whale wall restoration gains momentum

The Whaling Wall mural gracing the Cabot House Furniture building in Portsmouth could receive a face-lift with the help of a Connecticut organization dedicated to restoring public art.

Completed in 1993 by famous marine artist Wyland, the “Isle of Shoals Humpbacks” was painted on the wall overlooking the parking lot by Vaughan Mall. Cabot House recently funded repairs to seal up leaks and prevent bricks from falling out of the wall, which has started to deteriorate after years of exposure to harsh New England weather. “Bricks were falling out of the wall and water was seeping in,” said Gail Bradbard, manager of Cabot House Furniture. (A brick reportedly fell out of the wall and damaged a car on Saturday.) Unfortunately, those repairs left several blemishes on one of Portsmouth’s most beloved icons. 
In the same year he completed the Portsmouth wall, Wyland painted a number of murals along the East Coast, including one in New London, Conn. Like the mural in Portsmouth, time and weather had taken its toll on the New London whale mural. After hearing rumors that it might be painted over, a number of citizens got together and formed the Whaling City Restoration Committee (WCRC). “It was sort of like spontaneous combustion. We got together and decided what needed to be done,” said Dr. George Sprecace, spokesman for the restoration committee.

After learning about Portsmouth’s situation, the New London group recently voted on whether to assist the Port City. “We voted to offer our services and experience towards a similar Portsmouth effort in some appropriate way,” Sprecace said. Due to the large number of Wyland murals throughout the world, the artist does not do restoration work. But his organization did show concern over the Portsmouth mural and sent an email to the Whaling City Restoration Committee to see if they could help. “The Wyland Group recommended us, in other words. They have been very happy with the work we’ve done,” Sprecace said. 

Bradbard was surprised to learn that the WCRC was interested in helping to restore the Whaling Wall. “I would like to see it done. It’s been an icon here for 17 years. I have not spoken to them, but it sounded like a go,” she said. 

Noting that the New London group has successfully restored a number of Wyland murals, Sprecace said he believes the committee can help the Portsmouth community. “We bring the energy and commitment to get it done,” he said. “Secondly, each of us has had the organizational experience dealing with people and public projects.”

The committee is now waiting for representatives from Portsmouth to approach them about the project. “We’re not standing on ceremony,” Sprecace said. He asked that any Seacoast residents interested in the restoration project contact him directly at 860-433-0769 or visit the Whaling City Restoration Committee Web site at www.whalingcityrestoration.com. 

Amtrak Downeaster adds new trains

Beginning Aug. 17, the Amtrak Downeaster will offer an additional departure from Portland, Maine to Boston each day, boosting daily trips from four to five.

The updated schedule will include a later 8:10 p.m. departure from Portland to Boston every day of the week. Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, said the opportunity to stay a bit later would bring a lot more people up to Maine for the day. On weekdays, Boston’s North Station will replace its 11 p.m. northbound busses with an 11:20 p.m. train. Weekend departures will also be expanded to include a 5 p.m. departure from Boston. “We added the 5 o’clock train to weekdays last fall, and now we’re adding it to weekends as well,” Quinn said. “It makes it a better weekend daytrip, say if you’ve got kids that need to get home early.”

The completion of a $6 million track repair project will allow Downeaster trains to travel a bit faster, cutting five minutes off the trip between the cities. “When the trains first started, we had replaced almost all the rail along the lines except for Exeter, and now we’re replacing that area as well,” Quinn said. Upgrades to the tracks in Dover, Wells and rails near Scarborough will also contribute to increased speeds. 

The additional trains will force The Downeaster to expand its staff to handle the extra trips. “We’ll definitely need a larger pool of conductors and engineers,” Quinn said. “But this has been planned for a while now. We’ve got it covered.”

BIOMAN 2007 rolls into Pease

The Biotechnology Department at New Hampshire Community Technical College hosted the BIOMAN 2007 conference last week. The conference was aimed at exchanging practices and ideas for biomanufacturing education and training. Bringing together educators from colleges, universities and technical high schools, the conference featured a number of lectures and workshops from July 22-27.

Biotechnology is an expanding industry on the Seacoast, and students at NHCTC and elsewhere continue to pursue biopharmaceutical solutions to a number of medical conditions, such as Parkinson’s Disease. Hands-on workshops conducted throughout the week included titles like “Adventures with Horseradish Peroxidase” and “Fluorescent Protein Purification: Quick and Easy.” The conference was punctuated by the presence of the BIO Bus, which was parked on the campus at Pease Tradeport for much of the week.

The conference was sponsored by The National Science Foundation’s ATE Regional Center for Biomanufacturing and the Northeast Biomanufacturing Center and Collaborative.

Regal Cinema closing

There will soon be one less place to see movies on the big screen in Portsmouth. The Regal 5 Cinema on Lafayette Road, next to the Bowl-O-Rama, will screen its final films on Sunday, Aug. 5, according to Russ Nunley, spokesman for the Regal Entertainment Group. The newly expanded Regal Fox Run Stadium 15 in Newington will absorb much of Regal 5’s business.
Regal purchased the cinema on Lafayette Road from Hoyts Cinemas in April 2004, after taking over operations at the Newington facility in March 2003. The new owners planned to shut down one of the cinemas and turn the other into a modern, state-of-the-art facility, Nunley said. They determined that Fox Run provided more of a central retail hub than the Portsmouth location.

“Our intentions were, as we updated and expanded the Fox Run Mall location, we wanted to provide moviegoers in the Portsmouth area a modern movie experience,” Nunley said. “That was the plan all along.”

Portsmouth City Planner David Holden said he was not sure what would replace the Regal 5 Cinema. The space is zoned for general business use and is therefore available to most retail and service functions. Holden said development in the Fox Run Mall area and the rest of Newington is not necessarily sapping business from other commercial corridors in Portsmouth. “The Fox Run Mall and Newington have been in existence for a fair piece of time,” he said, pointing to the Wal-Mart on Route 1 as an example of large-scale commercial development outside Newington.

New Hampshire DHHS Commissioner to make an early exit

New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner John Stephen announced his resignation in a letter to Governor John Lynch on Monday, July 23. In his letter, Stephen indicated he would be leaving the position before his term officially ends on Oct. 8, giving the next commissioner more time to make decisions concerning the new state budget.

“The budgets run from July 1 to June 30,” said DHHS spokesman Greg Moore.

“He got the position in 2003, right after the passing of the budget, and he feels it’s important that his successor have the opportunity to take the reins and manage the new budget like he had.”

Stephen, a Republican, proposed an effective resignation date of Aug. 14, which must be brought to the Executive Council and voted upon before it is made official. Moore said the Council is unlikely to refuse the suggestion. “There’s very little historic evidence of councils doing that,” he said. “I doubt they would want to pay someone who didn’t show up for work.” Rumors have circulated that Stephen is considering a bid to run for governor or U.S. Congress in coming elections, but Moore said the commissioner has not yet made his future plans public.

In his letter to Lynch, Stephen credited DHHS employees for achieving a long list of departmental goals during his tenure. He ended by recommending Deputy Commissioner Nick Toumpas for the position in October 2007.