es-ther Johnson’s second place effort in the shot. Her put of 35’ 2 3/4” was a personal best by more than a foot. Abby Cranney ran well, and her time of 44.0 in the 300 meters gave her fourth place. Amy Lambert was the other Saber individual in the top six, and her 600 meter time of 1:30.7 awarded her sixth place.  The 4 by 160 team of Brooke Tanguay, Ca-leigh Burns, Abby Ballantyne, and Abby Cranney ran a season-best

time of 1:30.7 to place sixth in the event.

Eli Moskowitz paced the Saber boys’ team with a first place effort in the 600 meters(1:27.6). Matt Blood ran a personal best in the 55 meter dash(6.6) to take second place. He also teamed up with Travis Woods, Sebastian Eaton, and Ben Miller to take second place(1:20.2) in the 4 by 160 relay. Travis Woods also high jumped 5’ 6” for third place honors, and Cam Behn ran 39.3 in the 300 meter run, also good for third. Pe-ter Forster rounded out the top six finishers with 5’ 4” in the high jump and a season best of 18’ 5 1/2” long jump.

Next Saturday both teams will again compete at UNH as a final tune up for the Division champion-ships to be held at Dartmouth Col-lege on Sunday, February 8th.

The Souhegan Boys’ Ice Hockey Trailed 3 to 1 After First Period Then Came Back Strong to Defeat Laconia 5 to 3Alexander Maresco (senior)

SOUHEGAN PHOTOS COURTESY BILL DOD

Souhegan Wrestlers Lose Match to John StarkThe young, hard working Souhegan dropped a dual meet with John Stark on Monday. Photo: Souhegan’s Liam King at 189 lbs

Souhegan Girls’ Basketball Team Drops Game to Portsmouth ClippersMia Len dribbles down court

Souhegan Boys’ Basketball Drop an Exciting Game to Hanover 62 - 56Sophomore Zach Thibeault

Souhegan Sabers Face Challenging Opponents in

Recent Contests

w w w . a m h e r s t c i t i z e n . c o m • J A N U A R Y 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 • THE AMHERST CITIZEN • 15

Mont VernonBusiness / Health

Final Week for “Learn to Ski & Snowboard” LINCOLN, NH - This January

ski areas across New Hamp-shire encourage people who have never skied or snowboard-ed before to embrace winter and try some-thing new. Janu-ary is Learn to Ski & Snowboard Month, and there are a variety of learn-to deals available for any-one who has ever had an in-terest in trying a new snow-sport or improving their skills.

As part of the Learn to Ski & Snowboard Month celebration, thirteen alpine and six cross-coun-try ski areas are offering special packages for first-time skiers and snowboarders. At the alpine ar-

eas, which include Black Moun-tain, Bretton Woods, Can-non Mountain, Cranmore

Mountain Re-sort, Dart-mouth Ski-way, Granite Gorge Ski Area, Gun-

s t o c k M o u n -tain Re-sort, King Pine Ski

Area, Loon M o u n t a i n ,

Mount Sunapee, Pats Peak, Ragged Moun-

tain Resort and Waterville Valley, the package costs $29

dollars and includes a first-time lesson, rentals and lift ticket. The cross-country package includes a trail pass, first-time lesson and rent-als for $19, and is available at Bret-ton Woods XC, Granite Gorge XC,

Great Glen Trails, Gunstock XC, Jackson Ski Touring, Loon Moun-tain XC, and Windblown XC. Fu-ture skiers and riders should go to SkiNH.com’s Learn to Ski & Snow-board Month webpage to find links to each resort’s program. Specials start on January 2 and guests should reference each resort for lesson times, how to register, and more.

Learning how to ski or ride isn’t limited to just January, however. All ski areas offer lessons through-out the season, seven days a week. Several ski areas have special incen-tives whereby new skiers and riders who take beginner lesson packages are rewarded with discounted lift tickets and rentals, a season pass, or even a pair of skis. Guests can find more information and links to spe-cific resort learn-to webpages in the “Learn To” section of SkiNH.com.

