NH House made big decisions yesterday, sort of.
Two big developments came out of Concord yesterday. C A C R Seventeen, the proposed amendment to the New Hampshire constitution that would have barred discrimination based on sexual orientation was referred to interim study by the New Hampshire House of Representatives. That means the legislature will actually look at the impacts of the proposed amendment before passing it on to the people for a vote. The resolution did pass the senate, but caused concern among conservative and religious groups who feared it would be used to force people of faith, churches and other religious institutions to engage in activities that would violate their religious teachings and beliefs.
Kaen: Tie breaker against gambling.
Casino Lou: Try harder!
And by one vote, one hundred seventy three to one hundred seventy two, the House defeated yet another proposed expansion of gambling in the state. The tie breaking vote was cast by Deputy Speaker Naida Kaen, Democrat from Lee who presided over the House in the absence of Speaker Terri Norelli, Democrat from Portsmouth, who was at an out of state event hosted by the National Conference of State Legislators. Despite being defeated, the bill will be back before the House next week as a notice of reconsideration was given after the vote. Expect a furious effort to twist arms between now and then as panicky proponents point to the state’s budget woes and cautious opponents point to the failure of casinos to live up to their projected revenue promises across the country. In a statement posted to his Facebook page, Senator Casino Lou D’Allesandro, Democrat from ManchVegas, who has championed just about every bill to expand gambling since the mid nineties, said quote “The people almost won. The bill will be reconsidered next week. We must get everyone there to put together enough votes to get an ‘ought to pass’. Thanks to everyone for a huge effort. We must push harder.” End quote.
Brown: Keystone Pipeline a no brainer
Also yesterday in Concord, a rally in support of building the Keystone Pipeline to bring oil from Canada to the US was held. We interviewed senate candidate Scott Brown on his way to the event. He said building the pipeline was a no brainer that would make us less dependent on oil from countries that don’t like us and pose a threat to our national security. He said an amendment supporting the pipeline may be attached to an energy efficiency bill proposed by incumbent Senator Jeanne Shaheen Health Care Queen, Democrat from Madbury, and called on Shaheen to support it. State G O P Chair Jennifer Horn joined Brown’s comments noting an article in the Politico reporting that several senate Democrats are negotiating to add the language to the bill. She said it was an opportunity for Shaheen to vote with the people of New Hampshire rather than President Barry once again, and listed Shaheen’s prior votes against the pipeline as well as statistics showing the hundreds of thousands of dollars she’s taken from environmental groups opposed to its construction. We’ve linked to Brown’s interview and posted Horn’s release for your review from this newscast at Girard at Large dot com.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
Bedford School Board Chair Terry Wolf
The Bedford School Board will hold a retreat on Monday May 5th at the SERESC Headquarters in Bedford. On the agenda are items involving goals for the coming school year, communications, Health Insurance and Obamacare and school enrollments and their implications. We suspect the meeting is public given there is a publicly published agenda for the meeting. Parents, upset by the recent salacious student surveys, the contents of which were cleverly hidden from them beforehand, are curious to know whether or not corrective policies requested and suggested will be addressed in this meeting, noting the vague wording about quote unquote communications. Several of them, as well as Girard at Large, are awaiting information in reply to right to know requests on the survey matter.
Beaton: Girl not allowed to leave his underage party
The Londonderry Police Department put out a release yesterday informing the public that a couple of its officers engaged in some pretty good police work to locate and bust up an underage drinking party. Cops rounded up twenty kids between the ages of fifteen and twenty that were partying at the home of twenty year old Nicholas Beaton, whose parents were away on vacation. Neighbor complaints alerted the cops to on street disturbances in the neighborhood which had cleared by the time they arrived. However, some diligent snooping around and a little luck led them to the home on Seasons Lane that had sheets over the windows and all those kids doing their best to hide as cops knocked on doors in an attempt to get someone to answer. We’ve posted the department’s press release with blow by blow account of how it all went down with this news read at Girard at Large dot com, as well as a photo of the host who is facing charges, as are all of the underage kids who were there.
Camp Constitution: Coming to Rindge, NH in July
Camp Constitution is now taking registrations for this year’s summer camp designed to educate folks about the United States Constitution. The week long camp will be held in Rindge. It is open to folks of all ages who want to learn more about our nation’s founding document and the fees include lodging, meals and a field trip to Boston. The program includes classes on our nation’s heritage, history, the Constitution, morality and freedom, defending your world view, and the threats to property rights among other topics. We’ve posted the details, including the registration form with this newscast at Girard at Large dot com. Here’s a video about the camp.
