Tag: 210812

Comics for Everybody!

The wait is finally over for comic book lovers as Free Comic Book Day returns on Saturday, Aug. 14, for the first time since 2019. The annual worldwide event, postponed from its traditional date on the first Saturday in May, invites comic book shops to hand out free comic books created specially for that day and host comic-related fun like cosplay contests, door prizes, special guests and more.

Each participating local shop is doing things a little differently, so whether you’re looking to just pop in, grab your free comic and go, or don your best cosplay and spend the day celebrating all things comics, New Hampshire has a FCBD experience for you.

Customers pick up their free comics at a previous Free Comic Book Day at Double Midnight Comics. Courtesy photo.

Diversity Gaming in Hooksett, a new comic book and gaming shop that opened a month before the pandemic, is keeping the focus on the comics for its first FCBD. Owner Erik Oparowske said he placed a large order of free comics to ensure that every customer who wants a free comic can get the one they want quickly and easily. He said he’s expecting the shop to “go through most, if not all” of the comics he ordered.

“We wanted to provide an option for people who may not have half an hour to stand in line,” Oparowske said. “For us, it’s about getting the comics into people’s hands.”

Merrymac Games and Comics in Merrimack will have five comic artists on site promoting and discussing their comic books with customers.

“It adds a little something extra to the event [beyond] the free comics,” manager Bob Shaw said, “and it allows people to meet artists without having to go to a comic convention, which is nice because conventions can be really crazy and crowded, and a lot of people aren’t comfortable enough to start going to them again.”

Famous for its FCBD costume contest that typically attracts more than 100 participants, Double Midnight Comics, which has shops in Manchester and Concord, has decided to hold off on the contest this year and “keep it low-key,” co-owner Chris Proulx said, with plans to resume its usual FCBD festivities in 2022.

“We’re encouraging people to come in, shop a bit and head home with their haul,” Proulx said. “It’s a bummer not having the big event for the second year in a row, but safety is our focus this year.”

New Hampshire’s largest FCBD celebration, the Rochester Free Comic Book Day Festival, will return full-scale, with local comic creators, a scavenger hunt, vendors, prizes, a costume contest and more at businesses and venues all over the city.

“We’re doing Free Comic Book Day just like we’ve always done it in the past, nothing different at all,” said Ralph DiBernardo, owner of Jetpack Comics in Rochester, which hosts the festival in partnership with the city. “Everybody is excited to have a semblance of normalcy to life again.”

Oparowske said he looks forward to including more FCBD activities, like the ones at Jetpack, at Diversity Gaming in the future.

“I love that Jetpack and Double Midnight and places like that have that big, carnival-like atmosphere,” he said. “I hope that, once we’ve been here longer and are more firm in the community, we can do something a little like that.”

There are 51 Free Comic Book Day titles this year: 12 “gold” titles, which are available at all participating shops, and 39 “silver” titles, of which certain ones are available at select shops. The selection typically includes a mix of independent, standalone stories; spin-offs of movies, television shows, video games and established comic book series; and samplings or previews of existing or upcoming titles.

Comic book fans can pick up not only this year’s FCBD comics but also ones from 2020, which were released and distributed by comic book shops in batches over the course of nine weeks as part of “Free Comic Book Summer,” a reworking of FCBD held in lieu of the one-day event that year. Since Free Comic Book Summer took place at the height of the pandemic, the 2020 titles went mostly under the radar, and many comic book shops still have stacks of them that they’re hoping to give away at this year’s FCBD.

“I tried doing a free comic book drive-up last year. I got 12 people,” Shaw said, “so I’m still choking on last year’s Free Comic Book Day stuff that never got distributed.”

“I guarantee there is stuff people missed out on [in 2020], so it will be new to them this year,” Proulx added. “Everyone will leave with a nice stack of comics … from both this year and past years.”

Rochester Free Comic Book Day Festival Cosplay Contest. Courtesy photos.

Though thankful to be able to host Free Comic Book Day in its traditional format again, some comic book shop owners and staff are concerned that the rescheduled August date will affect the turnout.

Shaw said this year’s event and the new date haven’t been advertised on a national level nearly as prominently as in years past.

