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I Love Nelson, NH
EVERY WEEK IN OUR COMMUNITY
| Monday Evening:
Monday Night Contra Dance
8:00 pm ~ Nelson Town Hall
Admission: $3.00
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Tuesday & Thursday:
Town Offices Open
9:00 am until Noon
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Sunday:
Nelson Congregational Church
Service at 9:30 am
Info 603-847-3280
Chapel By The Lake
Service at 10:00 am
Info 603-847-9900
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Olivia Rodham Memorial Library Hours Monday 10:00 - 1:00
Tues, Wed, Thurs
3:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Story Hour: Tuesday
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Oct - May
Saturday 10:00 - 1:00
Free Internet Connection
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Knitters & Crocheters Club
meets every other Thursday, 10:00 am, at the Chapel By The Lake
next meeting: 09/13 |
| Does Your Project Need Funding?
If you are planning a community project that you believe will benefit the Nelson and Munsonville community, there may be funds available to help you get started. Moving in Step has a convenient downloadable application form available at the website.
Contact Richard Popovic 847-3192 or Dave Birchenough 827-3552 for more information.
What's Happening in the Marketplace?
What makes our online Classifieds and Marketplace so unique? It's our friends and neighbors that make it stand out.
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Greetings!
Ready for another packed newsletter?
There's so much to tell you about! Everything from a new meeting timeline from the Selectmen to a children's Halloween Party.
Oh, and don't forget about the Nelson School Open House and Barbecue this evening at 5:30!
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 | Nelson School: Open House and Barbecue |  Now that the school year is officially underway, it's time for our Annual Open House and Barbecue! Last year's event was so well received by parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, School Board members - teachers and staff!
The Open House begins at 5:30 pm this evening, September 19th. This is a family event and all parents, grandparents, and siblings are encouraged to join us if they would like to. We'll begin with mingling and eating from 5:30 to 6:30.
Then, at 6:30 we will gather for staff introductions and to hear a little bit about Blizzard Bags. After that it's time to visit your children's classrooms. All the teachers will be on hand to answer your questions.
We hope to see you there!
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| One Selectman's Report |  Dave Upton
Hello Everyone,
It's been an all too short summer but a lovely one nonetheless. We've been invited to and did attend the Roxbury Bicentennial celebration, continued to make steady progress in our remodeling project for our Town Offices and to support the good work of our Town Buildings Committee, begun to conduct traffic studies to try to improve the safety of our town roads, hired a new Deputy Town Clerk/Tax Collector, and begun thinking about budget development for the upcoming year.
Back in July, the Select Boards of Nelson and Marlborough, and a representative of the Keene City government were invited to attend the Roxbury Bicentennial Celebration. We were advised that we would be given a commemorative piece of Roxbury granite. I was pleased to be able to attend this gathering on the 18th of August and to participate in the event.
It turns out that back in the mid to late 18th century when the Townships of Packersfield, Marlboro, and Keene were incorporated, that there was no Roxbury. The folks living in Southwestern Packersfield, Northwestern Marlboro and Eastern Keene complained to the State Legislature that they needed to become an independent township so that they could worship and conduct town business without having to travel the great distances to the meeting houses located in Packersfield, Marlboro, or Keene. In 1812 their petition was granted by the Legislature and the new Town of Roxbury was incorporated on December 9th of that year. Land from Packersfield, Marlboro, and Keene was taken for that purpose. So, on August 18th of this year, the Town of Roxbury thanked Nelson, Marlborough, and Keene for their land and returned to each of us a piece of their town, an inscribed piece of granite.
Rick Church took a photo of the gift to Nelson and the booklet produced for the bicentennial. Both of these reside in our Town Archives if anyone would like to take a closer look.
Our remodeling project for our Town Offices is proceeding on schedule thanks to the good work of our contractor and the diligence and persistence of Edie, Teri and Edith. As many of you know, the Town Offices have been open during most of the work and we will be able to hold our first Select Board meeting in the new space on this Wednesday, 9/19.
