Presentation of New Hampshire Crossroads is made possible in part by Shaw's Supermarkets.

Keep New Hampshire beautiful.

Recycle your aluminum cans at Shaw's, where you're someone special.

By the men and women of Byte and Popular Computing magazines, McGraw-Hill Publications, Peterborough and New Hampshire.

And by the Bank of New Hampshire.

Tonight, on New Hampshire Crossroads.

High flying competitors at the White Mountain Winterfest.

Salamandra Glass in Portsmouth.

A small-town publisher with big responsibilities.

And a celebration of Saint Valentine's Day.

Hi, I'm Eloise Daniels, and this is New Hampshire Crossroads.

Theme Music Throughout this fourth season of New Hampshire Crossroads, we've brought you several stories about Granite Staters who love to fly.

We've seen hot air balloons.

We've performed aerial maneuvers in a biplane.

We've even tried skydiving.

For our first story tonight, we'll meet a group of people whose flights are very short, but worth every second.

They're ski jumpers at the White Mountain Winterfest.

Music These men are the elite of their sport.

Few dare to even attempt what they do.

These men are ski jumpers.

These winter warriors hurtle down huge hills to soar majestically through the air.

They are brave.

They laugh at danger.

They know no fear.

Whoa!

Well, almost no fear.

Recently, they gathered in Berlin, New Hampshire, to compete in the Nansen Ski Jumping Championship that capped off the 1985 White Mountains Winterfest.

Among those competing was Dennis McGrane, a Colorado native and member of the 1984 U.S.

Olympic ski jumping team, who explained how one gets started in ski jumping.

I started, you start on smaller jumps, start on nothing more than a pile of snow that a coach throws out there with a big shovel, and then you get up onto a hay bales and they’re the exact same contour as this hill right here, only a smaller size.

And so you get onto a hay bale and pretty soon you work up to two hail bay - hay bales and then up onto more wooden jumps.

And then it wasn't till I got out here in the East that we started skiing jumps that are scaffold like these.

Out west, they're all pretty much natural hills, the whole hill.

Built in 1936, the 80 meter Nansen Ski Jump is one of the tallest jumps in the east, and until the 90 meter hill in Lake Placid was constructed, it was also one of the biggest.

But what's it like to stand at the top of a huge ski jump like this, and then go racing down it to soar through the air?

Thinking about executing the jump properly, you're you try to work on a couple things each jump.

I try to keep it simple.

It's, it's, you're not really afraid at all.

It's, it's just thinking about technique and trying to execute a perfect jump.

It's kind of hard to, to imagine.

When you look at it, it seems like this guy's flying through the air with reckless abandon, and has no sense whatsoever.

But it's such a, it's a stable feeling off the takeoff.

You feel like, you know, you're moving out into the air in a forward direction, just as an airplane would off an aircraft carrier.

And you're, and just like that airplane, you feel a sense of lift, feels like somebody has a hold of the seat of your pants and and you feel that lift right over the knoll.

And then once you're over the knoll, it's a it's a very stable feeling.

You have a pair of long, wide skis that are pretty much holding you up.

And your body's in the form of a, of a wing and that's a very stable position.

And if it's not too windy and if conditions are right, you just relax.

And once you're over the knoll, you can pretty much see where you're going to land, even though it may be a couple hundred feet down the landing hill and you just have fun.

It's a, you smile, well not really smile, but it's I've never smiled at ski jumping, but you just kind of let it go and it's, it's really simple.

While the act of ski jumping may be, in and of itself, quite simple, doing it well is not, for how a ski jumper gets to the bottom of a hill is as important as his distance.

We’re judged on style.

We have to look good.

That's, that's what a lot of people have to work on.

It's half and half.

You you have to go far, but you have to look good going there.

And, that involves just being still in the air.

And you can't be wild like a flapping duck.

You just gotta be smooth and try to keep your skis together and in one plane, and your body wants to be relaxed and, you know, in a, in a good aerodynamic position.

And then, and there's always the landing, which you want to be in a classic telemark position with one leg in front of the other one.

That's always kind of difficult to do, but it's it's essential, you know, for for the complete jump, you have to do everything right.

And that's, that's kind of what the goal is for me these days.

It's fun to, I still get a kick out of going far.

I mean, that's that's that's what keeps me going.

But yet I want to do things perfect.

Right?

But perfection in this challenging sport is often very difficult to obtain.

I've been having a little bit of trouble landing, down in the transition to the hills down in the, below the critical point.

But, I think, think you can go pretty good a long ways on this hill just because the speeds are slower.

