Windham News

Budget cuts slow I-93 widening project in Windham

Salem Editor — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:22:00 GMT

Engineers from the state Department of Transportation met with the Board of Selectmen to update them on the progress of the I-93 and Route 111 improvements, a project that is chugging rather than gliding forward at this point, due to deep gouges in the state’s budget.

The Windham section of the project, which includes adding lanes to I-93, shifting Route 111A to the north and reshaping the interchange of Route 111 and I-93 by Exit 3 and exchanging the loop ramps for a diamond-shaped design, is projected to be completed by 2015, said project manager Peter Stamnas. The entire I-93 project is supposed to be complete by 2017.

The Board of Selectmen pondered issues of limited access to Route 111, landscaping and future surplus land that could eventually be sold to bring commercial development to Windham.

When Route 111A is moved north, motorists will only be able to make a right hand turn onto it from I-93, said Stamnas. The remaining part of it would become a town-owned road.

“One of our biggest issues in this town is economic development. By making that limited access, that kind of bars us from doing stuff in the future,” said Selectmen Chairman Dennis Senibaldi.

Selectman Roger Hohenberger voiced concern over the transition from four lanes down to two on I-93, which will also take place by Exit 3.

“Now we’re going to be the bottleneck where Salem used to be the bottleneck. It didn’t work in Salem, what you guys did, so I was just wondering how you’re going to make it work in Windham,” Hohenberger asked Stamnas.

Stamnas said the location of the bottleneck allows ample time for people to merge and that it is the least complex way of doing it. “We looked at three or four different versions and we came up with one that we feel is best suited not only for traffic volume but also for finance,” Stamnas said.

Hohenberger said the change is going to cause commuters coming up I-93 to detour onto back roads through Windham.

The state is also still trying to figure out where to install one or more conduits for sewer and electricity through I-93, a piece of the project that has become tricky with the grading associated with the added lanes.

Stamnas said the state has some ideas for the installation, but said the DOT and Selectmen need to meet “immediately” to discuss where, when and how to install that conduit.

“I don’t have any information for size. There really isn’t a great spot,” Stamnas said. “It’s not going to be an inexpensive piece of work. The town would have to pay for the installation,” he said.

Hohenberger said the state promised to pay for the installation several years ago, and Selectman Charles McMahon said if something has changed since that promise, Stamnas should look into it and inform the town right away.

Stamnas was also trying to get the board’s feelings on a $225,000 landscaping layout that would surround the interchange by exit 3. The plan includes hundreds of trees which Stamnas described as low-maintenance.

The state would install all the greenery for that plan, but after a year the town would take on ownership and responsibility for maintaining them.

Both McMahon and Hohenberger thought the money the town would have to spend to maintain the landscape each year would be too much. Final maintenance costs have not been calculated yet.

Senibaldi said the board needs to sit down with a professional to go through the plans and get the best estimate for how much the maintenance wold cost the town each year.

“We’re making a decision for the future taxpayers of Windham, and we need to be sensitive to that,” Senibaldi said.

Breton said the board should go with the landscaping plan, as previous boards had approved it and the location is the gateway to the Windham community.

“We spend money on other projects that don’t have the magnitude of what this project is,” said Breton.

After transfer, Windham man reaches Olympic trials

Salem Editor — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:00:00 GMT

BY MATT SCHOOLEY

Two years ago, Steve Miller didn’t have a team to swim for. Now, with a strong performance in Omaha, Neb., the Windham resident could find himself with a spot on the most elite team there is.

Miller takes part in the Olympic trials for the United States swim team June 29 through July 6, with an outside chance at finding a spot on the team in the 50-meter and 100- meter freestyle events.

Two years ago, however, the outlook wasn’t as good for Miller, a scholarship student at Rutgers. The school announced it was cutting the men’s swim team, and Miller had to decide whether he should finish his education there – without the water work.

Instead, he transferred to the University of Minnesota, where he quickly became a contributor.

“It would be so hard to walk away from something I put so much time into,” said Miller, who turns 21 June 30. “I think going through an experience like that makes you stronger. That can translate to work in the pool.”

That work in the pool translated to times of 23.34 seconds in the 50-meter freestyle and 51.29 seconds in the 100-meter freestyle, making him eligible to try out for the United States team.

According to Dennis Dale, Minnesota’s head swimming coach, those times indicated Miller’s marked progress.

