LiveFreeAndComply.org

Bob Abraham, candidate for Tamworth Selectman, won his campaign on a very pro-liberty platform. His website discusses an outlook on topics far outside the realm of a typical politician; revolutionary concepts such as:

• An understanding that “Government spending is always a prerequisite for taxes.“
• Promoting “the ideas of liberty, better living and less government coercion through private property rights” in town.
• “Resolving the negative effects of government spending and excessive taxation that exist in Tamworth.“
• “Your property taxes are not a voluntary contribution.“
• On zoning: “How many regulations, how many boards, how many commissions, how many committees and how many ordinances do there have to be to tell us what we can’t do with our land.“

Wow. Actions speak louder than words, but statements like those bode well for those future actions.

We take a pretty pessimistic view of political office holders, as 99% of them at every level of government end up assimilating into the system over months or years (advocating for things like “getting things done through government”), and end up with a complete lack of understanding that the only thing that town government gets done is taxation and regulation. In this case, judging by Bob’s campaign statements, and his actions thus far, Bob looks like he’s in it to fight the good fight within a rotten system: since taking office, Bob has publicly fought back the Selectmen’s control-hungry secretaries (”you work for us and the people of Tamworth, not the other way around“), fought for more openness in town records, battled unjustified tax increases on resident’s properties, and tries to enlighten the Selectmen about their open government responsibilities under RSA 91-A (best o’ luck with that fruitless endeavor). He’s such a problem for Willie, John, and Cassandra that they just pretend he’s not speaking some of the time – always classy from those three.

That said, who knew former Selectman Tom Abugelis got it as well, and the powers that be kept him fairly effectively squelched over the years. Here’s to hoping Bob continues to be a cog in the wheel of the rotten town government – we’re pretty sure Willie, John, and Cassandra don’t know what to do with a gun totin’, motorcylce ridin’, small business owning regular fellow in their midst.

Please Bob: give ‘em hell, and don’t assimilate to having a government-control mindset as folks in political office so often do.

Outgoing Selectman Tom Abugelis wrote a zinger of a Letter To The Editor, which hit the nail on the head when it comes to the town government. In his letter, Tom discusses the “self-appointed Tamworth aristocracy and self focused elite“, describes Tamworth as standing at “another tipping point in its history“, and goes on to write “Undeclareds, moderates, libertarians and conservatives are about to be totally overtaken by the elite, focused on their own personal agendas that seek to control, limit, and define our freedoms and lifestyles“. Amen, Tom.

That said, while Tamworth does suffer from people of a certain mindset seeking to “control, limit, and define our freedoms and lifestyles”, as Tom put it, the “aristocratic elite” in town would have no power and control if not through the force of government. As evidenced by town governments across New Hampshire, sick as it may be, it would seem that there are plenty of folks willing to volunteer hours upon hours of their time to “control, limit, and define” other people’s freedoms and lifestyles  – the root of the problem is a system that gives twisted people such as these the ability to “control, limit, and define”.

In response to Tom’s letter, Selectman John Roberts publicly lambasted him at the following Selectmen’s meeting for upwards of twenty minutes: “In all the years that I have been in office, no Selectman in Tamworth has ever done something like this before. You have possibly tainted the whole election – I am ashamed to sit next to you.” As one witness described the encounter: “I have never been so appalled at public behavior by a locally elected official [Roberts].  It was a viscous attack.” Roberts was purportedly upset with regard to legal concerns about electioneering in RSA 659:44. Abugelis said he was “blindsided and bullied” by John’s attack.

Let’s be real: the Tamworth Selectmen have shown themselves to be far from concerned about potential illegalities resulting from any of their actions – as Tom put it with regard to his “aristrocratic elite” critique: “If the title fits, they’ll react to it.” It would seem the resulting verbal flogging of Tom by his colleagues is a good indicator that they thought the title fit. A little too well.

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Agriculture was the focus of the final land-use forum that the Planning Board put on, led by unofficial Tamworth land use regulation facilitator Nicole Maher-Whiteside – hereafter affectionately anointed Tamworth’s Zoning Queen. Despite a handful of comments in support of more regulation at the meeting, local hard-working farmers brought forth a theme of personal responsibility, communicating with one’s neighbors, objections to burdensome taxes, a desire for Tamworth’s agricultural landscape to be of actual working farms rather than a “museum landscape” through town government, and a recognition that the only tools that town government has with which to do anything positive are to “get out of the way” with regulations and taxes.

Of particular note, coming from three of the local farmers present:

What can we do outside of government that can facilitate that [neighborly] communication?…

You could create a whole set of regulations that tried to impose a certain kind of landscape, but it could all be fields that are mowed but aren’t worked….

