Henniker

Pam Hopkins and Rick Gore and two other family members were displaced by a fire in their home on French Pond Road on Thursday, Christmas Day. No one was injured in the blaze.

The family is currently staying at the Henniker Motel, and are looking for an apartment in town so that they can keep their eight-year old in the Henniker Community School.

The fire began around 3:20 p.m. with flames and smoke spewing from the house. A two-alarm fire, the Henniker Fire Department was joined by firefighters from Hillsborough, Hopkinton, Bradford, Warner and Weare to contain it. Within 40 minutes the blaze was under control.

According to Henniker firefighter Mick Costello, the house was not entirely consumed.

The Granite State Chapter of the American Red Cross is assisting the family with temporary lodging, food and clothing. All their Christmas presents were lost in the fire.

Community members have been rallying to their aid.

Having officially opened Dec. 22, A Precious Pet Resort in Henniker is the fulfillment a lifelong dream for owner Mary Green.
For twenty years Green has been working in grooming salons, shelters and rescues, and after relocating to New Hampshire a year ago she decided to build her dream kennel.
The resort is located on Old Concord Road and, according to Green, is a high-end kennel geared toward a stress free vacation for the pet, like their owners will have when they go away.
“The whole kennel was designed so it would be a place where I would want to leave my dog, because I’ve seen the kennels around and I wouldn’t want to leave my dog in any of them,” Green explained.
Currently, Green and her husband are parents to a mastiff, two cats and an adopted one on the way, and 17 rescue birds, from macaws to doves.
Having exotic birds, Green has found it difficult in the past to go away because no one could take care of them. Because of this, Green decided the resort would be open to boarding exotic birds and cats as well.
Although she’s constantly surrounded by animals now, Green maintains it’s not stressful.

In view of shrinking revenues from both local and state sources, the Henniker selectmen unanimously voted Tuesday to meet for a special budget-only work session next Tuesday to consider what cuts they may make to Capital Improvements Program (CIP) requests. The meeting will be open to the public, but will not be a regular selectmen meeting where public comment may be made.
Currently, the municipal budget stands to cost $8.87 per thousand. This includes everything that has so far been presented, but does not take into account the Fund Balance. Selectman Joe Damour said he would like to see the tax rate kept down to $7 per thousand of real estate property value.
Selectman Ron Taylor pointed out that decreasing the rate even $1 per thousand could mean decreasing the total budget by $400,00.

Superintendent Doug White gave a quick overview of the Henniker School District budget proposal for the 2009/2010 school year at last Wednesday’s School Board meeting.
Despite an increase in students, the Henniker School Board was able to cut the budget by $21,436, for an overall decrease of .33 percent over last year’s budget. This will reflect in a one cent decrease for the Henniker tax rate.
Board member Jim McElroy pointed out to the public that at the beginning of the budget planning process there was a good chance the school board was going to have to cut $400,000 from the budget, as they expected to lose that much in state funding.
Although in the end the funding didn’t fall through, McElroy noted that the budget still includes a certain fraction of those cuts.
McElroy added that going into the budget process they wanted to ensure small classes, a unified intervention system and more time on task for students, all within a budget that couldn’t go up.
“The first flush has been exactly what we asked for,” McElroy stated. “I really like the idea of doing things better that cost less.”

A recent fraternity hazing incident has left a wake of rumors and emotions on Henniker's New England College campus.
Seven members of Sigma Alpha Beta received burn marks about 7 inches long above their left chest, similar to branding, during an organization ceremony.
Interim Dean of Students Lori Runksmeier was reluctant to say exactly how the college was informed of the incident, but emphasized that what really matters is what NEC does from now on.
"What really matters is that I know when I look around at NEC, that we are not a place where anybody would think it's okay to hurt somebody else," Runksmeier commented.
She added that the college now has to address several questions such as how the school moves forward, how they change organizations to make sure that people know hazing is not okay, and how to change the culture of the college to make sure everybody knows they're looking out for each other. Both the investigations of the Henniker Police Department and NEC Campus Safety are still ongoing.

With two long Saturday sessions with all the department heads in Henniker, the selectmen have completed the first run through on the municipal budget, except for the various warrant articles to be presented at the Dec. 2 meeting.