And so you're coming down softer, you know, it, once you're at high speeds and then you're coming down in on a hill like this where the landing hill turns so fast from steep to flat, there's a kind of a, the G-forces there will pull you down and pull you back and could cause some problems.

And cause problems it did.

Despite the longest jumps of the competition, two spills knocked Dennis McGrane out of the top three.

But despite an occasional tumble, the future still remains bright for Dennis and the rest of the U.S.

national ski jumping team.

Right now, we just have a group of, well, there's 12 guys on the national team and they're all hot right now.

They're over and, over the World Championships.

Myself, I just had two falls over in Europe, and so I was unable to make the team.

But they're skiing better than they've ever skied before.

Even without Jeff Hastings, who came in fourth in Sarajevo last year.

So it's going to be a good year.

Everybody is really fired up and and everybody's really, the camaraderie is there.

It's a sport where you go out and you compete against your friends every day and that, you know, you think that that would be a problem sometimes because you'd always want to beat your friends.

But yet, you know, we have to live with each other, too.

And we all have grown up together and we get along great.

Let's keep the teams hot.

Music Might as well jump!

Jump!

Go ahead and jump!

Get it and jump!

Jump!

Go ahead and jump!

Jump!

Jump!

Jump!

Jump!

If you'd like to see these flying skiers for yourselves, the Nansen Ski Club does this every year, and I'm sure the 1986 Winterfest will be even bigger and more exciting.

Some people take a flying leap, others leap for love.

Of course, Valentine's Day is here.

Normally you might send a greeting card or candy or flowers, but if you'd like a different way to say I love you, we have just the people to help you.

(car enging noises) I think everyone has a little entertainer em, and, you know, it's it's fun to get out and make people laugh, which is all you do is, this is something, it's not like a job where you got to, you're bringing people down, you know, it's a job where the person you're going to, you know, as soon as you get there, they are going to be thrilled, happy.

You know, their emotion level will be high.

Whereas, you know, there's a lot of jobs where people, you know, they they don't, it's ho hum.

You know, work in the same old depressing thing.

And this way, you know, if I come to work depressed, all I have to do is a couple deliveries and next thing I know, I'm smiling.

I have a care in the world because everyone's happy to be seeing me.

Welcome to Channel 11.

We're on Channel 11, right?

No way.

Steve has been with us two years.

He does most of the costume deliveries.

And Steve is just, he's absolutely the greatest actor we have.

He's done super jobs.

He's jumped on desks at digital, messed up important papers, gone in throwing banana peels.

He's done a great job.

He's a he really does a super job doing the deliveries.

Got got to be a little crazy.

You got to be a little bit off the wall, you know, to go in into a crowded room anyway, dressed up like a gorilla, you know, and then jump around.

But I think the people get more embarrassed being the receiver of the gifts than being me.

You know, if I get red, they won't know.

When we hire a new driver, it has to be one of the one of the things that are understood is that they have to be able to be willing to be a gorilla or a clown, Big Bird, yella fella.

And, they have to do that on a regular basis.

They have to.

That's part of their job.

I think what we found is that the kids that sell flowers for us on the street are a little different breed of people.

They're (honking) and that type of person also has no problem doing the gorilla or the clown or a yella fella.

I would much rather to costume delivery where we have a mask and nobody knows who you are.

That way you can act as stupid as you want to act and nobody will ever know it's you.

(no dialogue) (laughter) Oh my God.

Thank you.

(laughter) Susan's a designer here, and she has been the yellow bird since we've brought it in.

And it fits her very well.

And her antics has led to being successful.

It's been really good.

(laughter) My friends think it's hysterical when they find out I've done a costume delivery.

Especially the first time I ever did a gorilla.

and was telling my friends how I, I was a gorilla today!

A gorilla?

And they all tease me.

And now that's one of the things they - done any gorillas lately?

Been a gorilla?

You want a banana?

You're playing a part.

You know, you're creating a part and the people just love it.

You know, you get your people that are shocked, you know, who jump a mile when you come up and you, you know, you tap them on the back and say, hey.

And they turn around, they see this gorilla behind them and, you know, they just off their seat and you get the people that are just happy.

And some people who just kind of hide away.

But, yeah, you grab them back, just roll them in front of the people and you say, hey, that's a good time.

Won’t you please be my own Never leave me alone Cause I die every time we’re apart I want you, I need you, I love you with all my heart People are always finding new ways of expressing themselves.

There's an ancient art form being practiced today in New Hampshire that has just as much vitality.

Glassblowing.

