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The Lebanon Voice: Lebanon and Milton's hometown paper
MFPL NEWS
Do you own an e-reader?
Milton Free Public Library (MFPL) is investigating the costs and benefits of joining the New Hampshire State downloadable book consortium.
This service allows patrons of the participating library to download audio books onto MP3 systems and e-books onto their e-readers (iPads, kindles, nooks and the like…). Many libraries in the state already offer this to its patrons. MFPL would like to know if it would be a good fit in Milton.
Please let us know:
1. Do you own an e-reader or are thinking about getting one?
2. Would you use this service?
3. Are you currently a patron of a library in another town in order to use this service? (and paying extra?). Of course , we welcome any other questions and comments about this program.
Stop in and visit us with your suggestions . You can also email your responses to : MFPL@metrocast.net. or message us on Facebook.
Fun Fan Fiction takes on the Middle School
The Friends of the Milton Free Public Library are happy to announce a new "Fun Fan Fiction" contest- for Milton's middle school students. This contest is open to all Milton students who are currently in 6th, 7th, or 8th grades. Middle schoolers are encouraged to remake an established work of fiction to make it their own - add a character or scene, change the ending or an existing scene.
The Friends are asking that each submission include a copy of a page from the original work, and a brief description of the original work (form the book jacket or back of book), a note about where the change takes place. Each work should echo the "voice" of the original author.
Students will also be judged on correct spelling, grammar, and correct use of punctuation.
Three prizes will be awarded: The 1st-prize winner will receive a check for $75, 2nd prize is $50, and 3rd place $25. The due date for submission is April 5th. Prizes will be awarded at the Nute Middle School "Nute Week" assembly April 26.
Please send submissions either through Mrs Soucy (Nute Middle School students) or directly to Milton Free Public Library (please mark item for the contest, attention Jessie Estevao).
Plant Sale May 25th
It is time to "Think Spring" . The Friends of the Milton Free Public Library will host a plant sale at the library May 25. Proceeds from the sale will go toward a small raised garden at the library. The local children will be invited to help plant and maintain the garden and watch it grow.
New hours set
for food pantry
Starting this week the Milton food pantry will be open from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. every Tuesday morning.
Community Action Partnership of Strafford County, which operates the pantry, is always seeking donations of nonperishable food items such as canned meat, soups, stews, vegetables, pasta and sauces, peanut butter as well as grocery store gift cards.
For information or to learn how to donate, call 603-516-8146.
The Milton Food Pantry is located at 55 Industrial Way (side entrance). For more information call 603-652-0990 ext. 112.
Fund-raiser will help
Milton's needy kids
An “End 68 Hours of Hunger” Milton fund-raiser will be held at Papa Gino's at the Lilac Mall in Rochester on April 18 from 4-9 p.m.
During those hours 20 percent of your pretax dinner receipt will be donated to feed hungry children in Milton.
End 68 Hours of Hunger supplies a weekend's worth of meals to children that do not have food to eat on the weekend.
You can visit their website (www.End68HoursofHunger.org) to learn more.
For more information email Milton@End68HoursofHunger.org
or call Jim at: 603.781.0037.
Papa Gino's requires a copy of the flyer
found on the webpage or facebook page or contact Milton@End68HoursofHunger.org
Program focuses on weekend hunger.
So said Hamlet, 'The play's the thing'
posted 7:30 a.m., Sunday, March 31 - Emma Richards, 6, of Milton Mills, works on a sand creation in front of the Milton Free Public Library in Milton Mills on Saturday, while her brother, William, 5, looks for a different play venue. The two were accompanied by their mom, Linda. The beautiful weather the two were playing in continues through this morning, before clouds move in on Easter festivities.
Ever feel like you're stuck in a rut? Check this out
McKeagney Rd.
mud claims 1st
victim of year
posted 2:15 p.m., Monday, April 1
By Harrison Thorp
The Lebanon Voice
MILTON - The Red Sox get ready for their home opener, the first robin arrives in your back yard and a car gets stuck in the mud on McKeagney Road. All sure signs spring has come to Milton.
A Toyota Corolla was this year’s victim, getting stuck late Saturday night.
The car was pulled from the mud sometime late Sunday morning, according to one McKeagney Road resident who didn’t want to be identified.
The road was still deemed impassable this morning, with signs blocking the road near where it runs into Cross Road, however no one apparently told the schools, according to Jamie Downs, who lives near the road’s muddiest area.
She said one of her children went out to catch the Nute Middle High School bus, but the bus stopped, backed up and left when it approached the closure signs. She said her neighbor called the Highway Department and was told the road would be ready for the Milton Elementary School run, but when the town crews arrived they just removed the signs.
Later the elementary school bus was able to get through, but as the day warmed the road became impassable again.
By mid-morning town road crews were spreading several loads of crushed gravel onto the affected roadway, which should remedy the situation, at least till next year.
Downs said each the year the road gets worse and worse despite the gravel. She said many motorists who use the road use if for a shortcut and don’t live there. She said it was heavily rutted throughout the winter as well.
School officials could not be reached to determine how many Nute Middle Senior High students may have missed the bus due to the road’s closure.
Milton Highway Department Chief Pat Smith was also unavailable for comment.
Contributed photo
A Toyota became stuck late Saturday night. The driver left the vehicle but returned with a tow truck to retrieve it late Sunday morning.
Harrison Thorp photo
A Milton Highway Department worker uses a front-end loader to smooth gravel in a muddy area of McKeagney Road on Monday.
