3 171 Central Street • Woodsville, NH 03785 4 Email: gary ...Dec 22, 2009 · that she could g o...

DECEMBER 22, 2009 VOLUME 1 NUMBER 12

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171 Central Street • Woodsville, NH 03785Phone: 603-747-2887 • Fax: 603-747-2889

Email: [email protected]: www.trendytimes.com

ECRWSS

POSTAL CUSTOMER

PRSRT STDU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDPermit #1

N. Haverhill, NH

A Free Weekly PubliCAtion

A community can be de-scribed in a vast number ofways. A community can bedetermined by the houses,the businesses and the openland that exist in a given area.Community can also be de-fined by the people who live inthose homes, own the busi-nesses and take care of theland. A third was to definecommunity can be by the peo-ple who join together to takeon a task or to put their faithtogether to overcome dailytroubles or life long issues.

One such community isthe people of the WoodsvilleUnited Methodist Church.The second oldest church inWoodsville it is much more

than just the building. Theyhave been yoked (sharing aminister) with the NorthHaverhill Methodist Churchfor about forty years. But thatdoes not define this churchby any means.

The current Pastor, SueEllery, has been leading thecongregation for the pasteighteen months after beingasked and quickly acceptingthe position from the ArchBishop. Pastor Sue and herhusband live in the parsonagenext to the Woodsville churchand feel very much at home innorthern New Hampshire.

When asked what makesthis church so different, itdidn’t take her long to say“the people in it”. She addedthat they are a “loving, car-ing, spirit filled” congregationwith a very strong sense ofmission both locally and in agreater sense as well.

Pastor Sue pointed outthat a majority of her congre-gation in Woodsville is madeup of older citizens. One suchmember is Barbara Robin-son, who proudly says thatshe has been a member ofthe church since 1941.Though her mobility is notwhat it used to be, her spirithas not diminished. She waseager to sit and talk abouther church and its history. Butshe was also ready for theconversation to be over sothat she could go and pitch inwith the current mission at

hand in the adjoining room.Shirley Cobb, another

long time member was alsoready to pass along history ofher church including some ofthe story of one of the prizedpossessions - the organ. Agrand looking piece thatsounds just as grand, theorgan was a donation, date-ing back to the late 1800’s,from the Whitcher family.

Both of these long timemembers of WoodsvilleUnited Methodist Churchwent to Sunday School inthis building and have fondmemories of those years.They also both agree thatthey would love to see morechildren in today’s SundaySchool classes. And as thatincrease happens, thosechildren will be in goodhands. The most recent Pas-tor of the church retired, andnow is the Superintendent ofthe Sunday School. Anarrangement that works verywell on so many levels.

With a current member-ship of over 100, a member-ship that has stayed relativelyeven over the past decade,the weekly attendance has in-creased over the past coupleof years. The missions of thechurch have also increased.The church is proud to offertheir building for meetings tovarious groups including anAA meeting as well as a spotfor WIC distribution and ahome for the recently revital-ized Boy Scout Troop.

The church building itselfhas gone through changes aswell. From 1885 until 1891 thebuilding was at 109 CentralStreet. There are conflictingstories about exactly why itwas moved, but it was indeedmoved to its present location.The building saw a major ad-dition in the mid 1960’s. Thecongregation had grown somuch, including the SundaySchool classes that moreroom was needed. Thoughsome said it could not bedone without a huge amountof cash, the members of thechurch pitched in and com-pleted the addition, mostlywith volunteer labor, for afraction of the cost. The addi-tion includes a meeting room

and kitchen on the groundfloor, plus a second level thatincludes Sunday Schoolclassrooms, a library, a con-ference room and an officespace for the Pastor.

The Woodsville UnitedMethodist Church may notbe the biggest congregationin the area, they may nothave the oldest building

either, but the congregationhas a spirit that they are allproud of. And they are morethan willing to share thatspirit with any who would liketo join them. That includesthe Christmas Eve service tobe held at 7 PM on Thursday,December 24. A service ofcandlelight & carols, a serv-ice of spirit and hope.

A Community of Christians

The WoodsvilleUnited MethodistChurch has a specialarea of the sanctuaryfor a special ark ofthat some call“stuffies”. These stuffedanimals are collected, blessedby the congregation, and given tothose in need. That could mean a child or an adult who isill. It could be for someone who has recently lost a lovedone. Or it could be for someone who just needs a hug.This mission has gone well and the current supply is low.But more stuffies will soon join the ark and be ready to goout and do their job and that of the church.

More than one organization in the local area is takingheed of the need faced by families in this area. Like othergroups the Woodsville United Methodist Church is puttingtogether packages for those in need during the Christmasseason. In fact a room full of people were sorting, distributing and wrapping gifts that had been donated byparishioners as well as members of the general public.

Coordinator Deb Upton pointed out that the localbranch of the Laconia Savings Bank had taken about 40tags off the giving tree and some of their customershelped fill the requested needs. Deb also pointed out avery interesting fact about the list of requests from thosein need. There were a total of 54 children in 16 familiesthat the gifts were going to. Yet when the wish list came inthere was not a single toy on the list. It shows, accordingto Deb, that the need is even greater this year for the necessities of life.

This is not to say that those children will not get anytoys. At least one contributor who knew what was on thewish list brought in a big pile of toys so that every childcould get something to play with.

Along with the toys going to each family, the gift pack-ages included warm clothes, mittens, hats and a food cardthanks to the money donated for that purpose.

Not all Times are Trendy but there will always be Trendy Times Decem

ber 22, 2009 Volume 1 Number 12

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December 15, 2009: Lastweekend, from the 11th to the13th of December, millions ofpeople held rallies and can-dlelight vigils in over 130countries to call for progressin the Copenhagen climatetalks. The events, coordinatedby hundreds of civil societygroups under the banner ofthe TckTckTck campaign,were held from Kinshasa toKathmandu and in Copen-hagen, Denmark, site of theUN Conference on ClimateChange, Dec. 07-18, 2009.

Concerned Bradford, VTarea residents met at theUnited Methodist Church;started with a sidewalk candlelight protest, and ended with aprayer vigil and statement ofpurpose. Handouts encour-aged people to form carbonreduction accountabilitygroups (through Vermont

Interfaith Power and Light),and sign the 350.org SurvivalPact; which allies signatorieswith those whose lives are atrisk now due to climatechanges around the world.The message continues in thelife of the church in the weeksto come. Hundreds of similarevents were planned acrossthe United States to pushPresident Obama and Con-gress to adopt strong cuts incarbon emissions, at least40% by 2020, and make a se-rious investment in helpingdeveloping countries developon a low-carbon pathway.

Supporters were askingfor all countries to urgently signa climate agreement that is: a) Fair – by securing $200billion in climate financing forpoorer countries b) Ambitious – by peakingglobal carbon emissions by

2015, and returning atmos-pheric carbon dioxide levelsbelow 350 parts per millionc) Binding - legally enforceable

“We’re joining with peo-ple around the world to re-mind politicians that for many,ending the climate crisis is amatter of survival. We need areal deal in Copenhagen, notgreen wash,” said AndyClark, one of the organizersof the Bradford event on De-cember 11 at the GraceUnited Methodist Church.

At many vigils, citizensfeatured the number 350 in their banners. Many scientists, climate expertsand progressive national gov-ernments are now saying that350 parts per million is thesafe upper limit for carbondioxide in our atmosphere.The number 350 has becomea symbol of climate actionsince a massive global day ofdemonstrations organized by

the environmental group350.org on October 24, 2009.

Bill McKibben, visiting pro-fessor at Middlebury College,and founder of 350.org said,"People of every faith, rich andpoor, on every continent havespoken clearly in the last fewmonths, rallying around the350 target. Ordinary citizensunderstand the science. Our

leaders have no excuse for notproducing a deal that meetsthe scale of the crisis.”

Highlights from the week-end included vigils at nearlyevery US Senator’s office, toput pressure on the US tocommit to strong emissionsreductions. A complete list ofevent highlights can be foundon the 350.org website.

