Bow News : Health & Fitness

In Bow 378 students out sick with flu

Goffstown Editor — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:47:00 GMT

Bow Superintendent of Schools Dean Cascadden said attendance levels have returned to normal after a record number of students were absent three weeks ago with flu-like symptoms.

The peak level of absences hit Oct. 22 when 378 students, nearly 25 percent of the town’s public school students, called out sick. It was the largest outbreak of flu-like symptoms in a New Hampshire public school district this year. However, Windham and Londonderry have reported similar occurrences in recent weeks.

“We’re basically back to normal operations,” Cascadden said Thursday, Nov. 5. “We’re back to around 5 percent with single-digit absences.”

The majority of the absences occurred at Bow Middle School, where just over 30 percent of students stayed home at the height of the outbreak. Bow High School had slightly more than 25 percent of students absent and Bow Elementary School had about 14 percent absent at its peak.

From Oct. 4 to 20, the state tested 183 people with flu-like symptoms and determined 21 had the flu – all with the H1N1 strain, also known as the swine flu, according to the Union Leader. About 1 in 9 people with flu-like symptoms actually have swine flu.

Cascadden said the school district has a number of students who are suffering from secondary bacterial infections after initially becoming sick.

“There are some kids who are having a much more difficult time shaking illness, and a lot of that is because there’s a secondary infection,” he said. “We want people to really monitor their kids. Don’t panic, but don’t take it lightly. There will be some kids who have to see their health care provider.”

Cascadden says it’s not unprecedented for a large number of students to get sick at one time, but that in years past, it’s occurred around January or February.

“It’s usually high during flu season, but the unusual thing about H1N1 is that it never went down,” he said. “The H1N1 never had an off-season.”

Bow’s Suzanne Carrier guides others to health and wellness

Bow Editor — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:12:00 GMT

BY SUSANNA HARGREAVES

During stressful times, Suzanne Carrier, a resident of Bow for the past 31 years, focuses on creating balance and a peaceful existence.

A mother and grandmother, Carrier has always considered herself to be a nurturing and empowering service to others. Founder and owner of Gateway to Inner Peace, Carrier expanded her natural ability to become a holistic healing arts practitioner eight years ago.

Carrier said she worked for the Arthritis Foundation for more than 10 years and needed a change.

“Being intrigued by alternative approaches and medicine led me to the Polarity Realization Institute in Massachusetts,” Carrier said.

She is a licensed massage therapist and is trained in several other alternative healing techniques, which awaken many of the senses. She uses warm stones with essential oils, aromatherapy, relaxing music, crystal singing bowls and tuning forks, and different energy healing techniques to create harmony and inner alignment.

“Along the way, sound healing became the focus of my practice. Every cell in our body is a sound resonator. All the cells, organs and systems respond to sound vibration, as do our spiritual, mental and emotional states of being,” she said.

Carrier, who built her practice at home, reassuringly helps people of all ages experience inner peace and a feeling of wellness.

“I’ve studied with many wonderful people to offer what I do at Gateway to Inner Peace. A sacred healing space is created for each client and each session is different. My clients are able to accept themselves as they are, know that they are OK and they are no longer over-shadowed by their daily life experiences and they can tap into some silence.”

Many people believe there is something wrong with them, or that they need to be changed or fixed, she said.

“It is all about being in a place of wellness and being OK with who you are inside,” said Carrier. “I feel my role is to empower people so they lead a more fulfilling life.”

Carrier said clients come to her for many different reasons.

“The initial contact may be because of a physical ailment. Sometimes it is more emotional. We all experience trauma, feel overwhelmed and are left with unresolved emotions. Emotions are not good or bad, they are messages from our conscious and subconscious awareness,” said Carrier.

To have a healthy perspective, emotions need to be balanced, she said.

“Often times, it is limited beliefs about one self or feeling inadequate, which brings an unsettled mind.

Sometimes, it is more spiritual. There is a sense of disconnection; they are no longer feeling fullness in their hearts, feeling separate and a longing for a deeper meaning to their lives. Sometimes, my clients come to me as a last resort, or they are referred to me because what they are doing just doesn’t seem to be working,” Carrier said.

Carrier said she sees her work expanding into helping families.

“Our children are also over-whelmed at home and at school. Their energy systems are very sensitive. Children react to many substances in their food and environment, including stress at home. All of this will affect their behavior and their ability to focus. Energy healing can bring about changes and our children need self-acceptance. Our foundation is our home. It needs to be stable,” said Carrier.

