(ISSN-0746-1674)
Volume 152 • Number 34
An Award Winning Independent Weekly Newspaper Since 1865 August 23, 2017
by Marianne Farr
NORTH HAVERHILL--"We've When asked to highlight the
lost a lot of historical knowledge contributionsCharlesandTrotthave
between those two," Haverhill Town made to the community, Lacai!!ade
Manager Jo Lacaillade said of the remarked, "The list is so long!
recent retirements of two long-time Charles was with the department
Haverhill Police Department offic- for 21 years. He worked his way up
ers. and became chief in 2011. Lacaillade
ChiefByron Charles retired as said he succeeded in working
of July 28, and Det. Sgt. Wallace towards having a well-trained pro-
Trott's last day was Aug. 17. fessional group of officers. He left
With 12 years of experience with the respect of all his officers,
with HPD, Brandon Ailing is andhadagoodworkingrelationship
presently officer in charge until he with the town.
officially takes over as chief of Lacaillade said that Charles
police on Sept. 1. Ailing told the didn't want a lot of fanfare
Journal Opinion in a recent surrounding his departure, andonly
interview that Trott and Charles agreed to a going away party if it
were his field training officers and wasn t heavily advertised. Over the
laid the foundation for his law course of his last day, there were
enforcement career, about 100 well-wishers who visited
"Both were very effective and him. Steve Robbins and his Red
outstanding officers," Alling said, Knights motorcycle group stopped
noting the 40 years of combined law
enforcement experience between
the two. See Transition on page 9
by Lillian Gahagan
BRADFORD--TheRiverBendCa- they will be driving trucks with
reer and Technical Center wel- double or triple trailers, tanks, or
comed a special guest to campus on carrying passengers or hazardous
Aug. 18. loads.
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott was In a phone interview in advance
one of a number of people who of the festivities, River Bend
attended' a celebration Friday Director Robert St. Pierre said the
morning to award certificates of CDL course this summer was a big
completion to several students who success. The school was able to get
had participated in a commercial grant funding tohelp offset some of
driver's license training program the cost of the training through the
this surmner. Vermont departments of labor and
The class ran from July 10 transportation, as well as the
through Aug. 18 and presented the Vermont Student Assistance Cor-
Class A training, which included poration.
permit and road testing, the Ver- St. Pierre opened the event by
moat Department of Transportation explaining that River Bend was one
physical, and pre-enrollment drug of the 17 regional training centers in
testing. Earning a CDL requires 160 Vermont to offer the course, and he
hours of training, said snch trainings were"the wave of
According to the Federal Motor the future" because this is how
Carrier Safety Administration students as well as adults can obtain
website, driving a commercial skills and knowledge to get good
vehicle "requires a higher level of iobs, in the state.
knowledge, experience, skills, and " We already have the infrastruc-
physical abilities" than driving a ture to keep it going," St. Pierre
non-commercial vehicle. To obtain said, noting that tech centers
a CDL, applicants have to pass both provide good access so that pro-
skills and knowledge tests and are spective students don't have to
also held to a higher standard when travel very far from home to learn
driving anykind of motor vehicle, new skills and get credentialed.
Drivers get a CDL in their home
state and may also be required to get See River Bend on page 5
special additional endorsements if
BRADFORD CENTER--There Sorento operated by Brittany
were no naajor injuries after a motor Driscoll-Cray, 29, of West Fairtee
vehicle crash on a narrow stretch of who had stopped in the northbound
state highway between the Waits lane. The dump truck also side-
River and the rock ledges last week. swiped a southbound driver's side of
The crash happened at approxi- apick-uptruckoperatedbyJerome
mately 10:45 a.m. on the morning of Friedman, 82, of East Topsham.
Aug. 16 in clear and sunny Finally, the dump truck struck
conditions on Route 25 just north- the rear end of a 2016 Tesla 999
west of Bradford Center where operatedbyChristineDavis-Jeffers,
some roadside mowing was taking 45, of Ketchum, Idaho, pushing the
place. It involved two cars carrying car off the roadway and into ledge.
several children, a pick-up truck and At least two air bags deployed, but
a dump truck, the Tesla was demolished.
According to a Vermont State All drivers involved were wear-
Police news release, several cars ing seat belts, although it was
traveling north stopped as the unclear if all the passengers were
roadside mower partially entered also wearing seat belts. One Tesla
the travel lane. Behind the line of passenger sustained a minor arm
cars, Garrett Thresher, 57, of injuryandwastakent°theh°spital"
Vershire operated a 1994 Western Route 25 just west of Bradford
Stardumptruck. Ashepassed Chase Center was closed for approxi-
Hollow Road and came around a merely two hours sending north-
curve, hewasunabletostopintime, south traffic on a detour into the
He traveled into the southbound hills of Bradford via Chase Hollow
lane to avoid collision, but grazed
the rear driver's side of a 2013 Kin See Crash on page 9
I Haverhill Police Officer Kaitlyn Barnum speaks with Tammy Carbeel[I
and her daughter Aubrey during the Kids Summer Fun Lunch still
Woodsville Elementary School on Friday. HPD, Woodsvllle Ambu-III
lance end Woodsvllle Fire Department Joined the Cottage Hospitallll
Auxiliary at the event to display equipment. Inside the school, ap-III
proximately 200 backpacks filled with shelf-stable food were dis-Ill
tributed to ares children with plenty of educational and physical I
activities available as well. III
COURTESY PHOTOJ I
Due to the Labor Day holiday, the dead-
line for all ads and editorial copy for the
Sept. 6 issue ofthe Journal Opinion will be
Thursday, Aug. 31 at 5 p.m. Our office will
be closed Monday, Sept. 4.