350.org Candlelight Vigil in bradfordBy Andy Clark

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3Monroe Consolidated

School Honor roll

Here is a list of our honor roll students for the first trimesterperiod ---August 31 –November 18, 2009.

GRADE 8Mariah Adam – High Honors in Math, Science & Honors

in Social Studies & Language Arts Vanessa Guion – High Honors is Language Arts, Social

Studies, Science & Honors in Math

GRADE 7Elizabeth Fiske – High Honors in Language Arts, Math,

Social Studies & ScienceNatalia Lundin – Honors in Language Arts, Social Studies

& ScienceSadie Shelton – High Honors in Math & Honors in

Language Arts, Social Studies & Science

GRADE 6Rachel Cohen – High Honors in Language Arts & Honors

in Social Studies, Science & MathMallory Duffy – Honors in Language Arts, Social Studies,

Math & ScienceJosiah Lundin – High Honors in Social Studies, &

Honors in Math, Science & Language ArtsDanielle Martin – High Honors in Language Arts & Honors

in Social Studies, Math & ScienceAlice Morrison – Honors in Language Arts, Social Studies,

Math & Science

Preheat the oven to 425 F.Line a baking sheet with parchment. Combine flour, sugar, salt & baking powder in a medium bowl. Mix thoroughly with a fork.Add dried fruit to mixture and stir together with fork.Add cream and stir until dough comes together. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead 8-10 times to form into a cohesive mass. Pat dough into a circle about 10" in diameter.If desired, brush top of dough with melted butter and sprinkle

with course sugar before cutting dough into 8 or 12 wedges.Place on prepared baking sheet and bake 15 minutes or until tops are just slightly golden. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I almost always use two fruits in my scones. Here are some of my favorite combinations: - cranberries & apricots - pears & currants

Stone lion inn Scones

By Ronda Marsh

Welcome to the premier column of trendy kitchen!

Even if you are not someone who already likes to cook, odds are that you DO like to eat.The goal here is to offer some delicious alternatives to restaurant dining, and to help thebusy cook by expanding his/her recipe collection. I can promise you that there will be nohard-to-find ingredients, or difficult techniques found here; just good, down-to-earth foodthat anyone can be proud to serve their family or guests. The other thing I can promiseyou is that I have personally cooked and eaten every single thing described. I am not aprofessional chef or had any special culinary training; I just enjoy cooking and developingrecipes, along with sharing what I’ve learned over the years. I hope that even if you area dyed-in-the-wool non-cook, you will be able to find something here that piques your in-terest. I once saw a quote that said: “If you can read, you can cook. The problem is thatmost people can’t read.” Since you are already here reading, we know cooking won’t bea problem for you, so jump right in and start cooking…your stomach will thank you!

I have always wanted to like scones.They are currently a popular coffeehouseitem, but actually they are a very old form ofbread which originated in Scotland in theearly 1500’s. In Britain they are usually pro-nounced “skawn”, and can be either sweetor savory. I had eaten scones from bakeriesand I had tried making them myself. Theone thing they all had in common was thatthey were…well, not so great. I always feltlike I was trying to swallow a mouth full ofcotton; dry and crumbly, like a biscuit left onthe counter overnight. Then I found thisscone recipe. It came to me from anInnkeeper on Cape Cod, who makes themfresh every morning for her guests. Thesescones have a moist, flaky interior, and are

perfect for serving warm with butter, jam, orwhipped cream. Give these a try; they areeasy to make and are sure to be the star ofany brunch!

• 2 cups all-purpose flour• 1/4 cup sugar• 1/2 teaspoon salt• 1 Tablespoon baking powder

• 1 cup (approximately) dried fruit, choppedif necessary to the size of raisins• 1-1/4 cup heavy cream



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trenDy tiMeSA Weekly PuBliCAtion

Phone 603-747-2887 • Fax [email protected]@trendytimes.com171 Central St. • Woodsville, NH 03785Tuesday – Friday 9:00am - 5:00pmTrendy Times reserves the right to accept or reject publication of any letter to the editor or submission of any nature for any reason, of course you will need to be really out there for us to turn you down. However, we do reserve the right to make slight changes to submissions for readability purposes. Thank you for your understanding.

trenDy tiMeS StAFFEDITOR ................................................................................................GARY SCRUTONSALES ........................................................................................................APRIL DYKESALES ..............................................................................................PHYLLIS EABORNSALES ................................................................................................GARY SCRUTONGRAPHIC DESIGN ..........................................................................JEANNE EMMONSBOOKKEEPING................................................................................JANICE SCRUTONMEMBER OF THE EDITORIAL STAFF ..........................................DEVIL’S ADVOCATE

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Jim Alexander & Tom Stocker, Edith Celley, Chuck Chandler, June Klitgord, Don & Kris Lehmann,Dick & Leila McDanolds, Doug

McDonald & Lesa Lakeman-McDonald, Arthur & Mary Mudge, John & Ruth Page, Steenburgh Auctioneers, Ruth & Steve Wellington,

Woodsville Guaranty Savings Bank, Anonymous (3)

! ! ! !

O UR 2009 P ROGRAM S PONSORS & SUPPORTERS

Betsy Boveroux, Haverhill Garden Club, Lower Cohase Regional Chamber of Commerce, Ed Patten, Ed & Karen Rajsteter

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A ND O UR 2009 VOLUNTEERS Carol Coon, Volunteer Coordinator, Sheila Asselin, Jean & George

Boveroux, Pat & Chuck Chandler, Pat & George Cook, Ginny Crowe, Jane Darby, Dick Ekwall, Elaine Elliot, Harry Haskins, Gertrude

Heilemann, Paula Kent, June Klitgord, Ella Lang, Doris Martell, Polly Marvin, Doug McDonald & Lesa Lakeman-McDonald, Shirley

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A relatively dry and warmhunting season this year hadme dreaming of snow….

I remember a couple ofseasons ago waking up atdeer camp in Jefferson onopening day to rain and cold.It was not the snow that hadbeen predicted, but rainy andcold is better than warm andcrunchy. We drove north toStratford then up a gravelroad that ends on the bound-ary of the Nash Stream For-est. Around 1800 feet we hitit…SNOW. There were sev-eral inches and more whitestuff was coming down. I wasso excited I almost jumpedout of the truck while it wasstill moving. We parked on anold log landing, made a quickplan and headed out. Thiswas going to be one fantasticwalk in the woods.

After about an hour offast steady walking I foundwhat I was looking for, a bigset of deer tracks. They wereold and filling with snow but Ihad all day so I started

walking after him. He traveledsoutheast across a brookand up a steep ravine to a flatarea that was thick with bal-sam fir saplings under acanopy of yellow birch,spruce and maple. His stridewas huge and he coveredgreat distances with only afew steps. He had a verywide, staggered walk and hishoof prints were thick andheavy, easily showing hishuge dew claws as they sunkinto the snow. As I traveledthrough the woods, he ledme through the least thick ofall the thickets and purposelyavoided gaps in trees that hecould have walked through.He was keeping his antlersfrom getting caught in trees.After an hour and a half following this deer I figuredhis antlers were at least 22 inches wide and hecleared 300 pounds liveweight. When he tangled withother deer, which he did fre-quently, his track was easilyidentified in the crowd. He

never made a loop, just zig-zagged through theswamps and forest all day insearch of other deer.

We traveled downhill,continuing southeast throughareas that had been loggedover the years. The scenewas beautiful and magnifi-cent. The snow filled the for-est, covering the evergreensin a carpet of white and cling-ing to everything includingme. The forest was silent withonly the sound of drippingmelting snow, my footstepsand the occasional thunder-ing wings of a grouse. At onepoint we walked the length ofa beaver dam and the viewacross the pond made mewish I had a camera. Thepond was not yet frozen andas the snowflakes fell theyseemed to be absorbed bythe black water. The air waswet and heavy with fog thatclouded the valley I was in.The smell of balsam fir,musty wet forest and my ownwet wool permeated my

senses. On the other side ofthe pond I could see thePercy Peaks rising out of thelow fog against a slate greyNovember sky. The fog withthe ring of evergreenstopped by the Percy Peakswas all reflected in the pond.“Even that cranky old buckmust have stopped to admirethis view” I thought. I hopedthe jaw dropping scenerywould slow him down but itdidn’t. He traveled downhill,with me in tow until we weretoo low in elevation for snowand his track disappearedinto the swamp.

