Approximately 40 people, including officials from the Boards of Finance, Selectmen and Education, attended the Annual Town Meeting on the evening of June 16 to discuss fiscal matters and to nominate a member to the Regional District #11 Board of Education. In a unanimous vote, Kathy Freed was re-elected to serve as one of Hampton’s representatives on the tri-town school board for a three-year term.

Voters also authorized the Selectmen to accept State funds for the improvement, maintenance, and repair of roads, and approved the 5-Year Plan. First Selectman Allan Cahill, who moderated the meeting, explained that the Plan changes with priorities, noting that this winter’s freeze-thaw cycles adversely affected roads. He also apprised residents of the State’s plan to replace the bridge over Fuller Brook on Route 97 next year, which will close the highway and substantially increase traffic on alternate roads in town.

Cahill also presented the Town Government Budget, explaining increases for Town counsel, energy, improvements to trails, the ambulance service, and cost-of-living adjustments for all town employees. A number of residents challenged the need for a new item – Selectman’s Communications – as an additional cost to taxpayers as we already have a Town website and a Town newspaper. Questions regarding revenue included adjusting rental charges to reflect utility costs and the increase in marriage licenses. Cahill explained that the new contract for leasing the lower level of Town Hall for use as a school will be negotiated in August, and Town Clerk Shannon Haddad explained that marriage licenses have increased considerably, from an average of 15 per year to approximately six a week, due to the wedding venue, Stonehurst at Hampton Valley. Board of Education Chairman Rose Bisson’s presentation of the elementary school budget explained that the slight overall increase was due to the price of fuel oil and a 15% hike in health insurance. If the budgets are approved, the total amount of $5,320,588, which includes the municipal and elementary school proposals, as well as the middle/high school spending plan which was approved at a May 3 referendum, will result in a mill rate of 22.49, 1.28 less than the current rate of 23.77.

Besides the budgets, two other items were slated for referendum decisions. Approval of up to $100,000 for the purchase of a multi-duty truck to replace the 25-year-old vehicle in use, and the transfer of $250,000 from the unassigned General Fund to the Hampton Fire Company’s Length of Service Award, a program which has experienced insufficient funding since its inception in 2007, resulting in a funded ratio of 11.9% of the accrued liability of $500,000. There remained concerns among audience members regarding the reason for the deficit, and assurances that it won’t recur. Refuting Cahill’s stated claims that “all invoices were paid”, Board of Finance Chairman Kathy Donahue informed residents that once the finance board was apprised of the situation, a committee was formed and an investigation conducted with findings and recommendations. She also reported her confidence in the new program administrator, and the procedures established to avoid further deficits. The requested funds, along with $60,000 in assets, and an annual line item of $50,000 these last two years, will bring the program’s funding to 75% of the liability, the recommended rate.

The meeting concluded with some discussion on the use of American Rescue Plan funds. Mr. Cahill announced that some of the funding has been designated for replacement of the sign board on the Town Hall campus and for technology improvements for town meetings. To a question on the use of the funds for non-profits, Cahill stated that the “town’s needs come first.” Ms. Donahue expressed her hope that Hampton holds a public forum to seek public input on the use of the funds as surrounding towns have done.

The Board of Selectmen at their June Meeting unanimously adopted the following proclamation:

WHEREAS, The Board of Selectman of the Town of Hampton recognizes and proclaims the month of June 2022 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ+) “Pride Month” and;

WHEREAS, the Town of Hampton celebrates the diversity of its people and their right to live their lives out loud, free of discrimination, fear, and prejudice; creating a vibrant community in which to live, work, and visit;

WHEREAS, the Town of Hampton is committed to supporting visibility, dignity and equality for LGBTQ+ people in our diverse community, and the Town of Hampton calls upon the people of this municipality to embrace this principle and work to eliminate prejudice everywhere it exists and;

WHEREAS, the month of June is recognized internationally as Pride Month to commemorate the Stonewall Riots of June 1969, when people in the LGBTQ+ community in New York City – at great personal and physical risk to themselves – courageously fought back against the increasing hostility and discrimination they faced from police at the Stonewall Inn, which was a refuge for queer people of color and homeless young people;

WHEREAS, there are many towns and states in which LGBTQ+ individuals are still denied protections for fundamental rights and dignity in hospitals, schools, employment, health care, housing, lending, public accommodations and other spaces, as well as a tragic spike in hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community, especially transwomen of color; and, stands in solidarity with LGBTQ+ in their ongoing struggle against discrimination and injustice, and;

