Where the milk comes from
Every since we were little Insiders, we’ve driven by the milk processing plant on North State Street and wondered what magic lies within. Last week, we called up Michael Anderson, the plant’s manager and asked for a tour. He was happy to oblige. We geared up in hair nets and hard hats and started in the facility’s capping and filling room. Bottles whizzed by on a conveyor belt and were met by a machine and pumped full of whole milk....
Spreading ‘Rumors’ at NHTI
Charley Brock, the deputy mayor of New York, has been shot in the earlobe. His wife, Myra, is nowhere to be found. Add some confused, upper-class party guests and you have Neil Simon’s “Rumors.” The NHTI Stage Lynx Drama Club will present the whodunit this weekend in the college’s Sweeney Auditorium. “It’s a really funny farce,” said Zach Gordan, 18, of Weare. “It’s ridiculous in a good way.” Gordan plays Officer Welch, a no-nonsense...
Meet Josephin Yen, a mother, gardener, artist
Josephin Yen is a 42-year-old woman from Sudan. She arrived here with her children, her brother and sister-in-law in 2005. She recently passed her citizenship test and became an American citizen. Where were you born? I was born in Sudan. In 1995 I moved to a refugee camp in Uganda. What was life like there? It was really hard most of the time. To earn money is very difficult there. For a few years, I earned money selling food and...
Catching up with the Grammarnator
The Insider’s editor tells me that people still ask about the Grammarnator and that it might be fun to give readers a rundown on what I’ve been up to lately. That’s fun for me, certainly, but I’ll leave it to readers to decide if they really believe that all lives are inherently interesting. Since leaving Concord High after 34 years in the English department, and The Insider after about a year as its nitpicker on grammar and usage, I...
Police log
Public urination On Nov. 16 about 5:45 p.m., Sgt. John Thomas was traveling west on School Street and was waved down by a woman, who told him she had just witnessed a man urinate in the Durgin garage. She told Thomas the man had a gray beard and was with another man in a green Kia. On the third floor of the garage, Thomas wrote he observed the Kia parked close to the elevator. The garage was busy with pedestrians and vehicles leaving,...
The legislative process is, well, complicated
If you ask Allison Grappone, it all starts with some advocates, concerned citizens or perhaps a group of a lobbyists. From there, it could get confusing – but somehow it doesn’t. Grappone, program coordinator and special projects manager at the Northern Forest Center, created a step-by-step map explaining New Hampshire’s legislative process. The idea popped into her head earlier this year while the Northern Forest Center was working...
This week in Concord history
– Nov. 30, 1870: Fire burns out the stone warehouse behind the Eagle Hotel, leaving only the granite walls standing. Today, the warehouse is home to the Museum of New Hampshire History. – Dec. 1, 1848: Edward E. Sturtevant, a Concord printer, writes to his parents in Keene: “The Shakers are having a trial before a Legislative committee, which excites some curiosity among the people of this town. . . . A petition is...
City briefly
Every Friday, City Manager Tom Aspell writes a riveting memo. Here are the highlights: Tom gets all jolly on us ’Twas about a month before Christmas and all through the city, not a tree was undecorated – Concord looked so darn pretty! “The Grounds Division has been busy setting up and decorating trees for the holiday season,” Tom wrote, feeling rather like Kris Kringle. According to Santa Aspell, trees have been set up on Concord...
Does Christmas time make you feel morose?
Are you feeling quite morose ’Cause Christmas day is just too close With not a lick of shopping done And all you want to do is run? Well here’s a cure for your lament: Friday’s Midnight Merriment! So wipe those tears right off your face And put a smile back in its place The Season’s only just begun – Now go out there and have some fun! (Stephanie Parkinson of Concord wrote this rhyme in honor of Midnight Merriment. The downtown...
Pals Stella and Zoots
Carol Zablocki sent in this picture of her buds, Stella and Zoots. Carol wrote that Stella, an SPCA rescue kitten, just loves dining on Zoots’s food. “When she (Stella) was really little, she stood in the bowl and he (Zoots) ate around her,” she wrote. “She stands at his bowls now and meows when she thinks it is time to be fed.” Are your cat and dog BFFs like Stella and Zoots? Prove it by sending a pictures to...
Snow birds love the Insider, too!
Pictured: Conky O’Connell visited the Space Walk of Fame in Titusville, Fla. The handsome man in the statue he’s sharing the Insider with just happens to be JFK. Conky and his wife, Ippy, are snow birds from Concord who enjoy Titusville in the winter. Show us where you bring the Insider. Send your travel pictures to news@theconcordinsider.com.
The Insider goes to Germany
Our readers are awesome. Not only do you flip through the Insider in the comfort of your own home in Concord, but you also take us on your vacations around the world. Pictured: Elizabeth Black brought the Insider with her to Dom in Koln (Cologne Cathedral) during her recent trip to Germany.
Book of the week
“This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection” Carol Burnett 2010, 267 pages Nonfiction In her first memoir “One More Time” (written in 2006), we learned about Carol Burnett’s life growing up in a dysfunctional but loving family. In this second memoir, Carol recounts her life and experiences as a performer on stage and television and her rise in show business. Her anecdotes about her colleagues – Tim, Harvey, Vicki and Lyle...
The Bulletin Board
It’s time for the Zonta Club’s auction The Zonta Club of Concord will hold its annual holiday auction on Dec. 1 at The Red Blazer Restaurant, 72 Manchester St. Proceeds from the auction will benefit local service projects such as The Friendly Kitchen, Merrimack Valley Day Care Service Center, Rape and Domestic Violence Crisis Center, multicultural programs, the Amelia Earhart Fellowship Awards and several local scholarships. A...