Tacoma and Seattle are 10-year old alpacas who help g
to the farmstand at Swenson Farm located off Route 5
Bradford and Falrlee. Melanle Swenson says the alpacas are"
sociable" and "get a lot of attention."
JO PHOTO BY LILLIAN
by Alex Nuti-de Biasi
NEWBURY--Nearly 650 acres of meeting on Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. An
forestland on Tucker Mountain in informational meeting, in advance
West Newbury could soon be of the special meeting will be on
owned by the town if a proposal Sept. 21 at7p.m. Bothmeetingswill
wins approval at a special town beheldintheNewburyVillageHaU,
meeting scheduled for next month, which also functions as the Newbury
It's been nearly two years since Elementary School gynmasium.
the Vermont Land Trust first With aJanuarydeadlineloom-
approached the town about selling ing, supporters ofthe proposal have
the land at a discounted price, stepped up efforts to get the plan
According to a description of the before voters at a town meeting
project on the Newbury Conserve- while the selecthoard has appointed
tion Commission website, the an advisory committee to answer
Leach family has offered to sell the several lingering questions about
land at 50 percent ofestimated fair the proposal. The town's option on
market value. VLT has committed the land expires on Jan. 15,2018.
$190,000 to the proiect and will The 635 acres of land is spread
facilitate other private fundraising across two parcels located on either
to meet much of the remaining side ofTucker Mountain Road. At
purchase price. The town would be least one of the parcels borders a
voting on whether to allocate 100-acretract ownedbythe state of
approximately $25,000 to the
prqject.
Last week, Newbury Selectboard See Forest on page 3
voted to hold a special town
by Alex Nuti-de Biasi
WESTFAIRLEE--As far as dead- River streambank in Bradford below
beat dams go, it's a newer one. the falls with root wads just a couple
The Geer Dam was built across of years before that. If everything
the Ompompanoosuc just above falls into place, later this year the
West Fairlee village by a fonner groupwillbeginremovingtwodams
Dartmouth College ,engineering onCAatakBrookinNorthHavechill-
professor in the 1980s who used the one near Blaekmount Country Club
electricityto power his farm, while and the other on Pine Mill near tl~
some excess electricity fed into the center of the village.
grid. The dam generated power for Ron Rhodes of Porrrfret is river
little longer than a decade, but has steward with the CRC. He said Gear
sat idle for nearly a quarter of a Dam's removalwill eliminate sedi-
century, ment build-up behind the spillway,
Last week, much ofthe dam was cool the water temperature and ease
removed by contractors working fish passage makiiag habitat more
under an extensive parmership attractive to fish and other river
coordinated by the Connecticut inhabitants.
River Conservancy. Paired with the potential re-
The group also led the removal moval of a second Ompompanoosuc
of two early 20'h century dams on Dam a few miles downstream, the
the Wells River in Groton three
years ago and reinforced the Waits See Dam on page 5
by Marianne Farr
NORTHHAVERHILL---AttheAug. computer log ins and vendor sites.
14 meeting of the Haverhill Ducharme said that purchasing
Cooperative School Board, the hot procedures have been updated to
topics included the recently com- strengthenintemalcontrols.
pleted financial audit, updates on According to the annual finan-
facilities and an inside look at what cial report, general fund revenues
teachers did over the summer break, were $13,729,728 and expenditures
SAU-23 Business Administrator
Kathy Duchanne informed the were $13,641,364, resulting in a
surplus of $88,364. Ducharme
board that the district s audit for the reported that the total unassigned
school year ending June 30, 2016 fund balance at year end is
was complete. Audit results, which $310,383. She recommended that
had beenprovided to the board prior the district retain the maximum fund
to the meeting, included the draft balance of$177,325. The balance,
and the governance letter. $133,058, would go towards reduc-
Ducharme outlined the items ing the amount to be raised through
that need to be addressed, including taxes in the fi.scal year 2018 budget.
accounting standards that need to be Facilities manager Bert Vines
updated. An annual review of the addressed concerns that had been
investment policy was completed, raised about the Bennett Building,
but fiscal policies procedures such part ofthe Woodsville High School
as check endorsements will need to
be reviewed and updated, campus. He said that according to a
Monthly reconciliation and
closing procedures are back on a
schedule ensuring that they are
done on a timely basis by the payroll
and benefits manager, Ducharme
reported.
Other efficiencies include
timely creation of user names and
passwords for new employees, and
the immediate removal of termi-
nated employees from the account-
ing system and any other systems
relevant to the department such as
recent structural evaluation, there is
nothing to be alarmed about.
Installing crack monitors will en-
able them to keep an eye on cracks in
the masonry.
The findings of a recent
walkthrough at HCMS nearly brought
cheers from the board. Vines
reported that Dayco Roofingdid an
extensive evaluation and found
nothing wrong with the roof.
Meanwhile, SAU-23 Superin-
See Audit on page 9
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