What do you think about the feasibility of purchasing Putnam Farm on Rt. 12A? This historic site would be used as a farm and rural education center. The property would not be owned by the town. The stated purpose of the farm would be to provide summer jobs, rural education for all ages and local food security.
Professional management of the Putnam Farm project is under the direction of Bittinger Associates, LLC of Hanover.
Steering committee members to date include Linda Fuerst, Bill Gallagher, John Hammond, H. Clay Hawkins, Dale Lawrence, Bill and Jennifer Lipfert, Beth Lumm, Betty Miller, Lynn Schad, Gabe Zoerheide, James Thaxton of the Upper Valley Land Trust, and Seth Wilner, Sullivan County Extension Agent.
A meeting is suppose to take place some time in January - would you go?
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Sunday, March 14, 2010
What Makes Cornish a Great Place (or not) to Live?
What do you say are reasons why Cornish is (is not) a great place to live?
Saturday, July 11, 2009
RE: Cornish Flat Post Office
The Post Office is one place where I see my neighbors on a regular basis, and catch up on how they're doing, how their garden, family, etc. are doing as well. I usually walk (.4 mile from my house), and would miss this connection if it were to close. I don't mail too much, but I don't look forward to going to Claremont, Windsor or Lebanon to do so when necessary. Perhaps changing the hours to reflect the needs of the community would help...a survey sheet in the lobby would be a start....Please don't close our Post Office!!!! Lois Fitts
Thursday, July 9, 2009
More about Cornish Flat Post Office
We can't say enough about how disappointed we would be to lose our post office. There are so many reasons we can list.
First and foremost is that it would deprive us of the daily trip to the PO to get a little fresh air, see some people, stay connected.
Some say that postage is expensive. We find it to be an outstanding value. What else can you get in the way of service for 45 cents or whatever a stamp is going for? Whenever someone tells me, "It was lost in the mail", I can bet they are fibbing. There are few things more reliable than the NE Postal Service. We get 24 hr delivery of mail to all our neighboring states. Put a bill or letter in the mail to someone in New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, or Massachusetts at 4:59 pm and they will probably receive it on the following morning. It's a good value. Given a choice between flashing our account numbers across the internet to pay bills, or sticking a stamp, we pick the postal service for safety and security. Postal rates have risen along with the cost of everything else. Postal workers need to eat too. They need a liveable wage and health insurance for their families. We don't understand the adversarial and complaining attitude that many people express for the postal service. You can bet it hurts the feelings of postal workers.
The thing we don't like is having a mail box in front of the house where our mail is exposed to weather, whim and bad intentions. We help our senior neighbor keep the way clear for her postal deliveries in winter. It's a big chore, way beyond her abilities. The inevitable muddy rut forms in front of many a mail box in spring, a dust bowl in summer. We don't want one of those. The inevitable plow boo boo tears the mail box down. We don't want to deal with that trauma. A mail box has to be mowed around, trimmed around. It does not enhance the appearance of property. Try a PO Box, you'll love it. When we are out of town, we know our mail is safe and dry in the post office where it belongs, no calls or special arrangements necessary.
A PO Box is also another layer of defense and insulation against aggressive marketeers and persons with bad intentions. We hope that we don't lose this valuable resource.
Rick and Rae Melloh
Harrington Road, Cornish
First and foremost is that it would deprive us of the daily trip to the PO to get a little fresh air, see some people, stay connected.
Some say that postage is expensive. We find it to be an outstanding value. What else can you get in the way of service for 45 cents or whatever a stamp is going for? Whenever someone tells me, "It was lost in the mail", I can bet they are fibbing. There are few things more reliable than the NE Postal Service. We get 24 hr delivery of mail to all our neighboring states. Put a bill or letter in the mail to someone in New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, or Massachusetts at 4:59 pm and they will probably receive it on the following morning. It's a good value. Given a choice between flashing our account numbers across the internet to pay bills, or sticking a stamp, we pick the postal service for safety and security. Postal rates have risen along with the cost of everything else. Postal workers need to eat too. They need a liveable wage and health insurance for their families. We don't understand the adversarial and complaining attitude that many people express for the postal service. You can bet it hurts the feelings of postal workers.
