Author, humorist Rebecca Rule to visit Merrimack Public Library

In celebration of the Merrimack Public Library’s 125 anniversary, library staff are excited to welcome humorous New Hampshire author Rebecca Rule to share her stories.

Rule will be reading from her newest book, “Sixty Years of Cuttin’ the Cheese: Joel Sherborne and Calef’s Famous Country Store,” from 2-4 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 11 at the John O’Leary Adult Community Center. Attendees can enter a raffle to win one of her signed books! The library has chosen this title as our “One Book, One Town”

community-wide read for 2018 – come read with us!

This event is generously funded by a grant from Digital Credit Union. Because the church will be holding services and other events that afternoon, please do not park at the church lot. Parking is available at the O’Leary Center, the library or Town Hall.

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2018 NH Moose Hunt Lottery opens

CONCORD – New Hampshire’s 2018 moose hunt lottery is now open. Enter today to try your luck on the adventure of a lifetime – hunting moose in the rugged woods of the Granite State. Entering the lottery costs $15 for New Hampshire residents and $25 for nonresidents.

To enter the New Hampshire moose hunt lottery, visit huntnh.com/hunting/moose.html, where you can enter online or print out a mail-in application. You can also pick up an application at any Fish and Game license agent, Fish and Game headquarters, or Fish and Game regional office.

Moose hunt lottery applications for 2018 must be postmarked or submitted online by midnight Eastern Time on May 25, 2018, or delivered to the Licensing Office at Fish and Game headquarters in Concord before 4 p.m. that day. Winners will be selected through a computerized random drawing on June 15 at the NH Fish and Game Department in Concord.

Each applicant can enter the moose hunt lottery once per year. A bonus point system improves the chances for unsuccessful applicants who apply each consecutive year. Each point translates to a chance in the drawing. For example, last year the overall odds of a resident applicant being drawn were 1 in 87, while resident applicants with a total of 14 points had a 1 in 39 chance of being drawn. For nonresidents, the odds increased from 1 in 391 overall to 1 in 184 for applicants with 14 points.

Last year, 6,850 people entered the lottery for the chance to win one of 51 permits. More than 1,300 people continued to accrue bonus points because they submitted an application for a point only. Hunters from five different states won permits in the lottery.

While people travel from all over the country to take part in the New Hampshire moose hunt, the majority of permits (about 85 percent) go to New Hampshire residents. The number of permits available to nonresidents is capped, based on the prior year’s sales of nonresident hunting licenses.

The number of moose hunt permits that will be offered for this fall’s hunt has not yet been determined as harvest and survey data are currently under review according to Wildlife Programs Supervisor Kent Gustafson. Final numbers will be determined later this spring.

While permit numbers may or may not change in 2018, your chance of being drawn and offered a permit in the lottery will be improved if you rank all wildlife management units on your application, Gustafson said. You will have the option to decline a permit if drawn for a unit you prefer not to hunt.

New Hampshire applicants should note that the NH Division of Motor Vehicles started a new driver’s license number format in 2017. As a result, New Hampshire driver’s license numbers will be changing over the course of the next five years. Bonus points are tracked via your driver’s license number. Please pay particular attention when completing your application, and if your license number has changed, indicate this on your application.

New Hampshire’s nine-day moose hunt starts the third Saturday in October. This year’s hunt runs from Oct. 20-28, 2018.

New Hampshire has had an annual moose hunt since 1988, when 75 permits were issued for a three-day hunt in the North Country. The state’s current moose population is estimated at about 3,300 animals. The availability of moose hunting permits is made possible by careful monitoring of moose populations. The resulting annual harvest of moose provides valuable information on the physical condition and productivity of moose and provides a unique recreational opportunity. Learn more about moose hunting in New Hampshire at www.huntnh.com/hunting/moose.html.

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$88K grant for SJCS Meals on Wheels

MERRIMACK – The Mary Gale Foundation recently awarded SJCS Meals on Wheels an $88,000 grant to provide meals to low-income women age 65 years or older in Manchester, Bedford, Goffstown and Litchfield.

“Hunger and food insecurity are an even greater challenge for older, impoverished women,” Meghan Brady, SJCS Meals on Wheels president. “State and federal funding sources do not cover the full cost of any meal we serve, which is why this award from the Mary Gale Foundation is important to us and will significantly impact the health and well-being of the older women in the Greater Manchester area.”

A study published in March 2016 from the National Institute for Retirement Security found women are 80 percent more likely than men to be impoverished at age 65 and older, while women between the ages of 75 to 79 are three times more likely than men to be living in poverty.

Poverty, hunger and isolation among the population served by SJCS is strongly evidenced through its annual survey: 34 percent said that they do not have enough money to buy food in addition to SJCS delivers; 56 percent report that they are less hungry during the day since joining the Meals on Wheels program; 19 percent report no other visitor during the week other than the Meals on Wheels driver; and 61 percent state that this program helps them to continue to live in their own homes.