Story Time- Week Four

I'm about to head out to the airport to go to commencement, but before I go, I wanted to leave my four articles from this week for your perusal, and again, feel free to make as many comments, including criticisms, as you want:


New park brings back past (This one was very spur of the moment, but I think it turned out well)
By Jim Shilander
STAFF WRITER
ALTON — A century ago, the town of Alton really was centered on the railroads that ran through the area. Stations throughout the town dropped off tourists and served town businesses for nearly 75 years until the railroads stopped running through town in 1942. The freight building for the B & M railway sat behind the town hall for years, as growth and litter overwhelmed the surrounding area. But with a bit of effort put forth by members of the Downtown Revitalization Committee, the area is now ready to be transformed completely, from overgrown brush to a jewel of a public park where committee members envision seeing many generations of Alton residents enjoying the area, and learning about the town’s history and resources in the process.
The committee was founded in late 2003 to help bring about projects that would improve downtown Alton. The Alton B&M railroad park, as it is going to be known, is the first of such projects to be put into motion. The park will cover an area about 300 feet behind city hall and stretching from the former J. Jones and Sons Warehouse building (which in fact was serviced by the Railroad) to the wetland areas a few hundred feet away, and from the police station to Old Wolfeboro Rd. Work is ongoing to put the park into place but already there are plans to put in a walking path as soon as this fall, according to board chairwoman Judy Fry. She also says that apart from the initial $5,000 in seed money that the town approved for the project at the 2003 town meeting, there would be little or no additional costs to the town. The remaining money needed would be raised via grants and donations.
Currently, besides the plans for a walking path, the committee is planning several big steps in the building of the park. The old B & M caboose that sits on the property will be moved to the area where cargo was once loaded into the freight building, which sits in the middle of the property. That area, which will have a real railroad bed put into place, and a platform, which will be reconstructed, will serve as part of a railroad museum inside both the caboose and the freight building. The moving of the caboose, "all 32 tons of it," according to committee member Marty Cornelissen, will be taking place shortly. He says that it has been sitting, essentially abandoned, in the old railroad yard for about 12 years.
The committee is working with the town historical society to help turn the park into a reality. The historical society, according to Fry, holds a lease on the freight building, as well as owning the J. Jones & Sons warehouse.
In addition to the museum and walking path, a boardwalk will be constructed in the coming year to take visitors into the wetland area that sits in the rear of where the park will stand. Educational kiosks will dot this "Wetlands Walk," allowing for what committee members hope will be a valuable educational tool for young people and newer residents about the town’s history and its natural resources.
The park will include an open-air pavilion, the "Mt. Major Station," which will play host to weddings and concerts. There will also be a picnic area as well as a children’s play area, perhaps with a train theme.
The committee also envisions volleyball, badminton and bocce courts. Committee member Deanna O’Shaughnessy said that it has been wonderful to have the support of the town’s officials, "Its inspiring how much the people who have been working for us are now excited too." She and other committee members hope that the park "will make downtown hop again." Fry said that the committee had a member of the planning board helping with permits, and that other concerns, such as parking and a sidewalk between town hall and the park would also be addressed in the coming years as the park moves forward. Still, she hopes to see the B & M Park bringing Alton residents a taste of their town’s past very soon.


Jump for education and your heart.
(Again, a kind of spur of the moment piece. I wasn't able to get any pictures for this, because they didn't get back to me before close to deadline and after school.)

By Jim Shilander
Staff Writer
New Durham — All this week, students at New Durham Elementary School have been having fun as well as learning about the importance of a healthy heart as a part of the American Heart Association’s Jump Rope/ Hoops for Heart program. The program raises money for heart research as well as teaches kids about the risks of heart disease and stroke, America’s number one and three causes of death, respectively.
During this week’s physical education classes, according to physical education teacher Deb Skelley "Every child is participating, whether they’ve raised money or not." She says that the enthusiasm for the program, which the school has done in the past, though not last year, "has been great."
Skelley says that she first became aware of the program when her own children participated, at both Carpenter School and Crescent Lake School in Wolfeboro, and brought it with her to New Durham, though she says the school may have participated in the program before her time there. Usually, the fundraising at New Durham schools has been around $1,000 per year, and Skelley says that the program is having, "one of the better years so far," in terms of fundraising.
In talking to the students about the risks of heart disease and stroke, Skelley says that she has "seen hands shoot up" when the children are told that its quite likely that members of their family or their friends have had heart related issues. The students will often tell stories about their loved ones’ heart problems as well, she says.
Originally, the program only contained the Jump Rope portion to raise money. Hoops for Heart was added, Skelley believes, because many older children might have felt that they had outgrown using a jump rope, and the American Heart Association wanted to appeal to them as well. So far, that pattern has been holding, as far more students seem to be playing basketball in the three-on-three tournaments and other events that the physical education teachers have set up, though the jump rope is still popular among younger students.
Skelley wanted to add that because of the recent school vacation, student fund-raising envelopes would be accepted through the end of the week.