Along with her healing space, Carrier has a unique backyard. Nestled among the trees is a labyrinth that she created to help her experience inner peace. According to Carrier, a labyrinth is like a peaceful winding journey.

“You can’t get lost and you don’t have to think about how to find your way because it leads you to the center. There is only one way in and one way out,” she said.

Made from stones, Carrier added positive messages found on rocks, little crystals, dragonflies and angel statues to read along the way. Why did she create a labyrinth?

“A friend of mine invited me to her home where she had a labyrinth. I fell in love with it immediately. We had an area in the backyard that was perfect and my husband and I put it together,” she said.

She did not know much about labyrinths, but knew there would be one on her property.

“I try to walk it every day, and now I have my granddaughter to join me. It helps in centering and connecting to the earth and helps me remain grounded,” said Carrier.

Gateway to Inner Peace is located at 96 Knox Road in Bow and Carrier can be reached at 224-1648.

Bow school district saves $300K in health care

Bow Editor — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:05:00 GMT

BY MATT SCHOOLEY

Bow School District officials found a savings of about $330,000 in the 2008-09 school budget, as the actual employee health care rate was significantly lower than the guaranteed maximum rate set in October.

Each year, the district receives the guaranteed maximum rate from HealthTrust and bases that portion of the budget on that amount. This year, the estimate was 13.1 percent, while the final rate recently approved is 1.4 percent.

According to Business Administrator Duane Ford, the money will stay where it is.

“We won’t take that money and transfer it somewhere else to pay other things,” said Ford. “It’s part of the general budget and doesn’t go anywhere.”

After remaining in the budget, however, the health care savings may be part of the year-end surplus that is returned to taxpayers, although that amount won’t be known until July 2009.

“The $330,000 is for health insurance. If oil spikes dramatically, we may have to go to the board and ask to use it for that,” said Superintendent of Schools Dean Cascadden. “But the plan is to keep it in the health insurance line, and if all goes to plan it will be returned to the taxpayer.”

The savings will not be used for any specific purchases, according to Cascadden.

At a recent School Board meeting, a group of residents came to see the financial list of staff-proposed year-end purchases. Cascadden said he was surprised, as he had not previously done so in other districts.

“I’ve never done year-end purchases as a superintendent; it’s not required to do. The amounts are set in the budget. You go along and spend your lines as you go,” said Cascadden. “If for some reason we have a lot of money left over at the end of the year and we were doing large projects, I would say, yes, that’s something to bring in front of the taxpayers. We managed the budget within the lines that we had this year. We didn’t do anything like (large projects) this year.”

Taxpayers won’t know the surplus funds from the previous year’s spending until the School Board’s mid-summer meeting, which takes place July 31.

Science raises awareness of concussions and their consequences

Bow Editor — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 01:07:00 GMT

BY RYAN O’CONNOR

In his 25-plus years as athletics trainer at Salem High School, Sean Cox has witnessed his share of hard hits to the head.

And he’s seen the ramifications.

Football player Matt Starr, for instance, experienced an early-season concussion – a jarring injury of the brain resulting in disturbance of cerebral function and sometimes marked by permanent damage.

After missing a week of action, he returned to play, then experienced another head trauma several games later. Starr not only lost the remainder of his 2003 gridiron schedule, but the majority of the wrestling season as well.

The one thing Cox has never dealt with is a player’s death, though he knows others have been in that situation. That’s why Cox and many other trainers, team doctors and coaches are constantly re-educating themselves on the dangers of repeated head trauma.

It wasn’t long ago, after all, that a player took a hard hit to the head, answered a few questions and was swiftly inserted back into a game. Now, re-entry isn’t so easy.

“A football player who whacked his head in a football game in 1982 would kind of stumble off the field, and we’d kind of kid about it – ‘Oh, my ears are ringing,’ ‘You got your bell rung.’ – that kind of stuff, and as soon as they improved and became functional, they were right back in there,” said Cox. “We didn’t care so much about a little dizziness, a little headache, a little upset stomach. They went back in.

“Now we know you have kids that are not completely healed from a head injury, and then they get hit again, and it can even be kind of minor, but it causes their brain to shut down rather quickly. I mean, they can die in a couple minutes,” he added. “It doesn’t happen very often, and I try not to operate scared, but it’s a great motivator to make sure a kid is fully recovered before you let them play again.”

