New Hampshire
From the Garden State to the Granite State – The Boston Globe
“It feels kind of weird,” I said, barely one month into living in the Granite State. “It’s been me. It’s been who I am.”
She looked me in the eye and said, “You’re very brave.”
She was not the first to call me brave. She was not the last to say it, to write it in a card. But I was on autopilot since I received an inviting job offer a few days before Christmas. There was much to do.
The pandemic, I quickly learned, transformed an affordable real estate market in the Granite State to the Wild West of home buying or renting an apartment — the same story as the rest of the country: no inventory and skyrocketing prices. Still, no match for Ginger, my high school friend who was like an English pointer, doggedly scouring housing websites for me for weeks, until she reached a breakthrough and found a new listing. I needed a decent place to land. Check. Pet-friendly. Check.
Over text, I was introduced to a future colleague who FaceTimed me during a walk-through so I could see the apartment. By Jan. 8, I was setting up the electric utility account for my apartment, situated between the Lakes Region and the gateway to the White Mountains.
It took awhile before I understood what that meant, the beauty, the majesty, the isolation.
Dodging New Hampshire snowstorms, I moved in on Jan.12, with a job-start date of the 15th.
I left the Garden State with a friend who lovingly packed a 12-foot trailer with several pieces of furniture that would make this one-bedroom galley apartment home. I left my childhood home in the hands of friends who would caretake the last place where my family had been a family and help offset the cost of expenses. I left my neighborhood with the tears and hugs of neighbors. I knew this house. I knew this town, this state, these roads. Eventually, living in the day-to-day of New Hampshire, when the boxes were unpacked and the furniture shaped a home, I came to realize that I left familiarity, and recognizing that held its own kind of emptiness.
There are things that my small and unpretentious wardrobe never imagined, like fleece-lined pants or NASA-technology down jackets. Their warmth and comfort do not eclipse my sense of what it must feel like to be an astronaut wearing a diaper. And the boots. Oh, the many boots.
Adjusting to winter seemed frivolous compared to driving an hour to shop at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. Two hours to Costco was like Christmas. I was shopping for familiar comforts. Some days, just deciding which boots to wear and leaving the apartment and getting on roads without cell service seemed brave. For this suburban kid who has always lived a stone’s throw away from Manhattan, driving on dirt and densely wooded roads is not natural.
And when mud season arrived, like the day I found myself unintentionally off-roading — seriously, some people do this for recreation? — it was nothing short of terrifying. I have never seen mud tracks that were somewhere between six inches and “We’re sinking.”
Would the SOS button in my Subaru work? Would anyone find me if something happened? There was no place to turn. I understood one thing: Keep the car moving forward. It was time for X-mode, a feature that I had never before used but was willing to trust. It felt at once like I was an action figure clawing the earth and Captain Kirk commanding the Starship Enterprise. Oddly exhilarated and terrified, I steered the Subaru up over the mountain. Not bad for a flatlander. I felt something akin to courage.
As my days and months in New Hampshire pass — now just shy of eight months — there have been other mettle detectors, like the nine-hour drive home from what now plays like an adventure movie: Escape from the Eclipse. On the winding, wooded roads where I have learned to trust my companion, the British GPS man, my once-sheer panic is mostly a diluted nervousness. It lasts for a moment, while I mentally review whether I have water, coffee, or food in the car. But then I hear myself: We’re OK. Everything is OK. And I go back to listening to my book on tape. Or I see the sun filtering through the richly forested areas, the elegant, feathery ferns, the impressive rock walls, and I see the elements as the forces they are: self-assured, nonthreatening.
Through snow or mist, the mountains — set against the greening of the trees, the painted clouds, and big sky — carry a nobility. Breathing in the expansive landscapes that brim with possibilities, I cannot help but feel that too. And the move that brought me, a writer, to live and work in this rural, sometimes remote area of New Hampshire has shown me that courage comes in bits and opportunities.
“You’re very brave,” she said.
Yes. I now know what she means.
Mary Ann D’Urso is a freelance writer.
New Hampshire
N.H. lawmakers to vote on increasing tolls, civil rights, and k-12 education – The Boston Globe
One proposal (Senate Bill 627) would generate more than $53 million per year in estimated revenue for turnpike projects by essentially doubling what certain cars pay on the state’s toll roads.
The cash fare for Hampton’s main toll booth on Interstate 95, for example, would jump from $2 to $4 for cars and pickup trucks. The toll wouldn’t increase at all for motorists who use New Hampshire’s E-ZPass transponders.
“Surrounding states already have the same in-state discount structure in place,” Democratic Representative Martin Jack of Nashua wrote on behalf of a House committee that unanimously recommended the bill.
A potential hitch: Governor Kelly Ayotte. She’s expressed opposition to the whole toll-hiking idea, and proven she’s not afraid to use her veto pen.
Modifying civil rights standard
Another proposal (Senate Bill 464) would add a few words to the state’s Civil Rights Act. Instead of addressing conduct that is merely “motivated by” a legally protected characteristic, the proposed revision would address conduct that is “substantially motivated by hostility towards the victim’s” protected characteristic (such as their race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, or disability).
