(R) Pilliod, James P
(R) Millham, Alida I
(R) Jeffrey St. Cyr
(R) Boyce, Laurie J
(R) Peter Bolster
(R) Elaine Swinford
(D) Bill Johnson
My friend Chan over at WeekendPundit asked for a link:
It seems that a co-blogger may have gone a smidge over a line as far as Chan is concerned...I don't always read what others post here on Weekend Pundit.
... It's my blog and, in the end, it's my responsibility for what's posted here.
From the Citizen:
Volunteers sought for Gilford town positions
GILFORD — The Gilford Board of Selectmen is seeking volunteers to serve on the following boards and committees:
- cemetery trustees
- conservation commission
- energy committee
- historic district commission
- planning board
- recreation commission
- zoning board of adjustment.
Interested residents may complete an application and submit a letter of interest by March 20 for consideration. All terms begin on April 1.
For more information, contact Sandy Bailey, executive secretary, at 527-4700.
Applications are online at www.gilfordnh.org or at Town Hall.
This past Monday night was Candidate night sponsored by the Student Council. Each of the municipal and school candidates that showed up had the chance to give a short speech and then participate in a Question and Answer time. I had brought my Edirol recording device and had left it on the podium during the speech time; the quality of the audio is fairly good. Unfortunately, that of the Q & A did not fair as well as audience members asked their questions from the floor and the candidates answered from their seats.
That said, enjoy! The entire time can be listened to by clicking here.
School Board
Selectman
Chan Eddy / speech
Joe Hoffman / speech
John O'Brian / speech
Budget Committee
Skip Murphy / speech / Q&A Part 1 Follow Up 1 Transparency Follow up
Phyllis Corregan (note: A student read a prepared speech for Phyllis as she decided that she needed to be at a choral meeting). / speech
Dick Hickock / speech / Q&A Part 1 Part 2
Richard Young / speech / Q&A Part 1 Transparency
Gilford Board of Selectmen
Just got off the phone with Denise Morrissette (Town Clerk) to see what the election lineups are going to be on the Town side:
Also called over to the SAU around 4:30PM and had this:
Apologies if I have mangled and spelling of names!
As usual, this week's broadcast version of GraniteGrok and AnkleBitingPundits brings an array of items and guests for your consideration-- ALL STARTING AT 9AM! As always, thanks to the technical wizardry and analytical skills of Skip, if you are beyond the broadcast area of Newstalk 1490 WEMJ, simply click here for instructions on how to connect and listen on the Internet via livestream. (Podcasts here)
As reported in this prior post, an area "Republican" sponsored a series of onerous law changes designed to thwart or diminish the powers of local government: HB114 that will gut the ability of SB2 towns to change warrants at their deliberative sessions. Another, HB72, makes it harder to allow citizens to ask for secret ballot voting on certain items during a Town Meeting / Deliberative Session by raising the number of signers needed to request this from five (5) to fifty (50). If you have EVER been at a Town Meeting, you know this will effectively eliminate the ability citizens the option to cast their votes privately. It also forces a change for a request for a recount from five (5) to twenty-five (25) voters. The third government-friendly bill offered by state representative Betsy Patten (R-Moultonboro) is HB71, which will allow town officials to bond TEN TIMES the present amount they are allowed now without being required to hold a public hearing.
Enter the activists of the MCA. With members speaking at public hearings held in Concord this week, well, lets just say Ms. Patten's proposals were given the thorough negative reception they so richly deserved. The MCA efforts-- brought together thanks to the quick and coordinated actions of its members-- show what a dedicated group of activists can achieve. Mr. Punturieri will detail the efforts.
As I explained last night, after Greeting the Troops, I have found out that there have been very large Pro Hamas, Anti-Israeli Rallies all over our country. Some of them turned violent. The key point here is that we now have an element in this country that is not afraid to demonstrate their Anti Americanism as well as their support for terrorist organizations such as Hamas.This is the kind of stuff that our kids are learning in US colleges all over the country and it cannot go unchallanged.
We have the responsibility to fight the good fight at home while our wonderful troops are fighting the other fight, overseas. Imagine what they must think when they see this garbage going on in our own country. What they really need to see is that we are doing something abut it. So, if any of you have video cameras, please bring them a take some video of our group during the counter rally and get it up on YouTube.
And indeed, we will have Jack on to discuss the counter demonstration rally that is to take place in Durham Center from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM this coming Sunday. Jack, like me, and I'm sure many of you, is rightfully angry that, given the events of September 11, and the price paid by our brave soldiers in the fighting since, people would have the gall to march and openly demonstrate in FAVOR of terrorists. We'll also talk a bit about the troops he greets at Pease, and what he thinks is coming down the pike, given some recent danger signs most people probably gave scant attention...