I could live with seeing [agricultural land] protected [through government], but far better, far better to have people living on that land farming it….

So what do you do though then when you’ve got some nice rules in place, regulations that keep agriculture land agricultural land, but you can’t afford to be there to do an agricultural endeavor? If we were given Red Gables Farm today, we would have to move because we could never afford to live there…So how can the town encourage people with agricultural interests to come here and get a piece of something to do something with?…I think people passing through with an interest in agriculture are going to keep right on going when they look at the real estate brochure….

There are young families out there, who, if they had access to some of this land, could do a good job of making it productive. If not make their whole income from it, make a substantial portion of it. But they can’t do it without help. And I don’t look to the government to do it; frankly, that has to come from the private sector; it has to come from the good will of the people to figure out how that’s going to happen….

As Tamworth’s Zoning Queen herself put it:

What I’ve heard so far is that the big thing is to stay out of the way; to not make rules that you can’t have livestock here, you can’t have a farm here, you can’t do this, you can’t do that….

I’m really hearing pretty loud and clear, actually, that we need to be more careful about making too many rules.

Recently, an attractive young woman came before the Selectmen to ask for their help in solving some paperwork issues that her bank requested of the town. Whether or not the Selectmen ought to have a role in her private matter is a valid discussion to be had, however, the newsworthiness of her dramatic monologue more pertains to her having stated she had no prior experience with town politics and the Selectmen; we would surmise no more than an hour spent on the phone with town secretary Cassandra Pearce and ten minutes spent in front of the Selectmen inspired the following observations on her part, which is what a lot of folks have felt like imparting to them over the years, no doubt:

“I’d like to say, that as a resident of Tamworth, that I’m pretty disappointed.”

“And her [referring to Cassandra Pearce]: incredibly rude of you to laugh at somebody while they’re standing up here. I don’t know how your mother raised you, but it’s polite to treat people the way you want to be treated. Very, very rude.”

“I think that you guys are supposed to reflect the residents of this town and you don’t. The residents of this town have been amazing since I’ve been here. You three [Farnum, Roberts, Pearce], on the other hand, have not. They are helpful, they are kind, they are polite, they are understanding – and they span every generation, young couples that bought their homes the same time I did, and older people who live next door to me: unbelievable people. You three, on the other hand, do not do a good job of representing the people of this town.” – Well, on the other hand, when most of the constituents the Selectmen see are those that are avidly involved in local government, various town committee’s, and such, rather than those folks who are busy with 9-5 jobs, family, and other more productive endeavors: they probably really do think their views and actions represent a lot of Tamworth residents.

“…and then your secretary, which, by the way [to Cassandra Pearce], you are just a secretary – you don’t run this town – decided to laugh…that’s not the way you treat residents, and that’s not the way you treat people. Your parents should have raised you better.” – This is at least the second time in recent history that Cassandra has shown an odd sense of bemusement towards a family’s problems.

Willie Farnum: “Well, some you win, some you don’t.” John Roberts: “I guess we didn’t win that one.”

The problem lays not with Farnum, Roberts, and Pearce in particular, but in a system that gives people you may think are rude and obnoxious (or even people you may think are wonderful) control through the force of government over your actions, money, and property.

Following up on: [Town Government: We Don't Like Good People With Guns]

Seeing as the Tamworth Selectmen and Police Chief responded so negatively to mere citizens objecting to their illegal enforcement of unlawful anti-gun regulations in town, prominent state gun rights group Pro-Gun New Hampshire has now joined the fight against Selectmen Willie Farnum and John Roberts along with Police Chief Dan Poirier.

In an excellent letter to the town bureaucrats, CC’ed to the NH Department of Safety and the NH Attorney General’s office, the folks at PGNH remind the Selectmen and Police Chief yet again that their rule prohibiting firearms on town property when carried by town employees is not only unlawful, but that they may personally be held criminally and civilly liable for enforcement of it under RSA 643:1, Official Oppression.

Update: Primary legislative sponsor of RSA 159:26 and former NH state trooper writes to town Selectmen regarding their anti-gun rules.

Hats off to Sam Cohen, Elbert Bicknell, and Atty. Evan Nappen, as well as the rest of the fine people at Pro-Gun New Hampshire, for lending their name, time, and energy to help keep the town bureaucrats at bay on this issue. We’ll see what the Selectmen and Police Chief do at their next meeting – they’re going to be hard pressed to stick to their guns, pun intended, on this one.

