Story Time

For the purposes of getting my work read by those I care about, here is the story on Florence Holway, followed by the five stories I wrote this week, I'll come up with an obvious way to differentiate them.

April 14
By James P. Shilander
Staff Writer
ALTON — Florence Holway has been an artist since she was a child. Now, with new notoriety following an HBO documentary, which chronicled her fight for tougher rape laws following her 1991 sexual assault, many people have been contacting Holway for her art and to thank her for the battle she has fought so far.
Holway, 89, of Alton, has received dozens of requests for her sketches and paintings in recent weeks, following the broadcast of "Rape in a Small Town: The Florence Holway Story" on HBO in January. This past weekend, the Smith family of Climax, Mich., which is a 16-hour drive from Alton, made the trek to see Holway and her art after viewing the film.
"He (Kyle Smith) called on the phone to see if he could buy sketches," Holway explained. Samantha Smith, Kyle’s young daughter had written to Holway to say how much she had been moved by Holway’s artwork. As promised in her letter, Samantha Smith and her family arrived at Holway’s home during their spring break, toured the gallery, and talked with Holway.
Holway’s fight began more than a decade ago, when Jason LaForest, who was 25 at the time, entered her Alton farmhouse late at night. Holway, 75 on that Easter Eve of 1991, remembers being awakened and "seeing two hands coming out of the dark." Though she passed out, Holway remembers waking to see LaForest undressing, at which point he raped and sodomized her. He also tied Holway, who has had several knee operations, to the bed and beat her.
After crawling to her son’s house next door and calling the police after LaForest fell asleep, Holway believed the worst to be over. But after local prosecutors plea-bargained with LaForest, who had been facing charges of rape, sodomy, breaking and entering, assault and false imprisonment, Holway "was very angry." "I learned that if you’re hurt, the government won’t help you," she says now after more than 14 years.
Holway fought for tougher sentences against rape, appearing in front of the New Hampshire State Senate, and her efforts helped to increase the prison time faced by rapists, as well as forcing plea bargains to be made with the victims’ consent. Still Holway doesn’t see anything heroic in what she did. "Strangers write the craziest things," she says, regarding some of the correspondence she has received, "so many talk about courage." She insists that she wasn’t courageous, only that "I raised hell."
The HBO documentary came about by chance. A friend of filmmakers Charlene Chapman and her husband Jeffrey had seen an article about Holway in a magazine. She encouraged them to make a documentary about Holway’s fight. The Chapmans, Holway says, came for one weekend a month for seven years to make the movie, which was eventually sold to HBO. The film primarily focuses on Holway’s efforts to fight LaForest’s parole over the last two years.
Still, Holway hopes that her art will again become the focus of her life. With her gallery being reopened to the public with a party held April 1, Holway is more than enthusiastic about showing off her pieces, created over a lifetime, which included raising five children. She has written a book about her experiences of the last 14 years, and is hoping for an editor and a publisher to see the project through. Still her art is what helps to bring her much joy as she approaches 90, and with new audiences ready to appreciate it, Holway likes to say that she’s "not anywhere near finished."

April 21

The Atkins family has wings
By Jim Shilander
Staff Writer
BARNSTEAD — A lot of families in the area might have big lawns in their backyard. Most families might use this as an occasional baseball diamond, soccer pitch or tanning bed. The Atkins family uses their backyard as their personal airstrip. Ron Atkins, the patriarch of the Atkins family, has taken each of his three children out in the air since they were small, but now the shoe might well be on the other foot.
Ron Atkins flies commercial cargo aircraft for UPS. His Barnstead office features stencils of each of the type of aircraft he has flown, and features pictures of his aircraft in action. His schedule is such that he’s flying for nearly 13 days straight, making a four-city run with stops in Philadelphia; Cologne, Germany; Hong Kong; and Anchorage. Then he’s home for nearly two weeks, "It kind of makes it difficult to get involved much socially in town, but its really good to be home so much," he explains. His father worked for Eastern Airlines while Atkins was growing up, and this, he says, is where he caught the flying "bug."
Aaron Atkins is Ron’s 17-year-old son. He’s a junior at Prospect Mountain High School, and a member of the baseball team. Aaron has also "caught the bug." While he had been flying in the family’s plane, a 1952 Piper Tri-Pacer that is three years older than Ron, Aaron has in recent years taken his own flying a bit more seriously. Two years ago, when his family’s plane needed refurbishing, Aaron assisted his father and his brother Austin in putting the fabric airplane back together. For the last three years, Aaron has been working at home to study for the written pilot’s test. Ron Atkins says that that isn’t all that easy, "You see a lot of people fail when it comes to the written part." Ron has been instructing his son while he was home. Aaron scored a 92 percent on his written exam, which, his father explained, about half of test-takers fail on their first attempt. What makes this doubly impressive is that failure is 80 percent meaning that Aaron easily passed an extraordinarily difficult-to-pass examination.
This past February, Aaron received his Private Pilot’s license just after his 17th birthday, almost exactly 32 years after Ron got his license. Aaron describes the whole experience as "pretty cool." He has already taken friends from school as well as some cousins up in the air (the Private Pilot license allows him to take up passengers, though not for a fee). His mother, Patti Atkins, a stay-at-home mom, does admit that she still worries about her son, at least a little bit, when he goes up.
Aaron is hoping to become a pilot, similar to his father. He would like to get an Aircraft Mechanics license at Nashua Tech, and then attend college for a business degree to, he explains, and "have something to fall back on." He would also like to enter the military and fly there, but eventually end up flying cargo like his father does. He does plan to continue his efforts, "I’m going to keep going with it (flying) – I want to get the rest of my license over the next few years." He would also like to work part-time as a flight instructor once he gets to college.
Still, the flying Atkins’ have their own private airport in their backyard. With daughter Arielle and son Austin still flying, presumably the family runway will remain busy for years.