Our next segment takes us to Salamandra Glass in Portsmouth, where you'll see firsthand the creativity and character that result from the meeting of glass, fire, and talented hands.

Most people get drawn into the nature of the glass itself because it is it is a very provocative material.

It's fluid.

You can't touch it.

It's, you know, it has this tradition of 2000 years or actually much longer.

And it it captures some people, doesn't let them go.

Music If you're a collector of blown glass or have been in the least enchanted by it, then you already know of its captivating qualities.

Blown glass can be functional or ornamental, but it's always one of a kind.

When David Bellantone and George Cirocco of Salamandera Glass in Portsmouth create a piece of glass, they follow the steps of a time- honored tradition involving, of course, the ever changing molten glass.

It takes a while to to get the feel of of this kind of work because, the glass is constantly changing its viscosity and its hardness.

It's always too hot to touch, so you kind of have to get a feel for it on the end of a long tool and you're on the other end of the tool.

After gathering the molten glass on a blowpipe, the glass is constantly worked to ensure a color, symmetry and texture.

Now, people may be really curious as to why we're always turning these things.

Because, when the glass is hot, it moves.

And if you're not rotating at the right speed, it will fall off center.

It will collapse, thereby making it very difficult to bring it back into, into symmetry.

Glass can be decorated by building different thicknesses of molten glass or by adding different colored glass as the process continues.

Now, these strings will be fuzed into the surface and will become part of the piece.

So they're becoming part of the surface of the glass.

Now the glass is getting hot and is reaching the edge of control and out-of-control.

And my motions have to be more controlled.

This is a nice one.

This is, it's developing an abstract kind of shape that is beginning to look almost fish-like.

The marriage of fire and glass is about to give birth to another unique creation, providing, of course, that the artist can safely manipulate his product.

One false move and this piece will literally fall to pieces.

This is just about ready to spin.

(no dialogue) That's it.

(no dialogue) Next step is to get it off the punting without breaking it.

No problem.

It's fun.

It's.

It's a ball.

It really is a lot of fun to be able to do it.

It's difficult.

And it takes a lot of concentration.

And when you do it right and it feels right and it looks right, it's a very, very, very, very gratifying feeling.

When, when you combine the aspect of the material, its fluidity, its ability to, to, to move, to be frozen in time with, with your body movements.

The result is, is, a much freer object.

Music Salamandra Glass, by the way, has a gallery where you can see more examples of this old world art form.

Keene, New Hampshire, since 1799 has had a local newspaper.

And if you watched Crossroads last week, you'll know how the Keene Sentinel works.

The paper has grown and changed over the past 185 years, but the influence it exerts on the community has remained constant.

An influence is what our next piece is all about.

James Ewing has been publisher and owner of the Keene Sentinel for the past 30 years.

He influences the tone of the paper, which in turn influences readers.

It's a big responsibility.

But James Ewing isn't going to pass the buck to anyone.

Publishers of small papers, smaller than ours, tend to be very close to the operating side until they get to be my age, when they begin to relinquish some of their responsibility to younger people.

But the best and simplest explanation of the role of the publisher, I think, is that that, he's where the buck stops.

He's responsible one way or the other for the whole operation.

And the extent to which he involves himself in one department or another is a, is a personal choice.

James Ewing chooses not to get involved in the daily drama of the Keene Sentinel anymore, as he did for almost 30 years.

Having been published since 1799, there have undoubtedly been some dramatic moments in the paper's past, like the time the hurricane of 1938 caused the paper to be printed on a press powered by a lawnmower engine.

But publisher Ewing points out that its rich history isn't the only distinguishing feature of his paper.

What separates it from, from other papers?

In essential terms, nothing.

It's it's, it's a paper published like every other paper.

However, what is the real distinguishing feature between between newspapers?

And I think it's the quality and I think we, we run a quality newspaper naturally.

But I do know within the, within the profession, certainly in New England we are regarded as running an excellent small newspaper.

And, that's what we want to do.

And I think we're achieving it.

It isn't that we can't do it better.

So what sets off one from the other?

And, you know, it gets very subjective, but I just think it's quality, quality in every aspect.

And I have frequently said, for example, that that people who work in the production department are just as much newspapermen as the guys who work in the newsroom.

And, so in that sense, I think we have had pretty good luck in maybe making each person feel as though they're important to the whole.

The Sentinel is an important ingredient of greater Keene's makeup, and as such, carries a fair amount of clout which the publisher must carefully control.

Let's take the question of influence.

It's frequently said that newspaper editorial policy does not influence.

I don't agree with that.

