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Those Last Few Weeks with Dad 1/4/2002	Intent Not Needed When Crime is Committed 1/18/2002	Enrongate or Heavens Gate 1/22/2002
Life The Toughest Choice 1/25/2002	A Segway to the Sidewalks 2/5/2002	Endangered Species Act puts Firefighters At Risk - 2/26/02
Constitution Change Gives Government More Control 3/5/2002	Introducing The Great White Hunter 3/12/2002	Pat on the Back is Not Deserved - 4/2/2002
Solutions for the 21st Century 4/16/2002	More Solutions for the 21st Century 4/23/2002	Humane Society Not Affiliated with Local SPCA 5/7/2002
Belated Birthday Wishes to News-Letter 5/24/2002	Reflecting on Silent Memorial 5/31/2002	Those Pit Bulls were Doomed 6/4/2002
Are You Ready for the Country? 6/11/2002	Borders Blur, Balance Tilts When Politics is Involved 6/18/2002	Cruel and Unusual Punishment 6/25/2002
Decency Cannot Be Dictated 7/2/2002	Your Hobby Versus Their Hobby 7/19/2002	People Need to Act Responsibly 8/6/2002
Patriot Day About Spirit of Americans 9/13/2002	Working to Free A Killer 12/17/2002

By Ken Goodall

(As printed in the Exeter News-Letter on Tuesday, 12/17/2002.)

There are two NH women working to free a convicted killer. Susan "Sam" Cook McLaughlin was found guilty of being an accessory to murder and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole. It seems that these women feel that McLaughlin has paid her debt to society and now deserves to be free.

One of the women, Cilla Clements, a school teacher and writer from Raymond NH who met McLaughlin while working on a story about imprisoned women, feels that "She's paid her debt, and she's turned her whole life around,"

What other choice did Susan McLaughlin have while sitting in prison? It's not hard to see the error of one's ways while living in a jail cell. That's the point of prison, isn't it? So now that McLaughlin has been a good little girl for 14 years in prison, should she now be set free? What about the wife and children of Robert Cushing, the victim in this heinous crime? It's been 14 years for them with out their husband and father, and he will never come back. Why should McLaughlin get off so easy?

In my opinion, McLaughlin did get off easy. As complicit as she was in this crime, I would not have a problem with capital punishment in this case. Luckily for her, a very active opponent to the death penalty in NH just happens to be Renny Cushing. Renny is the late Robert Cushing's son and he has served as the director of Murder Victim's Families for Reconciliation and lobbied against the death penalty in NH.

I would not be as forgiving as Renny Cushing. I am sure that he was satisfied with the life sentence with out the possibility of parole, but I would like to think that he could not and would not support the release of one of the murderers of his father.

Susan McLaughlin and her husband Robert McLaughlin, an 18-year veteran of the Hampton Police Department, conspired to kill their neighbor Robert Cushing in 1988. Not only did she drive the getaway car, but also she stood and watched while her husband fired two rounds from a shotgun into Mr. Cushing's chest. According to prosecutors, their plan was so elaborate that they used disguises and brought more than one weapon with them to commit the crime.

It is beyond me how anyone can feel that a person who conspired to kill another human being could possibly pay off his or her debt to society. Susan McLaughlin not only drove her husband to the victim's home, but she witnessed the brutal and merciless crime first hand.

The other woman working to free McLaughin is Julie Normand, a Goffstown NH resident. "I feel she's guilty of all the charges against her, but there are extenuating circumstances," according to Normand.

What kind of "extenuating circumstances" could possibly exonerate someone who assisted and witnessed the brutal slaying of another human being?

The women even have a letter from a forensic psychologist who says that Cook may have suffered from Stockholm Syndrome at the time of the murder. Stockholm Syndrome is named after the city where hostages felt some allegiance toward their kidnappers and didn't want to testify against them.

I can accept this as a reason why an abused person may not report the abuser to the police. I can even understand how this may lead the victim to avoid testifying against their abuser, but when the abuser turns their violence against another, that is where this Stockholm Syndrome excuse loses all credibility.

I knew a man who ran a sporting goods store in Pittsburg, NH, and this man would give you the shirt off his back. After misjudging the weather, my group was faced with camping in sub-zero temperatures, and this man offered us a heater for free just to be sure that we were OK. We had cold weather bags and extra clothes, so we didn't take him up on the offer.

I had heard stories about his drinking and that he may have been a mean drunk. I wrote it off as small town talk. A few years ago he started after his wife, who I also know, and she shot him. She was found to be acting in self-defense. The Stockholm Syndrome may explain how this woman stayed with this man, but obviously a line was crossed.

Susan McLaughlin crossed a similar line when she stood by during the murder of Robert Cushing. There are no syndromes, there are no extenuating circumstances; there is only a murder. A murder of which, Susan McLaughlin was an accessory. That is my side of the story.

As printed in The Exeter News-Letter on Friday 9/13/2002 (Column appears in Print Version Only):

On September 5th President George W. Bush proclaimed that September 11th from this day forward would be recognized as Patriot Day.

According to the President's proclamation "On this first observance of Patriot Day, we remember and honor those who perished in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. We will not forget the events of that terrible morning nor will we forget how Americans responded in New York City, at the Pentagon, and in the skies over Pennsylvania with heroism and selflessness; with compassion and courage; and with prayer and hope. We will always remember our collective obligation to ensure that justice is done, that freedom prevails, and that the principles upon which our Nation was founded endure."

Some people are upset that the President used the name of a missile system to honor the victims and survivors of 9/11. A Patriot is and always has been "one who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests". Patriots were also the one's who won our freedom and gave birth to this country. The missile was named after these Patriots, as was September 11th.

This doesn't mean that a patriot can't question some of our country's authority or disagree with some of its interests. A patriot is anyone who fights to make things better, goes to work everyday, and works to be a productive part of society.

True patriots also pull together in bad times and some risk their lives or lose their lives trying to help fellow citizens. Many of the people in those buildings helped others to get out, not just firemen and police but everyday citizens who rose to the occasion.

Whether they were Muslims, Jews, or Catholics, the terrorists didn't care. There are many people in this country who don't believe in our alliance with Israel, but the terrorists didn't care. There are many people in this country who don't believe in what we are doing in the Middle East, but the terrorists didn't care.

America pulled together, possibly like never before, and that is patriotic.

Is Patriot Day a good name for September 11th? Maybe not. Was it a political move? Probably, since both parties play political games, there may have been a political reason for naming it Patriot Day. I may have gone with Never Forget, Never Forgive Day.

The people in the World Trade Center may not have known it, but they were fighting a war. They were standing tall and working together to over come the terror that was instilled by Arab Muslim Terrorists. Like our military personnel on the USS Cole who fought to save their ship, and show those terrorists that they would not win. They brought their ship home and now she is back in service.

The people in those buildings may not have known that it was a terrorist attack, but most of them would not allow fear to overshadow their duty to help others and try to help as many others as they could. That was a war against fear and even though they may not have known at the time, it was a war against terrorism and all it stands for.

The terrorists thought that they could instill fear into the American people, but they failed. Instead they instilled patriotism, heroism, and camaraderie that will bind us together for years to come.

Those buildings could hold around 20,000 people each, and the fact that we only lost 3000 is a tribute to the patriotic and heroic efforts of everyone involved. I may not agree with calling it Patriot Day, but every one of those people who rose to the occasion to help others, is not only a hero but a patriot too.

The word patriot comes from the Latin, pater, meaning father or forefather. The founding fathers were not our fathers, but the fathers of our ideals, principles, and dreams. I see the victims, survivors, and heroes of 9/11 as the new patriots. They pulled together like the minutemen of the American Revolution and they have brought a new resurgence of patriotic feelings.

The people in the World Trade Center became victims, and many became heroes, but in my book they also became patriots. They are the forefathers of a new feeling of patriotism. Always remember and never forget, Patriot Day. That is My Side of the Story.

There is a new disease out there and it's not a new germ or virus, but fat. Yes I said fat. In April of this year the Internal Revenue Service classified Obesity as a disease. Now people who are obese may deduct their weight loss programs and it is retroactive back to 1998. They will of course have to have medically valid reasons for deducting weight loss programs.

This idea of classifying an addiction as a disease is not new. As far as I can tell it started in 1956 when the American Medical Association classified Alcoholism as a disease. I don't see alcoholism itself as a disease, it may cause diseases but it is not a disease. Of course that's just one layman's opinion.

The AMA "endorses the proposition that drug dependencies, including alcoholism, are diseases" and also "identifies alcohol and nicotine as drugs of addiction which are gateways to the use of other drugs by young people"

The Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary defines addict as one whom devotes or surrenders (oneself) to something habitually or obsessively and addiction as a compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol). Well it seems that they may have to change that definition in order to accept obesity as a disease, although I suppose that food could be considered a habit-forming substance in some cases.

The problem with accepting addictions as diseases is that these are choices made by people who just can't say no. They can't say no to smoking, they can't say no to alcohol, they can't say no to drugs, and now they can't say no to food. The answer to these addictions is simple, as Nancy Reagan said, "Just say no!"

Now there is a group of people in New York, lead by Caesar Barber, who also have a problem saying no. They can't say no to McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's, or Kentucky Fried Chicken, so they are suing these corporations for making them fat.

"They said, '100 percent beef.' I thought that meant it was good for you," said Barber.

In 1999 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta did a random telephone survey of over 100,000 people to examine changes in the prevalence of obesity among U.S. adults from 1991 to 1998. One conclusion that the CDC came to was that "a major contributor to obesity - physical inactivity - has not changed substantially between 1991 and 1998."

Were these fast food chains the cause for these peoples physical inactivity? I think not, and I certainly hope that the New York Courts see it that way as well. At some point the court system should hold the plaintiffs and their lawyers responsible for court fees when cases are found to be frivolous. This case would definitely fit the bill.

With all these so-called diseases of today being accepted by the IRS for tax deductions, this means that he government is not going to be getting a lot of money that they expected. What will they do? They'll raise our taxes naturally.

What about Medicare, Medicaid, and other insurance companies? They are going to have to cover these addictions now too. After all if they are classified as diseases, so how could any insurance company refuse? They can't and they won't, so they will be looking for more money to pay for these services also.

Now I am no fountain of strength. It took my Dad being put on oxygen to get me to quit smoking, but I never expected the government to pay for me to stop. I took personal responsibility for my actions, and this is something that a lot of people should start doing. Too many people look to the government to help them over every bump in the road.

Well the government isn't some rich uncle. The government is all of us, and many of us are tired of spending money for bad choices made by people who expect the government to save them. They should start saying no to government handouts and start accepting personal responsibility.

It's all of us who will end up paying for those that can't or won't say no. They won't say no to eating too much, smoking too much, or drinking too much, and we won't be able to say no to higher taxes and medical insurance payments.

Oh well, what are you going to do? I think I'll go to the bar and have a drink and a smoke, but of course only after stopping at Burger King, I mean, after all, I wouldn't want to drink on an empty stomach. That's my side of the story.

Your Hobby is fishing and hunting. Theirs is STOPPING YOU. Nothing has made this more clear than in Eric Orff’s column in the July/August issue of New Hampshire Wildlife. New Hampshire Wildlife is the official publication of the New Hampshire Wildlife Federation. Orff is a wildlife biologist living in NH, He is a member of the Board of Directors for the New England Outdoor Writers, and is an avid fisherman, hunter, and conservationist.