Population could increase by 60 percent
How to protect natural resources?

By Jim Shilander
Staff Writer
NEW DURHAM — A coalition of various area conservation groups, the Natural Resources Outreach Coalition (NROC) hosted a workshop in the New Durham School gym Tuesday Night. Representatives of various UNH programs, as well as a member of the Strafford Planning Commission, presented ideas on how to best grow New Durham, with respect to the desire to preserve as many of the natural resources as possible.
Selectman Ron Gehl, who had previously served three years as planning board commissioner, said that the town has been looking to get NROC involved for a while. "We originally contacted them near the end of 2003," Gehl said. While the group was unable to respond to New Durham’s application in 2004, Gehl said that NROC was impressed enough by the application of the town that they were willing to get involved with the community’s development planning this year.
Using a PowerPoint slide show, various speakers tried to convey to the audience of about 35 assembled townspeople the issues of conservation that will be confronting New Durham in the coming years. A graphic that showed a potential 60 percent increase in the town’s population, an increase of some 1,330 people, by 2020 drew audible gasps from the crowd, as did some of the next few slides which pertained to how much land this population might end up using.
Much of the presentation focused on educating the crowd on the natural resources of the area, as well as the potential costs of poor planning. NROC representative Julia Peterson spoke about the changes that developed land could have on the town’s supply of groundwater, particularly relevant to a town with as many wells as New Durham.
As the presentation moved to planning for the development of the town, NROC presenter Gerry Mylroie spoke on the subject of effective use of land in new subdivisions, as well as how best to possibly move toward creating more neighborhoods around a town center. Other portions of the presentation focused on preserving town aquifers, stopping habitat fragmentation and ways for the town and for individuals to manage the city’s conservation efforts.
While many seemed pleased following the presentation, Gehl had been hoping for a bit more of a turnout, but he did add that "this is a start of an ongoing process of getting people involved and getting input." He also said that the beautiful weather might have played a part in keeping some from attending the presentation.
It was also announced a follow-up meeting, during which New Durham residents could lay out their own concerns and ideas on the issues brought up in the presentation would be held on Saturday, May 7, at the Elementary school. Anyone in town is invited to attend, including those who were unable to attend the first meeting.


Preston makes extreme sport work
By Jim Shilander
Staff Writer
BARNSTEAD — Spring is considered the muddy time in the Lakes region. Snow has melted and the earth is still recovering from winter. But getting dirty and muddy is all a part of the fun of paintball, which David Preston, who owns OSG Paintball in Barnstead, knows very well. Having just opened for the season, the business, one of the leading paintball parks in New England, is about to get really busy, really fast.
Preston, who took over the business at the age of 15 after the two Florida businessmen who ran it left, has now run his paintball center for ten years. He employs more than a dozen Barnstead residents as referees and in other capacities. "We are one of the largest employers in Barnstead," Preston explains, "we have about 12 to 18 people on staff." The staff serves crowds, which can sometimes number 150 on the weekends, the busiest time at OSG. "There are games during the week, but they are mostly private parties," says Preston.
Paintball is a billion dollar a year industry, it ranks behind only rollerblading and skateboarding in terms of annual spending for extreme sports. For those unfamiliar with the sport, Preston describes it as "a very physical game of tag" or "cops and robbers for adults." Still, safety, Preston says, is the number one concern of his company. "We require masks at all times once you step onto the field, and barrel plugs (small bags which catch fired balls) when you step off." Referees are on alert to look for injured players, and do not hesitate, Preston says, to get hobbled combatants out of the game. The paintballs used are also environmentally safe, he says, because the "paint" is made mostly of gelatin and food coloring. Violators of safety policies are kicked out, according to Preston.
The courses, which are built and maintained by Preston and his employees can be very elaborate and detailed. Since the course was put up, constant improvements have been made. A "castle" area as well as woods courses dot the 25 acres of the business. Most intricate of all are newer areas that Preston has dreamed up. Two town courses, one with an Old West theme and another, more "urban" setting, which both Preston says "can be very intense." Preston is currently building a new course for the summer, which will be based on the video game Halo, with intricate structures and ramps.
Most of the money generated by the course has been reinvested, according to Preston. The newer courses require more maintenance and upkeep, as well as repairs for winter damages. During the winters, Preston manages a snowboarding store.
With spring now upon him though, Preston seems excited about new challenges. He and other employees will be working on efforts to cleanup roads into town, as well as adding additions to some of the courses. A "scenario" game will be held which pits New Hampshire players against those from Massachusetts. For Preston, who got into the game when he was 10 years old, there is excitement, "It’s not a bad business," he explains, while picking up used paintballs on his course, "it will eventually grow into a nice large business, We’re constantly expanding, constantly growing."