“Most of the budget requests are pretty close to last year’s, with the addition of already agreed to salary and benefits. We don’t have any master contract because we don’t negotiate, but we had accepted a wage and benefits report from a special committee a year ago, so at the moment what is there is non-binding,” chairman of the selectmen, Tom Watman, explained.

The list of warrant articles to be presented on Dec. 2 with the Capital Improvements Report will give the selectmen a better idea of how the budget will turn out. The warrant articles will include items such equipment for various departments.

“We’ll be receiving the first draft at the beginning of December, and then we’ll have month to package a proposal for the Budget Advisory Committee, which we will review in January, prior to the Budget Hearing,” said Watman.

One problem the selectmen are concerned with are revenue shortfalls.

The New England College Department of Safety recently notified the Henniker Police Department of a possible hazing incident that had occurred involving NEC students after at least four members came forward with injuries.
Members of an NEC fraternity, Sigma Alpha Beta, are said to have been injured during one of the organization's ceremonies.
"I think pretty much it was burns on peoples' chest," commented Henniker Chief of Police Timothy Russell. "Many people would refer to it as branding. I'm not sure that would be inaccurate at all."
In the State of New Hampshire it is illegal to promote or participate in any activity that could be considered hazing.
Chief Russell noted that even the seven students who were victims of the hazing could potentially be charged with a Class B misdemeanor, which would result in a fine of up to $1,200.
Additionally, Chief Russell feels they're probably looking at another 2-3 students who may face serious felony charges.

The joint was jumpin’ at the American Legion in Hillsborough last Saturday night. Local residents came out in force to the American Legion for an evening of rock ‘n roll and happy fundraising to help support the Hillsborough Food Pantry Raise the Roof rebuilding initiative.

The great turnout Saturday night is proof positive that when a good cause in Hillsborough needs help, local residents can be counted upon to help with generosity and good will. A festive evening of rock and roll music, dancing and raffles drew a large crowd, and guests were in the mood to raise money and have a great time. Over two hundred advance tickets were sold for the event, and there were three popular bands. Dent, Lonesome Train and the Skip Philbrick Blues Band shook the hall with a wide range of rock, blues and country-rock tunes that drew the crowd out of their seats and onto the dance floor.

While the dancers were moving to the music, raffles were held throughout the evening. Local businesses donated a variety of desirable items ranging from snowmobile jackets to therapeutic massages, and the crowd was opening their wallets to purchase tickets.

The Henniker tax rate went up $2.39, from $24.78 in 2007 to $27.16 in 2008.

The Town portion of the tax rate is $6.86, an increase of 49 cents or 7.7 percent, slightly higher than the goal set at the March 2008 annual town meeting.

The County portion is $2.63, an increase of 23 cents or 9.6 percent from 2007.

The Local School portion is $15.29, an increase of $1.58 or 11.5 percent from 2007.

The State School portion is $2.38, an increase of 9 cents or 3.8 percent from 2007.

Incumbents Governor John Lynch and Paul Hodes won in all area towns, with U.S. President elect Barak Obama and U.S. Senator elect Jeanne Shaheen losing in both Weare and Washington, with Shaheen also losing by five votes in Windsor.

Obama won 1,506 to Republican contender John McCain’s 1,002 in Hillsborough, 1,506 to 1,002 in Henniker, 852 to 635 in Antrim, 2,394 to 1,447 in Hopkinton, 580 to 420 in Bradford, 748 to 451 in Hancock, 399 to 369 in Bennington, 538 to 498 in Deering, 595 to 490 in Webster and 67 to 59 in Windsor.

In Weare McCain won against Obama 2,520 to 2,109, and in Washington 316 to 309.

Shaheen won 1,510 votes to Republican incumbent John Sununu’s 1,172 in Hillsborough, 1,320 to 1,064 in Henniker, 803 to 614 in Antrim, 2,190 to 1,571 in Hopkinton, 540 to 414 in Bradford, 686 to 485 in Hancock, 370 to 353 in Bennington, 504 to 477 in Deering, and 556 to 467 in Webster.

Sununu won 2,384 to 2,520 in Weare, 312 to 278 in Washington and 62 to 53 in Windsor.