To the Editor

Hooray! We stopped the Milford District Court from closing. OK, but at what cost.

Last year the Judicial Branch decided as a cost savings to close the Milford District Court and transfer the court function to the newly constructed, large and efficient courthouse in Merrimack. This would require the citizens and police in the towns of Amherst, Milford, Mont Vernon, Lyndeborough, Wilton, Mason and Brookline to travel to the court in Merrimack located near Baboosic Lake Road and Route 3A – over a half hour drive for some of the communities. Also included in the economy move was the closing of district courts in the communities of Claremont, Colebrook and Keene.

The consolidation of district court districts has been a long term policy for the judicial branch. The Judicial Branch has decided to construct large efficient buildings, that have every conceivable courthouse amenity facility requirement and serve a larger population area. Ignored is the traditional that goes back to the 19th century that the Municipal and District courts were the peoples court; the courts closest to the citizens. True, the court houses in towns were small and did not provide the desired court house amenities; some borrowed space in the town hall. When I served as a judge in Wilton the court met in the selectmen’s room, heated in the winter by a wood stove. True facilities were lacking, but the court was part of the community, and the court functioned for the citizens, often open on Saturdays and evenings for the convenience of the citizens.

So now we are allowed to keep the Milford Court open, but only if the towns pay much of the cost. Starting in July, the seven local communities serviced by the Milford District court must pay the non-personnel and rental costs totaling $97,680.20 a year. The rent for the building is almost $80,000 a year. With the towns paying the costs, the Judicial Branch saves money in that the building is on a long term lease that is still in effect that they are obligated to finance. Had the court been moved the state would be obligated to pay the rent for an empty building until the end of the lease term; now we must pay. Here are the costs apportioned to the towns: Amherst: $30,573.90, Milford: $36,141.87, Brookline: $11,330.90, Lyndeborough: $1,562.88, Mason: $2,051.28, Mont Vernon: $4981.69, and Wilton: 11,037.86.

So how do we save our local courts? First, we can offer legislation to stop the District Court relocation to Merrimack. Second, we can pass legislation that gives the towns the court fine money to offset the cost; currently all fine money goes to the state.

Last, there may be two Constitution violations. First, the courts are a state responsibility; it may be discrimination to have some towns bear the costs of courts and the state pay for others. Second, there is a provision in our constitution that states that if the state mandates a program to the communities, the state must bear the mandated costs.

If I was a selectman in the communities served by the Milford District Court, My answer would be not to pay and to take the position that the law is unconstitutional. After all the towns have passed budgets in March and this cost was not included.

Your representative,

Robert H. Rowe

The weather was warm and dry last Saturday for holding one of my periodic “office hours” for meeting the public as a state representative for Milford and Amherst. As a public official you get comments and questions based on constituents’ issues covering national, state and local concerns, so we’ll take them in that order:

National

The majority of comments and inquiries for the day were about strong objections to national policy ranging from opposition to recently passed health care legislation to the growing size of the national debt, and sheer size and perceived invasion of liberty characterized by the growth of the federal government. Clearly, these issues are beyond being a state rep … but that is what the majority of the approximately 30 people with whom I spoke wanted to talk about. Without my asking, most identified themselves as “independents.”

State

One person never left his truck, but asked that I support calling on the New Hampshire Attorney General to join the suit by 14 other state attorneys general against the mandated coverage required by the new federal health care bill. … I will. Another person favored casino gambling as proposed in Senate Bill 489. … which I oppose, and a group enjoying the weather just wanted to talk about the New Hampshire legislative process … we did.

Local

An individual was adamant about stabilizing school funding; another stressed the need for more recycling, and finally the motorcycles were out in force and a biker stopped to talk about the joy of being back on the road.

I was at the Milford Rotary Park, and the Amherst Transfer Station this time and will hold more “office hours” this June after the state Legislature has adjourned before the September primaries and November elections.

BILL BELVIN

Amherst

State Representative, Hillsborough District 6, Milford/Amherst

Mark joined NHTR during their second hour on Thursday, October 22, 2009.

Read the Full Press Release Here

In reality, this budget is neither fiscally responsible, nor balanced as the law requires. A recent court decision prevented the State from confiscating $110 million from the Joint Underwriters Association (a fund to assist physicians in purchasing malpractice insurance). Thankfully, the court stopped this theft of a privately owned fund to which the State contributed nothing. This budget was also “balanced” in the last minutes of the legislative session by miraculously discovering $75 million of projected revenue that somehow had not previously been available. Based on the past performance of the Democrats’ revenue projections I would say we’ll be in a mess again early next year when this miracle revenue does not appear. Worst of all, we continue to have a structural deficit of over $500 million which is being filled this budget cycle by one-time federal “stimulus” funds. It appears the only thing this money stimulates is an even more bloated New Hampshire State budget. And let’s not forget the 38 tax and fee increases included in this monstrosity.

The good news is that 7 of 8 State Representatives from the Amherst/Milford legislative district, as well as our State Senator Peter Bragdon voted against this irresponsible budget. Unfortunately, Shannon Chandley complied with the wishes of the Democrat leaders in the House and voted in favor of it. She has helped set us on a course to an income or sales tax in the next budget cycle unless real cuts are made. If Democrats are allowed to control our legislature for one more term, this is a near certainty. Please keep this in mind when you go to the polls in November 2010.

Mark Vincent
Amherst Republican Committee

No drier words may have ever been spoken: “Beginning with Y3, the Commissioner shall establish a process to allow an affordability credit to be used for enrollees in enhanced or premium plans.”

Cameron Thomas, a voiceover artist, acknowledges that reading HR 3200 aloud isn’t as captivating as performing Shakespeare.

But the Amherst resident and about 80 other fellow artists believed it was a civic duty to record the entire text of the U.S. House health care bill so that Americans could have a better understanding of the legislation without the interruption of advocacy and opposition messages.

Read More…

SASKATOON — The incoming president of the Canadian Medical Association says this country’s health-care system is sick and doctors need to develop a plan to cure it.

Dr. Anne Doig says patients are getting less than optimal care and she adds that physicians from across the country – who will gather in Saskatoon on Sunday for their annual meeting – recognize that changes must be made.

“We all agree that the system is imploding, we all agree that things are more precarious than perhaps Canadians realize,” Doing said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

“We know that there must be change,” she said. “We’re all running flat out, we’re all just trying to stay ahead of the immediate day-to-day demands.”

Canadian Press Article

Here is their statement:

May 12 House Judiciary GOP Statement

Although the races at the top of the ticket did not turn out as we had hoped, Republicans picked up 17 seats in the NH House and held all 10 of our State Senate seats. Our mission now is to grow our General Court delegation in 2010, see that Judd Gregg is re-elected to the US Senate, and elect a Republican Governor. We’ll waste no time in beginning this effort and we encourage those who participated in the 2008 campaign to join with us for Victory 2010.

While some of our candidates lost on November 4, our belief in limited government, individual liberty, and traditional American values is as strong as ever and we will never give up the fight to see those principles represented at all levels of government. But we’ll need everyone to participate to see that this happens.

Good government is government YOU are involved in. Join with us to preserve the New Hampshire advantage and keep our state and our nation strong and free.

Congratulations to these Republicans for their re-election* or election to the State House…

* Peter Bergin*
* Gary Daniels*
* Cynthia Dokmo*
* Robert Rowe*
* Robert Willette
* Bill Belvin
* Stephen Palmer

…and to Peter Bragdon for his re-election to the State Senate, Carol Holden for re-election as County Commissioner, and Pam Coughlin, newly elected as Register of Deeds.

Please see updated contact info for all your representatives on the right side of any page on the main site.