Don’t miss the reports of telephone and e-mail scams at the bottom of this week’s news.

Jaret W. Armstrong, a Grantham resident and seventh grader at Lebanon Middle School, won the 2013 Lebanon Middle School Spelling Bee and will represent that school at the state spelling bee March 2 in Concord. Jaret, 12, is the son of Dave Armstrong. Good luck, Jaret!

Remember: I before E except after C unless sounding like A as in "neighbor" and "weigh." But I’m sure you’ve got this all tied up.

The filing period for town and school offices is open through Feb. 1. File for town positions at the Town Clerk’s Office and for the school district positions at the SAU Office, each during regular hours. Additionally, each office will be open until 5 p.m. Feb. 1 for last minute filings.

The following town positions will be open:

Selectman 3-year term

Planning Board 3-year term

Town Clerk/Tax Collector 3-year term

Trustee of the Trust Funds 3-year term

Cemetery Trustee 3-year term

Trustee of the Dunbar Free Library 3-year term, 2 positions

The following school district positions will be open:

Moderator 1-year term
District Clerk 1- year term
Treasurer 1-year term
School Board member 3-year term

 

A Meet the Candidates Night will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28 in the lower level meeting room at Grantham Town Hall.

The annual school meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. March 5 in the school gym. Election of Town and School Officers will be 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. March 12. Town Meeting will be held in the evening of March 12.

The Grantham United Methodist Church will host the following events that are open to everyone:
Saturday, Feb 2 at 6 p.m.: Community potluck dinner. Bring a dish to share.
Saturday, Feb. 16: Community dinner. Donations will be accepted for the Lebanon United Methodist Church Haiti Mission Project. For more information, contact ftanen@comcast.net.

"Vegas" is the theme of the 97^th annual Newport Winter Carnival, being held Feb. 3-10. Complete information at www.newportwintercarnival.org.

The second session of ZUMBAtomics is in full swing, but it’s not too late to sign up. This program is for all children in grades 1-7; they do not need to be students at Grantham Village School. Classes are from 3:15- 4 p.m. Mondays until April 15 in the GVS gym. The cost of the session is $50/child and 10% goes to the Grantham Parent Teacher Group (GPTG). Contact Angie Shonts at 704-214-2271 with questions.

The Grantham School Board will hold a public hearing beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5 in the school cafeteria to discuss the 2013-14 district budget proposal. Find a link to the budget proposal at www.grantham.k12.nh.us/sau__75/budget_2013-14.

Snowdusters meet Feb. 5

The Blue Mountain Snowdusters ORC will hold a regular club meeting at 7 p.m. Feb. 5 at the Grantham Town Hall.

The Grantham Board of Selectmen will hold a public budget hearing on the proposed 2013-2014 budget beginning at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6 at the Grantham Town Hall, lower level meeting room.

The Friday, Feb. 8 meeting of the Grantham Garden Club will feature a presentation by Thelma Hewitt about wildflowers, woodland flower gardens and native plants in rock gardens. The social portion of the meeting begins at 9:30 a.m.; the business portion at 10; and the presentation at 10:30. The club meets at Grantham Town Hall, and the meeting is open to the public.

Get ready for golf season at Eastman Golf Links Open House from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9 at The Center at Eastman. Get a look at just-released Taylor Made Golf and Adams Golf equipment, get some instructional pointers from Golf Pro Mark Larrabee, get information on 2013 membership options and learn about the 2013 leagues and groups, and much more. There will be raffles and door prizes, too. Free to everyone.

Brain Buster Trivia will return to Bistro Nouveau beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9 at The Center at Eastman. Kathy Pomer returns with a fun evening of anything-but-trivial competition. Bring a team of 2 to 6 players, choose a name and find out how much you know about everything and nothing. Free. Cash bar and Bistro menu available. Call for reservations, 863-8000.

Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon continues its 21^st year Sunday, Feb. 10 with vocalist David Scott, who is participating in JOSA for the first time.

The program runs from 4 to 7 p.m.; doors open at 3. Tickets are $18/adult; $16/senior or student (62 and older or 17 and younger). Reservations are recommended by contacting the Wightsteeple Box Office at 763-8732 or bill.wightman@comcast.net. For reservations after 2 p.m. the day of the show, call Bistro Nouveau at 863-8000. Visit www.josajazz.com for a schedule and complete details on season passes and tickets to individual performances. Bistro menu and full bar available.

The next performance will be Feb. 24 with Billy Novick on jazz clarinet and sax (www.billynovick.com).

Wendi Grant and Lorie McClory invite everyone to a library addition fundraising brainstorming session beginning at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 11 at the library. In addition, we will try to organize some ideas already submitted, including a kick-off event, a town-wide solicitation mailing, and a penny drive to involve the younger library users. Please come with ideas and open minds. If you can’t attend, please contact Lorie at 863-0850 or grantham-news@comcast.net.

Family to Family helps family members and friends gain a greater understanding of mental illness, cope better, worry less and feel newly empowered to advocate for better treatment and services for their loved one. Sponsored by the National Alliance on Mental Illness  (www.naminh.org) and the Upper Valley Affiliate of NAMI-NH, this series will be held 6-8:30 p.m. Mondays, Feb. 11 through April 29 in Lebanon. Registration is required. Contact Monique at 558-0774 or Donna at 863-2621.

Registration for the 2013 Splash, Mash and Dash Triathlon is now open. This year’s event will be held Saturday, June 15. As always, the triathlon is limited in the number of participants it can accommodate; last year, both adult and child fields filled early. Go to www.eastmannh.org/tri for complete details and to register.