WHEREAS, LGBTQ+ youth who defy sexual or gender norms face bullying and harassment in education and social settings, and are at a disproportionate risk of self-harm and risk of death by suicide; and;

WHEREAS, while society at large increasingly supports LGBTQ+ equality, it is essential to acknowledge that the need for education and awareness remains vital to end discrimination and prejudice; and celebrating Pride Month influences awareness and provides support and advocacy for Hampton’s LGBTQ+ community, as well as the entire LGBTQ+ community, and is an opportunity to take action and engage in dialogue to strengthen alliances, build acceptance and advance equal rights;

WHEREAS, the fight for dignity and equality for LGBTQ+ people is reflected in the tireless dedication of advocates and allies who strive to make this a more inclusive society and; NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that The Board of Selectmen of the Town of Hampton hereby proclaims the month of June 2022 as Pride Month in support of the LGBTQ+ community.

Kathy showed up, signed up, and hit the ground running five years ago. Energetic, motivated, dedicated. With a schedule already full and busy enough to have ordinary mortals dragging their knuckles and sucking on a mop, she enrolled and completed the Fire Fighter-1 school, where she learned the fundamental skills expected in a firefighter: fire suppression, search and rescue, ventilation, water supply, hazardous materials operations, salvage and overhaul, safety and survival, “walking on fire” and much more. Completing the school required sacrificing five months of weekends while maintaining a full time job in social services and still responding to emergency dispatches in her “free time.”

After graduating from the Firefighter School she took some time to “relax” and recharge her energizer batteries. Of course her form of relax would exhaust most mortals and put some in their graves. Let’s see – there’s snowboarding. Sure, I hear it is an exhilarating sport provided you can avoid the dislocated knee, fractured femur or caved in skull. This she has, so far, managed to do. Having survived a season on the slopes she is now ready to rope up and start ascending rock cliffs, “getting her head in the clouds…on top of the world” in some remote Utah death zone.  She’s “not backing down.”

“With both feet back on the ground,”   she’s not quite fully ready to get back to the business of Fire and Rescue. There were still a few alligators to wrestle and a tornado to ride. Finally, having rested and recharged she got back to her Social Service job, playing her guitar at church, and frequently responding to emergency dispatches.

Having loafed around long enough, she next enrolled in EMT training — dedicating  another six months (150 hours) of nights and weekends learning the required skills: human anatomy, patient assessment CPR, Lifting and moving patients, Airway management, Medical Emergencies, Poison and Substance abuse, behavioral emergencies, Environmental Emergencies, Bleeding, Shock, Injuries to muscle and bone, childbirth, pediatric emergencies, Geriatric Emergencies, Vehicle Extrication and Special Rescue, Incident Management, etc.  Then there is the required ambulance time working under the supervision of a certified EMT before final certification.

Many of the members of Hampton Fire Company have been walking the planet for many decades, as their heads, shoulders, KNEES!, and toes attest. (Perhaps a tummy or two, as well.)  Kathy Artz, now Lieutenant Artz, is representative of the spirit of service, volunteerism and young(ish) new blood that will be needed to carry Hampton Fire Company, as a viable volunteer organization, into the future.

Be like Kathy.

Okay, that does seem a bit much to ask. Not all the time, energy or drive that Kathy brings to the job is necessary to be a valued volunteer. There is always a job for anyone who shows up, even if it’s just barking at traffic.

During the Month of May HFC experienced 20 emergency dispatches: 14 medical dispatches, two vehicle accidents and four fire related calls. There were two admin meetings, two training meetings and the Ham and Bean Dinner.  A bit over 300 man-hours were logged – about half of those attributable to preparing, serving and cleaning up after the dinner. Many hands make light work.

Meetings and trainings are held Wednesday evenings at 7PM.  Come on down. We’re just awesome – you too can be awesome.

Toot. Toot. Woof. Woof.

And the pager sounds.

Firehouse Dog

“The Barn”

“Close that door! What do you think you live in a barn!” was a rhetorical question my husband and I both grew up hearing bellowed across the lips of various family patriarchs. My father was the doorkeeper at our house, while Jamie often heard it from his grandfather. The message was loud and clear, but the reason would vary from season to season, heat in, heat out, cats in, dogs out, babies in, bugs out. Some fifty-plus years after we heard those words as kids, we can whisper the answer back to those men we miss the most, “Yes, we live in a barn.”

