I was born in Germany in 1948, after World War II ended. I’ve had to live my whole life with the stigma of responsibility for crimes against humanity committed by my country. Part of my family is German, the other part Belgian. I remember being the target of insults on the street in Belgium because […]
Do you remember when Andover had a high school? I grew up in Wilmot. At the end of the 8th grade we had to go somewhere else for high school. When I graduated we had a huge class, 10 students. Some went to New London High School and the remainder of us usually attended the […]
Our mission is to strengthen community
The Beacon’s policy on letters begins “The mission of The Andover Beacon is to serve and strengthen the Andover community. To that end, we welcome civil, reasoned letters …” This policy has been in place for every year of the Beacon’s existence (since 2004), and the Board of Directors takes it very seriously. This year, […]
Since the 2019 Legislative session closed at the end of July, the Governor has been making almost daily headlines with his vetoes of bills that have passed with a majority in both legislative bodies. At this moment, there have been an unprecedented 53 bills vetoed. Most remarkable to me is roughly half of the Governor’s […]
Andover had another great 4th of July celebration. I marched in the parade with the Merrimack County Republicans. The response from the public was very positive. Thank you to each and every person involved in the Andover 4th of July celebration as I know it is good planning, and tremendous hard work to make a […]
To the Beacon: I read Ken Wells’ report on the legislative session in Concord and was dismayed at his uncharitable comments about corporations. Corporations are organized under the law in order for groups of people to work together to achieve a common goal, whether that is construction of tangible products, providing services, or any of […]
The Beacon’s readership has been treated in the June and July issues to letters from both sides of the political spectrum. Are we reading curtain raisers for the 2020 election? On the moderate Democratic side, State Representatives Ken Wells and David Karrick have reported from the State House and, in my opinion, informed readers about […]
A dear friend who is a chaplain introduced me to this poem: “Out of a great need we are all holding hands and climbing. Not loving is a letting go. Listen, the terrain around here is far too dangerous for that.” Since I became your sworn representative in the New Hampshire House, I have been […]
The Kitchen Eatery & Catering
To the Editor: We want to thank Michael Prete of The Kitchen Eatery & Catering for setting up his food truck in The Andover Community Hub parking lot on the 4th of July, for selling his excellent food there, and for donating all profits to The Hub and to the 4th of July Committee. We’re […]
The budget passed by this legislature veers dangerously away from historic New Hampshire budgetary restraint. With alarm, I thought of personal lessons learned during a few short years away from New Hampshire, embodied in one example from this budget. We left New Hampshire several years ago for North Carolina, and the income tax impact […]