Weirs Times Newspaper Features

by Brendan Smith
Weirs Times Editor

Procrastination is never a good thing for a writer with a deadline. It can make some of your best ideas worthless.
For instance, a few weeks ago I came up with what I thought would be some great April Fool’s pranks that I would share with my readers. Some were simple and would only take a few minutes to pull off while others involved a good deal of preliminary setup. Continue reading → Post ID 362

by Brendan Smith
Weirs Times Editor

Perhaps you’ve read of the latest kerfuffle at the New Hampshire State House.
Some feel a group of fourth graders were subjected to an inappropriate display of how a bill becomes law.
The students had worked hard at getting the Red Tailed Hawk named as the state raptor. Their bill passed committee and then came to the floor of the house for a vote while the fourth graders waited anxiously in the gallery. Continue reading → Post ID 362

by Brendan Smith
Weirs Times Editor

I realize there are still a few weeks to go but now is really the time to start thinking about doing your taxes.
To those of you who have already done your taxes, good for you, but we are all tired of hearing about it, so please just go away for a little while. Continue reading → Post ID 362

by Brendan Smith
Weirs Times Editor

I really have to do a better job of researching things before I schedule something.
But really, who has the time?
Next Friday, March 20th, has been designated “Fresh Air Fund Day’ by Governor Hassan. The Fresh Air Fund is a great program that gives thousands of inner-city kids the chance get away from the chaotic streets of New York to enjoy a few weeks in the Lakes Region and other tourist crazed areas of the state during the summer. Continue reading → Post ID 362

by Brendan Smith, Weirs Times editor

Even during the harshest of winters, like this one, I try to find something nice to do for others. While some turn to the dark side and use cabin fever and a lack of sunshine for their fall from grace, I find it best to fight back by doing a few good deeds.
Occasionally, those good deeds will offer up unexpected rewards. Continue reading → Post ID 362

by Brendan Smith, Weirs Times Editor

There is currently a bill in the New Hampshire Senate that would require all high school students to pass the United States Citizenship Civics test in order to graduate.
Of course, this has caused a big debate among many on different sides of the issue.
Personally, I don’t think it is really a big deal. Continue reading → Post ID 362

by Brendan Smith, Weirs Times Editor

Now that the ice fishing derby is finally over here in Central New Hampshire, I am no longer worried about expressing my trepidations.
Many members of FATSO, my winter support group, have asked me to teach them about this sport in order to help get over their winter doldrums but it is one thing, I am sometimes ashamed to admit to the group, that I know nothing about.
It’s not that I have anything against the sport itself, if that’s what you enjoy, it’s just not anything that I could ever get used to. I know a few folks who really enjoy ice fishing and when they express their often unbridled enthusiasm for it and then offer to take me out for a day of it, I will kindly refuse with an excuse that is starting to seem thin. After all, how can one person have to attend so many family wedding and funerals that always seem to occur on the second weekend in February? Continue reading → Post ID 362

by Brendan Smith
Weirs Times Editor

People younger than myself are fortunate in many ways, especially when it comes to technology,
Having grown up in the era of tinfoil on the antenna rabbit ears to get a better picture from the television and 8-track cassette tapes that eventually would get caught and ripped to shreds in the player, I could never completely feel confident that the latest technological invention would ever truly work as promised and I still don’t.
As technology has advanced and components have become smaller and smaller, the thought, to anyone younger than thirty, that something can go wrong with the latest and greatest creation is almost non-existent.
But us older folks will never completely trust them. Some my age will deny that this is true. That’s okay. I’ll take the heat for all of us. But it is okay, It was the time we grew up in and those experiences will always be embedded in our psyches and affect the way we look at technology today.
We will always be waiting for something to go wrong.
One of the latest and greatest of technological inventions is the 3-D printer. Continue reading → Post ID 362

Two New Hampshire State Representatives and one State Senator have sponsored a bill that could significantly affect the future of our state.
The impact of what this bill could mean if passed would be felt from here on through eternity. It is that important and I feel that it must not be taken lightly and needs to be discussed further before it becomes official.
Of course, I am talking about House Bill 113 which reads “The giant mastodon, Mammut americanum, is hereby designated as the official state fossil of New Hampshire.”
At first, you may read that and say to yourself: “This may be the stupidest thing I will hear all year and it is only January.” I can understand such a response. After all, what if we make the mastodon our official state fossil and then, somewhere down the road, someone unearths the fossil of a giant mammoth here in the state? Boy, wouldn’t we feel dumb? There would be no taking it back then and we and future generations of Granite Staters would have to live with the embarrassment of having the mastodon as our state fossil while the whole time the mammoth would be the elephant in the room. Continue reading → Post ID 362