1984
February 1984
Public kindergarten was the big issue in February of 1984. Although most Hollis residents were in favor of providing public kindergarten in Hollis, a few were not and numerous Letters to the Editor on this issue were printed in the February 8 and February 22, 1984 Hollis Times. Although the issue was tabled at the 1984 School District Meeting, at least the process had begun; and public kindergarten was approved in 1985.
1984 was also an election year, and one Presidential hopeful and another Presidential candidate’s wife visited Hollis in February of this year. On February 4, Annie Glenn, wife of Senator John Glenn, presented her husband’s views at a coffee held at the home of Coleen Daly. And on February 14, “a huge crowd” greeted Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Ernest Hollings at the home of Endicott Peabody.
March 1984
In 1984, Hollis Town and School District meetings each lasted one night, as voters addressed the warrant articles at hand quickly and efficiently. The most controversial issue on the Hollis School District warrant, the establishment of public kindergarten, was tabled by the voters. This action, though taken legally and approved by a vote of 214 to 153, disappointed and angered both townspeople and members of the school board, many of whom wrote heated Letters to the Editor in the March 28, 1984 Hollis Times. The $4,354,724 budget that was ultimately passed did not include future possible salary increases to be negotiated by the Hollis School Board and Hollis Education Association, who were at impasse at the time of the meeting.
Voters at the March 14, 1984 Town Meeting tackled a 30-article warrant in one evening, appropriating a total of $1,686,452. Most items were approved; however, a petition item which would have prohibited baseball and frisbee playing in the Town Common was defeated! The Town and school budgets for 1984 totaled a little over $6 million.
April 1984
The front page of the April 11, 1984 Hollis Times featured four photos of the dramatic rescue the previous Sunday of four canoeists stranded in the Nashua River in Hollis, just below Runnells Bridge. According to the account, “Two of four male canoeists from Massachusetts canoeing the Nashua lost their boat in the extremely heavy water brought on by a combination of last week’s downpour and fast melting snows. The two victims were found clinging to two separate trees, one in medium fast water about 25 feet from shore and reachable with difficulty, the other in the middle of the river and totally isolated by fast moving current. Two men in a second canoe were able to reach shore by pulling into a side channel of the river.” Members of the Hollis Police Department were able to rescue the first man by cutting and limbing a pine tree and using it as a bridge to reach the victim. The second canoeist was picked up by two Pepperell firemen in a small aluminum boat. The men were taken to St. Joseph Hospital where they were treated for hypothermia and released.
Everyone who has lived in Hollis for more than a few years knows how spring rains and snowmelt can transform the usually tranquil Nashua River into a raging torrent. In one of the photos, Hollis policeman Steve Chartier is pictured standing in the river (in a wetsuit) with water swirling around his chest! The last sentence in the article warns everyone to “stay out of the Nashua River in Hollis.”
In other news, the Police Building Committee was discussing five possible sites for construction of the new fire station. Three sites – the old fire house, new fire house and the Seager property - were quickly eliminated. At their April 18 meeting, the Board of Selectmen unanimously appointed Richard H. Darling of Wrentham, Mass. as the new Chief of Police for the Town of Hollis. Darling was to assume his duties in early May.
May 1984
May is always a busy month in Hollis, and May 1984 was no exception. In addition to the traditional Garden Club Plant Sale and Friends of the Library Book Sale, which were held on Saturday, May 12, one of the last Firemen’s Dinner Dances took place, on the same day. The dinner dance, a benefit for the Firemen’s Association, featured a roast beef and ham dinner, followed by dancing from 8 to 1, for $15 per person.
Four pictures taken at the May 5 Post Prom Party were featured on the front page of the May 9, 1984 Hollis Times. The May 23 issue announced that the June Jamboree, would “return,” to be held at HES on Saturday, June 2. June Jamboree, which was sponsored by HEP as its major fundraiser, was touted as a “fun-filled, action-packed event for the whole family.” It featured over 20 games; a basketball shoot, three-legged race and a peanut hunt; rides in a fire engine, antique car and hay wagon; food and raffles. Proceeds were earmarked for children’s enrichment programs and projects such as staging for school programs and landscaping at the Hollis Elementary School.