“Taking lessons with a profes-sional ski instructor is the best way to learn to ski or ride,” said Jessyca Keeler, executive director of Ski NH. “I learned to ski in my late teens and learned to snowboard in my late twenties, and taking les-sons made such a huge difference in my results. You learn the correct techniques right off the bat, which means you’ll become better faster, and have fun from the start.”

The Learn to Ski & Snowboard Month is a national initiative that includes efforts on the part of the National Ski Areas Association, SnowSports Industries America, and the Professional Ski Instruc-tors of America-American Asso-ciation of Snowboard Instructors, along with many national, regional and state associations and business-es throughout the country. Learn more at www.LearntoSkiandSnow-board.org.

Time for FY16 School Budget Hearings, Deliberative Sessions and The VoteTo the editor:

Here it is again, time for FY16 school budget hearings, deliberative ses-sions and vote. The Mont Vernon Village School (MVVS) Board and Ad-ministration are asking taxpayers to support a total budget of $4,725,302 next year versus an FY15 approved default budget of $4,241,108. This rep-resents an increase of $484,194 or 11.42% over this year’s budget. And be-cause of several increased costs next year, $4,637,058 will be the FY16 ad-justed default budget. This still represents a $395,950 increase over last year. Either budget has a large impact on real estate taxes: $744 or $648 on a $300,000 house.

The biggest drivers to the FY16 MVVS budget are: the Amherst Middle School (AMS) at $271,040 and Special Education at $140,795. Although AMS student enrollment is projected to decline another 19 students, AMS proposed costs are still increasing.

Using the NH State Department of Education (NHDOE) MVVS FY14 (the latest available) cost per student is: $15,166. Compare this to the Hol-lis Elementary FY14 cost per student: $15,352. The MVVS is slightly less that year, but Hollis was a National Blue Ribbon school in 2013 and MVVS has yet to achieve this award.

If we look at the MVVS student numbers, we see that K-6 student enroll-ment reduced from 231 in FY12 to 187 this year (FY15) and is projected to decline again next year (FY16) to 177. This is a 23% drop. The MVVS teach-ers and professional staff has also declined some 8.5%, not matching the student drop over this period. The staff reduction has reduced from 23.5 in FY12 to 21 this year and increasing to 21.5 staff next year.

Another note on last year’s MVVS default budget. The school had enough money left over to fund asphalt paving of the loop road behind the school by June 30th.

What about the SHS FY16 budget? The proposed FY16 budget is $18,161,347 versus a default budget of $17,992,362. This is almost a $170,000 increase. Doesn’t seem like much, but let’s do some comparison with Hol-lis. The FY14 NH state cost per student at Hollis/Brookline High School was: $12,686. (This number is from the NHDOE web site, and does seem low. Bedford HS is even lower.) At SHS it was: $19,012. Wow, $6000 more per student. And Hollis/Brookline (H/B) is a National Blue Ribbon school, a Newsweek best high school, plus other honors SHS has yet to achieve.

The number of students is projected to reduce at SHS from 842 this fis-cal year to 815 next year. And although SHS has reduced their staff the last couple of years by almost 14 people, they’re not planning any staff re-ductions for this projected 27 student decline. The SHS professional staff is currently at 94 (estimated) persons and teaching staff at 80 (estimated). The H/B professional staff is at 83, with 65 teachers for 832 students. The SHS ACT scores are at 23 and the H/B higher at 26.5. The SHS SAT scores are at 533 and the H/B scores are higher at 570.

In summary, I believe we are still paying too much for our children’s ed-ucation quality, so I hope you’ll join me in voting yet again for default bud-gets for MVVS, SHS and AMS!

