Pembroke News : Bow

Pembroke, John Stark, Bow x-country teams prepare for postseason

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:18:00 GMT

Entering the Manchester Invitational cross country race with little chance of winning the team competition, Pembroke Academy runners took the race personally.

Even though the boys and girls teams finished near the bottom of the pack in the large school division on Saturday, Sept. 26, five Spartans set personal records, and head coach Mike Slavin was excited with the effort his runners gave.

Niki Labelle delivered the top finish for the girls; her time of 22 minutes, 27 seconds earned her 87th place overall. Jake Persons had the top time for the boys team when he finished 94th among 207 runners. Elizabeth Abbott, Rebecca Mitchell, Mariah Smith, Ben Kubat and Brian Barnes all set personal-best times at the race.

The Spartans joined John Stark and six other teams on Sept. 22 at the first-ever Windham Invitational, hosted by recently opened Windham High School.

Pembroke’s boys came in seventh on the afternoon, while the girls were eighth. John Stark’s boys team was third in the eight-team field, and the Lady Generals managed a fifth-place finish.

“We didn’t come (to Windham) to race today, we wanted to go at a slower pace and use the afternoon to prepare for Manchester,” said Slavin. “It’s tough to race three days after you ran another race.”

Many teams took a similar approach to the Windham race; the Manchester Invitational is one of the larger events on the cross country calendar. John Stark did not travel to Manchester.

Bow High School raced to two top-10 finishes at the Manchester Invitational, and the girls team managed a second- place result after scoring 111 points.

Emily Buck was fourth overall in the small-school category, with Gena Kalampalikis, Katrina Wiesner, Keelan Forey and Meaghan McCann earning points after her. The boys team was sixth, led by Jonathan Vinnenberg’s sixth-place finish overall, followed by Dylan Lucas, Ben Evans, Andrew Brunelle and Evan Smith.

All five of the boys were in the top 100, while the lowest finish for the girls was McCann in 42nd place.

Goffstown High
Four boys raced for the Grizzlies at the Manchester Invitational. Kyle McNamara led the group, followed by Ryan Lunderville, Henry Mac- Gibbon and Stephen Fortin. Kali Langevin led the three GHS girls across the finish line. She was 71st among 162 finishers. Holly St. Onge and Nikki Denison also completed the course.

Clean air, yes; tall tower, no

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:23:00 GMT

By Dan O’Brien

A 445-foot steam tower built at Public Service of New Hampshire’s Bow transfer station last month has numerous residents in nearby Pembroke piping mad.

Peter Bonanno of Mason Drive, Pembroke, has gathered 160 signatures from residents of Pembroke, Hopkinton, Contoocook and Hooksett who are opposed to the steam stack.

Of those 160 signatures, 63 were signed by people who say they can directly see the steam stack from their homes. The residents most affected are from Pembroke.

Nervous about home property values, Bonanno said he got steamed after watching the tower go up in only three weeks’ time while he and other neighbors had no idea it was going to happen.

“This just doesn’t seem right,” Bonnano said Friday, Sept. 11. “No one has talked about it and no one even received notice about it.”

On Sept. 9, Bonanno sent the petition and a letter to the state Site Evaluation Committee requesting a hearing on the steam stack, also called a “scrubber.” According to the letter, the committee deemed the tower “not a sizeable addition” to the current power plant site.

“It defies common sense that anyone could look at the new (steam) stack – at 445 feet in height … and not consider it a sizeable addition,” the letter said.

PSNH spokesman Martin Murray says the company “went above and beyond” to notify abutters and held two public input sessions at Pembroke’s Board of Selectmen meetings on Aug. 18, 2008, and June 15, 2009.

“We went above and beyond what we had to do in order to make sure the town was aware of what was going on,” Murray said. “More importantly, to provide the public with opportunity to ask questions.”

However, Murray admitted PSNH did not send letters to the nearby residents about the proposed scrubber.

Murray says the scrubber is a necessary part of PSNH’s $475 million plan to upgrade the facility to meet state environmental laws.

Currently, the Bow site, called the Merrimack Station, generates electricity by burning coal.

The purpose of the new scrubber is to drastically reduce the amount of pollution caused by the burning coal.

Once the facilities are renovated and the scrubber is functional, which is expected to be in July 2012, mercury emissions will be reduced by more than 80 percent from its current levels and sulfur dioxide will be reduced by more than 90 percent, Murray said.

“The state law passed in 2006 requires mercury emissions to be reduced by at least 80 percent,” Murray said.

“I’m not against my air being cleaner. But I feel that due diligence had not been done,” Bonnano said.

Goffstown Gallop perennially draws community of fun-loving athletes

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:43:00 GMT

BY RYAN O’CONNOR

Bow’s Margaret Burns and Pembroke’s Joanne Welch have been running mates for eight years.

They’re currently preparing for a half marathon in Quebec in August.

The 29th annual Goffstown Gallop provided them an opportunity to participate in a competitive run – without the headaches of a typical road race.

“It’s more of a community event,” said Burns of the event, which took place Saturday, June 28. “It’s kind of competitive, and if you want to go for a run, it’s better to do it with other people rather than by yourself.”

“It’s a good training run,” said Welch. “It’s a nice distance for a Saturday morning. It’s a good tempo run.”

Like Burns and Welch, dozens of runners traveled from all over New Hampshire and even other states to participate in the Gallop. “It’s a family event. A lot of people that come here come year after year after year,” said Dave French, the Goffstown Parks and Recreation director who organizes the Gallop each year. “That’s a testimony to the atmosphere of the race. It’s an old-fashioned race. We don’t do computer chips, we hand out tongue depressors (at the finish line). We’re one of the oldest races in New Hampshire ... More than anything else, it’s a tradition.”

