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- Written by Patrick R. McElhiney
- Category: Articles
Joel Sherburne is very well-known in Barrington, New Hampshire and in other communities for being the guy that has cut the cheese at Calef’s Famous Country Store for over 60 years now, but he’s a lot more than that. Joel is also the President of the Barrington Historical Society, Ambassador and Announcer for the Rochester Fair, the Founder and Ambassador for the New Hampshire Lighthouse Week, and has been the Barrington Citizen of the Year before, awarded by the Greater Barrington Chamber of Commerce. We all know Joel, and we all know about all the great work that he does in this community. Joel connects all of us to one thought, and that is giving.
Joel has given his entire life to making Barrington, New Hampshire a better place. Recently, he presented two checks from proceeds from the Barrington Variety Show to the American Legion Post 114, and the Barrington Community Food Pantry.
As the chair of the Barrington Do-Gooders Committee, Joel has organized and hosted the annual Barrington Variety Show now for many years, and for each of those years, he’s split the proceeds from the event down the middle for the American Legion Post 114 and the Barrington Community Food Pantry, providing assistance to veterans and families in need that live in Barrington.
Joel is a very respected person, who volunteers his time at the Barrington Historical Society, keeping the history of Barrington in its records and photographs in pristine condition. This is someone who ultimately loves Barrington as a lifelong resident and employee at our most famous Calef’s Country Store.
As you’re all preparing for the New Year with friends and family, I want you to remember how lucky we are to have Joel in the community – someone who has spent his entire life waiting on us, taking our orders, and contributing to the greater Barrington community.
The next time you see Joel, be sure to tell him how much he means to all of us. So, from all of us at Barrington Town News, we’ve picked Joel Sherburne to be our Resident of the Year for 2019. With this award comes all of the fame and benefits of being cherished by the community he has served for over 60 years. So head on down to Calef’s Country Store to wish Joel a Happy New Year, and to pick up some of that Famous Calef’s Snappy Old Cheese – when every bite tastes just right.
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- Written by Patrick R. McElhiney
- Category: Articles
New Hampshire Local Area Unemployment Statistics
Highlights – November 2019 Estimates
(Note: Rates are not seasonally adjusted)
- The November 2019 not seasonally adjusted State unemployment rate was 2.3 percent. This was unchanged from the October rate. The November 2018 rate was 2.2 percent.
- New Hampshire’s November 2019 not seasonally adjusted labor force estimates show 12,230 more employed and 1,250 more unemployed than in November 2018 for a year-to-year net gain in the labor force of 13,480.
Eighteen areas recorded rates below the statewide not seasonally adjusted average of 2.3 percent:
- Concord NH Micropolitan New England City and Town Area – 1.9 percent
- New Hampshire portion of the Lebanon NH-VT Micropolitan New England City and Town Area – 1.9 percent
- Charlestown NH Labor Market Area – 2.0 percent
- Haverhill NH Labor Market Area – 2.0 percent
- New Hampshire portion of the Littleton NH-VT Labor Market Area – 2.0 percent
- Belmont NH Labor Market Area – 2.1 percent
- New Hampshire portion of the Conway NH-ME Labor Market Area – 2.1 percent
- New Hampshire portion of the Dover-Durham NH-ME Metropolitan New England City and Town Area – 2.1 percent
- Newport NH Labor Market Area – 2.1 percent
- Plymouth NH Labor Market Area – 2.1 percent
- New Hampshire portion of the Portsmouth NH-ME Metropolitan New England City and Town Area – 2.1 percent
- Claremont, NH Micropolitan New England City, and Town Area – 2.2 percent
- Franklin NH Labor Market Area – 2.2 percent
- Keene NH Micropolitan New England City and Town Area – 2.2 percent
- Manchester NH Metropolitan New England City and Town Area – 2.2 percent
- Meredith NH Labor Market Area – 2.2 percent
- New London NH Labor Market Area – 2.2 percent
- Raymond NH Labor Market Area – 2.2 percent
Eight areas recorded rates at or above the statewide not seasonally adjusted average of 2.3 percent:
- Peterborough NH Labor Market Area – 2.3 percent
- New Hampshire portion of the Colebrook NH-VT Labor Market Area – 2.4 percent