The data

According to a recent study published by, among others, Dr. Barry P. Boden and Dr. Robert C. Cantu in the July 2007 edition of the American Journal of Sports Medicine, roughly seven direct catastrophic football head injuries occurred each year between 1989 and 2002 in scholastic athletics.

Catastrophic injuries are defined as direct – resulting from participation in the skills of a sport – or indirect – resulting from systemic failure secondary to exertion while participating in a sport. Each classification is further subdivided into three categories:

• fatal – the injury causes the death of the athlete;

• nonfatal – the injury causes a permanent neurologic functional disability; and

• serious – while severely injured, the athlete has no permanent functional disability.

Youth and high school players face a greater risk of catastrophic injury, and those with a prior head injury, especially in the same season, are more likely to suffer another trauma.

Though Boden’s study indicated no clear reason for a higher incidence of catastrophic injuries among high school vs. college football players, Gregory Soghikian, the former West High School and current Bedford High School team physician, said some coaches and researchers point to inexperience.

“One of the problems may be that kids haven’t learned to hit properly. They use their head as a weapon,” said Soghikian.

He also said younger athletes may be at greater risk because their skulls are not fully developed.

“Their cranium, or brain shell, has not fully matured and is not as strong as an adult cranium,” said Soghikian. “There is a presumption a developing brain is more susceptible to being disturbed … physically. The electrical pathways are more easily scrambled, but the exact reasons why, we don’t know.

“At the same time, the younger brain seems to have the ability to heal quicker,” he added. “I don’t know if it’s because that area heals better or if the brain has the ability to set up different pathways and sort of bypass the injured area.”

Boden’s study also noted there were 497 reported fatalities on the gridiron between 1945 and 1999, and 69 percent were caused by brain injuries, with a spike in deaths from 1965 to 1969 when football was flourishing and equipment wasn’t keeping pace with the sport’s popularity.

While the number of deaths may seem relatively low, research headed by Dr. Kimberly G. Harmon at the University of Washington’s Sports Medicine Clinic indicated that, of the roughly 1.25 million athletes playing high school football each year, up to 20 percent sustain a concussion during their career.

Laura C. Decoster, executive director of the New Hampshire Musculoskeletal Institute, said there is no New Hampshire-specific concussion data available.

There were, according to the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association, 3,305 state athletes who played high school football in the 2004-05 academic year.

Assuming Harmon’s national study translates proportionately to New Hampshire, up to 661 of 2004’s state high school football athletes have suffered or will suffer a concussion while playing the game.

Double trouble

Joe Cacciatore, a certified athletics trainer at Pelham High School, said concussions generally occur from a collision but sometimes happen when an athlete’s head hits the ground or another surface. The force of impact is hard enough to cause the brain to rebound off the skull or bruise at the direct site of impact. While one in five high school football players face a serious head injury, Soghikian said concussions are not limited to “contact” sports such as football, lacrosse and hockey.

Whether it’s a batter hit in the head with an 85-mph fastball or two basketball players colliding during play, concussions occur on all playing surfaces, he said. That’s why it’s important for coaches and players to become educated about the risks.

The biggest concern for medical professionals today is second-impact syndrome.

According to a 1999 assessment by Harmon, second-impact syndrome was first described in 1973 and involves a player returning to action before symptoms from a prior injury have subsided.

“A second blow to the head, even a minor one, can result in a loss of autoregulation of the brain’s blood supply,” said Harmon. “This leads to a vascular engorgement and subsequent herniation of the brain that is usually fatal.”

Between 1992 and 1999, Harmon said 17 cases of second-impact syndrome were reported in football alone.

The pressure to play No one denied it, not the coaches, not the trainers, not the doctor and not the player. All parties involved said the same thing: the pressure to have an athlete on the playing surface is undeniable.

Dave Tremblay has coached at both the youth level, mentoring Pop Warner teams with the Hooksett Hurricanes for seven years, and in high school, where he took over as Pembroke Academy head coach in 2007.

He said his experience is that high school athletics trainers tend to be more conservative than EMTs and nurses on the Pop Warner sidelines.

Tremblay said because trainers have the final say, high school athletes are less likely to be reinserted into a game after a hit to the head.

“Trainers at a high school game have liability concerns, especially because most of them are contracted by the school district,” he said. “If they send a kid back in there, it’s on them.”

For a coach, that creates some frustrating moments.