Tom McKinneyMont Vernon

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January is Learn to Ski & Snowboard Month in New Hampshire

Many New Hampshire ski areas are celebrating Learn to Ski & Snowboard month this January by offering a $29 lift, lesson and rentals beginner package for downhill skiing and riding, and a $19 trail pass, lesson and rentals beginner package at cross-country ski areas. Taking a lesson your

first time on skis or a snowboard can make all the difference in the world in terms of having a great experience, and our Learn to Ski & Snowboard month special is a great and affordable way to try a new sport. For details visit: www.skinh.com, or visit each area’s website included below.

Participating Alpine Areas:Black MountainJackson, NH603-383-4490www.blackmt.comCannon MountainFranconia, NH603-823-8800www.cannonmt.comCranmore Mountain ResortNorth Conway, NH603-356-5543www.cranmore.comDartmouth SkiwayLyme Center, NH603-795-2143skiway.dartmouth.eduKing Pine Ski Area & Purity Spring ResortEast Madison, NH603-367-8896www.kingpine.com

Loon Mountain ResortLincoln, NH603-745-8111www.loonmtn.comMount Sunapee ResortNewbury, NH603-763-3500www.mountsunapee.comPats Peak Ski AreaHenniker, NH603-428-3245www.patspeak.comRagged Mountain Resort Ski AreaDanbury, NH603-768-3600raggedmountainresort.comWaterville Valley ResortWaterville Valley, NH888-467-5498www.waterville.comBretton WoodsBretton Woods, NH603-278-3320brettonwoods.com

Granite Gorge Ski AreaKeene , NH 603-358-5000www.granitegorge.comGunstock MountainLaconia, NH603-293-4341www.gunstock.com

Participating Nordic Areas:Bretton Woods at Mount Washington ResortBretton Woods, NH603-278-3320brettonwoods.comGranite Gorge Ski AreaKeene , NH 603-358-5000www.granitegorge.comGunstock MountainLaconia, NH603-293-4341www.gunstock.com

Great Glen TrailsGorham, NH(603) 466-2333greatglentrails.comJackson Ski Touring FoundationJackson, NH603-383-9355www.jacksonxc.orgWindblown XC Ski AreaNew Ipswich, NH603-878-2869windblownxc.com

Final Week!

Come Visit Our Area Businesses

www.mainstreet-nh.com

Anytime Fitness Members Have Burned Nearly 750 Million CaloriesLocal club celebrates opening with special offer January 27-29

Paul Zografos and Jon Haeck at the new Anytime Fitness Club in Amherst

AMHERST – Local member Car-letta Nichols realized it was time to get to a healthier place when her doctor diagnosed her as borderline diabetic. “My Husband and I had to do something after I got my diagno-sis, Paul and Jon were there for us. Couldn’t be happier about joining Anytime!”

Anytime Fitness is making it easi-er for local residents to start chang-ing their lives. From January 27-29, new members can join the club, lo-cated at 123 Route 101A, for just $1. New members can also add Fit ’15, two hours with a fitness profession-al, for free to ensure that they reach

their goals. Call 603-594-0066 or stop in for

more details. “Our mission is to help our mem-

bers get to a healthier place – phys-ically, mentally, emotionally – so they can enjoy life to the fullest,” said Paul Zografos, owner for the Anytime Fitness club in Amherst. “At Anytime Fitness, we genuinely care about our members and want to help them achieve the results they’re seeking – whether it’s losing weight, increasing strength and en-durance, or improving balance and flexibility.”

LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE

Next Issue: February 10 Deadline: February 4

NASHUA – CullenCollimore, PLLC is pleased to announce that Brian Cullen has been elected Pres-ident of the Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter. The Soup Kitchen re-cently moved to its new facility at 2 Quincy Street, just down the street from CullenCollimore’s East Pearl Street offices, following a success-ful capital campaign that allowed the long-standing non-profit to purchase and renovate the former VFW building. Cullen notes that he is honored to follow the lead-ership of Linda Kipnes and all of those who spearheaded that effort and looks forward to continuing the work of the Board to raise funds and awareness of the efforts of the Soup Kitchen. “On days when the temperature is 5 degrees as it al-ready has been this year, it is crit-ical that all of our residents have a warm and inviting place to get a hot meal, supplemental food, and ac-cess to employment and advocacy

programs. For nearly 35 years the Soup Kitchen – with the help of the entire community – has filled that need.”