Although the plant and book sales continue as the major fundraisers for the Colonial Garden Club of Hollis and the Friends of the Hollis Library, respectively, HEP has dropped the June Jamboree, apparently in favor of the Halloween Festival. And the Hollis Fireman’s Association no longer sponsors a dinner dance in May but instead holds a giant flea market on the fourth Sunday in June, Hollis Strawberry Festival Day! These events have been well attended by the community and have raised considerable funds for their sponsoring organizations.
August 1984
The front page of the August 22, 1984 Hollis Times announced what many might consider mush more serious and important news – the plans for the new police station. Architectural drawings accompanied an article that presented the Selectmen’s proposal for the purchase and renovation of the 240-year-old “Sundstrom house,” located at the four corners (Routes 122 and 130). This issue also reported on the August 16 public hearing on the proposal, where the Hollis Budget Committee voted 4-3 not to support the project, stating “the overall negative feeling expressed by the public.” The final decision was slated to be made at a special town meeting on September 12.
The other big building proposal being considered by the Town of Hollis in August 1984, this time by the Hollis Planning Board, was a shopping center on Ash Street (the Hollis Village Marketplace). In reporting on this issue, Rob Mitchell quoted planning board member Tom Jambard, who “expressed concern that the shopping center ‘will generate as much traffic as the Nashua Mall’ and stated that the board should study the long-range impact of the development.”
As we all know today, fifteen years later, the renovation project was voted down and the shopping center was built, but without causing the traffic problems predicted by Mr. Jambard.
September 1984
“An emotionally charged Special Town Meeting at the high school on September 12 resulted in rejection of the Board of Selectmen’s proposal to purchase and renovate the Sundstrom property for use as a new Police Station and Communications Center.” Thus began an article in the September 26, 1984 Hollis Times, which went on to announce that the plan had been voted down by a narrow margin of 195 for and 225 against. The defeat of this proposal sent the Police Building Committee back to the drawing board to try to come up with another plan more acceptable to Hollis voters.
Residents of Hollis who have lived in town less than 15 years may not realize that in 1984 the Hollis Police Department was housed in the small, square building located at the west end of the Town Common, the Always Ready Engine House. In the early 1980s, most people agreed that this facility was too small and totally inadequate to be used as a police station. The Fire Department had recently moved its headquarters from the “old fire station,” which was attached to the town hall, to their new building on Glenice Drive; and many felt that the Police Department could occupy this facility as well.
However, the Selectmen did not deem this a feasible solution to the problem. According to the September 12, 1984 Hollis Times, Fire Chief Ken Towne and Department member Don McCoy felt that “expansion of the station to provide room for the Police Department is not possible and adding another building in the immediate area is not economically feasible.” When the Sundstrom property at the northeast corner of the intersection of Routes 122 and 130 became available, some believed that this property could be renovated and used as a police station; however, the majority of the voters who attended the Special Town Meeting on September 12 disagreed, and these 226 voters ultimately made the decision. The Hollis Police Department didn’t move into their current facility on Rte. 122 for several years. Voters approved funds for the land purchase in 1985, architectural fees in 1986, and a $664,000 bond for building construction at the March 1987 Town Meeting.
October 1984
Politics were also in the news of the 1984 issues of the Hollis Times, although the campaigning was more subdued. Since Town Meeting would not be held for another five months, only State elections were coming up in November. Four Hollis residents were vying for two seats to represent Hollis and District 18 in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. Gladys Cox, Tom Stawasz, Frank Whittemore and Chub Peabody all announced their candidacy and asked for the support of Hollis voters in the October 10 and 24, 1984 Hollis Times.
The 1984 election was noteworthy in that New Hampshire voters were being asked to consider thirteen proposed amendments to the New Hampshire Constitution. These amendments were printed in the October 24, 1984 Hollis Times along with a description of the current law and an explanation of how the proposed legislation would affect the Constitution and the people of New Hampshire. The resolutions dealt with the following areas: voter access, state funding, budget footnotes, the size of the Legislature, annual Legislative sessions, age of Senators and Executive Councilors, criminal insanity proceedings, the right to trial by jury, the Governor’s power to prorogue the Legislature, retirement funds for public employees, the length of the Governor’s term of office, Executive Councilor votes, and Gubernatorial succession.
Under the headline “Vote Tuesday, November 6 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.” was printed, “In some countries voting is mandatory. In Australia you are fined if you don’t, in Greece you can’t get a driver’s license and in Italy you can’t get a government job. Because we live in America, we don’t have to vote. But we ought to vote – because we live in America.” Think about it.