All politics is local... Even though we may discuss several items specific to Gilford with our friend and fellow GilfordGrok blogger Terry Stewart, you should note that what's happening here could (or maybe SHOULD) be happening where you live. We'll cover the wrap of the budget season for the budget committee and the Town and School District. What was achieved and what was missed. And now, once again, the blog has caused a stir among some of the locals. For them, there's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much free speech going on around here! It seems that the tax and spend crowd doesn't like it when their ways are exposed.
Are there any Republicans left in the US Senate these days? How can it be that Hillary Clinton can sail through the appointment hearings with nary a peep from "our side"? Why shouldn't we be upset that someone that "didn't know" he had to pay income taxes for 4 to six years is now slated to head the IRS... yes THAT IRS? Arrghh!
And of course, ===============>> Your calls are encouraged at 603 527 1490.
Selectmen Gus Benevides and Kevin Hayes will appear on Meet the New Press radio at 9AM on 1490 WEMJ to discuss the issues of the day with Doug and Skip. Newly hired Town Administrator Scott Dunn will join them as well. Because 2 selectmen of 3 constitutes a quorum, the event was posted in accordance with RSA 91-A.
Phone calls are welcome at 603 527 1490. For more information on the program, click here.
Just got the news from a VERY informed source (H/T: G) - Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin, Senator McCain's Vice-President running mate is coming to Laconia!
It's official now. Sarah Palin will be at the Weirs on Wednesday directly in front of the Mt. Washing building. It is open to the public starting at noon. Expect long lines getting through the Secret Service so get here early. This info can be posted on the 'Grok or elsewhere
Call if you have questions.
(H/T: Greg)
Details are sketchy right now - as I get more, I'll update this post. So far:
Place: Down at the Weirs at the Mt. Washington building (the railroad depot).
Date: Wednesday, October 15.
Time: Noon
Parking: at the Weirs Drive-in (across the street)
Caution: attendees will be screen before getting "in the area" - and only 1 spot to do it. Think lines....long lines....
More later!
ATTENTION GILFORD RESIDENTS - There will be a
on Wednesday, August 13, 2008,
Town Hall in Conference Rooms A & B,
47 Cherry Valley Road, Gilford, NH.
7:00 p.m., at the Town Hall,
Gilford Board of Selectmen
.
As usual, this week's broadcast version of GraniteGrok and AnkleBitingPundits brings an array of items and guests for your consideration-- ALL STARTING AT 9AM! As always, thanks to the technical wizardry and analytical skills of Skip, if you are beyond the broadcast area of Newstalk 1490 WEMJ, simply click here for instructions on how to connect and listen on the Internet via livestream. (Podcasts here)
Michigan Congressman Thadeus McCotter is the Chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee (HRPC). In his third appearance here on MTNP, he'll fill us in on what has been going on in Washington with the war funding bill. Normally, I don't like to see representatives vote "present" (Obama's other middle name...), but in the case of Thursday's vote, I can see the value. We'll also talk government spending, and find out why he voted in favor of the farm bill that has everybody in a tizzy...
So I'm reading Michell Malkin, and whose name do I see? Yep-- our very own Pat Hynes! Seems Michelle's in a snit over the fact that she wasn't invited to the (almost) weekly blogger conference calls with his client, John McCain.
There are many questions I know you’d like asked, but I’ve never been able to ask them because I haven’t been one of the privileged few conservative bloggers allowed into the McCain sanctum to ask those questions for you.Wow! We're "privileged" to have been allowed into the "inner sanctum! We'll talk about the concept of blogger calls and what was discussed Thursday. Michelle says Pat emailed her and said she would be invited to the next ones. What are the logistics of a president committed to continuing the concept? Seems you can't invite everybody.
Is Hillary toast? Glad? Sad?
On Friday students gathered at Carpy Field with their umbrellas before marching through downtown and arriving back at Carpy Field, where they had a hamburger lunch. On the way students flashed peace signs and some could be heard chanting, “No more war.”
Don't worry, though, because it's all thanks to St. Helena's
adoption of the International Baccalaureate program, which teaches students how to be a part of a global community.
Ugh! You'll cringe when you learn how deeply into local schools UNESCO and the UN have driven. Is this what parents want from their children's schools? If they only knew! More recommended reading here. Community theme pdf here (note freedom fighter reference). Here in Gilford, when promoting the program, the Superintendent mentions, according to meeting minutes that large portions of its education philosophy follow Dewy very closely. Find out about Dewey here. Yikes!
If you are a parent with a child in school-- government or PRIVATE, you need to be on the watch for IB. You need to understand what it really means, and what it seeks to do to your child. Please plan on calling during the discussion at 603-527-1490 with any questions or comments.