“He has improved so much over the last year. It’s very impressive,” said Dale of the 2005 New Hampshire state swimmer of the year. “He’s gone from a swimmer who didn’t have times that would score at the Big Ten Championships, and now he’s at the Olympic trials. He has a great work ethic, and obviously talent to go with it.”

Dale said landing Miller from Rutgers was key for his team.

“We were happy when he made the decision to transfer, and even happier when we got to know him better,” said Dale. “He seems to have found a home in Minnesota, and it was a big boost for our program. It was a good pick up for us.”

Recently, Miller and other competitors were in Omaha for a test run of the pool, set up in an arena that holds 12,000 people.

“In other sports at the top end, it’s a little more common to have larger crowds. You’re in the spotlight a little more,” Miller said. “Once every four years we get our time. I’ve obviously never been to a meet of this caliber, so it’ll be amazing and special to be a part of.”

In most qualifying events, the top two finishers earn a spot on the Olympic team, but in the 100 free, the top six earn a roster spot.

Miller knows he faces a difficult challenge, and is trying to remain realistic.

“I’d say my chances are kind of low, but I am really excited to go and do my personal best. I’ve been having a great summer of training and competing,” he said. “I have some time and placement goals I’d like to reach, not really thinking about making the Olympic team per se, just doing my best and getting caught up in that atmosphere.”

Dale has 21 members of his team traveling to Omaha, and he wants to see Golden Gopher swimmers reach the event finals.

“For any of them, it would be a jump to make (the Olympic team), but we have kids who should make the finals,” said the coach. “There’s always people who do things no one ever expected them to do.”

One of Miller’s goals is to simply be able to recall the trials.

“I hope I remember it. Sometimes in such an amazing experience like that, it happens so quickly you don’t have a chance to take it all in,” said Miller, who’ll soon be a senior. “It’s going to be pretty amazing. I can’t imagine – when NBC is there and the house is packed – what it’ll be like.”

Even if he doesn’t have a chance to earn a gold medal with the United States swim team this summer, he knows he still has a team to swim with next year.

“It’s amazing,” said Miller, a Salem High alumnus. “I think when I was back at Rutgers, if you told me I’d be at this level, being there and competing, it’s pretty much just a dream come true to be able to be out there with the big boys.”

Windham's Golden Brook principal retires

Salem Editor — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:45:00 GMT

BY DARRELL HALEN

The summers she spent as a playground supervisor in Methuen, Mass., taught Beth McGuire that she loved working with kids.

She would spend three decades working as an educator to children, including 18 years in Windham.

On June 30, McGuire will retire from her position as principal of Golden Brook School.

“I love seeing the kids (here),” said McGuire, who held the job for eight years. “I’ll miss them for sure.”

McGuire’s husband, Jim, a former middle school principal in Tewksbury, Mass., retired two years ago. The couple wants to travel, including visits to see their son, Jared, who lives in California, and to do volunteer work for the elderly and in schools. They are also caring for elderly parents.

“I’m very excited about retirement because I have some specific things I want to do,” Mc- Guire said.

McGuire became principal after serving two years as associate principal of Hollis Primary School.

Before that, she had spent a decade teaching at Golden Brook, spending six years with second-graders and four years with third-grade students.

Two accomplishments she is most proud of during her work as principal have been developing a school-wide approach to promoting positive behavior and developing the school’s own approach to teaching reading and writing. Both efforts have paid off well, she said.

“Literacy was big with her, making sure all the students performed as best they could,” said School Board member Barbara Coish. “She just really cared about the children’s success educationally.”

In 2005, the New Hampshire Excellence in Education Awards program named Golden Brook the state’s top elementary school.

Ironically, the school had applied for the award, not with the intention of winning, but rather to learn from the program’s selection committee how it could improve.

“My goal is to analyze what you’re doing and get better at it,” McGuire said.

As a principal, McGuire had the difficult task of setting direction for the staff to move in, and to build consensus for the move.

“I thought it would be more powerful for a group to come in and show us where we need to improve. But when they came in and analyzed everything we were doing, we ended up getting the award that year,” McGuire recalled with a laugh.

McGuire has two bachelor’s degrees – one in education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the other in computer science from Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston.

She earned the second degree on Saturdays when she took a break from teaching to be at home with her son. Jared, now 26, works for Google’s legal department.

McGuire also earned a master’s degree in education from Notre Dame College, and obtained a certificate in advanced graduate study at Rivier College in Nashua.

