4 - May 11, 2012 | Pelham - Windham News


The Word Around Town... Letters to our Editor


Tanks to All Who Helped and Supported the Windham Woman’s Club Yard Sale


Te Windham Woman’s Club yard sale that was held on Saturday, April 28, at Windham Town Hall was a great success! Car keys were found, call Rebecca Howard at 943-5895. We thank everyone in the community and


surrounding towns for their continued support. We thank our members who volunteered their time to set up on Friday, April 27, and also day of the yard sale. Tank you to the Pelham~Windham News and also Windham Cable for publicity on their Calendar, and Maintenance Supervisor Al Barlow and staff. Tank you to co-chairs Polly Chervincky and Connie Cox for their hard work of this event. Proceeds to benefit our club scholarship fund.


Ruth Coole, Windham Woman’s Club, Windham Annual Pelham Food Drive


Te Pelham Post Office, in conjunction with the U.S.


Postal Services, will be sponsoring their 16th Annual Food Drive on Saturday, May 12. Te Post Office will be coordinating this drive with the Pelham Good Neighbor Fund. All the food collected is for the Pelham Food Pantry. All non-perishable food items should be placed in or outside your mailbox on Saturday, May 12, or you can drop off the food at the Post Office. Since we continue to be in a very difficult economy with high unemployment, many families are having a hard time paying their bills which has created more of a demand for food by the residents of Pelham. Te food pantry is struggling to keep up with the demand so we are asking everyone to please be as generous as possible. Suggested food and miscellaneous items: macaroni and cheese, cereal and oatmeal, canned fruits and vegetables, instant potatoes and ramen noodles, dry pasta and pasta sauce, canned pasta, chili and heavy soup, peanut butter, baked beans and coffee, paper towels and toilet paper, laundry detergent and dish soap,


EXCAVATING G.E.


deodorant, razors, toothpaste, toothbrushes and floss. If you would like to send a check, please make it payable to the Pelham Food Pantry and mail to: Pelham Good Neighbor Fund, P.O. Box 953, Pelham, NH 03076.


Frank Sullivan, Pelham Good Neighbor Fund, Pelham


Tone Down the Rhetoric and Stick to the Issues


Te charge that Mitt Romney’s version of education will endanger our children’s future and doesn’t care about the “99%” is an example of the political speak that is about to flow in the lead-up to November. My intent is to stick to the issues and avoid hyperbole. Example, Romney does not support education for children because he wants to eliminate the Dept. of Education. Let’s look at the facts. Where does the Department of Education get the $185 million they send to New Hampshire? We send more than that to Washington, but the central administration is expensive with all the lucrative jobs that makes the Washington suburbs among the wealthiest in the nation. So, they take their “cut” and send us the $185 million along with regulations and mandates that make local education more cumbersome and expensive. In the Constitution, education is a state function. Why not allow people to determine their educational priorities in Pelham with the State Department of Education to oversee the process? Is American Exceptionalism fostered by more dependency on Government? Can we drop the attacks and appeal to emotion and,


as Joe Friday used to say “just the facts Mam.” Ken Sherr, Pelham


Has Concerns with Article ‘Proposed


Involvement in the Regional Planning Initiative Sparks Controversy’


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News is a great newspaper that provides a wonderful resource to our communities. Each week, I look forward to reading it for the wealth of information that it provides on the current events that affect all of us. Last week, I came across an article on the April 23, 2012,


4/15/08 2:38:14 PM


Board of Selectmen’s meeting regarding a proposal that Windham formally sign an agreement to participate in HUD’s Sustainable Communities Initiative (SCI), a program that could ultimately transfer the town’s local planning control to unelected regional bureaucrats. As I read the article by Barbara O’Brien, I was


troubled to see that it was written from a biased perspective, and filled with inaccuracies, innuendo, and incorrect assumptions that supported that bias. Cliff Sinnott, director of the Rockingham Planning Commission (RPC), made a presentation about HUD’s SCI program. Ms. O’Brien stated that immediately following the presentation, “members of the 9.12 Project began hammering him with questions, barely allowing him the time to answer one question before another was aimed his way.” I disagree. Not one person in the audience was


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disrespectful to the RPC rep. Each person that asked questions did so to get more information while expressing concerns about the expansive amount of local sovereignty that could be transferred to the RPC via this agreement. You can see this for yourself online at http://wctv. pegcentral.com. Click on the Board of Selectmen 4-23- 12 link, and go to 1:44:00 to jump to the start of the discussion. Instead of focusing on the serious issue, which is the possible loss of Windham’s local control over the future planning for the town, Ms. O’Brien made biased representations about those that voiced their opinions. According to Ms. O’Brien, everyone that spoke against the proposal was a member of the 9.12 group that I co-founded. I wonder what Ms. O’Brien used as a basis to define “a member of the 9.12 Project”? Our group has never asked people to fill out a form to sign up for membership. So I wonder if she considers someone to be a member of our 9.12 group based on whether or not they have attended one of our meetings.


If that is the case, then it would be important to note that all of the people that spoke – both for and against the proposal - have attended a 9.12 meeting. But instead of saying that our group has encouraged all people to get involved no matter what their beliefs … she biased the article by saying the one person that spoke in favor of the proposal was a “Planning Board member.” I believe that everyone who stood up and spoke


were “concerned citizens.” As I publicly stated last week – I was glad to see Windham residents share their thoughts, as some spoke in favor and some against. We need to have an open discussion on this issue … with all opinions represented so that we can make the right decision for our town. She also stated, “Many of the 9.12 Project members who attended the selectmen’s meeting are also members of the conservative organization known as ‘Americans for Prosperity,’ a group whose candidates for local offices were defeated at the annual Town Election this past March.”


Tat sentence contains multiple inaccuracies and assumptions that further lead the focus away from the real story – which again – is the potential loss of local control and accountability of our town’s planning. I also wonder why Ms. O’Brien brought up the American for Prosperity group and the previous local elections in March. Many attendees of the 9.12 group are not members of Americans for Prosperity. What does that have to do with regional planning? Ms. O’Brien made many assumptions including this statement from her article: “Although Breton’s direct involvement with the NH 9.12 Project was not confirmed, some of those in attendance said that Breton was the one who asked the members of the 9.12 to attend the meeting”. To this misleading statement, I have two comments:


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(1) Mr. Breton is not involved with managing our 9.12 group, and (2) he did not ask me (nor anyone else that I am aware of) to attend the meeting on April 23. To set the record straight on what


transpired – I encourage everyone to watch the video on the WCTV website. Tis is a critical issue that will impact our community for decades to come. Everyone’s voice and opinion should be heard.


Ken Eyring, Windham


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