“There hasn’t been the same kind of buzz about it that you usually hear,” he said. “I think there will be a lot of people saying, ‘Oh, I didn’t know [FCBD] was today.’”

“We’ve had tons of customers asking us when [FCBD] is going to be,” Oparowske added. “There’s been a lot of confusion.”

But, Shaw said, it’s not always easy to predict what the turnout will be — it could go either way — and despite all of the variables that may determine whether people come out or not, there is one thing the comic book shops will always have going for them on FCBD: “People love free stuff, and that’s never going to change,” he said. “You can count on that, no matter what.”

Comics vs. Covid

When Gov. Sununu called for non-essential businesses to shut down in March of last year, local comic book shops were prepared for the worst.

“We went into panic mode,” DiBernardo said of Jetpack Comics. “We thought we would be shutting down for the foreseeable future.”

Now, about a year and a half later, many shops are not only surviving, but thriving, thanks to their innovative sales strategies and dedicated customer base.

Shaw said that once Merrymac Games and Comics shifted their business online, their sales numbers weren’t much different from before the pandemic.

“Honestly, the only change for us was that we didn’t have customers in the store,” he said. “We were still fulfilling and shipping out orders every day.”

For Jetpack, DiBernardo said, the ability to offer curbside pickup was the shop’s saving grace. He went from fearing that he would have to let half of his staff go, he said, to having to pay his staff overtime to keep up with the large volume of online and curbside pickup orders.

“Curbside pickup changed everything for us,” he said. “It gave us a goal — something that we could do. Once we figured out how to do it and we hit our stride with it, it went great for us.”

The shutdown was especially tough on Diversity Gaming, which had opened just a month earlier and therefore didn’t qualify to receive the state or federal financial aid that was being offered to small businesses. Oparowske said he owes the shop’s survival to the community.

“Even though we were the little babies on the block, people had already really embraced us and were excited about our presence here during that first month,” he said.

The popularity of online sales during the pandemic has led many comic book shops to make it a permanent part of their business model.

“We found that it was a big boost for us, and it still is,” DiBernardo said. “We’re seeing the same amount of online sales now that we were seeing a year ago.”

While comic book shops may not be considered an essential business on paper, Proulx said, they are essential to many people on a personal level.

“People needed distractions from the pandemic,” he said, “and we were there for them with comics.”

Find a comic

Local comic book store staff shared comic book and graphic novel recommendations for all kinds of readers.

Best comic for someone who “isn’t a comic book person”

Ice Cream Man by W. Maxwell Prince and Martin Morazzo.
A horror anthology series for fans of The Twilight Zone or Black Mirror.
Recommended by Jill Stewart, comic book manager at Double Midnight Comics.

Star Wars: The High Republic by Cavan Scott
A series of stories from the Star Wars universe for fans who want to get some background on where the upcoming movies might lead.
Recommended by Erik Oparowske, owner of Diversity Gaming.

Stray Dogs by Tony Fleecs and Trish Forstner
A dog wakes up in a strange house with no recollection of how she got there and a feeling that something terrible has happened.
Recommended by Ralph DiBernardo, owner of Jetpack Comics.

Best comic for adult comic book nerds

Reckless by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
Crime noir set in 1980s Los Angeles.
Recommended by Chris Proulx, co-owner of Double Midnight Comics.

Unsacred by Mirka Andolfo
A risque take on heaven and hell.
Recommended by Erik Oparowske, owner of Diversity Gaming.

King in Black by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman
A new twist on old characters and the making of a new god for the Marvel Universe.
Recommended by Ralph DiBernardo, owner of Jetpack Comics.

Crossover by Donny Cates, Geoff Shaw, Dee Cunniffe and John J. Hill
The series sets fictional characters from different comic books in real-world modern-day Denver, Colorado.
Recommended by Kyle Litchfield, staff at Jetpack Comics.

Best comic for teens who are too cool for superheroes

Radiant Black byKyle Higgins and Marcello Costa
A superhero story for a new generation, this series offers a more realistic look at what would happen if teens really had superpowers.
Recommended by Ralph DiBernardo, owner of Jetpack Comics.

