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Your Comments: On Nashua's Airport, Blizzard Bags And Syrup

Time now for some of your comments on our recent stories:

Last week we reported on the news that the FAA plans to close the control tower at Boire Field in Nashua. Bobsr posted about that story on our website:

“This airport ran for many years with a fully built and equipped tower, but it was not manned. Like Lindburgh did, the pilots looked both ways, did due diligence, and took off or landed… We now have a new 26 million dollar longer runway, totally un-needed in my view, and a big waste of money, all spent within the last 2 years.All except 2 million was paid by the Feds. But now no money for people in the tower.”

Kathleen posted as well, saying:

“As a NH resident, specifically one who is interested in one day learning to fly, the news of this tower closure comes with great disappointment… the controllers' presence at this tower is a vital element of its daily operations and that layoffs of these professionals is a poor decision by the FAA. I know the sequester has had many "side effects" on NH and I just think this one has gone too far. Safety first please!”

We had a lively conversation on our Facebook page about the use of “blizzard bags,” in which teachers create assignments for students to complete at home on snow days.  The practice is only used in a few New Hampshire school districts, and Lisa Rollins wrote in to say she understood why:

“There are many people that live in places without Internet access and many more that can not afford Internet access and all the costly gadgets. Furthermore, what is wrong with the schools bucking up and going to school when it snows?”

On the other hand, Kelly Fan wrote:

“We use them regularly at our Elementary & Middle school on snow days--My 6th grader loves them and does the activities willingly! I think it is a brilliant idea....not to mention those extra summer days!”

Finally, many listeners wrote in to say how much they enjoyed last week’s piece by Sean Hurley about maple syrup season. Andrea Morales wrote this on our site:

“This was a beautiful story to listen to on a drive... thank you so much for reminding this Florida transplant how this state and its special relationship with mother nature make it a great place to live.”

Jack Kurdzionak also enjoyed the piece, but took issue with Sean Hurley’s statement about the price of syrup:

“The price of a gallon of maple syrup is about 20 times that of oil rather than the factor of 13 mentioned in the article... A barrel of oil is 42 gallons… The barrel of oil size is a legal measure while maple syrup can be sold by several differing barrel sizes.”

We checked in with Eric Johnson of Tucker Mountain Maple in Andover. He tells us that while there are several barrel sizes used for syrup producers, the most commonly used barrel is a 33 gallon barrel, and for that size a price of $32 to $35 a gallon is about right.

Eric adds, though, that this is a wholesale price, and that anyone expecting to stop by a sugarhouse and get a gallon of pure syrup for $35 is probably going to walk away disappointed.

Whether you find our stories sweet or otherwise, we hope you’ll take a moment to share your thoughts. Post a comment here at NHPR dot org, find us on Facebook and Twitter, or email us – news @ nhpr dot org.

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