RYE CRISP

Energy report card … Yeaton appointed … A tragic death … Ultralights have sweet time … Loans weigh down students in N.H.

Members of Rye Reflections staff

Taking a turn …

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Energetic committee …

Steve White, with his wife Mimi at his side, gave a one-year report-card presentation regarding the Rye Energy Committee at the July 14 Selectmen's meeting. The highlights:

       PUBLIC EDUCATION--Have had 3 speakers at Library, 2 book discussions and showed a movie about fuel consumption ("The End of Suburbia").

       WEBSITE--Jaci Grote has developed a Rye Energy Committee website.

       7th GRADE--Developed podcasts with help from Mimi White and David Borden: http://www.ryejrhigh.org/adams/energypodcasts.htm.

       EMAIL--Have 50 Rye homes on a list.

       MEDIA--Have been written up in several newspapers, Town & City Magazine (present edition) and were featured on NPR.

       AUDIT--Are auditing all town buildings: Town Hall, Public Service Building, Public Library, Town Garage. Seem to be well along in this effort.

       GRANTS--Jordan Institute did a study and found Rye schools compare favorably nationally and will fund an audit to identify further steps. The audit will include all schools in the Rye School District (SAU), which includes New Castle, etc.

       N.H. CARBON CHALLENGE--60 households took the challenge, made $70,000 in savings due to reductions in carbon dioxide emissions; reductions amount to 2 1/2 times more savings than any other town that has taken the challenge.

       EAT LOCAL--Have started a campaign based on finding that food items travel 1500 miles on average to get to tables in NH. Residents of the state, they say, eat less than 4% of food grown in-state.

       GARDEN--Working with Rye Conservation Commission to identify land for a community garden. Are doing soil test on Conservation Land behind the old Rye Airfield and adjacent to where the senior housing development is scheduled to be built. Also are testing compost at Rye Recycling Center for suitability.

       FREE-RANGE CHICKENS--Have arranged for delivery to Rye of 100 chickens a week from farm in Barrington

       HANGING WASH--30 houses have signed up. (This project has received national attention from a variety of news agencies and was the subject of an ABC News television report which focused on a movement to restore state right-to-dry laws.)

       ART SHOW--An art exhibit of works created at households of those hanging wash will be held at the Seacoast Science Center from Nov. 14 to Dec. 19 with an artists' reception Nov. 14 from 5 to 8 p.m. Forty percent of the sales of art will be charitable deductions. More information at the N.H. Carbon Challenge website. Could clotheslines be the modern mini-replica of totem poles?

       Following this presentation Steve White said he was preparing a written report to the town. The Selectmen approved acceptance of a $1500 grant by the New England Grassroots Environment Fund and voted to extend the Energy Committee another year. Chairman Craig Musselman praised their achievements, particularly "considering you had to create a new way."  He also asked that they focus in the upcoming months on fuel assistance (it was mentioned that Borden is concentrating on this issue of concern, trying to develop sources for fuel assistance for the region).
        

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People in the news …

Elizabeth Yeaton (photo at right) has been appointed Town Clerk and Tax Collector, succeeding Jane Ireland who retired on July 31. Robin Baker replaces Yeaton as Deputy for both positions. Meanwhile, Ireland will become Deputy to Town Treasurer Leon Blaisdell.

Brenda (Semprini) Stevens, 57, former Rye planning administrator, died tragically on July 24 when a tornado struck and collapsed her lakeside home in Deerfield. Her husband and her 3-month-old grandson were also inside the house but survived. Brenda was credited with saving the baby, by picking him up just as the twister hit.

Abenaqui Country Club pro Jim Sheerin has done it again, this time the hard way. Sheerin defended his New England PGA Senior championship by overcoming a five-stroke deficit in the first round, shooting a 66 in Tuesday's final round at Woodstock Country Club in Vermont.

Town Administrator Alan Gould has been granted a Certificate of Public Management after completion of a two-year Public Manager Program accredited by the National Certified Public Manager Consortium and run by the N.H. Bureau of Education and Training

The resignation last month of Dick Green as director of the Pease Development Authority apparently had been brewing since the beginning of the year, according to his own statement, as the gulf widened between him and the board.

