÷ reviewers in the states all but setting the film on fire have also been discouraging. Discouraging enough to even keep it out of the Music Hall in Portsmouth. Trevor Bartlett, the hall's film series coordinator, was adamant about it. "We will never play that film," he said. The primary reason, he said, was the film's lambasting by critics which, he said, was bad enough to overcome the film's appeal to the local community. "It is universally panned," he said.
http://seacoastnh.com/smuttynose/index.html

November 10
MOONS & TIDES & KEN
Tonight I can't find e-mail addresses for Harald or any other former 2d Weather weanies, so I turn to you to ask the question curious minds (mine and Several coworkers) are pondering today:

What is this astronomically high tide as mentioned by several regionally-local (Boston-Manchester-Portland, etc.) TV forecasters (most of whom seem to have few if any real weather credentials)?

Cause? Extent of local flooding in the forecast? Compare the astronomically high tide to the high tides affected and caused by ocean storms and the full moon. What happens when an astronomically high tide coincides with ocean storms and full moon? I a storm surge involved with either event? A Nor'easter?

We understand that the ocean storm mixing with a full moon brings locally very high tides, usually seen, for example, as: high waves heaving rocks and stones over walls at the Long and Short Sands and Hampton Beach and across the coastal routes 1# the ocean water lapping at the corner to Saunders and other sea-based businesses in Hampton, the flooding Odiorne Park parking lot (usually containing cars with Mass plates inches from the soaking hubcaps), and the Bratskellar lot becomes one with the marsh.

This time, however, we're 2 weeks off a full moon, barely a splinter of a new moon to be seen. So, please help our non-scientific minds and explain to us what exactly is an astronomically high tide?
Anja Carr

WEATHERMAN KEN MITCHELL RESOINDS: Hi, Anja. A new moon causes tides to be higher than they would be if the moon were first quarter (or even full), say, because BOTH the Sun and the Moon are very close together (by definition, a new moon is one where the moon is so close to the sun it can't be seen), and hence BOTH gravitational pulls work together to lift the ocean surface slightly higher than at other times in the moon's trip around the earth. If we get strong onshore flow at the same time as a new moon, as is the case today, the winds also cause the water to pile up at the shore by physically pushing the surface water up against the land, where it rises higher against the resistance. There is variation in the change of height the astronomical effect causes, and it can run from a half to a foot and a half. Enough to change peoples' minds about the Bratskeller!

In my forecast, I leave ocean matters to NWS. If they issue a coastal flood watch or warning due to a storm and the astronomical effects, I usually include that in my forecast. My local flooding refers to streets and basements due solely to the heavy rain. Hope this helps.

November 10
COLUMBUS IN HAITI
I have several original oil paintings by a Haitian artist named SaVaign. One in particular depicts Columbus arriving in the islands and then enslaving the natives of that island, until they finally broke free to pursue normal and productive life. This painting is on a 24 foot x 3 foot canvas and it has never been hung. I have it rolled up. My father got this and several other oil paintings by this artist on one of his many trips to Haiti. He was an engineer and traveled all over the globe. He told me what makes these art works extra special is the fact that they were painted (can't remember if he told me 1940s or 1850s) during a period of constant change in Haitian government. he said every time there was an over throw or a revolution, more and more of the art was destroyed in the process. Thus destroying history and artist works from so many periods.

I am seeking a museum that would like to display these paintings, on loan from me. Or perhaps a purchase. They are vivid and exotic and deserve to be hung in a setting that would accentuate the brilliance of  the works. And, I feel there are many people that would truly appreciate seeing them. If you are interested or know of a museum that might be, I would love to hear from you.
C L Kelley

EDITOR'S REPLY: To questions way out of our little region, we usually just send a polite form note, but this one is quite intriguing. Readers? Any museum locations?

