For the past 58 years, the Five Colleges Book Sale has been a wonderful way to give books a new home in the Upper Valley and surrounding areas. The sale offers more than 40,000 books annually, with net proceeds from the sale benefiting New Hampshire and Vermont students attending Mount Holyoke, Simmons, Smith, Vassar and Wellesley colleges.
We are extremely pleased to announce that the 59th Five Colleges Book Sale will take place on April 18 and 19 at Lebanon High School, the sale location for the past several years. We continue to be encouraged by the support of new volunteers, and the widespread community response affirming the value of the book sale to the Upper Valley.
Donations for the sale will be accepted from March 3 through April 8. Hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Sunday from noon-4 p.m., and Wednesday evenings 4-7 p.m. as volunteers are available.
Our donation site is the same as last year, the former Sears retail location in the Upper Valley Plaza on Route 12A in West Lebanon (between CVS and Kohl’s).
Donations are tax deductible with receipts available at the donation site.
We welcome donations of gently used books, manuscripts, prints, maps, memorabilia, CDs and DVDs. We cannot accept Reader’s Digest or Time Life condensed books, ex-library books, magazines, vinyl records or VHS or cassette tapes.
For more information, visit www.five-collegesbooksale.org. Questions on any aspect of the sale may be directed to Priscilla Dube, 603-428-3311, priscilla2nh@gmail.com. We look forward to seeing you at the sale.
SARAH BIGGS
Norwich
The writer, a 2003 graduate of Smith College, is chair of the Five Colleges Book Sale.
Finally, Lyme’s long-awaited bypass for a small, closed section of River Road will be complete this summer. Recently, the Lyme Selectboard met with three abutters of this small section and agreed to a warrant article which, if passed at the March 10 Town Meeting, would gift the old, bypassed road to these three abutters.
This is a stunning idea. Many of us had assumed, of course, that the original River Road could continue to be used by the public as a path for cyclists and pedestrians.
The new bypass is not a safe alternative. It is steep, narrow and has blind curves, making hazardous any use except by motor vehicles with completely focused drivers.
In an era of rapidly growing consciousness of the importance of green, open, common spaces, it is puzzling that the Selectboard would propose gifting to a few abutting individuals a public right-of-way that the citizens of Lyme have maintained for decades with their taxes.
The discussion and vote on Article 16 at Town Meeting will be of interest to the entire Upper Valley community. For more than 100 years, Upper Valley citizens have enjoyed walking and cycling along our River Road, designated as one of the nation’s 12 “Heritage Rivers.”
Make no mistake about it. Article 16, if passed, would be a form of “enclosure.” This was done in early modern Europe, where access to the commons was ended by privatization, thereby driving newly resourceless rural folk into the dark satanic mills of Manchester and London.
We are better than that.
HOYT and MARIANNE
ALVERSON
Lyme
It’s about time that the New Hampshire Division of Motor Vehicles brought an office back to this area as it was a few years ago. It was here in Lebanon, and we didn’t have to spend several hours driving to Newport and sitting and waiting for our turn to be tested for our new license.
Please write to Gov. Chris Sununu, 107 N. Main St., Concord N.H. 03301, and see if this can be changed.
MARGARET HOWARD
Lebanon
I am writing to encourage the registered voters of Weathersfield to vote for Joey Jarvis on March 3.
Jarvis attended Weathersfield Schools and Windsor High School before graduating from Plymouth State College with a degree in music education. Not only has he resided in Weathersfield his whole life, but his roots in town run deep (as you may guess from his last name).
He recently built a home in town and he looks forward to learning about town government while serving residents as a Selectboard member.
Please vote for Joey Jarvis for a two-year term on the Weathersfield Selectboard.
LISA SLADE
Ascutney