- Hillsborough NH Labor Market Area – 2.4 percent
- Laconia NH Micropolitan New England City and Town Area – 2.4 percent
- New Hampshire portion of the Nashua NH-MA New England City and Town Area Division – 2.5 percent
- Wolfeboro NH Labor Market Area – 2.5 percent
- New Hampshire portion of the Haverhill-Newburyport-Amesbury MA-NH New England City and Town Area Division – 2.7 percent
- Berlin NH Micropolitan New England City and Town Area – 3.1 percent
The New Hampshire portion of three interstate labor market areas contain only one town:
- New Hampshire portion of the Brattleboro VT-NH Labor Market Area (Hinsdale town) – 2.9 percent
- New Hampshire portion of the Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford MA-NH New England City and Town Area Division (Pelham town) – 3.0 percent
- New Hampshire portion of the Lawrence-Methuen-Salem MA-NH New England City and Town Area Division (Salem town) – 3.0 percent
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- Written by Patrick R. McElhiney
- Category: Articles
DURHAM, N.H. – Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have reported the first structural model for a key enzyme, and its activating protein, that can play a role in some genetically inherited eye diseases like retinitis pigmentosa and night blindness.
“There has been substantial research on the biochemical the pathway involving this enzyme, known as PDE6, but defining atomic-level models is important for locating PDE6 mutations in order to understand why they cause disease and how we can develop new therapeutic interventions to manage retinal diseases,” said Rick Cote, director of Center of Integrated Biomedical and Bioengineering Research and principal investigator on the study.
Vision starts in the photoreceptor cells of the retina which contains rods, responsible for low light vision, and cones, which are active in brighter light and capable of color vision. When light is absorbed by the rods and cones, it triggers a pathway which activates the enzyme phosphodiesterase 6, or PDE6. This generates a nerve impulse to the brain that ultimately results in visual perception. Some genetically inherited eye diseases are caused by mutations to PDE6, or its activating protein, transducin, that can lead to disruptions of normal vision or even total blindness.
In the study, recently published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, researchers reported how they were able to use chemical cross-linking combined with mass spectrometric analysis to resolve the structure of PDE6 in its nonactivated and transducin-activated states. This approach permitted visualization of flexible regions of individual PDE6 catalytic and inhibitory subunits that were poorly resolved in previous work as well as the overall molecular architecture of the activated protein complex.
“Determining the structure of these visual signaling proteins has always been a challenge because of their complexity,” said Michael Irwin, doctoral student in biochemistry and lead author. “Having detailed structural information about how PDE6 is activated by transducin will help us understand the molecular causes of visual disorders and blinding diseases resulting from mutations in these proteins.”
Current medical treatment for such genetically inherited retinal diseases may include gene therapy or drugs meant to inhibit the disease process. However, they are not always successful in restoring the balance of PDE6 and preventing blindness. Scientists believe that knowing the molecular structures of these visual signaling proteins and how they interact with each other can offer clues for the development of new drugs to restore vision and prevent blindness.
The research was funded by the National Eye Institute, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Science Foundation, and the UNH Research Office.
The University of New Hampshire inspires innovation and transforms lives in our state, nation, and world. More than 16,000 students from all 50 states and 71 countries engage with an award-winning faculty in top-ranked programs in business, engineering, law, health and human services, liberal arts and the sciences across more than 200 programs of study. As one of the nation’s highest-performing research universities, UNH partners with NASA, NOAA, NSF and NIH, and receives more than $110 million in competitive external funding every year to further explore and define the frontiers of land, sea and space.