November 04
SEARCH FOR THE GALLOWS TREE
Where were the gallows located in Portsmouth? I had a relative hung there in 1755. His name was Eliphaz Dow & he was convicted of murdering Peter Clough with a hoe. It was a crime of passion & was overturned by the governer, too late for Eliphaz.
Joy B in Seabrook, NH

NICOLE CLOUTIER OF PORTSMOUTH LIBRARY REPLIES: I find several references to the crime and hanging location of Eliphaz Dow. Following are the excerpts I found in published works including descriptions of the location. None are too clear, but it appears that the gallows for Mr. Dow's hanging were erected especially for him near the vicinity of the corner of Sagamore, South and Middle. Ward's corner is referred to in one excerpt. I have tried to locate that corner and have spoken with Richard Winslow, Local Historian. We again only find a vague local near the South and Sagamore streets corner.

Annals of Portsmouth by Nathaniel Adams, 1825 pg. 194: "1755. May 8th . Eliphaz Dow, of Hamptonfalls, was executed for the murder of Peter Clough of the same place. It appeared upon evidence, that a quarrel had subsisted between them for a long time. On the 12th day of December, 1754, they accidentally met at the house of Noah Dow, where some words and threats passes between them. Clough challenged Dow to go out of the house to fight, and went out himself; Dow followed, and as he went out, took up his brother's hoe, which stood in the entry, and with it struck Clough a blow on the side of the head, which instantly killed him. Dow was arrested and examined before the honourable Meshech Weare, and committed to prison in this town. At the February term of the Superior Court, he was indicted, tried, and convicted: and sentence was pronounced upon him, that he should be hanged by the neck until he should be dead. The Sheriff was commanded by a warrant from the Court to execute this sentence on the 20th day of March following, but in consequence of two reprieves from the Governor, the execution of the sentence was respited until this day. The gallows was erected on the south road near the pound, opposite where the house of Samuel Tucker, Jr. now stands; and between the hours of twelve at noon and three in the afternoon, Dow was hanged, and his body was buried in the road a few rods from the gallows, just at the declivity of the hill."

Rambles about Portsmouth, by Charles W. Brewster, second series, originally published in 1869. pg. 360: "Ramble CXLVIII. The Dead Elm on South Road. Green and fresh as early childhood is the general aspect of the Auburn Street Cemetery. No wilted......Opposite its north-west corner on the north side of the road, stands as a "Memento Mori", a huge skeleton, sixty to seventy feet in height, with sinuous feet stretching far beneath the soil, and from a body of masterdom size.....Within sight of this tree have some of the most exciting local scenes transpired. Here was the training field before the Plains were laid out for the purpose. A few rods west of this old tree was buried in the road the body of Eliphaz Dow, who in 1755 was hung on a gallows in that neighborhood for the murder of Peter Clough. And thirteen years later, a few rods from it was hung Ruth Blay, also for murder."

They Came to Fish, by Raymond A. Brighton, 1973. Vol. 1, pg. 33-34: "....be it as it may, Dow was duly convicted of murder. Packer took him to a tree somewhere in the vicinity of Ward's Corner for hanging on May 8, 1755. About a century later, workmen doing repairs to South Street, came across the skeleton of a man, and it is believed that it was that of Dow.
http://seacoastnh.com/brewster/148.html

I was very young at the time so I was thrilled to be there as I had many opportunities come my way from that experience. On the other side of the coin though, it was a very somber time for me as well because all the rest of my basic training company was shipped out to Vietnam. None of which returned. Needless to say, I was both grateful for my survival and saddened by the loss of my friends as well as the guilty feelings.
Bob Lavallee
http://seacoastnh.com/ussconstitution/

While traveling through North Dakota, my wife and I came into Rugby, which is a small town at a cross road there, there was an obelisk of about 12 feet, describing it as the geographical point of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. Very impressive and I took a photo of my wife standing beside the pillar. It was just too much for me to swallow about this geographical point as being the center of our Nation, particularly, when it was at a large gas station on a major highway in the middle of nowhere. I went over to the gas station and asked the kid in the station where the real Geographical point was located. He looked around to make sure no one was listening and quietly said, "Two miles south of town on a gravel side road!" Which just goes to prove you can't believe too much of what people tell you.
LCase
http://seacoastnh.com/monuments/plymouth.html