As Hamptonites go, we are just mere babes. In 2014 Jamie and I began searching for just the right home. We wanted someplace he could run his business from, so a large workshop or barn was on our checklist, while I was hoping for a lovely farmhouse like the one I imagined Lassie came home to at the end of every episode. Of course, we both wanted a big wraparound porch. We searched far and wide in the western side of the state where we lived and where our families were all located. Exhausting all affordable and logical options, I reluctantly expanded the computer search to include east of I-91.

One evening I found a listing for a home that looked interesting. It had a workshop, so I put one mark on the checklist, but it wasn’t a farmhouse, nor did it have a wraparound porch. Nonetheless, I held up the laptop to Jamie and said, “Would you live in something like this?” He didn’t hesitate to answer in the affirmative.

The next day we scheduled a visit. But wait, where’s Hampton??? Thank god for Google Earth and GPS. We found our way and saw the property that Wednesday. The place was unique, with lovely wide-open floor plans, a beautiful fieldstone fireplace, and spectacular views of the valley and surrounding hillsides. A charming Main Street with beautiful homes. Lots of open space. Low taxes. Yes, we definitely could see ourselves living here. We were in love.

On that Saturday, we signed the contract. On Halloween day 2014, we closed on our new home. We immediately referred to it as “The Barn.” It fulfilled a dream for both of us. Ever since I was a child, I went past a barn in my neighborhood that was in disrepair, but it always tugged at my heartstrings. It was a place that I thought should be turned into a home. Every day my school bus went by this structure, and I imagined how I would make it into a place I would live in someday. On the other hand, The Barn fulfilled my husband’s dream to live in a place as unique as his childhood home, with massive 20-foot tall walls of windows letting in dappled sunlight and a loft way up above the living area he called his own. We both had found something that we thought we had lost a long time ago.

The Barn is a 30×40 timber-frame English bank barn, which, by definition, has three “bays” created by four bents. The center is called the ‘drive’ while either end is called the ‘mows.’ The fieldstone foundation it sits on allows for the original sliding barn doors to open out at ground level in the rear of the structure. The building is two stories tall. The main floor joists visible in the basement were left round. The first floor is 12 feet high, but in the beginning, there would have been minimal flooring separating the first and second floors. The second floor was initially open right to the roof. There is evidence of the original vertical barn siding, although it was resided with horizontal clapboard sometime in the past.  Everywhere you look, there are 130 years of history. Some even say that a ghost was seen, but I think that may have been parents just trying to scare their children away from exploring the barn. The wind is the only howling we ever hear, and if things go bump in the night, it’s a cat. But if a ghost would dust away cobwebs, I would welcome its presence.

We only know a little history about The Barn itself, and as best we can determine, it was probably built around 1891. That would have been just a few years after the lovely original Victorian home was constructed for the property owner Ellen Gill. The property was then passed on to her child or children after her death. The trail went cold for us until the property, which included the Victorian house, the barn, and plenty of land, was purchased by the Viens family in the 1950s. Sometime around 1959, The Barn became a place of residence for the first time. It was a home for the young and recently wed William and Sandra Viens. A portion of the first floor was carved out as an apartment by Bill’s father. Evidence of the original linoleum tile squares that covered the floor in the apartment is still visible. During that time, the double doors remained, and the center portion was still used for vehicles that sat right outside the entrance to the apartment. There is still an apple tree in the backyard that Bill planted and it still produces lovely fruit. Last year Bill was in the area, sadly to have his wife’s ashes interred, but he stopped by to introduce himself. We gave him a small tour and he was amazed at how The Barn had changed from the time he lived here. It was a memorable visit for both he and ourselves. We loved hearing about his life and times here.

After the elder Mr. Viens passed, the barn, the Victorian house, and some other land were subdivided into separate parcels. Since then, The Barn had changed hands twice before we purchased it. Windows and doors have been added over time and other modern conveniences, but the structure’s core remains. For most of its 130 years, The Barn has been a workshop. It has also had other unique purposes in the more recent past. For a short time, it was a playhouse, with one show directed by Hampton’s own Gordon Hansen. It was also an art gallery for Neil Parrow, a prior owner who did a lot of remodeling of The Barn into its present form. Neil recognized the magnificent view provided by the broad eastern exposure. Early risers can witness morning’s first light and some stunning sunrises. Hence, Neil named his place First Light Studio. As we began to develop our plan to raise Pygora goats, we decided to call our little homestead First Light Farm. Spend one sunny morning looking out our eastern-facing windows, and you will appreciate how accurately the name captures the breathtaking view we have.

