Today was the day – UPS Gary has retired. For 35 years, an integral part of the Walpole community, over 100 masked and distanced citizens – from youngsters less than five, and one Walpole legend who is now 90, gathered to say good-bye and wish Gary and his wife farewell.
The storm came early to town, disrupting power for over eight hours, and also the Comcast internet link, but fortunately the storm came early so the tearful, sad crowd could assemble and stay dry. Gary’s truck pulled in at 4:43 PM at his last stop – Burdick’s Chocolate factory.
and he was overwhelmed
heading near the loading dock, those who Gary has cheerfully helped for over three decades surrounded him.
Selectboard Chair, Peggy Pschirrer, made a few remarks and passed to Gary a bag full of cards and gifts while Gary’s wife and UPS supervisors stood by.
Between tears, Gary said a few words. He told us that when he started in Walpole he knew he wanted to stay on this route. He was successful in his bids for our route, and with seniority his bids were always successful. We will miss you Gary, wish the best ahead visiting family in Maine, and always wish you well – LOVE – Your Friends and Family in the TOWN OF WALPOLE.
The October issue of the CLARION, again twenty-four pages, should be in the mail on September 29, but it is is now on-line for you to read early and share. Town news, the primary election, a great deal new at the libraries, four reader’s commentaries, some “Gleanings from Town Minutes,” and much more of interest. Take a look, see what is happening in Walpole. And, please remember, you have the CLARION’s advertisers to thank for bringing you the CLARION, so please extend your thanks when you see them, or need them.
Please share this post and issue with friends, neighbors, and out of town family and friends. THE WALPOLE CLARION is also on Facebook, so “Like Us” there, along with 332 folks who have already done so. You will receive updates of importance, and this post is the third one since the October issue “went to press.” Also, you should sign up on the CLARION website to receive these post updates.
REMEMBER — Wear your mask, stay home or keep a “social distance” and wash your hands. Be safe, and stay well, yours, RAY BOAS, Publisher
Our beloved UPS Driver – Gary Levesque – is retiring after 35 years of serving our community on Wednesday, September 30th.We need to get together to show Gary how much we appreciate him.
Burdick’s Factory is very willing to have people gather to say goodbye to Gary on Wednesday.He normally stops there, his final pickup, between 4:30 and 5:00 – so we should all be there by 4:30. They ask that we park in the back of their building, so we don’t block the employees who will be going home around that time. Or we can park across the street in EE Houghton’s parking lot. It’s been suggested that everyone bring cards for Gary so he has something to remember us all by.Burdick’s is giving him a gift.Nice.
Can everyone tell their friends about this goodbye gathering?It would be great to get a nice turnout for him – he deserves it.
And make some signs to hold, too!And balloons!Let’s make it a grand send off.
And remember, it’s a secret – don’t tell Gary!! ——— Tara Sad
The October issue of THE WALPOLE CLARION went to the printer this morning, 23 September, but our health officer just provided this important note to share. RAY BOAS, Publisher
RABIES IN THE AREA – September, 2020
Within the last three weeks there have been two confirmed cases of rabies, one in Alstead and one in Walpole. In Alstead a rabid bat was in the house. The animal died and was delivered to the New Hampshire Department of Public Health in Concord where rabies was confirmed. The two dogs in the house were current on their rabies vaccination but received booster shots just to be safe. This episode reinforces the need to keep indoor pets, usually cats, current on their rabies vaccine even though they never go outside.
The second episode occurred in the Walpole cemetery. A man was walking his dog off leash when the dog dashed in to the woods on the north side of the cemetery. It emerged with a coyote chasing it. There was an altercation and the owner killed the coyote. The head of the coyote was taken to the lab in Concord. It was positive for rabies. The dog was also current on its rabies vaccination and it too received a booster.
We live in a rabies endemic area. Keep your animals vaccinated! We won’t hear much about rabid animals because we do live in an endemic area and Fish and Game expects us to know that and be prepared.
Charles P. Shaw, DVM, Health Officer, Town of Walpole
RABIES ALSO IS A VIRUS
Rabies virus particles, computer illustration. This bullet-shaped particle consists of an RNA (ribonucleic acid) genome enclosed in protein capsid, which is itself surrounded by a lipoprotein envelope containing glycoprotein spikes. Rabies virus primarily infects animals but can be transmitted to humans through a break in the skin. It spreads slowly through the peripheral nervous system to the brain, where it causes inflammation resulting in fever and delirium. Infection in humans can be fatal, though modern vaccines are effective if taken within the incubation period of the virus.
The September, issue of the CLARION, again twenty-four pages, is now on-line. School information, Voting information, COVID-19, and more. Some events have been scheduled, and are happening in one form another, as modified by COVID-19 precautions. So take a look and see what is happening in Walpole. And, please remember, you have the CLARION’s advertisers to thank for bringing you the CLARION, so please extend your thanks when you see them, or need them.