Lunch & Learn at the Souhegan Valley Chamber of CommerceBasics of Computer Maintenance on February 3, 12-1 PM

Brian Cullen Elected President of Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter

Brian Cullen, CullenCollimore, PLLC

AMHERST – Join us on Tuesday, February 3 from 12-1 PM for Ba-sics of Computer Maintenance with Pollitt Enterprises, Tuesday, Febru-ary 3 from 12-1 pm at the SVCC of-fice. We all know we should main-tain our computers regularly, but we don’t - until it’s too late. Brush up on what needs to be done and how to do it. IT Specialist Derek Pollitt will give us a refresher course

on keeping our computers updated, clearing cookies, updating antivirus software and backing up our com-puters. For most businesses, your computer IS your business lifeline - don’t let it slide! This event is free to Chamber members, $10 nonmem-bers, includes a light lunch. Tele-phone 673-4360 to RSVP or email beth.boggis@souhegan.net.

16 • THE AMHERST CITIZEN • J A N U A R Y 2 7 , 2 0 1 5 • w w w . a m h e r s t c i t i z e n . c o m

Mont VernonLibrary Director: Bonnie AngulasChildren’s Program Director: JoAnn KitchelHours:Tuesday 10-5:30Wednesday 12-8Thursday 10-5:30Friday 2-6Saturday 10-1Sunday ClosedMonday Closed

TAG: Teen Advisory GroupThe library is excited to an-

nounce the formation of a new teen activity group @ the library TAG! Mont Vernon teens grades 9-12 are invited to join this young adult ac-tivity group and have their voices heard. Members will be involved in book collection development for the Young Adult section and teen pro-gramming. TAG will meet the last Wed. of every month from 6-7pm. First meeting will be on Wed. Jan. 28th. Pizza will be served! SHS volunteer hours will be awarded to members. RSVP ASAP for accu-rate pizza count :). Question? Call 673-7888.50 Book Challenge

Is “read more books” on your New Year’s Resolution List? If so, join the 50 Book Challenge at the li-brary and let us help you reach your goal. Sign up for the 50 Book Chal-lenge and we’ll track your titles and your progress all year long. Hard-cover, paperback, eBooks, and au-diobooks all count towards your 50! Incentives for every 10 books you read. Readers who complete the challenge will be entered into a drawing for a Kindle Fire HD! Ages 18 & up. Registration required. Call 673-7888 or stop by the library to sign up.Super Saturday

You’re going to love the Su-per Saturday project for February! Children ages 6 & up are encour-aged to sign up to make adorable felt heart pillows for Valentine’s Day on Feb. 7th @ 1:00pm. Registration re-quired. Space is limited. Call 673-7888.Read to Teddy, the Paws for Reading Dog!

Teddy the Paws for Reading Dog will be coming to the Daland Me-morial Library on the first Saturday of each month from Noon- 1:00pm. He would love to have children come and read to him! Space is lim-ited. Call 673-7888 today or stop into the Library to sign up for one of the four 15-minute time slots.Junior Book Clubs

Bonkers For Books junior book club for 3rd and 4th graders will be reading “The Adventures of Nanny Piggins” by R.A. Spratt. Group will meet on Wednesday, Feb. 4th from 4-5pm.

The Page Turners junior book club for 5th and 6th graders will be reading “Bliss” by Kathyrn Little-wood Group will meet on Wednes-day, Feb. 11th from 4-5pm.

The Just Because We Are Awe-some junior book club for 7th and 8th graders will be reading “Hatch-et” by Gary Paulsen. Group will meet on Wednesday, Feb. 18th from 4-5pm.