As we look at historical images of Hampton and the views captured looking down onto the lovely Bigelow Pond, we can see how drastically the landscape has changed over the years. Not only was the Pond lost, but those views no longer exist as the trees have grown and the forest has thickened. We long to know what it would have been like to look out our windows and see boaters and swimmers right below us or to skate on the frozen pond. We wonder what the terrain of our property was like back then. How close did the edge of the pond come to us? Answers we can guess at but never really know for sure. As for the present day, we have made several changes to The Barn. For a while, a portion of the first floor was used for Jamie’s business as we originally intended, but then he outgrew the space. Since then, we’ve added a big window to enhance our view. We’ve added walls to formalize bedroom spaces. We did a total kitchen renovation because I was tired of washing dishes by hand. We still have many things we want to do.

Maintenance of an old structure is never-ending, tedious, time-consuming, expensive, and tough on weary old bones. Nevertheless, we love The Barn. It’s filled with a lot of quirks, ones that come with a timberframe structure this old, like sloped floors requiring shims under furniture legs, exposed beams that attract cobwebs, and gaps in floorboards that allow light in places you don’t need it, but it also has lots and lots of character. Where else could we live so that our cats could use the wind braces as perches and have an unlimited supply of scratching posts? Although it’s a barn, ironically, it has never housed animals, that is until this year when we had to bring two of our little newborn baby goats in out of the frigid winter cold.

We enjoy entertaining, and people often tell us it’s a place that feels so comfortable that it naturally induces a nap or two. One hundred thirty years ago, I doubted anyone would have imagined that a structure built for utilitarian purposes would someday be a much-loved home. It is a home for two people who feel very lucky to say, “Yes, we live in a barn, an extraordinary barn.”

Pat and Jamie Boss

The succession of flowers in the garden have always stirred a sense of mourning – the swift passage of time measured in petals spent in this brief season of sunshine and warmth. The daffodils were in full bloom, their trumpets of yellow and gold announcing spring when we received the news no parent should ever hear. It seems like a million years ago, yet every morning when I wake, it’s yesterday. I speak to her in the present, and I remember her in the past – her birth, her first words, steps. And I remember her in the garden.

It wasn’t always as passive as it was these last few years of relaxing there. Picnics – like the ones my mother prepared under the long ago pear tree I alone remember. Jill was my first, and there was nothing, no one, to interfere with the long, languid days of picnics — picnics and game picnics and book picnics and song picnics and coloring picnics – all spread on a quilt with the loveliest view of the garden, a daily, deliberative selection of its ever-changing face. She christened the gardens with names. Observing that the very first, a circle with two semi-circles above it on a bank, resembled two eyes and a nose, she told me it needed a smile. So another garden curves beneath the circle and these geometrical plantings, filled with old-fashioned perennials which would be described as a “colonial garden”, is called “the face”. Later in life she enjoyed container gardening, likening the selection of annuals — to fill the assortment of baskets and urns, coal bins, pails and tool boxes — to accessorizing with lipstick and nail polish.  I was unsuccessful in my attempts to convince her of the satisfaction found in weeding, but she sure knew how to use a shovel. Once while visiting here on vacation, she volunteered to dig two gardens to accommodate surplus astilbes, accomplishing in one morning and an afternoon a task that would have consumed a month for me. When we were in Texas taking care of Juan’s mother, she would call me to describe in detail the flowers blooming daily. “I have a new favorite,” she would say, the first step on the gardener’s path. It was the summer of her senior year, and she took care of everything, even the gardens.

Jill was capable. Capable, brilliant, articulate, loyal, empathetic, generous to a fault. She loved to talk, and those of us who spoke with her regularly miss those conversations the most, and those laughs. She was the funniest person any of us has ever met. And those hugs. A friend once said that hugging Jill was like hugging a tree. She was so strong, and comforting. Though she might not have inherited a gardener’s need to garden, she was a writer, an incredible writer. What she wrote was from the heart, humble and vulnerable.  I always encouraged her to write – just write – wherever she was in her life. She had such a story to share. I still have faith that we can find it, that it materialized on paper.  For now I piece her words together, and I’m so very glad I saved all of them.