Life is Strange by Emma Vieceli
Based on the video game of the same name, this series follows a photography student who has the magical ability to rewind time.
Recommended By Erik Oparowske, owner of Diversity Gaming.

BRZRKR by Matt Kindt, Keanu Reeves and Ron Garney
Actor Keanu Reeves writes this story of the next movie that he wants to star in.
Recommended by Ralph DiBernardo, owner of Jetpack Comics.

Best comic for young aspiring comic book creators

Strange Academyby Skottie Young, Humberto Ramos and Edgar Delgado
Dr. Strange of the Marvel Universe establishes a new academy for the mystic arts to train the next generation of magic-users.
Recommended by Kyle Litchfield, staff at Jetpack Comics.

Red Room byEd Piskor
This cyberpunk tale for teens is about a subculture of criminals who livestream murders for entertainment.
Recommended by Ralph DiBernardo, owner of Jetpack Comics.

Best comic for kids who don’t like reading

Dog Man by Dav Pilkey
The protagonist in this kids graphic novel series is part man and part dog-police officer and -superhero.
Recommended by Chris Proulx, co-owner of Double Midnight Comics.

Batman Fortnite Zero Point by Christos Gage, Donald Mustard and Reilly Brown
A collaborative comic between DC and the popular video game Fortnite that rewards readers with exclusive content for the game.
Recommended by Ralph DiBernardo, owner of Jetpack Comics.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man by Saladin Ahmed and Javier Garrón
Miles Morales balances school, parents and life as a teen — who also happens to be Spider-Man.
Recommended by Seth Deverell, staff at Diversity Gaming.

Best graphic novels

Days of Future Past by Chris Claremont
A look at the X-Men dystopian future that formed the basis for the movies.
Recommended By Erik Oparowske, owner of Diversity Gaming.

Something is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera.
Children in the town of Archer’s Peak are mysteriously going missing, and the few that survive return with stories of terrifying monsters.
Recommended by Ralph DiBernardo, owner of Jetpack Comics.

Participating Comic Book Shops

For more information about Free Comic Book Day, visit freecomicbookday.com.

• The Comic Store, 115 Northeastern Blvd., Nashua, 881-4855, facebook.com/thecomicstorenashua. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

• Collectibles Unlimited, 25 South St., Concord, 228-3712, collectiblesunlimited.biz. Hours are 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Diversity Gaming, 1328 Hooksett Road, Hooksett, 606-1176, diversitygaming.store. Hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

• Double Midnight Comics, 245 Maple St., Manchester, 669-9636; 67 S. Main St., Concord, 669-9636, dmcomics.com. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. There will be sales and raffles.

• Escape Hatch Books, 27 Main St., Jaffrey, facebook.com/escapehatchbooks. Hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

• Jetpack Comics, 37 N. Main St., Rochester, 330-9636, jetpackcomics.com.The store partners with the City of Rochester to host the Rochester Free Comic Book Day Festival. Festivities including a scavenger hunt, cosplay competition, special guest comic book artists, vendors and more will take place at the store and at various locations throughout the city starting at 10 a.m.

• Khaotic Comics, 590 Central Ave., Dover, 834-9177, khaoticcomics.com. Hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The store will have special guest comic book artists, food and an appearance by Spider-Man.

• Merrymac Games and Comics, 550 DW Highway, Merrimack, 420-8161, merrymacgc.com. Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Special guest comic book artists will be at the shop from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

• Newbury Comics, 777 S. Willow St., Manchester, 624-2842; 310 D.W. Highway, Nashua, 888-0720; 436 S. Broadway, Salem, 890-1380, newburycomics.com. Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

• Nex-Gen Comics, 122 Bridge St., Unit 3, Pelham, 751-8195, nexgencomics.wordpress.com. Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

• Stairway to Heaven Comics, 109 Gosling Road, Newington, 319-6134, stairwaytoheavencomics.com. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Special guest comic book creators will be at the shop.

Featured photo:

This Week 21/08/12

Big Events August 12, 2021, and beyond

Thursday, Aug. 12

The Nashua Silver Knights wrap up their regular season of home games at Holman Stadium (67 Amherst St. in Nashua) tonight with a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m. against the Brockton Rox. Tickets to games start at $8 for adults, $6 for kids. See nashuasilverknights.com.

