THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2011
VOL. 20 NO. 141
BERLIN, N.H.
752-5858
FREE
Gorham sixth graders Funding to open prison expected to pass this week go 21st century in Jan. BY BARBARA TETREAULT THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
BERLIN -- U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen said legislation that includes funding to open the federal prison in Berlin is expected to be passed by Congress and signed by President Obama this week. She said that will pave the way for hiring to begin this year. “Within the next couple of weeks we expect to be in the hiring process,” said Shaheen, in a telephone interview yesterday afternoon. Shaheen said she is confident funding to open the prison will pass this week because the package includes not only funding for the departments of Agriculture, Commerce,
Justice, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development but a continuing resolution that will allow the federal government to operate until Dec. 16. If the measure does not pass, the federal government will be forced to shut down on Nov. 18 when the current continuing resolution expires. “This is excellent news for the North Country and New Hampshire. The Berlin prison will provide a $40 million economic boost to a community that really needs it,” Shaheen said. Construction of the $276 million prison has been completed for a year and a warden and limited staff are on-site. But the facility has not opened because Congress failed to see FUNDING page 6
BY GAIL SCOTT THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
RANDOLPH — Gorham Middle School sixth graders will have android tablet computers to work on in a pilot program starting this January, Gorham Middle High School Principal Keith Parent told the Gorham/ Randolph/Shelburne Cooperative School Board at their meeting in Randolph Tuesday. “In the last few years I’ve been curious about giving a class of kids a computer as their own for a few years to see the effect on learning, but the stars were never aligned,” Parent told the board. “We never had the grants to do what we wanted or a class the right size, but this past year (a grant came through) and combined with 28 in the sixth grade and Verizon’s leasing program, it seemed like the alignment was in place at last. We brought in the Verizon people to see what their program was like.” The upshot is that Parent and Information Technology Direc-
tor Rob Malloy discovered that the school could get New Hampshire pricing on 35 android tablets for the sixth grade to use, all financed by the grant. “We chose tablets over notebooks because the tablet gives the teachers some additional aps that are free with the Google backbone,” said Malloy. “(The students) don’t need to save (their work) on a pc. They can put it on the cloud. It’s a smaller portable, like an iPad, with a 3G network, and it’s not on our infrastructure. It goes right to the cloud and homework can be done on them. They’re small, simple and easy.” Teachers will get their tablets this week so they have time to get used to the technology. Verizon is expected to offer training on the devices. Parent said that on Monday he had observed the sixth graders in Milan who have netbooks. “It was very exciting. One computer, one kid,” he said. Evidently the class was learnsee 21ST CENTURY page 9
Police seek public’s help BY MELISSA GRIMA THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
John A. McDowell, M.D.
Dr. McDowell to retire from clinic practice BERLIN -- Coos County Family Health Services last week announced the retirement of Dr. John A. McDowell, one of the founding members of the family medical practice in Gorham, NH. CCFHS honored his commitment to rural medicine Saturday night, November 5, at the annual awards ceremony for employees at the Town and
Country Inn and Resort. Dr. McDowell will see patients until December 29, in the Gorham medical office. He will continue his position as care management director at the Androscoggin Valley Hospital. Dr. McDowell first arrived in 1974 as a commissioned officer in the National Health see MCDOWELL page 9
BERLIN – A little vigilance is all it may take to catch a robber. Although tips have been coming in from the public regarding the possible identity of the bank robber who struck in Berlin this week, police are asking for help from merchants as well. Det. Rich Plourde of the Berlin Police Department is asking local merchants to share information on any suspicious purchases. Plourde said cashiers and shopkeepers should make note of purchases that are paid for with $50 or $100 bills. The purchases could be large or small and could be made by either
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a male or female, Plourde said. What’s important is that police are notified at 7523131. Since the investigation is ongoing, Plourde would not comment further on details regarding the robbery or the robber. It is unknown if police believe there was an accomplice, or whether they have other information regarding the identity of the robber. Plourde said he recognized that police were casting a wide net, but just asked that merchants contact police when they encounter large bills for now. “We‘re probably going to get inundated with calls but it is what it is right now,” he said.
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