Books for all three groups are available to borrow @ the library. New members always welcome!Winter Poetry Night

Thursday February 12th at 7:00pm. This is an informal gath-ering of poetry lovers and new par-ticipants are always welcome! If you would like to share a poem, please bring it with you, but it is not re-quired. We always have interesting and lively discussions and refresh-ments are served.Pins And Needles is back!

Pins and Needles knitting and crafting group is back! Join our new leader, Ana Barrett, on the first Thursday of every month from 6:30-8pm for a night of communal crafting. Adults and children ages 8 & up are welcome to attend. Next meeting will be on Thursday, Feb. 5th. The Bibliophiles Adult Book Group

The evening adult book club will be reading “West with the Night” by Beryl Markham for their Febru-ary title. Group will meet on Wed., February 25th at 7pm to discuss the book. New members are always welcome. Books available to bor-row @ the library.Winter Storytime

Bundle up the kids and join us on Thursdays for an hour of sto-ries and crafts with JoAnn Kitchel. Preschool children ages 3-5. Morn-ing and afternoon sessions avail-able. Winter session begins Thurs-day, Jan. 22nd and runs for 6 weeks.

Space is limited. Registration re-quired. Call 673-7888 or stop in to sign up today.Calling All New Readers!

Just starting to read? Sign up to read to a librarian on Wednesday anytime from 3-5pm as part of our All Star Reader Program. Bring a favorite book from home or select a title from our shelves to proudly read out loud. Children grades K-3 are encouraged to make a 15 minute reading appointment so we can look forward to your visit.Morning Book Discussion Program

The Daland Memorial Library’s Morning Book Discussion Program will hold their first discussion of the year on Monday, February 2, at 10 a.m., at the library. Copies of the selection, “Grayson” by Lynne Cox, are now available at the library. The author, who goes on to become a recognized long distance swim-mer, writes about encountering a baby whale off the coast of Cali-fornia when she’s seventeen years old. Published in 2008, the author also penned the highly acclaimed “Swimming to Antarctica” in 2005.

The group usually meets the first Monday each month. New start time this year will be 10 a.m. The meetings last an hour and a half to two hours. Participants take turns bringing a light refreshment. No attendance requirement – attend discussions that are of interest. The library purchases a copy of each se-lection that may be checked out by library patrons when the book is not reserved for the discussion. Multi-ple copies of the book are made available through inter-library loan.

The dates and complete list of books for the year are as follows:

February 2 – non-fiction - “Grayson” by Lynne Cox

March 2 – fiction - “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry” by Rachel Joyce

April 6 – non-fiction – “Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Ca-nal” by Mary Roach

May 4 - historical fiction – “Or-phan Train” by Christine Baker Kline

June 1 – NH poetry – “Be That Empty” by Alice B. Fogel

June 29 – fiction – “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison

NO MEETING IN JULYAugust 3 – non-fiction – “The

Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration” by Isabel Wilkerson

September 14 – fiction – “The Daring Ladies of Lowell” by Kate Al-cott

October 5 – fiction – “The Bur-gess Boys” by Elizabeth Strout

November 2 – fiction – “Emily, Alone” by Stewart O’Nan

December 7 – fiction – “Wishin’ and Hopin’: A Christmas Story” by Wally Lamb

The program is suitable for adults and open to Mont Vernon residents at no charge. For bookkeeping pur-poses, non-residents wanting to borrow a book will need to join the library, annual fee is $15. Questions call the library at 673-7888.

Museum PassesPasses to three museums are

available at the library to library pa-trons. Two museums are free and one has a small co-pay. Two are in NH and one is in Boston.

Check the websites listed below for further details including loca-tions, days and hours open.Currier Museum of Artwww.currier.orgTwo passes – each pass admits two (no co-pay)Upcoming exhibit: “Still Life:1970s Photorealism” Jan. 24 – May 3, 2015SEE Science Centerwww.see-sciencecenter.orgThree family passes

Museum of Fine Artswww.mfa.orgTake away FLEX pass – one pass admits two adultsNOTE – there is a $10 co-pay for EACH adult. Some special exhibits require a ticket with an additional charge. (Without the library pass, the ticket price is $25 ($23 for seniors)).