The Town Buildings Committee, with architect Rick Monahon, is continuing with the development of concepts and plans for the remodeling of the Library basement, the shoring up and remodeling of the Town Hall, and the restoration of the second floor of the Brick Schoolhouse. Lisa Sievert, Susan Hansel and Bert Wingerson completed and submitted a grant application for $50,000 to LCHIP for the Town Hall project. Thanks to Lisa, Susan, and Bert for their great work. The next in a series of presentations of this developing project will be presented by the Buildings Committee and Rick Monahon at the Chapel by the Lake in Munsonville on this Thursday, 9/20 at 7:00 pm. Everyone is encouraged to attend.
In response to a number of concerns reported to the Select Board regarding the speed of traffic on our roads, Southwestern Regional Planning conducted a traffic study on Nubanusit Road. The results of this study showed that in fact a majority of the traffic exceed the desired 20 to 25 mph speed limit. Since the conclusion of that study our Police Department has acquired a traffic recording and speed monitoring device for our own use. It is available for traffic studies on any roads in Town and can be employed at the request of anyone in Town. Please contact Rich Pratt or a Select Board member if you would like us to conduct a traffic study on your road.
We want to welcome Julia Lennon as our new Deputy Town Clerk/Tax Collector. Julia will be training with Teri and Edith for the rest of this year. Since both Teri and Edith are planning on retiring from their positions at the end of this year, Julia's experience will allow her to take on the job of Town Clerk/Tax Collector should the Town choose to elect her in March.
Thanks to Edie and Teri, we've filed all of the necessary financial reports with the DRA so that they can proceed to calculate our property tax rate for 2012. With that done, we can move on to developing our Town Report for 2012 and our budget for 2013. Budget development this year should be greatly simplified because of the good work done by Edie and Anita to make our financial reports conform with DRA requirements. Along with maintaining our Town services, special items of interest in our budget for 2013 will be staff salaries, financial support for our Fire and Rescue Department, and the building projects that the Town Buildings Committee is developing.
Finally, on a housekeeping note, we have modified the way in which we conduct our Select Board meetings and our procedures for the public to access the services of our Town Administrative Assistant. We have made these changes in an attempt to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our Board meetings and to provide the best possible customer service while creating a positive and manageable work environment for our Administrative Assistant. Copies of our new meeting protocol and our customer service procedures can be read online. We are hopeful that these changes will allow us to provide the best possible service to the people of Nelson.
Thanks and please let us know if you have questions or comments.
Dave
Customer Service Procedures Procedural Changes for Nelson Select Board Meetings |
| Open Meeting & Discussion
|  At 7:00 PM on Thursday, September 20th at the Chapel By The Lake, the Town Buildings Committee will review the proposals and budgets for repairs and renovations of the town's buildings. The total cost for the three proposed projects is approximately $750,000. You are invited to attend this meeting and learn more about these projects, and make your voice heard.
The assessment work to develop the recommendations was funded in part by a grant from the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance and in part by a vote of the Town in March of 2012.
Currently, the Town Buildings Committee and the Selectmen intend to bring all three projects to Town Meeting as separate warrant articles. Your votes will decide which, if any, of these projects go forward.
For further information, contact Lisa Sieverts at lisa@lisasieverts.com or give her a call at 603-762-0235.
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| Short Stack? Pile 'em On!
|  You are invited to attend a community Pancake Breakfast this Saturday morning, September 22nd, at the Chapel By The Lake.
You'll be treated to stacks and stacks of the delicious gold-brown breakfast treat, and mix and mingle with your friends and neighbors.
Serving begins at 7:30. Hope to see you there!
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| Trailblazing By Committee
| Kathy Schillemat
Al Stoops, Tom Murray, Rick Church, and I were on a mission to mark the rest of the Murdough Hill Meander. It's an interesting thing to mark a trail by committee. Rick said one way was good, I said another way was more interesting, Al chose another path and Tom another. Eventually we did manage to reach agreement, until the next time we walk the route! Highlights were the little things: spider building a web on the sapling just as we headed into the woods. The web was finished 4 hours later when we returned. Spider nets littered the ground like so many thin pieces of tissue; a mushroom shaped like a fancy little parasol, a carpet of rich, deep, green sphagnum moss, the soft ground under our feet, and no bugs! Gotta love Autumn.
