Frigid weekend ends
It was a cold, cold weekend. On Friday and Saturday, particularly during the overnight hours, the temperatures plunged to under -20 degrees. An outdoor thermometer in Newbury registered -24 degrees on Saturday morning.
Haverhill to study pedestrian, vehicle safety
NORTH HAVERHILL—The Town of Haverhill has been awarded $200,000 from the Safe Streets and Roads for All Grant Program.
The federal program announced awards last week totaling $800 million to assist with the safety and infrastructure of 510 projects nationwide. Four New Hampshire towns — Franklin, Keene, Rockingham, and Haverhill — received a total of $850,000.
Haverhill will use its funds to develop a safety action plan with an eye toward pedestrian safety.
JO Day moves back to Wednesday
We will once again be a Wednesday newspaper beginning with the Feb. 8 edition.
Starting next week, the newspaper will arrive on newsstands on Wednesday mornings. It will also be mailed out to subscribers on Wednesdays, so many, if not most, readers in the area should receive their newspaper in the mail by Thursday.
Resignations leave new Orange County sheriff understaffed
CHELSEA—The new Orange County Sheriff’s tenure will get off to a challenging start when he takes office on Feb. 1. The entire administrative staff resigned effective Jan. 31, the same day longtime Sheriff Bill Bohnyak departed the office in Chelsea.
“I have no accountant and no office manager,” said Sheriff-elect George Contois during a budget hearing on Jan. 25. “Quite frankly, we’re in a desperate situation.”
Warning issued to Orange County ex-sheriff
PITTSFORD—The Vermont Criminal Justice Council has voted to issue a written warning to longtime Orange County Sheriff Bill Bohnyak for using a deputy to handle criminal cases, including sensitive sex crimes, when she was not certified to investigate them.
Books, learning inspire new Baldwin librarian
WELLS RIVER—Melissa Beaulieu, of Ryegate, is the new librarian at the Baldwin Memorial Library. She officially began her new position on Jan. 4. She succeeds Peggy Hewes, who had been at the library for 30 years before stepping down in December.
Piermont Village School mulls tuition change
PIERMONT—Piermont’s high school tuition policy took center stage during the board meeting last week.
Tuition at some schools has exceeded the cap set by Piermont voters nearly 20 years ago. The rising costs and how to handle them dominated a lengthy discussion at last week’s school board meeting.
Tax rate set in Haverhill
WOODSVILLE—After an unprecedented standoff between Haverhill and a state agency delayed tax bills and thrust local entities into a cash crunch, the impasse appears to have been resolved. Town officials announced that a tax rate had been set for 2022. Property tax bills were to be mailed out this week after a clerical error delayed the mailings.
Rivendell District opts for status quo budget
ORFORD—A divided school board has tentatively proposed an 11.35% increase in spending next year to maintain the district’s existing programming. On Jan. 17, the school board reviewed alternative drafts of the proposed 2023-2024 Rivendell School District budget. Administrators had distributed two proposals for their consideration.
In Times Past: Lost to Technology
At noon on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 1951, eight Bradford women lost their jobs.
It was a scene replicated at locations throughout the valley in the 1950s, as local telephone operators were supplanted by an automated dialing system.
The loss of the human touch did not go unnoticed. Switchboard operators were hailed as “uncrowned heroes of patience, gentleness, and courtesy.”
Gone was the “human aspect of a mutual friend,” who often knew which store you wanted when you asked for “the grocery store.” Gone was the forerunner of 9-1-1, where quick thinking saved lives and much more in the face of a fire or other emergency. Gone was a valuable source of local information and perhaps, if the caller was lucky, a bit of local gossip.
Their jobs were forever lost to technology.