Board Approves Subdivision, Reviews master Plan (A kind of typical meeting story for me)
BY JIM SHIILANDER
Staff Writer
NEW DURHAM — The New Durham Planning Board approved a three-lot subdivision at their meeting on May 3, but said that the owners must make some of the necessary improvements to the property before it would allow the building of a second house on the lot.
The area, which would contain two homes and a wood lot, requires several drainage issues to be addressed, which applicants Paul Zuzgo, James Gamble, Richard Gamble, Sr., Scott McClelland and Margaret Wheeler said would be done. They agreed to improve or replace several existing 12-inch diameter culverts with larger 15-inch diameter ones, as well as add 18-inch culverts in other problem areas. They also promised to remove a cabin, which is located on the wood lot area. The removal of the cabin was made a condition for releasing the $5,000 bond, which the applicants said they would post in order to begin work on the drainage issues. They also said that they had planted approximately 100 Christmas trees, which would likely be ready for harvesting in seven years.
The board also further discussed issues related to revising the town Master Plan. The meeting did become a bit contentious when Chairman Robert Craycraft suggested in the documents implementation section that the town put together a tax committee to investigate how the town’s money was being spent, feeling that some of the town’s budget information was not readily available to the public, and that an infusion of "new blood" might help to keep better tabs on the town’s expenditures. Some on the committee felt that this might be a duplication of much of the budget committee’s responsibility, and that citizens could be involved in the budget process best by attending budget committee meetings, not by working at cross purposes with it. Compromise language was eventually agreed to, but the committee also agreed to discuss the matter further at a later meeting.
In addition, issues of language to encourage involvement of seniors in the community were discussed. Resident Marcia Clark asked if the committee would take into account the desires of seniors in how best to achieve this, and the committee suggested that perhaps a survey of senior residents might be a good way of assessing this. In addition, member Donald Voltz suggested a couple of changes to a section regarding the town’s landscape architecture that suggested lining sidewalks with maple trees, saying that Maples, because their roots are so close to the ground, often cause sidewalks or roads where they are planted near to crack. He also suggested not using cobblestone sidewalks, because they might be inaccessible for those in wheel chairs.

Selectmen Discuss Bidding, other issues (Another meeting story, though I didn't include the discussion of the Foster's Article (see last weeks stories and the High Horse post)
By Jim Shilander
STAFF WRITER
NEW DURHAM — With several issues on the docket, the New Durham Board of Selectmen’s workshop on April 27, was lively and sometimes heated,
A majority of the meeting focused on two issues, first, those involving the town’s fire station and its roof, which needs significant repairs. With repairs possibly going into the area of $70,000, there were question about whether or not expensive repairs were truly worth it, given the likelihood that a new fire station would have to be built soon. Longtime member of the Board Dean Stimpson suggested that the wait on such a fire station could stretch on for another "two to three years" given that the town would have to vote first to put up a new fire station, and then have to vote again as to what property to purchase to put that Fire Station on. There was also some question, and some frustration voiced by Fire Department officials, about the committee set up to handle the fire house issue, because, at least for some at the meeting, it was felt that that group lacked coherent direction and policy goals, and was seen by some in the fire department as trying to get more control over the budget. Selectmen encouraged the board to come to a consensus on their direction and their policy parameters.
Much of the rest of the meeting was taken up by discussion of issues relating to whether selectmen should be allowed to be a part of the open bid process if they have business that could be of use to the community. Selectman Dwight Jones, who was in the process of donating what he termed a "weapons system" to the town police force, said that he was concerned about the potential appearance of impropriety in the future if he, or another Selectman, became part of the open bid process. Presently, each town department has its own list of vendors with which it has dealt in the past, but Town Administrator William Herman said that a comprehensive list of vendors could be put together. Currently, the town must put open for bidding anything that goes over $1,000 in cost for general town business, and $1,500 in the case of the Highway Department and for equipment mechanics. The Selectmen wished in the future that several additional lists be kept, including lists of all solicited companies and that wider publication of the town’s qualified vendors list should be attempted. Jones said that he wanted Selectmen to be above reproach when it came to this situation, and that they should be held to the highest of standards in terms of conflict of interest in the bidding process. Jones said that during the process of donating, he was often approached to sell to the Town, and wanted clarification of the rules in the future, not just for the Board of Selectmen, but for other committee’s as well. It was also suggested that some of the town’s statutes in this regard were out of date, especially in terms of costs. Selectmen Ronald Gehl and Stimpson suggested that not just the conflict of interest policies, but also that all policies should be looked at in this light, especially if they were drafted around the same time as the conflict of interest policy (1997).
The meeting concluded with a terse exchange between Herman and Planning Board member Robert Craycraft, with regards to the Planning Board’s application for the assistance of the Natural Resource Outreach Council (NROC), who will help the town decide what to do about natural resources as the town grows.
Craycraft clarified that state statutes prevented assistance from other committees, for such a venture, but also said he had never received those statutes. Herman said that he had sent them, however, Craycraft again denied receiving them.