02-28-2014 News

As you’ve probably heard, the body of a woman was recently found in the woods between Sherwood Drive and the Cinemagic Movie Theater in HooksettAuthorities released some information regarding the discovery yesterday.  The body is that of forty two year old Hooksett resident Cindy Bowdoin.  An autopsy conducted by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has failed to determine a cause of death.  Additional studies are pending.  Bowdoin was last seen alive on Monday morning.  There was no identification on the body when it was found.  The circumstances that led to Ms. Bowdoin’s death are still under investigation.

The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services has contracted with Dartmouth College to determine the private well testing and treatment rate in NH.  Part of the project is to investigate the knowledge, attitudes and common practices of people with wells.  Due to the high number of wells in Goffstown, the college will hold a focus group at Goffstown Town Hall on the evening of Thursday March 6th  from 7 to  8 30. The purpose of this focus group is to test and refine their questions.  If you are a property owner with a private well and the decision maker about the well, you are asked to submit a letter of interest to the Goffstown Board of Selectmen or email Town Administrator Sue Desruisseaux by the end of business today.  The board will select six to twelve participants at its meeting on Monday, March third and will notify the  lucky ones selected by email or phone on Tuesday March 4; that is, of course provided the party planning now occupying Town Hall employees is taken care of.

The Manchester Chapter of Forty Days for Life will kickoff forty days of prayer and fasting for an end to abortion starting this Tuesday, March fourth with a celebration of Holy Mass at Ste. Marie’s Parish located at three seventy eight Notre Dame Avenue on Manchester’s West Side.  After the five thirty mass, the group will gather for pizza at the Pray For Life Center across the street from Planned Parenthood‘s abortion clinic at twenty seven Pennacook Street.  Those wishing to join the group’s prayer and fasting efforts during Lent are welcomed to join them.  We’ve linked to their announcement with all the details from this newscast at Girard at Large dot com.  It contains a brief video that may be of interest to those unsure about participating.

News from our own backyard continues after this.

Stating that the most important person to make decisions for the classroom is the individual teacher, Republican gubernatorial candidate Andrew Hemingway called on legislators to pass House Bill fifteen oh eight, the bill that would end the state’s participation in the Common Core national standards.  In a statement released yesterday, Hemingway said the sheer number of parents that came out to support H B 15 0 8 and oppose Common Core is proof that the national standards are having a significant negative effect on our children’s education.  He called out Governor Margaret Wood Hassan for supporting the standards in her State of the State Address saying he believed in the rights of parents as the ones responsible for their kids and the ones who pay the taxes to support the schools, not the right of the state to use federal coercive measures to dictate what and how our children will learn.  Quote “She stands with the government.  I stand with the people,” said Hemingway.

The town of Bedford has issued a Public Notice regarding the completion of its two thousand fourteen Draft Hazard Mitigation Plan.  The public comment period on the plan is now open and will close on March seventh.  Anyone wishing to comment on the plan may do so by contacting Rick Sawyer, Director of Planning.  His email is R Sawyer at Bedford N H dot org.  I suppose you could give him a call or pop by his office for a visit, too though the Public Notice doesn’t say that.  We’ve uploaded a copy of the Draft Hazard Mitigation Plan for your convenience, or you can go to Town Hall or the Town Library and review the plan during normal business hours.

The Nackey S. Loeb School of Communication is once again offering its popular Telling Your Family Story Workshop.  Raconteur Fritz Wetherbee and journalist-authors John Clayton and Meg Heckman lead a who’s who of story-tellers and historians for the annual workshop which will be held on March twenty second from nine to three. “This popular program teaches how to uncover family or community stories, how to present them and how to preserve them for future generations,” said David Tirrell-Wysocki, Executive Director of the non-profit Manchester school. “These skills are useful for local historians who record town lore and for residents who just want to make sure their dinner-table tales from grandma and grandpa are never forgotten.”  Workshop goers will also hear from Archivist Lori Fisher on preserving and protecting photos and family papers that often fade away in a box in the attic and video production company owner John Gfroerer who will demonstrate video techniques to help put your stories on tape.  Lunch is included with the modest workshop fee and we’ve uploaded their flier with the details so you can take a look and register.

That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ starts right now!