She will be succeeded at Golden Brook by Deb Armfield, the assistant principal at Center School.

As an undergraduate student, McGuire switched majors several times before deciding to major in education during her junior year.

UMass couldn’t place all its education majors in student teaching assignments around Amherst, however, so McGuire did her student teaching in California.

When she began her professional career at North Salem School, teaching was hard. The teaching structure was different from the open concept system she experienced in California, and Mc- Guire experienced a bit of culture shock. She signed up for a computer course, not knowing if her teaching career would work out.

But by the end of the year, the situation was looking better. Her students were learning a lot, and McGuire was confident she could keep going.

One of her first students was John E. Sununu, who is now a U.S. senator representing New Hampshire. Six years ago, when Sununu won election to the Senate, McGuire, a Democrat, cast a vote for him.

“The only time I ever voted Republican was when he was running, because he was a former student and I wanted to vote for him,” McGuire said. “Plus, I knew he was really smart, and I knew he'd do a really good job."

Windham marine hurt in crash five days after return from Iraq

Salem Editor — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:13:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELLWindham

Windham police are still searching for the driver of a large red SUV who rearended a 22- year-old Windham Marine who just returned from two years of active duty in Iraq. He’d just returned home for good five days prior to the accident, having sustained no injuries while there.

Mike Tierney, of 4 Blueberry Road, was driving to a friend’s house at around 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 10, when someone hit him from behind as he waited to take a left onto Marblehead Road from Route 111A.

“I heard brakes lock up behind me,” said Tierney, adding he had no time to react to the sound. “It just happened so fast.”

Tierney said he was wearing a helmet at the time. He doesn’t remember whether he was thrown from his Honda CRV street bike or not.

Tierney suffered a broken leg and will be in a splint for a couple of months.

Tierney and a witness described the vehicle as a red or maroon SUV, about as large as a Ford Bronco, but no leads have developed.

The witness who saw the accident attempted to chase the hit-and-run driver, said Windham Police Chief Gerald Lewis, but it was traveling too fast to tail.

“At this point, it’s just speculation. We know that he hit him and fled,” said Lewis.

Neither Tierney nor the witness who chased the fleeing SUV saw the driver clearly enough to describe him or her, and neither was able to get a license plate number, Lewis said.

Dennis Tierney, Mike’s father, said police showed his son a photo depicting the type of vehicle they thought might have been used by the driver, which Mike Tierney identified. However, the witness who chased the car said the one in the photo was not the car he saw hit Tierney and subsequently chased.

“I’d say the witness had a better view,” said Tierney.

Tierney said he was stationed in the cities of Fallujah and Balad in Iraq, serving in the infantry unit for 22 months before returning home earlier this month.

Tierney said he’d ask the person who hit him why he would take his freedom away after Tierney had fought for the country’s freedom.

“What I want to say I can’t say on television or in the paper,” Tierney said.

Anyone with information on the accident is asked to call the Windham Police Department at 434-5577.

Special Windham election for high school road bond

Salem Editor — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:49:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Windham’s Board of Selectmen is planning a special election in September to obtain funding for a secondary access road for the new high school currently under construction.

The new road would overlap the current London Bridge Road, connecting the entrance to the high school on Route 111 to Castle Hill Road behind the high school, said Town Administrator David Sullivan.

The proposed warrant for the special election asks for voters to authorize taking out a $1.25 million bond and to accept any forthcoming grants toward the project costs. The Board of Selectmen approved the warrant at their meeting on Monday, June 9.

Sullivan said the town had planned on putting the project on its budget, but Selectman Charles McMahon submitted a petitioned warrant article for the townwide vote last March to put it on the school district budget, which would allow the project to qualify for 30 percent state reimbursement.

That warrant article failed with voters. The project does not qualify for state reimbursement, Sullivan said, because it will not be a part of the school district’s budget.

“The way we’re moving forward, it’s going to be part of the town’s budget,” Sullivan said.

A hearing on the conditional layout of the road, which would include construction parameters, width and a Board of Selectmen decision on whether the road is necessary will take place Monday, July 21, Sullivan said.

Prior to taking public input, the board will attend a site walk of the future road starting at 6 p.m. Sullivan said a deliberative session for the warrant will take place the week of Aug. 6, with the hope of including the warrant on the primary ballot for Tuesday, Sept. 9.

Windham man gets 15 to 30 years for abusing infant son

Salem Editor — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:45:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

A Windham man convicted of breaking six ribs and the tailbone of his infant son has been sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison.

