Memory Café will meet at Ma’s & Mine, 188 First NH Turnpike on Wednesday, April 18 from 10:30 to 12 noon. Come for laughs and information. Always the third Wednesday of each month.

Letter To The Editor

Abridging Freedom of Speech

It’s especially important that the Northwood School Board has stood up for freedom of speech (letter, 4/1) now that the First Amendment seems to be under attack from several quarters in New Hampshire.

Recently a Gilford citizen was arrested for speaking out of turn at a school board meeting. (A judge later dropped the charges, calling the man’s actions “impolite, but not criminal.”) More recently, the Timberlane School Board was persuaded by the NH Civil Liberties Union to withdraw its rule requiring all board members to support the board’s decisions, with only the chairman being permitted to talk to the press.

Now the Civil Liberties Union is defending an Alton citizen arrested simply because selectmen disliked his public testimony. In no way disruptive or disorderly, he had called on them to resign for violating citizens’ rights by ignoring NH’s right-to-know law. They called his remarks “libelous” and “defamatory,” and cut short his testimony, and he was then arrested.

According to the Civil Liberties Union, “One of the most fundamental principles under the First Amendment is that viewpoint discrimination is unconstitutional and ignores this nation’s deep history of allowing alternative and dissenting perspectives to be conveyed freely and without fear of prosecution. The Town of Alton apparently did not get the memo.”

What is difficult but absolutely necessary in a free society is defending speech we don’t like and don’t want to hear, even at town meetings. Thankfully, The Suncook Sun remains a bastion of free speech, where alternative and dissenting opinions can be debated openly. Such forums are essential for liberty.

As Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black once said, “The Framers knew that free speech is the friend of change and revolution. But they also knew that it is always the deadliest enemy of tyranny.”

Michael Faiella

Northwood

Letter To The Editor

My name is Maureen Mann and I am running in the special election for Rockingham House District 32 (Candia, Deerfield, Northwood and Nottingham).  I believe strongly that the job of an elected official is to represent the interests of constituents and the people of New Hampshire, and not to promote his or her own political agenda. During my previous service in the NH House I introduced legislation at the request of both local boards and individual citizens in each of the four towns in the district, often working across Party lines to get results.

I voted to protect the civil rights of all NH residents, provide increased support for business, support a woman’s right to control her healthcare decisions, safeguard our resources, ensure an adequate education for every child in New Hampshire, and restore infrastructure funding to local districts and communities. 

A retired educator and small business owner, I wrote the grant to create The Forum online newspaper and continue to volunteer in multiple ways. I have served as a library trustee, MBC member, NH Master Gardener and a Senior Lunch, Church and Deerfield Fair volunteer.  In 2006 I received the Sherburne Award for service to my community. In 2014 I received the NOFA-NH Policy Award for my lead role in fighting for transparency in food labeling.

I will continue to fight to strengthen the economy, protect individual rights, serve local needs and fight against downshifting to property tax payers.

I offer experience and solutions. Please give me your support on May 19.

Please visit my blog at maureenmann.blogspot.com  and facebook page at Maureen Mann-NH House of Representatives. You can contact me with questions or concerns at [email protected]. Follow on twitter @maureenmann

Maureen Mann

Deerfield

Remembering Miss Gladys Gardner

Submitted By Linda Smith

In recent weeks leading up to the vote on the school warrant for full time kindergarten, a number of letters to the editor referred to Gladys Gardner and her kindergarten classes.  Her classes are also recognized for being one of the first for this age group in a rural community in NH, which Northwood was at the time.  Fond memories are often recalled by her once young students, now middle age or beyond. Miss Gardner was known and appreciated throughout Northwood for her work as librarian, Sunday school teacher and kindergarten teacher. She enjoyed sharing her love of learning, whether at her home at Northwood Ridge, at the Free Will Church, or at the library. Upon returning from trips to far places of the world, she shared her travel slides and brought viewers to foreign lands they may not have otherwise seen.  Those of us, who are privileged to have known her, remember her with fondness.  The following is an excerpt from the article Gladys Gardner Honored, published in the November 9, 1983 edition of the Suncook Valley Sun following an open house held in her honor, upon her retirement as Northwood Librarian for 30 years. For those who never met her, it gives a small glimpse into Miss Gardner’s work with children and her kindergarten class that provided a unique early learning environment for Northwood children.