The thing we don't like is having a mail box in front of the house where our mail is exposed to weather, whim and bad intentions. We help our senior neighbor keep the way clear for her postal deliveries in winter. It's a big chore, way beyond her abilities. The inevitable muddy rut forms in front of many a mail box in spring, a dust bowl in summer. We don't want one of those. The inevitable plow boo boo tears the mail box down. We don't want to deal with that trauma. A mail box has to be mowed around, trimmed around. It does not enhance the appearance of property. Try a PO Box, you'll love it. When we are out of town, we know our mail is safe and dry in the post office where it belongs, no calls or special arrangements necessary.
A PO Box is also another layer of defense and insulation against aggressive marketeers and persons with bad intentions. We hope that we don't lose this valuable resource.
Rick and Rae Melloh
Harrington Road, Cornish
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Cornish Flat Post Office
From a business perspective I see the decrease in revenue at least partly contributed due to the hours(new/reduced) the service desk has --- I believe a lot of people use it or would use it more during the hours they are currently closed maybe if they have service desk hours early this would work better – with my work schedule I can not mail something on my way to work or my way home because they are closed for example
I am not sure of the use my non residents, but it might be higher than you would think( is there any data of where the revenue is dropping? More in one category or is it level?
Maybe someone else has some thoughts --- I certainly would not want to see it close but maybe there can be some other adjustments made to help everyone
Kevin Labore
-----------------------------------------------------------
I myself would use it more if they had hours set for the working person. We use the windsor post because its open later, not sure why they would be different but they are. Today I went to get a much needed rushed package only to find out it closed at 12:00pm, my orange card noted that it was closed Saturday which I understand. Spent extra on postage, now I'll have it the same as if I went with regular shipping.
Chris Gilbert
------------------------------------------------
Comment on the post office:
Our mail order business used to ship from
Cornish daily a few years back, but we took
our business to Windsor due to the short hours at Cornish.
- Terrie Scott
-------------------------------------------------------------
I agree that having the post office open early mornings and later in the evening would help. There are a lot of people who use our post office on their commute to and from work. Also, while I am not suggesting a lack of a lunch break for anyone - they lose a lot of business in the middle of the day, too.
Postage is expensive. People are much more likely to use electronic bill pay nowadays. Also, people don't send cards or letters much anymore - when it is faster and cheaper to send an eCard, email or text message. I now they have to make up the difference - but $4.50 for a greeting card is just silly when there are other alternatives - including making my own with Print Shop! I know that I tend to buy stamps one at a time - that s how infrequently I actually mail something.
Kathryn Alves-Labore
-------------------------------------------------------------------
MORE POST OFFICE COMMENTS
I am glad to see that I'm not the only one
affected by the Cornish Post Office's new hours.
It is extremely hard to get to the Cornish Post Office
on my work schedule (which sounds similar
to others work schedule).
I find myself either being late to work or
having to leave early from work or just mailing
from somewhere else, like others.
The Cornish Post Office MUST be seeing a
decrease in sales since the reduced hours
have been in effect.
Would be interesting to see the numbers on that.
-Vickie Parkinson
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As the now retired Postmaster of Plainfield,
I can speak to this issue of hours and revenue.
All the small offices have had their hours cut back
due to loss of revenue and reduction in mail volume.
The only recourse you have to address this issue
is through your US Senators and Congressmen.
They all have in-state offices where aides can help you.
-Deb Johnson
I am not sure of the use my non residents, but it might be higher than you would think( is there any data of where the revenue is dropping? More in one category or is it level?
