It’s (possibly) the end of the world as we know it.

On Friday – Dec. 21 – downtown Nashua’s charitable formal social team, Fancy Friday, will host a tongue-and-cheek apocalyptic event called “The Last Fancy Friday on Earth” to benefit Positive Street Art.

The nonprofit group aims to encourage, enlighten and educate the public about urban art’s potential for positive impacts on the community.

“Modern lore about Mayan lore tells us that the world is clearly going to end on 12/21/12,” the event’s Facebook page states, predicting “zombies, brimstone and fire” and “floods to the hilt.”

Fancy Friday events are held in downtown Nashua to raise money for local charities.

Residents dress up and participate by buying $10 wristbands that get them meal and drink discounts from participating locations throughout downtown from 6-10 p.m.

Other groups to benefit from Fancy Friday include Harbor Homes, the Nashua Children’s Home, the National Transplant Assistance Fund and the Humane Society for Greater Nashua. The calendar compiled by the ancient Mayan civilization, which thrived in Central America until disappearing around the year 900, leads some to declare that the Maya predicted the world would end Dec. 21. This belief is scoffed at by scientists and by descendants of the Maya.

For more information, visit Fancy Friday’s
Facebook page at www.facebook.com/FancyFriday.

Accusations fly over officials’ incident

A long-running disagreement between a board member and a former alderman has escalated into an informal investigation.

At the end of a board meeting Tuesday, former member Paula Johnson made another appeal for Ward 3 Alderman Diane Sheehan’s apology concerning a verbal altercation that apparently took place between them in September outside Main Dunstable Elementary School.

Johnson voiced outrage over Sheehan’s conduct, as well as over a letter Board President Brian McCarthy sent her responding to the situation.

She read his letter, which “represents his findings,” into the public record.

In it, McCarthy stated that his investigation didn’t “indicate misconduct” on Sheehan’s part. He described a conversation the women allegedly had during which Johnson made “several facial gestures” and “body language that showed contempt” for what Sheehan said.

“I will state that I have seen this behavior from you numerous times in the past, and have no reason to suspect that is not true,” he wrote.

“I intend to seek no further remedy on your behalf. If she (Sheehan) chooses not to apologize as you have demanded, that is her right.”

Sheehan hasn’t addressed the issue publicly.

As Johnson recited the last part of McCarthy’s letter, an argument over the situation continued in the City Hall chambers.

“This is what really gets me … because we live in a democracy and not a dictatorship,” Johnson said.

“If you are planning to run for office, a decent respect for public opinion would demand that you declare your intention prior to any further commentary on the actions of sitting aldermen,” McCarthy wrote, referring to his overhearing that Johnson intends to run for alderman again. Johnson was an alderman-at-large a decade ago.

Johnson said the public will know if she chooses to run in August, when she would file papers.

As she continued, McCarthy interjected, “In this country, it’s rude to point at people.”

“It’s rude for a sitting alderman to attack a citizen,” Johnson snapped back. “And it’s rude of a president not to have done anything at the beginning.”

She again demanded apologies from Sheehan and McCarthy – pointing at each – and said she would call on the city’s Ethics Review Committee to investigate.

During the board’s general comment period, Alderman-at-Large
Barbara Pressly began to speak about ways to address the problem.

“I think that if someone comes in time after time and registers a complaint that they do deserve something,” Pressly said. “I’m not sure what that is.”

McCarthy said there would be no disciplining of board members considering he determined there was no infraction. He offered other members to deal with the issue through the board’s “normal legislative means.”

“Thank you,” Pressly said. “Then, what I wanted to say was merry Christmas and feliz Navidad.”

City looks to expand recycling efforts

The officials and residents who will investigate whether to expand recycling services at Nashua condominiums and apartments have been tagged.

On Monday, the aldermanic Personnel & Administrative Affairs Committee will review and likely confirm Board President Brian McCarthy’s picks for the Recycling Expansion Committee.

Nominees include Alderman-at-Large Jim Donchess, who sponsored the legislation to form the committee; Aldermen June Caron, Ward 7, and Rick Dowd, Ward 2; and three residents: Robert Earley, of Dogwood Drive, Michelle Spears, of Harbor Avenue; and Edmond Stebbins, of Strawberry Bank Road.

The committee will work with the Board of Public Works to determine the feasibility and costs of collecting recyclables at apartments and condominiums.

The city has picked up recyclables for 25 years, but has never done so at apartments and condos.

The Board of Public Works oversees the city’s solid waste operations.

“I just think we can expand the amount of recycling we take in if we make it easier for the people who live at condominiums and apartments to participate,” Donchess told The Telegraph in June.

The hope is that expanding recycling to more residents will save space in the Four Hills Landfill.

According to the legislation that created the group, the committee is expected to present its findings to aldermen by April 30 .

City releases holiday trash schedule

The city has issued trash and recycling information for holiday partiers, including its regulations and accommodations for “extra holiday trash” such as Christmas trees.

During the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s Day, the city’s Solid Waste Department will be open Mondays – that is, Dec. 24 and Dec. 31.

It will be closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, and operations will resume Wednesday of each week.

The city will operate with a normal collection schedule for the Monday curbside pickup routes, and the Four Hills Landfill/Nashua Recycling Center will be open its usual hours of 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

Curbside collections will be one day late for Tuesday through Friday routes; Tuesday routes will be picked up on Wednesday, and so forth, through Saturday.

All containers must be curbside by 6:45 a.m. on collection day, and the trash cart and anything else must be at least three feet apart.

The week between Christmas and New Year’s, the Solid Waste Department will pick up any extra holiday trash that doesn’t fit into trash carts. It must be in bags or barrels, and must be placed at least three feet from the cart.

Collection is limited to excess holiday household trash, and doesn’t include bulky items or household clean-outs. Extra trash pickup will run Dec. 26-31.

The city is advising residents to recycle cardboard from gift boxes and corrugated boxes. It must be flattened and cut down to not exceed 30- by 30-inch pieces.

Most wrapping paper can be put in the recycling bin, but foil papers aren’t accepted.

Extra bins – not barrels – may be used for recycling, and will be picked up on regularly scheduled collection weeks.

Weather permitting, Christmas trees will be picked up curbside from Jan. 7-18. They shouldn’t be put into plastic bags and won’t be picked up if stuck in ice or snow or placed on top of a snowbank.

Nashua … from the Inside was compiled by Maryalice Gill.