I left him and hiked northonto “Potato Hill” back intothe snow where I could lookacross the Nash Stream val-ley to the Percy Peaks andget my bearings. The stormwas clearing and all aroundme chickadees andnuthatches fed with enthusi-asm, systematically examin-ing every crack in the treesfor food. I held my breath andlistened; I could hear the

forest and all the life thatgoes with it. I could smell thewonderful scent of wet forest,and wet wool. I was soakedand it was getting dark; timeto find a dry truck. And…where am I?

I talked to my cousinback at the truck. Apparentlyhe had tracked a huge buck up over “Potato Hill”and down the other side. He claimed this buck hadmagic powers and was ableto high jump vertical cliffswith no running start.Hmmmm…. The buck Itracked didn’t have magicpowers; he was big and oldand took me on a day longtour of his beautiful home.

A Walk in The Woods isone year old this week.Thank you all for reading andproviding me with your won-derful comments. And thankyou to my colleague KarenBennett who encouraged meto start writing “sooner ratherthan later”.

Happy Holidays!

A Walk in the Woods – December 2009By David Falkenham, Grafton County Forester

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Calendar of Events

wHENEVER DATE Place your event for your

town, school or organization at no charge.

Submit your entries by:Phone: 603-747-2887 • Fax: 603-747-2889

Email: [email protected]

Deadline for submissions Thursday by 5pm

advertise your event in trendy times

and get two ads for the

priCe of oNe.For every ad purchased trendy times

will give you a

seCoNd week at No CharGe.

ChurChes & NoN-proFitorGaNizatioNs

Do you have special Holiday services?Christmas Bazaar coming up?

Hosting a supper or breakfast?

2 weeks For $48!

For more details call Gary at 603-747-2887or email [email protected]

Dear Santa,I have tried to be good this year. Please

excuse my slips and transgressions (you knowwhich ones I’m talking about). Here are the thingsI really, really need you to bring me.PATIENCE. Let me listen to the same

story told for the 100th time. Boring people needlove too.VISION. Help me to see far ahead to the ultimategoal in life and avoid the potholes along the road.

COURAGE. Enable me to stand up for my be-liefs even when many others tell me I am wrong.

LOYALTY. To my friends and family. Give me aspecial loyalty to my loving spouse. It seems to bein short supply these days but I hope you still haveenough in your bag to save some for me.SENSE OF HUMOR. It is a pretty grim world

out there. Help me to find the humor in situationsto ease me along my journey.HUMILITY. Give me a sense of my own worthseasoned with an appreciation for others.

Forget the $100 perfume, the diamond pen-dants, the 50 inch TV, the villa on the Rivera,these are only things. The intangibles are what Itruly need. Reach into your pack and leave methese. They will not cost a cent and will lightenthe load. The reindeer will be grateful!

Sheila (a good girl, mostly)

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICES6:00 PMBethany Church, United Church of Christ, Pike

7:00 PMEast Peacham Baptist Church, East Peacham

7:00 PMHaverhill Congregational Church, Haverhill

7:00 PMWells River Congregational Church, Wells River

7:30 PMBath Congregational Church, Bath

7:30 PMOrfordville Church Building, Orford

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27CAROL SING9:00 AMBethany Church, United Church of Christ, Pike

CAROL SING10:30 AMUnited Congregational Church of Orford, Orford

wEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30COMMUNITY MEAL - OPEN TO ALL5:00 PM – 7:00 PMSt. Luke’s Parish Hall, Central Street, Woodsville

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31FIRST NIGHT4:00 PMSaint Johnsbury

SUNDAY, jANUARY 3BRING A BELL AND RING IN THE NEW YEAR9:00 AMBethany Church, United Church of Christ, Pike

BRING A BELL AND RING IN THE NEW YEAR10:30 AMUnited Congregational Church of Orford, Orford, NH

SNOWMOBILE TRAINING COURSE12:00 NoonMorrill Municipal Building, North Haverhill

My Christmas list



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There are so many simplethings that you may or maynot be aware of that makeyour electric meter just hum!To start with, many people

don’t heat with electric today,but if you do, a PV systemmight not be for you … un-less you do something aboutit. I don’t even have a fur-nace in my home - or anelectric heater! No need forone, when you make yourhome energy efficient. Wewill talk more about this later.You really should do this

before ordering your solarsystem, because the systemshould be designed with yourelectric consumption in mind.So, go get your electric bills

& figure out how many kWhyou have been using. Someincentive to reducing yourenergy usage is to know thatthe average American uses20kWh/day. My brother-inlaw thought he didn’t usemuch & found that he wasusing 27 kWh/day! What aneye opener! The averageVermonter (bragging) uses17kWh/day. I use (bragging,again) 3.5kWh/day! & I livevery comfortably. I used tobe like the average person &designed my system to meetthe old needs, along with at-tempting a goal to reduce myusage to 11.5 kWh/day. Seewhat happens! I became anEnergy Cruncher! It wasn’t

difficult at all. Now my sys-tem produces more than Ineed & it would be way toocostly to tie into the grid. :( Most homes can inexpen-

sively reduce their electricitydemands by 20-30% withsome simple adjustmentsthat make a huge difference: • Replace incandescent lightbulbs with compact fluores-cent ones.• Minimize the phantom(ghost) loads in your house.• Upgrade your older appli-ances with Energy Starones - choose ones that usethe least amount of energy.• Use vegetation to keepyour home cool in the summer & maximize sun-shine entering the house inthe winter.• Insulate your home well forcolder seasons.Use passive solar tech-

niques to help with your

daytime heat. Consider thevalue of a Solar Heating Sys-tem that can reduce youryearly heating bills by asmuch as 30-40% per yr. Thesun shines for FREE. Theydon’t use any fuel! NumerousSolar companies carry thesereasonably priced units. Con-tact one of our advertisers.You can also use the sun’s

warmth for your hot waterneeds. Either way, using ther-mal energy is a very smart &efficient way to make use ofthe power of the sun & re-duce your energy usage.

Let’s discuss PhantomLoads (ghost loads). Any-thing that is still lit up at all,when you turn off your lightsat night.. is a phantom load!Phantom loads suck electric,even if not in use.According to the U.S. De-

partment of Energy (www.en-ergy.gov/applianceselectroni

cs.htm), 75% of the electricitythat powers home electronicsis consumed while devicesare turned off! If that soundslike a high figure, considerthat most home electronics,including stereos, computers,televisions & DVD players areusing standby power - any-time they’re switched off. Thatadds up quickly when thesedevices are plugged in 24/7.

Phantom loads are com-mon not only in home elec-tronics, but in many homeappliances as well, such asstoves and washers & dryers- that electricity shows up onyour bill just the same as ifyou were using it for some-thing more rewarding. And, itmakes the same contributionto air pollution, global warm-ing & other environmentalproblems. The good news isthat reducing these loads isan easy, painless way to start.

Turn it off, then unplug it.Consolidate your cords withpower strips. It can be a has-sle to unplug multiple cords,so plug them all into powerstrips to make it easy to turnoff all the devices at once.Smart Strips can make thiseven easier. Use one withyour computer or TV & itturns off all the peripheral de-vices automatically.

Ok - that’s a start! You’llsave quite a bit of energy thisway, but you need to knowthat your two biggest energyconsumers are your refriger-ator & your water.

Appliances. As thelargest energy consumersamong home appliances, re-frigerators & freezers can ac-count for almost 15% of yourelectrical usage! In fact, theycan use more electricity thanspace heaters, water heaters& lights. If your refrigerator ismore than 10 yrs old, it isprobably not nearly as

reduce your electric load Without a lot of Cash output

By nancy Rae Mallery, Green energy times, Bradford, Vt - 10.5.09 issue.

