If a company has successfully served a local community for 65 years in one location, you have to acknowledge that it has found the key to success.

Lebanon’s Blaktop paving company is such an example. Founded by Lebanon resident William Taylor back in 1950, the company later merged with the nearby Twin State Sand and Gravel. Located at 73 Elm Street in West Lebanon, the two companies cover some 85-plus acres overlooking a breathtaking view of the Upper Valley.

On its website, Blacktop bills itself as “a family-operated asphalt paving business founded in 1950 to provide the highest quality asphalt and paving services to the Connecticut River Valley region of New Hampshire and Vermont.… Read More

We like to think that education as a “gateway” is open to all, but the reality is that for some that gateway is hidden, slams shut as they approach, or just won’t open at all.

Many young people struggle to find their own way to that gateway. However, there is a man who knows where that gateway is and, furthermore, has the key to unlock it.

He is John Higgins, executive director since last July of the six-year-old Ledyard Charter School (LCS) in Lebanon. As I spoke with Mr. Higgins in his office on the third floor of the Whipple Building overlooking Colburn Park, it became increasingly evident that his passion is to try to help every person “find that gateway.”

I watched him during our interview interact with the students as they came into his office with various questions, problems, changes to schedules….… Read More

The Dartmouth College Office of Science and Technology Outreach website asks visitors the following questions:

“Thirsty for good conversation in a stimulating atmosphere? Do you harbor questions you would like to ask a scientist or would you prefer to sit back, relax, and learn something new about the world?”

If you have answered yes to any of these inquiries, the Dartmouth College Office of Science & Technology Outreach and Lebanon’s downtown Salt hill Pub have just the ticket for you: Science Pubs, an informal monthly presentation and discussion on a variety of topics of scientific interest.

Based on the Science Cafe model developed in Europe in the 1990s, Science Pubs at Salt hill bring scientists and the public together for informal discussions around topics ranging from fracking to happiness to local food.… Read More

The Lebanon Police Department values its sterling reputation for serving and protecting citizens. But how about their four-legged counterparts who lay their lives on the line everyday as well?

Fortunately the K-9 dogs associated with the Lebanon Police Department and throughout the Twin State region have a pair of guardian angels watching over them.

Dr. Daniel Kelly and his wife Jodi founded Small Animal Veterinary Emergency Services (S.A.V.E.S) in Lebanon, one of a very few 24-hour veterinary hospitals in New England. And along with the general public they serve a special clientele, K-9 dogs that hold full status as police officers.… Read More

True or False: Male and female athletes can compete in the same sport on a completely equal basis?
If you answered ‘false,’ you’ll have to take time to drop by the Carter Community Building Association’s (CCBA) Witherell Recreation Center gym in downtown Lebanon and take in an action-packed game of floor hockey.

Yes, floor hockey! Harken back to those days in grade school gym class when the instructor brought out two nets, placed them on opposite ends of the gymnasium floor, and handed you a hockey stick. Suddenly you were introduced to an indoor version of the rugged game of ice hockey without knowing how to skate.… Read More

About four years ago, Barbara Hirai, chair of the Lebanon Energy Advisory Committee (LEAC), walked the streets of Lebanon counting streetlights. The existing maps of the network of lights weren’t matching, and she was looking to get an accurate record. Determined, she set out to map every streetlight in Lebanon and make sure that each one was where it should be. What she found surprised her.

“Some lights just weren’t there anymore,” she told me during a LEAC meeting one October evening. What had happened was that, while the city maintained streetlights, removing or moving some when needed, the official count of the streetlights wasn’t updated.… Read More

Living in the north as we do, where winters are long and, shall we say, a tad frosty, a body needs a compelling reason to get outside and recreate. When the temperature dips into the low 20s for days on end, Storrs Hill Ski Area in Lebanon becomes a winter sports lover’s paradise.

Occupying a place of honor in the middle of the city since the early 1930s, Storrs Hill is one of a handful of small ski areas in the East run almost entirely by volunteers.

“You could sum it up as only one paid employee, that’s our hill manager, from November through April.… Read More

Never underestimate the power and determination of a dedicated group of senior citizens.

A shining example, a group of residents at the Quail Hollow Senior Living Community in West Lebanon raised money to send Quail Hollow military veterans on a trip to Washington, D.C., to view firsthand the war memorials that a grateful nation bestowed upon them.

A committee of Quail Hollow residents was formed, and U.S. Army Veteran Stanley Kenison took over the role of chairperson, quickly discovering that he had inherited a daunting task.

“Fellow Quail Hollow resident Philip Diana first came up with the concept, and I kind of took over in midstream,” Kenison explained.… Read More

Across from the Lebanon’s Colburn Park, nestled in the neighborhoods just where things begin to still and the road seems to take on an air of privacy, there is a small sign addressed “WISE” in front of a gray building with lavender trim and a ramp winding up the side. This is the Women’s Information Service (WISE), and this is where Lebanon fights domestic and sexual violence.

What began as a grassroots organization offering support and employment training to new mothers quickly transformed into one of the most determined organizations to end violence against women, children, and men after a shocking number of women reported accounts of domestic and sexual violence.… Read More

Before the car, there was the bicycle. As a mode of transportation, the bicycle is one of the most widely used vehicles in the world. According to industry analysts, bicycles outnumber cars by a two to one margin.

So it stands to reason that as the City of Lebanon advances the idea of the Mascoma River Greenway, a bicycle and pedestrian trail connection between Lebanon and West Lebanon, people are excited. So excited, in fact, that of the $2.2 million needed to deck four bridges, install signage, and pave the four-mile pathway, an amazing $1.6 million has been raised in just two years from private donations, City investments, grants, and sponsorships.… Read More