“There are no winners in a case like this. It’s just a matter of attempting to provide justice for a 6-month-old child,” said County Attorney James Reams after the sentencing, calling the case one of the most tragic cases he’s ever prosecuted.

In November 2007, Gurrie Fandozzi, 42, was convicted on first-degree assault charges stemming from an August 2006 incident. Emergency responders arrived at Fandozzi’s Windham home at 20 Squire Armour Road to find the Fandozzis’ infant son unconscious and not breathing.

After a medical examination, 26 bones in the baby’s body were found to either be broken or healing from prior breaks, county prosecutors argued in Rockingham Superior Court.

About two weeks after the Aug. 2 incident, Windham Police Chief Gerald Lewis declared that doctors performing the examination determined the broken bones were a result of repeated abuse.

The jury found Fandozzi, a former Connecticut lawyer, guilty of breaking seven out of the 26 bones.

“I guess I understand the jury’s sense of why they convicted him for the specific bones that they did,” Reams said. “It had to do with the doctor’s testimony about how the ribs were squeezed. It was pretty compelling testimony.”

Doctors said the injuries Fandozzi was convicted of inflicting resulted from squeezing the child too hard and thumping him down on his bottom.

During the trial, Dr. Alice Newton of Children’s Hospital told the court the injuries indicated the baby had been abused at least twice.

Reams said there was “some ambiguity” remaining about the cause of the 19 other broken bones, providing reasonable doubt.

Fandozzi’s lawyer, Salem attorney Salem Shadallah, argued at the sentencing hearing on Thursday, June 5, that Judge Tina Nadeau should take into account that the jury did not convict Fandozzi of breaking all 26 bones.

Shadallah could not be reached for comment by press time.

Reams said Shadallah informed him that an appeal would likely be filed. Before that can happen, Shadallah must ask for a new trial. The whole process could take about 45 days, Reams said.

Prosecutors had asked for 20 to 40 years in the sentencing hearing, but Reams said the 15- to 30-year sentence is still significant, given the charges and the fact that this is the first case of its kind in a long time to go to trial.

“That would send a message to him and to anyone else that was thinking of harming their child,” Reams said.

Fandozzi’s 4-year-old child was examined during the course of the investigation, and no evidence of abuse was found.

Fandozzi’s wife, Tammy Fandozzi, was never considered a suspect in the case, Reams said. The two children are in their mother’s custody, and Nadeau issued a protective order preventing Fandozzi from having unsupervised visit with his children while he’s serving his time pending a mental evaluation.

Windham's school and town may join to buy defibrillators

Salem Editor — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 23:30:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

The Windham School Board and the Fire Department are looking to pool their resources to purchase 11 new automated external defibrillators for town buildings and the new Windham High School.

The Windham Board of Selectmen gave their conditional approval to the Fire Department to waive the bid process pending some further price shopping after Assistant Fire Chief Robert Leuci explained at a meeting on Monday, June 2, that he believed the model being sought was the best value.

Six of the defibrillators will go into the high school and the town’s five will go into the library, town hall, senior center, transfer station and Griffin Park, said Leuci.

Only two town buildings, the administrative building and the cable station, will not have defibrillators, but both have easy access to them at the town hall and senior center, respectively. In purchasing the machines together, the distributor being considered is offering a 20 percent discount, Leuci said, for the defibrillators and the required cabinets required for them.

The model being sought, a Phillips FRx 2, is a newer model that will result in cost savings long term, said Leuci.

“With the on-site machines, we have to replace the pads every two years. This saves us about $1,500 each year on purchasing and replacing child pads,” Leuci said.

The child pads emit a different charge than the adult pads. The model has a key to automatically switch the defibrillators to the child pad setting.

There is $8,500 budgeted for the town’s five defibrillators. To buy five of the FRx 2 machines, the department will run about $1,300 over budget, said Town Administrator David Sullivan.

Windham Fire Department hires four

Salem Editor — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 23:20:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

The Windham Fire Department will have four new firefighters by early July and hopefully a new deputy chief by the end of that month, according to Fire Chief Tom McPherson.

Currently, the department has 12 firefighters, including one lieutenant for each of four shifts. The four new additional firefighters would all be entry level, bringing the department to16 firefighters and closer to state standards, with five firefighters per shift, McPherson said.

“Right now, we’ve narrowed it down to a field of nine candidates,” McPherson said. “From those nine, they’ll have a chief interview.” McPherson said the interview was scheduled for Wednesday, May 21.

