WMWV – 93.5

A part of Forest Brook that is now protected as a part of the newly acquired 77 acres of land in Madison ~ Photo courtesy of The Upper Saco Valley Land Trust

MADISON, NH – The Upper Saco Valley Land Trust got the gift of 77 acres in Madison this holiday season. The property is located on Glines Hill and Bickford Roads, both designated as scenic roads by the Town of Madison, and includes thousands of feet of natural, undeveloped road frontage for the scenic enjoyment of anyone traveling these roads.

At the headwaters of Forest Brook and within the town’s Groundwater Protection District, the property is now permanently protected from development, which might otherwise downgrade the water quality of the Forest Brook watershed.

Bob and Priscilla Dannies are no strangers to the Land Trust or land conservation. They have previously donated conservation easements to the Land Trust protecting over 100 nearby acres on Glines Hill Road in Madison and Eaton.

“We have enjoyed hiking in NH for many, many years and are happy to do our part to protect the scenic beauty of this area” said Bob and Priscilla. “We truly appreciate all that the Land Trust has done over the years to protect this area as well.”

“We are extremely grateful to the landowners for working with the Land Trust once again to protect this important natural resource” said the Land Trust’s president, Doug Burnell.  “We hope this donation serves as a catalyst for additional land conservation in the watershed of Forest Brook.”

The Upper Saco Valley Land Trust is a non-profit organization that works with  local landowners to permanently protect the lands and waters in the upper Saco Valley area.  Founded as a grassroots initiative in September 2000, the Land Trust preserves land for community benefit in the watershed of the upper Saco River in the towns of Bartlett, Hart’s Location, Jackson, Conway, Albany, Madison, Chatham, and Eaton in New Hampshire and Fryeburg, Brownfield, and Denmark in Maine.

The Land Trust’s goal is to promote a healthy, sustainable balance between developed lands, natural lands and productive rural landscapes. Together with partnership projects, the Land Trust has completed 62 land conservation projects and protected over 11,400 acres throughout its service area. For more information about the organization, visit www.usvlt.org or call (603) 356-9683.

Photo courtesy of icecastles.com

LINCOLN, NH (AP) – Hand-crafted ice castle sculptures are nearly ready for viewing in Lincoln, New Hampshire. The target opening date is early January and it will be the fourth year that the town has had the sculptures, complete with tunnels, slides, thrones and cool lighting.

It’s one of five ice sculptures being built by the Ice Castles company. The others are in Utah; Colorado; Minnesota; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and Alberta.

Thousands of icicles are placed onto existing ice formations before getting sprayed with water. The castles also include art that is made up of 25 million pounds of ice spiraling to heights around 40 feet. The ice is embedded with color-changing LED lights set to a musical soundtrack. The castles usually melt in March.

For more information and to purchase tickets go to Icecastles.com/lincoln

CONCORD, NH – There will not be an increase in toll prices in New Hampshire. Governor Chris Sununu announced that he will not allow the toll increase that the Department of Transportation had proposed.

In New Hampshire the governor controls what items appear on the agenda of Executive Council meetings, and he also has the power to negate a council vote.

The proposal would have raised an estimated $37 million annually by increasing toll amounts statewide.

It was originally set to be voted on by the Executive council earlier this month. However at the request of the DOT the vote was postponed till January to allow for public comments on the issue.

The Governor said in a statement “After hearing from citizens across the state, reviewing feedback from the public comment sessions, and conferring with members of the Executive Council following yesterday’s final GACIT hearing, my position has not changed. Had the Council ultimately voted in favor of toll increases, I would have negated their vote. Dragging this process out is not productive. As such, I will not allow this toll increase to move forward. I was sent to Concord to fight for the working men and women of New Hampshire, and that is what I am doing. Merry Christmas”

The Governor also created the hashtag nocoalnotolls on his facebook page.

Chief Josh Potvin and Sergeant Heidi Johnston presented an unsuspecting citizen with gift cards. The driver showed his appreciation to the Chief and Sergeant with a hug.~ Photo courtesy of Fryeburg Police

FRYEBURG, MAINE – Fryeburg Police Officers have been issuing holiday spirit instead of citations. Most of the time when someone gets pulled over the last thing they want to do is hug the officer, however that wasn’t the case in Fryeburg this week. As unsuspecting drivers were pulled over they ended up receiving gift certificates instead of tickets.

The gift certificates, which included signed messages from full time officers, were donated by local businesses in support of the Police Departments goal of giving back during the holiday season.

Fryeburg Police Chief Joshua Potvin said that the traffic stops were for minor traffic violations and it is up to the officer’s discretion whether to give a gift.

Chief Potvin said “First reactions so far have been pretty emotional. Most drivers have either asked if they can have a hug or just say they just want to hug us and do it. This is what community policing is all about.”  adding ““We wanted to do something during this holiday season to give back to our citizens.” 

One recipient of the holiday treat was so overwhelmed with joy that he can be seen giving Chief Josh Potvin and Sergeant Heidi Johnston a hug on body cam footage.

The recipient later commentedt on the Fryeburg police Facebook page saying aid “I am still speechless by the random act of kindness from the Fryeburg Police Department today. I appreciate all that you do to keep us safe. Thank you again, not only for the card, but also helping restore my faith in humanity.”

Click to check out the body camera and cruiser footage of the drivers surprise.

Memorial Hospital was among a select group of hospitals nationwide recognized for promoting enrollment in state organ donor registries in a national campaign sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

NORTH CONWAY, NH – Memorial Hospital was among a select group of hospitals nationwide recognized for promoting enrollment in state organ donor registries in a national campaign sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The campaign has added more than 400,000 donor enrollments to state registries nationwide.

Memorial Hospital conducted awareness and registry campaigns to educate staff, patients, visitors, and community members about the critical need for organ, eye, and tissue donors and, by doing so, increased the number of potential donors on the state’s donor registry. The hospital earned points for each activity implemented between October 2016 and April 2017 and was awarded Bronze Recognition through the HRSA Workplace Partnership for Life Hospital Campaign.

Of the 1,102 hospitals and transplant centers participating in the campaign 218 bronze awards were awarded during this phase of the campaign.
 

See the full list of recognized hospitals here.

Ethnee Garner, Vice President of Patient Care Services at Memorial emphasized the importance of the coordination between Memorial’s Nursing Coordinators and  New England Donor Services.

Garner stated, “This award recognizes the responsibility of our Nursing Coordinators, Will Owen, Marta Ramsey, Doug Darrah, Linda Roberts, Michael Poirer, Devin Copsey, and Jay Laflamme, to report all deaths in a timely manner to the New England Donor Services (NEDS). In the chaos that usually ensues after an unexpected death, the requirement is to report within one hour. The Nursing Coordinator also has to be able to answer the many questions the NEDS requires in order to make a decision. It should be noted that staff at Memorial never approach the family about organ donation; that is the responsibility of appropriately trained NEDS staff. The implications of donations of tissue, skin, bone, and corneas is far reaching. One donor can impact up to 160 patients”.

This campaign is a special effort of HRSA’s Workplace Partnership for Life to mobilize the nation’s hospitals to increase the number of people in the country who are registered organ, eye, and tissue donors and ultimately, the number of organs available for transplant. The campaign unites donation advocates at hospitals with representatives from their local organ procurement organizations, Donate Life America affiliates, and state and regional hospital associations. Working together, the teams leverage their communications resources and outreach efforts to most effectively spread word of the critical need for donors.

For more information on organ donation, visit www.organdonor.gov.

Story Contributed by Kathy Bennett, Vice President – Community Relations & Development at Memorial Hospital