The prime sponsor, Republican Senator Daryl Abbas, an attorney, testified the change was small and aligned with the law’s intent. But the attorney who oversees the Civil Rights Unit at the New Hampshire Department of Justice, Sean Locke, testified in opposition, saying the proposal could reduce protections, especially since the meaning of “substantially” is somewhat vague.
The House is also weighing a proposed amendment that would add a few more words than Abbas’s version, potentially narrowing the Civil Rights Act’s applicability a bit further.
Open enrollment for K-12 schools
A third proposal up for a vote on Thursday (Senate Bill 101) would make every K-12 public school in New Hampshire an “open enrollment” school. That way, students could freely choose to transfer to a district other than the one where they live.
The proposed policy is controversial, partly because of how schools are funded. Districts rely mostly on local property taxes to cover their costs, as the state government chips in relatively little, and property tax rates vary widely from one community to the next. That generates concern about who will foot the bill when a student transfers.
In light of those concerns, Republicans are offering a compromise amendment to SB 101 that would require the state to provide more money per pupil that a district receives via open enrollment, as the New Hampshire Bulletin reported. Democrats are offering their own amendment to establish a study commission on this topic, rather than adopt the proposed policy now.
Lawmakers have until May 14 to take action on the bills that came from the other chamber, though they have until June 4 to iron out any discrepancies.
Amanda Gokee of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
This story appears in Globe NH | Morning Report, a free email newsletter focused on New Hampshire, including great coverage from the Boston Globe and links to interesting articles elsewhere. Sign up here.
Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter.
Boston MedFlight often touches down at the scene of some of the worst tragedies in New England – where minutes can mean life or death for a victim. The critical care transport operation is now expanding with a new base in New Hampshire.
The organization is hosting an open house at the new Manchester location on Thursday.
Boston MedFlight flies a critical care transport paramedic and nurse on every flight. Jaik Hanley-McCarthy says their helicopters and ground vehicles are equipped to handle just about any emergency medical procedure.
“Anything that can be done in the ICU,” explained Hanley-McCarthy. “We have a mobile lab so we can draw blood and run labs in real time.”
Boston MedFlight now has five bases across the region.
“Having a base in Manchester just expands this Boston-level care even further north to the more remote areas of the state,” said Hanley-McCarthy.
Boston MedFlight operates as a network of bases and some of the locations are staffed 24 hours.
Chief Executive Officer Maura Hughes says the nonprofit operation survives on public and private donations.
“We provide about $7 million in free care every year to patients,” said Hughes. “Not every hospital can be everything to every patient. We’re really the glue that keeps the health care system together.”
Heather Young says her daughter, Teighan, is still alive because she was flown for a critical assessment and procedure after falling off a truck and hitting her head.
“She should not be driving and walking and talking and all the things she’s doing as quickly as she is,” said Young.
Teighan just turned 18 and plans to go to college to study the medical field.
“I want to be a nurse and help other people,” she said.
It’s stories like this that keep the men and women who work Boston MedFlight focused on their mission.
“I think we just go call by call and try to do the best we can,” said Hanley-McCarthy. “I think when we stop and truly think about it, I think that weight is pretty heavy.”
Boston MedFlight also has a yearly reunion where patients and the team get together here in Bedford to meet and check in on their progress. It really shows you how connected they are to the people they help.
New Hampshire
Hiker who set out in warm spring weather found dead after snowstorm in New Hampshire mountains
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A Massachusetts hiker who set out in warm spring weather was found dead deep in New Hampshire’s White Mountains after a snowstorm dumped several inches of snow in the area, authorities said.
Kent Wood, 61, of West Roxbury, was discovered Tuesday evening on a remote section of the Kinsman Pond Trail in Franconia Notch, about 5.5 miles from his vehicle, according to New Hampshire Fish and Game.
Wood had driven to Franconia Notch on April 17 for a weekend camping and hiking trip, and set out on a hike the next morning in warm, clear weather, officials said. Family and friends last heard from him Saturday afternoon.
When he failed to return or make contact for two days, officials said relatives reported him missing Tuesday morning, prompting a large-scale search.
HIKER IDENTIFIED, POPULAR TRAIL CLOSED AFTER DEADLY FALL A UTAH’S ZION NATIONAL PARK
An aerial view of Franconia Notch State Park in New Hampshire, where a hiker was found dead on Tuesday. (Joseph Sohm/Universal Images Group, File)
Rescuers quickly learned Wood had packed for mild conditions, not the three to five inches of snow that fell in the area between Sunday and Monday.
Fog hovers over a narrow road through Franconia Notch in the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire on Dec. 27, 2021. (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis)
Search teams from Fish and Game, PEMI Valley Search and Rescue, and the Army National Guard launched a coordinated effort, focusing on the Lonesome Lake and Kinsman Pond areas.
FAMILY’S SPRING BREAK HIKE TURNS INTO LIFE-OR-DEATH RESCUE AFTER PARENT FALLS 70 FEET OFF UTAH CLIFF
Conservation officers located Wood’s body around 7:41 p.m. Tuesday. Crews carried him out overnight, reaching the trailhead shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday.
Franconia Notch and the Appalachian Trail are seen in New Hampshire on Sept. 21. (Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images)
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Since Friday, six hikers from Massachusetts have been rescued in the White Mountains, Fish and Game said.
Officials are reminding hikers that winter conditions still grip the mountains, with snow, freezing temperatures and rapidly changing weather.
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