Words from others have poured in these last several weeks from her hundreds of friends, She was always such a people person. And there was such a diverse group of people in her wide circle, so many cultures, religions, races, voices, and experiences. I remember a Catechism teacher explaining to a little child who asked – if God made us all in His image, why do we look so different? – to imagine a garden where every plant was exactly the same, that the beauty is dependent on the diversity of its colors, forms, and the wildlife it attracts. Jill’s, then, was the most beautiful garden of all.

She was a defender of marginalized people, a crusader against injustices. Her advocacy for others and for causes came without reservation. She never considered the burden that can sometimes be, never remained silent for fear of consequences. An inherited trait, I fear. And one that her son will learn, as we pass along that generational torch. He will inherit all of his mother’s values – loyalty, compassion, generosity, tolerance, and above all, love. Jill’s love of her son Felix was evident to even the most casual acquaintance. His resilience, which is evident to everyone who meets him, is born of believing in and embracing the love his mother instilled in him.

And we instill in him a love of nature. He loves all of those picnics and he loves to explore. A keen observer, he’s fascinated with ants, grasshoppers, crickets. He makes friends with worms. He chases butterflies, birds and dragon flies, and names them. He notices new flowers and wants to know their names. He has “new favorites”.  Juan is precluded from mowing a patch of bluets which were meant for a bouquet for his mother, so our lawn still holds a small pool of them, a delicate reflection of the sky. We indulge him. We play hide and seek in the gardens together, study insects, collect seeds, build castles in the sandbox his grandfather made him, which reminds me of the sandbox my father made for his granddaughter. It became, as this one has become, my favorite garden feature.

In return, Felix will continue to instill in us a sense of wonder, that there’s a really good reason to rake the leaves in fall, that winter snow is more than the dread of shoveling it, that spring’s mud puddles are delightful, and that there’s nothing in this life better than running around barefoot in the yard at night, dancing with fireflies.

He tells me he doesn’t want to forget his mom. He won’t. I won’t let him. He wants to know what she was like when she was little, when she was his age. Such a long time ago, yet yesterday. I have so many stories to share.

As I sit in the garden and write this, the daffodils have all faded. In their place lilacs curve at the entrance to the grape arbor, daisies freckle the garden where irises rise on fleur-de-lis spears, and in the distance, azaleas sparkle in the woodland and viburnum rests on the lawn like an island of white lace.  Soon the garden will fill with summer roses, astilbes will brush the air, swallowtails will flock to the butterfly bush, hummingbirds to the coral bells, honey bees to the lemon balm. And then the indigo balloon flowers will burst open, and the trumpets of lilies, and the phlox will surprise us with their seed swapping shades. And then the flowers of fall, the billowing blue clouds of wild aster and the cushions of chrysanthemums, will close on another winter, covered with the snow Jill loved so well.

The garden, nature, the seasons, march on, and so must we.

Dear Auntie Mac,

What is up with the flies? I was blaming a hole in a screen or the kids leaving the door open too long, but then I find that everyone else is having the same problem. It’s all over social media. Some people are accusing manure trucks, others all the chickens in town, the dump. Is this typical of Hampton? What’s causing it and what can we do?

Not a Fly Fan

My Dear Neighbor:

Many times throughout the years Auntie Mac has heard this same lament, usually from those newly arrived, perplexed and offended that a rural farming community would yield so many, well, farms. That flies would accompany these farms was just too much to process. To those hopeful souls whose oblivious inner roadmap leads to the land where brisket grows on vines, Auntie Mac has usually reserved merely a soft, courteous sigh. But your question merits further exploration, for indeed, flies are notably more plentiful here this year—as they are everywhere, and the reason has little to do with one’s proximity to an area where brisket is still, as it were, on the hoof. There are, quite simply, many more of us on this planet, we are closer together, and we produce more waste, which attracts more flies. Also, a warmer climate attracts more insects in general, as those normally buzzing about the hotter climes feel ever so much more welcome in our region. With the sheltering in place that many of us employed during the pandemic, more household waste stayed relatively closer to home, and while we were not exactly having a jolly time of it, other creatures were taking full advantage.

Auntie Mac has discovered that there exists such instruments as “pest predictors,” and is happy to let you know that 2022 is not, as you would surmise, the Year of the Fly, but rather the year of the rat, mosquito, tick, and that perennial favorite, the bedbug (see “pandemic and its consequences,” above). Be that as it may, let us not assume, then, that the insect population in general is on the rise; in fact quite the opposite is true and this is something with which we should all view with concern. Since about 1980 we have lost roughly half the world’s insects due to pesticides, habitat loss, pollution and climate change. Without insects to eat, most reptiles and amphibians and about half of all bird species will become extinct. Insects return nutrients from dead plants and animals to the soil. They also assist in pollination and are essential to insure plentiful crop harvests (excluding, of course, vine-grown brisket).