Count Bedford’s Barth Getto as one participant happy to get away from modern competition for a day.

The 46-year-old regularly competes in triathlons, but he was convinced by friends to run the Gallop.

“(The Gallop) is kind of laid back. It’s not as crazy as some of the big races,” said Getto, who finished 55th among more than 170 runners. “It was definitely more fun. When you do these triathlons, people are crazy. You know, they come with $5,000 bikes and these pointed helmets. This is more of a social thing ... It’s all about heart.” No one traveled farther to participate than French’s daughter, Heather.

The 24-year-old, who served as the race’s starter from childhood through high school, returned from her home in Florida to run the race for the first time.

“My dad is getting close to retirement, and I just wanted to run it for him because who knows when his last Goffstown Gallop will be,” she said, adding that training in Florida is much different than running in New Hampshire. “I’m not used to running with all the hills, but it was a really gratifying feeling when I crossed the finish line.”

Another Floridian, Dean Riley, a former Goffstown and Bedford resident, also returned to run the race.

“He ran the race before, and knows it’s the same weekend every year,” said the elder French. “I really appreciate the runners coming back each year."

Pembroke falls to Bow, just misses postseason

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:40:00 GMT

BY JERRY LIPTAK

A playoff atmosphere arrived one week early for two good Class I tennis teams – visiting Bow and host Pembroke Academy. While the day’s end marked the season’s close for PA, Bow’s campaign begins anew.

The Falcons’ depth proved too much for the Spartans in a 6-3 victory in the regular-season finale on Friday, May 16.

Both teams entered the contest knowing the winner would earn a postseason invitation.

Pembroke’s players also knew this was the program’s last of 14 years under head coach Dave Doherty, who plans to retire after more than three decades as a guidance counselor.

The match started well for the hosts, who took a quick 2-0 lead behind the play of their top singles players, No. 1 Bobby Thomas and No. 2 Jake Plourde. Both are seniors, and they share the team captaincy with classmate Dan Bouchard.

Thomas, who has yet to lose a singles match this year and has, according to Doherty, the all-time record at the school for wins, and Plourde also won their No. 1 doubles match, 8-1.

But those were the team’s only points, though Doherty said he was pleased with the effort of each of his players.

Dan Bouchard, junior Luke Underwood and sophomore Bill Bouchard dropped their singles matches at No. 4, 5 and 6, respectively. The score was 8-3 in each.

But PA’s No. 3 singles player, Rick Yeames, nearly pulled off a remarkable comeback. The sophomore trailed Bow senior Jack Mulvaney, 6-3, before knotting the match, 7-7 and then 8-8, forcing a tiebreaker. Still, Yeames fell, 7-5, and the Spartans faced a 4-2 hole following singles play.

The Bouchard brothers at No. 2 and the team of Yeames/ Underwood at No. 3 also succumbed by 8-3 scores.

“These kids did well with everything they had to deal with,” said Doherty, citing one key injury and a grades-related issue that cost the team another veteran. “We came this close to making the tournament.”

The loss dropped Pembroke to 8-6, one game behind the eighth and final seed in the upcoming Class I tournament.

Still, the 2008 Spartans can boast of a convincing 7-2 victory over playoff-bound Lebanon, as well as four 9-0 wins. Also, Doherty said the 2009 team should return Tim Phair, a junior lost to an ankle injury during an early-season setback to unbeaten Portsmouth.

Pembroke will miss its senior tri-captains and, of course, Doherty, who led PA to a 10-win season in 2007 and just missed another playoff appearance in ’08.

“I’ve had 14 good years here,” said the coach, “and I’ve been fortunate to have worked with a lot of great kids.”

Suncook edged by Bow in back-and-forth slugfest

Hooksett Editor — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 18:49:00 GMT

BY RYAN O'CONNOR

Suncook gave Bow its best effort, but could not pull out a victory as it was eliminated from the District 1 11- and 12-year-old Little League all-star baseball tournament in a 10-9 loss on Monday, July 2.

Tim Coarre scored the first run of the game in the first inning after leading off with a walk. He came in from third when Tom Graziano was caught in a rundown.

After handing a 4-1 lead to Bow in the bottom of the inning, Suncook came right back to score two runs on a Logan David triple.

Bow scored again in the bottom of the inning, but Suncook plated two to tie the contest at 5-5.

In the top of the fourth, Suncook took an 8-6 lead on a two-run single by Zach Mabie, but could not hold on.

Following the game, Suncook’s manager, Keith Gates, said his focus in the back-and forth match-up was scoring more runs faster.

“This is what Little League is all about right here,” he said. “Neither team should feel bad.”

Two days earlier, the locals stayed alive in the tournament by defeating Manchester Central, 12-8, in what Gates called “a real seesaw battle.”

Autrey Gates started that game and pitched into the fifth-inning, throwing 87 pitches with six strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings.

Colby Chown knocked in the two go-ahead runs in the fourth inning to put Suncook ahead, 8-6, and his team held on for the victory.

“We spread it around pretty good,” said the elder Gates. “Defensively, I can’t recall a single error. The other team hit the ball pretty well, but we contained it, if you can call giving up eight runs containing it.”

Game notes

Against Central, Graziano had two hits and three RBI. David, Jake Devoe and McFarland each contributed two hits and two RBI, and Gates added another two hits and an RBI.

Mabie and Brad Shaefer each delivered a base hit.

The manager said his team moves to the Fraser Tournament in search of continued offensive success.