“There are definitely times when our trainers say (a player) can’t go back in, and I think they can,” added Tremblay. “We have some kids take some pretty good hits, and you can usually tell if the kid really got their clock cleaned … but it’s probably good, in those situations, that (the decision) is taken out of the coach’s hands.”

Cox said he understands the pressure and feels it too, but noted most coaches today are like Tremblay: They want to win but, first and foremost, respect the health of their athletes.

There have been times when a physician has given a player the thumbs up to return to action, and Cox balked.

He said his approval is contingent on a player remaining asymptomatic following physical exertion tests such as backpedaling and running.

In fact, both Cox and Soghikian said the clock for a player’s return doesn’t begin to tick until symptoms have completely subsided. Sure, the parents are disappointed at times, sometimes angry, but Cox simply lets them know playing isn’t an option. He’s even called the doctor and explained his position, and nearly every time, the doctor acquiesced.

“That’s one of those battles I have chosen to fight,” said Cox. “Sure I (get pressured). Of course I do … I’ve never had it happen, but if a coach disagreed with me and I had to walk out onto the field, stop the game and physically remove (a player) myself, I would.”

But there is no greater pressure than from the players themselves.

“They expect each other to be able to play and not react to an injury,” said Goffstown’s head football coach, Rob Cathcart. “If someone has a sprained ankle, they play through a sprained ankle. If it’s a separated shoulder, they play with a separated shoulder. That’s the mentality you want a football player to have. But with a head injury, the idea they’re now susceptible to a greater injury, that’s the tough one to get kids to understand.”

Cathcart said he’s had players argue with him on the sideline. Bow High’s hockey coach, Tim Walsh, knows the feeling.

“I don’t even listen to the kids,” said Walsh. “If a kid gets his head hurt, and he says he’s fine, I don’t believe it because they’re supposed to say that. You want them to want to play. Until a trainer or doctor says, ‘OK,’ I don’t even pay attention. A concussion (is) different.”

But the greatest fear of concerned adults is the injury only the player knows about. Starr, a sophomore when he suffered his season-ending concussion in 2003, said trainers and coaches knew of only three or four of the seven or eight significant head injuries he experienced in high school.

“If it was serious enough, I couldn’t hide it, but once I learned the symptoms, I pretty much figured out what I had to do to keep playing,” he said. “I was just a stupid high school kid. It was pride. I didn’t want to show weakness.”

Starr said he hasn’t competed in a contact sport since 2006, but admitted he may suffer from short-term memory loss.

“The kid who has a minor bell-ringing, who decided not to tell his coach or trainer because he doesn’t want to be taken out of a game or miss games, and then they get a second injury shortly thereafter, those are the ones we worry about, and those are the ones most at risk of serious injury, even dying,” said Soghikian.

“That’s my anxiety,” said Cathcart. “That’s where I think the culture lies in that a kid won’t tell anyone because he’s afraid he will let his teammates down.”

But Soghikian said things are changing.

“We’re trying to get away from that cultural mentality,” said Soghikian. “Sometimes kids won’t tell you, but they tell their teammates, and more and more often you’re seeing those teammates come up to us discreetly and saying, ‘Hey, so-and-so has a headache’ or ‘So-and-so got hit in the head and didn’t say anything.’ That’s a nice change in culture in that kids are becoming protectors of teammates rather than, ‘Hey … tough it out and get back out there.”

Technology’s impact – good and bad Tremblay said head injuries are becoming rarer, mostly due to technological improvements.

“There are times when they get their bell rung, that’s for sure, but I haven’t seen too many major head injuries,” he said. “We get a lot of broken legs and things of that nature, but with the helmets nowadays, truthfully enough, we don’t see a whole lot of head injuries.”

Cathcart is trying to further reduce the risk. After reading “Head Games: Football’s Concussion Crisis from the NFL to Youth Leagues,” by former Harvard football player and World Wrestling Entertainment employee Chris Nowinski, Cathcart realized the value of good equipment.

“We used to be very middle-priced oriented in terms of helmets and other equipment, but after reading that book, we made the decision to go with the top-of-the- line helmets,” said Cathcart. “And the bigger thing that we learned is that virtually as important as the helmets is how you handle the jaw area.”

The Goffstown program made two pieces of equipment available to players. The first, said Cathcart, is the Brain-Pad mouth guard. Unlike conventional mouth guards, which cover only the upper portion of a player’s mouth, the Brain-Pad fits over the lower teeth as well and includes a hole for easier breathing. It allows an athlete to bite all the way down, eliminating a loose lower jaw and, added the coach, drastically reducing the chance of concussion.