Please share this post and issue with friends, neighbors, and out of town family and friends. THE WALPOLE CLARION is also on Facebook, with updates occasionally posted, so “Like Us” there, along with 280 folks who have already done so. And, I encourage all to sign up on the CLARION website to receive these post updates. In addition, I encourage you to visit The Walpolean.org and sign up there also for emails with area information, almost on a daily basis.
Wear your mask, stay home or keep a “social distance” and be, and stay well, yours, RAY BOAS, Publisher
Justin Cassarino, Walpole Attendance Area Assistant Principal, and Sam Jacobs just released an email which reads in part, “…Sam and I wanted to share the letter that went out to the Walpole families yesterday. We will be sending them an email today [August 6] with this information as well.
This is just explaining the guidelines that were set up to make sure that all staff and students are safe, and will still continue to receive the best education possible. Obviously things have changed quite a bit, but we want our students to feel as comfortable as possible in the Walpole schools.”
Attached to that email are two documents which I have added to the CLARION website for you to read and learn what is initially happening. Remember: MASKS, and SOCIAL DISTANCING for all activities. Click on the links below for the school documents:
Your August, twenty-four page issue of the CLARION, is now on-line. With COVID-19, events continue to be cancelled, nor scheduled, thus no new or past events to report to you. However, in recent issues, I have been pleased to bring to the CLARION’s pages a number of feature articles/pieces to inform and entertain you. June and July had each twenty pages of “good reading,” and the August issue brings you twenty-four pages of even more. You have the CLARION’s advertisers to thank for bringing you the CLARION, so please extend your thanks when you see them, or need them.
Please share this post and issue with friends, neighbors, and out of town family and friends. THE WALPOLE CLARION is also on Facebook, with updates occasionally posted, so “Like Us” there. And, I encourage all to sign up on the CLARION website to receive these post updates. In addition, I encourage you to visit The Walpolean.org and sign up there also for emails with area information, almost on a daily basis.
I feel we are in this situation for longer than we anticipated a few months back. It is up to everyone to affect change. Wear your mask, stay home or keep a “social distance” and be, and stay well, yours, RAY BOAS, Publisher
At the July 16 Selectboard Meeting, the Board passed a requirement that anyone entering a Town building is required to wear a mask. New signage has been posted with this message at the Town Hall. Visitors without face coverings will not receive service from Town employees. Additionally, those attending meetings in the Town Hall will also be required to wear a face mask. The Selectboard wants all Town employees and visitors to feel as safe as possible. Disposable masks will be available for those who need face coverings. Hand sanitizer dispensers are in the hallway and in the large meeting room. Tables and chairs continue to be disinfected after each meeting.
Sarah Downing, Manager of Administration
PS – full up to the date COVID coverage will be included in your August CLARION – Ray Boas, Publisher
Well I did, and a Googling away I went. Viruses don’t eat I found out, but in my search I found a wonderful website with all the answers about how viruses act and react. I recommend you visit VIRUS WARS: ANTIBODIES STRIKE BACK – which was an exhibit at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition in the UK in 2013. Following is what I found fascinating from the site. “Knowledge is Power,” and with reading what follows you will be better prepared to understand not only COVID-19, but all viruses. Do viruses eat, and are they alive? The answer is near the end.
Every day you breathe in over 100,000,000 viruses. Antibodies help your immune system fight back.
Viruses are deadly. They kill twice as many people as cancer does – around 15 million people every year. Vaccines have saved many lives, but for most viruses there is no cure. Understanding how viruses work and learning how the human immune system deals with them is critical to finding new treatments.
What is a virus?
All viruses are very simple, they are made up of an outer shell of protein which carries the virus’ DNA (or RNA) – the genetic code with the instructions for making new copies of the virus. Some viruses have an extra layer around the shell, but that’s about it. Despite being so simple there are many different types of virus that can cause diseases from the common cold and flu to chicken pox and AIDS.M
Viruses are all around us – everyday we each breathe in over 100,000,000! Most of these are harmless, but some can make us sick. Viruses are tiny agents that invade the cells of our bodies and hijack the microscopic machines inside our cells to produce millions of copies of the virus, assembling a viral army which bursts out of the cell, spreading the invasion through the body.
Viruses aren’t actually alive – they don’t grow or move themselves, or eat or use energy, and they can’t reproduce on their own. This is why they must invade our cells – so that they can take advantage of the complex machinery, nutrients and energy in our cells, and force the cell to make millions of copies of the virus using the genetic blueprint carried in the virus.
Fascinating facts about viruses
You are constantly exposed to viruses – in the air you breathe and things you touch and water you drink.
Viruses can cause a huge range of diseases. From viruses that give you a cold to viruses that quickly kill you (rhinovirus – common cold; flu; VZV – chicken pox; SARS; Ebola;)
During an infection viruses invade your cells in order to reproduce.
Each cell becomes a virus factory, which eventually bursts, releasing 10,000 new viruses which can go on to infect other cells (adenovirus).
During an infection you may have several million viruses in every millilitre of your blood.
The human body makes use of antibodies to fight disease. You have ~3×107 unique antibodies.