I’m sure many of us remember when we had to clean our windshields frequently due to the amount of bugs bumping into our cars. Can any of us remember the last time this happened?

Like you, Auntie Mac finds the housefly (and his petulant cousins the deer and horsefly) to be a most unwelcome guest, but she is prepared to attempt to find a way to live in harmony with those few creatures still with us. Our lives may indeed depend on them.

Your Auntie Mac

Though there is no “Baby Boomers and Beyond” this month, Angela Fichter has provided us with an article on the benefits of age.

Surely, you’ve heard the expression, “old, but good”?  The assumption in the expression is that if something is old, that means it’s out of date, or worn out, yet this particular old item is still good.  Hah.  Maybe we should change the expression to “good because it’s old.”  I remember when we lived in South Killingly in the mid 1970’s, and I went shopping at a grocery store in the shopping center on Route 6 in East Brooklyn. The store had let some old women set up their table right in front of the store to sell their pies. It must have been autumn, because what they had to sell was apple pies. I walked up to the table and asked the oldest looking woman behind the table which pie she had made.  She pointed to one, and I bought it. It was very yummy.  Why did I ask the oldest woman? Because she would have made it from scratch from fresh apples, not canned apples.  I asked the ladies which organization they were from, and the answer was the Brooklyn Episcopal Church. I had recently bought an apple pie from another church that had been made by a young woman.  It had canned apples.  Just not the flavor you get from fresh apples, and because the woman was young, she chose the quickest way to make a pie: buy an already made crust and put canned apples in it.

Another example that old can mean good, as in more knowledgeable, was when I lived in Greene, Rhode Island.  We were renting what had been the chauffeur’s apartment, which was over a five-bay stone garage built around the time of World War I.  This was on the Arnold estate, which was over several thousand acres, and had been built by an obviously successful businessman as his summer home.  I believe his other home was in Providence. I fell in love with a flower I had never seen before that was planted just along the low stone wall near the big white barn. I asked the name.  The answer was, “Oh, that’s columbine, it was planted by the English gardener we had.  His home was up there”, said by Mittie Arnold, the builder’s now elderly daughter, as she pointed up the hill a bit.  “And if you walk down that dirt road, you can see the cranberry bog we have.” The chauffeur’s apartment had hardwood floors, a clawfoot bathtub, and a soapstone sink.  The view of the valley from the apartment windows was lovely. This looked over the area where Mittie and her friend Margaret Thomas had planted their gardens of herbs. They had run a successful business called Greene Herb Gardens, selling little jars of herbs that you bought at their small shop, or ordered by mail, or bought at various health food stores. In the 1950’s they provided the herbs to Pepperidge Farm for an herb bread that was sold at that time.

Once while we rented there, from about 1972 to 1974, I became very ill. I had a temperature of 102 to 103. I think it was the flu. I stayed in bed and felt weak and drained, plus had a fever. Since I had not been seen by the ladies for a couple days, they asked my husband if I was all right. He told them of my being in bed with a fever and not feeling well. A couple hours after he told them, Margaret showed up at my bedside with a mug of hot tea. She said drink this up, it will help you. I asked what the ingredients were.  She said feverfew and explained it should reduce my fever.  I obeyed and drank it up. Thirty minutes later I had no fever. I still had no energy. Took several days before I felt good again, but no more fever.  Ever since then I have grown feverfew.  It has small white blossoms with little yellow centers. It belongs to the daisy family. You snip off the blossoms when they are in full bloom and dry them on a paper towel in your home until they are bone dry. Then place them in a small bottle. If you get a fever, boil some water and add a spoonful of feverfew blossoms to a mug of hot water. Let them brew for several minutes. Then take the blossoms out and drink the hot tea.

Since the yummy apple pie and the effective feverfew tea were both provided by old women, who had years of experience, I think we should change the expression of old, but good, into old and therefore good.

