TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2011
VOL. 20 NO. 59
BERLIN, N.H.
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Berlin Teen Center is closed, for now BY GAIL SCOTT THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
BERLIN—The Teen Center at St. Barnabas Church at the corner of Main and High Streets in Berlin has been a cool place to hang out and teens are doing their best to keep it that way. Budget cutbacks forced Tri County CAP to close the Center, but a teen committee is working hard to raise money to keep the Teen Center alive. The committee includes Alan Laflamme, Dakota Montminy, Adam Pelkey,
Four Cub Scouts from Pack 205 from Berlin raised the flag at Saturday’s reopening ceremony for Camp Barry. (l-r) John Boucher, David Withington, Sam Stiles, and Sam Faucher. (BARBARA TETREAULT PHOTO).
Barry Camp reopening celebrated BY BARBARA TETREAULT THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
BERLIN – The reopening of the Barry Conservation 4-H Camp was celebrated Saturday with a good crowd on hand to see the restored youth conservation camp. At the end of the 2009 season, the future of the camp was in doubt. The buildings had deteriorated and Fish and Game, which operates the camp in conjunction with UNH 4-H had no money to refurnish it. The camp was unable to open for the 2010 season. But over the past year, a volunteer effort has raised $40,000 in cash plus hundreds of hours of volunteer labor to refurbish the camp. For the first time in over a year, this week the camp is back in use. A group of teenagers are at the camp taking a Natural Leaders Course designed to inspire them to become environmental and community leaders. Five other camp programs are planned for this summer. When the camp closed, one of the first groups to jump to the rescue of was the Belknap County Sportsmen Association. “We had sent kids to the camp and when they closed it, it was very disappointing,” said Association President Mike Normandin. The club contacted Fish and Game and set up a meeting with Fish and Game Executive Director Glenn Normandeau and 4-H officials. Together they set a goal of raising $50,000 to refurbish the camp using volunteer labor and setting up an
endowment for future upgrades. Normandeau suggested they start by adopting the recreation hall and refurbishing that first. “We just started there,” said Normandin. The transformation over the past year is visible. All of the buildings have new metal roofs, the floors, ceilings, and exteriors have been painted, drainage has been improved, the electrical systems have been upgraded, and there are new footlockers. The fire pit has been upgraded, a new shooting range was added, and the swimming hole was rebuilt. The Belknap County Sportsmen Association alone donated 408 hours of labor last year. Other clubs were solicited to adopt the six cabins and commit to maintaining them for a period of five years. The N.H. Trappers Association had 20 volunteers who donated three weekends. Inmates from the Northern N.H. Correctional Facility did the cleaning and landscaping. Former Berlin building inspector Maurice Levertue did the electrical upgrading to bring all the buildings up to today’s codes. Raffi Painting of Berlin painted all of the buildings, working into the night to get the buildings done in time for the grand re-opening. Berlin firefighters donated their time to build two sets of stairs. Scores of people across the state sent donations especially after newspaper columnist John Harrigan made a plea for see CAMP page 7
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Joshua Halley, Christian Judson, Leah Dion, Abby Bates, Tempest Gagnon, Shantel Gallagher and Alyssa Cantu. Their first move was to compose a poster—"Help Save the Teen Center"—and to post it all over downtown Berlin. The poster came to the attention of Cliff Scott, of the local band Duke, which was reassembling after some years off. When the band first formed, they used to practice at St. Barnabas, so they see TEEN page 8
GRS Board gets advice on collective bargaining BY MELISSA GRIMA THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
GORHAM — The Gorham Randolph Shelburne Cooperative School Board received advice from its attorney about what collective bargaining conflicts exist and how they should be managed in advance of this year's negotiations. The administration took heat in the public forum last year for the perception
of a conflict. That perceived conflict came when voters asserted that SAU 20 Superintendent Paul Bousquet had engaged in the collective bargaining process with the teachers' union. Members of the public went so far as to seek an injunction against the vote at March's annual meeting, which was dismissed by a Superior Court judge. see ADVICE page 6
Downtown listening session is Wednesday
BERLIN – Have some thoughts about the downtown? The new Downtown Action Strategy Project wants to hear from you. The project is hosting a public listening session this Wednesday, June 29 at 6 p.m. at the newly renovated Bickford Place. Committee members and consultants want to hear from the public about the aesthetics and economics of the downtown. The project is interested in what the public would like to see in the downtown and how the city can use both the river and
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green space more effectively. The project has adopted the theme, ‘Moving the Downtown Forward,’ which grew out of the city’s recently completed master plan. The master plan identified the redevelopment of the downtown as one of its prime recommendations. The city and Main Street Program have collected over $80,000 from a variety of sources to hire consultants to help develop an action plan for the downtown and put together a committee see LISTENING page 6
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