In his column titled "New Hampshire Sportsmen Under Attack" Orff describes the actions of one anti-hunter whose obvious hobby is one of attempting to stop trapping and hunting in NH. This woman has used the Right to Know laws to scan the files of the NH Fish and Game Department and has attempted to change rules and regulations regarding trapping and hunting in the state.

At one point a group of animal rights activists, including this woman, attended a NHF&G Meeting on proposed changes to wildlife control operations and one of the people speaking threatened to sue the department if "their" version of the regulations were not adopted. This woman in the past has recommended that a conservation officer accompany trappers each day to make sure that no laws are broken.

This is how far people, like this woman, are willing to go. If they can’t ban the activity, they want to regulate it out of existence. In New Hampshire, trappers are required to obtain landowner permission to trap on their land and to submit it to their local conservation officers. These are kept on file at the NH Fish and Game Department. Under the Right to Know this woman has acquired many of these documents.

The NHF&G Department has written to the landowners to forewarn them that this information about them has been released to this woman. It’s all legal and there is nothing that can be done about it. What this woman does with this information is anyone’s guess. If certain groups involved in animal rights get this information, the law means nothing to them, and they will let these landowners know it.

Landowner permission is not required for hunting, yet, but it is required if a hunter wishes to erect a permanent tree stand on someone else’s property. Right now this is only between the landowner and the hunter and the hunter must have the written permission with them while in this stand. At some point copies of landowner permission may have to be supplied to NHF&G and if it is, it will also become subject to the Right to Know laws.

One suggestion by Orff is to change our laws regarding landowner permission now before it’s too late. Written Landowner permission could still be required to be on the person of the hunter or trapper. The law could be changed so that it would not be reported to NHF&G. This would keep it out of the hands of people like this woman, and keep the landowners free from any possibility of harassment.

The majority of sportsmen spend their free time enjoying their sport. Some take an active part in defending their sport and working to keep fair laws in place and land open to enjoy their sport. Animal Rights activists like this woman spend their free time fighting to ban certain activities and trying to regulate others into oblivion.

So while you are hiking your trap line, sitting in your tree stand, or fishing in your boat, just remember that there are people like this woman out there who have their own hobby and that is to stop you. They are reading laws, looking for loopholes, and trying to create regulations to make it much more difficult for you to fish, hunt, or trap.

Many groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Humane Society of the United States spread their agenda in the media using misinformation and misconceptions. Whenever I point out some of these issues to some of the more moderate animal activists they ask, "Who else can we support?"

I always suggest The New Hampshire Wildlife Federation. They work to save endangered species, re-introduce species that have disappeared in New Hampshire, and to protect conservation land across the state. Of course they work with sportsmen as well, and understand the concept of sustainable use of our natural resources.

The New Hampshire Wildlife Federation Pledge: I pledge myself, as a responsible human, to assume my share of the stewardship of our natural resources. I will use my share with gratitude, without greed or waste. I will respect the rights of others and abide by the law. I will support the sound management of the resources we use, the restoration of the resources we have despoiled, and the safe-keeping of significant resources for posterity. I will never forget that life and beauty, wealth and progress, depend on how wisely we use these gifts... the soil, the water, the air, the minerals, the plant life, and the wildlife.

The NHWF is located at 54 Portsmouth Street, Concord, NH 03301 and their phone number is (603) 224-5953.

The NHWF website is http://www.nhwf.org /

Contact NHF&G about this attack on sportsmen’s rights and ask them to correct this loophole that makes landowner information available to people like this. The e-mail address for NHF&G is info@wildlife.state.nh.us and their website address is http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us .

That is My Side of the Story.

If New Hampshire resident, Howard C. Hedegard Jr., of Dear Child Publications has his way, the NH Child Protection Act will have a much bigger bite. Mr. Hedegard has started a petition to make the failure to report child abuse a felony charge. Currently the failure to report child abuse in NH is a misdemeanor.

The death of Kassidy Bortner of Rochester, NH and the deaths of other babies in NH prompted the petition, which already has over 1000 signatures on it. Chad Evans, the boyfriend of Kassidy's mother, Amanda Bortner, was convicted in December of second-degree murder and multiple counts of assault. It is alleged that Bortner had knowledge of some of the abuse going on against Kassidy.

Amanda Bortner had been scheduled to appear in Strafford County Superior Court for a plea and sentencing hearing on two misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Bortner changed her mind and decided to ask for a jury trial. Her trail is scheduled for November 4th of this year.

Mr. Hedegard's petition states "We, the undersigned residents of the state of New Hampshire, wish to express our shock and horror at the brutality and suffering endured by Kassidy Bortner in the weeks prior to her death. In memory of Kassidy, as well as the other three babies murdered in New Hampshire last year and the three infants whose deaths are under investigation, we ask you, our legislators, to revise the New Hampshire Child Protection Act, which is clearly ineffective. We petition you to seek strict penalties for parents and others who do not report suspicion of child abuse. Further, when serious injury to or death of a child occurs, we demand that individuals with reason to suspect abuse be prosecuted as accessories to a felony if they do not report their suspicions."

Anyone, who knows of actual abuse to children and does nothing to stop it, obviously lacks human decency and basic courage. Even if a person lacks the courage to intervene, the least they could do is notify the police to stop the abuse. To make this law a felony though, may be taking this a step too far. This law already includes civil penalties that could be instituted if a person is found guilty of having prior knowledge of the abuse.

Of course a big question of mine is if this law already has ramifications for those that refuse to report child abuse, then why hasn't anyone in the Catholic Church been charged?

According to the Child Protection Act under Persons Required to Report, it states that "Any physician, surgeon, county medical examiner, psychiatrist, resident, intern, dentist, osteopath, optometrist, chiropractor, psychologist, therapist, registered nurse, hospital personnel (engaged in admission, examination, care and treatment of persons), Christian Science practitioner, teacher, school official, school nurse, school counselor, social worker, day care worker, any other child or foster care worker, law enforcement official, priest, minister, or rabbi or any other person having reason to suspect that a child has been abused or neglected shall report the same in accordance with this chapter."

The law includes "priest, minister, or rabbi or any other person having reason to suspect that a child has been abused", in other words, not only the professions mentioned, but anyone with knowledge of child abuse is required, by law, to report it. In the section titled Abrogation of Privileged Communication, it states "The privileged quality of communication between husband and wife and any professional person and his patient or client, except that between attorney and client, shall not apply to proceedings instituted pursuant to this chapter and shall not constitute grounds for failure to report as required by this chapter."

According to the law there is no protection for Priests, Ministers, or Rabbi's when it comes to the knowledge of child abuse. So why has absolutely nothing been done by the NH Attorney General? There have been enough cases of these problems in the Church, but no charges have been filed for failing to report the abuses.

This law that requires us to police our neighbors opens the door to some serious accusations. Average people will have to decide what is and isn't abuse. Can yelling or screaming at your child be considered abuse? It could be by some people. Is spanking abuse? A lot of people believe it is. What recourse is available to those that are wrongly accused?

What next? Speed kills and someone speeding may kill several people. Are we now going to be required by law to report people that are speeding? After a bouncing ball comes a running child. In order to "Save the Children" we may need a law to require reporting speeders. Where is this kind of legislation going to take us?

We cannot legislate morality or decency. In trying to do so the legislature has put us on a very slippery slope. Neighbors watching neighbors and friends watching friends. Common sense and decency already require people of good conscience to report abuse. People that know of abuse and do nothing about it, lack conscience.

The people that didn't report abuse in the Kassidy Bortner case will have to live with it for the rest of their lives, as will the officials of the Church. Let's not make it a felony if every parent that loses their patience and screams at their kids or slaps a child for mouthing off to them is not reported. There is a difference between discipline and abuse. A felony of this kind may cause parents to have second thoughts on discipline and could cause more children to grow up with a lack of conscience and knowing right from wrong. That is my side of the story.

As Printed in The Exeter News-Letter on 6/25/2002:

Cruel and unusual punishment is forbidden under the eighth amendment to the United States constitution. For a victim of murder, it would not be classified as punishment, but being murdered is certainly cruel and unusual. The sentence for such a crime should be no less.

On Thursday, June 20th, the United States Supreme Court ruled that executions of mentally retarded criminals are cruel and unusual punishment violating the eighth amendment. So according to the standard, if a person found guilty of murder can show that they have an IQ under 70, then they will not have to face execution.

Now that's one test that most people will to want to fail.

With this new ruling, a person, who is possibly mentally retarded and commits the cruel and unusual crime of murder, will avoid the death penalty completely. That is how the U.S. Supreme Court views justice.

Another interesting point to this case is the statement of Justice John Paul Stevens, who authored the opinion of the court, and stated that "It is fair to say that a national consensus has developed against it"

Since there are 38 States that have the death penalty, then the national consensus agrees to the use of the death penalty as a deterrent and 20 of those still execute mentally retarded convicted murderers. That is 53% of the States that have the death penalty that execute the mentally retarded and 47% that don't. That is not a national consensus.

Since the last election, the death penalty has come up on several occasions with President Bush's history of allowing over 150 executions while he served as Governor of Texas. An interesting fact that seemed to miss most major news outlets was an act by then Governor Clinton, when he flew back to Arkansas during the 1992 election for an execution.

That execution was of a man named Ricky Ray Rector who was convicted of killing two people in Arkansas. One person that he killed was the result of an argument over two dollars.

Gloria Rubac, an anti-death penalty activist, wrote "In 1992 when Clinton was running for president, he made a point of leaving the campaign trail to go back to Arkansas for an execution, sending a strong message to the American people that he was in full support of the death penalty. The victim was a mentally retarded man named Ricky Ray Rector"

Well there it is, "The victim was a mentally retarded man named Ricky Ray Rector" The Victim? Wait a minute; let's try The Criminal, The Murderer, The Cold Blooded Killer, but not "the victim"

It's the same old liberal claptrap calling guilty criminals victims. Ms. Rubac goes on and on about the horror of the death penalty and the conditions of prisons, but what you won't find is one word about the real victims. Not one word about the two people that Ricky Ray Rector killed. Not one word.

What she didn't say was that Rector killed a doorman at a dance over two dollars, and when a police officer went to Rector's house to arrest him, Rector shot and killed the officer in cold blood.

It was reported that before Ricky Ray Rector's execution, he took his desert and put it under his bed and said, "I'm going to eat it after my execution," Would Rector have been considered mentally retarded? Yes, but you see he wasn't when he committed his crime, his retardation was the result of a gunshot to the head, a self-inflicted gunshot.

I am not in favor of the death penalty in every murder case but when the evidence is overwhelming, the brutality is evident, and it is beyond a shadow of a doubt, then the death penalty is a deterrent that is 100% effective.

I have read the anti-death penalty propaganda and how many innocent people have been found innocent after being on death row. Well the system worked, and eventually these people were cleared. Ms. Rubac states in her article that the death penalty is used against innocent people.

Name One? That is all that I ask, name one?

The only case that I have ever heard of is the Sacco and Vanzetti Case. After looking into the story, it appears that they may not have been so innocent after all. I checked out the Sacco and Vanzetti Case and though the trial may have been questionable the results may not have been.

