Week #9- Yup- this has gone by so fast

Seriously, were almost 20% of the way through my first year here, its amazing how quickly this is going:


New Durham Planning Board continues look at Master Plan

By Jim Shilander
Staff Writer
NEW DURHAM — The New Durham Planning Board could never be accused of not taking their time to look over the new master plan.
Four more than half of the board’s four-hour June 7 meeting, Gerry Mylroie of the Strafford Regional Planning Commission went over the board’s current language, and he and the board went over possible changes in areas ranging from the vision section of the document and areas relating to town beautification. Members suggested their own revisions to each section as well. They worked to consider the needs of the town as well as to clarify language if and when future planning boards consider changes or are looking at it for guidance.
Mylroie, who is also affiliated with the Natural Resources Outreach Coalition, a group that is assisting in putting together "smart growth" proposals for the future growth of New Durham, also went through another ordinance with the board. Mylroie’s presentation focused on the Open Space Conservation Subdivision Ordinance, which the Planning Board is working to put to voters at an upcoming public meeting; this will be scheduled when the language is finalized.
The ordinance would amend the current zoning regulations to allow for new subdivision configurations. The configuration proposed by Mylroie would call for houses to be placed in groups closer to one another, with half the buildable land being used as open space. To better illustrate the concept, Ron Gehl gave an example at the meeting: if a 10-acre parcel "was subdivided into five homes, each requiring two acres, half of that 10-acre parcel would be reserved for open space, thus shrinking the two-acre lots to one acre."
State regulations regarding septic tanks and other issues could be met on a one-acre lot, thus the other acres could be used as common open space between the five homes. Still, the board did raise several issues regarding the language of the ordinance with regards to tailoring it to better fit New Durham’s needs. The June 21 meeting will feature discussion of both issues.
Also at the meeting, town resident Dick Bernard asked for guidance regarding a subdivision that he said he had been waiting for two years to resolve. Bernard first raised the issue at the August 5, 2003, board meeting, he said. A planned deal with a neighbor, which would have solved some of the problems with the subdivision of his lot, fell through, and he returned to the board almost two years later for guidance on how best to proceed. Bernard said that he would soon be looking to put in a private drive, which would be up to town standards, to give him the necessary frontage to subdivide his lot. Bernard said he was looking to give a lot to his son, (who currently lives in a mobile home on the property), to build a permanent dwelling. Bernard agreed to discuss the issue with the Road Agent. And the board, because of some tricky language in various town ordinances regarding these issues, will send the issue to town council for guidance.
One controversy discussed late in the meeting was the result of a draft letter sent to board members by Chairman Bob Craycraft, regarding the Fire Station Task Force’s plans regarding capital improvement plans for the new fire station. Cathy Orlowicz felt that the tone of the letter needed to be changed, so as to not appear to be going over the head of Fire Chief John Nicastro. The letter was amended. The board also agreed to attach e-mails sent regarding the issue be made a part of the minutes of the June 7 meeting to be discussed later.


Bargain hunters roamed the streets
Alton’s community yard sale a hit
By Jim Shilander
Staff Writer
ALTON — Cars crawled along the streets, while gangs of seniors and young people alike walked all over Alton June 4; there was a palpable sense of bargain hunting in the air.
The eighth annual Alton Town Yard Sale, an event sponsored and organized by the Parks and Recreation department, had more than 50 sales around town going at once, and those were just those who had registered with the town. Many others, including those just looking to sell an old boat or car, also put out their "sale" signs on Saturday. The event, which was created in order to foster a sense of "community spirit," according to the Parks and Recreation Department, has become a way for Alton residents to get together for a day, as well as for those from other areas to explore the town.
Even early in the day, sales seemed to be quite brisk. Sam Huggard, who’s sale featured items from a computer monitor to picnic baskets, said that it "was kind of fun to do this town wide." He joked, "Everyone gets to trade junk for the day."
Some used the event for other causes. Amy Johnson, of Alton, had a sign in front of her sale saying that all proceeds would be going for cancer research. Johnson explained that she was involved with "The Relay Walk for Life," and was using the sale to help further fundraising efforts for the American Cancer Society. The sale in front of the Alton Veterinary Clinic was one of the largest of the day. This one caused parking backups as the sale-seekers made their way to a display featuring furniture, baby clothes and a big collection of you-name-it.
The town provided a map to all of the sponsored yard sales, which extended all over Alton with a large concentration around the center of town and the Bay. One yard sale, which was operated by Laurie Rasbridge, had been operating all week. "We’ve had tons of stuff, we’re still pulling out more," she said. Rasbridge also said however, that while her sale was open all week, the town-yard sale still brought out a lot more people, "A lot of people have set this day aside," she said. "It helps, people know the community is doing it, which is helpful."