Elizabeth Dionne
...new town administrator
Town's new
administrator
introduced
Grant $$$ talk kindles
hope for McKeagney
posted 7:30 a.m., Tuesday, April 2
MILTON - A packed selectmen’s chambers was on hand Monday night at the Emma Ramsey Center as some 40 townspeople turned out to welcome new Town Administrator Elizabeth Dionne, who promised her door would always be open to residents’ concerns.
Dionne, of Manchester, and a 20-year employee with the town of Hooksett, begins her duties next Monday, taking over for interim Town Administrator Joe Ryan, who was given a round of applause for his work filling in the past several months.
Dionne has most recently been the Human Resources Director in Hooksett.
She said she hopes to use her organizational skills in her new job and is a firm believer in a positive workplace philosophy.
In other news, Selectman Bob Bridges held out hope for mud-beleaguered McKeagney Road residents, saying he’d learned some preliminary information about possible grant money that could help pay to fix some of the drainage problems on the road, which ironically was just worked on by the town on Monday after becoming impassable near its intersection with Cross Road this weekend.
Bridges said the grant would cover 75 percent of the cost, while the state and town would share equally in the other 25 percent.
He said he was looking for any help from residents in obtaining video or still photographs of the road and any stuck cars to show officials who might facilitate the grant.
Highway Chief Pat Smith and Recreation Director Karen Brown proposed a part-time employee this summer to help with beach maintenance and to help monitor public compliance of beach rules such as not feeding the geese, drinking alcoholic beverages and smoking in prohibited areas.
They said there’s not enough help at the beach now to ensure the rules are enforced or maintain clean restrooms.
Smith and Brown have been dividing the responsibility of beach maintenance and both agreed the crowds that can descend on the beach on a hot summer day demand more effort and enforcement.
The money for any additional hiring would come out of the town’s revolving fund, selectmen noted.
Milton Police Lt. Richard Krauss suggested “putting some teeth” in the signage at the beach so that police enforcement could be enabled.
The Recreation Committee will discuss possible options and report back to selectmen in two weeks.
Krauss also announced Milton Police would be opting for an SUV for their new vehicle and requested to take $26,000 out of their budget for the purchase. The SUV would be pursuit capable, Krauss said.
Milton Free Public Library Trustees asked that a selectman join the Library Trustee Board to facilitate the two boards’ cooperation in moving forward with library renovation plans. Selectman Mike Beaulieu volunteered his services which were graciously accepted.
Water District Commissioner Stan Nadeau reported to selectmen he had sought advice from the state Attorney General’s office regarding the recent write-in budget committee election victory of Steve Elliott, who is also on the Water District Commission.
Nadeau said he sought the opinion to ensure there was no conflict of interest issue regarding Elliott’s spot on the budget committee.
Nadeau is on the buget committee as a representative of the Water District, while Elliott was elected as a regular member.
Nadeau said the AG’s office told him to seek advice on the matter from selectmen, who took the issue under advisement and are expected to address the matter in two weeks at their next regularly scheduled meeting.
Milton gunplay victim
was friends with shooter
posted noon, Saturday, April 6
By Harrison Thorp
The Lebanon Voice
MILTON - The Farmington man indicted in a Milton shooting incident from last year is an amateur gunsmith and the man he shot was his friend.
Shawn Beighley, 25, of 343 South Main St., #6, is set to face trial in Strafford County Superior Court on a charge of reckless conduct in connection with the shooting.
According to court documents, Beighley recklessly discharged a firearm in a Milton home on Oct. 23, causing injury to another man’s knee.
Beighley was working on a pistol and was trying to make it misfire, Milton Police Chief Mark McGowan said on Thursday.
“He was trying to make it misfire, and it misfired,” McGowan said. “It (the bullet) went through a laptop and hit the other man’s knee.”
McGowan said the injured man continues his recovery, and is doing fine.
The charge of reckless conduct is a Class B felony, punishable by up to 3 ½ to 7 years in prison and a $4,000 fine.
McGowan said even though the injury was unintentional, the recklessness of the act warranted the felony charge.
Paul Dolnier photos
Fire crews after fighting a Milton Mills barn fire. Insert, combing the rubble for hot spots.
Barn destroyed, house saved in Milton Mills fire
posted 1:30 p.m., Sunday, April 7
By Harrison Thorp
The Lebanon Voice
MILTON MILLS - A barn was destroyed today in a two-alarm fire on Applebee Road, but firefighters were able to keep the blaze from spreading to a nearby residence.
Milton Fire and Rescue Chief Nick Marique said when the first crews arrived around 10:20 a.m. they found the barn at 399 Applebee Road fully involved with flames and smoke, so their intent was to protect nearby buildings, which they achieved within minutes, he said.
The barn, which was built in the 1980s, eventually caved in, so fire crews continued to pour water on it to extinguish any hot spots.
The fire was called in by the homeowner, who said he lost four snowmobiles and several small engines in the blaze.
The fire is believed to be accidental, Marique said, but an exact cause has not been determined.
Wakefield, Acton, Lebanon, Middleton, Farmington and Rochester fire departments all lent a hand, while Somersworth provided station coverage.
Frisbie parmedics set up an EMS station on scene. No injuries among firefighters were reported.
Applebee Road was shut down for a short time at the height of the fire.
Milton fire crews returned to Central Station around 12:20 p.m.
