Henniker

The Henniker planning board Wednesday night heard a presentation pitching the idea of a shopping plaza on Old Concord Road, complete with a gas station and convenience store, a grocery store, café and bank, and received the brainstorm rather warmly.

Dennis Sturms, owner of Back Bay Stone on Old Concord Road, proposed a project on roughly seven acres near the intersection of Old Concord Road and Route 202/9. Though no official plan has been filed with the town, Sturms and engineer Karl Dubay of The Dubay Group, Inc approached the board Wednesday to unveil the plan and absorb some early feedback.

“I grew up here,” Sturms, who was raised in Contoocook said. “I want to do a project I am proud of and that people are proud of. I’m not trying to save money or cut corners, and I think this aesthetically reflects what [I’m] about. I want to work with my neighbors and with the community and get feedback and incorporate it, to have this be good for everybody.”

The Patenaude family, owners of Henniker Crushed Stone, confronted the Henniker selectmen on Tuesday about the price quote for lot 98 they received from the town through their lawyer for $300,000. They argued the language of the article on the town warrant at town meeting, which passed with 71 percent of the vote, made it clear they would only pay $200,000 or the current assessed value.

The current assessed value, which was calculated five years ago, is about $250,000. The current reevaluation of the town will not be completed until September. Lot 98 is a commercial piece of property with road frontage on Rt. 114, however it drops off steeply from the road, leaving only one part of it accessible to the road. Wayne Patenaude believes the current value of the land would be no more than $100,000.

John Stark Regional High School’s Valerie Joseph of Henniker had a busy week. Last Thursday she was awarded the scholarship Mary’s Run generates each year, and on Sunday she won first place for the women in the Run with a time of 22 minutes, 5 seconds.

“I tried to run a hard race,” said Valerie, who felt even more like she wanted to put everything into it after receiving the scholarship. At Stark, she participates in Track, Swimming and Cross Country. “I’ve always run, since I was a kid.”

A veteran of the race from Goffstown, Joseph Melim, winning for the men, broke his own Mary’s Run record of 19 minutes, 16 seconds with a time of 18 minutes, 43 seconds.

The 5-kilometer run began at exactly 9:34 a.m. in a torrential downpour with 275 registered runners. According to organizer Mark Hennigar, the Run’s biggest crowd of runners, walkers, and baby carriage tandems was in 2007 when there were 452 registered participants. As the race continued the rain abated to a drizzle and runners sped over the finish line. Their clothes soaked.

John Stark Regional High School Principal Michael Turmelle, a veteran of the school before he took the reins for three years, has submitted his letter of resignation.

“He will certainly be missed at John Stark,” said Interim Superintendent Pam Shepard. “He’s had a very positive impact on the education of our students, and has led the school through some organizational changes. And he has changed the way we have delivered educational services with forward thinking, always in keeping with the needs of individual students in mind.”

Shepard said it is her understanding that Turmelle is going to Sanborn Regional High School in Kingston.

The decision, coming near the end of the school year, means there will be some quick decision making by the John Stark School Board at its next meeting.

“The board will be discussing how to proceed at the June 9 meeting,” Shepard said. “Ultimately it does mean a principal search, whether that happens now or they decide to hire an interim principal.”

The Very Reverend Mark Dollard of the Manchester Diocese, Pastor of both St. Theresa’s Catholic Church in Henniker and St. Mary’s in Hillsborough has been called to be the Pastor of the Berlin and Gorham Catholic parishes. A reception for him will be held on June 6 at St. Theresa’s at 4 p.m.

“The hardest part about moving is the thousand families who love me, and I love them,” he acknowledged. “But the hardest part about being a priest is being sent, knowing that you have to go where you may not choose. But I believe God has a plan for me in Berlin. Wherever I’ve gone there’s been good people and I look forward to meeting people in Gorham and Berlin.”

Father Mark, as people know him, is in the Diocese of Manchester. He has presided over 800 families in Henniker for ten years and 200 families in Hillsborough for three years. He is the Dean of the Capital Deanery, which reaches from Hooksett to Penacook, and from Northwood to Hillsborough, including Washington, Windsor, Deering, northern Weare, Webster, Warner and Bradford. Supervising those parishes is what he does in his “spare time,” as he puts it.

