My sister, Betty Bonneau of Canaan, recently sent me a copy of the Sunday Valley News article about restoring the cannonball statue in front of Lebanon’s Soldiers Memorial Building (“A monumental undertaking: As Upper Valley statues deteriorate, their futures remain in doubt,” Nov. 28). As I read the article, I thought I might offer a “human interest” angle on the story.
It involves my family’s stories about my father and his efforts to care for the statue known as The Infantryman in the 1960s and 1970s. There was quite a long article in the Granite State Free Press about this work, but I’m sorry to say we never preserved a copy of this tribute, and it was lost over the years. Anyway, our family remembers the story of our dad, George Corrette, and his close friend Billy Hubbard (both longtime Lebanon residents) and their efforts to repair The Infantryman after it was badly damaged. They immediately discovered that their traditional welding methods wouldn’t do the job and consulted with scientists at Dartmouth College to come up with a method to reassemble the statue. That’s the basic tale, and the Corrette kids from that day forward referred to The Infantryman as “dad’s statue.”
My dear father passed over 20 years ago, but each time I visit Lebanon I still drive around Colburn Park and pay my respects. When I was first retired, I took a Photoshop class at a local college. One of my masking projects was to add my face to another person or object. I decided to see what it might feel like to be “dad’s statue.” It was a great learning experience in so many ways. The entire project became my New Year’s card that year. And so the story goes.
Thank you for giving a piece of Lebanon history a moment in the light
KEITH CORRETTE
Denver
The members of the Thetford Conservation Commission would like to thank the many partners who collaborated with us this fall to plant 817 young trees and shrubs in the Taylor Floodplain Preserve in Post Mills.
This conserved natural area — an abandoned field and former gravel pit on the banks of the Ompompanoosuc River — is now owned by the town of Thetford thanks to the generosity of Tim and Janet Taylor of Crossroads Farm. This is the second year of a multi-year project by the Conservation Commission to restore native vegetation in the preserve.
Professional forester Ehrhard Frost designed the planting mix of silver maple, black willow, red osier dogwood, choke cherry and other native species in consultation with Kiley Briggs of the Orianne Society and Vermont botanist Brett Engstrom. Saplings and shrubs were sourced locally in Vermont and planted by hand by a crew of five from Redstart Natural Resource Management in Corinth. Abutting landowners Allan Bieber, Larry and Travis Godfrey, Mark Lansburgh, and Tim and Janet Taylor all permitted foot or vehicle access through their properties.
Grants from the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, Vermont’s Natural Resources Conservation Districts (White River District), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department, as well as funds from the Thetford Town Lands Management Fund, financed the project. These grants specifically supported plant materials, labor and invasive plant suppression in order to promote water quality in the Ompompanoosuc and wildlife habitat in and around the river.
Kylie Briggs was instrumental to the Fish and Wildlife “Watershed” grant application, as was Lisa Niccolai for the White River Natural Resources Conservation District “Trees for Streams” grant. The Vermont Fish and Wildlife funds come from the state’s conservation license plate program.
KATY MILLIGAN
Thetford
The writer is a member of the Thetford Conservation Commission.
My name is Rep. Josh Adjutant. I live on Main Street in Enfield, and I am one of the two state representatives currently serving in the New Hampshire Legislature for Enfield. Today, I am announcing my intention to seek reelection.
I’ve been honored to serve the last four years side by side with Rep. Roger Dontonville, who has served our community remarkably during his time in office. I am grateful for his mentorship. As he has decided not to seek reelection, I intend to run in his district, which covers only Enfield, instead of the floterial district, which covers all of southern Grafton County.
