Thanks and congratulations to the Fall Mountain High School Junior ROTC group for their help in moving thousands of books into Town Hall for tomorrow’s and Sunday’s Friends of the Library Book and Tag Sale.  A large number of other volunteers, led by Carol Christian, also worked very hard for months to get ready for the big fundraiser for the library.

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Vicki Gohl, owner/developer of Ruggles & Hunt and The Walpole Village Market, is proceeding with her plan to return trees and related landscaping to the center of town around the Market.  Talented local landscaper Jennifer Burr has donated a design and will plant four large canopy deciduous trees and two large evergreens along with “many other plants an shrubs” around the gas station.  In fact, initial steps were taken today to get things going. 

The current garden on the south side of the building will be attached to a new 20’ by 25’ garden at the southwest corner of the Market.  All the new flowerbeds will be edged with the same granite curbing used on Main Street. 

The total price for the project is around $17,500, of which The Hubbard Foundation has donated $10,000 and Connecticut River Bank is also making a donation.  Vicki is hoping that some other town citizens will make donations to assist with the project to beautify the center of the town.

Says Vicki, “It was never my intention to run a gas station business and certainly not after just opening my other new business, Ruggles & Hunt.  However, when I learned that Paul Tole was losing his space in the Burdick Building and was going to close the business, I felt that Tole’s Variety needed to be saved and that, by moving it into the gas station, I might be able to ‘make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear!’  (Well, satin, anyway!).  At this point I have exhausted my investment capabilities and am not in a position to pay for this landscaping project.  But I believe in it completely.  It took me 18 months to convince the Sandri Oil Company that it should let me plant trees.  I believe that the main intersection of Walpole deserves more and that the parking lot behind the gas station and bank building is an unnecessary eyesore.”

“School children,” Vicki continues, “residents, and local workmen come to the gas station every day for penny candy, breakfast, lunch, local papers and other sundries.  It is a hub of local traffic, news and events.  I think it can stay the way it is and be a little beautiful too.  Likewise the asphalt desert behind the station greets nearly every visitor that comes to town.  It does not need to look the way it does.  I hope you agree with me and will support this project.”

[Ed. Note: If you want to make a donation to the beautification project, make your check to “Green UP Walpole” and drop it off at Ruggles & Hunt or at the gas station.]

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If you want to enjoy a really impressive demonstration of what the Walpole School does with our children, attend the Veterans Day program at the school on Tuesday, November 7 at 1:45 p.m.  The kids themselves present the whole program and, this year, they are interviewing local veterans as part of their preparation.  The public is welcome. Use the Gym door.

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