Greenfield, Jaffrey move forward

In Greenfield, voters put $20,000 each into capital reserve accounts for a future fire truck purchase and improving the town office building.

And in Jaffrey, residents okayed everything on the warrant, including the $6,975,714 budget.

Troy approves everything, as does Dublin

Troy and Dublin voters okayed everything on their warrant. In Troy, voters added money for the police to help with the high fuel costs and okayed a plan to spruce up the fire station. Dublin residents added money for their highway department after the harsh winter.

Dublin voters said goodbye to their longtime town clerk, Barbara Sovik, who's served the town for more than 12 years. Karen Bunch was named citizen of the year.

10:54 a.m.: Date set for recount

We just received word that the recount for Article 1 in the Keene School District, (Unit 29), will be on Wednesday, March 19, at 5 p.m. in the conference room at the Cheshire Career Center, Keene High School, 43 Arch St., Keene.

3:30 p.m.

We'll be updating the blog on Saturday to let you folks know what happens at meetings in Dublin, Hancock, Marlow, Greenfield and other towns.
Keep checking back ....

A funny moment in Richmond:

At Richmond’s town meeting, Neil Moriarity zeroed in on a proposal to spend $8,595 to expand the Earl R. Howard Memorial Cemetery.He told his fellow citizens that, given the small town’s death rate, it would be financially prudent to do only half the job now. “There’s room for 40 people (in the cemetery) now,” he said, arguing that the proposed 2008 allocation could be safely pared by $4,000. “We can wait five years and do more (work) later on.” To which Norma Thibodeau, an advocate of doing the entire cemetery development job at one time, said, “I hope there’s no epidemic.” Her remark was greeted by laughter by the crowd, which then went on to vote through Moriarity’s spending cut.

Good night, sleep tight ... and pleasant dreams to you ...

It's all over but the shouting. Well, that's not strictly true ... because there was probably some shouting going on tonight.
Nevertheless, thanks for joining us.
You'll find in-depth coverage of town meetings in tomorrow's Keene Sentinel and on our Web site, http://www.sentinelsource.com/.

Newsroom Blogger

More from Winchester

Voters rejected the town manager form of government and ... then voted down the budget, 379-311. The town will operate using a default budget, which is 96.000 less.

Alstead:

Town voters approved each of the 11 proposed articles on the town warrant, including a $245,000 proposal for the town to purchase a 16-acre property on Bragg Lane and High Street.
Voters also approved the selectmen’s $1,431,013 budget request, as well as a $113,885 article for repairs to Thayer Brook Road.

Why getting there is more than half the battle

From Sentinel reporter Dave Greisman:
The town of Acworth, population 882, is on the edge of The Sentinel’s coverage area, about 45 minutes to the north of Keene. It is one of the few towns I had yet to visit in the eight months since I arrived in the Granite State. My Tuesday night assignment was to attend its town meeting.
But first I’d need to get there.
After a quarter of a century in my native Maryland, I was fortunate to be far from directionally challenged while I navigated from one corner of the state to another.
Not so up here.
No matter how often I used Google Maps and no matter how often I ask my knowledgeable colleagues where and when to turn, I nevertheless tend to find myself pondering replacing my dashboard-mounted satellite radio with a GPS unit. Tonight was one of those nights.
"Drive north on Route 10, then turn left at 123," a coworker had said. "Turn right at the general store. You can’t miss it."
I wasn’t so sure.
I knew Route 10 – a month going to Newport and back for a murder trial imprinted that highway in my mind. And so I turned left at Route 123 upon entering Marlow, waiting for the next step to come.
And waiting. And waiting.
Into Alstead. Onto Route 123A. Into Langdon. Frost heaves. Sharp turns. Worst of all, doubt. A quick glance earlier in the day at Google Maps had suggested I turn left from Route 10 onto 123A. I had probably misheard my colleague and added unnecessary distance to my travels. But then I saw a trusty road sign with an arrow telling me a left turn would take me to Acworth. As I continued uphill and into the dark, the increasing number of handmade political signs indicated I was probably getting closer.
Finally, I was.
The axiom reads that getting there is half the battle. Not so. I knew how to get home.

Marlow's in the house

Mark Lanier won a three-year term as selectman in town through a write-in campaign. He beat Allan Blank, 66-49.
Elizabeth Sharp was elected supervisor of the checklist; Bonnie Parker won a one-year term as the overseer of welfare. And Sue Burgh and Kate McNally both received write-in votes to win three-year terms as trustees of the library.

From Langdon:

Jake Berry (who celebrates his birthday today ...which explains the lights on his computer monitor) reports that in Langdon residents passed the budget. They approved all of the articles on the warrant ... including one which will establish a committee to study town officials' salaries.

From Winchester:

News staffer Sarah Palermo reports that the town is not getting a new sewer plant. The current facility is 30 years old, but votes did not approve the $2.1m the new plant would have cost. The measure needed to be approved by 60 percent of the voters in order to pass; it only received 51 percent.
Also, Roberta Fraser was reelected as a selectman, defeating John Pasquarelli.

One more funny from Marlborough:

Marlborough resident Rita Grace, who is also chairman of the cemetery trustees, had only one thing to say about Article 10: "They gotta come down." The town agreed and up to $20,000 was set aside for the purpose of tree removal at the East Cemetery.

Light moments from Marlborough:

From staffer Amanda Borozinski:

John Northcott chairman of Marlborough selectman stated that the town needed to increase the operating budget for a variety of reasons including some "new dam fees." Then he went on to laugh and say "I mean D. A. M. N. ... Oh no wait... I mean D. A. M. fees..."

