VOLUME 33, NUMBER 25 NOVEMBER 13, 2008 FREE THE WEEKLY NEWS & LIFESTYLE JOURNAL OF MT. WASHINGTON VALLEY Building Green: The former Grange/ Historical Society building in Tamworth has undergone an extreme green makeover ... A 10 Sports Spotlight: It’s been an exciting week for Kennett High School’s sports teams... B13 MAILING LABEL A SALMON PRESS PUBLICATION • (603) 447-6336 • PUBLISHED IN CONWAY, NH On Second Thought An Election for the Ages New America — Politics through the Looking Glass By Steven Caming remind ourselves that each and every Republicans started evoking Teddy Contributing Writer one of us are part of this body politic — Roosevelt. ‘ ‘ AND SO IT IS DONE. a living part of a living organism that Having grown up in Republican New We, the people, have spoken in no isn’t the sum of our ideologies, but is our York and as a lifelong student of the life uncertain terms and history begins anew. home and shared destiny. and works of Theodore Roosevelt, it We awoke last week in a fundamen- Did we vote for a man or a symbol? could be figuratively said I “know” TR tally different America, like Dorothy The president must be both and in both and this Republican party has not and Tis the Season stepping into Oz and seeing a world of cases, must reflect not only themselves, does not represent the values of TR — color for the first time. but our national character. Perhaps it is trust busting, conservation, This wasn’t just an election, it was a because so few of us have felt we were International leadership and diplomacy. for national discussion — a referendum of considered in the past eight years that a TR solved the Russo-Japanese war and our values and our visions of the world change of such magnitude was possible. won the Nobel Peace Prize vs. the likely and our place in it. Considering that the For many of us too young to remem- war crimes committed during Bush Angels & Elves future was at stake, it seems apropos that ber, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther administration. I took my daughter Jess for her first King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy weren’t The Republican party will reshape presidential vote and was then on the men, they were history lessons, exem- itself, in all likelihood with less evangel- The Kiwanis Club of Mount phone with her in her dorm room at plars of ideals that have finally moved ical fervor, which will eventually again UNH on election night when Barack from a conceptual framework into reali- blur the lines between liberal Washington Valley has opened Obama was announced as the next pres- ty. Somehow, the spirits of all those who Republicans and conservative the new Elf Headquarters at ident…it felt like handing her a better came before are part of this — they are Democrats. tomorrow. the connective tissue to the past, who But America the ideal, America the Settlers Corner (next to We can all add this one to the list of join us proclaiming, not in theory, but in most glorious experiment in representa- history making moments we’ve lived practice, that “all men are created tive democracy in the history of Staples) in North Conway to through and though it will recede in equal.” mankind — THAT America, has reared help ensure that all the chil- grandeur with time, it will ever remain a But even with the magnitude of the its beautiful head and collectively roared turning point. For President-elect issues facing us, and the obviously failed in a way that will echo through history. dren in our community have a Obama has already accomplished the policies of the current administration, It’s quite possible this has been the near impossible — to remind us that there were still 50 million Americans most corrupt administration in U.S. his- good Christmas. politics is more than just a blood sport who voted for a continuation of tory, the true extent of which may never between competing ideologies fought by Republican leadership. This is some- be known due to the pre-emptive execu- men and women in suits. This campaign what disturbing, as our economy is tive orders which sealed Bush presiden- and election has been a clarion call to already on life-support. And then the tial papers. Individuals and businesses can sponsor children in the Angels & Elves program by calling 356-8710, or by stopping at Elf Headquarters. Parents and guardians can complete children registration forms at Elf Headquarters. Elf Headquarters at Settlers Corner (next to Staples) currently is open from noon to 4pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; and will be open from 11am to 4pm daily from December 1 to December 20. To sponsor a child or make a donation, contact Angels & Elves: Phone 356-8710, www.angelsandelves.org, PO Box 3053 North Conway, NH 03860 On the Cover Inside Index The Story (Land) of Porky Gulch Going totally ‘green’ Arts & Entertainment..............Page B1 Southern Slope Builders in Tamworth Great Glen Trails hosted a weekend of Calendar...................................Page B4 mountain bike racing on Saturday and have completed the renovation and Sunday, Nov. 8 and 9. Saturday’s race rebuilding of the former Grange Hall in Entertainment..........................Page B6 took place on the Mt. Washington Auto Tamworth as a thoroughly ‘green’ build- On the Rockpile.....................Page B11 Road, but Sunday’s events began at ing for ARTS Inc. Page A10 Nooks & Crannies.................Page B10 Story Land in Glen, where racers sped It’s the craft fair time of year North Country Notebook.....Page B12 603-383-4186 through and around the many story Several craft shows will be held on upcom- Rt. 16, Glen, NH 03838 book settings in the beloved children’s ing weekends, so don’t miss the chance to Real Estate .............................Page A14 theme park. Page A6 pick up some truly unique gifts! Page B1 Sports ..............................Pages B13-15 www.storylandnh.com (Karen Stancik Photo) Page A2 - The Mountain Ear, Thursday, November 13, 2008 But it must be granted that only because the abuses of power were so extreme, were enough Americans moved to action in reaction. Just as the excesses of clear cutting and “cut out and get out” logging in the White Mountains caused a public out- cry that led to the Weeks Act in 1911 and the establishment of the WMNF, so have the excesses of the last eight Republican-led years led to the broad and universal call for change. This change could never, in truth, have been made by the same political party that created the problem to begin with. So, to my fellow Americans here and around the nation who voted for hope instead of fear, thank you. And we can be justly proud of the message sent to the international com- munity — that we don’t support what has been done in our name — that we can be more open than our leaders, less hostile and when given the chance, can elect the angels of our better nature. ON A TRIP TO ENGLAND A few years ago I visited Dover castle — the sign proclaimed “2000 years of his- tory” and I thought of the stark contrast to America’s 200 or so years … and yet (File photo by Edith Tucker/Salmon Press) after getting it so wrong with slavery, we finally have gotten it right and come to thrived through the centuries, when not a place where the content of a man’s will be pro-choice and anti-war, and Baptists, virtually 100 percent of all tele- backsliding into religious zealotry, cru- character is more important than the sades, genocide or isolationism and color of his skin. we’re going to want all our citizens back vangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones xenophobia. I am an American and Barack Obama from Iraq at once. University, Clemson and the University Hopefully, we don’t have to wait for is my president. He is your president, another generation to pass away in order too, whether you voted for him or not. With the Blue States in hand, we will of Georgia. to leave the pain and hatred of racial big- And right now we all need each other to have firm control of 80 percent of the We get Hollywood and Yosemite, otry behind…hopefully it is not simply make this work, to make the idea of this the human condition to always find nation one that reflects the face we all country’s fresh water, more than 90 per- thank you. some difference to exploit and diminish see in the mirror — an American face in others to enrich or aggrandize oneself. an America that looks just like the rest cent of the pineapple and lettuce, 92 per- Additionally, 38 percent of those in My children are indeed growing up in of the world…just like Oz. cent of the nation’s fresh fruit, 95 percent the Red states believe Jonah was actually a new cultural landscape — and their It is a new New America, but to look kids will come of age in a world beyond at the electoral map, we still seem divid- of America’s quality wines, 90 percent of swallowed by a whale, 62 percent believe our imagination — as the world we live ed into red and blue and I still don’t in would be unimaginable to those a understand what makes us so different. I all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech life is sacred unless we’re discussing the century ago. Suddenly it seems the kept trying to find some theme that industry, most of the U.S.