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- Written by Patrick R. McElhiney
- Category: Articles
Kat Roedell’s Chocolate Cherry Pound Cake
Ingredients:
- 1 Box Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
- 3 Eggs
- ½ Cup Vegetable Oil
- 1 Box Fudge Pudding
- 1 Small Jar Maraschino Cherries (reserve liquid)
- 1 Bag Semisweet Chocolate Chips
- Less than 1 ¼ cup of Black Coffee
Directions:
- Heat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit for shiny metal or glass pan, or 325 degrees Fahrenheit for a dark or nonstick pan.
- Grease bottom only of 13” x 9” pan, or the bottom and sides of any other types of pan.
- Instead of the water that the cake mix calls for, use the juice from the jar of Maraschino Cherries in a measuring cup. Fill the rest of the measuring cup up to 1 ¼ cups with coffee. Mix the two liquids together.
- Mix the cake mix, the cherry juice and coffee, oil, and eggs in a large bowl with mixer on medium speed or beat vigorously by hand for 2 minutes. Then fold in cherries and chocolate chips. Finally, pour the mix into the pan.
- Bake as directed below, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan. Cool completely before frosting.
- For a 13” x 9” pan, bake for 30-35 minutes. For two 8” Rounds, bake for 30-35 minutes. For two 9” Rounds, bake for 25-30 minutes. For a Bundt pan, cook for 40-45 minutes. For cupcakes (makes 24), bake for 14-19 minutes.
- If using a dark or nonstick pan, bake 3-5 minutes longer than times above.
Grandma McElhiney’s Corn Chowder Recipe
Ingredients:
- A 1-pound package of Leidy’s Maple cured bacon.
- 1 medium-sized onion.
- 1 Green Pepper
- 8 Medium-sized Potatoes
- 3 Cans of Cream Corn
- Milk
Directions:
- Use a whole pound of Leidy's Maple cured bacon. Cut the package in half, and then cut the strips up into small pieces. Place bacon pieces into very large pan - 2+ gallon size.
- Turn on medium heat. Use a large strainer spoon. Stir the bacon a lot to keep it from sticking to the pan.
- Cut up half of the medium-sized onion. Take the skin of the onion off, throw away the skin. Create about 1 cup of cut-up onion.
- Cut up one whole green bell pepper - throw away the inside with seeds.
- Bacon should be cooked within the time that it takes to cut up the onion and bell pepper.
- Add onion to cook.
- After a few minutes, add bell pepper.
- Continue stirring every few minutes.
- Remove potato peals from approximately 8 medium-sized potatoes. Cut up potatoes into small pieces. Add cut up potatoes in batches when cut up is completed. If the potato has a brown spot(s), cut out and salvage good parts of potato.
- Potatoes will turn glossy to absorb oil.
- Scrape along bottom & edge with a spatula with wooden handle to get off anything stuck on the pan.
- Put a cover on to steam potatoes, to help work faster.
- 10-15 minutes total to cook potatoes.
- Add 3 cans of cream corn. Store brand, i.e. Market Basket. Allow cooking.
- Add Milk - Whole Milk for creamy. Don't fill all the way to the top of the pan. Don't overdo with the milk - allow the soup to thicken up. You can always add more milk later.
For more recipes from both sides of Patrick McElhiney’s family, visit his personal website, where he has uploaded more recipes:
http://www.patrickmcelhiney.com/pm.php/en/personal/family/recipes
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- Written by Patrick R. McElhiney
- Category: Articles
Several Barrington residents have complained to us that the Town of Barrington isn’t properly notifying its taxpayers about upcoming meetings and the contents of those meetings in advance. Certainly, the Town has an events calendar on its website that lists upcoming events, but we’ve found that it doesn’t actually list all of the upcoming events – for an instance, it doesn’t list the Select Board meetings that have been scheduled for February, March, and April of 2020. We’ve included these meetings in the event calendar in our Print Edition of our newspaper, that we distributed to four locations in town this week – First Seacoast Bank, Barrington Public Library, Millo’s Pizza and Grill, and Kozy’s Pizza. We have also added the Town events that the Town isn’t listing yet to our own event calendar.