For more info about energy independence: www.greenenergytimes.org

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GGGGrrrreeeeeeeettttiiiinnnnggggssssSSSSeeeeaaaassssoooonnnn’’’’ssss

All-New 2010 EQUINOX

Best wishes for the happiest of holidays!Please buckle up and drive safely. We look forward to servingyou with all of your transportation needs for many seasons to come.

The Little BIG Store

Jct. Rt. 5 & 302Wells River, VT802-757-2311, 800-468-2956wellsriverchevy.com

energy efficient as today’smodels. Energy Star stan-dards are to help you identifyproducts that use less energy.To be an Energy Star ratedrefrigerator, the model mustuse at least 15% less energythan the 2001 federal stan-dard. Most refrigerators thatyou see in local appliancestores use about 15-20% lessthan this standard. There isalso a Sun Frost refrigeratorthat uses 53% less energythan the standard! It isn’tcheap. To find the most effi-cient refrigerators, downloada qualifying product list fromwww.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=refr ig.dis-play_products_html.

If you would like to seehow much electricity your cur-rent refrigerator uses, try plug-ging it into a Kill-A-Watt Meter. A reasonably priced freezer ismade by Crosley & is availablethrough some of our advertis-ers. Many local appliancestores carry what you need &work beautifully with solar.Remember, we only use 3.5 kWh/day, including theuse of locally purchased energy star appliances.

There is one exception toappliances & that would beyour cookstove. An electricstove is not an option withsolar, if you are off-grid. Theyuse a lot of energy to run, asdoes the oven in most gascookstoves, as well as any-thing that uses electric toheat up. Beware of newstoves with a 500 watt elec-tric glow bar pilot in the oventhat runs orange hot all thetime the oven is in use, con-suming power rapidly. Peer-less Premier kitchen stovesoffer what you need. Premieroffers many different modelsincluding stainless steelunits, white, almond, orblack, with cook-tops of 4, 5,or 6 burners, or built in grid-dle with cover, sealed burn-ers on some models, & evenone model has battery oper-ated clock/timer. … & a com-pletely insulated oven thatsaves gas. Some of our ad-vertisers carry them. Water. Water is the otherlarge energy user. Let’s seehow we can reduce ourusage here. We use a lot ofwater in our every day lives.Every time you use water, ituses electricity to replenishwhat you have used. If youhave your own well, it takesa pump to lift the water fromthe well, to start with. An en-ergy saving tip is to use a lowsurge pump, such as Grund-fos Soft Start. Definitelyshop around for these. Oneof our advertisers was wayless than any of the others.

Then an oversized pressuretank will make the pumpcome on less often. You caneven have a couple of them,to really be conservative.

If you have an older, con-ventional toilet you are prob-ably using more water thanyou need to clear to the bowl.Consider installing a new,low flush toilet. Another solu-tion is to displace the waterin the tank by a brick or two,a plastic bottle filled withwater or sand…Some other ways to con-

serve water are:• The new, low-flow showerheads do a great job & really help reduce your water consumption. • A dishwasher is actuallymore energy efficient thanwashing them by hand.• A front loading washingmachine is the most energyefficient one.

Water Heating Efficiency.Solar water heating systemscan reduce a home’s hotwater heating demand by 60to 90% by using a solar hotwater system to pre-heatwater before it enters yourexisting traditional water

heater, or on-demand heater.Remarkably effective & effi-cient, even in northern cli-mates, solar water heatingtechnologies have maturedsignificantly in the past 30years. Designed to easily last30 years or more with mini-mum maintenance, typicallysolar water heating systemwill pay for itself in its first 3-7 years of use. Solar waterheating systems heat yourhome’s water with collectorsthat are usually placed onthe roof of the home. The hotwater produced is stored inan insulated tank until you’reready to use it. Your tradi-tional hot water will only kickon to heat up the water whenthe water temperature is notquite high enough.

Solar Water Heatinggives you the best return onyour investment with thisshort payback period.

Some efficient models ofdomestic hot water heatershave also become availablein the last several years. Ifyou have an old hot waterheater, chances are that itwas not designed with effi-ciency in mind. Again, checkout Energy Star’s website(www.energystar.gov) to findout which boilers are themost efficient.

Another good alternative

to the traditional hot waterheating tanks are On-de-mand Hot Water Heaters.The Rinnai is our favorite.Most of the year the water inthe preheat tank that isheated by a Solar ThermalSystem, is plenty hot, so theOn demand is turned off, butis available with a touch of abutton, in the bathroom. Wekeep it turned off because itwould be a ‘phantom load’.These systems heat thewater only when its beingused. Normal water heatingsystems used in much of ourcountry, maintain a largetank of hot water to be usedonly a few times a day. Tokeep the water hot & ready,they consume energythroughout the entire day,whether you need it or not.Instantaneous water heatersonly consume energy themoment you need the hotwater, saving the typicalhousehold 30 to 50% of the

cost of hot water heating. Youcan find instantaneous waterheaters that use natural gas,propane & electricity from avariety of manufacturers.

There are literally hundreds of other little tricks& smart tweaks you canmake to your home that willfurther reduce your usagesuch as: Make your coffee inyour coffee maker or with apercolator on the stove &turn if off - keep it hot in athermos or reheat in the microwave to save energy.Be sure to change your lightbulbs & possibly your lighting fixtures to energy efficient ones.

Be creative & be awareof your energy usage. Onceyou get yourself on the path,you’ll love the difference youmake for yourself, your fam-ily, community & the planet.And, you’ll do just fine livingwith solar to meet your energy needs. �

Reduce Your Electric Load Without a Lot of Cash OutputContinued from Page 6

8Not all Times are Trendy but there will always be Trendy Times Decem


Woodsville, NH

The Holiday seasonbrings out the best in somany people. It is a time ofyear when goodness andlight is brought to the fore-front. Whatever your beliefs

or your traditions, the monthof December is an importanttime on the calendar. Not tomention that fact that winteris now officially here. (WinterSolstice was december 21).

On the other hand, thisseason also brings out somebad aspects of the humanrace. I refer to the issue ofimpaired driving, whether im-paired by drugs or alcohol, itis an issue that kills over16,000 people every year.

While there are manygroups working to combatthis issue, some of theyoungest are those in theBlue Mountain Union VKAT(Vermont Kids Against To-bacco 5-8 graders) Group. Astheir name implies they areworking on more than just im-paired driving. They also areworking to get everyone intoa healthy living frame of mind.

The most recent projectwas called “Lights on forLife”. This took place on Fri-day, December 18 and waspromoted to help raiseawareness of impaired driv-ing. The 50 students at BMUin this program madeposters, sent home informa-tion sheets and generallymade fellow students, staffmembers, parents and thegeneral public aware of theissue. Lights on for Life en-couraged drivers to havetheir headlights on all day.Homeowners were also en-couraged to leave on theiroutside lights or holiday lightsin an effort to raise aware-ness that alcohol and drugrelated crashes are prevent-able. It was also a means ofremembering those whohave been killed or injured byimpaired drivers.

Blue Mountain Union isnot the only school with aVKAT Group. There aresome 51 groups across theState of Vermont. Studentsfrom grades five thru eightare eligible and encouragedto join. After graduation from8th grade many of these stu-dents will join their school’sSADD (Students AgainstDrunk Driving) group.

lights on For lifebMu Student Awareness Program

l-R: William Scott, Grange executive Committee,

Councilor Ray Burton and Master linda lauer

and 3rd Grade students at the Bath Village School.

Bath, NH Pine Grove Grange of Bath, annually presents dictionaries to 3rd Graders in Lisbon, Bath andMonroe Schools. This is a State wide project by Granges.In 2008-09 14,568 Dictionaries have been presented.

"This is one of the most important projects that PineGrove Grange does for community service. It's rewardingto see the positive impact with the 3rd Graders" Pine GroveGrange Master Linda Lauer said.