Nearly touching death, Cosline finds her voice
Barnstead woman survives Aneurysm to tell her story

By Jim Shilander
Staff Writer
BARNSTEAD — Liz Cosline almost died at an Easter egg hunt.
In April of 2001, Cosline suffered a brain aneurysm while at an Easter egg hunt in Pittsfield with her young daughter. A blood vessel essentially exploded in her brain. Cosline describes the event, which she says came with no warning was "like lightning striking from the inside out." The pain, she says was "consuming" and, "like getting shot." She collapsed to the ground, completely immobilized. Cosline was holding her then 2-year-old daughter at the time; however, she cannot explain how she didn’t drop her to the ground.
As time slowed down around her, Cosline says she "could feel her body going into trauma." "I knew I was dying," Cosline says, "It was very clear." Rescue workers, who were at the scene to monitor the Easter Egg hunt, arrived to tend to her in preparation for the arrival of an ambulance. It was then the Cosline’s life changed.
She says that another world "descended on this one," so that essentially, she was living in two separate worlds, and her pain left her. She says this other world was "right on top of ours."
Cosline’s new book, "One Voice," describes what Cosline says happened to her in that other world. As to whether she believed that she saw heaven, Cosline answered quickly, "no doubt it was heaven." Cosline describes what has happened to her since her aneurysm as "an incredible journey started then that makes you look at things differently."
Cosline described part of her experience in being flanked on either side by two beings in Cosline’s vision of heaven. One, on her left, she believes to have been the Angel of Death. The one on the right, which Cosline described as "pure energy, and a white light," Cosline believes to have been the spirit of God. While that spirit dissipated as she entered the ambulance, the one on her left remained until she neared the hospital.
Things didn’t necessarily look good for Cosline as she entered the hospital. The doctor who examined her wrote in his log "an unfortunate woman came in today," and he indicated to Cosline’s loved ones that a stroke, convulsions or even a coma might be likely for Cosline, despite the fact that she had retained consciousness during her aneurysm. Cosline suffered no such fate, and awoke on Easter morning after emergency surgery.
Cosline has taken to writing much of her story. "One Voice" is part of a trilogy of books she has written about her near-death experience, and she has just begun work on her fourth. Cosline, who works at Catholic Medical Center, and attends services at South Church in Concord, has taken to seeing the world in new ways. "There are thousands of possibilities for people," she says "Its whether we see them or not…I had always believed and prayed to God," she said, adding that she had "gotten away" from attending church for a long time. "Now I know He exists with no doubt."


