plus 3, Business briefs - The Keene Sentinel

Business briefs - The Keene Sentinel
Ogun records 11,490 accidents in 2009 – TRACE - Punch
Automobiles : MOTORCYCLES,ATVs,MOPEDS - Frederick News-Post
Danica Patrick finishes sixth in stock car debut - Los Angeles Times

Posted: 07 Feb 2010 04:56 AM PST

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Peterborough shop hopes to pamper

PETERBOROUGH — A new retail store has sprouted in Peterborough called Green Angel Cottage.

The shop specializes in natural bath and body care for men and women, lingerie, handmade jewelry and herbal teas, according to owner Tammy J. Woodard of Peterborough.

"I always wanted my own little business," said Woodard, who formerly ran two online retail enterprises — Green Angel Cottage and Going Green with Tammy.

"I just kind of outgrew my house," she said, adding that "organic and natural products need to be seen, touched, smelled."

The building that formerly housed The Village Roaster at 10 School St. — cottage-like in appearance — was the ideal spot to open her storefront, she said.

Looking forward, Woodard said, she hopes to expand her lingerie and bath and body care collections.

"I want it (to be) more of a pampering store. That's what I'm heading toward," she said.

Cycle repair shop crosses the line

SWANZEY — Elm City Cycle Repair recently moved to Swanzey.

Owner Peter D. Scott of Swanzey opened the business two years ago at 451 Winchester St. (Route 10) in Keene. Scott provides service and repair for motorcycles, snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles, and occasionally sells motorcycles, snowmobiles and ATVs.

Scott moved the store in January to another Route 10 location — 679 West Swanzey Road in Swanzey. The new digs have 500 square feet in additional inside space along with more roadside frontage, he said.

Auto repair shop opens in Swanzey

SWANZEY — A new auto shop recently opened on Route 12.

Swanzey resident Erik R. Bergquist recently launched Erik's Import Autoworks LLC at 209 Monadnock Highway, in a space shared with Foreign Auto Alternative.

Bergquist said he was formerly a partner in the latter business before striking out on his own.

"I've just always wanted to do my own thing," Bergquist said. "I love interacting with people and I love fixing cars so it just seemed to be a natural step."

At Erik's Import Autoworks, Bergquist provides "all aspects of automotive repair and service." He specializes in German vehicles such as BMWs, Mercedes, Audis and Porsches.

Prior to his Foreign Auto Alternative partnership, Bergquist worked as shop foreman at Noyes Volkswagen in Keene. While living in Connecticut, he worked at a Mercedes-Benz repair business and a Porsche repair and tuning company and did track support for Porsche club races.

QuickBooks focus leads to business

Pamela Q. Doyle recently started a consulting business, Solutions For Today.

Through the home-based business, Doyle provides consulting on the accounting software QuickBooks, plus training, bookkeeping and payroll.

"I do a lot of troubleshooting, a lot of training," she said, adding that she also sets up companies on QuickBooks, trains employees to use the software and can help firms prevent and identify fraud.

Doyle — a Peterborough resident who plans to move to Keene this spring — is certified as a QuickBooks ProAdvisor through Intuit, the software's manufacturer.

While living in the Worcester (Mass.) area, she ran a similar business, Pam's Computer Training. She's also worked as a certified QuickBooks and business advisor for a local CPA.

Doyle recently started teaching a class in QuickBooks at River Valley Community College in Keene.

As for her new venture, she said, "I wanted the satisfaction of working for myself. ... I've always wanted to go back out on my own again."

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Ogun records 11,490 accidents in 2009 – TRACE - Punch

Posted: 07 Feb 2010 04:20 AM PST

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The Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps has said that a staggering 11,490 accidents occurred in the state in 2009.

The figure includes both car and motorcycle accidents.

The Corps Commander, Mr. Ayodele Sangofadeji, said this while defending the organisation's budget before the state House of Assembly.

Sagofadeji explained that of the 198 people who lost their lives in the accidents, 137 of them died via car accidents.

He added that 474 passengers were injured in auto accidents last year, while 286 people were injured in motorcycle accidents.

He disclosed that the traffic mobile courts established by the state government to curb the excesses of motorists and motorcycle operators prosecuted 1,798 offenders for various traffic violations in 2009.

