Casino bill passes Senate but. . .
E E R F Friday, March 15, 2013
. . . there appears to be little change of success in House — Page 2
VOL. 13 NO. 198
LacONia, N.h.
527-9299
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Year-Round Library says it will be out of money by November By gAil oBeR
THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
GILMANTON — The Year-Round Library board announced yesterday that it has only enough money on hand to keep the facility open for another eight months. Citing the voters’ Tuesday decision not to appropriate $45,000 in tax money that helps offset $70,500 in annual operations costs, a media release issued yesterday said the library has enough money raised through donations and fundraising to operate until November. The board asks interested members of the community to join them at a meeting on March 28 at the library at 7 p.m. to discuss the future fund-raising ideas. The library opened in 2009 and since then funding its operations has been a divisive and contentious topic — often coming to a head at Gilmanton’s Annual Town Meeting. Although the voters have narrowly chosen to fund a portion of the operating costs though an annual petitioned warrant article over the past three years — some in town said the YearRound Library Board see LiBrary page 4
Armand Bolduc stokes the fire under the evaporator at the Bolduc Farm in Gilford, which has already surpassed last year’s maple syrup production and is on pace to have a very good year. (Roger Amsden/for The Laconia Daily Sun)
Productive start to maple syrup season By RogeR Amsden FOR THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
GILFORD — With a weekend of ideal weather for making maple syrup Bolduc Farm has already surpassed last year’s syrup production, and, if the same kind of weather holds for the next few weeks, is on pace for a very good year. ‘’We only made 34 gallons last year but we already passed that on Saturday when we were up to about 40 gallons.’’ said
Ernie Bolduc, who will turn 80 in a few months and has been helping make syrup at the farm for about 70 years. Bolduc noted that the last good year for the farm was in 2011, when it made 102 gallons in a winter that was very similar to this year in terms of snowfall. ‘’We didn’t even have our first boil until March 16 that year.’’ says Bolduc, whose many years of experience have taught him that it’s all up to Mother Nature and
that it doesn’t make much sense to venture predictions based on early season results. ‘’You never really know how it’s going to end up,’’ says Bolduc. He says the season usually begins in mid-to-late February and can last to midApril, about six weeks. Ideal sap-producing weather involves cool nights with temperatures in the 20s and warm, sunny see SyrUP page 11
Nothing left of Moultonborough home after giant propane blast By gAil oBeR
THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
MOULTONBOROUGH — Fire Chief David Bengston said yesterday the explosion that leveled a seasonal home off Route 25, on the east flank of
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Red Hill, was caused by a propane explosion. He said N.H. State Fire Marshall John Southwell is still determining the actual trigger of the explosion but said he has no reason to think it was any-
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thing but an accident. “We are thankful there was no one in the home,” said Bengston who noted that had anyone been in the house “there surely would have been fatalities.”
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Bengston said the owner, identified by property records as Stephen Vigeault of Marlborough, Mass., told him he and his family had just been there this past weekend and had left see BLaST page 10
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