“Ask Gladys”, “Gladys will know”, “Miss Gardner said…..” How many hearths and halls have echoed these words over the years! Young or old - we all knew that Gladys Gardner would have the answer or that she’d get the task done. Soft-spoken, firm, consistent, her conversation is intelligent, high-lighted by ready laughter and sparkling dark eyes. One always knows if Gladys disapproves. Her eyes fairly snap as she compresses her lips, yet ever tolerant, she lets you seek your own solution. But her forte is the children. With them, she is the quintessence of patience and encouragement.

Many of our young people first met Miss Gardner when they attended kindergarten which she held in her own home. Not only basic ABCs and number concepts, but they learned and practiced daily, to share with one another, to cooperate to get a task completed;  to give of themselves with the gifts Miss Gardner shown them how to make. The treks into the wooded area behind her home, where they might sight signs of deer or discover a lovely wild flower, were always eagerly anticipated and enjoyed; as were the pumpkin pies each child made under her supervision; and don’t forget the hand prints! How many pleas to “keep the kindergarten open ‘til my child gets there” did Miss Gardner hear? She opened a world of awe and exploration, pretend, and reality, to each of her students. And they remember! 

Letter To The Editor

To the editor:

First and foremost, I would like to thank everyone who came out and voted in the Special Election Republican Primary last Tuesday. Thank you to all of my wonderful supporters and volunteers. I am so happy and thankful to be the Republican nomination for the Special Election on May 19th. I would appreciate your vote in May so we can keep this seat in the hands of fiscally responsible leaders.

This past Wednesday, the New Hampshire House Republicans passed a balanced and fiscally responsible budget along to the Senate. While the passed budget is not perfect, it is a strong step in a forward direction for responsible spending in Concord. The members of the New Hampshire House were handed a bloated and inflated budget by the Governor filled with frivolity from a Chief Operating Officer to a 35% increase in vehicle registration fees. 

Without tax increases or increased fees, the House provided fiscally responsible solutions to the radically increased spending proposed by the Governor that would add a layer of financial burden on Granite Staters. 

As the Senate parses through the budget I look forward to seeing the continuation of  fiscally responsible solutions that will keep the burden of tax and fee increases off New Hampshire families and businesses. 

It is, unfortunately, quite easy to solve a hole in the budget with a large tax increase. But that is the easy way out. New Hampshire families and businesses deserve better than that which is why we need fiscally responsible leaders that will think about the taxpayers before signing off on top down tax hikes from the Governor’s office. 

If elected I will strive to encourage  and create responsible solutions up in Concord. This is taxpayer money. The easy way out is not good enough. 

Yvonne Dean-Bailey

Northwood

Letter To The Editor

As the grandmother of two young men who are older than our 19 year old Republican candidate for the Rockingham District 32 state representative seat, I am all in favor of young people getting involved in politics.  We desperately need more people of all ages to do their homework and vote, support campaigns and even run for office.  But what I love about the young is their enthusiasm, fresh outlook, and new ideas.  

Sadly, Ms. Dean-Bailey is really coming up short on fresh outlook and new ideas. She urges budget cuts at the state level because… well, that’s what Republicans do these days, even when it doesn’t help our towns. 

I would like to introduce Ms. Dean-Bailey to a new term that she has probably not heard in the circles in which she moves: DOWNSHIFTING. It’s going on right now in our legislature. They are doing exactly what Ms. Dean-Bailey encourages, cutting state budgets.  Cutting maintaining and modernizing infrastructure, cutting services for our families and neighbors, cutting education at all levels.

Some of the cuts will have to be picked up at the county level, raising those property taxes. We lay off teachers and make classes bigger or raise the school portion of the property tax.  We scramble to replace the highway funds we used to use for our town roads and bridges.  Your property taxes go up, or your services are cut, or both.  