Last week the Select Board held a public hearing on the sale of the Potter Hill property. The Birch Knolls group has requested special conditions in an effort to purchase the land and build "affordable Senior Housing". The special condition would include a payment in place of taxes which would NOT include anything for our children's education. During the meeting last week the Select Board heard from a room full of supporters for the Birch Knoll group. Unless the Select Board hears some input from the public that oppose the special conditions then they will most likely approve them.
There will be another meeting on May 14, 2008 to hear from the public before they make their decision. I strongly recommend that anyone that is oppossed to the creation of another community that will be exempt from school taxes for all of time, should attend this meeting and voice their concern!
Board of Selectmen Meeting
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
7 p.m.
The time has changed - notice that it is no longer at 3pm! This meeting is not just for those that can get away during the regular working day hours.
Will it stay that way? It all depends on you, the townfolk of Gilford. Show up, it may stay that. Don't, and it may revert back to the afternoon time.
If you want to let the Selectmen know your feelings about how the town is run, now's the time to show up.
(cross posted over GraniteGrok and GilfordGOP)
Well, as you might have seen, the spambots have found us again. Every once in a while, we have to turn off the comment capability until they go away. What I'll be doing in the near future is to put in a CAPTCHA for entering comments. In our case, it will just be a quick word that you will see when putting in a comment to one of your posts that you will have to type in. Since the spambots cannot "see" or enter that in, it will hopefully cut down on the kinds of "adult only" spamming that has been happening lately.
I'll be making some other internal adjustments as well, so if things look a bit goofier than normal, I apologize in advance!
-Skip
With the elections/people now come and gone, I've updated the left side of the site:
Town Administration Evans Juris has been replaced by Debra Shackett. As far
as I know, I've also left her as the head of the Finance
Dept. as I have not heard differently.
Selectmen Alice Boucher has been replaced by Kevin Hayes.
Local Commentary: NH Commentary has been removed along with
Laconia's Purse.
We do want to welcome Chan's new blog to the
blogroll - One Voice In Gilford. Although it was created
for his run for Selectman, we believe it will be a local
companion site to his national blog,
Weekend Pundit (which remains on our blogroll), so
we are looking forward to seeing what he has to say!
See anything else that needs a bit more tidiness? Let us know!
Here are the numbers from today's vote. Once again, Gilford sets the pace when it comes to citizen involvement and making SB2 a wonderful thing for everybody...
| Hayes | Goodhue | Corrigan | Hoffman | Eddy | ||||
| Selectman: | 726 | 700 | 198 | 30 | 26 | |||
| Saunders | Hoffman | |||||||
| Town Treasurer: | 1549 | 97 | ||||||
| Morrissette | Hoffman | |||||||
| Town Clerk/ Tax Collector: | 1558 | 91 | ||||||
| Hoffman | Millham | |||||||
| Moderator: | 150 | 1491 | ||||||
| Marcoux | Lachance | |||||||
| Sup. of Checklist: | 872 | 432 | ||||||
| Trustee of | Snow | |||||||
| Trust Funds: | 1423 | |||||||
| Henderson | Spear | McDevitt | ||||||
| Fire Engineer: | 147 | 1043 | 356 | |||||
| Bosworth | ||||||||
| Library Trustee: | 1340 | |||||||
| Budget | Stewart | Corrigan | Greene | Murphy | Roy | Brent | Hoffman | |
| Committee: | 830 | 555 | 938 | 610 | 734 | 560 | 102 |
| Yes | No | ||
| Zoning: | |||
| #2 Signs | 1233 | 405 | |
| #3 Water Setback | 1280 | 364 | |
| #4 RC to SFR | 619 | 1013 | |
| Town Articles: | |||
| #5 Budget | 1389 | 238 | |
| #6 Ambulance | 1202 | 452 | |
| #7 Cap Reserve-Police | 1102 | 539 | |
| #8 Cap Reserve-Bridges | 1344 | 293 | |
| #9 Cap Reserve-HiWay Equip. | 1324 | 310 | |
| #10 Cap Reserve-Ambulance Repl. | 1190 | 442 | |
| #11 Cap Reserve-Glendale Dock | 1112 | 431 | |
| #12 Cap Reserve-Rec Fund | 1275 | 369 | |
| #13 Cap Reserve-Sewer | 1169 | 450 | |
| #14 Cap Reserve-Water Supply | 1171 | 464 | |
| #15 Cap Reserve-Comp. Absence | 971 | 630 | |
| #16 Cap Reserve-Bldg Repair | 1266 | 364 | |
| #17 Library | 1116 | 574 | |
| #18 Outside Org.-Youth Services | 793 | 858 | |
| #19 Outside Org.-Hospice | 908 | 736 | |
| #20 Outside Org.-Family Services | 907 | 761 | |
| #21 Outside Org.-CAP | 766 | 889 | |
| #22 Outside Org.-New Beginnings | 778 | 888 | |
| #23 Outside Org.-Genesis | 659 | 997 | |
| #24 Outside Org.-Red Cross | 812 | 830 | |
| #25 TC/TC salary | 903 | 726 | |
| #26 Outside Org. (sailing) | 237 | 1434 | |
| #27 Anti Pledge Resolution | 926 | 685 | |
| #28 Record vote tallies on ballot | 1199 | 389 |
TOTAL VOTES CAST: 1726
<---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
Blandford 1375
Cameron 1408
Varricchio 1367
Simoneau 1430
| Yes | No | |
| #2 Budget | 1228 | 440 |
| #3 Roofs | 1348 | 332 |
| #4 Move SAU | 702 | 971 |
| #5 Football | 953 | 718 |
| #6 Robotics | 1152 | 516 |
Since the Chief went through a special effort to bring this message forward, I just HAVE to share it with all of you:
Chief Markland message - click here
And we are honored and privileged to bring it to you!