According to Encyclopedia.com, "new ballistics tests conducted with modern equipment in 1961 seemed to prove conclusively that the pistol found on Sacco had been used to murder the guard." So if Sacco did it and no one has ever found any more proof, I'd say Vanzetti is guilty by association and justice was served.

I have read many stories where friends or family members have proclaimed the innocence of someone in prison. They write letters, make phone calls, and sometimes continue the battle to prove the person's innocence for years and years, until finally something breaks and the truth comes out.

If just one innocent person was executed, it seems that there would be at least a couple people somewhere that would cry out to clear the name of the innocent person. With all of these "Victims" being executed, isn't it funny that we never hear of anyone crying out that the execution was an injustice and that an innocent person had been executed?

All I can say is that the recidivism rate for murderers who receive the death penalty is zero and that is my side of the story.

E-Mail: bowananh@yahoo.com

The law states that political districts need to maintain populations within a certain percentage of each other. Now the time has come for redistricting to keep this balance intact. Unfortunately when Politics is involved suddenly the lines of borders become blurred.

The problem is that playing politics often causes issues to come to a stand still and forces courts to become involved. When lines are crossed either by political bodies or by the courts themselves, it's the people who pay the price. In my opinion lines were crossed when the courts tried to establish what an adequate education means in New Hampshire.

When the court decided adequacy, it left the NH legislature with tough choices to make regarding the way property taxes pay for education in NH. The legislature creates laws and the courts interpret them. If the courts interpreted the word "Adequate" differently than the legislature, then the legislature should have created a law defining the word more to their original intent.

Instead the legislature and Jean Shaheen, the governor of NH, allowed this issue to fester until the courts had to intercede. When the issue arose at election time, the governor, in her infinite wisdom, set up a blue ribbon commission that would not report until after the election. The legislature continued to delay taking action until finally, with school budgets close to coming to an end, an emergency tax plan was put into place to temporarily fix the problem. That temporary plan is still in effect.

The same kind of inaction by the NH legislature that put education funding into a tailspin is the same inaction that has put redistricting into the hands of the court. The inability of the Democrats and Republicans to come to some sort of agreement has left an issue in the hands of the court, again. The theory of give and take is a part of everyone's lives, but it seems that the NH legislature has forgotten this theory.

That theory doesn't work in Massachusetts where political districts look more like lightning bolts grasping up Democrats to keep the powerful seats in Democratic hands. The Massachusetts Congressional district map looks like a warped version of a jigsaw puzzle. Representative Barney Frank's district starts in Newton, MA, and narrowly runs from town to town all the way to Fall River and New Bedford.

Some kind of regional order should be maintained and using the census data of the population, NH should be able to redistrict in such a way to keep regional areas somewhat uniform. Whether the NH courts do it or they force the legislature, like little children, to stay in their rooms and not come out until they reach an agreement, NH, by law, must redistrict.

The Republicans, using their majority power, created an initial plan that would have created more Republican seats, but they must have known that Governor Shaheen would veto the plan. Governor Shaheen rather than exuding her power and forcing the legislature to deal with the issue allowed it to pass through the legislature only to veto it when it got to her desk.

The Democrats on the other hand were playing political games of their own. They wanted to introduce election reform into the redistricting plans. Instead of dealing with the single issue they wanted to add another to the mix, and add reforms that might have helped them regain some power in the NH legislature. Neither side was willing to give and the Governor sat back and watched.

This inaction is reminiscent of the education-funding crisis when NH schools almost ended up with no budget. The legislature then passed an emergency funding bill establishing a set property tax rate and allowing certain towns to become receiver towns and certain towns to become donor towns depending on their established education funding needs. This was and is a band-aid at best.

In April of this year, in regards to supplying the students in NH an adequate education, the NH Supreme Court stated that ""we conclude that the state needs to do more work." Well it seems that the court can just carbon copy that same statement in regards to redistricting as well.

We elect representatives to represent us in the decision making process of running the business of the State of New Hampshire, well it seems that the NH legislators have been lax in their duties in allowing these important issues to fall into the hands of the courts. I had hoped that the legislature would stand up to the court in the Claremont case and fix the education-funding problem. They didn't.

Now I would like the NH Legislature to take a stand and work out some compromises to the redistricting issue, but again it seems that they won't. We send these men and women to Concord to make the tough decisions. Isn't it about time that they made some? That's my side of the story.

E-Mail: bowananh@yahoo.com

The allure of the country is the rural setting and the beauty of a natural life among back roads and country stores. Small towns, small schools, and a country store where the clerk actually knows your name. Yes, it's a drive to go to the grocery store and a drive to bring the kids to a movie, but your living in a quaint, country town away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Along with the country lifestyle come some concessions, like not knowing when your quaint little back road will get plowed or whether or not you'll have curbside trash pick up. These are issues that people need to consider when making the move to the country. They need to consider the answer to the question "Are you ready for the country?"

For some small town residents visiting the dump, or excuse me, the recycling center, is a ritual where you meet your neighbors and even local politicians who go there to hand out flyers and get to know their constituents. When asked why the town doesn't have curbside pick up, the politician will answer, "Well that would be hard to do, you see we don't have curbs."

Then when questioned on getting the roads plowed, they'll explain how the state roads get plowed first and that not too long ago the back roads were still dirt. Some people that move to the country forget to answer the question, "Are you ready for the country?"

One new resident of a small town in N.H. went into the town clerk's office to ask about getting their water turned on. When they asked the clerk, the clerk replied, "Well first off, you are going to need a plumber. You see we don't have town water here. You have a well." This new resident definitely didn't answer the question, "Are you ready for the country?"

A club in Hollis, N.H., The Lone Pine Hunters Club, has been taken to court by a group of Hollis residents calling themselves Residents Defending Their Homes. The club has been in Hollis since 1966, longer than many of the residents in this group. They are upset that the club has gotten busier, but with all of the "No Trespassing" signs and the sandpits closing, clubs like Lone Pine are the safest places to shoot.

The Residents Defending Their Homes claim that the club exists illegally and was not given a variance. The club applied in 1966 for a building permit and was told by the building inspector that they would need a variance. When the club went to the Hollis Zoning Board, the board said that they did not need a variance and signed a letter to the club stating so.

During the Hollis Zoning Board meeting of December 14th, 2000 the lawyer representing the Residents Defending Their Homes was asked if he was representing any abutters to the Lone Pine Hunters Club, his answer was no, he wasn't. One thing that this lawyer should have asked his clients was "Are you ready for the country?"

When people come to the country in the fall, they see cows in one field and corn growing in another. It's a beautiful picture of the country life. They follow their dream and move to the country.

Then in the spring, when it's time for the farms to fertilize, they wonder what in the world that awful smell is. They don't realize that it is the smell of spring, the smell of the country. They never answered the question, "Are you ready for the country?"

When you choose to live in the country you accept the fact that you won't make as much money or pay as much in taxes. You accept the fact that your kids may have a longer ride to school.

If you want your kids to get a certain level of education, you live with traffic, you live with construction, you make a little more money, you pay more taxes, and you'll have computers in your school.

If you decide to live in the country and live with a few less amenities, make sure that you can answer this question truthfully, "Are you ready for the country?" That is my side of the story.

E-Mail: Bowananh@yahoo.com

It's the age-old question of what determines character traits, Environment or Heredity? The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has taken the side of "Heredity".

This has been the case in the fate of the 43 Pit Bulls seized from an alleged dog-fighting ring in Newton, NH. All of the dogs have been euthanized.

Pit Bull recovery organizations and animal advocates had offered to save some if not all of the animals, but experts decided that these dogs were too far-gone.

I understood the decision to euthanize these pit bulls, but when the HSUS got involved, I seriously started to question my belief.

Now, who were these so-called "Experts"? Since some of these experts are associated with the HSUS, those dogs were doomed right from the start.

Of course the dogs aren't to blame, the owner is. Christopher DeVito, the Newton resident, was scheduled to go to trial last week on 37 counts of cruelty to animals. He is accused of breeding and training the dogs to fight. His trial was postponed until September after a court hearing last week.

Once the dogs were trained to be fighting dogs, the chances of rehabilitation were slim; therefore the euthanasia of these dogs is understandable.

But, eight of these 43 Pit Bulls were puppies. These puppies could not have had much training to be fighters (if they had any at all), but even the puppies were put to death.

The Humane Society said it felt that this was the most Humane choice. Yes, really humane- it didn't give any of those "Domestic" dogs a chance. If they had been wolves, groups like the Humane Society of the U.S. would have spent thousands to relocate them.

One animal rights group, the Defenders of Wildlife provides a compensation program for livestock killed by wolves. So, animal rights groups pay for damages caused by wolves when livestock or pets are killed, but these eight puppies whose only mistake was being born Pit Bulls, are now dead.

Hillary Twining of the Humane Society said "We strongly believe that any dog that has been specifically bred or conditioned for fighting should not be placed for adoption," So instead of adoption, the only other choice was Death?

When it comes to manmade animals this is what the Humane Society wants. Just 43 more dead domestic dogs, in their view.

Twining went on to say "It's an issue of nature versus nurture, you cannot rehabilitate what's genetically programmed."

So since Pit Bulls were genetically programmed then She must want all pit bulls euthanized. Just another excuse to get rid of manmade domestic animals. Really Humane.

Well Ms. Twining, German Shepards were bred as Guard Dogs and Sentry dogs, so are they next? What about Akitas? They were bred in Japan to take down bears. That is a horrible thing to do with a dog, so maybe Akitas should go too. Once these dogs were "Genetically bred" they were doomed, weren't they, Ms. Twining?

There were other experts besides those from the HSUS involved in this decision to euthanize these dogs. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Massachusetts SPCA also had their own Animal Behavior Experts who took part in the decision. PETA has run advertisements such as "Got Prostate Cancer," showing Rudi Giuliani with a milk mustache when he was first diagnosed with prostate cancer. PETA also passed out "Un-Happy Meals" containing a Ronald McDonald doll with a bloody ax, to children in McDonald's parking lots. It ran billboards near colleges containing "Got Beer" ads- ads which claimed that drinking beer was better then drinking milk from abused cows. Locally, PETA recently showed graphic slaughterhouse films to students in front of the Portsmouth Middle School and allegedly told students, "This is what life is like on most farms. This is where most bacon, where most hot dogs and other products come from."

Now, PETA, which claims not to support violence, has added Gary Yourofsky to their payroll. Yourofsky the founder of the group Animals Deserve Absolute Protection Today and Tomorrow (ADAPTT) stated last year that he "would unequivocally support" the death of "animal abusers" in arson fires." On his group's website he writes, ""If people kill animals for food, clothing, research or sport, then they are killing God. Many people erroneously believe that God embraces the misery and murder of animals. But, the truth is, when you cause misery to animals and take part in their murder, you are causing God misery and murdering his soul." It seems that Yourofsky's new employer has just put him on the wrong side of God, with the murder of the Pit Bulls.

The Massachusetts SPCA website states "Today the MSPCA continues to rescue, shelter, protect, heal, and advocate for more animals than any other American humane organization" That may be true but what did they do to "rescue, shelter, protect, heal, and advocate" for these ill-fated pit bulls? Not one option to save at least the puppies could be found by an organization claiming to be an "advocate" to animals.

Despite the billions of dollars that these Animal Rights' groups take in, when it really comes down to the Animal's Rights, they are no where to be found.