The Town also isn’t including agendas in upcoming meetings on its website, so, for instance, the Select Board meeting on January 6th, 2020 has no further information about what will be discussed at the meeting in the event calendar on the Town’s website. The Town has the capability to include an agenda and other documents that pertain to the meeting in their events calendar, but they simply aren’t, so taxpayers won’t know what will be discussed at upcoming meetings unless they are in direct contact with the Town in advance, which most taxpayers work full-time jobs and have families to feed – they need the Town to do its due diligence and post the information to its website.
We’ve also had a problem with getting notifications from the Town, through its notifications subscription service. Town Administrator Conner MacIver said that there is currently an IT problem with the Town’s website that the subscription service does not work, and the Town is waiting for CivicPlus, the company that designed the website, to respond and fix the problem. It’s been about a month so far, and it’s still not fixed. Barrington Town News would like to be updated every time the Town modifies something on its website, however, currently, we do not have this privilege. We could be providing the community with so much more news about the Town, however if we don’t get notified about the Town’s activities, we can’t follow-up on them.
Small town newspapers serve the purpose of keeping their local governments in check, and that is exactly what we are doing. If we see or hear about something that isn’t quite right, we’re going to publish it online so that the entire community can learn about it. We hope that the Town of Barrington will improve its transparency and openness in the future. We don’t hold a grudge towards the Town – we just want to make sure that the community stays informed about upcoming events and Town business, and the issues that we’ve pointed out need major corrections from the Town of Barrington.
Do you know about something that isn’t quite right with the Town of Barrington? You can report these problems to us as an anonymous source (i.e. we won’t print your name or identifying information) by emailing us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We follow-up on every inquiry that we get. If you, as a taxpayer, don’t agree with something that the Town is doing, or you believe they’re doing something wrong, please let us know so we can give your issue a voice in this newspaper. We’ll use investigative journalism to bring the truth to light about what is really going on.
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- Written by Patrick R. McElhiney
- Category: Articles
New Hampshire's 2.6% preliminary seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for November 2019 was ranked fifth-lowest in the nation, tied with Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, and Virginia, based on data released this morning by BLS.
Lowest were:
Vermont --- 2.3%
South Carolina --- 2.4%
Utah --- 2.4%
New England states -- seasonally adjusted:
Vermont --- 2.3% -- lowest
New Hampshire --- 2.6% -- 5th lowest (tie)
Maine --- 2.8% -- 11th lowest
Massachusetts --- 2.9% -- 12th lowest (tie)
Rhode Island --- 3.5% -- 28th lowest
Connecticut --- 3.7% -- 31st lowest (tie)
Highest rates:
Alaska --- 6.1%
Mississippi --- 5.6%
District of Columbia --- 5.3%
https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm
For additional Economic and Labor Market Information please contact ELMI.
New Hampshire Employment Security Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau
General Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (603) 228-4124 www.nhes.nh.gov/elmi
Research Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228-4173
Economist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229-4427
Covered Employment & Wages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228-4060
Current Employment Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228-4175
Local Area Unemployment Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228-4167
Occupational Employment Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229-4315
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- Written by Kat Roedell
- Category: Articles
Many times, during the holiday season we are looking for ways to give back. Spreading cheer throughout the community, helping families in need, feeding the hungry, all are great examples of what to do – but where can we do these things? This brief directory for the town of Barrington, NH will help you find places in our local area, and within the Seacoast region to spread the love.
