The Walpolean

This guy from Andrea Goines says it all and who am I to argue with him? – Lil

Winter Farmers Market is this Saturday, February 15^th, at the Walpole Town Hall from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Winter weather getting you down? No idea what to do for Valentine’s Day? Local farmers and artisans will be featuring locally grown veggies, meats, and cheeses. There will be freshly baked breads and maple products. Enjoy a locally made lunch of Pulled Pork Sandwiches or Curried Lamb Kabobs. Handmade soaps, lotions and potions for your winter dry skin. Someone you love celebrating a milestone soon? Why not a locally made wool hat, scarf or gloves.

For more information about the Walpole Farmers Market you can visit their web site, http://www.walpolefarmersmarket.com, or friend them on Facebook.

Walpole thespians, Tara Sad and Ray Boas are performing Charlestown’s River Theater Company’s production of A. R. Gurney’s LOVE LETTERS. Curtain is 7 PM on Saturday, February 15th at the Walpole Town Hall. LOVE LETTERS by A.R. Gurney is a moving play which focuses on the special life-long relationship between the two – a relationship shown solely through their lifetime of correspondence. Doors open at 6:30 PM. Suggested donation is $5 at the door on the evening of the performance. Plan to attend for a heartwarming evening.

TOWN OF WALPOLE

PLANNING BOARD MEETING

PO Box 729

Walpole, NH 03608

AGENDA

MEETING DATE AND LOCATION:

Tuesday, February 11, 2014, at 7:00 PM in the Walpole Town Hall Meeting Room.

Open Meeting:

1.  Roll Call – Designate Alternates;
2. Approve Minutes of Regular Meeting on January 14, 2014, and

Workshop Session of January 28, 2014.

Public Hearing:

1.  Aumand Realty Corp. – Boundary Line Adjustment; Tax Map #028, Lots #141, #143 & #144.

These parcels are located in the Residential-B zone.

New Business:

Old Business:

1.  Excavation Tax and RSA 72-B – Proposed Draft For The Site Plan Review.

Other Business:

Planning Commission:

1.  Workshop Session – Reminder:  There will be a Workshop Session on Tuesday, February 25,

2014, in the Walpole Town Hall Downstairs Office.

Adjourn Meeting:

I am not sure what happened, but it was brought to my attention that this link was no longer available.  it must be out there in cyberspace somewhere.  Believe me Diane, I did not mean to minimze your contributions by throwing away the thank yous! – Lil

Well-preserved, handwritten notes from 1895 tell a powerful story of volunteer initiative. While more than 100 volunteers contributed to the effort to create what is now known as Meeting Waters YMCA, the historic notes show the passionate and persistent leadership of one person—Nathan G. Williams. Williams, who had recently relocated to the area to serve as CEO of the Vermont Farm Machine Company, had been a Y volunteer leader in his native Pennsylvania. The notes of those first organizational meetings show how Mr. Williams brought the vision of a YMCA in the Great Falls region to his new community and how he galvanized more than 100 other volunteers to bring this vision to life.

In 1999, their first full year as Co-Directors of Meeting Waters YMCA, Susan and Steve Fortier were looking for a way to recognize other volunteers that have brought the same level of passion and leadership to the regional Y. After leafing through the notes from 1895-1897, they decided to honor Mr. Williams’ legacy by naming the award for outstanding volunteer leadership after him.

On Monday, January 13^th, the “Nathan G. Williams Award for Outstanding Volunteer Leadership” was given to Walpole’s Diane Myers-Miller who has served on the Board of Directors of Meeting Waters YMCA since 2009. She served as its President from September 2010 through September 2013 and is serving her final year on the board as the organization’s Secretary, a position formerly held by Walpole’s Antonia Andreoli and, two decades ago, Myers-Miller’s father-in-law “Chick” Miller.

“Like Nathan G. Williams some 115 years earlier, Diane has provided our YMCA and those we serve with passionate and persistent leadership,” commented Executive Director Steve Fortier. “Like Mr. Williams, she pulled together others to strengthen our organization and deepen our impacts in the communities we serve. Also like him, she will leave a strong legacy when she finally steps off of our board at the end of this year. I am grateful for her many and varied contributions to our Y and delighted to recognize her with this award.”

Also receiving special recognition at Meeting Waters YMCA’s January Board meeting was its Y-ASPIRE (after-school program) Site Director in Bellows Falls, Stacy Garciadealba Cox. Stacy received the organization’s “Red Triangle Award for Outstanding Staff Leadership.” In her comments, Program Director Susan Fortier quoted John Quincy Adams who once said, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” Fortier then shared several examples of Stacy’s leadership with the youth in her program, their parents, her Y-ASPIRE colleagues up and down the Valley, and the larger community.