NH Community Technical College
This is your chance to join a movement that will change Washington. Your chance to make yourself heard.
You, your family, and your neighbors are invited.
After all, it's their future, too...
Join us for free refreshments, spirited discussion,
and a few surprises.
Reservations requested but not required
“No one desires peace as much as those who have had to engage in war. As we honor those who serve our nation in the armed forces, and mourn the passing of those who have died in its service, we also pray for the coming of the day when armed conflicts will give way to a world in which we are all able to live together in peace.” --by Anita Wagner, National 3rd Vice President of Blue Star Mothers of America, Inc.
Since the Town of Gilford just redid their site, some of the links to the left are not working correctly. I will try to get to these in a couple of days and fix them all.
I would ask for your indulgence on this - please be patient - I thought other things were just a little more important in the short term - instead of fixing the links to theTown, it was time to chide them a bit (click here).
-Skip
Well, we're late.....this past Saturday was the inagural broadcast of "Meet The New Press" - a new radio show that had its debut on WEMJ AM1490 from 2-4pm. In retrospect, we got so carried away with being ready for the show that we forgot to let you folks know about it!
Er, misteak(!) noted and will be corrected!
Three of us are behind this new show - Doug, myself, and Pat Hynes of AnkeBiting Pundits.com. The intent of the show is to combine the best of what is going on in the blogosphere, and what makes it work. In two hours, we are going to have topics of interest that come from blogs like from all over: politics, current events, guest hosts and inteviews and anything that callers want to talk about (and we do thank Alan, John, and the others for calling in!)
I'd love to say that the first show was a 10 - let's say that we have some room for improvement given some of the technical problems. We do appreciate your patience as the engineers of WEMJ continue to rebuild the studio for us, and we do thank them (A LOT!) for incorporating a lot of the suggestions that we have had over the last couple of weeks. Per normal, there are still gremlins in the system (patience to our guests for bearing with us as we tried to estastablish phone contact with them. However, we did notice, and appreciate, the staff of WEMJ for calling in more and more senior level engineers on their time off to come in and keep us on the air!
ALSO!
Podcasting will be coming to all three blogs (AnkleBitingPundits, GraniteGrok, and GilfordGrok) - we are digitally capturing the broadcast and will be chopping up the show into more manageable chunks over the next few weeks - I'll put up an announcement as we get closer.
During the week, we'll put up the topics for next Saturday - so take this as a request and let us know what YOU want to hear!
After the jump are a couple of pictures - again, more will be forthcoming over the next few weeks!
And for those that caught the show, we thank you. For those that we forgot to tell - we apologize! And for those that want to participate - leave comments here, send us email now or during the show, or call during the show: 603-527-1490!
-Skip
I will be putting up a number of Posts over the next few days. Each will be showing how Gilford ranks with respect to other towns in NH of the same size: 5,000 to 9,999 permanent residents. While there is some discussion that this is not correct due to the population increases during the summer and Motorcycle Week, I decided to go with the year round numbers.
There are two main reasons why:
The numbers shown are taken from the NH Municipal Association. I have also shown the data two ways:
The only exception to this are the Land / Water areas values which have been taken from the State of NH.
The latter is done purely for data purposes - many towns do not have minimum salary ranges for a given position - they always have maximum. Later on, as data is received for the actual salary for a given position, the High to Low will be updated to reflect that data point.
In addition, I will be contacting other Budget Committes in other towns in order to get the actual cost numbers so the postings will become more accurate over time.
If someone is out there that wishes to assist in this project to better inform the taxpayers of Gilford what their government is costing them, please contact Doug or myself!
-Skip
The next few posts will show (and is setup for discussion) of land areas, populations, and population density ranges of the equivalent towns that Gilford is being ranked against. This information is presented as:
