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Hudson~Litchfield News


Hudson~Litchfield News Volume 22 Number 19 November 18, 2011 16 Pages


‘Mr. Greeley’ Saved by the League of Extraordinary Frog Rescuers


Left: League of


Extraordinary Frog Rescuers: Kayla Littlefield, Steven Amadio,


Brian Hennigan, Trevor Famisan, Pat O’Mara.


Below:


Te Frog Himself … Mr. Greeley


Bryan Lane Duct Taped for Charity


by Tom Tollefson Have you ever wanted to duct


tape your high school principal to the wall? Alvirne High School students did just that last Wednesday during their Spirit Week while raising money for struggling families for the holidays. Alvirne High School principal


Bryan Lane stood on a crate against the wall in the Alvirne Cafeteria during all student lunches while students duct taped him to the wall. “Mr. Lane is a mascot of Alvirne and made it fun as well as helping families in need,” junior Mackenzie Dionne said. The cost for a strip of duct tape


was any donation of at least 25 cents to help local families with presents and meals during the holidays. “For me, the excitement of the students made it worthwhile. It was a lot of fun for them,” Lane said.


During the last lunch period,


the crate was removed from under Lane’s feet and he hung on the wall held up only by duct tape.


By C.J Orban Mark Twain once said, “It certainly had a wide celebrity ...


but I was aware that it was only the frog that was celebrated. It wasn’t I.” And so it was that on Friday, October the 7th at 4 p.m.. In the field behind the teachers parking lot I was approached by a league of students who ‘I thought’ were praising the Ecology Clubs for the great work they were doing in planting wild Blue Lupine flowers to bring back the state butterfly (Karner Blue). But this was not the case. They were excitedly concerned about something. They


quickly gathered around me. For a moment I felt like an Elk surrounded by wolves. Trevor and Steven said, “Mr. Orban, do you remember that frog we told you about that was trapped in the drain pipe?” With a short pause of amusement, I said yes. “Well, it’s still there!” Are you sure it is the same frog? “Yes, yes, it is the same frog; it has been there for weeks.” And it is still alive? “Oh yes, still alive.” “Come see,” said Brian Hennigan. I thought this was a joke. Several weeks ago in biology


class Patrick and Trevor had mentioned a frog that was trapped at the bottom of a drain pipe. I had dismissed the conversation by telling them the frog would find its own way out. I was thinking there was an exit pipe to the drain. But, at this moment these students wanted action. A frost was due that night. Busy I was, but curiosity overcomes most plans. So, these extraordinary students shuffled me over to the drain pipe behind the gym where I expected to find a smelly old dead frog. The drain was about 18 inches in diameter, had a rusted heavy iron grill over it. And, it was deep. I looked down into the dusky dark, gloomy, moldy mist of a dungeon, and there on the edge of the bottom of the drain was a small yellowish green blob. Ribit! Alive it was. Amphibians in the mist I thought! So, what next? The grill was too heavy, the pipe was too deep, and time


was not on our side. However, a heavy grill is not a problem for four strong determined sophomore boys with good encouragement from Kayla Littlefield. The problem was, the drain was too narrow to crawl into, and the drain was too deep to reach down, over six feet. I suggested a butterfly


“It was something new and


fun. It makes everyone involved and everyone was smiling when he stuck to the wall,” Junior Molly Russell said. This fundraising idea was originally done in 2004. This year, the student council requested to do it again after seeing photos of the first time this event was done. There were many other school


wide charitable efforts alive at Alvirne during Spirit Week including annual canned food and clothing drives and a free of charge raking service involving about 150 to 200 students raking leaves in 16 yards around the community. “The student involvement in it is fantastic and the students are generally happy to do it and that’s a reflection of the kids we have in the building. It’s not just the individual fundraisers that get that kind of support. All you see these kids pushing recycling bins through hallways,” said Vincent Pagan, Alvirne High School Assistant Dean of Students.


