1972

Prep for two years of an "eye of Newt and toe of Bill" type of government. A witch's brew...which, by the way, was what Ma Gingrich meant that Newtie said witch, like in The Wizard of Oz, that family values flick with both good witches and bad witches. Take your pick, Hillary. Which reminds me that our 1972 Carnival theme was Oz....

I nominate Peter Angelos for Man of the Year. He will face stiff competition from our own Mother Theresa, John Dagianis. Two years ago, through Surgical Eye Expeditions, Dr. John gave free eye care in Mexico. Of 52 hours on the ground in Mexico, he spent 40 in surgery. They focused (sorry) on those with problems in both eyes if one eye was good, a person was rejected. Recently he headed to Brazil where he expected to see 60 to 80 cases in four days of surgery. When he's back stateside, he does volunteer eye-care work in Nashua, N.H.

If you believe "environmentally developed" is an oxymoron, take note of the green award presented to Charlie Nearburg. Actually, it was a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) award for the environmentally sensitive development of an oil and gas field near Azotea Mesa in New Mexico. Nearburg Producing Co. worked with the BLM to incorporate environmental protection into the planning process for the oil and gas field.

Dave Watters, professor of English at UNH, is co-authoring an encyclopedia of New England Culture. They have enlisted 700 scholars in art, education, geography, literature, history, law, architecture, and politics to write more than 1,000 entries and have applied for funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Dave notes, "We want to show the images the town green against the Route 128 high-tech belt; the Newburyport tourist waterfront set against the fishing industry in New Bedford. They are both New England, and they exist because of each other." I trust there will be separate sections for the "Celtic mystique" and the "curse of the Bambino."

Chris Denton, partner in the Elmira, N.Y., law firm of Winner & Denton, was one of nine people named to the board of trustees of Guthrie Healthcare Systems. He is also active in local, state, and national associations as well as other local civic activities.

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