“Based on those interviews, we will move forward to recommend to the Board of Selectmen four individuals for conditional employment,” McPherson said, adding the employment would not be made permanent until background checks had been performed.

At the same time, McPherson said, the department is seeking a deputy chief of fire prevention after the department went before the Board of Selectmen to proposed changes to their administrative structure.

Robert Leuci, formerly the deputy fire chief, was promoted in title only to the position of assistant fire chief, a new addition to the department’s structure, giving him more authority in the chief’s absence, McPherson said.

“Overall, the scope of my job hasn’t changed. Operations and training are still my main responsibilities,” said Leuci.

There are nine candidates for the new deputy chief position, which would cover the responsibilities formerly held by the fire inspector, Ken Whicker.

Whicker stepped down when a firefighter retired. He applied for a lateral move in the department and got it, McPherson said. There are no in-house candidates for the deputy position, McPherson added.

“His main focus will be fire prevention, inspection, education and investigation,” said McPherson of the new deputy chief position. “If we have a fire, the deputy will assume those roles in the command structure, then go into the investigative process.”

Windham was one of only three fire departments in the state to receive the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant this year.

The other two towns were Salem and Dover, McPherson said. The SAFER grant is offered through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and is designed to help towns boost their fire department staffing levels by paying a portion of the salaries for new hires for the first four years. The amount of the grant diminishes yearly, and in the fifth year the town assumes the entire cost of the employees.

Voters approved the spending of $182,230 to hire four firefighters for the 2008-09 year, a part of which will be offset by the SAFER funds.

Once they’re hired, McPherson said, the new firefighters will spend a week getting familiar with the department rules and regulations, the building and the staff.

After that, they will each be assigned to a shift for three months, and will rotate through the remaining three shifts for a one-year period before they get a set shift, McPherson said.

The new firefighters will be nonunion for the first year, and will be paid between $37,000 and $45,000 depending on their experience level, and the deputy chief will make between $58,568 and $71,188, based on qualifications and experience, McPherson said.

“Even putting these four firefighters on, which will give us a daily manpower of five firefighters per shift, we’re still under the manpower,” McPherson said. “It’s going to take us some time, and we need to ramp up.”

Windham ponders leaving SAU 28

Salem Editor — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:39:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

The Windham School District moderator will select several residents to join two School Board members to study withdrawing from School Administrative Unit 28.

Currently Windham shares SAU 28 with Pelham, but the addition of the new Windham High School could prove too much for the current school administration staff to handle, said Windham School Board Chairman Barbara Coish.

“The towns are both growing, and with Windham now going to have its own high school in the next couple of years, just the work load is so much for the personnel there,” Coish said. “If we’re going to do it, it’s probably the right time.”

Windham voters overwhelmingly passed an article on this year’s ballot authorizing the Windham School Board to form a committee to investigate the possibility of withdrawing from the district.

At a meeting of the SAU 28 board, which includes Pelham and Windham school board members, on Tuesday, May 13, it was announced that Windham board members Michael Hatem and Mark Brockmeier would be on the withdrawal study committee.

School District Moderator Elizabeth Dunn is in the process of seeking volunteers for the five seats on the committee that are reserved for community members.

Superintendent Frank Bass will be present during the withdrawal committee’s meetings to provide information and guidance as needed, but will not be a voting member, Coish said.

Once the committee is established, members will gather information regarding the costs, consequences and benefits of separating from Pelham.

Coish said the goal is to have the withdrawal committee give its final report and findings to the Windham School Board by January, giving the board time to draft another warrant article before the March 2009 election, should the findings be in favor of withdrawal.

Should Windham withdraw, it would retain the ownership of the SAU 28 office at 19 Haverhill Road, Route 111, and Pelham would be responsible for finding its own facility.

Pelham would keep the SAU 28 title, but not the staff. They would have to hire a new superintendent and school administration staff.

The state Board of Education, which has to approve the withdrawal application, would then issue Windham a new SAU number.

Bruce Couture, chairman of the Pelham School Board, said Pelham has not taken an official stance on Windham’s desire to pull out of SAU 28, but said the board is preparing for it in the event it happens.

The Pelham Board will reserve making any decisions until after the withdrawal committee has reported its findings, he said.

“There are probably pros and cons to both things,” Couture said, adding there are a lot of things to consider, including the financial situation Windham’s exit from the SAU will put Pelham in.