Passes may be checked out for one week. (Take away and FLEX passes are not returned.) Late returns in-cur a $5 fine. Please call the library at 673-7888, or stop by to reserve a pass. Passes are available through fund raising efforts of the Friends of the Daland Memorial Library.

Daland Memorial Library News

NEXT ISSUE: January 27 DEADLINE: January 21

Notice to the Citizens of Mont Vernon, NH FILING DATES FOR MONT VERNON SCHOOL DISTRICT OFFICES:

Wednesday, January 21, 2015 through Friday, January 30, 2015 no later than 5:00 pm

School District Officers to be elected March 10, 2015:

For three years: Two School Board Members For one year: School District Clerk

School District Treasurer School District Moderator

If you are a candidate or seek reelection, you must file a declaration of candidacy with the school district clerk.

Sue Leger Mont Vernon School District Clerk 672-9583

LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE

New Blood, New Ideas Needed ASAP for Mont VernonTo the editor:

We have seen the news reports about the selectmen’s decision to remove the Karate Studio from Mont Vernon McCollom building. Their reason? Children are not safe passing by the police dept. to get to the studio up-stairs! But, it’s okay to have town functions there while passing the police station? There may be children involved, too, so what is all this nonsense about?

Those kids have been passing the police station which is in front of that building for years, so why worry now? Let’s get real: it’s the debacle offorthcoming lawsuits. Safety is an issue? But now it’s okay to allow 100 exuberant taxpayers up on the second floor with the prospect of the whole stinking floor collapsing? Thought about that?

In a letter to the editor, March 2013, we interviewed the incumbent po-lice chief for an article and learned then that when the karate students are bouncing around on the floor above, the police below run for cover in case the ceiling collapsed. No wonder, the building is full of rotten boards and even then we said it should be torn down to make way for a new state of the art building to house our police, offices, etc. Of course, lots of naysayers out there, just don’t know when to cut their losses. And, they will try to throw more good money after bad on the situation just to keep a diseased-ridden, crumbling, disgusting old building. Now, it needs repainting...again.

However, the selectmen’s decision, which we read they made all by them-selves to evict without reason, and without consent of the MV population is just another cover-up. Now, they must realize that if the boards collapse injuring people, then they will have real trouble on their hands: lawsuits.

This problem should have been resolved years ago. Mont Vernon is in need of decent buildings. Right now, we have nothing but crumbling, cold, old buildings that no one should be subjected to work in or enter.

And while we are cleaning up the messes, it’s time to recall a couple of selectmen who have been in office far too long, over-stayed their welcome, ignoring important road repairs, our petitions, throwing good money after bad and supporting an over-bloated school system that continues to be-come redundant while using our hard -earned tax-payer monies frivolous-ly. And, who knows what other issues have escaped the taxpayers knowl-edge? New blood, new ideas needed ASAP now.

We wish all the best to the Karate Studio in their new beautiful clean safe Amherst digs. Too bad they had to move to the next town, but it is what it is.

Norma & Tom McKinneyMont Vernon

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SOUHEGAN COOPERATIVE SCHOOL DISTRICTPUBLIC NOTICE

The Souhegan Cooperative School Board will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, January 14, 2015, at 6:00 p.m. at Souhegan High School toconsider the FY16 Souhegan Cooperative School District budget and otherwarrant articles.(Snow Date: January 16, 2015 at 6:00 p.m.) The Deliberative Session of the Souhegan Cooperative School District will be held on Monday, February 2, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. at Souhegan High School. Voting for School District Officers and warrant articles will be held on Tuesday, March 10, 2015, at the following locations:

Amherst Voters-Souhegan High School, 6:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. Mont Vernon Voters-Mont Vernon Village School, 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.

LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE

SOUHEGAN COOPERATIVE SCHOOL DISTRICT PUBLIC NOTICE

The Souhegan Cooperative School Board will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, January 14, 2015, at 6:00 p.m. at Souhegan High School toconsider the FY16 Souhegan Cooperative School District budget and otherwarrant articles.(Snow Date: January 16, 2015 at 6:00 p.m.)

The Deliberative Session of the Souhegan Cooperative School District will beheld on Monday, February 2, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. at Souhegan High School.

Voting for School District Officers and warrant articles will be held onTuesday, March 10, 2015, at the following locations:

Amherst Voters-Souhegan High School, 6:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. Mont Vernon Voters-Mont Vernon Village School, 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.

MONT VERNON SCHOOL DISTRICTPUBLIC NOTICE

The Mont Vernon School Board will hold a public hearing onThursday, January 15, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. at the Mont VernonVillage School to consider the FY16 Mont Vernon School District budget and other warrant articles.(Snow Date: January 16, 2015 at 7:00 p.m.)

The Deliberative Session of the Mont Vernon School District will be held on Wednesday, February 4, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. at the Mont Vernon Village School. Voting for School District Officers and warrant articles will be held on Tuesday, March 10, 2015, at the Mont Vernon Village School from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE

MONT VERNON SCHOOL DISTRICT PUBLIC NOTICE

The Mont Vernon School Board will hold a public hearing on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. at the Mont VernonVillage School to consider the FY16 Mont Vernon School District budget and other warrant articles.(Snow Date: January 16, 2015 at 7:00 p.m.)

The Deliberative Session of the Mont Vernon School District will beheld on Wednesday, February 4, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. at the MontVernon Village School.

Voting for School District Officers and warrant articles will be heldon Tuesday, March 10, 2015, at the Mont Vernon Village Schoolfrom 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

MONT VERNON POLICE DEPARTMENT2 South Main StreetP.O. Box 176Mont Vernon, New Hampshire 03057

Kevin P. Furlong Chief of PoliceNon Emergency: (603) 673-5610Fax: (603) 672-9021

Emergency ResponseOn January 25, 2015 at approximately 1:15 P.M. emergency re-

sponders from Wilton, Lyndeborough, and Mont Vernon respond-ed to Purgatory Falls for an emergency situation. Purgatory Falls is a popular hiking location which borders the towns of Lyndebor-ough and Mont Vernon. The investigation shows that a hiker slipped from the edge of a steep embankment and fell in to the frigid waters. 911 had been called by a hiking companion of the victim. Emergency personnel from the above listed communities were also assisted by the Nashua Fire Department and NH Fish and Game. The victim was identified as Dorie Goldman, age 50 of Amherst MA. The victim was pronounced deceased at the scene of the incident in Mont Vernon. While the vehicle utilized by the hiking party was parked in Lyndeborough the incident was found to have occurred in Mont Vernon.

The area where the incident occurred was found to be extremely icy and a hazardous situation. That portion of the trail has since been temporarily closed due to the unsafe conditions. The Mont Vernon Police Department in conjunction with NH Fish and Game continue to investigate the incident. An autopsy will be conduct-ed by the NH Medical Examiner’s Office to determine the cause of death.

Anyone with information relative to the investigation can con-tact Sergeant Daigneault of the Mont Vernon Police Department at 603-673-5610 or Conservation Officer Delayne Brown of NH Fish and Game at 603-352-4022.

Kick Off for Inaugural Carleton Pond Ice Out Contest!

Ice Skating Party at Carleton Pond on Sunday Feb. 8th 2:00-4:00pm. Celebrate the kick off for the inaugural Carleton Pond Ice Out Contest! Bring your skates and come enjoy hot dogs and hot chocolate by a toasty bonfire! Event is Free! Donations welcome and all proceeds go to the Carleton Pond Restoration Project. Sponsored by the Mont Vernon Conservation Commission. Rain date is February 15th.