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Local Issues

Jeanne Shaheen: “Porking” Those Tax Increases Down Our Throats

by Rick Olson

  “If Thomas Jefferson thought taxation without representation was bad, he should see how it is with representation …” —Rush Limbaugh

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Today’s Union Leader Editorial, entitled, “Free Cops!” points once again to the ills of  having a big-government Democrat like Jeanne Shaheen serving the Granite State in the U.S. Senate. Like her liberal counterpart, former Congressperson Carol Shea-Porter,  Shaheen brings home the bacon … To wit: a $1.4 million federal grant to pay for six new police officers;  Providing four for Manchester and one each for Pelham and Claremont.

Not a new scheme at all. During the Clinton years we see how well it worked here in the Queen city the last time the Federal Nanny doled out money for cops. And as always, there is an end on the horizon for that funding which only segues the bitter fiscal fight also on the horizon.  Police administrators, Union hacks and those in city government with a shameless fealty for tax and spend policies to keep those positions, will seek to have them funded on the backs of local taxpayers. Epic Fail. This latest grant is a mere redux of the same scheme.

Senator Shaheen is the epitome a big-government liberal. She does not respect local government, nor the people who elected her. This is a clear second example of such in just a few short months where Shaheen advocated for the Feds to contract locally with Planned Parenthood in the wake of the Executive Council’s vote not to fund Planned Parenthood services in the Granite State. Now she gives Manchester government a back-handed slap.  

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Londonderry Seeks to Ban Shooting on Public Land

by Rick Olson

“A critic is someone who never actually goes to the battle, yet who afterwards comes out shooting the wounded.” —Tyne Daly

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 Londonderry Town Councilors drafted an amendment to an ordinance that already prohibits activities such as smoking on town-owned property to include a ban on target or skeet shooting, reports the Derry News.

Councilors invited public input at a meeting last night. Londonderry Police Chief Bill Hart said his department received nine complaints about shooting over the last three years.”It’s not clear whether the complaints were prompted by shooting in the Musquash or from the nearby Londonderry Fish and Game Club, which has a shooting range. Also unclear was whether the shots that generated calls were fired during target practice or hunting season. Hunting in season is permitted on town property.”

Councilor Tom Freda said, “I think the (ordinance) is well intentioned, but I don’t see this as being practical with only nine complaints of shooting over three years and there being a shooting range in the area.”

As a past President and current board member for the Londonderry Fish & Game Club, I was invited to show up and comment on the measure, so I did.  There are several aspects I shared with the council. First, the conservation commission has two members who are hostile, if not opposed, to guns and shooting in general and this is just one example of those two injecting their personal objections on the body of the town. There exists no facts that would lend itself to being a safety issue.

Second, The Londonderry Fish & Game Clubs’ 83-acre property is located in the northwest corner of the town and abuts the Musquash conservation land on three sides. Frequently, public use of the Musquash has caused encroachment on the LFGC property. We have tolerated this and not made it a town issue. We have not posted our land and have not banned outside recreational uses.  But, recently, a ATV rider approached me complaining that a, “bullet whistled by his head while riding,” yet he would not acknowledge the fact that he was riding “down range” from our rifle range and passing “No Trespassing signs” and other clear signage that states, “caution…keep out…active firing range…”

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WILL LIVING OFF THE GRID BE ILLEGAL SOON?

by Rick Olson

“Doesn’t the fight for survival also justify swindle and theft? In self defence, anything goes.” ~Imelda Marcos USA Today reported back in April 2006, that 180,000 families were living “off the grid” Moreover, USA Today in that same story reported that that rate has jumped to upwards of 33% a year for a decade according … Read more

WILL MANCHESTER SCHOOL COMMITTEMAN JOE BRIGGS DEFINE “WHITE TRASH” PLEASE?

by Rick Olson

“Oh I feel so delightfully white trash. Mommy, I want a mullet.” ~Stewie, on “The Family Guy” White Trash n. Offensive Slang       1. Used as a disparaging term for a poor white person or poor white people.       2. Used as a disparaging term for a white person or white … Read more

Evil Landlords Who Pick On Tenants

by Rick Olson

“I like to think of my behavior in the sixties as a ‘learning experience.’ Then again, I like to think of anything stupid I’ve done as a ‘learning experience.’ It makes me feel less stupid.“ -P.J. O’Rourke

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I was at a housing office today dropping off some “required paperwork.” As I sat waiting to review the issues that brought me there, I was forced to listen to a couple of young women talk about how they were going to hire attorneys and, “get their landlords.” Their complaints ran the gamut of being forced to get rid of pets (they were not supposed to have in the first place)… to the landlord’s refusal to repair a door broken by a boyfriend during a quarrel. Those Landlord bastards! The nerve of them! how dare they?