Thursday, Aug. 12

The 64th annual New Hampshire Antiques Show runs today through Saturday, Aug. 14, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown (700 Elm St.). Sixty-seven antiques dealers will exhibit their merchandise, according to nhada.org. Show hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Admission costs $15 on Thursday and $10 on Friday and Saturday, and is free to anyone under 30. See nhada.org.

Thursday, Aug. 12

It’s a weekend of Old Home Days! Hudson’s Old Home Days at Hills House Field (211 Derry Road, Hudson) kicks off today with rides and carnival games, food vendors, live music, fireworks on Saturday, competitions (including pie eating and cornhole) and more. The event is open from 5 to 10 p.m. tonight and continues through Sunday, Aug. 15. See hudsonoldhomedays.com.

Epsom’s Old Home Weekend runs Friday, Aug. 13, through Sunday, Aug. 15, at Webster Park in Epsom. Friday’s events from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. include a cookout, live music from Fuzz Box, cornhole, s’mores and more. Saturday includes more kids events and a 3-on-3 basketball tournament. See epsomnh.org.

Londonderry’s Old Home Days starts the evening of Wednesday, Aug. 18, and runs through Saturday, Aug. 21, and will feature town parades, games, local vendors and more. Find them on Facebook.

Friday, Aug. 13

Watch a story about space flight under the stars at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center (2 Institute Drive in Concord; starhop.com, 271-7827) tonight with a screening of Mercury 13 (TV-PG, 2018) at 8 p.m. This documentary from Netflix looks at the group of women who trained for space flight but didn’t become part of NASA’s astronaut program and didn’t go to space (until this year when Wally Funk, one of the Mercury 13, joined Jeff Bezos on the July 21 Blue Origins New Shepard flight, according to Wikipedia). The screening is free and snacks and drinks will be available for purchase, according to the website, which encouraged attendees to bring camping chairs and picnic blankets.

Saturday, Aug. 14

See the Currier Museum of Art’s (150 Ash St., Manchester; currier.org, 669-6144) current exhibits including “Tomie dePaola at the Currier,” “Roberto Lugo: Te traigo mi le lo lai — I bring you my joy, ” “Critical Cartography: Larissa Fassler in Manchester” and “The Body in Art: From the Spiritual to the Sensual.” Today, admission is free to New Hampshire residents as part of the museum’s free second Saturdays. Museum hours today are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 14

Enjoy music in the gardens with Symphony NH at Beaver Brook Association (117 Ridge Road, Hollis) today at 3 p.m. Americana Brass Quintet will perform, and the gardens will be open before the concert. Tickets cost $18 for adults and $5 for children under 12 at beaverbrook.org, which recommends bringing chairs, blankets and a picnic dinner.

Save the Date! Friday, Aug. 27

Comedian Juston McKinney begins a three-day run at the Bank of NH Stage (44 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com) on Friday, Aug. 27, with a show at 8 p.m. McKinney will also perform Saturday, Aug. 28, at 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 29, at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $29.50.

Featured photo, Mercury 13. Courtesy photo.

Quality of Life 21/08/12

New Hampshire’s gambit

Chess is a thing with kids now, thanks to The Queen’s Gambit, which is why The New Hampshire Department of Education is establishing a statewide initiative to bring chess to schools. “The game of chess has become incredibly popular with students as a result of the hit Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit,” Frank Edelblut, commissioner of education, said in a press release. “The research is clear that when we engage students with their areas of interest, the learning is deeper and richer.” The department is partnering with Chess in Schools and is calling the program Granite Gambit. It’s being funded with federal Title funds and will support training for teacher-driven chess initiatives that connect chess with core academic content, the release said.

Score: +1

Comment:According to the release, a gambit is defined as a device or action used as a calculated risk to gain an advantage. “Granite Gambit will give both our educators and students an advantage,” Edelblut said.

