An intervention is needed. The City of Lebanon and its School Board have an insatiable addiction to endless spending.
The hardworking residents of Lebanon have received increased property tax bills with yet another increase on the way.
I ask the Lebanon City Council and School Board the following, “What reality are you living in and do you recognize the importance of austerity?”
Inflation is making it difficult for many families to pay for necessities and to maintain their standard of living. And retirees are struggling to make ends meet on razor-thin fixed incomes.
For some, these property tax increases might be manageable. For others, they are not.
We need fiscally responsible leaders, like Lori Key (running for city councilor at large) and Paul Roberts (running for city councilor, Ward 2), who are empathetic individuals and who will do the right thing by helping our community navigate its way through these difficult times.
The real task is managing spending and to do just that: evaluate and calculate projects and services that are essential to the public good, not simply attractive poster incentives for nonprofits and big businesses that ultimately shift the tax burden to households. Without a realistic fiscal assessment of what is possible versus what is ideal, repeated tax rate increases will drive Lebanon taxpayers knee-deep into quicksand.
It is vital that the City of Lebanon and its School Board understand that the Lebanon taxpayers are not a limitless source of tax dollars. I endorse Lori Key and Paul Roberts and hope you will too!
Ramzi Hraibi
West Lebanon
No ‘snob zoning’
in Springfield, NH
An article in the Valley News (“Housing crisis puts focus on zoning”; Feb. 17) included state Rep. Joe H. Alexander’s claim that local zoning ordinances in New Hampshire are examples of “snob zoning.” The article states: “ ‘Let’s call it what it is’ Alexander said in a hearing last week. ‘It’s not zoning. It’s about keeping people out, and it’s been a tactic used in our municipalities to preserve the status quo and exclude those who can’t afford to buy into the existing system.’ ”
The article further quotes Rep. Alexander:
“ ‘They aim to keep the wrong type of people from moving in,’ Alexander said in a hearing last week. ‘It’s not about preserving the environment. It’s not about community aesthetics. It’s about exclusion.’ ”
My home is Springfield, N.H. We are zoned rural residential and have land use boards that enforce and manage a locally enacted zoning ordinance. These are the Board of Selectmen, the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Administration. They are locally elected, fair and knowledgeable.
I find Alexander’s observations (“wrong type of people,” “exclusion”) deeply offensive. No less offensive is his example of legislative big-footing. And he is manifestly flat wrong. The purpose of our zoning ordinance is in fact to “preserve the environment,” “community aesthetics” and our rural way of life.
Alexander refers to “snob zoning,” a term used when Massachusetts passed its Comprehensive Permit Law of 1969. Again, he is flat wrong. That act allows a developer to submit an application to the local Zoning Board of Appeals for a comprehensive permit and regulatory agreement. This is precisely the procedure followed by our land use boards following our zoning ordinance. Alexander would call us snobs when in fact we welcome everyone as we follow local mandate to preserve a way of life.
We all understand the shortage of housing in New Hampshire. But Alexander’s claim of municipal snobbery is unhelpful and destructive.
Leigh Callaway
Springfield, N.H.
Vote Linda Tanner
for Sunapee schools
Linda Tanner is the best choice for Sunapee School Board.
With over 35 years of teaching, coaching and department head experience at Kearsarge High School, six years as an adjunct professor in sports science at Colby-Sawyer College and 10 years in the New Hampshire House, eight of those years on the Education Committee, Linda will bring proven leadership, effective communication, and collaboration skills to the position on the school board. From her legislative work Linda received the Advocacy Award by the NH School Nurses’ Association and the Friend of Education award for defending, supporting and uplifting public education.
At the state level, Linda successfully collaborated and worked with members of both parties to pass bills that implemented educational policies and programs bringing needed resources to students and positively impacting student outcomes. She had hands-on experience with budgets both as a department head and as a member of the Sunapee advisory school and town budget committees. Linda is dedicated to ensuring that every Sunapee student has access to quality education and opportunities for success.
Linda holds a deep commitment to ensuring that Sunapee schools maintain their educational excellence, community engagement and sound fiscal policies. As a member of the school board, she will take responsibility to represent the citizens of Sunapee to ensure fiscal accountability and the wise use of taxpayer money.