“I think in some ways it could probably make sense, and in other ways it could make sense to stay together,” he said.

Couture did say that the current school administration staff is at its workload capacity, and the opening of Windham High School in September 2009 will tax them even more, something else the committee will have to look into.

“I would think they’re close to being pretty full, to be honest with you. I don’t know if it’s in a crisis mode at this point ... it’s pretty tight,” Couture said.

Strawberry Festival and book fair is June 7

Salem Editor — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:22:00 GMT

The Friends of the Library of Windham will host their annual Strawberry Festival and book fair on Saturday, June 7, from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., on the grounds of the Nesmith Library on Fellows Road in Windham.

The book fair will run from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. FLOW members, senior citizens and volunteers can enjoy an “early bird” book sale Thursday, June 5, from 4 to 7 p.m. Seniors will receive a 50 percent discount on their book fair purchases.

The festival will include entertainment, games, music, contests, raffles and homemade strawberry shortcake.

Many of the most popular festival games, plus a few more, will be brought back this year. Children will enjoy mini and giant moon walks, an inflatable slide, basketball toss, soccer kick, duck pond, froggy fling, dart board and the Windham Police and Fire departments will provide children’s activities as well.

There will also be a dunk tank. Some of the dunkees include Frank Bass, Bruce Anderson, Mike Hatem, Dennis Senibaldi, Deb Armfield, Andy Desrosiers, the Windham Town Beach lifeguards and more. A complete schedule of dunkee times will be published a week before the festival.

Local “chefs” will be grilling hot dogs and hamburgers at “chuck wagon” grills. If you’re looking for a more sophisticated culinary delight, then mosey on over to one of the food stands sponsored by the Common Man, Gourmet Grille or Village Bean. The pizza vendor this year is Capri Pizza.Treats for children include popcorn, cotton candy, slushes, dough boys and pretzels.

There will also be a mini shortcake table, where children will be able to create their own shortcakes/sundaes.

The 10th annual pie-eating contest will take place at 1 p.m. and will include the following age categories: 5 years old and younger, 6 to 9 years old, 10 to 14 years old, 15 and older, and the dads and moms category. The first person in their age group to finish his/her pie is the winner. The pies have been donated by Table Talk Pie Company. All winners will receive a Chunky’s gift certificate.

D.J. Mike Mell of New Style Entertainment – www.newstyledjs. com – will keep the fun going by supplying music for the day and letting everyone know what’s going on throughout the festival. The entertainment begins with an opening ceremony provided by the Boy Scouts, followed by the Windham Community Concert Band, Windham swing band, Windham Middle School cheerleaders, Karate International, Junior Hurricane

Drumline of Windham, Dance Impressions, Golden Crane, Windham’s Got Talent Show, Three Left Feet – K-9 Freestyle and Drill Team, raffle announcements (including door prizes), and a closing ceremony by the Boy Scouts. The ongoing entertainment includes face painting, balloon animals, sand art and jousting.

So far, there area also 15 raffles customized for family fun:

• The Friends of the Library of Windham (FLOW) board raffle – iPod nano and a $15 gift card to Target

• The mom’s package

• The dad’s package

• Home fix-up package

• Healthy pet package

• Woof woof package

• 0 to-5-year-old package

• 6- to 10-year-old package

• 11- to 15-year-old package

• Family activity package

• A package for two

• Seacoast getaway package

• Winter fun package

• Home decor package

• Dance birthday party package

• F.L.O.W. membership raffle – re-new or initiate a new FLOW membership on or before the festival and your name will automatically be placed in a drawing to win two Red Sox tickets.

There will also be free “shortcake shuttles” to and from the Strawberry Festival. The shuttles will pick up/drop off at the Center School or the Route111 park and ride parking lots. The shuttles will run continuously from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. There will be a designated area at the Route 111 park and ride for handicap parking. There will also be a “Mom’s Quiet Room” for moms with infants who need some privacy.

For a complete schedule of events, visit www.flowwindham. org.

In the case of rain, the festival will take place at the Center School, and the book fair will remain at the Nesmith Library.

Green gone for good at Windham High School

Salem Editor — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:59:00 GMT

BY JIM DEVINE

The School Board once again closed the book on protests and discussion of the future high school’s colors and mascot last week.

Reading a six-sentence statement adopted by the School Board on May 6, Chairman Barbara Coish said there would be no further discussion on changing the school’s colors to green and gold.

