DTC sponsored the annual Exeter Elementary Schools’ PTO “Get Fit in May 5K Race and Fun Run” on Saturday May 18, 2013. It was a gorgeous, sunny day, and hundreds of runners and their families converged on Lincoln Street School for the annual road race. Attorneys Beth MacDonald (left) and Kate Miller (right) participated in the 5K race. Also running were Kate’s two daughters, Roz Jones, 17 and Marisa Jones, 14, who placed third in her age group.

DTC has a long history of support for the Exeter Elementary Schools. Attorney Charlie Tucker’s wife Jean Tucker, who is an educator specializing in teaching basic spoken and written language skills, has served on the Exeter Elementary School Board for many years. Attorneys Bob Derosier and Kate Miller also served on that School Board in the past. Funds raised at the PTO’s race are used to support educational enrichment programs coordinated with the curriculum in the Exeter Elementary Schools. Learn more at http://www.exeterelementarypto.org/

Beth MacDonald, Vice Chair of the Exeter Area Chamber of Commerce, presents Dan Chartrand owner of the Water Street Bookstore a certificate of appreciation from the Chamber for his 20+ years of loyal membership in and contributions to the Chamber.

Attorney Justin Pasay has just returned from two weeks of active duty in the United States Navy.  Attorney Pasay is a reserve Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy JAG Corps and served two weeks at the Region Legal Service Office Mid-Atlantic, Branch Office, Newport, Rhode Island.  While on active duty, Attorney Pasay served the legal needs of Sailors, Marines, Soldiers and Coast Guardsmen.

On May 4, Attorney Denise Poulos participated in the 4^th Annual 9k Road Race at Fenway Park in support of the Red Sox Foundation/Home Base Program. In addition to funding research at Massachusetts General Hospital, the Home Base Program offers New England veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and their families, medical care, therapy and support as needed on a cost free basis for help with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injuries, to help them overcome the effects of these invisible wounds of war.   Denise reports, “It was an honor to participate in the race, to help the men and women who have served us so valiantly”.

The Jimmy Fund has partnered with Coinstar to fundraise for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.  DTC staff and attorneys donated their spare change and collected $84.42.

Coinstar and its “Coins that Count” program are helping to support lifesaving research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.  You too can help the Jimmy Fund and donate your spare change today.  Visit a Coinstar machine to donate to the Jimmy Fund or a charity of your choice.

For more information and to learn more about Coinstar visit https://www.coinstar.com/donatecoins

On Saturday, March 2, 2013, Attorney Jessica Ecker and her husband Sonny, along with a number of other members of Seacoast Kiwanis club and UNH Key Club volunteered their Saturday evening to make and serve concessions at the UNH/UMass Hockey Game. The hard work put in by the volunteers makes money for the club in the form of a portion of the concessions sold and 100% of any hard-earned tips. Those dollars turn into scholarships for local well-deserving children, as well as contributions to other organizations in need such as The Salvation Army, NH Special Olympics, NH SPCA, Seacoast Family YMCA, Pease Greeters, Maine Children’s Cancer, Camp Sunshine, and NH Public TV. The night ended on a high note as UNH shut out UMass 4-0!

Katherine B. Miller, Esq., is stepping down in March 2013 when her term on the Exeter Regional Cooperative (“Coop”) School District Board ends. “I have served for eight years on school boards: six years on the Exeter Elementary School Board and three years on the Coop Board. They have been wonderful years, and I have the highest respect for my fellow Board members and the administrators who run our schools, but it is time to retire from that service,” she says.

For astute individuals who do the math, six and three add up to nine years of school board service, not eight. Responds Kate: “For one year, I served on both Boards. That was a lot of night meetings!” Kate has been involved in the hiring of the current Superintendent, Michael Morgan, the Main Street School Principal, Steven Adler, the principal of the Cooperative Middle School, William Furbush, and, most recently, the new principal at Exeter High School, Sean Kiley. Speaking of those hires, Kate comments, “I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished in SAU 16 over the past eight years. I firmly believe that we have, overall, the strongest team of administrators since I became involved with the schools, when my oldest child began second grade. He is now a junior in college! We are fortunate as a community to have excellent schools and dedicated administrators, teachers and staff. By the same token, these educators are blessed to work in districts that support these schools. In the end, the children are the winners, and so are we. Our local economy will grow stronger, the more effectively we educate our youth.”

As to why she is stepping down, Kate responds: “My term on the Coop Board ends in March. Because of work obligations in the evenings with non-profit boards and municipal select boards and city councils, I am finding it challenging to make time for the demanding schedule of school board meetings. I also have two teenaged daughters at home, and it is important to be there, too.

Although she is not seeking reelection to the Coop School Board, Kate is not retiring from elected office altogether. She is seeking election as Moderator of the Coop School District, a position held for fifteen years by DTC partner, Charlie Tucker. Says Kate, “I would like to continue to contribute to our community and to our excellent schools. As Moderator, I would preside over the deliberative session of the Coop School District Meeting each February and the balloting session each March. If elected, I pledge to do my best to run these meetings in a fair manner, following the excellent record Charlie left after fifteen years.”