Also town moderator John F. Fletcher, who has been moderating in Marlborough for ten years, referred to the selectman committee as the selection committee.

After the meeting ended and residents were filing out, Robert Bennett announced that he lived at the bottom of Frost Hill and that he and his wife would be happy to bring Band-aids to police officer Steve R. Berry (the new mountain bike officer Marlborough) when he crashed at the bottom of the hill.
"We are excellent at collecting riders who crash at the end of Frost Hill. It's very steep you know," he said.

From Chesterfield:

Article 10 failed ...it was a proposal to buy a fire cistern (a water storage vessel) near the center fire station. The budget passed.

Also from Keene:

Kathy O'Donnell, Neil Donegan and Carter Chamberlain were elected to the school board. All three were endorsed by Keene Cares a group that bills itself as 'pro-education.'

From Nelson: Article 23 fails

Jonny Sheehan reports in that the wording was incorrect on the ballot for Article 23. It was from last year.

KEENE: IT'S OFFICIAL

the school proposal failed ...by a less than 1 percent margin.

From Swanzey:

First ...yes, we are getting results from Keene. We need to wait for the official numbers. Soon. I promise.
Swanzey: Out of 4376 registered voters, 1323 participated today. A couple of election results:
Nancy Carlson won a seat as selectman, beating out Tyler Tommila, 873 to 290. Swanzey voters also approved making the fire chief a full time position ... 690 to 510.

From Marlborough:

Shelby Stanton, who is not yet old enough to vote, attended the Marlborough town meeting and reports that all 18 articles passed.
Thanks Shelby.

Troy update

The big news in Troy is that the incumbant fire chief ... John C. Callahan Jr., lost to Mark D. Huntoon by a 30 vote margin. A total of 374 voters participated today, out of 1480 voters on the checklist.

Big news. From Keene.

Waiting for the official word.
Back in a few.

8:25 p.m.

Dan Whitney just called in from Jaffrey/Rindge School District. He has no numbers, but reports that everything passed.

8:21 p.m.

My good peeps.

One reporter is here and another one just called in.

In the meantime:

This is what I'm eating until the pizza arrives.

The green murky stuff is a frozen vegetable juice smoothie ... that tastes like melon. Yep, that's how you get me to eat veggies.

And on the right, sitting beside my mouse ... is a peep.

7:58 p.m.

Forget that whole idea that because there is very little on the ballot that the meeting will be short. just get it right out of your mind. I've been there done that. The meeting is the only place and time to conduct business ... for the year, pretty much. It can take a while.

7:31 p.m.: Gorilla update

I'm told that Nelson resident Mary Dellagreca was one of the people dressed in an ape suit today in front of the town hall there. The get up was to help draw attention to Article 23 ...the Great Meadow issue. Dellagreca wanted folks to vote no on that issue.
When I walked by this afternoon, there was a guy dressed in an ape suit ...well, all but the head. I'm pretty sure it was the same costume. If not ... yikes.

7:25 p.m.

I stopped by the Roxbury meeting to say hello. I've covered that meeting for ...well, several times. And they always invite me for the potluck. I've never made it for the potluck (town meeting day is really busy around here) so I dropped by tonight. I got a nice cup of coffee, a chicken drumstick and a kiss on the cheek from Peter Stuhlsatz. Actually, I got two kisses from Peter.

The big topic in town there is the proposal for a new garage to house the police and fire vehicles. For a small town, it's a big deal. More on that as soon as we know more.

7:13 p.m.

What a gorgeous day!
I'm loving the mud because mud means spring.
So, the warm weather certainly made it easier for folks to get out and vote today.
And there was a guy dressed in a gorilla suit in Nelson. I think he was protesting something ...help me out here, anyone know about this??

11:31 a.m.

So, our paper hits the street soon. As we march through the day, our photographers and reporters are out gathering information and images of town meetings, the people who attend and the issues at hand.
Don't forget: we need your participation tonight. Send us information, photos, opinions or just tell us your favorite part of the night.
You can post below where it says 'comments' or you can shoot us an e-mail to news@keenesentinel.com. Call us at 603-352-1234 ext 1438, if you'd rather.
We're going home to catch a catnap before the fun starts later on ...around 7 p.m.

Here's the 411

So, you're headed to your town meeting and you ... well, you don't exactly remember what the issues are. No worries, we've got you covered. Click on http://forms.keenesentinel.com/TownMeetings/
and see where to go, what time to be there and the issues you'll be hashing out and voting on.
Also, in order to post a comment to this blog, you'll need to log in. Some folks just don't want to do that and we understand. You can send us an e-mail instead at news@keenesentinel.com. Or you can always call. We'll be here all night. 352-1234, ext 1438 will connect you to blog central.
If you want to tell us the news, share some gossip or comment on the condition of the parking lot at the town hall ... we're all ears.
AND, you can send us photos: Send them to the e-mail address above and we'll post them to the blog.
Thanks!

Is it really that time? Ayuh.

It's that time of year again. No, not mud season ... not yet. It's the time of year we all love and look forward to: town meeting time. Okay, so maybe everyone doesn't look forward to it ... but sometimes it's fun. And it's almost always interesting.

We thought this year, we'd offer a digital rendering of what happens next week. It'll be a bit serious, a bit not-so-serious ... just like a town meeting.

We're looking for opinions, news, photos and anecdotes. And we'll be here all night on March 11 to let you know what's up. And we are counting on you to help keep us up to speed.
If you have a cell phone with a camera (and if you don't ... you should consider getting one ... they are pretty cool), you can send us pictures. If you have a cell phone without a camera, you can still give us a call and let us know what's going on.
If you are stuck on the ice, in the mud or in a snowbank ... sorry, you are on your own.