He said, "The offences of the traffic violators ranged from driving against traffic rules, answering or receiving phone calls while driving and failure to use seat belts, among others."

Sangofadeji also explained that officers and men of the agency rescued no fewer than 159 people from road mishaps last year.

The TRACE boss appealed to motorists in the state to ensure they complied with traffic rules and regulations to ensure the safety of all road users.

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Automobiles : MOTORCYCLES,ATVs,MOPEDS - Frederick News-Post

Posted: 07 Feb 2010 01:29 AM PST

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Danica Patrick finishes sixth in stock car debut - Los Angeles Times

Posted: 07 Feb 2010 12:03 AM PST

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Reporting from Daytona Beach, Fla. - Danica Patrick proved this much Saturday: Her desire to drive stock cars is not a novelty act.

Despite a collision with another car that briefly dropped her deep in the field and her unfamiliarity with the famed "drafting" at Daytona International Speedway, Patrick drove an impressive race and stormed back to finish sixth in her first stock car race.

"I had so much fun in a race car today," an ebullient Patrick told a media swarm that greeted her in the garage after the race. "I can't wait to do it again."

The 80-lap ARCA Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 -- won by Bobby Gerhart of Pennsylvania -- was Patrick's first step toward racing on the much larger NASCAR circuit in and around her full schedule on the Izod IndyCar Series.

Indeed, the race essentially was a practice round for Patrick before she immediately jumps to NASCAR's second-level Nationwide Series either next weekend here or Feb. 20 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.

Patrick said she expects to decide Monday where her Nationwide debut will be. She's driving for JR Motorsports, a team co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR's most popular driver.

To be sure, the overall quality and skill level of the developmental ARCA Series is not on par with the NASCAR Nationwide Series, where several drivers in NASCAR's premier Sprint Cup Series such as Kyle Busch and Jeff Burton also compete.

"There's a lot of experience out there [in NASCAR]; I don't know that she's ready for it," said Kelley Earnhardt, JR Motorsports' general manager and Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s sister. "It's just going to have to be something that we all discuss."

Either way, Patrick, who normally drives the lightweight, sleek Indy-style cars, appeared a quick study of her 3,000-pound No. 7 Chevrolet stock car as she banged fenders with other cars and maneuvered in the draft, where the cars run nose-to-tail.

She was coached throughout by veteran crew chief Tony Eury Jr., Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s cousin and former crew chief.

"I think she showed us she was able to drive, definitely," Kelley Earnhardt said. "She did a great job for her first race."

Patrick started 12th and, in the first half of the race, stayed close to the leaders in a single-car draft and avoided several multicar crashes that mostly occurred behind her.

But as Patrick came out of the fourth turn on lap 54, she was alongside the car of Nelson Piquet Jr. -- another former open-wheel racer who is trying out stock car racing -- and they scraped each other.

Patrick then began spinning, but she deftly kept the car from hitting the outside wall, steering it instead through the infield grass and onto the pavement of pit road.

"The car does get pretty loose when you get hit," she said. "You can see I was racing by all of the marks on the car."

After getting repairs, Patrick dropped to 24th and it appeared she might be destined for a mediocre finish.

Patrick thought otherwise.

"I really said, 'What the heck, I don't really care, I made it this far, let's see what else we can do,' " she said.

Patrick then stepped on it and steadily climbed back through the field.

"I bumped from the side, I bumped from the front, I got bumped from the back and I learned a lot," she said. "I just wanted to be smart, make it to the end, and I wanted to learn something in this race."

Kelley Earnhardt said even Patrick's spinout "was good for her, to go back in the back [of the field] and be able to come up through there and learn, because that's what she needs to do if she's going to be around these cars."

Patrick is scheduled to drive in a dozen Nationwide races this season in addition to her normal driving duties in the IndyCar series, where in 2008 she became the first woman to win a major U.S.-sanctioned open-wheel race with a victory in Japan. It's been her only IndyCar win so far.

Former off-road motorcycle racing champion Ricky Carmichael, who also has switched to stock car racing, finished seventh in a Toyota after starting 14th.

james.peltz@latimes.com

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