Bike safety celebration

Families can bring their bikes to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Friday, Aug. 13, to ride a few laps around the Nascar track as part of the annual Dale Jr. Foundation Safe Kids 301. The entirely free event is all about bike safety, with helmet checks, bike safety inspections and free helmets for kids who don’t have one. There will also be a touch-a-truck ambulance and a teddy bear clinic, plus snacks and water. All adults and children can access the track on their bikes from 4 to 7:30 p.m.

Score: +1

Comment: A family-friendly outdoor activity, and it’s free? What’s not to like?

All-natural podcast

Take wildlife adventures throughout the state via the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department’s podcast, On the Nature Trail. Lindsay Webb, a wildlife educator from Fish and Game, is hiking, biking and kayaking to bring listeners on a series of five-minute journeys in search of wildlife. So far she’s seen garter snakes, water scorpions, a saw-whet owl, bald eagles, horseshoe crabs and a bullfrog.

Score: +1

Comment: On the Nature Trail episodes are available on iHeart Radio, Spotify, CastBox and Apple Podcasts, or at nhfishgame.com/podcast.

Happy, healthy babies

New Hampshire is the fourth best state to have a baby, according to a new study from personal-finance website WalletHub, which compared data for cost, health care accessibility and baby-friendliness. New Hampshire ranked 2nd in four areas, with low rates for Hospital Cesarean-Delivery Charges, Hospital Conventional-Delivery Charges, Infant Mortality Rate and Rate of Low Birth-Weight. It ranked 4th for Pediatricians & Family Medicine Physicians per Capita and, as of Aug. 9, 9th for Positive Covid-19 Testing Rate in the Past Week.

Score: +1

Comment: All six New England states made the Top 15, with Massachusetts ranking No. 1 and Vermont coming in right after New Hampshire at No. 5.

QOL score: 82
Net change: +4
QOL this week: 86

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at [email protected].

Pats redux starts tonight

The Patriots are into Week 3 of training camp amid one breathless account after another about the so-called battle going at QB between Cam Newton and top draft pick Mac Jones. It’s so overdone it’s nuts, with the most ridiculous being hearing Big Jim Murray saying on Boston’s Sports Hub that it was “concerning that Jones hadn’t popped yet” and there was no buzz about him after his eighth practice as a Patriot.

After he had a very good practice the next day (phew), the angst then was over it being done with them back in shells, and, O-M-G, was that done to bolster his confidence? A day later he was just as good playing in pads, so two days after being “concerned” the conversation was now he’s been much better than Cam so far, so does that put Mac ahead in the lead to start on opening day?

Just utter nonsense. The first thing to know is that Big Jim is a 100 percent I told you so Tom Brady binky, and if he’s not hoping Mac fails, it won’t wreck his day, because it’ll make Coach B look bad to let him keep pumping Brady’s tires as the sole reason for the dynasty. A debate for another day, which will come here right before Brady returns on Oct. 3. As for the no buzz nonsense, there was no “buzz” around Brady his entire rookie year. After spending five years at Michigan and being a year older than Jones is right now he was fourth on the depth chart. The coaches may have known they had something in the young Brady during the 2001 pre-season, but the Brady “buzz” didn’t start until Drew Bledsoe got hurt and the 0-2 Patriots started winning with the new guy.

So block out the noise as pre-season gets underway on Thursday, Aug. 12, vs. the Washington Football Team and judge for yourself. And while you do that, here are a few of the biggest 2021 stories to keep an eye on.

The receivers: My top question going in is are the new guys any good? In particular, how real are Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne? Where the speedy Agholor’s only real solid year in five NFL seasons came last year. Myth or reality? Meanwhile the new slot guy has never caught more than 48 passes. Of course unheralded Wes Welker had only one season better than that before becoming an unstoppable force in Foxboro. As for the tight ends, after last year’s debacle, expectations are high. Hunter Henry (60) and Jonnu Smith (65) caught a combined 125 passes in 2020. If the offense is to rebound they need to get close to that again to give either QB big targets in the middle of the field, where the throws are shorter and quicker.

N’Keal Harry: Given the precarious position he’s in he could be gone by the time you see this. But even if he isn’t I would not advise him to unpack. Then again, while I’m not holding my breath, call me crazy but I have a feeling (based on nothing) that he finally gets it, which would give them another big body to throw at in the red zone.

