Celebrating Birthdays are: February 23, Sarah Hillsgrove; February
24, Daniel St. Laurent; February 25, Reynold Chase, Bruce Tibbetts,
Tom Huckins; February 26, Magen Vien; February 28, Irving Gadoury;
March 1, Nicholas Tuttle, Erin Dame, Chris Briggs.
A Very Happy
Birthday to One and All!
PYBA is pleased to announce that
softball and baseball signups for children aged 4-18 will be held at
the Community Center as follows: Wednesday, March 2 from 5:30 pm -
8:00 pm; Saturday, March 5 from 9:00 am - 2:00 pm; and Wednesday,
March 9 from 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm. Players in the PYBA program for the
first time should bring a copy of their birth certificates. The
cost is $50 per player with a $125 family cap.
Josiah Carpenter Library Changing
Hours As of March 1, 2011, the hours will be: Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Friday and Saturday,
10:00 am to 1:00 pm. Closed Saturdays in the Summer.
Anyone interested in serving on either the Budget Committee or the
Housing Standards Agency, please contact the Town Moderator, at
435-8022 or
[email protected].
Winners of the January
drawing at the Peterson-Cram Post No. 75 American Legion were: #145,
Jenna Freese, $50.00; #182, Charles H. Green, $25.00; #60, Mike
Pratt, $10.00; #346, Dorothy Stockman, $10.00; #92, Amanda Stewart,
$10.00.
Winners for February were: #280, Richard Weeks, $50.00;
#257, Jerry Leavitt, $25.00; #110, Henry Stapleton, $10.00; #266,
E.J. Stapleton, $10.00; #148, Chris Durkin, $10.00.
Pittsfield Girl Scouts
Wow! We have had a busy first half of the
year this year in Girl Scouts! We have five active troops this
year. One Daisy troop (K-1st grade), one Brownie troop (2-3rd
grade), two Junior Troops (4-5th grade) and one older girl troop!
So far this year our troops have gone on a night time corn maze with
a Hooksett Girl Scout troop, gone to a Manchester Monarchs game,
attended Disney Princesses on Ice, saw the New York City Ballet
perform Alice in Wonderland at the Capital Center for the Arts in
Concord, sang Christmas Carols at the town tree lighting, had a
Christmas party complete with a visit from Santa Claus, and enjoyed
a very successful “Bring a Dude Dance.” The girls had a lot of
fun planning this dance for their dads and everyone had a great time
and danced the night away.
We have earned patches on many
different topics and in the coming months we are planning a rock
climbing trip to Vertical Dreams in Manchester and getting ready for
a museum sleepover for the brownies and a camping trip for the
juniors. We are also eagerly awaiting the delivery of our Girl
Scout Cookies so that we can get them into your hands and into your
freezer!
Our Girl Scouting year starts in October and the fun
ends in late May/early June. Consider joining us next year (we
need more Daisies!) for all the fun. Watch for our Registration Days
in the fall. For more information call Danielle at 435-7001.
Letter
To The Editor
To the good citizens of Pittsfield: My neighbor,
Carl Wallman, and I were talking about the pros and cons of
repealing zoning. He called me a dreamer and naive. He
asked that in a letter I mention the importance of respecting and
never harming your neighbor. Agreed.
He asked me if I would
like a factory next door. I thought about it for a week and
told him I probably would try to get a part-time job there.
My
dream is for everyone who wants, to put a sign up and operate a
business from their home without anyone’s permission. No
hurdles, just open.
I have found if someone lets their dog run,
it causes many more problems than a neighbor could working or doing
business. I have been lucky, I have had 40 years of
opportunity.
Pittsfield needs more opportunity through more
employment, for the next generation. Pittsfield needs to get
rid of some protections, so we may have more freedom. This is
truly why I ask for your vote to repeal zoning. The light bulb
will only go on if there is enough people to power it.
Dan
Schroth Piermarocchi Pittsfield
Letter
To the voters of Pittsfield: Mr. Jim Prichard is running for the
Planning Board again. Jim was responsible for writing the
warrant article to reduce the board from seven members to five last
year. I think he felt with fewer members he would have a
better chance of controlling what went on.
He attended the Public
Hearing on February 1, 2011, to hear about the proposed changes to
the Zoning Ordinance. All he did was push the board into
answering questions he could later attack.
Is this the type of
person you the public, wish to represent you on the board? His
knowledge and attempts to get his own zoning passed over the last
couple of years prove his only wish is to have things his way.
Jim’s attempt to get elected to the Planning Board last year was not
accepted by the Town. His Citizen Zoning has not passed in the
last couple of years. What difference does he propose now?
Has he received any additional education? Has he attended all
the meetings to better understand people’s concerns?
No Jim
hasn’t. He only wants things his way. Is this what’s best for
the Town? I don’t think so.
Please remember this at voting
time and Do Not Vote For Jim Prichard.