If you have no experience owning a house or paying taxes, cutting state budgets may sound like a good idea. It obviously does to Ms. Dean-Bailey.  I’ll vote for someone who has owned a home in our district, and who has served in the legislature, and who understands how NH and its small towns work.  I’m voting for Maureen Mann.

Lucy Edwards

Northwood

Letter To The Editor

Government for the People 

If you thought that my examples of “government for the people” (septic lagoons and defibrillators) were frivolous, let’s talk about water and roads.  

You may have heard about the Free State Movement, an effort to entice Libertarians to move to New Hampshire where they will take over the government with an eye to reducing its size and services so that they can live more freely. 

I doubt that many will choose to move to Northwood given that we have more government than most NH towns our size.  I speak, of course, of the Water District and the newly-created Cove Village District, that now govern, in addition to Town and School. 

Their creation by the people who are governed – and served - by them is a useful lesson to Libertarians.  

The Water District was created in response to the pollution of wells on Northwood Ridge by leaking gasoline tanks at the old Ridge Country Store.  Seeping downhill to the east, MBTE showed up in the wells of residences as well as the school and firehouse.  As part of the abatement and clean-up effort and to provide water from an aquifer north of the polluted area, a Water District was created. 

More recently, the Cove Village District was created when the responsible residents of this community could not get their irresponsible neighbors to chip in to plow and maintain the roads they shared.  The solution for the majority was to form a governmental entity to collect property taxes from all to plow and maintain the roads for all. 

So here we have Lincoln’s America with government of the people, by the people and for the people.  And as you think about voting for State Rep, consider voting for a candidate who sees our government as working for us, not as our enemy. 

Tom Chase 

Northwood

Letter To The Editor

Tom’s Tank Travails

How exciting, another chapter in Tom Chase’s septic tank travails. I can’t wait till next week’s “fulfillment.”

Some might find his examples of why we should really, really love more government “odorous” - but nonetheless revealing. Setting Mr. Chase’s reminiscing aside, we now live in an age when the contents of the terrible tank never need leave the property of the owner (just like in olden days, only different) with composting, incinerating and grey water handling technology.

Further the fact, tanks only occasionally need pumping in their life span. If you require services for the latter and recycling of non-biodegradables, government isn’t even necessary. Private companies provide the services nationwide and even locally more cost-effectively than government alternatives. Even in Northwood and surrounding towns we mitigate our costs by individual participation. 

Most of us take our own garbage to the dump. Taxpayers pay for this as a reasonable local solution. It could be accomplished by a private company just as well with “recyclables” going to the same private companies that reprocess them now.

The answer to how we would  do without the glorious government solutions to almost every societal problem is: much better thank you.

Live Free or Die, the meaning of which is fundamentally absent from what passes for education now days. The old timers, John Stark and other American heroes understood the meaning profoundly. Perhaps time to contemplate on “one holers” had merit after all...

Joseph McCaffrey

Letter To The Editor

Some would say I am an endangered species, that I am a native New Hampshirite born and raised here and very proud of it. But I’m having a difficult time trying to  understand what is happening in my beloved state. I am clueless when it comes to our current legislature and the legislators who seem to be a very angry lot. Their most recent behavior indicates that there aren’t many people they care about or have any compassion for. I don’t get it!

How can people who are elected to represent the voters of New Hampshire have so little regard for them? Why do they dislike children so much that they prefer not to provide them with the advantage of full day kindergarten? Why do they dislike college students so much that they promote a higher education model that puts them deeply in debt? This, in part, is caused by drastic budget cuts on the state university system.

Oh, what about the people who work for the Dept. of Transportation (Highway Dept.) who try to keep our infrastructure safe? What about the men and women at the Dept. of Safety and their families. Who will take care of them when they lose their jobs?         

How is it that when some people align themselves with the Free State Movement and the Tea Party they become so callous regarding the welfare of their fellow citizens and neighbors plus their own children and grandchildren?

Making rational budget cuts to be fiscally responsible is all part of being an elected official-representative. But when those budget cuts hurt the state and its citizens, one has to question who elected this creative bunch of quagmire dwellers? They are unlike any breed of politicians I’ve ever encountered.

Karl T. Bergeron

Northwood