The New England Handicapped Sports Association will offer individual adaptive or group family lessons in cross country skiing or snowshoeing 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 24 at the Eastman Cross Country Center. Contact NEHSA, 763-9158 or info@nehsa.org for more information.

Bridge Adventures week-long program returns to The Center at Eastman April 15-18 with instructors Marti & Gary Ronemus. The program runs daily from 9:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. with two sessions that are broken up with a lunch buffet from Bistro Nouveau. This is suited to all Bridge players (social, party or duplicate), but a basic knowledge of Bridge is required.

The cost of the program is $185/person, which includes the bridge sessions, lunch buffet, tax and gratuity. Reservations must made by check payable to Eastman Bridge Club, PO Box 867, Grantham, NH 03753. For more information, contact Jane Verdrager, 865-5508 or janevny@comcast.net.

The 2013 Norris Cotton Cancer Center Prouty fundraising campaign has begun and the Grantham Mountaineers BMSD Prouty Team is looking for cyclists, walkers and rowers to participate in the 32^nd annual Prouty and Prouty Ultimate on July 12-13 in Hanover. The team goal this year is to raise $22,000 and recruit 55 members.

You can cycle, walk or row the Prouty. It is not a race! If you enjoy any of these activities, mark your calendar and join the fun! The team will again be co-captained by Susan Mattson and Merle Schotanus. To join, visit www.TheProuty.org and follow the instructions; or contact Susan Mattson (863-0746, or susancmattson@gmail.com); or Merle Schotanus (863-2293 or schot@comcast.net). If you can’t participate, donations can be made through those channels as well.

Established in 2008 by the Blue Mountain Snowdusters (BMSD), Grantham’s Outdoor Recreation Club since 1974, the Grantham Mountaineers Prouty campaign is the BMSD summer companion to its winter Easter Seals fundraising program.

• Dunbar Free Library’s Laptime for ages up to 36 months is held at 10 a.m. Wednesdays. Storytime for ages 3-5 years is held at 10 a.m. Thursdays. Adults are required to attend with their children.

• Grantham United Methodist Church worship service at 9 a.m. each Sunday, with Pastor Patricia Williams. Everyone is welcome to attend.

• CG Shepherd Realty collects coats year-round to be distributed to people in need. Drop off gently used coats at Shepherd’s Grantham office in Sawyer Brook Plaza, in the coat collections can, or in one of Shepherd’s Smart Cars when you see them parked around town.

• The morning walking program continues at Grantham Village School gym from 7:30 to 8 a.m. each morning that school is in session until April vacation. Participants must bring clean sneakers to wear while walking.

• The town always needs volunteers for its many boards including the Zoning Board, Planning Board and Capital Improvement Plan Committee.  If you are interested in volunteering on any of these boards/committees, please contact Town Administrator Melissa White at 603-863-6021 or admin@granthamnh.net.

• ACBL-sanctioned duplicate bridge every Thursday at 1 p.m. at The Center at Eastman. $3/person. Everyone welcome regardless of experience. Arrive early to help set up.

• The Grantham Food Pantry is accepting donations at 65 Roses, Dunbar Free Library or Grantham Town Hall. The pantry at 65 Roses is open for food pick up from 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays. For more information, call Caitlin at 361-2604 or visit www.granthamfoodpantry.org.

• Winter Parking Ordinance: No vehicle parking on any street or way or in a public parking lot within the Town of Grantham between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. from Nov. 1 to April 1. Vehicles towed at owner’s expense and violators will be subject to a fine of $50.

• Town Winter Sand: The Town of Grantham will provide sand for all residents during the winter months. Sand is available for private use only and to be collected by private individuals. There shall be NO use of the sand facility by Commercial Sanding/Plow Operators. Sand is to be taken from the designated area and residents ARE NOT ALLOWED to remove sand from the Highway Department’s sand shed. If the designated area is empty please notify the Selectmen’s Office. Violators will be subject to a $25 fine.

 • Street Obstruction Ordinance: No person shall deposit snow, ice or any other materials on any Class V town-maintained road or push snow or ice across the traveled surface of any Town of Grantham road. Violators will be subject to a $25 fine.

Taken from a report from the Deering Police Department:

A resident called to report a slight variation on the traditional "lottery" scams. He said the caller was a female who spoke good English but with a Pakistani/Indian accent. This caller told him that he was eligible to receive a $100 WalMart Gift Card, and all he had to do was provide a credit card number, to which they would charge $3 as a processing fee. The call apparently came up with an 845 area code.  A quick internet search shows this as an unlisted VOiP Line registered in Poughkeepsie, NY.  The "target" called WalMart who denied any promotions of this type.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has received numerous reports of fraudulent e-mails that have the appearance of being sent from the FDIC. While the e-mails exhibit variations in the "From" and "Subject" lines, the messages are similar.

The fraudulent e-mails are addressed to the attention of the "Accounting Department" and meant to notify recipients that that that "ACH and WIRE transactions" are being blocked until "a special security software" is installed. They then instruct recipients to go to a website for instructions on how to download the necessary files by clicking on a hyper-link provided (Note: the Web site addresses vary widely).

This e-mail and link are fraudulent. Recipients should consider the intent of this e-mail as an attempt to collect personal or confidential information, or to load malicious software onto end users’ computers. Recipients should not click on the link provided.

 The FDIC does not issue unsolicited e-mails to consumers or business account holders.

 

Visit www.granthamnh.net for official minutes, meeting dates, lists of elected officials and more.  Find news and events for Grantham and surrounding towns at sunacom.com. PS: All the Grantham Sunacom columns are still active. They can be retrieved on the Archives page. Don't forget to send your news or events at least two weeks in advance to grantham-news@comcast.net. Let your neighbors know what's going on. And if that's not enough, there's always granthamvoice.com.