For more information about Meeting Waters YMCA, visit http://www.meetingwatersymca.org, follow them on Facebook, or call their main office at (802) 463-4769.

Founded in 1895, Meeting Waters YMCA is a charitable, social service organization serving the Fall Mountain, Brattleboro, Bellows Falls, and Springfield regions. It strengthens the foundations of community through youth development, healthy living, social responsibility and family strengthening.

Photo caption: Meeting Waters YMCA Co-Directors Susan and Steve Fortier flank award recipients Stacy Garciadealba Cox and Diane Myers-Miller.

Ever want to enter into competition with HallmarK?  This event may, or may not be the answer but it still sounds like fun. – Lil

Make Your Own Valentine’s Day Cards

Workshop for Adults and Families

Monday, February 10, 2014

6:30 PM

This workshop is free and open to the public.  For more information or to register, contact the Walpole Town Library at 756-9806 or librarydirector@walpoletownlibrary.org

Thursday, February 6, 6:30 PM @ Fall Mountain Regional High School Library is the date and time to hear about the school district budget, learn how other voters are feeling and express your opinion. It’s an important meeting because it is the only chance voters have to amend the budget either up or down. This is where you can hear how your vote in March will impact the education of our students as well as your taxes.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am sure you realize that I am a retired educator and a school board member.  I am also a long-time resident of New Hampshire and taxpayer in Walpole. For these reasons, I am hoping we will have a large number of people at the meeting Thursday to hear how hard our administrative team has worked to create a budget that is actually lower than what the Default Budget will be if it is defeated.  I want a big turn-out so people can see what the continued cuts in state aid to our schools is doing to your taxes.  If revenues to our schools go down faster than the budgets can decrease, the net result will continue to be increased property taxes.

See you Thursday – Lil

I just had an email from Melina at the Bellows Walpole Inn requesting that I do what I can to alert people to the fact that the Inn is NOT opening tonight.  The opening has been delayed.  Stay tuned for more information at a later time. – Lil

This letter from Peggy and Ryan really says it all.  No need for explanation here. – Lil

“Save Hooper” signs, which dotted lawns in Walpole, meant something different to everyone who planted them. However, the majority agreed that saving Hooper meant saving the land from development. For two years a committee appointed by the select board – who are also the trustees of the Hooper Trust – worked to find a solution that could “Save Hooper” while simultaneously fulfilling the fiduciary obligation of the trustees. That solution is pending approval by the New Hampshire Probate Court.

A licensed appraiser appraised the property for its highest and best use, which was found to be the current use – a golf course. The fair market value of the property as determined by the appraiser is $1,188,000. In other words, if it were put up for sale today, that is the price one could expect from the open market of potential buyers. Of this total, the appraiser determined the value of a conservation easement on the property – in effect, the development rights alone – as $450,500. The balance, $737,500, is the estimated market value of the property after the conservation easement is put in place.

What is not indicated in the January 29 Keene Sentinel article about Mr. Stephen J. Varone’s objection to the Hooper plan is that the plan calls for two steps:1) Through the sale of a conservation easement at fair market value, the Hooper Trust is increased by $450,000. 2) When the property – the golf course, historic mansion, cottage and other outbuildings as well as the surrounding timberland – is then sold, that sale price may not be lower than $737,500, which will also be added to the Hooper Trust.

In the end, the Hooper Trust, established for the education of Walpole’s youth, will grow by at least $1,188,000 – the total unencumbered value of the property – which will more than double the liquid value of the Trust, and which can be put to use for a greater rate of investment return for the Trust’s educational purposes. The overall return is different from selling the property without a conservation easement in only one way: the property, which the residents of Walpole love as open space, could never be developed further.

Peggy L. Pschirrer, Chair
Hooper Study Committee
11 Old North Main Street
Walpole, NH 03608
756‐4138
Ryan Owens, Executive Director
The Monadnock Conservancy
PO Box 337
Keene, NH 03431
357‐0600 ext. 103

The Walpole Seniors will meet for potluck lunch at the Town Hall on the Walpole Common at noon on Monday, February 17, 2014. (Note date and location as there are renovations at the Church.) Everyone is asked to bring a contribution for the Fall Mountain Food Shelf. Bring a dish to share. All Walpole Seniors are welcome. Come for fun and good socialization.