Peter Moynahan, "Our guy in the sky", had a double celebration on July 16. He turned 16 years of age, and soloed for the first time, flying a Cessna 172 out of the Hampton Airfield. He has another year of flying with instructor Gael Marchal before he can get his pilot's license. Moynahan and Marchal at left, solo takeoff below.(photos, Shannon Moynahan)

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Gliding through Summer Camp …

They call it a fly-in and a camp-in. In both cases it was both fun and educational. The Yankee Ultralight flyers held their 17th annual event in Greenland for a week in mid-July with events ranging from an FAA seminar to nightly candy drops for the children at 6 p.m. At Sanderson Field's grass runway of 2000 feet, you could see fixed-wing ultralights, trikes, powered parachutes and rotocraft as well as light sport and general aviation aircraft. In addition to flying lessons, there were contests for landing and beanbag drops, simulating bomb drops. Sounds like the preferable way to go.













Some links of interest:

Experimental Aircraft Association

Federal Aviation Administration

United States Ultralight Association

Yankee Ultralight Flyers                  

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KRISPY KRISPS …

• The media, including Rye Reflections, apparently missed the N.H. Supreme Court decision, handed down March 12, favoring the town of Rye in the case brought by town employees regarding retirement benefits. An earlier Superior Court finding was upheld. Atty. J.P. Nadeau had argued that the Town failed to enroll the 11 employees into the N.H. Retirement System after a 1979 Town Meeting vote until 2001. Retro-activity was sought. Atty. Tom Donovan of Manchester represented the Town of Rye. Click here for the text of the Supreme Court order.
• An ongoing Portsmouth wastewater treatment study, scheduled for completion in two years, may recommend the further extension of the sewer system into Rye, Greenland and New Castle as well as servicing other neighboring communities.
• N.H. student loan borrowers have the second highest debt burden ranking in the U.S., according to a recent report. Of 1500 borrowers interviewed, 82% said that without student loans they could not attend college. Click here for a summary.




Children on outing engage in discovery on rocks at Wallis Sands Beach. (Bill Pappou Drew photo)



• Get ready for the N.H. Folk Music Festival on the afternoon of Saturday, Aug. 23 outdoors at The Mill Pond Center in Durham. Promised is music from the homegrown, western-style swing tunes of Lunch at The Dump to the neo-traditional Cajun Zydeco fusion of Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys. And singer/songwriter Craig Werth will debut his most recent release "Sideways," an all-instrumental CD. Advance tickets are $30. Call the Mill Pond Center box office at 868-8999 or go online at www.cuzinrichard.com.
• But don't forget: At Odiorne on Aug. 14 the Jumbo Circus Peanuts will wrap up the summer series at 6 p.m.; at the North Hampton bandstand concerts are scheduled for Aug. 13, 20, 21, 27 and Sept. 1. Then there's the Festival of Fun at the West End Studio Theatre, 959 Islington Street, Portsmouth, from August 12 to 28. Click here for more information.
• While your calendar is out, mark down Aug. 15-17 for  the arrival of tall ships at the Portsmouth state pier: the Friendship, a 171-foot rigged sailing ship, the largest wooden Coast Guard-certified vessel built in New England in more than a century, and the schooner Roseway, a two-masted, 137-foot vessel.


• The weather was threatening all day, but they managed to get through the annual Rye Lions Club Horse Show on July 20 before the thunder and lightning came. It was a test for all riders, because most of the horses were a bit jittery, knowing a storm was in the offing.
  
  For more information regarding the community activities of the Rye Lions Club click here.






• 
  You'll need a state permit as of July 1, 2008, if you take on most types of construction, excavation or fill within 250 feet of tidal waters, lakes and ponds greater than 10 acres or fourth-order streams and designated rivers. Numerous amendments to the Comprehensive Shoreland Protection Act were enacted and put in force on April 1 and July 1. The Department of Environmental Services (DES) handles the construction permits.
• The Rye Historical Society's Antique Appraisal Day … a big hit last year … will be held on Saturday (Aug. 9) from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Rye Congregational Church, 580 Washington Road. Cost for one item is $5, for three items $10 and for five items $15.
• The Carriage House restaurant on Ocean Boulevard is experimenting with serving lunch Wednesday through Sunday at least through Labor Day and possibly till Columbus Day (11:30 to 2 with light fare from 2 to 4 in the upstairs lounge).
• Fenway Park has been replicated in a backyard in Rye, and, well, wait'll next year! Check it out at My Fox Boston.

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Green movement …

August, 2008

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