Every decision I’ve made in my four years in Concord has been made by considering how it would impact the common, everyday person, not just the privileged few. When I argue vigorously on the floor of the House for a good minimum wage, it’s because the working class has never done better in American history than when the great Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy raised the minimum wage to preserve the dignity of those who support our society. When I got the Housing Security Act of 2020 passed through the House and Senate, it was because I understand the difficulty that folks have affording rent and shelter in the Upper Valley, an issue made worse by the pandemic. When I introduced the Stop Corporate Welfare Act this year, it’s because I refuse to allow massive corporations to use great programs like Medicaid and Social Security like they’re an appendage to their bottom line. I worked overtime on the 2019 budget to raise the corporate profits tax, to help fund education equity in the state of New Hampshire so the kids in our poorest schools have the same education as the kids in the wealthy ones.
In these times of uncertainty, I want to return to Concord to fight for the everyday person and do my part to ensure working people don’t get left behind during the COVID-19 recovery. I am running to continue representing Enfield in the New Hampshire Legislature, and I am asking for your support in 2022.
JOSH ADJUTANT
Enfield
No Upper Valley native is a stranger to the use of road salt on our icy winter roads. We, however, are not the only species native to the region. Road salt also affects amphibian populations, and in a much more negative way than it affects us.
Due to the wet nature of northeastern winters in the U.S., runoff is inevitable when temperatures exceed freezing. When road ice melts and mixes with slush and snow nearby, it runs downhill and finds itself in freshwater bodies. In winter, this runoff contains high concentrations of salt from nearby roads.
In these freshwater bodies, especially lakes and ponds, amphibians like frogs, salamanders and newts reside. The introduction of salt into lakes and ponds constitutes a habitat disturbance: The fresh water is chemically changed. Additionally, as a result of this disturbance, native frogs are disproportionately affected compared to non-native frog species, according to researchers at Binghamton University. The presence of salt in some ponds can cause population decline and even mass migration. In a study of Nova Scotian amphibians by researchers from Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, data confirmed that salt-intolerant amphibian species are being excluded from lakes and ponds in certain run-off susceptible areas, decreasing their habitat range.
Another unexpected effect of salt pollution has to do with amphibian reproduction. According to one study by Yale and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the sex ratios of frog species in salted lakes changed, with the proportion of females reduced by 10% when exposed to road salt, “suggesting that the salt has a masculinizing effect.”
These are only some of the effects we could see this winter and into the coming spring when amphibians use freshwater bodies for breeding. Will we see changes in frog and salamander populations in the Upper Valley next year? If the use of road salt this winter is anything like it has been previously, the only possible answer is yes.
KAELI BENNETT
Windsor
Imagine: The federal National Highway Traffic Safety Administration puts out a warning on a widespread problem with ball bearings in U.S. cars, causing axles to fail. A recall is announced by government, and it takes 15 minutes to replace the bearing with a new, rapid repair technique. You receive messages from your dealer and the government that they will replace the bearings for free. You don’t hear of any problems from your friends, and the videos and channels you watch claim this is overblown. You read that problems occur with replacement bearings, you don’t have time to bring the car in, and wonder if mechanics are colluding just to make money. Your auto club promotes freedom of owner-drivers to make their own decisions, and decries consideration to patrol vehicles. People are saying that spraying WD-40 on the axle is the most effective fix. You believe you have done your research.
Soon you’re driving down the highway and cars fill the breakdown lane, with drivers kicking the wheels. Vehicles careen into other cars and occasionally swerve off the road into the woods. In the back of your mind, you think maybe you should bring the car in, but you just don’t know where or have the time. And what would the auto club think?
Yes, this is fictional, and a car is not a person. However, people promote equally fictional reasons to reject wearing masks in school or indoor public spaces or to avoid receiving a vaccine. In reality, our hospitals are filled with COVID-19 patients, delaying elective surgeries and impairing care for other serious illness. I hear the fictional rationale of people who will shortly fill those beds.
It makes sense for all of us to pause, reconsider and assess the perspectives we hold, especially when it effects the health of others and the people we love. In the face of this real pandemic, with real consequences, please get fully vaccinated. Who knows what omicron will bring, but the delta variant is currently flipping people’s lives, if not their cars, left and right.
KENNETH DOLKART
Grantham