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AMHERST – The Am-herst Town Library is thrilled to welcome author, historian, teacher, public speaker, and communica-tions professional Stephen Puleo for his presentation, “The Caning: The Assault that Drove America to Civ-il War,” on Tuesday, January 21st at 7 p.m. This program is part of the continuing January series for adults,

R e m e m b e r i n g …T h e American Civil War in Fo-cus, offered by the Library.

Early in the afternoon of May 22, 1856, ardent pro-slavery Congress-man Preston S. Brooks of South Carolina strode into the United States Senate Chamber in Washington, D.C. and began beating re-nowned anti-slavery Sena-tor Charles Sumner with a gold-topped walking cane. Well-known author Puleo explores this historical event that precipitated the start of the Civil War in his recent book, The Can-ing: The Assault that Drove America to Civil War. As the Fredericksburg (VA) Star said, “Readers will not only find The Caning a com-

pelling read, but they may be surprised to find multi-ple parallels to today’s po-litical climate,” and “Puleo’s book is an accessible, inter-esting read for those who are curious about the Civ-il War, but may be intimi-dated about where to start.” In the Library presentation, Stephen Puleo will take us back to this tumultuous time and the events leading up to the “War Between the States.”

Mr. Puleo is the author of five books, including the bestselling Dark Tides:4The

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INSIDE THIS ISSUELetters ................................. 2

Town News ........................... 4

Library / Conservation ........... 5

Arts & Entertainment ............ 7

SportsFolio ........................... 10

Schools ............................... 12

Region ................................. 15

Mont Vernon ........................ 16

Next Issue: January 14, 2014

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Public Forum on Cemetery Fields to be Held January 8

Amherst residents are invited to attend a Citi-zens Forum on the future of Cemetery Fields to be held at 7pm on January 8, 2014 at the Souhegan High School Theater. The evening will include a revue of (1) the facts and documentation relating to the land purchase and subsequent court settle-ment; (2) available options; and (3) how citizens can get involved. A panel of speakers will be pres-ent to take audience questions. Invited speakers include: Peter Bergin, Cemetery Trustee; Bill Belvin, Cemetery Trustee; Brad Galinson, Selectman liai-son to the Cemetery Trustees; Lori Mix, Trustee of the Charitable Trust Funds; Bob Heaton, Former Selectman who was involved in the original land purchase; Terry Knowles, Department of Charita-ble Trusts, NH Attorney General’s Office; Nancy McMillan, Director of Amherst Recreation Depart-ment. Additional speakers to be announced.

Town Hall To Expected to Reopen, December 20

Town Administrator Jim O’Mara expects that on Friday, December 20 the first floor services (Town Clerk, Office of Community Development, and Tax & Assessing) will close their offices to pack and start the move back into Town Hall. Services will resume on Monday, December 23 at Town Hall.

The opening of the second floor of Town Hall is tentativly scheduled for the week between Christ-mas and New Year’s. This transition will take place, provided that the work on the second floor is completed. Town Administrator O’Mara will advise the Selectmen and ACTV in advance to get the transition back to the Board of Selectmen’s meet-ing room.

Sinti Rhythm: Hot Jazz And Gypsy Swing

Amherst Town Library

The Caning: The Assault That Drove America To Civil War

Amherst Town Library Events

Andy Moore on clarinet; Jack Soref on lead guitar; Jameson Stewart on rhythm guitar; and, Mike Ball on double bass

AMHERST – The Am-herst Town Library begins the 9th year of its very pop-ular Sundays at 4 Music Se-ries on Sunday, January 19th with “Sinti Rhythm: Hot Jazz and Gypsy Swing” per-forming from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. in the Main Reading Room of the Library. The Amherst Town Library is appreciative for the funding provided by the Friends of the Amherst Town Library for this 2014 music series which also includes the fol-lowing programs: “Solstice Sackbuts: Sliding Through the Ages on February 16th;

“Granite Statesmen Chorus in Concert” on March 2nd; and, “Ragtime Piano with Deborah Wyndham” on April 13th.

Sinti Rhythm is an ex-citing quartet performing vintage swing music in the style of the great Gypsy jazz guitarist, Django Reinhardt. With clarinet, two guitars, and string bass, they play standards from the Great American Songbook, less-er-known gems from the ‘20s and ‘30s, works by Django, and original piec-

Stephen Puleo

Amherst Tree Lighting Festival - Three Days of Celebration

Cadette troop 20910 and 1 brownie (L to R): Sophia Alton, Alison Daniel, Amanda Jordan, Libby Mainz, Kelly Sileo, Rebecca Benjamin

Girls Scout Troop 22977 Craft Fable at Amherst Fire Department. Proceeds will help girl scouts plan an end of the year trip.

Tree Lighting Chair and Master of Ceremonies: Ann and Peter Bergin

Amherst PTA Productions Invited to Perform at the NHTA Theatre Awards and Calling all Auditioners!

AMHERST – The Am-herst PTA’s 2013 production of Meet Me in St. Louis has been honored with an invi-tation to perform “The Trol-ley Song” at the 12th Annu-al New Hampshire Theatre Awards Ceremony on Janu-ary 25th at the Stockbridge

Theatre, Pinkerton Acade-my. It is quite an honor to be asked to perform for this special event and in front of their theatre piers. The cast is busy getting their cos-tumes ready and song pol-ished. Nominations will be released early January. The

Amherst PTA is also get-ting ready to hold auditions for their 62nd production of Seussical! Auditions will be held on Sunday, January 5th from 1-4pm and Monday, January 6th from 6-8pm at Clark School on Foundry Street in Amherst. Seussi-

cal will be Directed by Rob-in Lacroix, Music Direction by Kim Whitehead, Chore-ography by Liz Calabria and Produced by Jackie O’Dowd and Rita Piotrowski. Ages 3rd grade through adults

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Cast and crew of the PTA’s 2013 “Meet Me in St. Louis”

Concert Sunday with the choir led by Sarah Phelps at the Congregational Church.