Running back log jam: It’s crowded back there with presumed starting tailback Damian Harris and third down back James White the only locks for the five slots. That leaves Sony Michel, Brandon Bolden, JJ Taylor, fullback Jakob Johnson and fourth-round pick Rhamondre Stevenson fighting for the other three. Most think Michel is the odd man out. But, if they’re going to ground and pound in the age of the two-headed tailback, it doesn’t make sense dumping a guy who averaged 5.7 yards a carry last year when the lead back has missed a lot of time with injuries both years in New England. So if Taylor can return kicks or Stevenson reverses what’s going on at the moment, I say Bolden is the odd man out.

Quarterback battle: You can talk all you want about this, but Bill says he’s going with Cam on opening day and I don’t see any reason to think he won’t. Yes, 2020 wasn’t really good, but with a year plus in the system and a real training camp he’ll know the offense better and he’ll likely have a much more talented group of receivers to throw to as well. So he’ll be a lot better this year. How long that lasts, we’ll see, but I’m betting he’s the starter for the whole year.

Stephon Gilmore contract: People have made a big deal out of Gilmore being underpaid. But I don’t expect it to be an issue because he knows he’s playing for his next contract.

Local bubble boy Chase Winovich: It’s not going to make his new best pal Chris Sununu happyif the New Hampshire-loving edge rusher loses the battle of numbers and gets traded before opening day. Given their buddy-buddy TV spots, they’d be a 21st-century version of when Steve Lyons did a commercial in 1986 for Frank Yanco’s Queen City Toyota. Trouble was he got traded for Tom Seaver about a week after it began running so they had to airbrush out the Red Sox uniform, which had folks asking after that, who’s that guy on TV with Frank? But the good news is if he survives the new influx of edge rushers it will make it harder to block everyone, opening more avenues to get to the QB.

Return of you know who: The hype and noise all week will be insane. And for once that will be fun being part of. To kick it off, stand and give him a rousing ovation of appreciation for his role in the Pats dynasty with him under center. Then, when the first passing situation arrives, send the house up the middle to collapse the pocket to let him know he’s not in Kansas anymore.

Come one, come all

Nature Conservancy builds universally accessible trail

Construction is now underway to make the trails at the Cedar Swamp Preserve in Manchester universally accessible. Mark Zankel, state director of The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire, which is overseeing the project, talked about the changes that are being made to the property.

Why did you choose the Cedar Swamp Preserve for this project?

We want people to be able to experience the joy of spending time in nature, and that’s not necessarily easy to do when you live in the most densely populated part of the state … so Manchester was an obvious choice … and the Cedar Swamp Preserve [was chosen] because it’s in such close proximity to downtown.

How did you determine what barriers needed to be addressed?

Manchester is the largest city … and the most diverse population in our state, so we realized we had work to do to understand what barriers people faced to access nature. We’ve spent the better part of the past year doing a number of listening sessions and engagement events with groups that haven’t always had a table with us … [like] NAACP of Greater Manchester, the Disability Rights Center in New Hampshire, a number of LGBTQ+ groups and AARP, to ask them what would make this place more welcoming and inclusive and accessible. … What we learned is that the barriers are not just physical; they can also be geographical, cultural and psychological.

How are you addressing those barriers to make the trail universally accessible?

We have well-defined guidance on how to build a trail that’s accessible to individuals with physical disabilities … in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. … We’re doing a crushed stone surface … with a topcoat of more finely packed crushed stone, which creates a surface that wheelchairs can go on without sinking too deep or getting stuck. … We’re widening the trail to allow [space] for two wheelchairs and for people who may have a support animal. Then, there’s the topography; the trail system … has rocks and roots and inclines at various degrees, so we’re working on winding the trail around that hilly topography so that [no part of the trail] is too steep. … We’ve gone from having only one or two benches to six benches … and are making them visible so that people can see how far it is to the next resting spot. … A lot of people in Manchester don’t have cars, so we’ve been working with the city to put a bus stop there to help break down that transportation barrier. … We’ve also translated out interpretive materials into Spanish … which is the second most spoken language in the Manchester area.