Maybe someone else has some thoughts --- I certainly would not want to see it close but maybe there can be some other adjustments made to help everyone
Kevin Labore
-----------------------------------------------------------
I myself would use it more if they had hours set for the working person. We use the windsor post because its open later, not sure why they would be different but they are. Today I went to get a much needed rushed package only to find out it closed at 12:00pm, my orange card noted that it was closed Saturday which I understand. Spent extra on postage, now I'll have it the same as if I went with regular shipping.
Chris Gilbert
------------------------------------------------
Comment on the post office:
Our mail order business used to ship from
Cornish daily a few years back, but we took
our business to Windsor due to the short hours at Cornish.
- Terrie Scott
-------------------------------------------------------------
I agree that having the post office open early mornings and later in the evening would help. There are a lot of people who use our post office on their commute to and from work. Also, while I am not suggesting a lack of a lunch break for anyone - they lose a lot of business in the middle of the day, too.
Postage is expensive. People are much more likely to use electronic bill pay nowadays. Also, people don't send cards or letters much anymore - when it is faster and cheaper to send an eCard, email or text message. I now they have to make up the difference - but $4.50 for a greeting card is just silly when there are other alternatives - including making my own with Print Shop! I know that I tend to buy stamps one at a time - that s how infrequently I actually mail something.
Kathryn Alves-Labore
-------------------------------------------------------------------
MORE POST OFFICE COMMENTS
I am glad to see that I'm not the only one
affected by the Cornish Post Office's new hours.
It is extremely hard to get to the Cornish Post Office
on my work schedule (which sounds similar
to others work schedule).
I find myself either being late to work or
having to leave early from work or just mailing
from somewhere else, like others.
The Cornish Post Office MUST be seeing a
decrease in sales since the reduced hours
have been in effect.
Would be interesting to see the numbers on that.
-Vickie Parkinson
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As the now retired Postmaster of Plainfield,
I can speak to this issue of hours and revenue.
All the small offices have had their hours cut back
due to loss of revenue and reduction in mail volume.
The only recourse you have to address this issue
is through your US Senators and Congressmen.
They all have in-state offices where aides can help you.
-Deb Johnson
Saturday, June 20, 2009
To Cornish
You are invited to comment, share, inform, and spread the word.
(But not the bad words, please - this blog is monitored daily)
To add your comment, scroll to the bottom of the text below and click on "comments".
As a start, below are comments first appearing on cornishconnect and then at cornishnh.net:
VERIZON WIRELESS ISSUES
I wondered what other former Unicel customers are experiencing with Verizon. While the Unicel signal around Cornish and Plainfield was marginal, it mostly worked. Even though Verizon took over Unicel's facilities and presumably use the same towers that Unicel had, it seems to us that Verizon is nearly useless around here. There's either no signal at all or it's so weak that the calls are so broken up no one can communicate over them. In addition, the battery life is terrible. All our batteries need charging at least every day, if not twice a day. Verizon tells me this is because the phones are straining so hard for a usable signal.
What are other former Unicel customers doing? Are you sticking with Verizon? Is it usable for you? Does AT&T or Sprint work better than Verizon in Cornish & Plainfield?
Thanks for any info & tips you can share.
brian bmeyette@gmail.com
UNICEL, VERIZON, CELL PHONES & more (from Ray Gentle)
Everything depends. Bear with me as this gets rather long....
There are 2 primary types of cell phones on the market: CDMA [the type of
network used by Verizon (including Alltel now), Sprint and US Cellular] and
GSM [the type of network used by AT&T and TMobile]. Both networks are well supported in major metropolitan areas, but in "rural areas" [as we are
commonly referred to by the cell carriers] Where you use your phone most
often will determine which providers are better for you. Many of the
pre-paid providers [Tracfone, Net10, etc.] sell both type of phones,
although they don't make it easy to distinquish which is which or which will
work best in your area or situation.