Oxbow High School Student Council caroling at the nurs-ing home as well as passing out 135 Christmas Cards theyfilled out for the residents on December 17th in the after-noon. Also of note BMU 4th grade class came in and sangChristmas Carols as well as passed out gingerbread housesthat they had made this morning December 18th. WHSBand and Chorus did a Christmas concert here at GCNH onDec. 17th in the morning.

We would like to send a special thank you to all thegroups who have come in to the nursing home and spread alittle holiday cheer. The residents and staff at the GraftonCounty Nursing Home appreciate it greatly!

BMu VkAt members olivia Wyatt and Shelby Peters

show two of the many posters made to raise awareness of

the “lights on for life” project on December 18th.

Deadline For All Ads – Thursdays 5pmRegular Office Hours – Tuesday-Friday 9-5Closed Christmas Day and New Years Day

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93 rivers Furniture

Businesses changenames for a number of rea-sons. In the business worldof today, quite often theychange names because ofmerger, or sale or reorgani-zation. Here is a case wherea new name was added toan already existing name tobetter describe what lieswithin the walls.

Wayne Minnick hasowned and operated The

Way We Were for twenty-fiveyears. He began where theMcdonald’s restaurant nowstands at the corner of For-est & Central Streets inWoodsville. He outgrew thatspace and moved to the cur-rent location. Here he hasmade many changes overtime. The latest change is to

add a business name thatbetter describes what hedoes. Therefore “3 River Fur-niture at The Way We Were”has become his new title. Foryears Wayne and staff havecarried a large array of furni-ture including five differentbed manufacturers withsome 30 models ready to go.Plus there is an extensiveselection of kitchen tablesand chairs, hutches and

curio cabinets. Plus a widerange of living room couchesand chairs.

His latest shipment ofsome 50 chairs should be inthe store early this week. Theshipment was due in time forthe Open House of this pastweekend, but the snowstormin southern New England

slowed things down. For thatreason the drawing for two ofthose new chairs has beendelayed until Christmas Eveat about noon. So you canstill sign up for your chanceto win. These chairs willmake for great gifts for a cou-ple of lucky customers.

There was one drawingthat was held this past week-end. It was for concert ticketsto see Taylor Swift at GilletteStadium in June. The winnerof those tickets was JimPage of Pike.

In addition to all the finefurniture available at 3 RiverFurniture there are also manyof the items you have come toexpect to find at The Way WeWere. Over 10,000 titles to berented on either DVD or VHS.And for those not sure whichformat they want to use,Wayne has one of the veryfew DVD/VHS player systemsin stock. You can also findplenty of electronics and ac-cessories ready to take homeand plug in.

There may be an extraname on the outside of thebuilding, but on the inside it still has the experience of twenty-five years of doingbusiness in Woodsville. 3 Rivers Furniture at TheWay We Were, furniture,electronics, videos and people you know.

JUST LISTED: NEWBURY, VTLow key-low maintenance is what you'll find waiting for you here in this split-level raised ranch situated on 4.6 acres of rolling field with mountainviews. Home features fully appliance-cupboard clad kitchen, spacious livingroom, 2 bedrooms & bath on main level and 3rd bedroom, bath and familyroom on lower level. Offered at $180,000

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It was a stormy winterday and Joseph and Marywere on their way to Bethle-hem (New Hampshire, ofcourse). Mary did not feelwell to begin with and jostlingover 302 on an elderly don-key did not help her alreadydire situation. Dang thosegovernment officials whosaid they had to go to theirtown of record and pay theirtaxes personally to the townclerk. And this in a state thatbrags about no taxes! But itcould not be helped. No usearguing with a bureaucracy.

Mary told Joseph he bet-ter find a motel pretty quick.

He stopped at the first Motel8 he found but the motel wasfull. The innkeeper would notmake any exceptions. If hedid then every fool that rodeup on a 15 year old donkeywould expect the same. Hedid ask Joseph what kind ofmileage he got and Josephsaid about 40 miles to a bagof oats!

When Joseph openedhis wallet the innkeeper no-ticed his green card. Just ashe expected. Aliens! Proba-bly just here to have the kidanyway so it would be a citi-zen. Joseph seemed like anhonest hard working guy but

Mary was clearly looneytunes. You would not believewho she claimed was the fa-ther of her child!!! Immigra-tion is getting pretty lax to letpeople like her in. Anotherreason why we need to beefup the border patrol.

Feeling sorry for them hetold of his friend who was adairy farmer and had a warmbarn they could use. A mid-night birth would not botherhim. Being a dairy farmer hewas used to getting up at allhours of the night. In fact thisfellow had been New Hamp-shire Dairy Farmer of theyear a few years back andhis barn was cleaner thanmost people’s homes.

But a strange thing hap-pened. The next morningwhen it was time to do themilking his hired hand Luke,otherwise known as Hired

Hand Luke, was no where tobe found. He finally locatedLuke in a corner of the barnkneeling before a newborninfant adoring. Turns out allthe other farmers in the areahad the same problem. Theirhelp had all gone off to adorethe infant also. His neighborthe sheep farmer had thesame situation. The shep-herds were all bowing andkneeling and the sheep wererunning amuck.

Well, Joseph and Maryturned out to be a niceenough couple but he wasfrankly relieved when they lo-cated a house to rent innearby Nazareth and movedout of his barn. With all thisadoring nothing else wasgetting done.

A couple of weeks afterthey had moved to Nazareththree strangers rode into

town on their latest modelcamels and wearing BrooksBrothers suits. One of thestrangers was black!!! Find-ing a black man in northernNew Hampshire seemed likea miracle in itself. Theyseemed to know exactlywhich house to go to andsaid a star had guided them. So much for global positioning! They broughtstuff the kid could really use.One brought a years supplyof Pampers, one brought agift certificate for groceriesand the third one broughtMary information about theWIC Program.

The little family lived quietly for the next few years.Joseph was a well respectedcarpenter and pillar of thecommunity. Mary kept abeautiful house for her littlefamily. The son did seem a bitprecocious but except forthat incident in the templewhen he was twelve theirlives were uneventful. And soit was that they lived quietlyamong their neighbors andnone suspected that thehope and light of the worlddwelt humbly in their midst.



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My Christmas StoryJesus, Mary and Joseph Come to bethlehem

By Sheila Asselin

Peter B. LaVoice

“Your Tax Man”Walk-ins & Drop-offs Welcome

603-747-3613Income Tax Preparation

Payroll Preparation

Accounting Services

Printed by the unregistered copy of PDF Filler Pilot : www.colorpilot.com

RON DEROSIAOwner

CARROLL PICKNELLTechnician

R&M AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE CENTER

585 Benton Road • PO Box 385North Haverhill, NH 03774

603-787-6408 • [email protected]

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Many years ago, I owneda restaurant in Virginia. It wasa small breakfast house nearthe V. A. Hospital. It was alsoone of the poorer areas oftown. For that reason we gotquite a few customers thatdidn’t have a lot of extraspending money, and wouldnot order large meals. Although it sometimes upsetmy waitresses, who didn’t re-ceive many large tips, I tookit as a part of doing business.

One day a lady, dressedin worn clothes came in andsat at one of the booths. She took off her gloves andcarefully placed them on thetable and waited to be waitedon. I could see through theshabby outer garments at aperson with some refine-ment, at least at some pointin her life. With a roll of hereyes, figuring here was an-other one who wouldn’t tip,the waitress went over to hertable to take her order. Aminute later she came backto the kitchen complainingthat the woman just wanteda cup of hot water. “She’s gotused tea bags in her purse!”she complained. “And she’sjust going to take up one ofmy tables during the lunchrush!” and as she walkedaway I heard “She will prob-ably sit there all day!”

I looked out at the boothwhere the lady sat. She sat there quietly arrangningand rearranging her gloves,looking around the room atthe other customers. Therewas something about this ladythat got to me. She seemedout of place dressed like shewas, like maybe she belongedin a better place and circum-stances dictated otherwise.