Welcome Wagons give way to Web
By Jim Shilander
Staff Writer
NEW DURHAM — The Monday meeting of the New Durham Planning Board was highlighted by a close look at some of the provisions of the town’s proposed new Master Plan. In taking to account the last civic profile conducted for the town, in 1996, which helped to inspire many of the basic tenets of the new plan, the board took a hard look at some of the proposed elements and hoped for improvement in the future.
Several sections of the Master Plan referred to the now defunct Town newsletter as the only means of communication. Board members noted continuously that new guidelines should take into account the town’s new website (http://www.newdurhamnh.us/) as well as access to Community TV as a more effective way of communicating. Other efforts, such as "Welcome Wagons" for new residents, seemed to whither on the vine since the last time they were instituted, and members of the board urged greater efforts and more realistic views of such programs in the future.
Other issues were also discussed. Board members were adamant that the town needed a new sign or board that would allow citizens to be aware of coming meetings and events, in addition to signs already in front of the library and school. While money for such efforts has been appropriated in the past, such a board has yet to be constructed. Other possibilities, such as greater visibility for board meetings on the town website, were also discussed as possible solutions.
Also, issues of communication between the town of New Durham and other area organizations were discussed, especially regional planning and conservation boards, as well as local ties like the Merrymeeting Lake Association and the Cropple Crown Village District.
The board then appointed Cropple Crown resident Chris LaPierre as an alternate member of the board. The voting rights of those members was also under discussion as the board made several suggestions that new chairman Robert Craycraft said he would take into account in his further time on the board.

A Penny (Sale) is a penny earned for vets

ALTON — Dennis Kaszynski of Alton found the military to be one of the most important parts of his life. "The military changed my life in a big way," he says, "It taught a lot, about leadership, how to work with people, followership." He flew B-52’s in the Air Force He is sending one son to the Air Force Academy, and another is trying to decide on which branch of service he wants to go into. Still, Kaszynski realizes that many veterans have a hard time when they come back from service.
"When a lot of guys come out, they’re still hardwired for the military, to work with his buddies and to protect our country, but when he comes back, he isn’t necessarily hardwired to capitalism, to marketing himself. So sometimes when the men get out they need help for a little while." After meeting with Doreen Galipeau, who had been working with the Veteran’s First Family Shelter, which is being built in Nashua. The Shelter, according to Kaszynski, 45, will house some of those families that need help. "This is the only shelter being created in the state of New Hampshire dedicated to housing veterans and their families." He went on to explain that the project, which is being built by Harbor Homes, Inc., was primarily to give veterans a break and get them back on their feet as they and their families became acclimated to the civilian world.
To raise funds, Kaszynski has put together The Alton Family Penny Sale, which will be held at Prospect Mountain High School on April 30, at 4 p.m. The effort he says has been community wide, "Not one business has said no to me, everyone in the town of Alton has come through for this…It does my heart good just to be a part of this kind of community." Donations from across the area, from a $1700 leather couch donated by Grevier Furniture, to die cast model cars and numerous gift certificates will be available at the event. One local businessman, Ruben Wentworth of Alton Home and Lumber Center, has been particularly generous, Kaszynski noted. "Ruben was incredibly excited to donate to this, he’s given us boxes of items’, 10 gift certificates for propane refills and more." Wentworth also donated the door prize for the event, an etched glass door window.
Kaszynski said that he hopes to raise at least $10,000 for the Shelter through the event.

Well that's it for this week. Anyone with comments should feel free to post anything you want, no matter how damning.