Angela Hawkins Fichter

Keeping house at “Maplehurst”, when I look back now, was a full-time job. I often wonder how Mother, brought up as she had been in New York with a house full of servants, managed as wonderfully as she did. In the morning, Father was up first and built a fresh fire in the stove or opened the drafts and put on fresh coal if there were enough embers left to kindle with. Then Mother got up and always with her hair perfectly done and in a soft black dress, never an apron, started the breakfast. There was the coffee to grind in the old mill, the oatmeal to be put on the hottest lid, the breakfast table to be laid. My older sisters with smooth combed hair and bright gingham dresses were soon downstairs to help. By the time the coffee was boiled and the eggs ready, Father was up from the barn where he had gone to milk Molly and give her some hay. We all sat down together at the table, and there was a moment of silence while Father said “Oh, Lord, for what we are about to receive make us truly thankful.”

After breakfast each of us was given her task to do, and never was there a thought of running out in the cool of a summer morning until our work was done. There were the beds to be stripped and made (Mother always insisted on a complete stripping every day). The slops were to be carried out, some of us washed in bowl and pitcher in our room, and the oil lamps were to be filled and the glass chimneys washed until they sparkled. The sweeping twice a week of the straw matting that covered all the second floor bedrooms with wet tea leaves. The dusting, the tidying, and last but not least, the washing on Mondays in the soap stone tubs with the corrugated washboard. The washing seemed endless, for with six women the starched petticoats alone were an enormous task. Then came the ironing with the old, sad irons, which always seemed to me either too hot or too cool. How many times I burned my fingers testing them when I took them off the stove.

We never had any baking day as most country people did; we seemed to bake every day. Mother was really not too good a cook but her specialties were sponge cake made in a fluted ring or a spice raisin cake called “election cake” for some reason. It was rather heavy and chewy. Through the summer months the big copper preserving kettle was seldom off the stove. All the garden vegetables were put in mason jars, jams and jellies in glasses, and peach, pear, plum, cherry, strawberry preserves made a riot of color in their gleaming containers.

Miriam Church Peabody

To be continued….

This month’s memoir, courtesy of Gustavo Falla, current owner of “Maplehurst”, is one in a series we started last year. We welcome the remembrances of those who grew up here, or their parents, or grandparents, whatever the era, as well as written “attic treasures”.

For our April issue, Scotland’s First Selectman Gary Greenberg sent us “News from the Committee Studying Educational Cost Sharing”,  an overview of the governance and financial structure of the proposed cooperative agreement for combining Hampton and Scotland elementary schools, its amendment and termination, and considerations of  special education and the school building. We thank Mr. Greenberg for providing us this month with information on the all-important matters of educational programs, savings and costs, and encourage residents to review the material here, and on the committee’s website, prior to the upcoming public informational sessions, and the advisory vote. 

Ad Hoc Committee Reports Educational Cost Sharing

The Ad Hoc Committee exploring the possibility of a Hampton/Scotland cooperative school has two subcommittees. The Programming Subcommittee has been putting together a staffing plan and model budget for the coop school. Its work has been slow and painstaking, primarily because we want the result to be as accurate as possible in its predictions. The information below is current as of May 27, but is still subject to revision.

Working with data from the schools, the towns, and the state, and using the October 1, 2021 student population for its model, the subcommittee has determined that a coop school would have 14.2 full time equivalent (FTE) certified teaching positions, covered by 17 teachers, ten of whom would be full-time. Nine of the full-time teachers would be assigned to a classroom; each grade, K through six, would have its own classroom and teacher.  Pre-K would have two classrooms and two teachers. The 10^th full-time slot would be for combined physical education and health instruction. Three of the certified teaching positions represent special education instructors with 2.5 FTE. The remaining 1.7 FTE slots would be allotted to art (0.4 FTE), library/media (0.4 FTE), music (0.6 FTE), and technology (0.3). By way of comparison, Scotland currently has 12.2 FTE staff covering those same positions, and Hampton has 8.8. Scotland currently has eight full-time classroom teachers for Pre-k through grade six, while Hampton has five.

The staffing plan calls for 14 paraprofessionals. Scotland currently has 11 (which will be reduced to eight next year), and Hampton has seven (which will be reduced to six next year). The coop school would have a half-time (.5 FTE) superintendent (both towns currently have a .4 FTE superintendent), a .6 FTE special education director (currently .4 in Scotland and .2 in Hampton), a full-time principal, a full-time nurse, a .5 FTE speech and language pathologist, a full-time counselor, and 5.4 FTE support staff.  The full staffing plan and associated salary and benefit costs are available on the committee website at www.hs-interdistrictcommittee.org.