The other upgrade GHS is promoting is a chin strap with a hard outer shell. Cathcart said the risks associated with blows to the chin are just as great as hits to the cranium, and a soft chin strap does little to protect a player during a direct hit.

“A lot of people don’t have money to buy a top-of-the-line helmet,” said Cathcart. “But they certainly have the ability to get the $15 chin strap and the $20 mouth guard, which is a whole lot better and greatly reduces your risk.”

Unlike football, modern hockey has seen certain technological upgrades actually increase the amount of concussions, said Walsh.

The boards and glass have become stiffer in newer rinks to limit awkward bounces of the puck, Walsh said. In turn, there has been a noticeable increase in head injuries.

“Very rarely is it the openice hit. Sometimes you get a hard elbow or something like that, but usually the wind just gets knocked out you,” said the coach. “The majority (of serious head injuries) have been collisions with the opposing player and the boards. A player’s head gets caught between rigid glass and a 230-, 240-pound kid, and something’s got to give.”

Data from the National Hockey League backs up Walsh’s perception. “The reported concussion rate in the NHL during the last five years is more than triple that of the previous decade,” concluded a study completed by R.A. Wennberg and C.H. Tator and published in August 2003 in the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences. “Bigger, faster players, new equipment and harder boards and glass have all theoretically increased the risk of concussion in the NHL in recent years.”

Prevention and, if necessary, diagnosis

While collisions in hockey are inevitable, and Walsh has seen his players absorb and deliver plenty of vicious checks, he said those on the ice can avoid serious injury with intelligent play.

“The biggest thing we tell our kids is when you go after the puck to skate through the puck, not to the puck,” he said. “When you stop moving your feet, that’s when you ask for trouble with that big hit.”

Once that big hit happens, however, there are usually telltale signs something is wrong, and the time for playing games is over.

According to Harmon, early indicators of concussion include headaches; dizziness; confusion; tinnitus, or ringing in the ears; nausea; vomiting; and vision change.

In the long term – extending into weeks, sometimes months and, in extreme circumstances, years – those falling victim to a traumatic brain injury often experience memory disturbances, poor concentration, irritability, sleep disturbance, personality changes and fatigue.

Soghikian said sports medical professionals, to improve diagnoses, are adopting innovative approaches such as neuro-psychological studies.

“Basically, we’re talking about fine-tuned cognitive studies to determine if somebody has some long-term issues related to a head injury,” he said. “… We want to try to get a baseline on the person beforehand to determine any variations.”

Trainers generally adhere to 16 to 20 guidelines for evaluating and grading a head injury. All safety guidelines, said Soghikian and Cox, should be met before an athlete can play again.

The minimum amount of time players miss often depends on the amount of trauma they’ve experienced. Cantu, chief of neurosurgery and director of sports medicine at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Mass., and other researchers recommend an escalating scale based on the severity of the injuries and the number of occurrences.

In many cases, multiple concussions end an athlete’s season, sometimes a career.

That, said Soghikian, is better than the alternative.

After two months, little fallout from smoking ban

Bow Editor — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 19:54:00 GMT

BY NNI STAFF

Smokers across New Hampshire seem to have accepted the statewide ban on smoking in bars and restaurants with little complaint. When the ban went into effect on Sept. 17, business owners worried about what would happen, but most are finding that they have as many, if not more, customers now that the air is clear.

Bow and Hopkinton patrons have had mixed reactions since the smoking ban was initiated, though many feel the change is for the better.

“I like it, and I think it is one of the best things the state has done,” said Dennis Hankins, a Bradford resident taking his lunch break at Hopkinton’s Blaser’s Fireside Tavern. “I don’t like the cigarette smoke and I don’t want to have to smell it when I go out to enjoy a meal.”

Hankins, a nonsmoker, said he has not noticed any decline in business.

Nancy Blaser, owner of the restaurant, said she has actually seen a difference.

“If anything, I would say business has increased,” she said. “People have been commenting on how nice it is to come in and have no smoke clouding the area. It makes my life easier, too, because there’s a lot less cleaning to do.”

The day after the ban was put into place, Blaser revamped the restaurant slightly, cleaning every carpet in the building.

Hopkinton residents Veva and Ivan Mahoney, both smokers, have mixed feelings about the ban.