It is such conversations that so amuse me. For certain, being a landlord is a difficult endeavor. Take Manchvegas, for example where the city mandates Certificate Of Compliance Inspections (COC); A process that takes place every three years for those of us ‘evil bastards‘ who own multi-family residential housing. This can be an annoying process. One year’s COC inspection I was informed of a requirement to upgrade smoke detectors to the AC type with DC battery back-up. The current smoke detectors were already hard-wired so this wasn’t a difficult task. However, upon reviewing the building code, I found myself needing to call the building department for clarification. I was unable to find that specific reference. I was subsequently told the requirement had not been adopted yet.  Guess it didn’t matter, though. I had already spent the 500 bucks to purchase the AC/DC smoke detector units and install them. For me this was an object lesson in (a) waiting for the post-inspection report to arrive in the mail, and (b) verifying the very issues cited in the report.

Window screens are yet another challenge. I mean, how stupid is that? Window Screens? But, a COC inspection cannot pass muster without the proper window screens in place. I always ensure window screens are in place for COC so that is not an issue. But, despite that, there are often tenants who are fundamentally challenged by the mere existence of window screens. They break them, lose them or destroy them. After I’ve replaced a couple and receive yet another request to do so, I demand the screen-challenged tenant “pony up” 22 dollars for an entire frame and screen replacement and 12 dollars for a screen replacement. The tenant gives me a bunch of indignant static. “It wasn’t on purpose!” he or she exclaims… Standing my ground and insisting, the tenant calls the building department to report my, “refusal to replace a missing window screen.”  The building department subsequently issues a “violation of the COC:” “failure to have the window screens in place.”  A landlord keeping proper track of expenses will quickly conclude that spending $700 per year on window screens is excessive and unreasonable.

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William Jasmin The Beer Hunter

by Rick Olson

“He uses statistics like a drunk uses lamp-posts, more for support than illumination…” ~Romano Prodi

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 “(Attorney B.J. Branch) acknowledged that Jasmin had been drinking on the day of the accident but said he had only consumed one 16-ounce Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and was at or below the legal limit for intoxication. He added that because of Jasmin’s serious blood loss, the blood alcohol test may not have been accurate.” -Concord Monitor, 7/20/11

 If one reads attorney Branch’s comment to the monitor at face value, you might just have the initial reaction that I had: “I think this attorney is full of crap.” The comment on its face suggests that Jasmin’s blood alcohol concentration cannot be effectively measured because he had experienced significant blood loss immediately after his fall.

Blood Alcohol Concentration measured is always the current and existing level in the blood at the time of a serological draw. BAC refers to the percent of alcohol in a person’s blood stream. For example, a BAC of .10% means that the individual’s blood supply contains one part alcohol for every 1000 parts blood.  That is the alcohol concentration existing in the blood stream at the proximal time of the draw. If a person consumed another several alcoholic beverages only minutes prior to the draw, that alcohol content has a higher probability of not being reflected in a test.

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Manchester City Politics and Swimming Pools

by Rick Olson

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“You can swim all day in the Sea of Knowledge and still come out completely dry.  Most people do…”  –Author Unknown

City pools…the latest whipping boy for the Alderman. Corriveau and Lopez want to charge out-of-towners, not make them go away.  Osborne dismissed it as minutia. Greazo wants to double-dip. Alderman Garth Corriveau said pools are a “luxury.” I would agree, Garth….let’s make this all about the “Haves and  Have nots!” Swimming Pool politics has it all! Apathy, Class warfare, taxing and spending, empire building, and demagoguing. Same old corrupt thinking.

Alderman Phil Greazo proposes to charge all users of city pools. Just one minor problem, Greazo…”WE ALREADY PAY FOR THE STINKING POOLS THROUGH THE TAX BASE!”

The UL reports in the June 1st story, “About 96,800 people who live in Manchester used the city pools in 2010…” That is 88% of this city’s just under 110,000 population. And, according to the data provided by Parks and Recreation only, 1,500 non-residents use the pools. But here is the real problem: these numbers are absolute bunk!

Anecdotally, here is where I think the numbers more accurately live: I think city pool use is more accurately +/- 12-16% of the total city population. With a staff of lifeguards on hand, the conditions prevail where public pools become babysitters by proxy. Here is my math…

(96,800 +/-16% = 15,488)  (15,488 / 2 = 7,744)  (7,744 +/-6 uses = 46,464) (7,744 +/-3 uses  = 23,232) (46,464 + 23,232 = 69,696)

I think non-resident use is DOUBLE despite Manchester Parks and Recreation assertions. Non-resident use most likely accounts for upwards of 25% of use. Heck, Why not? ITS FREE!!!( not Manchester residents)  Based on my own experiences at Livingston Pool, waiting there sometimes 40 minutes or more, the non-resident use is out of hand and isn’t tracked as well as it should be.  Here is what I think…More math…

(3,900 +/-$6 uses = 23,400)

I don’t think three non-residents or 3,000 non residents using the pools matters…until it is you, a city taxpayer, quietly watching and waiting at the fence…outside of the pool… roasting in the hot sun, while non-resident interlopers frolic about in the pool because it is, “free for them.” Under that circumstance, one non-resident swimmer is one-too-many.

Manchester’s Livingston pool is highly attractive. The net result, however has been a constant overflow of guests using that pool, while other pools in the city rarely see capacity use.  The pool clearly exceeds its bathing load because of high demand and the young staff is not equipped to properly manage the demand.

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