Charles Tucker Will Not Seek Re-election after 24 years as Exeter Town Moderator and 15 years as Moderator of the Exeter Region Cooperative School District.

Here are a few words from Charlie on his experiences:

“I have thoroughly enjoyed this civic endeavor. When I began, we were operating under the traditional form of Town Meeting, where all was done at one long Saturday session, or, sometimes, several evenings in a row.

We then transformed into the SB 2 form of local government, and we adjusted. During this time we went from the old lever action mechanical voting machines, to paper ballots read by hand for one year, to paper ballots read by machine.

If I did a good job, I owe it largely to Everett Holland, who was the Town Moderator before me, and who I watched at Town Meetings from 1972 until his retirement. He ran a very efficient and fair Town Meeting, and was a great teacher by example. He gave me a 1915 copy of Robert’s Rules of Order, which has been passed on from Moderator to Moderator, upon my election, with the advice to never open it! He said that two rules were enough: only one amendment on the floor at a time, and, be as fair as you can be.

As important, and as enjoyable, is the Moderator’s role in “running” the voting process for every election. Fortunately I had Linda Hartson, and now Andrea Kohler, as Exeter Town Clerks, who both very efficiently organized the election process. I was more of a figurehead, than a director, of what went on, but wore my best dark suit so as to project some semblance of authority when our procedures were questioned by the voters – one citizen sincerely believed that our vote counting machines could be manipulated by evil people using electronic devices from the parking lot, for example, and, at the primaries the lack of education in civics was always apparent among registered Republicans who wanted to vote in the Democratic primary, and vice versa. Calming them down was my job.

The biggest, and most memorable, meeting was my first meeting as Moderator of the Exeter Region Cooperative School District where the main issue was voting to build the Cooperative Middle School, in Stratham. The meeting was held in the PEA field house, as the biggest room in town at the time, and there were over 2000 citizens, plus teachers, students, and others, in attendance. The meeting went very well, and the vote, although close, was over the 2/3 majority needed to pass, and the school is now a reality.

I will certainly assist my successors in any way I can, and will miss doing this civic duty. I hope to continue to serve Exeter in lesser roles in years to come.”

Attorney Chris Boldt and his wife Carolyn will perform with the Sandwich Singers at two Christmas concerts this year: Sunday December 16 at the Methodist Meeting House in Center Sandwich and Wednesday December 19 at the Tamworth Congregational Church. Both concerts will be at 7:30 p.m. and are free, though contributions are gratefully accepted.

The Singers are co-directed by Peggy Johnson and Allan DiBiase, who have been doing so for the past twelve years. The group has existed primarily for Christmas music for well over thirty years, since being formed by local legend, Bob Bates. This year’s program includes music from American and European traditions, and a commission based on a Celtic tune, the Welsh Gower Wassail.

Johnson is music director at the Melvin Village Community Church. She was co-director of the Singers with Bates for several years before his death, and was a singer in the group before that. She also works at the Cook Memorial Library in Tamworth, writes and paints.

DiBiase has worked at Franklin Pierce College and Plymouth State University, both as an associate professor of philosophy, whose special interest is the philosophy of education, and as an accompanist to others working in the music department. He is an avid hiker and photographer, well known for holding his classes along local trails.

Both of the directors are associated with the Yeoman’s Fund for the Arts, which has commissioned the Gower Wassail. In many areas of old Britain, it was the custom in rural districts to sing the Wassail song outside the homes of neighbors. The custom is probably Saxon, as “Wassail” would seem to be a contraction of “wes” (be) and “hal,” (whole), therefore “be well.” The newly commissioned Gower Wassail is based on a song that the singer Phil Tanner learned from his father and grandfather, both weavers. Diddling, or “lilting” seems to have been a Celtic custom. When there were no instrumentalists available, a person who could “diddle”, or make “mouth music” could substitute and “play” the dance. Tanner said he learned to do this when a fiddler died and left no one to play his songs, which Tanner had memorized. You can hear the excellent Phil Tanner recording of the Gower Wassail on YouTube. Prior to Tanner making the recording the tune had not been written down in music notation.

The seven verse setting of the Gower Wassail commissioned for the Sandwich Singers by the Yeoman’s Fund for the Arts was coordinated by head composer Jonathan Santore, Chair of the Plymouth State University Department of Music, Theatre and Dance. Hannah Chambers, Brad Dumont, Kyle Quirion, and Eben Brown, all students in Dr. Santore’s advanced music composition class have contributed verses to the piece. The commissions began years ago as unison descants to traditional holiday carols. But gradually over the years more ambitious projects have been created. The Gower Wassail is written for mixed chorus, children’s chorus, French horn, soprano sax and piano. The hornist is Ron Wold of Wonalancet, the saxophonist is Kyle Quirion. The children are students at K.A. Brett in Tamworth and Sandwich Central School.  For more information, please go to http://artstamworth.org/.