“I was somewhat disappointed with the ban. I think it’s for the better, though,” said Veva Mahoney. “We came from Essex, Conn., and they chose to ban smoking at restaurants in town. Business went down and there were two bars that had to close because of it.”

The ban, according to Ivan Mahoney, has led to some dishonest behavior by patrons.

“It makes it tough. Being in town, we can just go home if we want to smoke, but tourists can’t do that,” he said. “I have noticed some patrons who go out to smoke and then just run out on their tabs.”

The couple said they don’t spend as much time going out as they used to due to the ban.

Blaser’s Fireside Tavern has a designated area for smokers that provides a sheltered area near the building. The white tent holds four picnic tables and a heater to keep smokers warm during the winter months.

At Chen Yang Li Chinese restaurant in Bow, patrons have begun to use more of the facility now that it is smokefree.

The restaurant portion was smoke-free previously, but not the tavern.

Manager James Jiang said many people chose not to go to the downstairs tavern because of the smoke. Now that there are no smokers downstairs, there has been more business there.

“People have been automatically going outside and we haven’t had to ask them to,” said Jiang. “It has been a positive thing so far because there has been more business and people can enjoy a meal without any smoke.”

The Bow Police Department has not received any complaints regarding the smoking ban, and employees at Blaser’s Fireside Tavern and Chen Yang Li have not either.

“Occasionally, someone will light up and then just realize they shouldn’t be,” said Nancy Blaser. “But even then, they just run for the door to go outside. People have been very cooperative.”

Other towns
Bar and social club patrons agree that it should be the preference of the establishment’s owner to allow or prohibit smoking, and should not be mandated by state or local government.

“We should change the state motto (from) ‘Live free or die to ‘Totally assimilate to be Massachusetts,’” said Hugh McKissick, Candia resident and regular at Holiday’s Bar and Grill in Auburn. McKissick added that, as a smoker who enjoys a cigarette with his Captain and ginger, he has cut down on going out to bars due to the new law, saying that he has decided to vote with his wallet.

He also said tobacco is still a legal product, and the state would never turn down the tax revenue but would restrict it in legal establishments. He also has questions about who is enforcing the law.

Tom Gill of Deerfield, also at Holiday’s, hasn’t had a cigarette in 17 years, and said he thinks it’s good for bars to be smoke free, but reiterated McKissick’s point that it should be at the discretion of the proprietor. He also pointed out that the responsibility falls on the individual to either enter a smoke-filled bar or choose to go elsewhere.

McKissick said he has considered joining a social club, such as an American Legion or Elks Lodge, to have the choice to continue smoking indoors in front of his drink. That is a trend that is starting to take shape, according to John Zachodny, Commander of the Suncook American Legion Post 28 in Pembroke.

Zachodny said he has seen a slight increase in membership at Legions across the state, and new faces have appeared at Post 28 since the ban went into effect.

He added that it is in an individual’s right to smoke, and the state is getting overbearing in passing such laws.

“It’s each individual’s choice. That’s what this country was built on,” he said.

Meghann Giovanditto, a bartender at Post 28, said she hasn’t seen that trend but hears the talk about it. “Many people complain about it all the time, and they’re glad they can smoke here,” she said.

Amber Paneault of Pembroke was having a drink and a cigarette at the time of the visit, and agreed smoking rules should be up to the establishment’s owner. She added that she did not smoke in restaurants, even before that ban went into effect years ago, and thinks that is a reasonable law.

“Smoking and drinking go hand in hand,” she said. Jamie Rodriguez of Manchester, another patron, agreed. “As for restaurants, I don’t think there should be any smoking, especially if there’s kids around,” she said.

Despite the arguments against the ban, George Ryan, general manager of Holiday’s, said the smoking ban actually brought in more families, and has increased business by about 10 percent in the past month and a half.

“We had an increase in business. The smoking ban definitely helped,” he said. “It’s not a surprise to me.”

Ryan said smokers still come in for drinks or a meal after work, but now nonsmokers who shied away from the bar previously have started trickling in.

Ryan used to run a business in Massachusetts so he’s been through this once before, he said, adding that his smoking patrons would cool off about the law after more time passes.

With smokers across New Hampshire having to take it outside, many are turning to cigar shops, where they are allowed to smoke cigars inside.

Tyler Shea, owner of a cigar shop and lounge in Bedford called Blowin’ Smoke, said more people have been coming into his store to smoke. They have also been asking to bring in their own alcohol.