Stable food items are always welcome at the local food pantries throughout the year. Two local food pantries are:
Barrington Food Pantry – Accepting shelf-stable food only, the Barrington Food Pantry accepts donations on Thursday evenings at the pantry, or at the Barrington Fire station. For more information: http://www.barringtonfoodpantry.org/donations/
Gather/Pease ‘n Carrots – This annual food drive ends 12/20, but contributions are always accepted. Located at 210 West Road Suite 3 Portsmouth, NH 03801 for more information visit their website at https://www.gathernh.org/donate-food
An awesome charity with a local branch:
End 68 Hours of Hunger This charity focuses on providing school-aged children food during the weekends and times off from school. Our Barrington chapter coordinators are Kim Gibson 603-767-2377 and Michelle Meister 339-793-0494
Cash Donations are always welcome at local organizations. If you want to donate to a worthy cause, look for an organization with a 501.c3 status. This means they are properly registered with the state of NH as a charitable organization, and often times with the federal government as well.
Journey Home Thrift accepts gently used clothing for resale. The proceeds go to local hospice organizations. This thrift store accepts more than clothing, click here to find their donation guide.
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The Barrington Town Library is one of our local organizations that has a great wish list of needed items. Some of the items include:
- Puppets for us to circulate
- Snacks for programs
- Post-It notes
- Craft supplies like googly eyes, 9 x 12 construction paper (individual color packages), pipe cleaners, felt, fun foam sheets
- Summer reading incentive prizes such a Wii, new toys, gift certificates to movies, restaurants, ice cream, bowling, or the mall
- Excellent condition books, DVDs, audiobooks, video games, and music CDs.
Want to donate more? Check out their Amazon Wishlist here.
There are many wonderful charitable organizations in our area. Donating your time is a great way to give back, especially when you donate your time with others, sharing a joint purpose.
The Southeast New Hampshire Habitat for Humanity is always looking for volunteers. From housebuilding to looking for people to work at the store in Portsmouth, there is always a way to give back. You can even become a corporate sponsor and get your coworkers engaged as well!
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- Written by Patrick R. McElhiney
- Category: Articles
DURHAM, N.H.—What side of the “political aisle” a person identifies with could determine how they feel about shale natural gas energy development (SGD), or fracking, according to new research out of the University of New Hampshire that found political orientation can play a significant role in the perception of support and opposition around fracking on public and private lands.
The study, recently published in the journal Energy Research & Social Science took a closer look at recreationists who frequently engaged in outdoor activities in and around Pennsylvania state forests. Researchers found that recreationists who identified themselves as conservative were significantly more likely than their moderate and liberal counterparts to support fracking on both public and private lands in Pennsylvania. Using a seven-point scale (1=strongly oppose; 7=strongly support), conservatives averaged 6.36 in favor of fracking on public lands, while liberals averaged 1.07. When asked about the risks associated with fracking on the same public and private lands, opposite results were found with liberals averaging 6.26, demonstrating a higher concern for risk, and conservatives averaging 1.47, or little concern about any risks.
“What was surprising to us was that it didn’t seem to matter much if a respondent was well versed in all of the pros or cons of fracking or if they had only heard of fracking once; respondents seemed to fall back on their political orientation when deciding if they support or oppose fracking,” said Michael Ferguson, assistant professor of recreation management and policy.
On-site face-to-face survey interviews were used to gather data from Pennsylvania state forest recreationists from June to September 2018. The overall sampling was conducted with recreationists who were predominantly local, educated, experienced and politically moderate. The overall results suggested relatively low support for SGD on Pennsylvania public lands, however, once political ideology was integrated, political views proved to be a robust variable and surpassed perceived risk when predicting support for SGD.
“Recognizing that outdoor recreation is an increasingly critical component of the economy, lawmakers, natural resource managers, and the SGD industry should consider recreationists as a legitimate, vocal and politically charged stakeholder within the SGD process,” said Ferguson. “From a policy perspective, each development phase of SGD could benefit from input from this constituency, especially as SGD companies attempt to gain public support.”
Contributing to these findings is Peter Newman, principal investigator and professor of recreation park and tourism management at The Pennsylvania State University; Myles Lynch, a former doctoral student in recreation management and policy at UNH; Lauren Ferguson, lecturer in recreation management and policy at UNH; and Zachary Miller, assistant professor of environment and society at Utah State University.