The tiny town of Newton, N.H., is left with a huge bill for keeping these dogs alive as long as it did, and the only option that these animal welfare experts could offer for these dogs was death.

There was one group, and maybe more, that could have saved some of these dogs, but thanks to the Humane Society of the U.S. and other so-called animal rights groups what we have is 43 dead dogs.

There are some at the Humane Society who work to improve the welfare of pets. Yet, even the HSUS can't keep track of it's own policies. The HSUS publicly opposes The Pit-Bull Protection Act, which would ban ownership of any Pit Bull in Washington, D.C. It's statement of opposition says "This legislation overlooks the issues of responsible pet ownership as the root of human/animal conflicts."

Tell that to the eight dead pit bull puppies. That's my side of the story.

E-Mail: bowananh@yahoo.com

I visited The Vietnam Memorial, The Wall, in Washington D.C.. As we approached the wall people were talking and looking around the park, young and old alike. As we got closer to the wall it got quieter and quieter. The long line viewing the names on the wall was totally silent.

A few approached to rub a pencil over a piece of paper and others just left personal items to honor their lost ones. These actions could not help but move anyone standing nearby. I was awestruck by the number of people standing there, and the total silence along the entire wall.

Now there is a "Virtual Wall" on the Internet to honor those who died in service to our country.

In 1998 Winstar Communications and The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Fund created "the Virtual Wall", an Internet website in honor of the men and women who lost their lives during the Vietnam War. Visitors can view an interactive image of the wall and zoom in on the names on the wall.

Visitors may add their own personal memorials to the names on the wall and even get a Virtual name rubbing. There is no charge to post on the site of The Virtual Wall and by doing so you may enter remembrances of those people you knew that lost their lives and even create your own personalized "My Virtual Wall" to keep track of postings to those you knew.

Each name on the Virtual Wall links to a personal profile of that person. It is also possible to link the names on the wall with the person that you are viewing. For instance, you can link your loved one with Others with the same last name who died in Vietnam, other soldiers from the same state, others who died on the same day, others who died in the same area of Vietnam, and others in the same branch of service.

For anyone who has any interest in The Vietnam War and those who died there for America, this site is a must see. The internet address for The Virtual Wall is http://www.thevirtualwall.org/ .

According to the Smithsonian Institute"In the fall of 1982, a U.S. Navy officer walked up to the trench where the concrete for the foundation of The Wall was being poured. He stood over the trench for a moment, then tossed something into it and saluted. A workman asked him what he was doing. He said he was giving his dead brother's Purple Heart to The Wall. That was the first offering."

A book "Offerings at the Wall" is a collection of pictures and stories of items left at the Wall. The Smithsonian Institute has many of these items on exhibit. Some of them can be seen on their website located at http://photo2.si.edu/offerings/offerings.html .

To All who served and are serving our country now, I say THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY!

5/31/2002

On April 23rd the Exeter News-Letter celebrated it's 172nd birthday and in honor of the occasion the paper came out with a new and improved format. Incorporating a new modern look with a front-page banner printed in old English Script that has been around since the beginning. I too would like to honor the News-Letter's birthday with a little of my own history with the paper.

My Great Uncle was Joe Marston and he worked at the News-Letter for most of his life. He was a typesetter. One of my elementary school field trips went to the News-Letter and I got to see my Uncle working on one of the presses. The press that he was working still used block letters that had to be arranged one at a time to form words. Little did I know that I would end up in the same building years later.

Not long after I graduated high school I worked at the News-Letter for a while. I worked "Catching and Jogging" newspapers coming off the press. Catching involved grabbing the papers as they came down the conveyor belt off of the press and then they would be jogged or shaken in stacks until they were in neat bundles. Then they would be bundled and tied to be sent out on the paper routes.

At that time articles and advertisements would be printed out on paper and then "cut and pasted" onto sheets to be photographed. The typed pages would be cut into sections to fit the layout of the newspaper. These sections would be glued or pasted into place. After all the text was cut and pasted onto the sheets the pictures would be fit into their perspective positions.

At this point the sheets would be placed into a machine that burned the images and text onto a sheet of thin metal or Printing Plate. This plate would be fastened to a drum on the press; one plate would hold two pages of the newspaper. One side of a single press would print on the top of the paper and the backside of a single press would print on the bottom of the paper. One press would be printing four pages of the paper.

If you have ever noticed, the front page and the back page of the paper are on one side of a single piece of newsprint and then the second page and the second to the last page are on the backside of that same piece of newsprint. The burned part of the printing plate would retain ink and as the press rolled the newsprint would slide under the drum as it turned leaving the ink on the paper. Several presses would be running the separate pages at one time.

Along with catching the completed newspapers at the end of the press, when the presses weren't running I was responsible for loading the rolls of newsprint onto the presses. The rolls of newsprint are about four feet tall with a hole in the middle for a shaft that attaches to the press. The rolls would get rolled onto a cart and then shims would be hammered onto the shaft to secure the roll. Then the newsprint would be rolled to the press and then two people would use levers to hoist the roll onto the press. That is basic printing press 101.

Charles and Harry Thayer ran the News-Letter. I remember Harry, a volunteer fireman for the Exeter Fire department, would go running through the pressroom every time the alarm sounded. Someone would always yell, "Why you running Harry, is there a fire or something?"

Of course at the company Christmas party he would get the plastic fire engine and the matching firemen's helmet. I had hoped to move into another department at the time but there was nothing available, so eventually I moved on. That was the end of my history with the paper until a year and a half ago when I started writing this column.

Being the News-Letter's anniversary I looked into some of the history of the paper on the internet. I came across the Mitchell Archives, a business that deals in the preservation and sale of historic documents and newspapers. The archive has an edition of the Exeter News-Letter from December 15th, 1835. In this issue the paper ran President Andrew Jackson's State of the Union Address running on the front page and taking up fourteen columns. The cost for this issue is currently $235.

The paper can not actually be seen on the website but I looked for President Jackson's address and found his State of the Nation address given on December 7th, 1835. In it I found a section where he stated that "In the example of other systems founded on the will of the people we trace to internal dissension the influences which have so often blasted the hopes of the friends of freedom. The social elements, which were strong and successful when united against external danger, failed in the more difficult task of properly adjusting their own internal organization, and thus gave way the great principle of self-government."

It's quite extraordinary how historical speeches transcend time. This speech is apropos right now with the government taking away some of our rights for our own good after September 11th. The idea of self- government is for the people to keep control and not give more to the Government. As Benjamin Franklin said in 1759, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Wow, 14 columns devoted to the President's State of the Nation address. The newspapers today could never get away with that. Well there is a little of my history with the Exeter News-Letter and a little Exeter News-Letter history too, and of course it's my side of the story.

E-Mail: bowananh@yahoo.com

Although the name would lead one to believe that the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is affiliated with your local Humane Society, this is not the fact. Even the HSUS's own documents state that "The HSUS does not oversee local animal shelters or societies." They do set up recommended policies and guidelines that local Humane Societies may or may not decide to follow. The HSUS does affect local Humane Societies in other ways though, and that is through their fundraising efforts. With twenty eight percent of HSUS donations going directly toward more fundraising, this is quite an overpowering force that limits the availability of donations for local organizations.

The HSUS has grown to be the largest Animal Welfare organization in the country and has done so by tugging at the heartstrings of pet owners everywhere. Of course the reality is that the HSUS has been leaning more and more towards being an Animal Rights organization and limiting the use and ownership of animals altogether. In my first investigation of the HSUS I wrote a letter to newspapers titled "Pet Owners Beware of the HSUS" This letter pointed out the many instances where the HSUS actually worked against pet owners.

The HSUS took issue with my statements that had been printed in several newspapers and Joanne Bourbeau, the HSUS New England regional director responded stating that ""Pet Owners Beware of the HSUS" is grossly inaccurate and misleading." She also claimed that "The HSUS is an animal protection organization not an animal rights organization." and that "We are not a vegetarian organization; in fact, we promote non-factory farms that use humane animal husbandry practices."

In my reply to the HSUS I pointed out that the National Association for Humane and Environmental Education (NAHEE), the HSUS's youth education division, and it's Teen division called HumaneTeen, both have several links to Animal Rights organizations and Vegan websites. Veganism is one step beyond Vegetarianism in that Vegans avoid all meat and any meat by-products. The HSUS may not be a Vegetarian or a Vegan organization, but they certainly promote it.

The HSUS website states that "responsible" pet owners get their pets neutered. To claim that any pet owner that doesn't do this is irresponsible led me to ask the HSUS these questions, "As for the HSUS's position on pets, the HSUS may want to save the pets that are alive now, but if every responsible pet owner must neuter their pet, then where will the next generation of pets come from? Will your organization judge who is allowed to have litters, and also who is allowed to have these pets when they are born?"

Also regarding adoptions at shelters, "Right now a lot of shelters will not give a pet to a household where no one is home during the day. In today's world most couples both have to work, so if a husband and wife work then they can't adopt a dog. My family and I have had several dogs and cats, and they were left home alone during the day. These animals were great animals and did no damage. Why deny an animal a home when the alternative is euthanasia?"

These questions seemed to get the attention of the Main office of the HSUS in Washington, D.C.. Kathy Bauch, the Director of Project Management replied "Since you seem incapable of grasping facts and continue to state inaccuracies about The HSUS, we consider further correspondence with you to be useless and will not engage in it." Were my questions out of line? I don't think so. They seemed like reasonable questions to me.

The HumaneTeen Flashpoints section includes a request for teens to take a course on Animal Rights at the University of Rochester, N.Y.. According to the University's website "In this course we will attempt to thoughtfully and carefully answer" questions like what are animal rights and do animals have rights? These questions will be "thoughtfully and carefully" answered by the teacher, Nathan Nobis. In a review of the book "Defending Animal Rights" on Amazon.com he wrote, "animals, like humans, have the right to be treated with respect and so not used by humans for food, clothing, experimental subjects, or entertainment."

In a review of the book "Sacred Cows and Golden Geese: The Human Cost of Experiments on Animals", Mr. Nobis states that "The Greeks clearly show that animal experimentation is not (and never has been) necessary for human health and that, in fact, human health and safety is often compromised by animal experimentation." Thanks for that intellectual statement Mr. Nobis, but my mother would probably not be alive today if it wasn't for animal testing and that's one trade off that I would take every time.

This is the teacher that the Humane Society of the United States is recommending teens to go to and learn about Animal rights. Of course the HSUS is not a Vegetarian organization or an animal rights one either. The HSUS just wants to teach the next generation about animal rights.

One of the main sponsors of the annual Animal Rights conference has been none other than the HSUS. At the 2001 conference Howard Lyman was indicted into the Animal Rights Hall of Fame. Lyman is the "Eating With Conscience Campaign" director with the HSUS. His name may be familiar; he was the Vegetarian on the Oprah show when the meat industry, for her comments about tainted beef, sued her and Lyman.

Some of the events at the 2001 animal rights conference co-sponsored by the HSUS include things like how to get attention, Legally and otherwise, Dealing with Law Enforcement, arrests, jail time and grand juries. One course asks if the animal rights cause can justify lying, cheating, and stealing to reach their goals. On the last day Wayne Pacelle a vice president of the HSUS said that "We want to put them into prison, we want to take away their right to vote, we want to take away their right to own a gun." He later stated that he was referring to felony animal abusers, although the title of his presentation was ""Sport Campaigns (Hunting, fishing, rodeos, cockfighting, bullfighting, greyhounds." All of which are legal in at least some areas of the United States.