Thank you for listening
and please remember to vote on March 8, 2011.
Hank FitzGerald
Pittsfield
Win A
Pot O’ “Green”
The Friends of the Josiah Carpenter Library will
once again be holding a St. Patrick’s Day/Spring Raffle on Election
Day, March 8, 2011, at the Pittsfield Town Hall. Come join in the
fun, bring your wallet and give a try at winning this gift basket,
chocked full of “Little Green Gardening” items and the “Real Green”
– Lottery tickets!
All
proceeds go to the betterment of the Josiah Carpenter Library.
Thank you for your support. A Happy
Spring to All.
Letter
To The Editor
At this critical juncture in Pittsfield’s
evolution, I must disagree with my neighbor and devoted Pittsfield
citizen Dan Schroth, and all those who join him in campaigning for
an end to zoning ordinances. This is an ill-conceived notion
that would irreparably harm our community and the entire region.
Portraying zoning as an attack on our personal freedoms, an
infringement of small business or the rights of property ownership
is overly simplistic and extremely shortsighted. Zoning is a
part of the covenant we all share as members of the community.
No zoning is anarchy. Zoning protects our property
investments, our quality of life, the air we breathe and the water
that sustains us. Abolishing zoning would in no way enhance
the business climate. It would make our town a pariah among
our neighboring communities and literally a dumping ground for all
manner of toxic enterprises.
Well-regulated and well-designed
enclaves of business, industrial, residential, agricultural, and
mixed zones offer the promise of a bright future for Pittsfield or
any other town. Pittsfield has known hard times and the
declines in farming, the closure of most of the mills, and loss of
much of the retail business is real, but the false hope and red
herring offered by this proposal to end zoning would do no more than
solidify the declines of the past with even greater declines for the
future.
I urge every resident of Pittsfield to turn out on
Tuesday, March 8th and cast a vote to sustain our zoning ordinance.
This is much too important an issue to be surrendered to simplistic
solutions.
Sincerely, James C. Allard Pittsfield
Handcrafted Bookmarks for Sale at Josiah Carpenter Library
A dozen beautiful handcrafted bookmarks, the creations of
Pittsfield resident Margaret Castine, were donated as a fundraiser
for the Josiah Carpenter Library. No two bookmarks are alike.
Each bookmark displays six colorful hot air balloons, the very
symbol of fundraising in Pittsfield, a town famed for its Annual
Rotary Hot Air Balloon Rally, for thirty years. No two
balloons on any of the bookmarks are exactly alike Each bookmark
represents ten to twelve hours of labor in the art of counted
cross-stitch. Even the tassels are hand-crafted.
The bookmarks sell for $10.00 each.
Mrs. Castine
also donated six bookmarks of various designs to be given away as
prizes as Children’s Reading Program incentives. The Josiah
Carpenter Library is greatly appreciative Mrs. Castine’s generosity.
Letter
There is more bad than good in zoning. It’s too bad that the
Zoning Board doesn’t use common sense, instead of following what
other towns have done.
I live in Pittsfield. I don’t care
what other towns do. For example: we live two miles out of
town. We lost our business and home in a fire in 1995.
With zoning, if we wanted to build on the same spot, we had to start
within one year.
After that, we would have had to go to
the Planning Board. After twelve years, we decided to put a
shed over the cellar hole. The Planning Board rejected that,
because in the county there is a 50 foot set back. The
old house was 21 feet from the road. None of our abutters
objected. Only one member of the Planning Board agreed with
us.
So members who don’t even live close to us, said what we
could do on our own property. Do you agree?
Our old home
sat there for over 200 years. Why can’t we have zoning that
makes sense?
Respectfully, Ebenezer Morrell Pittsfield
Letter
Frontage Part 2 What’s The Plan?
I’ve reviewed the websites of
town after town in New Hampshire and it’s fair to say that most
towns allow frontage only on taxpayer maintained roads (Class V or
better). There certainly are towns with more lenient
definitions (primarily unmaintained Class VI with some that include
unmaintained private roads).
One thing that is consistent
among the towns that will allow (by special exception) frontage on
an unmaintained road, is that they have clear and concise policies,
readily available on their websites, using RSA 474:41 as their
guideline, so that all residents are treated fairly and equally.
Pittsfield, apparently, has no such guideline. Some might
say that the guideline will come after the definition is voted-in.
I say that doesn’t make sense since RSA 474:41 has been around for
decades and, since Pittsfield has had no frontage definition, the
need for such a policy should have been realized and formulated many
years ago.
Some might say the policy already exists.
I say prove it. Post the policy and the forms on our website
like other towns do. Prove to the taxpayers that Pittsfield’s
governing body insures that those who are given building permits on
unmaintained roads have signed a document releasing the town of all
responsibilities for that road. By the way, that includes
property owners within a subdivision.
If the majority of
taxpaying voters in Pittsfield find this frontage definition
acceptable as is, so be it. But I, for one, will vote against
Article 4 which covers 87 Definitions (one of them being Frontage).