“It is clear there will be more of a demand for a place to drink and smoke,” he said.

Shea said there is no doubt people enjoy a cocktail with a cigar. Right now, his store does not have a license to sell alcohol but, Shea said, he is looking to acquire one soon.

“Right now we can only serve complimentary alcohol during certain events we have, but we’re definitely looking to expand with an alcohol license,” he said.

William Strouse, a senior at Saint Anselm College, said he comes to Blowin’ Smoke about two or three times a week and is not pleased with the new ban.

“From what I understood New Hampshire is live free or die, but now you don’t have a choice,” he said.

Strouse understands that people don’t want to breathe second-hand smoke but thought there were other options than banning smoking completely.

“Many places have the ability to separate a room for smoking and only people who choose to work in that room should have to,” he said.

Shea thinks he will see a bigger increase of people in his shop when the weather gets colder.

“Being forced outside in 15- degree weather is not going to happen,” he said.

Jack Byrne of Manchester, and a patron of Blowin’ Smoke, agreed with Strouse and got straight to the point when asked about the ban.

“It sucks,” he said, “Now we’re second-class citizens.” Byrne said he has been smoking cigars for about 15 years and is not happy about the ban but does understand it.

“The laws do affect a lot of people and the health issues have become a lot more prominent,” he said.

Byrne said he just “went with the flow” when it comes to the ban.

Now he and others like him will have to come to places like Blowin’ Smoke.

The New Boston Tavern had gone smoke-free earlier in February and the response, said coowner Carol Eggers, was “phenomenal.” “There’s been an increase,” said Eggers of the customer base. “Many people say, ‘We’re so happy you went nonsmoking in the restaurant. It’s nice to walk in here and smell the food cooking.’”

The Eggers opened Mad Matty’s, a sports pub that allowed smoking, in January in the building next door. But even there, said Carol Eggers, the ban has not really affected it. “People go out and have a cigarette,” she said.

“At this point, people are used to it. The government crams a rule down your throat, there’s not much you can do about it.”

Bar owners Lorraine and Steve Pascucci of the Village Trestle in Goffstown expressed similar frustration.

“It’s our business, we should be able to run it how we see fit,” said Steve Pascucci.

They said business hadn’t dropped off because they’d gained new nonsmoking customers to balance out any smoking customers they might have lost. Plus much of their afterwork crowd are regulars who live within walking distance, they said.

The only initial difficulty was keeping smokers with drinks within the outdoor patio. “We call it the play pen,” said Lorraine, and described it as a center of social activity in the bar.

“People that don’t normally talk to each other are making friends (on the patio),” she said.

The Pascuccis said the air is much cleaner now, and they plan to replace their furniture and rug and repaint the walls a lighter color now that they don’t have to worry about smoke stains. They’re also hoping to increase breakfast sales.

“I think it’s a good thing,” said customer Dave Labrie of the ban. Labrie had quit smoking just days ago and said he was glad he didn’t have to face smoke indoors.

Other customers disagreed. “It sucks,” said smoker Laurie MacKenzie. “The government is violating our rights as smokers.”

“What happened to ‘Live Free or Die’?” added Lorna Glen, also a smoker.

Enforcement has been largely self imposed, say the owners of Mad Matty’s, and the Village Trestle, though they know they’d face a fine and other penalties for not following the ban.

Private clubs, such as the Pinardville Athletic Club (PAC) and Cercle National, are some of the few remaining places for people to smoke indoors.

“We had a small number of people join. We were hoping for more,” said Dan Beaupere, vice president of Cercle National.

Member Shayne “Kizzy” Colte worries about the wrong people from the bar crowd wanting to join private clubs.

“You never see cops in here because we don’t have arguements,” he said.

The PAC had seen an increase in membership applications, said Dawn Handrahan, PAC vice president, said though it’s hard to determine if that was due to the ban or regular seasonal increases. Part-time bartender Maureen Williams said she had seen crowds increase 25 percent recently. October’s sales volume increased $1,000 compared to October last year, pointed out Junior Director Sheila Soule.

New member Darcy Dorandi, said she had joined the club because many of her neighbors were members and because of the ban, though she quit smoking seven years ago.

“If people want to have a cigarette, they should be allowed to,” said Dorandi.

Member Matt Furlong said he didn’t know about the ban when he applied six month ago and came to the PAC because his buddies went there.