Public kindergarten was the big issue in February of 1984. Although most Hollis residents were in favor of providing public kindergarten in Hollis, a few were not and numerous Letters to the Editor on this issue were printed in the February 8 and February 22, 1984 Hollis Times. Although the issue was tabled at the 1984 School District Meeting, at least the process had begun; and public kindergarten was approved in 1985.
1984 was also an election year, and one Presidential hopeful and another Presidential candidate’s wife visited Hollis in February of this year. On February 4, Annie Glenn, wife of Senator John Glenn, presented her husband’s views at a coffee held at the home of Coleen Daly. And on February 14, “a huge crowd” greeted Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Ernest Hollings at the home of Endicott Peabody.
March 1984
In 1984, Hollis Town and School District meetings each lasted one night, as voters addressed the warrant articles at hand quickly and efficiently. The most controversial issue on the Hollis School District warrant, the establishment of public kindergarten, was tabled by the voters. This action, though taken legally and approved by a vote of 214 to 153, disappointed and angered both townspeople and members of the school board, many of whom wrote heated Letters to the Editor in the March 28, 1984 Hollis Times. The $4,354,724 budget that was ultimately passed did not include future possible salary increases to be negotiated by the Hollis School Board and Hollis Education Association, who were at impasse at the time of the meeting.
Voters at the March 14, 1984 Town Meeting tackled a 30-article warrant in one evening, appropriating a total of $1,686,452. Most items were approved; however, a petition item which would have prohibited baseball and frisbee playing in the Town Common was defeated! The Town and school budgets for 1984 totaled a little over $6 million.
April 1984
The front page of the April 11, 1984 Hollis Times featured four photos of the dramatic rescue the previous Sunday of four canoeists stranded in the Nashua River in Hollis, just below Runnells Bridge. According to the account, “Two of four male canoeists from Massachusetts canoeing the Nashua lost their boat in the extremely heavy water brought on by a combination of last week’s downpour and fast melting snows. The two victims were found clinging to two separate trees, one in medium fast water about 25 feet from shore and reachable with difficulty, the other in the middle of the river and totally isolated by fast moving current. Two men in a second canoe were able to reach shore by pulling into a side channel of the river.” Members of the Hollis Police Department were able to rescue the first man by cutting and limbing a pine tree and using it as a bridge to reach the victim. The second canoeist was picked up by two Pepperell firemen in a small aluminum boat. The men were taken to St. Joseph Hospital where they were treated for hypothermia and released.
Everyone who has lived in Hollis for more than a few years knows how spring rains and snowmelt can transform the usually tranquil Nashua River into a raging torrent. In one of the photos, Hollis policeman Steve Chartier is pictured standing in the river (in a wetsuit) with water swirling around his chest! The last sentence in the article warns everyone to “stay out of the Nashua River in Hollis.”
In other news, the Police Building Committee was discussing five possible sites for construction of the new fire station. Three sites – the old fire house, new fire house and the Seager property - were quickly eliminated. At their April 18 meeting, the Board of Selectmen unanimously appointed Richard H. Darling of Wrentham, Mass. as the new Chief of Police for the Town of Hollis. Darling was to assume his duties in early May.
May 1984
May is always a busy month in Hollis, and May 1984 was no exception. In addition to the traditional Garden Club Plant Sale and Friends of the Library Book Sale, which were held on Saturday, May 12, one of the last Firemen’s Dinner Dances took place, on the same day. The dinner dance, a benefit for the Firemen’s Association, featured a roast beef and ham dinner, followed by dancing from 8 to 1, for $15 per person.
Four pictures taken at the May 5 Post Prom Party were featured on the front page of the May 9, 1984 Hollis Times. The May 23 issue announced that the June Jamboree, would “return,” to be held at HES on Saturday, June 2. June Jamboree, which was sponsored by HEP as its major fundraiser, was touted as a “fun-filled, action-packed event for the whole family.” It featured over 20 games; a basketball shoot, three-legged race and a peanut hunt; rides in a fire engine, antique car and hay wagon; food and raffles. Proceeds were earmarked for children’s enrichment programs and projects such as staging for school programs and landscaping at the Hollis Elementary School.
