People in Goffstown are fuming over comments made by members of the Budget Committee back in December. During that meeting, there was lively discussion over the need to avoid tax hikes that led to some pretty inflammatory comments. In response to comments made by Budget Committee Chairman Peter Georgantas about people not being able to buy rice and flour because they can’t afford their taxes, committee member Lisa Jukes said she wanted people having problems paying their taxes and eating bags of flour and rice to email her because she will quote “hook you up with services.” End quote. A bit later in the meeting, committee member Sonny Tremblay came back to the topic of people struggling to pay their taxes stating that people quote “can get a reverse mortgage or a tax lien” end quote on their homes to pay them. Kinda removes all doubt as to why Goffstown is, by far, the highest tax town in the Manchester area, the stellar efforts of the Hooksett School Board to catch up notwithstanding. Neither Jukes nor Tremblay are up for reelection this year. Georgantas is running for selectman. Speaking of that race, candidate John Burt has released a fun campaign video to the tune of Johnny Be Good. We’ve linked to it here as well as posted the minutes of that December budget committee meeting with this newscast at Girard at Large dot com.
Hooksett School Board Member John Lyscars, whose attempts to be briefed on the non-meeting meeting held with the board’s lawyer on February tenth have been stifled by Superintendent Charles Littlefield as well as Board Chair Trisha Korkosz, Board Clerk Cheryl Akstin, and Board Member Phil Denbow, has filed a Right to Know request demanding to know how much time Attorney Gordon Graham spent on the meeting and various activities associated with it and how much it cost the taxpayers. Lyscars was unable to attend the meeting due to a death in the family and Board Vice-Chair David Pearl walked out when the board refused to meet with the attorney in the absence of the superintendent for part of the meeting. Neither Pearl nor Lyscars have been briefed on the meeting, though Lyscars has asked Littlefield and the Big Three on several occasions for a synopsis of the meeting, which was originally called, if memory serves, to discuss Littlefield’s charges that a culture of fear had developed in the workplace. Graham has publicly refused to provide Lyscars with any information about the meeting saying he’s not authorized to respond to individual board member’s requests and the board has refused to authorize him to do so. We’ve posted Lyscars’ Right to Know request with this newscast at Girard at Large dot com. It’s a sad day when elected officials have to use that law to get information out of the administrators they oversee.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
Former Bedford Town Councilor Bill Greiner has opened fire on two candidates running for office in town. In a show he hosted on Bedford Community Television, Greiner goes after Town Council candidate Matt Philips and School Board Candidate Aaron Day, trashing them as Free Staters whose purpose is to bring anarchy to Bedford. Greiner accused the pair of being anti-government invaders who, if elected, would somehow be able to single handedly dismantle Bedford’s government, depriving its citizens of just about any and all services. He accused the pair of having a political agenda that had nothing to do with the town, but everything to do with an effort by Free Staters to colonize New Hampshire. In comments posted under the YouTube video of Greiner’s performance, Day fired back, taking Greiner to task for several misstatements, including saying he’d only lived in town for a year when, according to Day, he’s lived there since two thousand nine. It was one of the more fascinating twenty minutes of TV we’ve seen in a while, especially when one considers that Greiner, himself is a transplant from another part of the country, is criticizing people who chose to move from other parts of the country to Bedford. Ya’ gotta kinda wonder why Greiner, who recently told Day that he and his partners in the Copper Door Restaurant didn’t care if Day ever ate at the restaurant again, is going after these folks the way he is.
The family of Cameron John “CJ” Kosinski has released the arrangements for the 8 month old son they lost to a disease unknown to physicians after a fierce 50 day battle for his life. The wake is tonight at the from four to eight at the Donovan-Aufiero Funeral Home, 140 Otis Street, East Cambridge, MA. Funeral services are tomorrow morning at ten at the funeral home. Interment will be at the Cambridge Cemetery. Efforts to help the family recover from what will be more than two months of lost income and non-covered expenses associated with CJ’s medical and hospice care continue and we ask our audience to participate as best they can. The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, a contribution be made to CJ’s Fund. We are honored to present a four minute video capturing the essence of little CJ’s life. It tells a story any parent would want told they way they’d want it told if, God forbid, it ever had to be told. Many will will be touched by it.
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is straight ahead.