This work was supported in part by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
The University of New Hampshire inspires innovation and transforms lives in our state, nation, and world. More than 16,000 students from all 50 states and 71 countries engage with an award-winning faculty in top-ranked programs in business, engineering, law, health and human services, liberal arts and the sciences across more than 200 programs of study. As one of the nation’s highest-performing research universities, UNH partners with NASA, NOAA, NSF and NIH, and receives more than $110 million in competitive external funding every year to further explore and define the frontiers of land, sea, and space.
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- Written by Patrick R. McElhiney
- Category: Articles
DURHAM, N.H.—While polls predicting the outcome “if the election were held today,” are popular with pundits and candidates alike, seasoned pollsters warn that “it ain’t over till it’s over,” according to a new analysis released by the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire.
“Leading up to the election, anywhere between half and three-quarters of voters are still trying to decide whom to choose,” the researchers said. “That means that last-minute swings in support are quite possible and quite common.”
The researchers also noted that heading into the 2020 New Hampshire primary, 57% of Democrats still had not decided who they would vote for and even those who claim to be “decided” can change their mind at the last minute.
“In a primary contest, there is no party difference to anchor voter preferences,” the researchers said. “Policy differences among candidates tend to be so slight that the voter could just as easily vote for one candidate as another. Thus, last-minute ads, news stories, and campaign activities that suddenly favor one candidate over another could cause a major swing in voter preferences in just a short time.”
The research was conducted by David Moore, founding director of the UNH Survey Center and a Carsey fellow; and Andrew Smith, director of the UNH Survey Center. They are coauthors of “The First Primary: New Hampshire’s Outsize Role in Presidential Nominations.”
The Carsey School of Public Policy is nationally recognized for research, policy education and bringing people together for thoughtful dialogue to address important societal challenges. The school develops and facilitates innovative, responsive and equitable solutions at all levels of government and in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors.
The University of New Hampshire inspires innovation and transforms lives in our state, nation, and world. More than 16,000 students from all 50 states and 71 countries engage with an award-winning faculty in top-ranked programs in business, engineering, law, health, and human services, liberal arts and the sciences across more than 200 programs of study. As one of the nation’s highest-performing research universities, UNH partners with NASA, NOAA, NSF and NIH, and receives more than $110 million in competitive external funding every year to further explore and define the frontiers of land, sea, and space.
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- Written by Patrick R. McElhiney
- Category: Articles
New Hampshire’s preliminary seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for November 2019 was 2.6 percent, unchanged from the October rate, which remained at 2.6 percent after revision. The November 2018 seasonally adjusted rate was 2.4 percent.
Seasonally adjusted estimates for November 2019 placed the number of employed residents at 756,010, an increase of 1,410 from the previous month and an increase of 10,710 from November 2018. The number of unemployed residents increased by 60 over-the-month to 20,000. This was 1,670 more unemployed than in November 2018. From October to November 2019, the total labor force increased by 1,470 to 776,010. This was an increase of 12,380 from November 2018.
The unadjusted November 2019 unemployment rate for New Hampshire was 2.3 percent, unchanged from the October rate, which remained at 2.3 percent after revision. The November 2018 unadjusted rate was 2.2 percent.
Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for November 2019 was 3.5 percent, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the October rate, and a decrease of 0.2 percentage points from the November 2018 rate.
The national unadjusted rate for November 2019 was 3.3 percent, unchanged from the October rate, and a decrease of 0.2 percentage points from the November 2018 rate. NOTE: State nonfarm employment estimates are available on our Internet Web site: www.nhes.nh.gov/elmi concurrent with this release. Local area unemployment rates are expected to be available on Thursday, December 26. All monthly data will continue to be published in the monthly newsletter New Hampshire Economic Conditions.
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