Please vote on March 11 for Linda Tanner for Sunapee School Board.
Cynthia Currier
Georges Mills
Lake Morey is no kettle
Thanks to Willem Lange for his reflections on Lake Morey (“The frozen surface, and depths, of Lake Morey”; Feb. 12), in which he mistakenly refers to the lake as a glacial kettle. Kettles are surrounded by outwash sediments, not ledges. Both sides of the narrow lake plunge steeply down to about 30 feet, beyond which the lake deepens gradually to about 41 feet, due to accumulated sediment in the center. The steep slope west of Lake Morey, which continues south along I-91 toward Thetford, is an ancient fault that geologists have referred to as the Lake Morey fault. It’s part of a system of faults that formed during the Mesozoic Era, some 170 million years ago. A second north-south-running fault lies to the east near the Connecticut River, called the Ammonoosuc fault. The rocks between the two faults are generally less resistant to weathering than the tougher garnet schists to the west in Vermont and the staurolite schists to the east in New Hampshire. (with the exception of a mass of granite at Fairlee cliffs.) As Pangea rifted apart to form the Atlantic Ocean, subsidiary faults extended up the Connecticut River valley, but this narrow rift stopped opening, unlike the one that became the ocean basin. Certainly the glaciers deepened Lake Morey’s valley, and a tongue of ice may have lingered there, but the valley itself is millions of years older than the Ice Ages.
Peter J. Thompson
Post Mills
The writer is a retired geologist and visiting scholar at Dartmouth College and was co-editor of the 2011 Bedrock Geological Map of Vermont.
Reinstate Rob Grabill
I was a starter on the Hanover High School boys soccer team starting in 1961 and a captain my senior year. After that, I played soccer at Brown University and was an assistant coach there for a year after graduation, and then served as a high school and youth soccer coach and referee in California and on Long Island, N.Y.
I’m now a resident of Hanover who knows Rob Grabill and who has attended his games because they are so wonderful to watch.
I was astonished to learn of Rob’s dismissal as coach of the boys soccer team. You may not view it as a dismissal, but it was, and the dismissal was, at the bare minimum, handled very badly. At the very least, he should have been informed during the fall when students, parents and alumni could have prepared a proper goodbye.
I suggest that Hanover High School consider the possibility that a mistake has been made, because the dismissal of Rob Grabill is downright embarrassing. The only clue as to why this has occurred is a statement to the effect that a “different direction” is needed for the team. The idea that there is a purported “different direction” for the boys soccer program that will be better than what has been offered by Coach Grabill is ludicrous. Does “different direction” mean more losses? That is what you are likely to get without Rob Grabill as coach. Or, does it mean that the training of the boys will no longer include the emphasis on fair play, community and positive team culture that Rob brought to the sport and the school?
Rob Grabill has been an absolute gem of a coach for Hanover High. It is unfathomable to me that the school is not doing everything in its power to keep him. The decision-making process is broken.
Larry Morin
Hanover
Democracy needs defending
It has taken 250 years and contributions from hundreds of thousands of people to create and protect our federal government. Politicians are meant to steward this precious democracy. It is shocking to me that the Republican Congress has voluntarily given up its responsibilities to constituents and the Constitution with nary a sigh. They are installing unqualified people into the most important offices of this government.
This country belongs to its citizens — that is what “of the people, by the people and for the people” means. This is our government, not Trump’s to do with as he wants regardless of legality and constitutionality.
I’m sure there could be changes that would better serve our population. However, the process is supposed to include voices from many different perspectives. Changes take a very long time, which is why it is so devastating to have so many important organizations and hard-working people destroyed with a snap of the fingers. His arrogant demands of other countries will eventually create massive problems for the United States.
Trump has a long history of doing what he wants and threatening those who would try to rein him in. His mantra of never ask permission, never admit guilt and never accept responsibility is a reprehensible way to live a private life, but running his presidency this way is tearing the country apart. A famous quote says that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Trump has garnered immunity for his actions and has put in place people to do his bidding. Where will this all end up?
I cannot put my head in the sand for the next four years, or just try to wait it out. I think everyone who is unhappy with the trajectory of this presidency should speak up, write letters and call your representatives and not become the most notorious silent majority in this country’s history, one that allowed it’s demise.
June Solsaa
South Strafford