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Pelham~Windham News Looking Less Likely


Home Improvement Volume 8 Number 40 April 29, 2011 20 Pages


Kindergarten Building Aid


by Len Lathrop Easter Lilies Trumpet the Rising of


by Barbara O’Brien According to Windham School Board Chairman Ed Gallagher, “the risk factor” that Windham might not receive the anticipated 75% kindergarten building aid from the State of New Hampshire “has gone up” in the past couple of weeks. When voters passed the $2 million kindergarten construction warrant article this past March, it was on the condition that the 25% to be paid through local sources would be supplemented by the State building aid that was already in place. It was expected by local officials, at least, that the money would be in place at least through the end of the current fiscal year, which ends on June 30. There is a contingency, however, that the warrant article


would become null and void if the State money is not made available for this project. During a School Board meeting earlier this month, SAU 28 Business Administrator Adam Steel alerted board members that there was a slight (5 to 10%) chance that the money might not be forthcoming due to budget woes at the State level. At that point, Steel said, building aid money for kindergarten construction was not included in the proposed budget for the 2011-2012 school year. He said the lack of money in the proposed budget might have been “an oversight.” On April 21, Gallagher and Superintendent Franklyn Bass went up to Concord and testified before the Senate Budget Finance Committee, asking committee members to restore the 75% funding for kindergarten construction. “We tried to be brief, but to still get our message across,” Gallagher said. For the past two years, since the initial implementation of public kindergarten in Windham, these five-year-old students have been housed in portable classrooms located on the grounds of Golden Brook School. The State has been paying for the cost of leasing these portables, but that money runs out the end of the 2011-2012 school year. Thereafter, the burden for finding suitable classrooms for this program falls on local taxpayers. “We are still hopeful that a solution will be found” for this dilemma, Gallagher said, referring to the now-uncertain State funding. “We asked the members of the State Budget Finance Committee to keep the pledge that was made previously.” Gallagher said he and Bass explained that the kindergarten addition is only one part of the multi-pronged School District Master Plan, proposals that are intended to alleviate Windham’s extensive space constraint issues over a period of time. “We told the Senators that we have proposed to build just what we need and no more” in regard to the kindergarten project, Gallagher said. “We let them know we are being very conservative.”


Gallagher said he and other School Board members have also talked to State Senator Jim Rausch, as well as several State Representatives. “They are being very helpful,” Gallagher said. Business Administrator Adam Steel is also working directly with the New Hampshire Department of Education to try to come up with a viable solution, Gallagher said. One other option for Windham, should the State funding not be restored to next year’s budget, would be to obtain permission for a special school district meeting, one at which voters could be asked to pay the full bill for constructing a permanent kindergarten facility.


Daylight burns through the fog, and the pristine water of the pond lends to the quiet peace of the morning Rain Would Not Stop Paul Revere, So It Didn’t Stop Pack 610


ubmitted by Jennifer Leigh Wilkerson Pelham’s Cub Scout Pack 610 visited Minute Man National Park in Concord, MA, on Saturday, April 23, for its “Junior Ranger Day.” A Park Ranger greeted the boys, along with their parents, brothers, and sisters, as they arrived at the Visitor’s Center. The boys each received a copy of the National Park Service’s Junior Ranger Workbook filled with activities the boys would use throughout the day to record what they learned about the minutemen’s experiences. Next, they were escorted to the multimedia room, where they were exposed to the sights and sounds of that fateful day of April 19, 1775, the day the American Revolution began. The boys learned how the lighting of a lantern started a rider named Paul Revere and his horse Brown Beauty on their faithful journey to warn the minutemen that the Red Coats were coming. After leaving the Visitor’s Center, the boys toured the park to see the sites firsthand. Their first stop was the Hartwell House, where the boys met two Sons of


Liberty members who immediately drafted them into the Militia Men Infantry. The boys learned how to march, and they learned how to re-load and hold their wooden replica muskets. Next, the boys continued on their journey until they reached the Old North Bridge. Here, a park ranger explained to the Scouts that the spot they were standing on is where—for the first time ever on American soil—an order was given to “fire” upon the King’s troops. The shot that followed started our country on the road to independence. The boys ended their day with time to record everything they had learned from the experience. Loaded with all their newly found knowledge, the boys began to complete their Junior Ranger Workbook. They worked as teams with parents and each other to complete the pages to earn their Junior Ranger Badge. The afternoon ended with congratulations from their Ranger guide, and each Scout received a signed official Junior Ranger Certificate and a Badge for their completion of the program. To learn more about the National Park Services Junior Ranger program, visit www. nps.gov and search for Junior Ranger. To learn more about Pack 610, visit our Website at www.pack610.com. Upcoming opportunities to get involved include a Fishing Derby on Friday, May 20, at 6 p.m. at Veteran’s Memorial Park. Come join us if you are interested in learning how to fish. Let our boys teach you how. Boys entering the first to fifth grades this September can learn about our wonderful Scouting program.


Pelham Pack 610 at Te Hartwell Tavern, Minute Man National Park, Concord, MA Inscripted at age 9, Pack 610 Scout Charles Wright


Christ. That was part of the message that Reverend Bill Ferguson of First Congregational Church of Pelham spoke to those parishioners who had gathered at sunrise on Easter morning. As is the tradition of the church, they met at the Harris’ Pelham Inn to rejoice as people of God. Morning fog made the sunrise very mystical. The simple wooden cross, which was framed by the pond, was backlit from the sun; Reverend Ferguson conveyed that was the setting that Mary found when she went to the grave that morning. That peace was there Sunday as Libby Gorfine, Sarah Hartz, Shannon Oriole, and Bryce Henderson, young people from the parish, read passages that told the story of Easter. The holiday has many cherished


Reverend Bill Ferguson begins the service in the fog as the sun breaks over the trees


traditions that bring joy, comfort, and warmth, and provide continuity from one generation to the next. Easter has its share of traditions: egg decorations and hunts, gift baskets and chocolate bunnies, sunrise church services, and, of course, the Easter lily. For most, the beautiful, trumpet-shaped white flowers symbolize purity, virtue, innocence, hope and life—the spiritual essence of Easter—and as Reverend Ferguson spoke, their shape trumpeted that He is risen.


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Home Improvement Easter Lilies Trumpet the Rising of Christ Often called the “white-robed


apostles of hope,“ lilies were found growing in the Garden of Gethsemane after Christ’s Agony. Tradition has it that the beautiful white lilies sprung up where drops of Christ’s sweat fell to the ground in his final hours of sorrow and deep distress. Churches continue this tradition at Easter time by banking their altars and surrounding their crosses with masses of Easter lilies, to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and hope of life everlasting. History, mythology, literature,


poetry, and the world of art are rife with stories and images that speak of the beauty and majesty of the elegant lily. Dating back to Biblical lore, the lily is mentioned numerous times in the Bible. One of the most famous Biblical references is in the Sermon on the Mount, when Christ told his listeners: “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet … Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” As sunlight illuminated the


worshipers, Ferguson closed by saying, ”The resurrection story causes us to show doubts and challenges us to prove to those who don’t understand. We don’t have to explain, it explains us. We are the church because the resurrection happened.”


staff photos by Len Lathrop


courtesy photos


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