Bonnie Hudspeth of Keene buys local organic eggs at the Hannah Grimes store on Main Street in downtown Keene after walking through a rain storm. Hudspeth works for a non-profit organization, the Keene Downtown Group. The Group's mission is to make downtown Keene better. Downtown Keene is walk-able and is full of locally owned businesses. Suburban Keene is dominated by cars, Wal-Mart, and other chain stores. For details, call Hudspeth at 603-352-0900. More info on the egg store is at www.HannahGrimes.com

photo by Eesha Williams

Pisgah State Park is the biggest state park in New Hampshire. It's a 10 minute drive from both Brattleboro and Keene, and is just a few miles from Massachusetts. On June 8, the New Hampshire Parks Advisory Council released a proposed plan that placed Pisgah State Park in a class which, among other choices for alternative management, includes "disposal," the so-called “C” list.

There will be public hearings, but not in Keene. The closest is in Peterborough:

June 23, 4 p.m.

Peterborough Town Hall
1 Grove Street
Peterborough, NH

There is also the opportunity for written comment:

Negotiations between the Northampton teachers and the school board are heating up. The teachers belong to a union www.nea.org Mayor Clare Higgins asked the workers to forgo previously negotiated pay raises for next year.

On June 16, voters in Northampton will decide on the so-called “Proposition 2½ override,” which will affect the city’s budget.

The National Priorities Project www.nationalpriorities.org is a nation-wide non-profit based in Northampton. According to the group’s web site, the Iraq war had cost American taxpayers $790 billion as of October 2008.

From the Keene Sentinel: A hungry young black bear ripped open a homeless man’s tent Tuesday (May 26) and chased him through the woods in Keene, according to wildlife officials. The local man, identified as Dave Kolek, was not injured during the incident. Kolek wears tattered clothing, has a thick beard and long hair and is known by an array of nicknames, including “Tarzan” and “Jumanji.”

The bear tore open Kolek’s tent, which was located in a wooded area near the intersection of Main Street and Route 101, shortly after 10:30 a.m., N.H. Fish and Game Officer Josiah Towne said.

New Hampshire Governor John Lynch said on May 22 he would veto the legislature’s effort to raise gas taxes. The House’s budget includes a 15 cent increase in the gas tax. The tax would raise $44 million next year.

Gas in Europe is more than twice the price of gas in the U.S. because of taxes. The tax money is used to create train networks, bicycle paths, and other transportation alternatives that work much better than in the U.S.

Taxes in France make up about 70 percent of the price of gas. In the U.S., it's less than 20 percent.

A major water main broke at around 3 a.m. on May 8 in downtown Keene leaving residents with no water or low water pressure. Water and Sewer Superintendent Joseph W. Tonweber told the Keene Sentinel that the collapse “blew a big hole in the street." The crater reached from a sidewalk fence to the middle of the road, he said.

Steve Chase lives in Keene, where he is director of Antioch University’s program in Environmental Advocacy.

Food co-ops keep consumers’ money in the local community, unlike chain supermarkets like Stop and Shop or Price Chopper. The Greenfield food co-op opened in 1980; the Brattleboro one, also in business for decades, is the size of a small supermarket.