God Bless Our Troops, Rachel Wood Pittsfield
Letter
Dear Pittsfield residents and surrounding neighbors and friends:
Much is being said about the local budgets and the impact they have
on property owners paying for public education. Yes, some
schools are doing better with the grades of their students and some
not so good. However, for those school districts that
are struggling and feel that the teachers are being over paid with
little return for the money, you need to think of one thing.
What is your responsibility, as a parent towards your child’s
education? Do you leave it up to the teachers and staff to
teach them during week days? Do you not go over their homework
to see if it is correct before they turn it in or if they even
understood what the assignment was?
To paraphrase a World
War II leader, Winston Churchill said “Never have so many owed so
much to so few.” The same can be said for the teachers and
staff at our local schools.
As a substitute teacher, I can
pretty much judge which ones do their homework at home and the
parents take an active role in their education. Which group
are you in? Take an active role in your child’s education,
help them to do the best they can and help out the teachers.
Trust me they would be happy to see an active parent involved with
their students.
As for budget, yes tough choices
need to be made but we need to make sure the buildings are safe and
functional and not wait until there is structural failure to upgrade
the buildings.
Remember, “The youth of today are the
leaders of tomorrow” and they need all the help they can get to be
successful; let us help them achieve their goals.
Sincerely,
Merrill Vaughan Pittsfield
Math
Day By Mrs. Elliott’s Third Grade Class We made Math hats
And wrote Math facts. We made Math shapes that were all 3D, Of
pretzels and marshmallows that were tasty. Math is a blast, We
can do it fast. Math games are cool They make us love school.
We sat in cozy nooks While reading math books. We showed lots
of dedication While practicing facts of multiplication.
Multiplication is fun It makes us learn a ton. During snack we
were in the zone; We ate polygons, dodecagons, and cones. In
Math our Smartboard is cool; It is a very useful tool. Math
day is all done It was lots of fun!
Obituaries
Mary E.
LeDuc
Mary E. LeDuc 65, of Keystone Heights, FL (formerly of
Pittsfield) passed away February 15, 2011.
Mary was born in
Pittsfield April 14, 1945 and was a graduate of Pittsfield High. She
married Vernon LeDuc in 1965 and was a dedicated wife and mother.
She was a long time employee of the Pittsfield School cafeteria
system before retiring in FL. She was the daughter of Winsor and
Betty Burbank of Pittsfield. She leaves behind her loving husband
Vernon “Skip” LeDuc, her son Robert of Stratford CT, her brother
Frank of Sydney ME, her sisters Joan Case of Weare, Lydia West of
Canterbury and Betty Burbank also of Canterbury, two Grandsons
Collin LeDuc of Londonderry and Rob LeDuc Jr. of Cape Coral FL.
She is pre-deceased by her sister Paula Houle of Barnstead. Mary was
a long time member of the Pittsfield Chapter of TOPS (Take Off
Pounds Sensibly) as well as the Keystone Heights chapter. She
enjoyed sewing, cooking for family and friends and going to car
shows and parades with her husband in their 1962 Falcon.
Per
Mary’s wishes, there will be no services and an urn burial will held
at a later date. Donations in her memory can be made to a charity of
your choosing in her name.
Alberta
E. Potter
Alberta Potter, 76, of Loudon, went home to be
with the Lord on February 11, 2011, at Harris Hill Center, with her
family by her side. Born in Farmington on June 3, 1934, Alberta was
the daughter of the late Charles and Doris (Willard) Staples.
She attended schools in Farmington and Alton; worked at the Globe in
Pittsfield, and retired from Bradlees Department Store. Alberta most
recently enjoyed working as a volunteer at the Pittsfield Food
Pantry. She was a member of the Park Street Baptist Church in
Pittsfield.
Alberta lived in Loudon for 52 years where she
enjoyed her passion of sewing doll clothes; doing crafts, puzzles,
crosswords; bird watching; finding trinkets at yard sales; and
visiting with her family.
She was predeceased by her daughter,
Jeannie Potter; her sister, Barbara Staples; and her brother Frank
Staples.
Alberta is survived by her devoted husband of 58 years,
Lester Potter; her daughter and son-in-law, Theresa and Charles
Storey of East Waterboro, ME; her daughter, Darlene Potter of
Penacook; four grandchildren, Seth Storey, Saco, ME; Josh
Storey, Perkasie, PA; Hannah Leach, Alfred, ME; and Lexi Potter,
Penacook. She also leaves 5 great grandchildren; her sister and best
friend, Virginia Hunter of Pittsfield; a brother Charles Staples,
Jr. of Farmington, NH; and several nieces and nephews.
Interment
will be held in the Spring at the family plot in Pittsfield.
At
Alberta’s request, memorial donations may be made to the Park Street
Baptist Church Building Fund or Pittsfield Food Pantry.
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