Since last summer, the board has held several hearings and meetings with input from children and parents who wanted to change the planned dominant color of Windham High School from blue to green in keeping with town traditions.

The board voted against revisiting the colors that were decided by Windham students in a district-wide election in 2005, but green was later added as an accent color.

“In an effort to avoid divisiveness, the School Board voted to add the color green to the color scheme,” Coish said.

Although parents voiced concern that green wouldn’t be the dominant color, the School Board said the amount each color is used would be left up to the school administrators and athletic director.

Resident Jeff Domogala was the only person supporting the switch to green present for the announcement, but said it’s still an issue that gets attention in social circles in town.

“A lot of people still talk about it,” Domogala said. “I’m just disappointed that they really won’t revisit this.”

In protest of the board’s decisions over the past year, Domogala assisted with a petitioned warrant article on the 2007 ballot and has tied a large green ribbon around a tree in front of his house on Telo Road.

Jim Curtin, who drafted the petition, resigned his position as a volunteer firefighter from the town’s Fire Department over the issue, Domogala said.

Although the petition article requesting that school colors be green, gold and white succeeded on the ballot, it was a nonbinding referendum.

“They kind of just took anything in with what they wanted, and they ignored the students,” Domogala said. “They ignored the voters.”

Windham School Board creates windmill group

Salem Editor — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:56:00 GMT

BY JIM DEVINE

Taking advantage of a whirlwind of community support for a teen’s idea to build a windmill at Windham’s new high school, School Board members have established a committee to tackle research and construction in the coming months.

Superintendent Frank Bass said that since the alternative energy project was first floated by 13-year-old David Hutchings, he’s received an influx of phone calls from community members interested in contributing to the project.

The project, which may involve the first wind- and solar-power structure of its kind in New Hampshire, is meant to become a teaching tool in science and math classrooms while also providing energy to the school, Bass said.

The School Board voted to create the committee Tuesday, May 6, and appointed former selectman Alan Carpenter as chairman.

“We can take it and turn into a reality that contributes to everyone,” Carpenter said to school officials about his interest in the project.

Bass advised board members to create the committee to give to take advantage of community interest while the board can maintain its focus on the school district and high school construction.

The committee will focus on construction feasibility, the type of alternative energy methods to be used and funding for the best construction option before the school opens in fall 2009.

School Board Chairman Barbara Coish emphasized trying to pay for the project without using taxpayer money.

Carpenter’s wife Diane, the president of the Windham Endowment for Community Advancement, said the endowment board members are interested in taking on some of the funding initiatives for the project.

“We can be the vehicle that receives that money and comes to the School Board to accept it,” Diane Carpenter said.

Man killed in Windham crash

Salem Editor — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:03:00 GMT

BY JIM DEVINE

Police shut down a rural stretch of Route 28 for six hours Friday, May 2, after a Derry man was killed in a single-car accident.

Police found the driver, Esau Stanley Jr., 32, of Derry, dead at the scene near the Libbey Road intersection of Rockingham Road shortly after the accident was called in around 7:30 a.m.

Police Chief Gerald Lewis said speed may have been a factor.

“It’s one of the things we’re going to look at,” Lewis said. “It’s still at the early stages where we’re collecting a lot of information.” Lewis said Stanley’s 2008 Chevrolet Corvette was found a short distance off the road on its side.

“It went off the road and into the woods where it did hit some trees and went over,” Lewis said. “We don’t believe seat belts were being used."

While the stretch of Route 28 where the accident happened has few traffic lights, Lewis wouldn’t characterize it as a road where speeding commonly occurs.

“It’s commuter traffic. They travel at roughly 45 to 50 mph,” he said.

Stanley’s wife Michelle, 32, a passenger in the car, received minor injuries from the crash.

The road was closed off to through traffic through 2:30 p.m. on May 2 as police investigated the scene with help from Derry Police Department’s accident reconstruction team.

Police are seeking information from anyone who might have seen the crash.

Anyone with information can call Windham officer Bryan Smith at 434-5577.

Windham neighbors want dust and stone grinding to stop

Salem Editor — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:56:00 GMT

BY JIM DEVINE

More than 20 Windham residents, citing unbearable noise and a wall of stone dust enveloping their homes, directed state officials to deny a crushing permit for a development site on Ledge Road on Monday night, May 5.

The state Department of Environmental Services held a public hearing to gather input about whether the Air Division should approve a permit for a Lowell, Mass., company to continue crushing stone at its Ledge Road site along Route 111.