Where are you in the construction process right now?

We’ve done the trail plan … and initial expansion. Now, [the construction crew] is out there, literally going foot by foot with their heavy equipment, moving dirt and rocks and laying down the base of the trail. … We’re hoping and planning to open the trail by mid- to late October, with some kind of ribbon-cutting ceremony.

How do you find a balance between altering nature to make it more accessible and your greater mission of preserving it?

The Nature Conservancy has a lot of background and experience in managing conservation land in a way that allows for human uses and activities but is still compatible with conservation values … and [conscious of] the reasons why we’re protecting the property in the first place. … We’re charting a pathway [that requires] as little digging and moving things around as possible. … We’re also being really careful with the fill we’re bringing in to make sure that it doesn’t have the seeds of invasive species in it. … You can’t do this with no impact, but this is a small part of the overall cedar swamp system — 100 or so acres out of 640 acres — so there’s still a vast amount of property that doesn’t have any built infrastructure, where nature can really thrive. … We feel like it’s an acceptable level of impact for the benefit of getting people out there.

Will there be more of these?

I think there’s a strong interest in making conservation areas more accessible. … The New Hampshire conservation community has been thinking hard about this and trying to take action … so I think we will see more of these going forward. We’d love to do more, but we’re going to live into this one first. … These are big projects and not easy to do … so we really want to learn more about how the property gets used and how we can ensure that the people we’re building it for are able to use it.

Featured photo: Mark Zankel. Courtesy photo.

News & Notes 21/08/12

Covid-19 update As of August 2 As of August 9
Total cases statewide 100,986 102,117
Total current infections statewide 738 1,270
Total deaths statewide 1,387 1,389
New cases 700 (July 27 to Aug. 2) 1,131 (Aug. 3 to Aug. 9)
Current infections: Hillsborough County 235 362
Current infections: Merrimack County 57 86
Current infections: Rockingham County 178 307
Information from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services

Covid-19 news

State health officials announced 96 new positive cases of Covid-19 on Aug. 9. The state averaged 168 new cases per day over the most recent seven-day period, an increase of 62 percent compared to the week before. As of Aug. 9, all but three counties in the state were at substantial levels of community transmission.

Body cameras

Last week the Executive Council approved a $3.4 million contract to equip New Hampshire State Police with body cameras, according to a press release. The use of body cameras was one of the recommendations made by the New Hampshire Commission on Law Enforcement Accountability, Community and Transparency, which was established through Executive Order by Gov. Chris Sununu in June 2020 and charged with developing recommendations for reforms deemed necessary to enhance transparency, accountability and community relations in law enforcement, the release said. “This effort provides yet another layer of transparency and accountability in our continued efforts to further bolster public trust in the incredible work done by New Hampshire’s law enforcement officers, who set the gold standard for the rest of the country,” Sununu said in a statement following the contract approval.

Juvenile justice

A new advisory group that will update and replace the State Advisory Group for Juvenile Justice has been formed, Gov. Chris Sununu announced last week. According to a press release, the New Hampshire Juvenile Justice Reform Commission will “assist the state in aligning New Hampshire’s juvenile justice system with advances in scientific understanding of adolescent development and youth offenders.” The group’s primary role is to advise the state on its use of federal juvenile justice grants and supporting compliance with federal juvenile justice requirements. The original advisory group had been in place for more than 20 years, created by Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, and the formation of this new group is an effort to bring in fresh perspectives and ideas, the release said. “The Department continues to transform the state’s juvenile justice system to be a more proactive one that identifies and addresses youths’ needs before at-risk youth become involved with the courts,” said Joe Ribsam, director of the Division for Children, Youth and Families. The advisory will include representatives from the juvenile justice system, including those working within the court system, organizations that work with children and youth, people working in education, youth mental and behavioral health providers, and those who have been or are currently involved with the juvenile justice system. Anyone who meets those requirements and is interested in serving on the commission should email a letter of interest and resume to [email protected].

