Derry is the fourth largest community in New Hampshire. So it is a little embarrassing that a town so large has no senior center to accommodate its older residents.
That will change if the plans of the Nutfield Senior Center Corp. come to fruition. And after years of work, that goal seems closer than ever.
Now, it's time for Derry to step up and help.
The senior center group wants to build a 5,000-square-foot addition to the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Derry. The design would give seniors access to the club's 30,000-square-foot facility when the children are not there.
It also keeps the cost of the project under control. Senior center proponents need $1.2 million to build the facility and establish an operating reserve.
The Nutfield Senior Center Corp. has asked the Town Council for $396,000 toward the project.
The project also has almost $400,000 in grant money. The grant funds cannot be used for construction, but will pay for a director and programs for the center.
The council is likely to consider the town appropriation at its meeting April 6.
Right now, councilors have a number of questions about the project concerning insurance, liability, fees for activities and other matters. That's entirely appropriate.
Assuming these questions can be answered to the council's satisfaction, councilors ought to make every effort to come up with the funds for the senior center.
We understand that town finances are under great strain this year — they are in most years. But Derry's seniors should have a place to call their own.
This plan gives seniors their own space, access to the Boys and Girls Club facility and does so at a reasonable price. It seems to be a ideal solution.
School handled teacher incident well
A teacher propositioning a student is not a joke. It is a serious crime.
So Londonderry High School administrators deserve credit for reacting swiftly when they learned that a 10th-grade English teacher had allegedly e-mailed four nude photos of herself to a 15-year-old student, sent him explicit text messages and kissed him twice in a classroom.
Within an hour of learning of the sexual images last Wednesday, the first day after power had been restored to the school after February vacation, administrators placed Melinda Dennehy, 41, of Hampstead on administrative leave and contacted police. They also removed her name from the school's Web site.
Dennehy turned herself in to police on Friday, and faces a single count of felony indecent exposure. Conviction on the charge could lead to seven years in prison and a $4,000 fine. She was released on $10,000 personal recognizance bail, and is to be arraigned in Derry District Court March 23.
According to a police affidavit, she had started sending nude pictures to the student two months ago and had sent him regular text messages, in which she sometimes said she wanted to perform oral sex on him.
The courts will decide Dennehy's guilt or innocence. But in the interim, the school did the right thing by responding immediately, separating an alleged sexual predator from students and turning the matter over to police.
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