The shape of the antibody determines what it can bind to. Because you have so many different antibodies, almost any shape can be recognised.
After recognising an invading virus, the cells (B-cells) that produce the individual binding antibody are stimulated to divide.
Each antibody producing cell can produce 2000 antibody molecules per second. After 4-7 days, antibody (IgG) is detectable in blood.
Antibodies bind to viruses, marking them as invaders so that white blood cells can engulf and destroy them.
Until recently, antibodies were thought to protect on the outside of cells. TRIM21 binds to viruses on the inside of cells.
TRIM21 sends viruses to the cell’s recycling system (the proteasome) where the virus is destroyed.
An antibody is 1,000 times smaller than a virus particle (adenovirus)
Two antibodies per virus are enough for TRIM21 to send the virus for destruction.
Understanding how TRIM21 and antibodies work may help scientists devise new therapies for virus infection.
Antibodies strike back!
Antibodies are one of the key weapons against viruses in our immune system’s arsenal – they are molecules made by our white blood cells to fight off invaders and keep us healthy. Each of us has more than 10 billion different kinds of antibody – that means there are more different antibodies inside you right now than there are people in the world.
Although antibodies all have the same basic ‘Y’ shape (see picture), they can have any shape at their ‘ends’, so for every shape of virus, there is an antibody to match. Antibodies with the right shape for a virus will stick onto it and alert your cells to destroy the virus. This also turns the cell that is making the right shaped antibody into an incredible antibody-making factory, churning out 2,000 antibodies every second!
Antibodies, Antigens and Antibiotics
They may all start with ‘Anti’, but they mean very different things…
Antibodies are proteins that recognise and bind parts of viruses to neutralise them. Antibodies are produced by our white blood cells and are a major part of the body’s response to combatting a viral infection.
Remember me by: Antibody – Body protection
Antigens are substances that cause the body to produce antibodies, such as a viral protein. Antibodies bind antigens very specifically like a lock and key, neutralising the virus and preventing its further spread.
Remember me by: Antigen – Antibody Generator
Antibiotics are substances that kill bacteria. They are not able to neutralise viruses. Bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics, so misusing them for non-bacterial infections could have serious consequences rendering the antibiotic ineffective.
Remember me by: Antibiotic – Antibacteria
Are viruses alive?
This is actually a really hard question to answer. Viruses are much simpler than other organisms that we definitely consider alive. For instance, you have about 25,000 genes, whereas HIV has eight. But simple doesn’t necessarily mean not alive.
Viruses must also use a host cell – and all its complex machinery – in order to replicate. This means that a virus can’t replicate without a host. But then you could say the same thing about a head louse, and we would definitely call a louse alive. So where do we begin?
First of all, you have to be really clear by what we mean by alive. Some of these discussions border on philosophy, but the easiest way is to list characteristics that all living beings share. Coming up with a list that includes all recognised life forms but excludes other replicating things (like fire) is tricky. However, here is a commonly used list of features that most accepted living beings share:
Growth
Reproduction
Metabolism (extracting food from the environment and turning it into self)
Homeostasis (keeping a regulated internal environment)
Responding to stimuli
Organisation (having some kind of internal structure, like cells)
Evolution
Humans do all these things but viruses do, at best, four of them. Viruses do not grow, metabolise or maintain a constant internal environment. So by this definition, viruses are not alive.
Viruses are the ultimate freeloaders – they sneak into our cells, eat our food and rely on our homeostasis (their favourite temperature just happens to be body temperature!)
Vaccination – Giving your immune system a head start
Have you ever wondered what exactly is in the needle when you get a vaccine, or how that works to protect you against a disease?
A vaccine against a virus actually contains virus – usually either a dead, weakened, or slightly different version of the virus it protects you against. Deliberately injecting a virus may seem like a very strange approach to preventing infections, but is a really effective strategy, because your immune system reacts to the vaccine and makes lots of specific antibodies with the right shape for the vaccine virus. Once you’ve made antibodies to a target, your immune system ‘remembers’ the shapes of antibodies that were effective. This means that if you’ve had the vaccine and then get infected by the real virus, your immune system has a head start and quickly makes lots of the right kind of antibodies, which destroy the virus before it has the chance to spread through your body and make you sick.
The first successful vaccine was developed in 1796 against the smallpox virus, which killed about 500 million people in the 20th century. The vaccine was extremely good at protecting people from infection, and was given to people around the world, so that in 1979 smallpox was officially declared to be extinct. This is an amazing example of how powerful vaccines and antibodies can be in protecting us against infection.
I also discovered a YouTube presentation that you may find useful:
Please remember: WEAR YOUR MASK and exercise SOCIAL DISTANCING, and WASH YOUR HANDS.
I hope you found this of interest. Thank you for getting through to the end, yours, RAY BOAS, Publisher, THE WALPOLE CLARION.
Just when the Flamingoes were feeling safe and comfortable here in Walpole, a predator, and threat to their well-being, has found them, and found them tasty. BEWARE
The Walpole Clarion 