Seems like the Humane Society of the United States is the one being "grossly inaccurate and misleading" doesn't it? If anyone really wants to donate money for animals where it will do the most good, look for your local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals, your local Humane Societies, and if you can try and find "No Kill" shelters. When you donate to a No Kill shelter you know your money is going to save animals, and that's My Side of the Story.

E-Mail- bowananh@yahoo.com

In my last column I had been addressing issues of the 21st century that had been brought up in a political discussion that I had on an Internet News message board. A poster named Morpheus had said "There are no solutions for the major dilemmas confronting humans in the twenty-first century. You clearly disagree with that statement, so prove me wrong" Along with this statement he included a list of problems. Here are the rest of my solutions for these dilemmas.

What are your solutions for corrupt politicians? As a society we need to redefine the political laws in this country. For one thing campaign finance reform is a good start, but it needs to be directed at the politicians and not the political action groups that support them. We should limit or eliminate PAC money and the amounts of money that lobbyists can donate to political campaigns.

What are your solutions for people who don't know how to love and don't care to learn? The heart of this question is "and don't care to learn?" We can only help those that want help. Trying to force help onto someone is only a waste of time and money. Anyone who doesn't care to grow and learn is doomed. There is nothing we can do for them.

What are your solutions for the safe disposal of nuclear waste? There is no safe way to dispose of nuclear waste. All we can do is work to find alternative energy sources. Again we need reform. Too many corporations are making money in their ventures and don't want alternatives. We need to work somehow to get nuclear companies involved in the quest for alternative energies and again work to reform how we get and use our energy today. For now we have no answers, all we can do is continue the research. As long as we want our lights, computers, and microwaves, we have to deal with nuclear energy and the waste it creates.

What are your solutions for AIDS and other horrible diseases? We are making strides towards answers in many of these medical problems, but again as with all Government programs, we need reform. Too much money is being spent on administration and not enough is getting to the core of the problems. Many corporations involved in this field are also locked into their capitalist ways. They have gotten used to the money coming in for their research and don't want to give it up. We need to monitor the research going on and try to set up funds so that when one problem is solved, these groups can continue on to the next problem. This way these groups won't be in fear of loosing their grants when a solution is found.

What are your solutions for intolerance and hatred and bigotry? Again education. Education of our children, education of parents, and education of society in general. We will never get rid of intolerance, hatred, and bigotry completely and at times we are driven to it as in the attacks of September 11th of last year. Hatred and bigotry are non-productive emotions, but intolerance is an emotion that we will have to deal with from time to time. Intolerance needs to be directed properly against those that deserve it. As in 9/11, Muslims as a whole do not deserve to be treated unfairly. The majority of Muslims are decent people, as is the case with any group, but the one's responsible for acts like this deserve no tolerance what so ever.

What are your solutions for the decimation of the rain forests? Again Capitalism and Conservation need to work together. No ecosystem should be decimated completely. As with everything in nature, there must be a balance. Unless we are willing to return to the dark ages, we have to be willing to use the resources available to us. If that means drilling for oil in the Arctic to relieve our dependence on Mid East oil then so be it. Now I am not saying going in full throttle and destroying the ecosystem, but a sustainable use of the resource with as little effect on the ecosystem as possible.

What are your solutions for greed? We have laws governing business and profits, for those that are legally greedy, that's called capitalism. For those that break the laws to satisfy their greed, that's called a crime.

What are your solutions for the fact that many of our children can't read or write but watch four or five hours of television every day? Besides educating our children we need to educate parents as well. When a parent complains that the school did not teach their child, it just makes me wonder where was the parent? A child's education is more of a parental responsibility then it is the schools. Of course we do need Education Reform and schools that actually require students to be able to read before they pass them along. As always, society needs to pay attention to their school funds and make sure that schools are spending our tax dollars wisely.

Now do I really think that these solutions could work? Yes I do, but the real question is would they work? Well with legislators worrying about votes and playing politics on both sides, tough solutions like these don't stand a chance. Too many people will say that these ideas are "Cold Hearted". These people are the one's always willing to give to the needy and just keep giving. I believe that there should be more of a give and take. Will we still need welfare programs? Yes, absolutely, but work with companies to offer entry-level jobs and training to needy people and offer those companies tax breaks or other benefits for offering these jobs. For those families having problems, I would be in favor of a State supported day care system. Anything we can do to get people back on their feet. There is an old saying that I believe holds true and that saying is "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime".

The person that started this by saying, "There are no solutions" goes by the handle of "Morpheus". Morpheus in Greek Mythology is the God of Dreams. It amazes me that the God of Dreams can not even dream of any solutions. It seems that I am more of a dreamer than he is and that is My Side of the Story.

E-Mail bowananh@yahoo.com

On an Internet news message board a poster named Morpheus stated that "There are no solutions for the major dilemmas confronting humans in the twenty-first century. You clearly disagree with that statement, so prove me wrong" Along with this statement he included a list of problems. In this column I have tried to address those problems.

What are your solutions for poverty? First off I’d suggest that the person get a job. I know that sounds cold hearted but I would be willing to supply State Run daycare to give these people the chance to go to work. We need to reform the Welfare and food stamp programs in this country. Too many people become dependent on these programs and are not encouraged to get out on their own. We need to reform all of the public welfare systems so that they become the temporary assistance programs that they were intended to be in the first place.

What are your solutions for homelessness? Again getting these people to work through better administration of welfare programs and welfare reform. Also society has to work to improve our mental care system and put the many mental patients back into the system where they belong. Many years ago borderline mental patients were released into society and this caused a great influx in the number of homeless. What we need to do is determine which one's are mentally handicapped and need special care. Then we need to help those that have a dependency problem with either drugs or alcohol and try to get them help in one of the reformed programs mentioned above. Of course there is a percentage of homeless that will always stay homeless. We need to give them one chance to try and get a job. After that they are own their own. The end result would be that basic figure that will always be homeless. The only attainable goal is to determine that number and try to keep it at that level.

What are your solutions for war? The obvious answer is to avoid them and another is to follow the theories established by President George Washington in his Farewell Address, for instance, "No entangling alliances". In other words, don't get involved with any country unless they are directly effecting us.

What are your solutions for pollution? I believe that between the environmentalists and the capitalists we are working to create a balance between industrialization and conservation. We have to keep an eye on the greedy capitalists to make sure they don't destroy nature just to make a buck. At the same time we need to keep an eye on the Environmentalists to make sure that they don't hijack federal money just to save some lizard darter that is due to go extinct anyway. Species go extinct all the time. It's called devolution. At the same time new species are discovered all over the world. That is called evolution.

What are your solutions for sadness and loneliness? The doctors and the medical care industry has to stop hitting the drug cabinet every time someone is depressed or lonely. These drugs are usually and I say usually only a temporary fix. They cover the symptoms but don't get to the core of the problem. Some medical corporations want to make a buck on the medications and then call the next patient. There are community service programs and volunteer programs that can help. We should work to improve programs to help the sad and lonely and work to get them into volunteering themselves. Getting involved with helping others often helps to improve one's own self worth. The biggest realization that we need to accept is that we can only help those that want to be helped.

What are your solutions for teenage pregnancy? Society needs to educate children on the responsibilities involved in becoming intimate with someone. We need to emphasize communication between parents and children. Society has been working to lower these numbers, and it has been working somewhat. Also with this problem there is a base number of teen pregnancies that will always occur. A certain percentage of teens are going to make mistakes even with birth control methods. We need programs to teach children about safe sex and yes abstinence. Parents need to be involved with their children. Parental Education and Communication between parent and child must be encouraged in every way possible.

What are your solutions for drug abuse, legal and otherwise? Stop putting those convicted of "Victimless" crimes in jail. Some drugs should be legalized, at the very least decriminalized. What a person does to their own body that doesn't effect anyone but themselves, should be between them and their maker. We need to continue to offer assistance to those that want help. Of course again, the biggest thing is that the person must want the help, otherwise we are wasting our time and money. Also we need to work to reform the programs that we have. The biggest problem with social programs today is the amount of money that actually trickles down to the heart of the problem.

In my next column I will address more dilemmas of the 21st century and offer some more solutions. I will also discuss the possibility of success for these solutions. Of course this is all just going to be My Side of the Story.

E-Mail: Bowananh@yahoo.com

By Ken Goodall

In the March 22nd Exeter News-Letter editorial titled "It's time to call it quits" the paper claims that "They (the Exeter Region Cooperative School Board) deserve a pat on the back for not resorting to name-calling and lashing out at the plaintiffs in the case." I do not believe that this "pat on the back" is deserved at all. Our constitution and our laws give us the right to question the government and it's policies all the way to the United States Supreme Court if need be and that is all that the Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers are doing. This is called exercising their rights under the constitution of the United States of America.

The News-Letter is correct in stating that the school board has not resorted to "Name-calling", but as for "lashing out", yes I believe that the School board has definitely lashed out. The Exeter Region Cooperative School District website at one point had four articles posted on the front page of the site and every one was directed at attacking Rich McGraw and the Exeter Taxpayers Association. Several discussed the fact that the NH courts have already denied the appeal on the bond issue and one article posted was rather ambiguous. The News-Letter article titled "Taxpayer Group Angers Board" stated that Stratham selectmen were considering legal action against the Exeter Taxpayers Association (ETA) for harassing the School District and costing the town money because of the lawsuit.

Posting these articles on the front page of the Exeter Region Cooperative School District (ERSD) website and headlining one that states a possible lawsuit against the ETA when they were not even involved in the lawsuit certainly seems like the school board was lashing out against the plaintiffs. The ERSD website had a link to a Discussion Bulletin Board and on that board an Exeter resident posted a message that asked, "Why do you headline the embarrassing, childish, uninformed rants of the Stratham Selectmen?" School Board member Greg Kann ran the discussion board from his home computer and had set it up on his own time as a service to the school district. He replied to this post by stating "Unlike you, I do not believe the elected officials of Stratham are childish or that they are ranting." Well Mr. Kann, Stratham Selectman David Short stated in the article that "Maybe we should consider a fund for a psychologist for the Exeter Taxpayers Association. It's warped, what they're doing." Mr. Kann, you really don't consider that statement childish? Especially since the ETA was not even named as Plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Originally when Exeter resident, Rich McGraw first filed this case, I really had no opinion on the issue. Whether the vote was won by 60% as the amended NH law requires now or the previous requirement of 67% the fact remained that a majority of residents voted for the Bond to fund the school construction project. As I have stated before, I believe that using this pause created by the lawsuit could give us time to review the process of renovating the Exeter High School. Since this is the same school board that built the Cooperative Middle School which after only two years was four students away from being full to capacity. The School Administrative Unit 16 Business Manager Walter Pierce in this very newspaper stated this fact back in January of 2001.

In an Exeter News-Letter Guest Shot Column submitted by Cooperative School Board member Linda Henderson on March 9th of 2001, she claimed that if the School Board had recommended building a bigger Cooperative school "Mr. Goodall would have been complaining about that too." Not once did I complain about building a new school in Stratham and if they had planned a bigger one, I would not have complained about that either. We needed a new school. I would also like to point out that I am in favor of remodeling and expanding the Exeter High School. The problem that I do have is that we have a new Middle School that is not only near capacity but was also constructed by a company that has come under considerable scrutiny for their building practices.

