Polka-Dot House May Be Changing Color
July 21, 2008
When Jason Reynolds gives directions to his family’s apartment, he just tells them to look for the polka-dot house.
“It’s easy to let people know where we live,” joked the 33-year-old father of five whose family moved into the funky apartment house at 242 Main St. six months ago.
Time has taken its toll on Paul Gatchell’s crazy paint job, but the 19th-century two-family house is still drawing stares, especially from newcomers to town who don’t know the story behind the building known to most as simply “the polka-dot house.”
It’s been almost 15 years since Gatchell painted his apartment house a bright desert orange with purple polka dots and crayon green trim, all to get back at a neighbor who opposed his plan to store his trucks, a trailer and other equipment for his business on the property.
Over the years, the house has become a local landmark. People still drive by to check it out when they hear about it, and many refer to the house when giving directions.
But the landmark that’s had so many people talking may soon get a makeover that most likely won’t include outrageous bright colors and polka dots.
Gatchell said the paint is peeling and the house needs a fresh coat. But he’s not sure what the color would be. He doesn’t even know if he wants to repaint.
Epping Family Grateful for Asthma Support of State Organization
July 21, 2008
The Council for Children and Adolescents with Chronic Health Conditions changed the lives of the St. Clair family forever.
Shelley and Phil St. Clair’s son Coby, now 8, was diagnosed with severe asthma when he was 2½ years old. When a respiratory specialist requested Coby be put on a nebulizer, a device used to administer medication in forms of a liquid mist to the airways, the family became fearful as to what the future held.
Air pollution concentrations are expected to reach unhealthy levels in Hillsborough and Rockingham Counties on Friday, July 18. State officials are calling for an Air Quality Action Day and advise sensitive individuals to take precautions. One out of six children in New Hampshire have a chronic illness.
Shelley, an asthma patient herself, and Phil said caught wind of the Council for Children and Adolescents with Chronic Health Conditions (CCACHC) by reading a newspaper article in July 2003 and called for help. “It changed my life,” Shelley said.
Full story from Lauren Dello Russo.
Eppology
July 3, 2008
Epping often gets a bad rap. With its mega Wal-Mart blotting out the skyline and its resident killer Sheila LaBarre stealing the headlines, it’s easy to overlook the town’s more positive qualities. Among the positives Epping has produced are the indie pop rockers of Murkádee. This quirky quintet has serious Epping pride, and they’ve anthologized their hometown with their third full-length release, “Eppology.”
Guitarist and keyboardist Joseph K Murphy and clarinetist DeLaine Bennett combine their distinctive and earnest vocals to mold the Murkádee sound. The pair began recording together in 2003, releasing “Chain Jing Mines” and later following up with “A Spectral View.” The new disc perpetuates the band’s totally unique, candy-coated sound with jubilant songwriting and bouncy, rhyming lyrics.
Joining the core duo is Murkádee’s live entourage, consisting of The Attic Bat on drums, Jon Briggs on bass and Steve Dunleavy on saxophone. The album starts off with an engaging bang on “14 Steps,” which begins with a soft piano melody that quickly explodes into a guitar and keyboard driven burst of euphoria.
Read the full story from Matt Kanner in The Wire.
Could The Epping Murders Have Been Prevented?
July 3, 2008
Carolyn Lodge said she had concerns about her son’s relationship with Sheila LaBarre from the very beginning. Reached by phone last week, days after LaBarre was sentenced to life in prison without parole for murdering Lodge’s son, Kenneth Countie, Lodge said she had worried for her son’s safety while he was with LaBarre.
Although she was glad to see her son’s murderer brought to justice and held responsible for her crimes, it doesn’t ease the pain of her loss. “I was happy with the outcome, but it should have been done years ago,” Lodge said. “It won’t bring my son back.”
On June 20, a Rockingham County Superior Court jury found that LaBarre was sane when she murdered Countie in 2006 and Michael Deloge in 2005, foiling her defense team’s efforts to show that she was not guilty by reason of insanity. But the defense plans to file an appeal, and the case is likely to drag on for more than a year.
Defense attorney Jeffrey Denner maintains that LaBarre was insane when she murdered the two ex-boyfriends on her Epping farm. “Sheila LaBarre was crazy. Sheila LaBarre was insane,” he said during a phone interview last week. “These are not the acts of a rational person.”
Full story from Matt Kanner in The Wire.