Stay tuned for the update on this lovely trail as it develops. And come by to check out what we have cleared so far. Next week: probably back to Osgood Hill, the Ledges and Sawmill Falls for another trail in the works.
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| Come Zentangle with Us! |  On Saturday, September 29, 2012 from 10:30 am until 11:30 am at the Library we invite you to "Come do Zentangle with us"!
Zentangle is a way of creating beautiful images from repetitive patterns. It is fun and relaxing. It increases focus and creativity, provides artistic satisfaction along with an increased sense of personal well being. The Zentangle method is enjoyed across a wide range of skills, interests and ages.
No need to bring anything except your imagination!
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| Murdough Hill Meander ~ Work Day |  The Nelson Trails Group invites you to come and enjoy a working day for the Murdough Hill Meander on Saturday, September 29th, at 9:00 am.
A 'working day' means that there will be brush to cut, limbs to remove, and a new trail to blaze! The larger work has already been done on the Murdough Hill Meander, Nelson's newest hiking trail.
Equipment needed: gloves, loppers, and bow saws, etc. And don't forget your bug spray!
We'll all gather at Duane and Kathy's home on Murdough Hill Road (# 221), and proceed from there to the site. You are all welcome to come and join in the excitement, especially if you are a lover of all things out-of-doors. Bring a lunch if you like, even though we should be done with this phase of the trail-blazing by noon.
If you have any questions or comments, just give Kathy a call at 847-9785 or shoot her an email at kschillemat@yahoo.com.
You can also find out more information concerning the Nelson Trails Group at http://movinginstep.org/trails/nelson-trails.shtml.
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| Moving In Step Awards WiFi Grant
|  At the Annual Meeting of Moving in Step last week a Grant to the Town of Nelson approved in the amount of $150 for materials and labor in order to provide WiFi access within and around the Old Brick Schoolhouse, with the condition that it be available to the public without requiring a password.
Dave Birchenough, Moving In Step Board member and all-around 'gadget guru' spoke at length with Nelson's expert communications contractor, Allan Treadwell, proprietor of Twin Bridge Services, to clarify his completed installation.
Allan installed two wireless WiFi networks in the OBS.
One is open to the public with an initial limit of 10 simultaneous users and no password required. That limit is imposed to guard against the remote possibility that a large group of users degrade the bandwidth available to our town officials that may also be using the shared 15 Mbps DSL Internet service. I agree that is a very acceptable restriction. In addition, the provided hardware allows for all wireless IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n technologies and provides improved range, somewhat beyond the standard 120 feet indoors. 802.11n, which has been provided on all Apple products for years, will double that range.
The second wireless WiFi service is available to authorized officials only and requires password access in addition to allowing connection only to specific MAC address mobile devices. This authorization would allow, for example, a selectman to connect his specific iPad to the Internet and also allow printing to the office printer. When that person is no longer a selectman, his device's MAC address would be removed from the database and it would no longer be able to communicate with that sub-network. That device would be able to access the public WiFi, but couldn't use any of the Town's services.
This setup protects the Town's data, allows adequate limited simultaneous wireless public users to connect to the Internet and does so using an existing single high-speed digital Internet connection. This is a perfect solution to a complex issue.
Kudos to Allan Treadwell.
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| Congratulations to Kris Finnegan! |  Linda Cates
Each year the New Hampshire Library Trustees Association selects a "Library Director of the Year" and this year they have selected our own Kris Finnegan. The award is given for professionalism, leadership and outstanding performance to a Library Director who offers programs which enhance the quality of life in their community. Kris certainly meets this criteria and more. The Trustees of the library are thrilled that Kris has received this award.
We hope you will be able to join us on October the 2nd in the Nelson Town Hall at 7:00 pm as Kris is presented her award. Refreshments will follow.
To read all about Kris' accomplishments as our Librarian, follow this link.
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| Friends of the Library Book Sale Report
|  The annual book sale sponsored by the Friends of the Olivia Rodham Library was another success thanks to the tireless efforts of many volunteers who worked all summer to make it happen. The sale generated $1336.00 to be used to purchase books, DVDs, and periodicals for the Library. The money also provides matching grants for computers, gift certificates for the Summer Reading Program and other needs of the Library, such as a new answering machine. Membership dues and generous donations, in addition to purchased items at the sale, contributed to this total.