This school board that the News-Letter wants to pat on the back is the same school board that when they ended up with a $400,000 surplus in school funds, decided to give bonuses to administrators and save the rest to defend themselves in the pending lawsuits - one of which they lost and in the process were found to be in contempt of court. This is also the same school board that just recently voted to change the school's administrative practices, do away with teacher Department Heads, and hire new Vice Principals to take over the duties of the department heads. Thirty teachers walked out of a meeting held recently when these changes were announced. This from a School Board whose website claims ""Openness in the conduct of public business is essential to a democratic society."

I know that I am in the minority as shown by the turn out at the deliberative session where the voters took the teeth out of every amendment not recommended by the school board and then voted for every warrant article recommended by the school board. The voters of the Cooperative School District also continue to allow the school board to designate surplus funds to several different school funds like the Capital Reserve Fund and the Maintenance fund. I understand the need to have available funds on hand for unexpected maintenance, but usually budget planners fix this percentage into the budget and don't take surplus funds at the end of every year and just designate them to these funds. Surplus funds are usually just that, surpluses. Not in the cooperative school district though, around here they are found money to be designated to one of these other funds "For The Children".

It seems the current residents of the cooperative school district have no problem raising the default budget for the school board year after year. The default budget for every year, is the previous years finalized budget. What happens every year though is that every time the voters vote to designate the surplus to one of these funds, those funds become part of the previous year's default budget, which is the minimum budget that can be accepted the following year. If a surplus gets voted to remain in the Undesignated Fund it would actually alleviate the tax burden for the upcoming year. It amazes me that the residents of the cooperative school district continually allow the default budget to go up year after year, but then complain about a few million dollars in increases for a school construction project. If we take our time and maybe put the project out to competitive bidding, we could probably save that same amount of money. Oh, that's right, the school board doesn't use competitive bidding. So much for a pat on the back and that's my side of the story.

E-Mail: bowananh@yahoo.com

As Printed in The Exeter News-Letter on Tuesday 3/12/2002:

They Call Me Bowana. Well at least some people do. Bowana, an Americanized version of Bwana, I believe that it is African for Great White Hunter. It came from an old Bob Hope movie called "Call Me Bwana" where he searched for a space capsule in Africa. As far as I can tell though, it just means "Mister" in Swahili, consider it poetic license. My real name is Ken Goodall and I have been writing this column for over a year. I would like to thank the Exeter News-Letter for allowing me this great honor of having my columns published. Since it’s been over a year I have decided that it was time to formally introduce myself and tell my readers a little about "Bowana".

I was born in Manchester, NH, and adopted by two wonderful parents, Joan and Jim, from Kensington where I grew up. I have one sister Kim, who lives in Milton and she has a beautiful daughter named, Brianna. On the weekends Brianna and her father, Dan, work around the house and on Sunday’s they cook breakfast and lunch together while Kim works as a waitress in a Rochester, NH restaurant. My sister is very active in Animal Welfare and was involved in starting an organization called Voice for Animals.

I have been married to my beautiful wife, Mary, for 4½ years. I have a wonderful stepdaughter named Cristy. Cristy gave us a granddaughter who at the age of 3½ actually wins most of the arguments that I have with her. Her name is Mia and she is quite a character. She doesn’t take any grief at all. Good for her, she’ll do well, just like her Mom. I also have a great stepson, Jeffrey, who lives with his father and his grandparents in California. He wrote a column for his school newspaper and considered going to school for journalism. Now he has changed his mind and is thinking about studying interior design.

Now back to my nickname, when I used to hunt and fish on a regular basis, a good friend of mine, Larry, would hunt and fish with me all over the state. When I had long hair he looked like he could be my taller, older brother. Well one time we were rabbit hunting in Greenland and working our way across a frozen swamp. All of a sudden I hear a crash and look over to see that Larry had fallen through the ice up to his knees. I looked down and said "Come on, Bowana, let’s go". Larry said "Bowana? What the heck is that?" I told him that it meant "Great White Hunter of which you’re not".

From that point on when ever one of us or our buddies fell on the ice, fell into a stream or lake, or just did something stupid, they’d be Bowana for the day. Since I was the first to get onto the Internet, I grabbed "Bowana" as my nickname. I may be Bowana on the web, but Larry will always be the Original Bowana. That guy could find water in the Sahara Desert. I don’t see Larry as much as I used to. I fish a couple times a year and plan one hunting trip a year, while Larry and the others are still going strong. Between work, writing my column, being a Director at my club, publishing two mailing lists on the net, running a couple websites, and trying to keep up on politics and the news, my outdoor sports have taken a backseat.

One of my NH News mailing lists is called "Bowana News", so when the editor of the Exeter News-Letter approached me to write this column, I suggested "Bowana News". He had said that it was kind of a weird name, but I persisted and we agreed on "Bowana’s Views". Several of my friends have felt that the title just doesn’t cut it, so I am considering a change. Most of my columns over the last year have been attacking local policies, education issues, taxes, or government corruption of one sort or another. This year I am going to try and lighten up a bit. I tried to with my first column of the New Year and ended up writing about my Dad. I didn’t know where that column was going to go and I received a lot of good comments on it, but "light" it wasn’t.

I am going to try and write about some positive things local to Exeter and the New Hampshire area. I will still attack those that try to subvert our Constitution and our rights, and to point out injustices when I see them, but I will try to write about some tidbits of goodness when I can. I will try my best. Well, there it is my side of the story. Hey that’s not bad, "My Side of the Story". Not a bad title.

E-Mail: Bowananh@yahoo.com

"There will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those, who in any quarter may endeavour to weaken its bands". These are comments on the Constitution of The United States of America by President George Washington in his Farewell Address and something to consider in these times of bending and amending the U.S. Constitution.

"The unity of Government, which constitutes you one people, is also now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquillity at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very Liberty, which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee, that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment, that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national Union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the Palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion, that it can in any event be abandoned."

After researching another story I became interested again in President George Washington's Farewell Address and realized the importance of his statements. Many people believe that our first President was elected for his military service and making this nation a free country. Though his military career may have brought him notoriety, his understanding of politics and government is greatly under estimated.

President Washington stated that this country is made up of a diversity of people from different geographic locations and that even though we have areas of geographic difference, We should never let this interfere with our country as a whole. In other words, our colonies or states may have differences, but when push comes to shove we must always remain a single, powerful, entity.

"The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds, in the productions of the latter, great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand."

Washington's discussion of the value of the north's manufacturing capabilities, to the prosperity of the south's resources, are inherently tied together and each depends on the others values and benefits. After reading this it just makes you wonder how close He was to talking about a civil war that would not occur for another sixty years.

When it comes to international relations President Washington saw the dangers of getting into agreements with foreign nations as a dangerous step that should be avoided. Washington said "The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connexion (connection) as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop."

If politicians through out history had heeded his words, millions of Americans would not have died in political actions where politicians lacked the courage to declare war. President Washington agreed that at times, war is inevitable, but that we should avoid war at all costs and try to maintain amicable relations with all countries.

Some of Our "Entangling Alliances" have brought the US to the point of being hated by many citizens of different countries, and also the likes of Osama bin Laden, who is suspected of being involved in the suicide bombing of the US Naval Destroyer in Yeaman and now of masterminding the atrocity of September 11th. If we had listened to President Washington and avoided sticking our nose into other countries business, we wouldn't be as hated as we are.

As for maintaining a stable unified government of the United States, Washington believed that we should stand up against opposition to acknowledged authority, but should carefully scrutinize innovations to the principles of the constitution that may sound good, and may really be subverting the Constitution.

"Towards the preservation of your government, and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the constitution, alterations, which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments, as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest standard, by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country."

The same can be said of Ben Franklin's statement "They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." To claim that changing the Constitution is "For the Children", whether it's to lock up guns or provide healthcare to all children, the fact is that it sounds great on the surface, but in truth it is just a way for the government to gain more control over it's citizens. Starting a National Healthcare system for children will just lead to National Healthcare for all. Then the government will decide what operations a person needs and what prescriptions they will allow. Of course it will start out "For the Children". There are new laws requiring firearms to be locked up around children and this is to "Save the Children", but there is already at least one case where children who knew how to shoot firearms have been killed because those firearms were locked. So some children die because others were not taught to respect firearms.

The framers of our constitution knew from the lessons of breaking away from England, that a people should retain the right to stand up against a Government that could start to tyrannically reign over it's people. Little could President Washington have ever dreamed that his words would profoundly transcend time to be as important now as they were then. Every Politician in the United States should be required to read President Washington's Farewell Address before taking office.

E-Mail: Bowananh@yahoo.com

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released a statement on Friday February 8th blaming the U.S. Forest Service for willfully disregarding the safety of firefighters in the 30 mile fire that broke out in Washington State's Okanogan National Forest last year. The statement echoed the Forest Services own report that claimed that the fire managers violated 10 of the basic safety rules of fire fighting and ignored 10 out of the 18 basic warning signs for danger. These were all factors that resulted in the deaths of four forest firefighters, but the report seemed to have left out one of the most important factors in the deaths and that is the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Fourteen firefighters and two campers were trapped in the Chewuch River canyon and conflicting reports state that the firefighters requested a water drop somewhere between two and nine hours before the fire took the lives of four of the firefighters. Two hours or nine hours really means nothing in the scheme of things, what matters is that there was a delay in delivering this water drop because the Chewuch River contains endangered species such as steelhead, salmon and bull trout. The problem arose when the fire managers wanted to get authority to withdraw water from the river.

According to spokesmen for the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who are responsible for the endangered fish, neither agency is required to be notified of water removal in such a case. In 1995 the US Fish and Wildlife Service released a memorandum stating that firefighter safety comes first. The hesitation that occurred in getting this water may very well be understandable. The headlines over the last year have brought the ESA under question on other issues, and the power that it has over United States Citizens.

Last year in Klamath Falls Oregon, a drought had caused the levels of the Upper Klamath Lake to become dangerously low. Dangerous for the farms that depended on the water for irrigation and dangerous for the endangered sucker fish that lives there. When it came to governmental policy between sucker fish or farmers, the sucker fish won out. In the early 1900's the government wanted to homestead the area around Klamath Falls and enticed people to settle and farm there with the promise of water for their crops. The promise to supply water came in the form of the Reclamation Act of 1902. The government kept this promise and continued to keep it even after the introduction of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, but this promise and the new legislation were destined to collide and last year they did.

The Government shut off the water at Klamath Falls to over fourteen hundred farming families in the Klamath basin. This news didn't make big headlines in the mainstream media but the battle for water rights in Klamath Falls was big news to those who care more about Human Rights then Animal Rights. The ESA brought forth by Animal Rights activists to give their cause the force of law is based on good intentions, but many roads are paved with good intentions, and that may be a road that we don't want to go down.

Some of the people in these animal rights groups who pushed for this legislation have some warped opinions on life in general. Take Ingrid Newkirk, the co-founder of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), who believes that "A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy." A Reuter's news reporter recently asked Newkirk her opinion on Europe's Hoof and Mouth Disease and she stated "I openly hope that it comes here. It will bring economic harm only for those who profit from giving people heart attacks and giving animals a concentration camp-like existence. It would be good for animals, good for human health and good for the environment."