The model budget associated with the staffing plan calls for total cooperative school costs of $2.9 million. The local Boards of Education would continue to be responsible for transportation and out-of-district placement to both STEM and special education schools. Those local costs, especially the special education placements, are very difficult to predict. But based on our past history, they are estimated at around $340,000 in total, with each town responsible for about 50% of these costs. The cooperative school total budget expenses would be allocated on a per-pupil basis. Using this year’s student population as a model, Hampton’s share of the $2.9 million cooperative school budget would be approximately $1.20 million, and its local costs would be $170,706 (which excludes transportation of Region#11 students), for a total of $1.37 million. Hampton currently spends $2.12 million for the same student population. Scotland’s share would be $1.7 million, and its local costs would be $168,000, for a total of $1.88 million. It currently spends $2.54 million for the same student population. The total savings would be $1.39 million, of which $650,000 would go to Scotland and $743,000 to Hampton (excluding Region#11 transportation expenses of $62,325).

These numbers are still being refined and will be updated on the website. It is important to note that grant funding, which amounts to between $100,000 and $200,000 each year in each town is partially figured into these estimates, and the impact of a cooperative agreement on grant funding has not yet been determined. It is likely that there will be very little or no impact but grant funding itself is unpredictable. We will present our best estimate once we have more information. Also important to note is that the ad hoc committee is not recommending what the towns or Boards of Education should do with potential savings; it is possible that the Boards of Education and the Cooperative Committee will choose to use some of the money to fund enrichment programs, such as foreign language instruction, or enhance current curriculum by adding a STEM program, like through the CT Science Center

Although there is no official timeline, the subcommittee hopes to have its work finished soon. Once it is complete, the final spreadsheets and report will be posted and public information sessions will be held to present and discuss our findings, along with the completed version of the proposed agreement that will govern the cooperative school. After those presentations, an advisory vote will be held so residents can let the Boards of Education know their preference about this proposal. The final version of the agreement will be turned over to the BOEs for their consideration. If they vote to enter into an agreement, it will go to the Town Meetings in each town, which must approve of the change in use of the school buildings. If both BOEs and both Town Meetings vote to adopt this proposal, it will go into effect on the date chosen by the BOEs, and transition planning will begin.

Gary Greenberg

Please visit the website for the latest updates to the staffing plan and model budget. And feel free to email any questions to Gary Greenberg at firstselectman@scotlandct.org.

After a public hearing held on May 18, the Board of Finance voted on the FY2022-23 Hampton Elementary School and Town Government budgets, the final step prior to approval of the proposals by the taxpayers. Each budget was subjected to only one change.

The finance board reduced the elementary school’s $2,049,382 proposal, a 1.54% increase over the current year, by $10,000 removed from the Heating Oil/Propane line item, which was increased nearly $20,000, or 81.32%, due to current rates. Because of the uncertainty of future fuel costs, the finance board voted to transfer the $10,000 to the municipal contingency fund where it will be accessible to the school if necessary.

The only item changed in the Selectmen’s proposal for the municipal budget involved the compensation of Town employees. While the Selectmen requested a $5000 increase for the Town Treasurer and a 3% cost-of-living adjustment for all other employees, the Board of Finance voted to award a 4% cost-of-living increase to all town employees due to the current rate of inflation. Board of Finance Chairman Kathy Donahue suggested, in the interest of fairness, the establishment of a bi-partisan committee to conduct a bi-annual review of all Town employees’ salaries, including benefits packages, prior to municipal elections.

The $2,039,382 elementary school budget, and the municipal budget of $1,720,505, 2.43% less than this year’s, will be sent to Town Meeting on June 16^th and voted on at a June 28^th referendum. With the Regional District #11 spending plan of $$1,560,701, approved by taxpayers on May 3^rd, the bottom line for the FY2022-23 budget will be $5,320,588. If approved, the mil rate will be set at 22.49, a 1.28 decrease from the current year.

Voters will also be asked to approve up to $100,000 in American Recovery Funds for the purchase of a mid-duty service truck for the Highway Department, and the transfer of $250,000 from the unassigned General Fund to the Hampton Fire Company’s Length of Service Award Program.  As previously reported, insufficient funding of the program since its inception resulted in a funded ratio of approximately 12% of the accrued liability; if the transfer is approved, the program will be funded at an approximate rate of 75%. Additionally, the annual funding for the program has been adjusted from $25,000 to $50,000.

Appreciation to all boards, committees, commissions, organizations for developing modest spending plans in these financially difficult times. In all probability, our mill rate will be the only decrease we witness for a while. Thank you.