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Wednesday, OctOber 16, 2013
wednesday
Council gives schools OK to proceed with $1.8M borrowing
VOL. 14 nO. 95
LacOnIa, n.H.
SEE PAGES 11-17
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Sanbornton will take long look at privatizing public works By GAil oBer
THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
SANBORNTON — At the request of one selectman and two members of the municipal Budget Committee, the Selectboard has created a committee to see if the town should
privatize the highway portion of Department of Public Works. The committee, whose tentative members are scheduled to meet with selectmen today, is tasked with exploring other towns that have privatized or subcontracted their road work
to private contractors and to see if the town could realize any savings. “It looks like Sanbornton could save between $500,000 and $700,000,” said selectman Dave Nickerson. “That’s an awful lot of money.”
Budget Committee Chair Earl Leighton said he is in full support of examining the possibilities. Leighton said the Department of Public Works operating budget is around $1 million, see dPw page 8
Much of the money would be spent installing sprinklers & air handling units in older portions of LHS campus; operating budget will be reduced to cover
no-interest bond payments By michAel Kitch THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
LACONIA — With one dissenter, the City Council last night gave the School District a green light to pursue a $1,828,000 loan bearing no interest to fund improvements and renovations at what School Superintendent Terri Forsten called “our beloved Laconia High School.” Laconia was the only school district in the state to express interest in the Qualified Zone Academy see QZaB page 7
The drop curtain (above) from Laconia’s Moulton Opera House has been recovered after decades spent hiding in a Pleasant Street barn. At right is an old photograph of the theater itself, which occupied upper floors of what most people called the O’Sheas Department Store building, which was razed in 1970 as part of the downtown urban renewal project. (Photos courtesy Laconia Historical & Museum Society.)
Hiding in a Pleasant St. barn
125-year-old grand drape from Laconia’s Moulton Opera House discovered in good condition By AdAm drApcho THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
LACONIA — It was the kind of experience historians dream of: on May 14, on the hot and dusty third floor of an old barn on Pleasant Street, Laconia Historical and Museum Society’s Executive Director Brenda Polidoro and board member Warren Huse, joined by Christine Hadsel,
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dragged out from its hiding place a large roll of fabric, and with bated breath, carefully began to reveal what had been hidden for four decades. Within a few revolutions of the roll, the trio realized that the rumor was true. The anonymous-looking roll of fabric, stuffed into the eave of the barn and forgotten for decades, was the 125 year-old grand
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drape that for some 60 years had hung before the curtain at the long-demolished Moulton Opera House. What’s more, it was in nearly perfect condition. “My heart was racing, my hands were shaking,” recalled Polidoro. She had heard in January, through resident Dorothy Duffy, that the property on Pleasant see dRaPe page 3
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