Being able to smoke, he said, “definitely appeals to me, but it doesn’t define why I come here.”

– Staff writers Matt Schooley, Michelle Kim, Jenn McDowell and Chris Quartarone contributed to this story.

Best Buddies: Bow police officer donates kidney to longtime friend

Bow Editor — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 14:54:00 GMT

By RYAN O’CONNOR
roconnor@yourneighborhoodnews.com

Last summer, Jim McIntire, a Bow police officer, was in Wisconsin helping his best friend, Curly Weber, build a new cottage.

Although 13 years apart in age, the two men had developed a strong friendship after meeting 20 years ago – each having an interest in water skiing.

Over the next two decades, Weber would serve as McIntire’s first Taekwondo instructor, best man in his wedding and provide support through difficult times.

The two even named children after each other.

It came as quite a shock to McIntire during his visit to Wisconsin when he learned that his best friend had a potentially fatal form of polycystic kidney disease.

“I didn’t know what to say,” said McIntire. “So, I did what anyone would do and told him if there was anything I could do to let me know.”

McIntire meant it.

As the two men discussed the disease and treatment options, McIntire realized Weber would need a new kidney. He also discovered that the two share the same blood type, O-positive.

According to McIntire, those who are O-positive are considered universal donors, but they are limited to accepting blood and organs from others with the same blood type only.

McIntire went through a plethora of tests to determine if his kidney would match. The tests eliminated Weber’s sister in early August, leaving McIntire next on the list of possibilities.

The call for McIntire’s donation came roughly three weeks ago and even Weber is shocked by the reality of the situation.

“It’s unbelievable, actually, that it’s all working out this way and that Jim was willing and able to do this for me,” Weber said. “I think it’s one of the most unselfish acts he could do, to share part of himself, and I couldn’t ask for a better guy to get it from.”

The feeling is mutual, said McIntire.

“He’s been a mentor, a friend, a confidante. He’s been by far the best friend I’ve ever had,” McIntire said. “For all intent and purposes, he’s a brother to me. I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and God has a plan for all of us. The fact that we’ve been friends for so long and that I am not only the same blood type, but a match for his kidney as well, is all the proof I need.”

Even though Weber’s job took him to Wisconsin in 1993, McIntire, who was 17 when the two first met, would not let distance hinder their relationship.

“He and his family have been an important part of my life for many years and he’s really quite a guy,” said Weber. “Jim doesn’t let his friendship die and he doesn’t let his friends die either.”

Now, with all the necessary exams complete, McIntire leaves for Wisconsin on Sept. 21 for surgery scheduled five days later. After a brief recovery, McIntire plans to return to New Hampshire in early October.

If all goes well, McIntire will be on medical leave for about six weeks and will return to the police force.

Town Manager Jim Pitts said McIntire qualifies for the town of Bow’s disability insurance and will receive two-thirds of his regular pay. The other third, said Pitts, will be covered by vacation time and sick days, so McIntire will not take a financial hit while making the sacrifice.

Chief Jeff Jaran said even though McIntire will be out for a significant amount of time, which will now have to be covered by other officers, the department fully supports his decision.

“He’s making the ultimate sacrifice here, saving his best friend’s life and going all the way out to Wisconsin to do it,” said Jaran. “It’s heroic and nothing short. Everyone in the department prays that it goes well for him and he recovers quickly without any complications.”

Jaran’s number one concern is McIntire’s family.

McIntire, however, said although it was an initial concern of his as well, he no longer worries about future consequences.

“People have been asking, ‘But what if something happens to you or what if one of your children has a kidney fail or there is someone else in your family that you could give it to?’” said McIntire. “They’re understandable questions, but my response is, ‘By me doing this, I pray that someone would step forward and do the same thing for me if I would ever need it.’ If not, then I know I’ve done everything I can do.”

McIntire is happy to be in a position to give such an extraordinary gift to someone he cares about so much.

Although he will be on medication which will ensure his body accepts the kidney for the rest of his life, McIntire said Weber should be able to resume a normal lifestyle without dialysis.

Weber noted that McIntire’s contribution doesn’t have to be exclusive.
“So many people don’t know that they could do this because I think there is a lot of fear in people’s minds as far as what could happen to their own function if they give a kidney,” he said.

“But, everything I’ve read and all the research I’ve looked at says that those who donate go on to live a completely normal life after. I think a lot more people would potentially donate and could really give the gift of life to someone else if they knew that.”