Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1998 07:19:40 -0400
From: Mike Stebbins
Subject: NHCRL newsletter #1
NH Citizens for Responsible Lighting Newsletter #1 10/03/98
NHCRL was founded on September 15, 1998 by local citizens concerned with the ever increasing light pollution problem in New Hampshire.
Name: NH Citizens for Responsible Lighting (NHCRL)
Mission: We will work to reduce light pollution and light trespass; to educate the public about effective, glare free lighting and efficient security lighting; and to preserve the beauty of the night skies of the state of New Hampshire.
Web address: http://www.mv.com/users/lopez/nhcrl
E-mail address: nhas@compuserve.com
S-mail Address: NHCRL 461 Front Street #1 Manchester NH 03102
Telephone: 603-641-5484
Officers:
President: Steven Frobes - sforbes@bit-net.com
Vice President: Mike Pelletier -
mike_pelletier@tcsmail.tcs.teradyne.com
Secretary / Treasurer: Mike Stebbins - nhas@compuserve.com
Membership: 44 members on file as of 10/3/98
40 in state, 4 out of state.
Due to the fact that we have no funds, and E-mail is cost free, we will be sending most correspondence via E-mail. Expect a newsletter monthly or so, and announcements as are needed. All correspondence to NHCRL should be directed to the Secretary. Due to the fact that we do not have a mail server, E-mail addresses will show in the body of the message, please do not forward these addresses outside the organization, as this creates a prime target for SPAM.
News:
We are working to meet with local officials in the City of Manchester NH during the month of Npvember to discuss the changes in lighting proposed for the Manchester Millyard by the group 'For Manchester'. We will also meet with the Manchester NH planning board to discuss local lighting regulations and ways to reduce light pollution.
We are working on a Web page for NHCRL, this will be a site where NH citizens can sign-up to be new members, give comments, offer support, and link to other pages like the New England Light Pollution Advisory Group (NELPAG) and the International Dark Sky Association (IDA) for more information. We will also post our successes and failures on this site so all can learn from our experience.
We have had a member volunteer to be our legal council and will serve to write legislation as is needed during our mission. We are looking to draft legislation for the 1999 NH congress.
We have a very first cut of the Web page up and running! Check it in the future for updates, currently it has a copy of the NHCRL informational flyer. It has been reported by the New Hampshire Astronomical Society that the town of Hillsborough has added street lights on Stowe Mountain Road near their observatory site. We will look into advising the town on proper lighting for the area, and look into the problem of unshielded lighting on nearby private property.
Appeal - we ask that our members, while driving around during the evening, take notice of locations with very bad or very good lighting. Forward a description of the site, the address, name if available, and why they are being pointed out. We will follow up on these locations (as time permits) and commend the good lighting owners, and offer to help the poor lighting sites.
Heads up - On October 22, 1998, the group 'For Manchester' has requested all businesses in the downtown area of Manchester NH to turn on all of their lights at night, this will allow local photographers to photograph the brightly lit skyline as part of a contest called 'Light up the Night'. It will also give us a chance to observe light pollution at it's finest, take a look at Manchester to night of October 22 to see what things will become if we fail to advance our goals.
TV - We will be attempting to do a local cable access show on light pollution for the Oct 8 6 PM and 9 PM time slots on Manchester cable aceess Channel 16. This is only available to cable subscribers in Manchester.
NHCRL Flyer created - 'text' version follows:
**** **** **** **** *** ** *
NEW HAMPSHIRE CITIZENS for RESPONSIBLE LIGHTING
Mission
We will work to reduce light pollution and light trespass; to educate the public about effective, glare free lighting and efficient security lighting; and to preserve the beauty of the night skies of the state of New Hampshire.
Method
NHCRL works with local citizens, businesses, towns and cities to promote responsible outdoor lighting. We want safe cost effective lighting at night. We want to insure it is installed correctly to prevent unsafe conditions like glare into roadways and onto sidewalks, and to prevent light from intruding into areas where it is not wanted, such as private residences. In many cases all that is needed is to point existing lights correctly, install a simple shield, or use a less intense light source.
What can you do?
Join us. We have no meetings or fees and do not require you to be active. We simply need you to agree that you want your town or city to insure safe lighting as described above. Do this by sending us your name, address, and city; optionally your telephone number, email address, and indicate if you would like to be active. We will post our progress by E-mail.
What we will do
We will inform the business, town or city we are working with how many local citizens we represent. Of course, the greater number of local people we represent the better our chance to have a positive effect on lighting issues. Please join us now, to help reduce light pollution in the cities of New Hampshire, and prevent it from advancing in our towns and rural areas. We all like the state for what it is, not what it is becoming. Help save the night sky before it turns orange.
NAME _______________________________________________________________
ADDRESS _______________________________________________________________
CITY __________________________ STATE ________ ZIP ____________
PHONE ________________ EMAIL ADDRESS ______________________________
Send correspondence to: NHCRL 461 Front Street #1 Manchester, NH 03102
Email us at : nhas@compuserve.com
Telephone: 603-641-5484
For further information on Lighting Issues please see the following
Internet sites
New Hampshire Citizens for Responsible Lighting
http://www.mv.com/users/lopez/nhcrl
New England Light Pollution Advisory Group
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/nelpag.html
International Dark Sky Association
http://www.darksky.org
**** **** **** **** *** ** *
Please feel free to forward the 'Flyer' to anyone you think might be interested in supporting our organization. Our goal is to have 300 to 400 members in the Manchester area before we meet with the Manchester planning board. And as soon as we have a reasonable representation in the towns, we will meet with them too.
To reconstruct the formatted flyer from the 'text' version center the titles and the four lines under the name/address block. Use 'Arial' font size '12'.
To all that have pledged their active support we thank you. We are off to a great start, and expect to be very successful in reaching our goals. When the group was proposed, the response was tremendous, we expect to be growing rapidly.
Mike Stebbins for NHCRL
________________________________________
Mike Stebbins nhas@compuserve.com
New Hampshire Citizens for Responsible Lighting