National theater group calls Barnstead home
By Jim Shilander
Staff Writer
BARNSTEAD — It’s not just a simple barn.
While there are still bales of hay and horses in the barn owned by Kathy and Gordon Preston, there’s are lots of things you won’t find in your average New England barn…like rows and rows of costumes, swords, sets, antique furniture and anything else required for being home base for one of the nation’s largest touring theater groups.
Michael Phillips, the artistic director of the Hampstead Players, the group operated by the Prestons, says that there’s a difference between the shows that their company does and the others that often perform at schools. "We do educational theater, not children’s theater," he says, "we do classics." While primarily focusing on bringing Shakespeare to young audiences, the theater company also performs stories from Charles Dickens (including a version of "A Christmas Carol"), Greek myth, and Native American legend. This is in contrast to much of what is performed in "children’s theater," which tends to cater to the youngest of the young. Phillips describes the difference as "trying to bring the audience up, as opposed to going down to where you think they are."
Phillips does take special care to make sure the troupe presents their mostly school audiences with something they can relate to. Plays are often cut down to fit into the usual 50-minute performance time.
The Players also adapt Shakespearian plays, with an adult audience in mind. Additional material is added, though not to Shakespeare’s original language, to help "contextualize" the message of a play. Phillips gave as an example a production of "MacBeth" which contrasted "an issue" in Shakespeare’s marriage to Anne Hathaway and the problems facing Lady MacBeth and her husband.
That attention to detail also served to aid The Hampstead Players when they put on their condensed version of Shakespeare’s most famous play, "Romeo and Juliet," given the tragic circumstances at the end of the play. Phillips and his colleagues were concerned how the dramatic suicides of the protagonists would affect young audiences. Phillips contacted numerous child psychologists and asked, "How do we best handle this?" By following the advice, and taking the time to carefully craft the scenes, the company has never received a complaint about the way the play ends or has been presented.
While the company is headquartered in the Lakes Region, the Players perform all over the country. The last of their spring touring groups finishes June 3, and already, booking are filling up for next year’s spring season. Next fall, they will tour schools on the West Coast. Each touring group the company sends out (there can be up to 10 teams at once) can perform multiple shows, given that all of the sets and costumes come along with them in minivans. The group also makes "nearly all of their own costumes," according to Phillips, but that can get expensive, running as much as $10,000 to $15,000 per show, because each costume needs to be produced 11 times (one for each of ten teams and an understudy).
The actors also come from all over the country. The Prestons' barn, already outfitted to store all of the sets, costumes and props, is equipped with two rehearsal rooms for actors. Phillips says the Barnstead location is "known throughout the country as a training center for actors." The actors who come to work can often spend as much as 12 hours day rehearsing, which also explains the needs for "dorms" in the building, rooms set up with mattresses allowing as many as 20 to stay in the house at one time. "Having 20 actors in here, it can get pretty hectic and loud," says Kathy Preston, who is also a long-serving member of the school board.
While many of the Players are gone for much of the year, the Prestons and Phillips stay behind and work to book new shows at schools, and in Phillip’s case, looking to develop more material. There are currently 18 shows done by the troupe, but Phillips is looking to add another two next season. The troupe performs between 1,500 and 2,000 shows per year, including performances in urban areas, catering to between 400 and 600 audience members at a time.
Phillips also added that the group, which recently became a non-profit, would soon be starting a capital campaign to bring a new theater complex to the Lakes Region. Phillips said that the theater, which he hopes will be built within 10 years, will be a reproduction of the Globe Theater in London, where Shakespeare’s plays were originally performed. Phillips mentioned that it’s possible that a full-time company might then be able to stay and perform in the Lakes Region. Phillips says he also hopes to perform some of Shakespeare’s lesser-known works there, along with those of other Elizabethan writers.
Still, the goals of the company will remain Shakespearean and other performances of the classics for young people. "We have to change the ways audiences think," says Phillips. Maybe it’s working. One of the first times that "Hamlet" went out with the company, Phillips says, a child began shouting at the actors who were playing Hamlet and Laertes during their fight scene: "Luke, watch out!" After the show ended, Phillips said talked to the young yeller and asked him what he meant, obviously knowing the boy was referring to Luke Skywalker. "Hamlet," the boy said, still referring to Phillips by his character’s name "you were fighting with your family the way Luke fought with his." There might not be a better, simpler way to think about the play than that.