Dr. Lorraine J. Tacconi-Moore has been hired as the new superintendent of the school district which includes Henniker, Weare and Stoddard. Currently, the assistant superintendent of the of schools in Westford, Mass., a position she has held for four years. Previously she was the curriculum director in the same district.

Although she lives in Massachusetts, her town of Ashby is only a quarter of a mile from the New Hampshire border, and spends more time, when not working, in New Hampshire than Massachusetts.

“What interested me in the [SAU 24] district is their work on a professional learning community,” said Tacconi-Moore. “It fosters a collaboration of ideas and practices and starts with the teachers on up, which is why I believe in it so strongly.”

Professional development communities encourage teachers and administrators to continue their education in their field, so that they keep up on all the requirements the state has for recertification.

Roody Fleuraguste, 22, was arraigned at Henniker District Court on Monday, May 3, accused of killing Molly B. Hawthorn-MacDougall, 31. A probable cause hearing is schedule for noon on Tuesday.

On Thursday, April 29, at approximately 11:00 a.m., Henniker police officers responded to a 911 call reporting an injured female at 18 Rand Road. According to press releases from the state Attorney General’s office, when the police arrived they discovered Hawthorne-MacDougall was deceased.

After an autopsy on Friday, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jennie V. Duval determined that the cause of death was a gunshot wound. On Sunday, the Attorney General’s office announced that Fleuraguste had been arrested and charged with First Degree Murder for shooting Hawthorn-MacDougall once in the face.

Selectman Rocky Bostrom handed in his letter of resignation last week due to a conflict of interest he has with a position he holds in town as bail commissioner. When the selectmen meet again on April 20, they will decide what method to use to replace him.

“Rocky was not involved in any conflict as a result of any action he took as a selectman,” said chairman of the selectmen, Leon Parker. “Rocky has worked very hard at going through a full cycle as a selectman. It takes a whole first year, as I found out, to even start to learn how to do the job. I’m really unhappy he decided to give it up because he is becoming more effective now that he’s learned the job.”

Bostrom has been a bail commissioner in town for more than seven years, and has served as a selectmen for little over a year. But last week it occurred to District Judge Brackett Scheffy that there could be a conflict of interest with his position as bail commissioner, which is working in conjunction with the Police Department, and his position as selectman, which includes some authority over the Police Department.

The Henniker selectmen voted to pass $169,687 in cuts, the same number demanded by voters at the town meeting, to the budget on Tuesday. The budget rearrangement also includes a two percent Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for all town employees effective as of July 1 for the last six months of the year.

The COLA increase does not include Step Increases, which are given to employees as they become more and more experienced at their jobs, but the selectmen decided they will review whether Step Increases may be possible retroactively later in the year.

The COLA increase is also coupled with an employee contribution towards benefits of $7 a week. Originally a five percent COLA increase had been proposed, with a $15 a week contribution. But after Police Department employees’ wages were cut at town meeting, due to officers’ willingness to take the cut, the selectmen decided to spread a smaller increase across the board.

“This process began for me the day after town meeting at 8 a.m. Sunday morning,” said Flynn, who acknowledged that in making his first drafts of cuts he experienced “a small angry spell” as he “scratched this out, and scratched that out.”

More than 460 residents crowded the Henniker Community School cafeteria at Saturday’s annual town meeting with one goal in mind, slashing the tax rate. After nine grueling hours of discussion, from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m., they got what they came for. The tax rate was cut from a proposed $8.10 to $6.63 per thousand, an 18.1 percent cut that brings the tax rate down to 3 percent below the current $6.84.

The rate could dip even lower if the sale of town-owned lot 98, which was approved by the voters two to one, rises above the $200,000 minimum set by the petitioned warrant article. According to finance director Russ Roy, the assessed value of lot 98 is $250,000, but Roy calculated the tax rate according to a $200,000 sale, because that is what was stated in Article 15.

The Patenaude family wishes to use lot 98 to construct a road to connect their gravel pit with their business, Henniker Crushed Stone.