Although the plant and book sales continue as the major fundraisers for the Colonial Garden Club of Hollis and the Friends of the Hollis Library, respectively, HEP has dropped the June Jamboree, apparently in favor of the Halloween Festival. And the Hollis Fireman’s Association no longer sponsors a dinner dance in May but instead holds a giant flea market on the fourth Sunday in June, Hollis Strawberry Festival Day! These events have been well attended by the community and have raised considerable funds for their sponsoring organizations.
August 1984
The front page of the August 22, 1984 Hollis Times announced what many might consider mush more serious and important news – the plans for the new police station. Architectural drawings accompanied an article that presented the Selectmen’s proposal for the purchase and renovation of the 240-year-old “Sundstrom house,” located at the four corners (Routes 122 and 130). This issue also reported on the August 16 public hearing on the proposal, where the Hollis Budget Committee voted 4-3 not to support the project, stating “the overall negative feeling expressed by the public.” The final decision was slated to be made at a special town meeting on September 12.
The other big building proposal being considered by the Town of Hollis in August 1984, this time by the Hollis Planning Board, was a shopping center on Ash Street (the Hollis Village Marketplace). In reporting on this issue, Rob Mitchell quoted planning board member Tom Jambard, who “expressed concern that the shopping center ‘will generate as much traffic as the Nashua Mall’ and stated that the board should study the long-range impact of the development.”
As we all know today, fifteen years later, the renovation project was voted down and the shopping center was built, but without causing the traffic problems predicted by Mr. Jambard.
September 1984
“An emotionally charged Special Town Meeting at the high school on September 12 resulted in rejection of the Board of Selectmen’s proposal to purchase and renovate the Sundstrom property for use as a new Police Station and Communications Center.” Thus began an article in the September 26, 1984 Hollis Times, which went on to announce that the plan had been voted down by a narrow margin of 195 for and 225 against. The defeat of this proposal sent the Police Building Committee back to the drawing board to try to come up with another plan more acceptable to Hollis voters.
Residents of Hollis who have lived in town less than 15 years may not realize that in 1984 the Hollis Police Department was housed in the small, square building located at the west end of the Town Common, the Always Ready Engine House. In the early 1980s, most people agreed that this facility was too small and totally inadequate to be used as a police station. The Fire Department had recently moved its headquarters from the “old fire station,” which was attached to the town hall, to their new building on Glenice Drive; and many felt that the Police Department could occupy this facility as well.
However, the Selectmen did not deem this a feasible solution to the problem. According to the September 12, 1984 Hollis Times, Fire Chief Ken Towne and Department member Don McCoy felt that “expansion of the station to provide room for the Police Department is not possible and adding another building in the immediate area is not economically feasible.” When the Sundstrom property at the northeast corner of the intersection of Routes 122 and 130 became available, some believed that this property could be renovated and used as a police station; however, the majority of the voters who attended the Special Town Meeting on September 12 disagreed, and these 226 voters ultimately made the decision. The Hollis Police Department didn’t move into their current facility on Rte. 122 for several years. Voters approved funds for the land purchase in 1985, architectural fees in 1986, and a $664,000 bond for building construction at the March 1987 Town Meeting.
October 1984
Politics were also in the news of the 1984 issues of the Hollis Times, although the campaigning was more subdued. Since Town Meeting would not be held for another five months, only State elections were coming up in November. Four Hollis residents were vying for two seats to represent Hollis and District 18 in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. Gladys Cox, Tom Stawasz, Frank Whittemore and Chub Peabody all announced their candidacy and asked for the support of Hollis voters in the October 10 and 24, 1984 Hollis Times.
The 1984 election was noteworthy in that New Hampshire voters were being asked to consider thirteen proposed amendments to the New Hampshire Constitution. These amendments were printed in the October 24, 1984 Hollis Times along with a description of the current law and an explanation of how the proposed legislation would affect the Constitution and the people of New Hampshire. The resolutions dealt with the following areas: voter access, state funding, budget footnotes, the size of the Legislature, annual Legislative sessions, age of Senators and Executive Councilors, criminal insanity proceedings, the right to trial by jury, the Governor’s power to prorogue the Legislature, retirement funds for public employees, the length of the Governor’s term of office, Executive Councilor votes, and Gubernatorial succession.
Under the headline “Vote Tuesday, November 6 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.” was printed, “In some countries voting is mandatory. In Australia you are fined if you don’t, in Greece you can’t get a driver’s license and in Italy you can’t get a government job. Because we live in America, we don’t have to vote. But we ought to vote – because we live in America.” Think about it.