Anyway, my heart wentout to her and I cooked acouple eggs, put them with some hash browns thathad been cooking on thegrill, buttered some toast andgave it to the waitress to giveto her. “You are just going toencourage her by doing this!”The next thing you know wewill be feeding the wholeneighborhood!” “Just take itout there! I will worry aboutthe neighborhood!” I an-swered, making a mentalnote to let this waitress go assoon as I could find a decentreplacement. Her negativeattitude made me uncomfort-able, and I was sure it wasfelt out there on the floor.

A little while later, shecame back, a look on herface. “She gave me a tip! Awhole twenty five cents!” Sheexclaimed, her voice full ofsarcasm. I reached in my wal-

let and came out with a fivedollar bill and handed it to herand told her to give the moneyback and to tell the lady a tipwasn’t necessary. I don’t thinkshe wanted to, but a fiver wasbetter than a stupid quarterand she did as told.

Before the lady left, shewalked up to the window tothe kitchen and looked backand caught my eyes. Shesaid nothing, just smiled atme, and the warmth of thatsmile was worth much morethan a couple eggs. Thenshe turned and walked outand I didn’t see her again.

Until, one day, late De-cember, I looked out from thekitchen to see her standingat the counter. She motionedme to come out and I did.When I got to her shereached into her coat pocketand handed me what ap-peared to be a present. I sayappeared to be, because itwas covered in used wrap-ping paper and tied withwhat was obviously recycledribbon. “Thank you for thebreakfast!” she smiled.

I smiled a nervous smile,not knowing really how to re-spond. This was obviouslynot going to be a watch or acamera. I didn’t want to em-barrass her, or myself, byopening it in front of every-one and I told her I would putit under the tree and open itChristmas day. “Open itnow!” she said.

I really did not want to. Iam not good at acting gratefulwhen I am not, and I waspretty sure that I wouldn’t be.Besides this “gift” of whateverChristmas to me had becomejust watching people act all ex-cited about opening a presentthat would soon end up in theirgarage sale, or some oddclothing item that would onlybe worn for that day. I guess Ihad lost a lot of the magic ofChristmas in December of1969, when it was just anotherday in the Mekong Delta ofSoutheast Asia to me. OtherVeterans who have more “an-niversary dates” than holidaysleft in their lives will under-stand what I mean.

Anyway, I was stuck. Ihad to open it. I braced my-self for whatever this wouldbe, having no idea at allwhat. I slid the ribbon off andcarefully pulled at the paper.Because it was so rough tobegin with I felt that if I justripped it off it would some-how show some disrespectand I found myself suddenlyafraid of hurting thiswoman’s feelings. If it hadbeen new paper I never

would have thought anythinglike that.

I put the paper on thecounter and turned backaround and there in my handwas, packed in a used zip-lock baggie, a mismatched,different sized, mended, pairof socks!

I was caught completelyby surprise! I had absolutelyno idea how to react! I hadnever been in any kind ofposition like this, and I had been in quite a few. Whatwould I possibly do with aused pair of socks, especially when one was obviously too small?

I felt nervous, because I didn’t know what to saywithout hurting her feelingsand stupid, standing therewith this in front of all myother customers. I lookedaround quickly to see theirreaction and I thought I couldsense people waiting to seewhat I would do or say. Bythen this scene had attractedall their attention, puttingeven more pressure on meto “do the right thing” what-ever that was.

But one guy stood out. Atjust a glance I could almostread his mind. He was wait-ing for me to laugh or evenscoff at this lady for eventhinking about doing some-thing like this. It was almostlike he couldn’t wait. I don’tfeel comfortable around peo-ple like that and I knew Iwouldn’t give him that kindsatisfaction anyway. But, Ihad no idea where to start.So I just stared at them forwhat seemed like a very longuncomfortable time.

Then, I noticed some-thing about the mending. Itwasn’t just “circle sewn” likethe Army taught me to do.This was more than even aprofessional looking repair!The closer I looked, the moreI saw. Where there was a holeand some fabric was missingshe had weaved regularsewing thread into a designthat reminded me of a doily atmy grandma’s house! Thepattern was absolutely mag-

nificent, amazingly perfect,actually beautiful! There wereno bumps or ridges on the in-sides either. They looked justas nice as the outsides.

The time she must haveput into doing all that sewing,hours, maybe days, maybemany days, all the time think-ing nice thoughts about asimple breakfast some guyhad given her once, and howit had made a difference toher. This wasn’t a last minutethrow it in the shopping cartcheck it off the list present.This was a gift, a gift of hertime and her talent, and therewas talent in those mis-matched socks. I knew it wasthe very best she had to giveand it was something else!

This woman had donethis before and I was surethat somewhere in this worldon a few tables, in some realfancy houses, there aresome wonderful examples ofher work. No matter whereshe was at this moment shewill have left this world amore beautiful place.

I looked up at her, waitingexpectantly for my reaction. Iknew right then she wouldhave seen right through anyfeeble attempt from me tofake some look of apprecia-tion, but I didn’t need to. I hadbeen touched in a place I did-n’t think existed in me any-more. I had once again foundnot the “reason for the sea-son” but the reason “be-cause” of the season. Thiswas not only a gift for the day,but something I could carrywith me for the rest of my life,if I took the time to rememberit each day. My heart feltwarm and my smile showedit. She beamed with delight.“Thank you so much!” was allI said, and I meant it and itshowed, and out of the cornerof my eye saw smiles aroundthe room, even that guy.

She placed both herhands, around mine, stillclutching my new belongings,and I felt how rough they werefrom living the life she nowdid. I realized how they musthave ached while she worked

at all that fine detail, and howshe probably didn’t care. Thelook of contentment, of truehappiness at my genuine ac-ceptance of her gift, that lookon her face, gave me such afeeling of satisfaction. Then Irealized that I had given heran equal gift, maybe wokesomething in her she hadn’tfelt in quite a while either. Itwas one of being appreciated!

I kept those things formany years. They have beenmisplaced or lost over time,but each year about thistime, when things start to geta little hectic and I find myselfjust trying to get somethingdone instead of trying to justdo things, I take the time toremember the gift of thosedarned socks, and I relax,even if just a little bit.

David Turner is a freelancewriter, living in Vermont. Heand his wife Deborah own theVariety Store, 147 Central St.in Woodsville. They donateprofits to help those in thearea with temporary emer-gency needs. They would liketo let you know that, likethemselves, there are a lot ofgood small businesses alongCentral Street that have feltthe effects of recent expan-sion. They all need your sup-port to continue. The VarietyStore’s pre-paid lease runsout February 1st and withoutcontinued support and an in-crease of customers, theymay not be able to continueafter that time. At presentthey have given much of theirdaily sales amounts, andgoods like clothing from theirstore, back into the commu-nity in the form of emergencyaid, and with the recent coldsnap, requests are coming infaster than they are able toprovide, let alone save for future business expenses.Please take the time to stop in and buy at least a little something from all of the small businesses in town.A lot of little would make a lot and towns never lookgood with a bunch of empty buildings.

Something to think Aboutthe best Christmas Present i ever Got

By David turner



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Joe & Shane Fiore Builders Custom Homes & Excavating, LLC

603-787-6449

HAVERHILL, NH - ArthurGray, Jr., the distinguishedWall Street veteran who as abrash young investmentmanager not long removedfrom his own wartime ex-ploits in 1951 helped organ-ize a grassroots rally forDwight Eisenhower in Madi-son Square Garden that wasinstrumental in convincingthe general to enter the pres-idential race, died Monday,December 14th in NewHampshire. He was 86.

Following successfuldouble knee replacement, hedied unexpectedly in thehours that followed, saidBetty Johnson-Gray, his wife.

Mr. Gray, a highly deco-rated Army Air Force naviga-tor in the European theater,had joined with CharlesWillis and Stan Rumbough,former Navy and Marine pi-lots, to form Citizens forEisenhower, even before, asMr. Gray frequently said,

they knew whether Eisen-hower was a Republican or aDemocrat. “We all just be-lieved that he would make agreat president.” The triosnared the help of popularradio performers Tex andJinx McCrary and other starsand did what the political es-tablishment of the day saidcouldn’t be done: Filled theold Madison Square Gardento the rafters for a politicalrally that couldn’t start untilthe fights ended at 10:30 pm.The kinescope footage of thecrowd shouting, “We likeIke!” was raced across theAtlantic the next day – andEisenhower credits it, in hisautobiography, as one ofthree key factors in his deci-sion to run.