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net, but the handle is only three feet long. “How about taping a meter stick onto the handle quibbled one of these extraordinaires?” Ah! Let’s go to my room. Four students stayed to guard the slimy pit, and one student, Brian Hennigan, came with me to the Bio-lab. We found the butterfly net, and the meter stick, but no tape. Fortunately the magical tape appeared, complements of Mrs. Schratwieser. We taped the net to the meter stick and started off. Unfortunately I was not able to watch the festivities because some students came for extra help. These students were finished within minutes; but before I could leave, the ‘rescuers’ had returned. Their boisterous, happy, enthusiastic voices could be heard from Boston, as they came up the corridor. I quickly found a camera and as the victorious amphibian caretakers posed with their smiles of glee. Then froggy jumped out of the net, and left them a present on their hands. And a second present when they picked him up. Although “Mr. Greeley” jumped several times from quite a distance from net to the floor, no damage was sustained. Within a short time this ‘League of Rescuers’ returned Mr. Greeley to the back woods behind the school near a wet area with lots of bugs, fallen trees, mosses and piles of leaves. A just right place for any old woodland frog to find a friend, rest his webs, and hibernate for the winter. I just might join him. For their meritorious service above and beyond the call


of duty, and for their persistence and determination in the face of froggy danger, and for their problem solving prowess, I award these students the first CHS Amphibian Award for Biology, and don them: The League of Extraordinary Frog Rescuers. Epilogue: When Principal Robert Manseau was asked for a comment of constructive criticism pertaining to the incident, he shook his head and said, “It was a slimy business.”


MooreMart to Ship Over 4,000 Christmas Stockings to American Troops Serving in Iraq and Afghanistan


by Doug Robinson The scene within the National Guard Armory was surreal. While hundreds of volunteers gathered to inspect, fill, pack, tape, and attach address labels to our soldiers overseas, the completed care packages sat at the doorstep of the National Guard’s armored vehicles which deploy America’s Patriot Missiles.


When completed, the volunteers


will have shipped the largest Christmas stockings mailing for MooreMart to date. Last year volunteers shipped 3,911 Christmas stocking and this year’s expected goal was in excess of over 4,000 Christmas stockings to be shipped to American servicemen now serving overseas. In addition, additional boxes were being addressed with specific contents for locally known soldiers, MooreMart’s service and reach has the ability to reach those servicemen who do not receive packages, who do not have family, or to those who service our country without any family back home. “The last thing to go into the Christmas stocking is the letter,” instructed MooreMart founder Paul Moore. “Every soldier will get a letter. It will be the first thing the serviceman


Alvirne High School Principal Bryan Lane hung on the Alvirne cafeteria wall by duct tape


Needed to Provide Thanksgiving Dinners


Your Help Is at the Hudson Fish and Game Club


by Doug Robinson Cooks, chefs, and bottle washers will be sharpening their knives and cleaning their pots as members and friends of Hudson’s Fish and Game Club prepare to distribute over 1,100 Thanksgiving meals next week.


Kathryn Blais (14), along with her Mom Rita McCabe - Life Member and President of Pelham’s VFW Ladies Auxiliary 10722, and Lillian Bemish, Ladies Auxiliary Historian, help MooreMart fill the Christmas Stockings


sees. It will be the letter.” Thousands of letters, written


by children, had been donated to MooreMart for this unprecedented shipping. Letters from as far away as Georgia had been received. Letters which were colored with a crayon, written on scrap paper, written on every color of paper imaginable,


will be opened up to read a personal note, thanks to the students from Washington, NH schools. Local schools as well as schools throughout New Hampshire, New England and across America have participated in writing letters to our soldiers and then to be mailed to them by MooreMart. continued to page 7- Mooremart


Like most organizations, the economy has reduced the amount of giving, have been afforded to the Hudson Fish and Game Club this year. Since 1988, the Hudson Fish and Game Club has provided hot and tasty Thanksgiving meals, with all the trimmings throughout the towns of Hudson, Litchfield, Merrimack, Nashua, Pelham, and Tyngsborough, MA. Volunteers line up for days to prepare the turkeys, boil the potatoes, separate the cans, and line up the tables so those making the deliveries can do so easily.


“We are in need of most items


that would traditionally go with a Thanksgiving dinner,” commented long time volunteer, Karen Knox. “This year we especially need turkeys, pies, and most everything will be appreciated.” “We are also in need of drivers. It will not take up too much time on Thanksgiving Day for each driver to complete their route. The families who receive these meals are very appreciate and thankful. For those wishing to donate food, they are encouraged to drop the food off at the Fish and Game Club, 53 Pine Street, Hudson. Those wishing to assist financially, please write the check to Hudson Fish and Game Club, and mail the check to: Tammy Curran, 43B, Greeley St., Hudson, NH 03051.


Staff photo by Doug Robinson Staff photo by Tom Tollefson


courtesy photos


Happy Thanksgiving!


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