New trails in Belmonta food and fundrais-ing drive held outside the store last weekend, which was organized by both the Tilton Po-lice Department and the volunteers from “Every Child

SERVING TILTON, NORTHFIELD, BELMONT & SANBORNTON, N.H. FREE

INDEXn

Volume 8 • Number 1720 Pages in 2 Section

©2016, Salmon Press, LLC.Call us at (603) 279-4516

email: [email protected]

Editorial Page ..................A4

North Country Notebook A5

Schools ............................A9

Culture .............................A5

Obituaries ........................A6

THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016

Veterans' Home salutes volunteers who make a difference in residents' lives

BY DONNA RHODES

[email protected]

TILTON — The staff and residents of New Hampshire Veterans’ Home paused to salute the many volunteers who help in programs and activities at the res-idential health care fa-cility to let them know how much their selfless contributions are appre-ciated.

Lisa Punderson is the Volunteer Coordi-nator who told those in attendance last Wednes-day afternoon that her 25 years at NHVH have been joyful, due to the wonderful volunteers she gets to work with who make her job easy through their participa-tion.

In her thanks she re-

Donna RhoDes

Don and Carol Hankard of Hebron were two of the many volunteers from around the state who were applauded for their service to residents of New Hampshire Veterans’ Home during a special luncheon last week.minded them all of how much their contribu-tions mean to the resi-dents and how much it

has meant to the facility as a whole.

“In the last year, vol-unteers logged 4,289

hours here,” she said, “and on one day alone (the annual Cruise Night) there were 178

hours given to our resi-dents.”

Doing the math, she said that, based on the average value of vol-unteerism of $23.07 per hour, that meant the 90 volunteers current-ly serving NHVH have contributed a value of $113,712 in 2015.

“It’s not about dol-lars and cents though. Our volunteers’ value is priceless and immea-surable, and each and every one of you is im-portant in keeping the New Hampshire Veter-ans’ Home going,” said Punderson.

Commandant Marga-ret LaBrecque echoed Punderson’s statements by adding, “Our lives are greatly enhanced by having you here. Thank you!”

Franklin resident Ida Harris is one of the longest volunteers at NHVH, having dedicat-ed the last 27 years to serving veterans. She said she has participat-ed in a number of capac-ities, including greeting visitors at the front desk and assisting in many office duties.

Ralph Appleby is a veteran hinslef and a member of Air Force

Sergeants Chapter 155. For 14 years he has made monthly trips from Rochester to stock the Sunshine Cart with contributions from his organization.

“We bring up all kinds of personal hy-giene products for the veterans and stock the cart for them,” he said.

Of special mention by NHVH staff mem-bers were Don and Car-ol Hankard of Hebron who have devoted them-selves to the men and women living on the de-mentia unit.

The Hankards, they said, have been a contin-ual presence at the vet-erans’ home every Tues-day for the past 10 years.

Don Hankard is a retired police officer, whose son Steve is the Chief of Police in San-bornton, and Carol is a retired nurse.

The couple said they couldn’t think of any-thing better to do in their retirement than help those who gave so much to the nation.

“We grew up in a very patriotic time, and have a great deal of respect for our veterans. We’ve lost several of them over

New trails in BelmontBELMONT — Learn

how you can get involved in two new town trails in Belmont. If you enjoy walking or bicycling, Belmont's Lake Winnis-quam Scenic Trail and the Village Rail Spur Trail offer great op-tions to explore by this summer. Come to the Belmont Trail meeting for an update on Thurs-day, April 21 at 6:30 p.m. in the Corner Meeting House located at 16 Sar-gent Street. Trail Chair-man Ron Mitchell said, “We are completing the Lake Winnisquam Trail in June and a covered bridge is already in place for a trail near the Bel-mont Mill. It is a good time for folks to join in as we plan to open these exciting new trails.”

The Lake Winnis-quam Scenic Trail will

connect to Phase 2 of Laconia's WOW Trail. When completed the “Winni” Trail and WOW Trail will provide 5 miles of continuous paved pedestrian and bicycle trail for Lakes Region residents and visitors. Work on Phase 2 of the

WOW Trail is planned later this summer. Close to town center, the Vil-lage Rail Spur Trail is a Belmont Conservation Commission project.

The Belmont Recre-ation Trail Committee welcomes your ideas and is looking for volunteers

for these project. For a map of the Winni Trail and more information, you can track what's happening on Facebook at https://www.face-book.com/winni.trail.7

For more informa-tion, call 527-9339 or 414-258-3287.

Tilton police chief awards officers for a job well done

BY DONNA RHODES

[email protected]

TILTON — Police Chief Robert Cormier said it is not often that he gets to publicly thank members of his depart-ment for all they do each and every day, but last

Thursday night, he took the opportunity to ac-knowledge a few of them at the Tilton Selectmen’s meeting for some out-standing actions over the past year.

On April 17, 2015, he said officers responded

Donna RhoDes

Cpl. Steven Henry of the Tilton Police Department (left) was presented with a special award for his actions, which helped save the life of a pedestrian struck by a car last month on Route 3. It was one of several awards and recognitions presented by Chief Robert Cormier (right) during the Tilton Selectmen’s meeting last Thursday evening.

to Kohl’s department store for a fraud investi-gation, involving the dis-tribution of fake checks. Working with detectives from TPD it was deter-mined that the checks were indeed counterfeit travelers checks and the suspects, reported to be from New York, had committed similar crimes in other cities.

“Officers (Mathew) Dawson, (Abe) Gilman, Cpl. (Steven) Henry, Det. Cpl. (Nathan) Buffington and Detective (Bryan) Kydd-Keeler all put their investigation skills and experience together and

began a very involved investigation to prepare for federal indictments,” said Cormier. “This case resulted in a very suc-cessful federal prosecu-tion, and one recognized by the U.S Attorney's Office and the Federal Courts System as an ex-emplary case that other agencies should use as a template on how to pros-ecute similar Organized Retail Crime cases.”

Kydd-Keeler, who has only been a police officer for a few years, was giv-en special recognition for his assistance and was praised by Cormier

for understanding the scope of the case and working well with the

Walmart shoppers show support for children in need

BY DONNA RHODES

[email protected]

TILTON — Shoppers at Walmart in Tilton showed overwhelming support for local chil-dren in need through a food and fundrais-

ing drive held outside the store last weekend, which was organized by both the Tilton Po-lice Department and the volunteers from “Every Child Is Ours.”

“Every Child is

Ours” is a worldwide nonprofit organization whose goal is to provide for children in need. Union-Sanborn School, Southwick School and now Winnisquam Mid-

SEE SHOPPERS, PAGE A8

SEE AWARDS, PAGE A8

SEE VOLUNTEERS, PAGE A8

Documents

New trails in Belmonta food and fundrais-ing drive held outside the store last weekend, which was organized by both the Tilton Po-lice Department and the volunteers from “Every Child