Mr. Gray continued work-ing for the Eisenhower cam-paign as an advance man,and with C. Langhorne Wash-burn, is credited in WilliamSafire’s “The New Language

of Politics” with contributingas well to the political lexiconby conceiving of the “Eisen-hower-Nixon Bandwagon” of1952. These were a trio of 25-ton trailer trucks, eachwith a three-man crew, which“advanced” Eisenhower ap-pearances throughout thecampaign. Each brightly dec-orated truck was outfitted witha jeep, powerful searchlights,campaign balloons, dressesand other paraphernalia de-signed to create a stir wher-ever it rolled.

On Wall Street, Mr.Gray’s career spanned 64years. Freshly dischargedfrom the army in late 1945and having had his fill of avi-ation, he had asked John M.Schiff, then head of KuhnLoeb, for a job – and startedcounting securities in thecage for $30 a week—adrastic cut from the $120 aweek flight pay he had beendrawing. But Arthur Grayfound his métier in WallStreet: “It’s not work. It’s fun.The wonderful thing aboutWall Street is that it’s sobroadening. If you’re in thesteel or the chemical busi-ness, you specialize more

and more in that, but in theinvestment managementbusiness, everything thatgoes on in the world is gristfor your mill. I can’t wait tosee what’s going on in theworld. That’s what keeps yougoing. A new challengeevery day.”

Except for a short so-journ in the movie businessin the mid-1950s, Mr. Grayworked in investment man-agement for the remainder ofhis life. From 1957 to 1959,he was EVP and Director ofA.M Kidder Co., Inc., beforefounding his own New YorkStock Exchange memberfirm, Gray & Co., in 1959,and continuing to activelymanage its affairs there until1974 when he merged withMitchell Hutchins & Co. Sub-sequently Mr. Gray contin-ued to manage his clients’affairs through affiliationswith Tallasi Management Co,Dreman Gray & Embry,Dreyfus Personal Manage-ment, Cowen Asset Man-agement and lastly CarretAsset Management, LLC re-tiring December, 2008.

Mr. Gray was either a Di-rector or Trustee of the follow-ing: American ArbitrationAssociation; American Mu-seum of Natural History; BoysAthletic League, Fifth AvenuePresbyterian Church; Interna-tional Center for the Disabled;The Lerner Gray Foundation;The Smithsonian Natural His-tory Museum; The WoodlawnCemetery; Seventh Genera-tion, Inc. and Genelabs Tech-nologies, Inc.

Mr. Gray was born onDec. 21, 1922, in New YorkCity . He graduated from theLawrenceville School in1940, and studied aeronauti-cal engineering at M.I.T. from

1940 to 1942 before enlist-ing. While serving with theU.S. 8th Air Force from 1942-‘45 he was awarded the Dis-tinguished Flying Cross, theAir Medal with four Oak LeafClusters, four European Bat-tle Stars and a PresidentialUnit Citation.

During the war, he mar-ried Adele Hall. They di-vorced in 1953. Mr. Gray issurvived by their four chil-dren: Michael Gray, SantaBarbar , CA; Kathleen Gray,Los Angeles, CA; John Gray,Stockton, CA; and WendyGray, Washington, DC.

In 1964, Mr. Gray mar-ried Betty Johnson-Gray, ofNorth Carolina, now residingin Haverhill, NH. He is sur-vived, in addition, by theirtwo daughters, Lydia GrayBartholow, Haverhill, NH andElisabeth Gray Gonzalez,Madrid, Spain, a step-son,H. Richard Arthur Redding,Charlottesville, VA, fourteengrandchildren.

A memorial service washeld on Monday, December21, 2009, at 2 PM at the FirstCongregational Church ofHaverhill UCC, 120 SchoolSt, Haverhill, NH, with Rev.Dr. Kenneth Johnson, Mr.Gray’s brother-in-law, andRev. David Pendleton, pastorof the church officiating.

At the family’s request,memorial contributions maybe made to Speare Memo-rial Hospital, 16 HospitalRoad, Plymouth, NH 03264or Cottage Hospital, P.O. Box2001, Woodsville, NH 03785.

Ricker Funeral Home,Woodsville, NH is assistingthe family with arrangements.

For more information or to sign an online condolence, please go towww.rickerfh.com

obituAry – ArtHur GrAy, Jr.

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AP – Afghanistan veteranand founder of American

Women Veterans,Genevieve Chase, 32, of Alexandria, Va.Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Nobodywants to buy them a beer.Even near military bases, fe-male veterans who served inIraq and Afghanistan aren'toften offered a drink on thehouse as a welcome home.More than 230,000 Americanwomen have fought in thoserecent wars and at least 120have died doing so, yet thepublic still doesn't completelyunderstand their contribu-tions on the modern battle-field.For some, it's a lonelytransition as they struggle tofind their place.

Aimee Sherrod, an AirForce veteran who did threewar tours, said years went bywhen she didn't tell peopleshe was a veteran. After fac-ing sexual harassment duringtwo tours and mortar attacksin Iraq, the 29-year-old motherof two from Bells, Tenn., wasmedically discharged in 2005with post-traumatic stress dis-order. She's haunted by night-mares and wakes up somenights thinking she's under at-tack. She's moody as a resultof PTSD and can't functionenough to work or attend col-lege. Like some other veter-ans, she felt she improperlyreceived a low disability ratingby the Department of Veter-ans Affairs that left her with atoken monthly payment. Shewas frustrated that her paper-work mentioned she waspregnant, a factor she thoughtwas irrelevant. "I just gave upon it and I didn't tell anyoneabout ever being in the mili-tary because I was soashamed over everything,"Sherrod said. Then Jo Eason,a Nashville, Tenn., lawyerworking pro bono through theLawyers Serving Warriors

program, stepped in a fewyears later and Sherrodbegan taking home a heftiermonthly disability payment."I've never regretted my mili-tary service, I'm glad I did it,"Sherrod said. "I'm notashamed of my service. I'mashamed to try and tell peopleabout it because it's like, well,why'd you get out? All thequestions that come with it."

The Defense Depart-ment bars women from serv-ing in assignments where theprimary mission is to engagein direct ground combat. Butthe nature of the recent con-flicts, with no clear front lines,puts women in the middle ofthe action, in roles such asmilitary police officers, pilots,drivers and gunners on con-voys. In addition to the 120-plus deaths, more than 650women have been wounded.Back home, women facemany of the same issues asthe men, but the personalstakes may be greater. Fe-male service members havemuch higher rates of divorceand are more likely to be asingle parent. When they doseek help at VA medical cen-ters, they are screening pos-itive at a higher rate formilitary sexual trauma,meaning they indicated ex-periencing sexual harass-ment, assault or rape. Somestudies have shown that fe-male veterans are at greaterrisk for homelessness. For-mer Army Sgt. KaylaWilliams, an Iraq veteranwrote about her experiencein a book titled, "Love MyRifle More Than You: Youngand Female in the U.S.Army." She said she wassurprised by the responseshe and other women fromthe 101st Airborne Divisionreceived from people inClarksville, Tenn., near FortCampbell, Ky. She said resi-dents just assumed theywere girlfriends or wives of

military men. "People didn'tcome up to us and thank usfor our service in the sameway. They didn't give us freebeers in bars in the sameway when we first got back,"said Williams, 34, of Ash-burn, Va. "Even if you'revaguely aware of it, it still col-ors how you see yourself insome ways."