Housing Commission

Last week the Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved the creation of a city Housing Commission, following the recommendations made by the Mayor’s Affordable Housing Task Force. According to a press release, this commission will be responsible for following up on recommendations made by the Task Force and continuing its work by “recognizing, promoting, enhancing, encouraging, and developing a balanced and diverse supply of housing to meet the economic, social and physical needs of the City of Manchester and its residents.” It will work with city departments and boards to develop plans for the future while meeting the city’s current housing needs, Mayor Joyce Craig said in the release. The commission will be made up of five members and two alternates. Anyone interested should send a resume and statement of interest to [email protected].

Bias trainings

Last week, Manchester School District Superintendent Dr. John Goldhardt issued a statement in response to requests for public records regarding staff trainings that cover the topics of diversity and bias. “Manchester School District values community members’ desire to better understand our students’ education, which is why we are happy to share the professional development options our teachers and staff get to choose from,” Goldhardt wrote in the statement. A list of those trainings and their descriptors was included with the statement. Trainings on the list were: Safe Schools: Social & Behavioral > Cultural Competence & Racial Bias; Youth Equity Stewardship (YES!): Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Learning for Justice: What Is White Privilege, Really?; Better Lessons: Bias and Privilege: Self-Reflecting and Using our Power for Change; and City Year: Implicit racial bias and cultural competence, as well as a list of Amplify curriculum materials. Links to most of the trainings were included unless the material is no longer accessible. “It should be noted that all training shared in this list … was voluntary and in place prior to the June 25, 2021, enactment of the Right to Freedom from Discrimination in Public Workspaces and Education law,” Goldhardt wrote in the statement.

Mental health care

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that it will be requesting an amendment to the Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Access Research and Demonstration Waiver from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. According to a press release, the goal of the proposed amendment is to add coverage for short-term inpatient and residential treatment services for beneficiaries with Serious Mental Illness and to allow Medicaid to pay for short-term stays in Institutions for Mental Disease for beneficiaries ages 21 to 64 with SMI. This would help reduce the use of ERs by Medicaid beneficiaries with SMI while they await mental health care in specialized settings, improve the availability of crisis stabilization services, and improve access to community-based services for Medicaid beneficiaries with SMI, the release said. Prior to submitting the amendment request, DHHS is seeking comment from the public until Tuesday, Aug. 31, at dhhs.nh.gov/sud-imd.

Evictions on hold

The New Hampshire Circuit Court, which just recently resumed eviction proceedings, has paused them again in six counties, in cases that are covered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s partial eviction moratorium. According to a press release, as of Aug. 4, Belknap, Cheshire, Grafton, Hillsborough, Rockingham and Strafford counties are covered by the moratorium, which was put in to place for counties that are considered to have substantial or high risk of transmission of Covid-19. All landlord-tenant cases arising out of those counties that were previously stayed by the moratorium — that is, where a tenant has provided a declaration in compliance with the CDC order to their landlord — will be stayed again,” the release said. All other courts will continue processing and holding hearings in all landlord-tenant cases.

Ann Scholz, who lives on Pleasant Lake in Deerfield and Northwood, has been awarded the 2021 John F. Morten Memorial Award for Exemplary Lake Stewardship. According to a press release from NH Lakes, Scholz was nominated by nine people and unanimously chosen by the NH Lakes selection committee, for the “countless hours she has volunteered over the past seven years preparing grant applications, meeting with town officials, and working with state agencies to implement projects to protect the lake from polluted runoff water.

The YMCA of Greater Nashua will use the $100,000 it was awarded from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to fund outreach and education efforts to build vaccine confidence among city communities that haven’t been vaccinated for Covid-19 and have not consistently received annual flu vaccines. According to a press release, the YMCA will partner with Harbor Care, which hosts regular vaccine clinics at its High Street location, to have two part-time community health workers provide vaccine education at community events in Nashua over the next year. The funds will also be used to recruit and train 13 Vaccine Ambassadors who want to help spread the word about the importance of vaccinations.

The 38th annual Gail Singer Memorial Blood Drive will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 17, and Wednesday, Aug. 18, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel at 700 Elm St. in Manchester. According to a press release, the Red Cross is experiencing an emergency need for donors, and this blood drive honors the memory of Gail Singer, who died in 1984 of leukemia.

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