The volunteers helped to sort books, videos and DVDs that are stored in the library basement after they are donated or discarded. The donated items then have to be moved up to the Town Hall just prior to the sale, arranged on tables and labeled for easy browsing. A whole crew has to man the table at the sale to collect dues and to sell book bags and all that great reading and viewing material. Then everything must be boxed up and made ready for "Got Books" to pick up what is unsold.
The volunteers who helped this year with some or all of these activities are:
Anita Flanagan, Harry Flanagan, Sara Sandberg, Eric Sandberg, Russ Thomas, Dennis Dellagreca, Rich Popovic, Donna Kidd, Sandy Ferguson, Pamela White, Dave Bower, Nathan Sturk, Jeff Taylor, Judith Taylor-Maule, Martha Collins, Maureen Lord, Julio Razquin, Ian Frederick, Fallon Smith, Peter Smith, Joy Birdsey-Smith, Kira Kasper, Katie Kasper, Elaine Giacomo, Jan Perry, Bob Jones, Tricia Jones, Rick Church, Susan Hansel.
Special thanks to Carol Heath and Betsey Church who organize and oversee this project from beginning to end. We also wish to thank all those who donate items to the sale, and of course those who participate in the sale guaranteeing that our Library will always have good books and DVDS and other things as needed.
The Committee for the Friends of the Library Book Sale
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| Make a Hydrangea Wreath |  Dear Friends and Neighbors, On Sunday, Oct 7th at 11:00 AM there will be a hydrangea wreath demonstration at the Nelson Congregational Church Fellowship Hall. Bunny Mogilnicki, from Bunny's Bouquets in Rochester, MA will lead this fun and informative class. Each participant will complete a wreath. All materials (including hydrangeas) will be included. Cost is $20.00. If interested in attending, please call (847 9123) or email Sara Shepherd (saras.swims@gmail.com ) by Sep 29th. Thanks!!
Sara |
| PTO Meets October 4th |  Parents, grandparents, family members, community members, are you ....
Interested in making a difference?
Your child/children benefit!
We pledge to honor your time constraints.
We have fun!
Meet nice people who share your concerns.
We're welcoming!
We're about parent/community involvement, not all fundraising!
We can match our tasks to your interests and abilities.
First PTO meeting
Thursday, October 4, 2012
6:30pm - 7:30pm
Nelson School multipurpose room
Questions: contact us! pjbirdsmith@gmail.com or 847-9533
Joy Birdsey or Nelson School 847-3408
For more about the Nelson School's PTO, follow this link
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| The Great Harvest Supper
|  The Great Harvest Supper will be held this year at the Nelson Congregational Church on October 13th, beginning at 5:00 pm.
On the menu this season will be home-made chicken pot pie, locally-grown squash, salad, warm and melty biscuits, spicy gingerbread, and a beverage.
The cost for this event is $9.00 for adults and $6.00 for children under 10. Family rates available. More info: Joy Birdsey
pjbirdsmith@gmail.com |
| Children's Halloween Party |  It's time for everyone to have some spooky fun! A group of parents and friends of parents will once again present a Children's Halloween Party at the Nelson Town Hall on Saturday afternoon, October 27th from 2 pm until 5 pm.
Plans and ideas are still rolling in and are being discussed, but, this group would like to know what YOU think. We have just begun to discuss some ideas.
Here's just a taste:
* Shall we have the Whoopie Pie eating contest again?
* Each and every child in each of our various neighborhoods would be encouraged to be a part of the afternoon's fun.
* There would be food, or course, and treats for all of the children.
* Who has ideas about music, games, prizes, or a program of events?
* Who is willing to be chaperones, or take part in other volunteer opportunities?
* What ideas do you have?
Anyone with any comments, ideas, suggestions, or a wish to volunteer is asked to contact Candyce. Let's talk and plan!
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See you around town!
Candyce Fulford
on behalf of Moving In Step, a community project |
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