A vice president of the Humane Society of the United States, Michael Fox, wrote in his book, The Inhumane Society, "The life of an ant and the life of my child should be accorded equal respect." Then after the attacks of September 11th, Mr. Fox blames these attacks on Human crimes against nature. In an article last December he wrote "Our collective violence against nature and against human nature, from the plight of endangered cultures, wildlife and the environment, to the sufferings of indigenous peoples and of domestic animals, especially in factory farms and commercial laboratories around the world, needs to be acknowledged. Until we find atonement with nature and all beings, human and nonhuman, how can human nature find peace and not annihilate all that our better natures embrace?"

Another member of PETA, Bruce Friedrick, speaking at the 2001 Animal Rights Conference said that although he doesn't blow things up "I do advocate it, and I think it's a great way to bring about animal liberation." He goes on to say that He "thought it would be a great thing if all these fast food outlets, slaughterhouses, laboratories, and banks that fund them exploded tomorrow". These are the kinds of people that pushed for a law where Human Rights have taken a back seat to Animal Rights. When we allow a law to protect animals to keep a family from running their family farm or telling a United States citizen what they can and can't do with their own land, then where do we draw the line?

These kinds of attacks against Human Rights gave those fire managers reason to pause and question whether they had the authority to take water and save those firefighters. Not remembering a Fish and Wildlife Service memo from six years earlier, these fire managers thought they needed higher authority to get water from a river that supported endangered species. It is lawsuits filed by these Animal Rights groups and statements like the one's quoted above that caused these fire managers to hesitate, making those firefighters the real endangered species. It took the lives of these fallen heroes to bring the power of the Endangered Species Act into question.

Are the other issues of mismanagement, mistakes, and poor training partly to blame for the tragedy? Of course they are and they should be addressed, but with out a doubt, the delay in getting that water drop had a lot to do with the death of those firefighters. One firefighter, Ellreese Daniels, a 24-year veteran, who escaped is quoted as saying that ""If we'd had the water when we'd asked for it, none of this would have happened," When the water did arrive, it was too late to be useful, he said.

For OSHA to completely ignore this aspect of what happened is a shame. One of the Forest Service's findings is to "Clarify the relationship between the Endangered Species Act and fire suppression actions to establish a coherent process that accounts for ESA requirements with respect to the full range of fire suppression activities." Luckily the Forest Service recognizes this problem and is trying to address it. It seems that OSHA is a government organization that is just looking out for it's own.

As Printed in The Exeter News-Letter on February 5th, 2002:

It is here! This is what it is all about. "It" is the newest development in human transportation and it is called the Segway. Actually it’s called the Segway, Human Transporter, or Segway HT for short. This is a two-wheeled vehicle that allows people to stand upright on it and travel at over 12 miles an hour. This breakthrough in transportation was invented in New Hampshire and it’s coming soon to a sidewalk near you.

Well if the NH Legislature has it’s way it will be. NH State Senator Arthur Klemm has proposed Senate Bill number 385, an act relative to electric personal assistive mobility devices. This bill authorizes the use of these Electric Personal Assistive Mobility Devices or EPAMD’s on the sidewalks and roadways of New Hampshire. The bill does require EPAMD’s to yield the right of way to persons traveling on foot.

NH resident Dean Kamen invented the Segway. Mr. Kamen’s vision began when he saw a person in a wheel chair try to navigate over a curb. He realized then that everyone’s mobility revolved around balance. He and his team created the IBOT mobility system. This invention was a wheel chair that was able to navigate curbs, rocks, and sand, but the most outstanding achievement of this invention was the ability of this chair to raise the person to the upright position. Eye to eye with anyone they encounter. This astounding feat of creating a machine capable of balancing on two wheels brought the handicapped people of the world the chance to rise up to a new level.

The idea of balancing on two wheels made Mr. Kamen wonder what it could do for people who could walk. A machine that would take up no more space than a pedestrian and able to move with the same precision as a person on foot, that could operate on sidewalks along side pedestrians, but could travel at 12 miles an hour for up to seventeen miles on a single charge. The Segway will be an economical and environmentally friendly mode of transportation for many people while shopping, commuting, or working.

NH Governor Jeanne Shaheen in her State of the State address said, "I saw in Segway, as many of you did, a machine - invented and built right here in New Hampshire - that could revolutionize urban transportation. It is in New Hampshire's interest for Segway to succeed. The future is now. Pass Senator Klemm's legislation to allow the use of Segways on the sidewalks of New Hampshire." This sounds like good news for NH and the world, and it is, but allowing these 80 pound machines on our sidewalks is something that should be thought about carefully.

Last year Exeter Selectmen discussed allowing bicycles on some sidewalks outside of the downtown area. George Olson, Exeter’s Town manager said, "It was very controversial. Many residents spoke out on both sides of the issue." The Selectmen made no decision and the existing town ordinance stating that Bicycles are not allowed on any sidewalks remains in effect.

This new legislation allows for towns to maintain local control over the usage of the Segway. With the controversy over bicycles using some sidewalks of Exeter, the idea of the Segway traveling at 12 miles an hour will bring the question of allowing bicycles the same advantage. At slow speeds the Segway may be able to maneuver just like a pedestrian, but when traveling at 12 miles an hour, I don’t believe that it will be able to stop any quicker than a bicycle.

I have never been one for new laws, I believe in enforcing the laws that we already have, but when it comes to a new innovative product like this, some new regulations may be needed. Some police departments and post offices are trying the new machine out to improve their mobility. In many cases this may work out great, but to have a machine traveling 12 miles an hour down a busy sidewalk, could mean disaster for someone coming out of a store. As with anything new there will be issues to iron out. Do we allow it on downtown sidewalks? If we do, do we set speed limits? What about parking? The new Senate bill includes parking and states that it "may be parked on a sidewalk unless prohibited or restricted by an official traffic control device."

When the issue of bicycles on the sidewalk was brought up in Exeter, I was on the fence. I understood both sides of the argument. I knew that I didn’t think they should be allowed on downtown sidewalks, but maybe around town, and maybe if they were forced to have bells that could warn pedestrians when they approached. I understood that some families wanted to ride with out the fear of having their children riding in the street, dodging parked cars and watching out for traffic. At the same time I understood that a lot of people walk around Exeter as well, and deserved to be able to walk with out the fear of a bicycle flying up behind them. Now we have a whole new conundrum to tackle. Whether this new senate bill passes or not, "It" is here, and "It" is here to stay.

As printed in The Exeter News-Letter on Friday January 25, 2002:

Women have the right to choose. What we have now are babies being born to people who are not ready for them financially or mentally. Yes, Adoption is an option, for those lucky enough to be chosen. Some are not so lucky and end up spending their youth in foster care. I was one of the lucky ones. I was adopted and my parents stayed together, but that is the exception not the rule.

My wife, Mary was a teen mother and she struggled to bring up her daughter with the help of her family. Now we are grandparents and we struggle to help our daughter bring up our granddaughter. Am I glad that I wasn't aborted? Yes. Am I glad that my stepdaughter wasn't aborted? Yes. Am I glad that my Granddaughter wasn't aborted? YES. Would I take from a woman, without the support system of a family or the courage it takes to give up a baby for adoption, her right to choose? No.

No matter what choice a woman makes, to keep the baby and struggle through, to give up the baby and never know the kind of life her child will end up with, or abort the baby and live with that decision for the rest of her life, there is no easy choice. With no support system the chance to make a good life for her child on her own is a slim one.

The tough choices are life, the easy choice is death, but the price to be paid for death comes slowly. It haunts women for life. The choice they make at the time is the choice they must live with for a lifetime.

If a woman chooses life, I would be willing to support her with public assistance, but the women that continue to have more kids deserve limited assistance. Continue to have kids and we will support one, the choice is adoption or birth control, I do not want to support multiple children by a single woman or a welfare family. A mistake is a mistake and a woman that struggles to keep her baby deserves respect and all the help that our government and we can give. Turn into a baby machine and it's time for the checks to stop and counseling to begin.

For those women that use abortion as birth control, I would give them one "Mistake" also. One abortion, after that, she would still have her choice but she would be required to seek counseling. Anyone that could go through an abortion and allow herself to be in that situation again needs serious help.

It's easy for the Anti-Abortion crowd to say that they are "Pro-Life" and by saying that they insinuate that people who believe in Pro-Choice are not. People who are Pro-Choice are also Anti-Abortion, and yes it is possible to be both. People who are Pro-Life would like to force their beliefs on women and force them down a path that could lead to them taking their frustration out on the babies, or force them down a path leading to a back alley, or down a path of giving up their baby into a life of possible neglect and abuse. If babies aren't adopted in the first couple years then the chances are slim and it is likely that they will remain in Foster Care. This system is full of problems and this they call "Pro-Life".

We are Pro-Choice, they are not. I am Pro-My Family and not Pro-every baby that some welfare mother pumps out. You "Pro-life" people want every baby to be born and supported no matter what the cost. Well if all the Pro-Lifers agreed to pay for these babies then I would support a ban on abortions, except in the cases of Incest, Rape, and the health of the mother. Just check the box on your tax form, Pro-Life or Pro-Choice and the Pro-Life people can support every baby born to a mother who can't support herself.

I am tired of supporting welfare fraud, welfare cheats, and welfare families pumping out baby after baby. If these families have a problem and can’t or won’t abstain from sex, or use birth control, then in order to continue to receive State Aid they should be offered free hysterectomies or vasectomies. Then and only then would State Aid continue and work to get the family back on their feet so that they can start giving back to the system instead of just taking more from it. State Aid is supposed to be a temporary fix to help people get back on their feet, not a permanent income.

As printed in The Exeter News-Letter on Tuesday January 22, 2002:

For those that can remember 1980, that was the year that the epic western Heaven’s Gate was touted to be the biggest hit movie of the year. It wasn’t, it flopped. Well now the Enron investigation is being touted by Democrats to be the downfall of the Bush administration and the Republican Party, but like Heaven’s Gate; it may not turn out to be what they expect.

There are with out a doubt links to the Bush administration in this investigation, but at this point there is no evidence showing any kind of illegalities. Most media outlets are reporting that Enron has basically been supporting Republicans from as far back as Former President George Bush Sr.. Enron is not a political organization, they are a capitalistic business corporation and their actions are directed at increasing their effectiveness at making money. Well, at least making it look like they were making money, to keep their stocks and their rating to borrow more money up.

Enron’s contributions were plainly and simply directed to both parties to cover their bases and always have a link to whichever party ended up in power. According to the Center for Responsive Politics six out of the Top Ten Representatives who received Enron contributions were Democrats. Twenty-nine out of seventy-one Senators who received Enron contributions were Democrats. Included on that list are names like: Charles Schumer a Democrat from New York who placed third on the list, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle a loud voice claiming that it’s the Republicans who overlooked the warning signs of the Enron fiasco. Also on that list would be the recent turn coat who left the Republican Party to become an Independent, James Jeffords of Vermont, the Chair of the Governmental Affairs Committee, Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, the scandal laden Senator from New Jersey, Robert G. Torricelli, the illustrious Senator from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy, and taking up the bottom of the list, none other then Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Now there is a list of the Who’s Who in Democratic Politics if I ever saw one. When the mud slinging starts, there is going to be a lot of politicians on both sides of the aisle getting hit with it. This company is a bipartisan company that just wanted to have a connection to whichever party ended up in power. A New York Post editorial stated that during the Clinton years Ken Lay the Chairman of Enron was a frequent golfing partner with then President Bill Clinton. The editorial also states that in 1995 Clinton’s Chief of Staff Mark McLarty pushed for Enron’s bid to win an energy account in India. Four days before it’s approval in 1996, Enron donated $100,000 to the National Democratic Party. It goes on to say that later McLarty became an Enron executive.

