This coming Saturday, May 17, is Town Meeting day in Greenwood. The meeting begins at 9 a.m. at the Legion Hall on the Gore Road. Plan to come a bit early and spend a few minutes enjoying coffee, donuts, and conversation with neighbors and friends. If the buzz on social media is any indication, we should have a bigger crowd than usual, with a lot of interest in the proposed noise ordinance, which was placed on the warrant as a result of a citizen initiative.
Selectman Norman Milliard will be up for reelection for a three-year term; he is a great asset to the board and I hope he receives the enthusiastic support he deserves.
Also on this year’s warrant is a proposal to amend the Land Use Ordinance to increase side and rear property line setback requirements from ten feet to 25 feet for residential property and 50 feet for commercial property. There will also be the usual business, expense, and reserve account articles, as well as an article asking voters to increase the stipend for members of the board of selectmen from $150 per month to $175 per month. (I’m not sure when the last increase to the selectmen’s pay was, but I’ve been on the board since 2009, and it was sometime before that.)
Greenwood’s Roadside Cleanup Day on Saturday, May 3, was a great success, and Betsey Foster, of the Greenwood Conservation Commission, had this to say:
“Twenty-five people showed up Saturday morning, May 1, to head out to pick up litter along the roads of Greenwood. Ages ranged from young grade-schoolers to around 90 years of age. One devoted volunteer drove down from Andover to participate. She does this every year because she ‘loves Greenwood.’ While some volunteers took their full trash bags to the transfer station, the Greenwood road crew pitched in and picked up the roadside bags and large items on their next work day. The amount of litter was about the same as last year, maybe even a bit less. A used hypodermic syringe was found by the guard rails that cross Alder River along Howe Hill Rd. It was left in place and reported to authorities. Thankfully, the rain held off until late morning when all had finished their routes.”
Here’s what I have on my calendar for the next few weeks:
Saturday, May 17, at 9 a.m. at the Locke’s Mills Legion Hall: Annual Greenwood Town Meeting.
Sunday, May 18, at 4 p.m. at Bingham Auditorium, Gould Academy: Mahoosuc Community Band Spring Concert. Ed Ryan conducts the band. Donations help the band continue to provide music in the community.
Monday, May 26, at 9 a.m. at the Locke’s Mills Legion Hall: Jackson-Silver Post 68 will hold its annual Memorial Day ceremony, commemorating those who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces from the Revolution to the present, especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Following the Post ceremony, additional ceremonies will be conducted at the East Bethel Cemetery on the Middle Intervale Road at 11 a.m., with further ceremonies conducted by the Daughters of union Veterans at 1 p.m. in Bryant Pond, with a final firing salute being rendered at Lakeside Cemetery, Bryant Pond.
Thursday, June 5, at 5 p.m. at the Pleasant Valley Commons, 721 West Bethel Road in West Bethel (formerly the Pleasant Valley Grange: Join the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society for a special party to commemorate the launch of the fifth edition of the annual history journal, Goose Eye. There will be a Grange-style supper and a presentation by Larry Glatz on West Bethel puzzler Edwin "Ruthven" Briggs. Rumor has it that America's Puzzle Master himself, Will Shortz, an admirer of Glatz’s article, may even be dropping by for a brief video appearance!
Saturday, June 7, from 9 – 11 a.m. at the First Universalist Church of West Paris: Annual Rhubarb Festival. There will be all kinds of rhubarb goodies, including pies, both rhubarb and strawberry-rhubarb. There will be some plain rhubarb available if you want to make your own. There will also be white elephant tables with all kinds of useful items. Come early, as everything sells out fast. This event raises money for the church and for the ladies’ group, The Goodwill Fellowship.
I’m writing this a bit earlier than usual, on Saturday afternoon, because on Sunday I’m planning to go for a Mother’s Day hike with Will, Rosemary, and Rosemary’s mom, Marita, and sister, Marguerite. We’ll probably go to the Buck’s Ledge Community Forest, because Marita wants to see the spot where Will and Rosemary’s wedding will be in September, the scenic overlook on the access road.
This will be my fifth hike since I got my new knee on March 17, and it’s feeling good. I wish I could say the same for the other, old knee, but it will get its turn in October, and I hope it goes just as well.
Technically, my surgeon said I should probably wait 12 weeks to hike after the surgery, but my wonderful physical therapist, Dr. Ben Ellis at Mountain Motion in Bethel, told me I was good to go at about six weeks. He also said he’d never seen anyone recover from a knee replacement as quickly as I did, which made me really glad I been so strong before the surgery and had done everything I was told to do afterward.
Don’t worry, I’m not going crazy out there. I haven’t done a lot of elevation, and my longest hike was about 4.5 miles of easy walking along the Sanborn River and over to Overset Pond, but it feels great to be back out on the trails. Just in time for blackfly season!
With the paper only being printed every other week, it’s hard to stay current with the news. Many of you already know that my brother-in-law Howard Chapman passed away on April 27. One of the things I will always remember about Howard is that he was present at Bob’s Corner Store on the terrible summer evening in early June of 1979 when five local teenagers died after the car they were riding in plunged into the pond behind the store. I didn’t really know Howard, or any of the Chapmans, yet at that time, but I will never forget his intense determination as he jumped into the cold, pitch dark water and dove repeatedly, trying so hard to save them. Please keep Macky and the family in your thoughts.
If you have news or events you’d like included here, email me at amy.w.chapman@gmail.com or call 207-890-4812. Remember that the next print edition of the Bethel Citizen will be published in two weeks, on Friday, May 30—or, more likely, it will be dated May 30, but will actually be available on Thursday, May 29, if the past two issues are any indication. In any case, I’m still writing the Locke’s Mills column every week, and you can find it on my website at amywchapman.com every Thursday morning. You can subscribe for free and get it delivered to your email inbox each week, along with occasional posts to my blog, Reflections. Have a great week!
“The New England-style town meeting—which originated in the 1600s—has been called the purest form of democracy. Having experienced more than a few town meetings over the years, I can’t imagine what democracy in an impure form looks like.” – John McDonald