Genevieve Chase, 32, ofAlexandria, Va., a staff ser-geant in the Army Reserves,said the same guys who wereher buddies in Afghanistandidn't invite her for drinks lateron because their wives or girl-friends wouldn't approve. "Oneof the hardest things that I hadto deal with was, being awoman, was losing my bestfriends or my comrades totheir families," Chase said. Itwas that sense of loss, shesaid, that led her to get to-gether with some other femaleveterans for brunch in NewYork last year. The group hasevolved into the AmericanWomen Veterans, which nowhas about 2,000 online sup-porters, some of whom go oncamping trips and advocatefor veterans' issues. About adozen marched in this year'sVeteran's Day parade in NewYork. "We just want to knowthat when we come home,America has our back," Chasesaid. "That's the biggest thing.Women are over there. Youwant to feel like you're cominghome to open arms, ratherthan to a public that doesn'tacknowledge you for whatyou've just done and what youjust sacrificed."

Rachel McNeill, a gunnerduring hostile convoys inIraq, said she was so af-fected by the way peopletreated her when theylearned she fought overseasthat she even started toquestion whether she was aveteran. She described theattitudes as "Oh, you didn'tdo anything or you were just

on base," said McNeill, whosuffers from postconcussiveheadaches, ringing in herears, and other health prob-lems related to roadsidebomb blasts. The 25-year-oldfrom Hollandale, Wis., was asergeant in the Army Re-serves. She said she seem-ingly even got that responsewhen she told the VA staff inMadison, Wis., of her work.She said she was frustratedto see in her VA paperworkhow what she told them hadbeen interpreted. "It wouldsay like, 'the patient rodealong on convoys,' like I wasjust a passenger in the backseat," McNeill said.

Other women have hadsimilar complaints. The VAleadership has said it recog-nizes it needs to do more toimprove care for these veter-ans, and as part of changesin the works, female coordi-nators are in place at eachmedical center to give womenan advocate. The agency isalso reviewing comments ona proposal to make it easierfor those who served in non-infantry roles — includingwomen — to qualify for dis-ability benefits for PTSD.

Sen. Patty Murray, a member of the Senate Veter-ans' Affairs committee, recently asked VA SecretaryEric Shinseki and Defense

Secretary Robert Gates to ensure that service members'combat experience is includedon their military discharge papers, so later they can getbenefits they are entitled to.Research has shown that alack of validation of a soldier'sservice can make their home-coming more difficult.

"What worries me is thatwomen themselves still don'tsee themselves as veterans,so they don't get the care theyneed for post-traumatic stresssyndrome or traumatic braininjury or even sexual assault,which obviously is moreunique to women, so we stillhave a long ways to go," saidMurray, D-Wash. Chase saidone challenge is getting fe-male veterans to ask forchanges "Most of us, be-cause we were women serv-ice members, are so used tonot complaining and not voic-ing our issues, because in themilitary that's consideredweak. Nobody wants to hearthe girl whine," Chase said.

McNeill said that whenshe's been out at restaurantsand bars with the guys in herunit, they make sure shegets some recognition whenthe free beers go around."They'll make a point ... usu-ally to say, 'She was overthere with us, she was rightnext to us,'" McNeill said.

back From Combat,

Women Struggle For AcceptanceBy kimberly Hefling

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When back in the Clintonyears it was decided to re-duce the military activeforces, and use the Re-serves as the backup forces,few probably realized the im-plications that this meant thatwomen would be placed incombat roles.

While the DOD strictlyforbids placing women infront line combat roles, fight-ing a war where there are nolines drawn means just serv-ing in a combat zone putsyou on the front line.

I think many of us veteransstill hold a chauvinistic view of

Women in the military that prevents us form fully under-standing the assignment ofwomen in the military thesedays, and we need to take aserious look at this because itcan cause us to dishonor themfor their service even thoughsome of them may have hadmore combat experience thantheir male counterparts.

A link to a news articlecame to me overnight, and titruly highlights the waysthings have changed. Weshould no longer viewwomen in the military asholding rear guard positionsat best. We must accept themfor their actual duty ratherthan our old expectations.

To give you some exam-ples from this article:

Rachel McNeill, a gunnerduring hostile convoys in Iraq,said she was so affected bythe way people treated herwhen they learned she foughtoverseas that she evenstarted to question whethershe was a veteran.

She described the atti-tudes as "Oh, you didn't doanything or you were just onbase," said McNeill, who suf-fers from postconcussiveheadaches, ringing in herears, and other health prob-lems related to roadside bombblasts. The 25-year-old fromHollandale, Wis., was a ser-geant in the Army Reserves.

She said she seeminglyeven got that response whenshe told the VA staff in Madi-son, Wis., of her work. Shesaid she was frustrated tosee in her VA paperwork howwhat she told themhad been interpreted.

"It would say like, 'the pa-tient rode along on convoys,'like I was just a passenger inthe back seat," McNeill said.

***Genevieve Chase, 32, of

Alexandria, Va., a staff ser-geant in the Army Reserves,said the same guys whowere her buddies inAfghanistan didn't invite herfor drinks later on because

their wives or girlfriendswouldn't approve.

"One of the hardest thingsthat I had to deal with was,being a woman, was losing mybest friends or my comrades to their families," Chase said.

***As a Vietnam Vet I think

some of us saw similar separations because of raceafter we returned, where whowe hung out with and saw asveterans deteriorated over theyears to white versus black.

Yet we embrace rear ech-elon vets (RemingtonRaiders) as equals for justhaving been in country. It istime we accept all withoutquestioning their assignment,because things truly havechanged, and so must we.

I encourage all to readthe full article in the link below,and accept the changing faceof the wars we now fight.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_female_veterans_finding_a_place

Women in Combat –the Changing Face of uS War efforts

By Howie Howe

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Posted Sunday, December 13, 2009The Associated Press

LONG BEACH, Calif. - The$15,000 that former Army Pvt.Margaret Ortiz had in the bankwhen she left Iraq is long gone,spent on alcohol and cocaine.

By the time she foundher way to a program run bythe nonprofit U.S. Vets forhomeless female veterans inLong Beach, she'd slept onthe beach or anyplace shecould find after a night of par-tying. One morning, shewoke up behind a trash bin,her pants torn, with no mem-ory of what happened.

Instead of helping her for-get her six months in Iraq,

where she said she faced at-tacks on her compound andsexual harassment from fellowsoldiers, the alcohol and drugsbrought flashbacks and black-outs. She tried to kill herself.

"You knew somethingwas wrong with you, but youdidn't know what was wrongwith you," said Ortiz, 27,from atop her twin bed in aplain dorm-style room, ablack 4th Infantry Divisioncap on her head.

Ortiz is one of the newfaces among America'shomeless veterans.

They're younger thanhomeless male veterans andmore likely to bring children.Their number has doubled inthe past decade, and there

are an estimated 6,500homeless female veteranson any given night - about 5percent of the total homelessveteran population.

But women-only programssuch as the one in which Ortizparticipates are few.

"Most of the VA facilitiescater to men, and you can'ttake a mom with two littlekids and put her in the mid-dle of a homeless center with30 or 40 male veterans," saidSen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.,a member of the Senate Vet-erans' Affairs Committee.

The distressed economyonly made things worse.

"People think we're justcoming out of the military andwe should have our stuff to-

gether," said Tiffany Belle, 33,a former Navy sailor whoserved in the Philippines after9-11 and lives with Ortiz at theU.S. Vets program. "It gets re-ally hard. Some people don'tknow where to go, what to do."

Like male veterans,many homeless female vet-erans face substance abuseand mental health problems.Many also struggle with sex-ual trauma that occurred intheir childhood, in the mili-tary, or elsewhere.

Ortiz said she was thevictim of childhood sexualtrauma. In Iraq, she said shedealt with harassment frommale soldiers who talked toher as if she were a prostitute.A driver, her convoys were

regularly attacked, she said.She said she's particularly

bothered by an incident inwhich she was 40 feet from abuilding destroyed by a mortarwhere she was living in Tikrit.

A few months after shereturned to the U.S., she wasback in California, with plansto go to college, living withher parents and burningthrough her money on drugsand alcohol. She eventuallyended up in a psychiatrichospital after attempting sui-cide, and later in inpatienttreatment programs for drugsand sexual trauma.

"I didn't know how toprocess it, and I didn't knowwhat to process because therewas so much of it," she said.

Female Veterans Join ranks of HomelessBy kimberly Hefling



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