While blasting at the Meadowcroft site has prompted criticism from nearby residents who’ve had contaminated wells since last summer, residents are also reporting an unending film of stone dust enveloping their properties from stone crushing on the site nearby.

“We’re prisoners in our own home,” said Greg Kindrat of 61 Haverhill Road. “We can’t go outside with our kids. There’s tons of dust.”

The permit, described by DES Air Resources Division Chairman Craig Wright, would allow Meadowcroft to operate three crushing machines and one large dieselfuel engine at the site with certain fuel and dust output guidelines. Julia Whistle of 55 Haverhill Road said previous conditions have been so bad that she criticized any proposal that would allow the development site to crush rock without supervision.

“I’m sorry you’re understaffed but so are we,” she said. “What are we supposed to do? Suck in the dust all the time?”

Joanne Vignos of 4 Meetinghouse Road said the clouds of dust and noise levels up to 112 decibels have made conditions outside her home unbearable.

“I could not even go outside in my backyard unless I wanted to hear grinding, blasting and crushing,” Vignos said.

Nancy Butcher of 59 Haverhill Road asked if there would be unannounced checks on the operation to make sure the site would be in compliance.

“I think based on what I heard I can commit to that,” replied DES Compliance Bureau Administrator Pamela Monroe.

While Wright said that the Air Division of DES had no authority to weigh noise as a factor in issuing the permit, Vignos said it should be considered in some form as an effect on the environment.

“I think there are other kinds of pollution besides air ... I have no life because of this project at my home,” she said.

Wright said written input on whether to grant the permit could be submitted to the DES Air Division office through 4 p.m. on Friday, May 9.

Windham man rides to raise money for cancer

Salem Editor — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:49:00 GMT

BY DARRELL HALEN

When thousands of bicyclists ride through Massachusetts to raise money for cancer victims, Windham’s Steve Horaj will be among them.

Horaj will put his endurance to the test when he rides 163 miles over just two days. He will be participating in the Pan-Mass Challenge, whose organizers hope to raise $34 million this year for the Dana- Farber Cancer Institute.

“Who doesn’t know someone who hasn’t been affected by cancer?” said Horaj, who will ride from Wellesley to Provincetown on Aug. 2 and 3.

Since 1980, the annual bike-a-thon has raised more than $204 million through the Jimmy Fund for cancer treatment and research. The event raises more money for charity than any other athletic event in the country.

More than 5,500 cyclists are expected to participate this year. Each cyclist chooses from seven routes and rides one or two days.

Horaj, 20, a 2006 Salem High School graduate, began cycling while doing a college externship in Los Angeles as a way to beat heavy traffic. His enthusiasm for riding grew – fueled in part by coverage of the Tour de France – and by the end of his time in L.A., he was riding about 60 miles a day for exercise.

“I got really into it,” said Horaj, who was cooking at a hotel in Beverly Hills at the time. “I loved riding, I loved exercising.”

Horaj has found inspiration from Lance Armstrong, the road cyclist champion who battled testicular cancer and won the Tour de France seven times. Armstrong established a foundation that helps cancer victims.

“I think he’s a great motivator. That’s what I look up to,” said Horaj, who is reading Armstrong’s autobiography, “It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life.”

Horaj recently earned an associate’s degree in culinary arts from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., and is now working as a line cook at a Boston restaurant and bakery shop.

Although this will be his first charity bike ride, he has previously helped others. He participated in a Relay for Life, held at Salem High School, to benefit the American Cancer Society. And he was in a peer outreach program, No Butts About It, that brought an anti-smoking, anti-drug use message to younger students.

Horaj, who has committed to raising $4,000 for the bike-a-thon, is willing to put the name of cancer victims on his jersey if people would like him to ride in honor of a loved one.

The Pan-Mass Challenge can be an emotional event for its riders. Loved ones of cancer victims express their thanks and hold signs of cancer patients. Riders have been known to wipe away tears, said Horaj.

“It’s supposed to be a very emotional thing,” he said.

How you can help

To help Steve Horaj raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, go to www.pmc.org. Click on “Donate” in the upper left hand corner. When “Sponsor Rider with Donation” appears on the screen, you can donate to Stephen Horaj using his eGift number, SH0148. Or you can mail a donation, made payable to PMC, and send it to Horaj at his home: 6 Red Fox Road, Windham, NH