In the case of small papers particularly, I think that they do have an influence.

And I think that the influence tends to be in the, in the area of, if you're talking politics or local decisions, tends to be in the sense of reinforcing people's attitudes, frequently give somebody courage to take a, cast a ballot or go to a meeting and cast a vote, when they otherwise might be a little timid about it.

Local commitment is what makes James Ewing special.

He's committed to a quality small town newspaper published by a local owner.

No cold conglomerates with out of town publishers for this paper.

No.

James Ewing knows that the Sentinel is the common thread that bonds the fabric of his community.

It's a generally true, I think, that newspapers and communities interact in such a way that you rarely find a good community, a good, successful, lively, viable, but vital community without a newspaper that you could apply the same adjectives to.

I think it's the glue, to the extent that you can put your finger on any one thing and say, that is the glue.

It it's it's the it's the avenue through which people communicate with each other who aren't just personal friends.

It makes it possible for them to make intelligent community decisions.

It encourages them to think about the community.

It encourages them to plan for the future of the community.

And the result is that that I think the, the, that interaction would mean, and I don't say this in a, in a sense of, of, of being, you know, sort of, hoity toity about it.

But I think, I think it is true that Keene wouldn't be the same without the Sentinel, and the Sentinel wouldn't be the same without Keene.

Cheshire County residents depend on the delivery of the Keene Sentinel.

Sometimes in life, it's those unexpected deliveries, like gorillas with balloons or or roses on Valentine's Day that make the difference.

Southeastern New Hampshire has a company that can turn out 20 to 30,000 roses every day in the middle of winter.

They’re the Elliot Williams Greenhouses in Dover.

This complex of greenhouses in Dover, or range as it is called in the business, was built by William Elliot in 1929 as an expansion of his Madbury range.

In 1977, the greenhouses were sold to the Williams family to become the Elliot Williams Rose company.

Nat Williams is the owner of this large and sophisticated but still family business.

The two boys, one of them being a heat engineer, the other one being a computer engineer, are taking over quite a bit of the reins in the operation, both in the maintenance and the selling and pretty well with this somewhat leadership from myself, I'm still doing quite a bit of the growing.

My wife handles the office end and I'm watching the finances and so forth.

Craig Williams manages the physical plant, which is considerable.

The range covers more than five acres.

This greenhouse is a very tightly controlled environment.

We control the heating, the lighting, the humidity and the cooling.

For some reason, if we lose heating in the winter in the northeast or in the severe weather we experience in December and January, this entire greenhouse could freeze in about 45 minutes.

To prevent such a catastrophe, every system within the complex has a backup.

There are standbys in the boiler system and a diesel generator in case of a power outage.

Electricity is needed for the irrigation pumps and to control the injection of fertilizer into the water.

The huge plant beds are automatically soaked and exhaust fans circulate or remove the humid air as needed.

The greenhouses are designed to respond in the most efficient way to the local environment.

This area of New Hampshire actually, from south of Portland down into an area north of Boston, we get a high percentage of sunshine in the winter, and that is very conducive to growing a rose.

The rose needs a high level of sunlight.

And so this, this area where these greenhouses are located were built here for that reason.

Craig also oversees the use of special lamps, which supplement the sunlight from early fall until Mother's Day.

During midwinter nights, the greenhouses cast an eerie pink glow over the Dover countryside.

Barry Williams handles the shipping and billing side of the business, as well as running the grading and packaging department.

Starting from taking you in from the greenhouse in bundles of roses, they place them in the coolers, and then the girls would take them from the bundles and either put them on the grading machines, and they’ll put it in each little tray.

An electric eye will then size up what size it will be and dump it automatically for our sizing.

Now while they’re grading they keep all the colors together, so what it will do is grade out one color at a time.

The roses are wrapped in bundles of 25 and packed for shipping.

Barry estimates that 150 to 200,000 roses are sent out for Valentine's Day.

That means at least 12,000 satisfied sweethearts and one very successful New Hampshire family.

That's our show for tonight.

On next week's New Hampshire Crossroads, we’ll watch ice climbing on a white mountain waterfall, dog sled races and a mushers ball in Laconia, and Icing Day in North Sutton.

I'm Eloise Daniels.

See you next week for New Hampshire Crossroads.

Theme Music Presentation of New Hampshire Crossroads is made possible in part by Shaw's Supermarkets Keep New Hampshire beautiful.

Recycle your aluminum cans at Shaw's, where you're someone special.

By the men and women of Byte and Popular Computing magazines, McGraw-Hill publications, Peterborough, New Hampshire.