I may seem like a dyed in the wool Conservative Republican, but I am not. I have only voted for one of the major political parties twice in my lifetime. Once for Tom Laughlin, who played Billy Jack in the Movies, when he ran for President in the 1992 NH Primary. He ran a common sense half-hour ad here and I liked what he had to say. As usual, the common sense candidate didn’t make it. Then the second time was this past year when for the first time, I voted for one of the major political parties in a Presidential election. It was not a vote for George W. Bush, but a vote against Al Gore, William Jefferson Clinton, his wife, and everything that they stand for.

I have remained Republican, and now that President Bush has done more then I expected of him through out the recent tragedies, I do not regret that one bit. What will I do in three years? I don’t know, that’s a long ways off, but President Bush has done such a great job so far that I believe it would take a lot more then the weak connections shown in this Enron deal to make me change my mind.

Eric, A friend of mine from the state of Washington said that if we are able to freeze the accounts of terrorists, then "All Enron Executives who profited from stock sales should have their accounts frozen, until we can get this mess straightened out". That could also include all the politicians Republicans and Democrats alike, who may have profited from this Enron scandal.

Many Democrats have been truly patriotic in their support of our President and our nation. Yes, they have stood behind our President when it came to the war, but at the first sign of Partisanship, the knives come out. Now if a few Republicans have to take a few lumps to knock down the likes of Chuck Schumer a few pegs, then so be it. When it comes to partisanship in this Enron scandal, leave it to the Democrats to bring a knife to a gunfight.

As printed in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday January 18, 2002:

(This is from my testimony before the NH House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee hearing on House Bill 1189- relative to the plea of guilty but insane. The hearing was held on Tuesday, January 15, 2002)

The insanity defense or Innocent by reason of insanity has evolved from old English law where it was decided that those people who could not comprehend right from wrong in their actions were innocent because they had no intent to commit the crime. The lack of intent is the basis for declaring someone innocent by reason of insanity. The theory is that there must be intent to commit a crime in order to hold someone responsible for that crime.

I do not believe that intent must be present in order to find someone guilty of a crime. Intent can be a factor in the degree of criminality involved, but not to dismiss the crime altogether. Many people have been stopped for speeding because they missed the sign stating a slower speed. They did not "intend" to speed. I am sure the officer told them that "Ignorance of the law is not an excuse".

NH law states that "A person is not relieved of criminal liability because he acts under a mistaken belief of fact unless: The mistake negatives the culpable mental state required for commission of the offense." That is where the idea of intent falls in NH law. NH law also states that "A person is guilty of murder, a felony, or a misdemeanor only if he acts purposely, knowingly, recklessly or negligently." These four categories are the basis for mental culpability.

I can agree that an insane person would not knowingly, recklessly, or negligently, commit a crime, but whether they understand or comprehend what they are doing, they still do it purposely. Though they may not have intent, they do have a choice, and when they choose to do something, they do it purposely. The fact that an insane individual is sick and has a problem with depression, does not take away the fact that they committed the crime. To be innocent is to be found not to have committed the crime at all. If you are insane and you commit a crime, you did it. You are guilty. What we need is a New Plea and that should be, Guilty, But Insane.

Guilty, but Insane does leave the option of treatment and placement in the Psychiatric Care Unit, but this change also requires that if by chance a person is found to be sane, then that person should serve at least 25% of the time remaining in their sentence in prison. This is simply a way to show a person who now does comprehend what they did, that there is a price to pay for doing such things.

The fact of the matter is that NH has very few successful Insanity defenses, and that is a credit to NH’s justice system, but if just one happened to get released early and commit another crime, that would be one too many. According to an MSNBC report The NH Department of Corrections says it has 22 individuals under its supervision who are not guilty by reason of insanity. Ten of them are being held in the Secure Psychiatric Unit and 11 have been placed in other settings. The prison also has custody of nine patients who were found to be not competent to stand trial. That’s a total of 30 inmates considered to be insane in NH’s Prison system.

I have not found any instance of a person being released early, and that’s another credit to NH’s justice system, but if it ever happened it would be a travesty of justice to the victims of the crime and their families. In June of last year, ABC’s PrimeTime ran an episode called "Predators Among Us". They state that Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, who had a history of sexual crimes against boys, was released from the Massachusetts Treatment Center for the Sexually Dangerous after 12 years because a judge deemed him no longer sexually dangerous. Bar Jonah is now accused of sexually assaulting three Great Falls Montana boys and killing a fourth. According to the Great Falls Tribune His trial for the murder is set for May 13th of this year, but first he will be tried for the sexual assaults on February 12.

The PrimeTime story also states that in 1991, Convicted rapist Michael Kelley was released from the same treatment center as Bar Jonah, after a psychologist concluded he did not need additional treatment. After his discharge, he killed two women. Then during an interview with Paula Erickson, a therapist there until the early '90s, says many such dangerous men were released from the facility. "I tried to warn people, but they wouldn't listen," says Erickson, who was laid off and has since settled a lawsuit she brought against the state. "I couldn't get anyone to investigate,"

So Erickson compiled her own list of 26 men she thought should not have been freed, and 10 years later, PrimeTime Thursday takes a roll call of these sexual predators.

PrimeTime found that None of the 26 men was registered with the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board. Three were discharged from the center to serve in prison; they will be eligible for release soon. Eleven who were released are back in prison or are awaiting trial, mostly for new sex crimes. Seven of the men are unaccounted for.

Now I am not saying that this would happen in NH, but as I said earlier, even one would be too many.

In a recent e-mail from the brother of Cheryl Troy who was murdered in Wakefield Massachusetts, he stated that "My sister Cheryl Troy was killed by Michael McDermott, so I can tell you first hand your proposal is very significant. Like the rest of the victims, Cheryl was an angel and my family will never get over her horrible death.

But now, adding insult to injury, we are forced through the nightmare of listening to McDermott's lawyer as he defends Mucko (McDermott) claiming he was insane and not responsible for his hideous actions. We all know, as does the DA, this is just a lame and unethical excuse. Yet the charade goes on and on as they attempt to circumvent justice in the name of a brutal killer.

In addition to the obvious injustice, there is the unnecessary pain this absurd defense causes the victim's families. First we loose our loved ones, then we are insulted by a system that has apparently lost touch with reality. So hopefully, your bill will have a hidden benefit."

Even though the insanity plea may rarely be used as a way to circumvent justice, again it only takes once. Right now we have two young men accused of killing two college professors in Dartmouth NH. The younger one has cut a deal, but the older one, who could possibly get life, has decided to plead insanity. Instead of life, this kid could get the opportunity to get reviewed every 5 years. Now that’s every 5 years that the victims and the victim’s families have to deal with the tragedies all over again. If nothing else, the plea of Guilty, but Insane would not offer a benefit to abuse this system.

As Christmas passed and the New Year has begun my thoughts turn to the Baby Jesus. No, not that one, My grandmother's Baby Jesus. You see my grandmother's baby Jesus was my Dad. My Dad, James Goodall, was born on Christmas Day 1927. He died of cancer two years ago this month.

He brought me to ball games, taught me to shoot, and brought me on my first hunting trip. On that trip a friend of the family got his deer. It was standing on a hill looking at me. The friend waved and waved but I was in my own little world. I helped him drag it over a couple miles. My Dad loved to tell that story and describe what a great hunter I was. He would take my family camping, starting with a tent, to a pop-up tent trailer, then the fancy hard top pullout trailer. For several years we traveled all over northern New England until my sister and I got to High School and started to have "Better" things to do.

Dad would occasionally bring us down to the little food shack with the half moon on route 108, or to Lou's Dinner for a burger or to Week's for an ice cream. When I got older he'd bring me to the tavern on the corner of routes 108 and 150, or down to the legion or Tula's. The owner of Tula's gave him a couple Deer tapestries that he gave to me. Long since lost in all of my moves. A real shame.

He worked at Phillips Exeter Academy for years. He used to bring me down to play football with my friends, basketball in the gym or hockey down at the rinks. Sometimes he'd bring me down to show me the buildings he worked in or the shop he worked out of. He'd bring me to the garage where I'd sit on the tractors and check out all the equipment.

My Dad went to every event that my sister and I ever had. Always cheering always smiling. When I got the chance to go to a basketball clinic with the Boston Celtics, he was in the stands cheering. The Exeter News-Letter ran a picture of him cheering in the stands with his arms in the air. My mom put a photo album together for me, and that clipping is in it.

One weekend a few years before he died, he and my Mom came by the house with a conversion van. When he said that he was trading in his truck, I jokingly said to check and see what he could get for my Jeep. The following Monday they bought the van and the salesman called me at work. With the ultimate dealmaker at my side, my wife, I ended up buying my Dad's truck back from the dealer and got a color Television in the deal.

A year later my Dad went into the hospital and was diagnosed with cancer. He would need to have an oxygen tank from that point on. I finished my last few packs and quit smoking after eleven years. I told Dad that if he had to quit I would too. A few months later my friend Scott drove by the house and saw my dad out front smoking. I went straight to the house and had a word with my Dad. He spoke a few expletives and said, "Heck, I only get a chance to smoke three or four". Well after smoking two to three packs a day for over fifty years, I figured three or four a day was pretty good. I told him that I wouldn't bring it up again. From that point on I always said, "I Love You" to my Mom and Dad whenever I talked to them.

That truck ran real well for me for a couple years. Basic maintenance and few small problems but nothing major. Now I am not religious, or a believer in God in a religious sense of the word, but I believe in some form of higher power. The laws of nature or the natural order of things, and how some things seem to happen for a reason. Well two years ago right around this time of year, my truck died and needed to go in for service. My Dad being the guy that he was, and retired, offered to take me to work in the mornings, until my truck could get fixed.

Every morning for a couple weeks my Dad would pick me up in the morning and take me to work. Now I went to work at seven and even though my Dad was retired He would still be at Jerry's for coffee every morning at 5:30am. Why he even continued to go down in the afternoons to have break with the guys. He would actually make an extra trip in the morning to pick me up.

Normally my wife would pick me up after work, but one day my Mom came in and said that she'd bring me to the house to pick up the van. My Dad had gone into the hospital. When my wife and I went to see him he said keep the van as long as I need it. I told him that if the truck didn't get done I'd ride with him again. That didn't happen.

One night I went down to visit him, after a while he said that he was a little tired. He asked if I had a meeting at my club that night and I said I did. He told me to go to my meeting since he was going to sleep anyway. I gave him a hug and told him that I loved him and went to my meeting. That was the last conversation that I had with my Dad.

He slipped in and out of consciousness over the next two days, and died on the second day. I have never been so thankful as I was for those last few weeks where I got to spend 10 minutes a day riding with my Dad. His truck died and gave me some precious time with him. I was very lucky to have Him and my Mom. Actually twice as lucky, because you see my sister and I were adopted. Our Parents chose us. Occasionally someone will ask "Don't you want to know your real parents?" and my answer is always the same, "I already do!"

E-Mail: Bowananh@yahoo.com

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