Before Unicel sold out to Verizon, as part of the analog to digital
mandatory cell phone conversion, Unicel transitioned from CDMA to GSM. When Unicel told us we had to "upgrade" our old CDMA cell phones [to GSM, their choice not ours], they promised we'd have better service than we had in the past. NOT SO, at least for us! They hadn't even completed converting their towers over to GSM capability at the time. As we travel a lot from
Claremont, through Newport and on out to Sunapee, we lost service in many
places where we had it on a CDMA phone. While we kept the Unicel GSM
phones, I went out and bought a CDMA Tracfone. It seemed like I ALWAYS had service because when one phone said "No Service" the other one worked. When Verizon took over, my wife stayed with Verizon, is now back on a CDMA phone and has service again in places she didn't with the Unicel GSM phone. I kept my CDMA Tracfone and cancelled my Unicel GSM account.
Because CDMA is an older technology, and many cell towers are shared by
various providers, I have found that a CDMA phone works best for the
traveling I do in this area. That may not be the case for you or others
that travel in other directions. It sounds like from your description, you
were probably getting better coverage from the GSM network Unicel had, but that's just a guess. If I'm right, an AT&T or TMobile phone might work
better for you.
As part of the Unicel sale to Verizon, over time, I'd expect Verizon will
use old Unicel tower locations to upgrade their network where coverage is
weak or non-existant [based on service complaints they get from their "new"customers]. In Vermont, Unicel was sold to AT&T, who is busily upgrading the GSM system there under pressure from the state to provide "full"statewide coverage. This should help with GSM coverage in the Upper Valley. Unfortunately, the state of New Hampshire has not been as forceful about requiring cell coverage or high speed internet access for their
constituents. And the local governments are just as responsible for not
requiring at least one CDMA carrier and one GSM carrier on EVERY cell tower that gets siting approval within their town boundaries.
As for battery life, Verizon's description is accurate. The harder your
phone has to work to keep a signal, the more it will drain your batteries.
I experience this when I go to my son's house who has limited cell coverage
at best. My Tracfone won't last a day there but I can go 2 or 3 days in
most other locations, including here, without a recharge.
Hope this provides some education and helps with your decision.
As an aside, I've also been framing remarks for these lists about how I got
Comcast to install cable in our area of Claremont [near the Cornish line]
but I'll save that for another time. Suffice it to say, Comcast's contract
is up for renegotiation in Cornish and Claremont this year and, unless
people speak up by letting their elected officials know they want high speed
internet service, you'll probably be bypassed again. You have power at the
local level to make high speed internet service available, because your
local officials have to sign off on the cable contract, not so with DSL and
the phone company. Speak up and be heard! I'll be glad to lend my
experience to any efforts in Cornish.
Ray Gentle
REPLY TO Ray Gentle's discussion of cell phone coverage --
Ray - you're a treasure -- do you think that you could see your way clear to advising the Town Select Board on the run up to the Contract Renewal
I am sure that if I were one of the Selectbboard I would welcome the assistance of an informed citizen such as yourself.
I am also concerned about the lack of coverage of broad band in Cornish.
I think it is outrageous that we can go year after year without the slightest effort to bring broadband to others than those on main thouroughfares in the Town (and the tributaries thereof -- I realize that lower Dingleton Hill from
the TownHouse Rd up to (some?) houses seems to have been accomplished most recently -- I could be wrong - but I haven't heard of any other
advances in this field of activity since.
John Dryfhout
Cornish
---------------------------------------
One other note on cell phones:
Update your phones regularly (at least once a month)
For Verizon
Dial *228
Option 1 - Updates your phone programming
Option 2 - Updates your roaming capabilities
It will tell you when it is complete and if it was successful and your phone will normal reset (power down and back up)
Option 2 is important when traveling to new areas as well or you phone may not get the coverage(all towers) of a new area.
At Least that is what I have been told.
-Kevin Labore
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