Update 2: Tamworth Selectmen remove employee policy, Pro-Gun NH declares “Reason and Law Defeat Prejudice in Tamworth“

Following up on: [Unlawful Firearms Restrictions On The Books In Tamworth].

The volunteer firefighters in town are less than enthusiastic about their firearms rights being suspended whilst being on town property. This would all be a valid discussion if the Town of Tamworth were a private business, who may regulate firearms or anything else on their property as they please, but as a government entity, this position doesn’t apply morally, nor per state law, the latter of which the town government likes to follow some of the time, when it suits them.

The volunteer firefighter’s concern brought to light the clear anti-gun mentality of the town government in Tamworth, of which every hard-working gun-toting good person in Tamworth ought to object to. Below is a bevy of shocking quotes coming out of the most recent Selectmen’s meeting showing utter contempt for firearms possession by peaceful people:

Tamworth Selectman Willie Farnum
“Every time you volunteer, you give up a right…Unfortunately, that’s the way it is.” – Next week, your first amendment rights are on the chopping block. And we’ll just work our way down the list of the Bill of Rights if you’re a really nice person and volunteer a lot.

“If a fireman goes into a situation and he’s got a pistol on his side and decides that I’ve got a pistol on my side and that guy’s in my way and I’m gonna tell him to get out of my way and starts pushing him around and the other guy grabs his pistol, guess who’s going to get sued.” – And if a purple elephant got angry with a flying lemur and prompted the flying lemur’s pet hamster to attack with a gun…guess who’s going to get sued. That’s a bit of a stretch, Willie.

“Our job as Selectmen is to protect the financial interests of this community.” – Might consider reducing spending and lowering taxes a bit then, eh Willie?

“I will not condone firefighters and rescue personnel, unless there is a shown direct cause and reason, why they need to be armed, to be armed while they’re serving the town of Tamworth. If there’s a cause and a reason, let’s address that. If there’s no cause or a reason, they should not have a weapon.” – Apparently Tamworth has now turned into a “may issue” jurisdiction, rather than “shall issue”.

Tamworth Selectman and State Representative John Roberts
“I don’t want them in the station with [their firearm] on, or riding around in the town equipment, the fire trucks or anything, for that matter.” Farnum continues: “Highway equipment, or any equipment. It’s town property.” – And we Selectmen are doing our darndest to keep guns off town property, over which we preside with our infinite wisdom.

“We as the Board of Selectmen are telling them that they are [in violation].” – Alas, the state of New Hampshire begs to differ.

“That weapon could still go off. Even if that body burned, that weapon could go off. We don’t want that to happen, but it could.” – Can’t you just feel the deep concern for the charred remains of the volunteer firefighter?

“If you’re coming down to the station, I would rather you would leave [your firearm] at home.” – We’d really rather you Selectmen stay at home: if you’re not meeting, you’re not getting anything done. And if you’re not getting anything done, good people are getting left alone.

Tamworth Police Chief Dan Poirier
“They have a right to carry a gun, it’s their right. But it’s also a violation of town policy.” – Clearly not much of a right, in Dan’s eyes then, now is it?

“When that weapon discharges…” And yet Dan’s SigSauer made it through the whole meeting without discharging: seems that firearms don’t actually have a mind of their own.

“I’m just giving you my opinion as Police Chief: I don’t want firefighters showing up on scene with a weapon.” – Nice to know the armed representative of our local government has such contempt for peaceful folks being armed.

“There are a lot of your volunteers that, frankly, I would quiver if I saw them carrying a gun.” – This is the most scary quote of the discussion: the Chief of Police has a personal litmus test for firearms possession. Also a pretty offensive statement to the guys and gals volunteering their time.

“I just see it as a huge liability…huuuge liability.” – Ask Dan how many hours of training he and his officers partake in, what rifles they’re issued in their vehicles, and how many training rounds they’re issued every month. Then we can talk about the town’s liability.

Administrative Bureaucrat Cassandra Pearce
“If they’re bringing their firearm in a town building, then they are in violation.” – Thank goodness we’ve got over-paid career bureaucratic secretary Cassandra to keep on top of all the rules.

Hero Of The Meeting, Jim Bowles, Representing The Gun Toting Volunteer Firefighters
“I’m not sure why the town ever adopted [the employee policy prohibiting firearms]. It looks like it came from Massachusetts, if you ask me.”

“Some silly policy that ought not even be in this state; that’s Massachusetts stuff.”

“I think some of the guys will still have a problem giving up their rights, to volunteer.” Farnum: “Every time you volunteer, you give up a right.” Bowles: {sarcasm} “Yeah, thank you, thank you for your time [volunteering].”

Good for you, Jim.