LiveFreeAndComply.org

Following up on: [LiveFreeAndComply.org Illegal Liberty Raffle]

Selectmen Abugelis, Farnum, and Roberts went a bit overboard with their new town raffle permit, inventing new rules and powers for themselves. From their new raffle regulations: “It is the express intent and purpose of these regulations, to strictly regulate the conduct of raffles within the Town of Tamworth, through the issuance of permits for the conduct thereof, to protect the welfare of the citizens and to prevent criminal activity“. Strictly regulate indeed – Selectman Willie Farnum stated at the most recent Selectmen’s meeting that not complying with their raffle rules would be a prosecutable criminal offense!

Initially under the auspices of merely “doing their job” and complying with a silly yet onerous state law, the Selectmen have gone above and beyond and come up with these gems in their new raffle permit, none of which are provided for in RSA 287-A:

• Local charitable organizations must have their permit submitted 30 days ahead of time. Billy’s Boy Scout Troop raising funds for that scout trip in two weeks? That’s a Willie Farnum “criminal offense” right there.
• Prizes must be listed in advance for the Selectmen as well as ticket prices, along with a sample raffle ticket attached to the application. – last minute donation of a raffle prize not pre-listed on their application? Criminal offense, apparently.
• The sponsoring organization must register with the Attorney General’s office, in complete conflict with RSA 287-A:1 II. (b). According to the new permit application: “Organization must be non-profit, a charity and registered with the Non-Profit Charitable Trust. To register, Call Attorney General’s Office, Division of Charitable Trusts at 271-3591.“
• Police review of the “suitability of the applicant for a permit”. Surely any notorious con-man defrauding people on a raffle (huge problem in Tamworth these days, you know) will make sure he has his paperwork duly filed with the town in advance. This is the problem – the only people who are going to care about filing the town’s silly paperwork are local community groups looking to not get in trouble with the bureaucrats.
• Finally, in classic Tamworth town government style, there is a blanket exemption from all of their new invented rules as well as all the existing silly state rules on raffles should the Selectmen deem it appropriate. While the Selectmen choosing not to enforce the obnoxious rules of the state or town government is a positive thing, Tamworth has a history of a lot of problems arising from having two sets of rules in town, depending on who you are and your associations with town government.

The seriousness with which the Selectmen seem to take charity raffles would be humorous, if their raffle sillyness wasn’t so indicative of how things roll with the Tamworth town government: causing problems and expense for people who have harmed no one, eyes lighting up at the thought of just a little more power, control, and paperwork, and inventing rules in conflict with common sense and state law. The Selectmen ought to leave the dozens of community groups in Tamworth alone, rather than protecting “the welfare of the citizens” with more paperwork and problems.

Conservation Commission Chairman Ned Beecher, one to comply with minute and silly rules whenever possible apparently, presented the Selectmen with a detailed written request for a Raffle Permit at tonight’s Selectmen’s meeting. Turns out that the state of New Hampshire desires to preserve its government monopoly on gambling, and leaves it to local town governments to enforce its silly yet onerous rules on selling raffle tickets through Raffle Permits. (New Hampshire Lotto Motto: “Gambling is a vice and a sin, and we’re here to save you from your wicked and foolish ways…unless it generates money for the government”).

This being the first Raffle Permit ever sought from the Board of Selectmen, they did sign off on Ned’s permit and stated they would sort out their policy on Raffle Permits in the future. It also came to light at the meeting that the Chocorua Public Library is currently holding a raffle without the appropriate governmental blessings via a Raffle Permit.

In an effort to persuade the Board of Selectmen into not participating in assisting the state government in preserving their gambling monopoly, and to support the un-permitted raffle being put on by the Chocorua Public Library, LiveFreeAndComply.org is announcing its own Illegal Liberty Raffle:

Up for grabs is an original 1844 American Letter Mail Company stamp in excellent condition. In the spirit of government monopolies such as the NH Lotto, the American Letter Mail Company was founded by an interesting character named Lysander Spooner in an effort to challenge the US Postal Service’s unethical monopoly on mail delivery. As with most of those who choose not to comply with government rules, he and his business were rather vigorously put to rest with the enforcement of the Private Express Statutes, which make it unlawful to compete with the US Postal Service; but ’tis an inspiring story of a cheeky fellow and a good example of the typical response of government.

Lottery tickets are on sale for $10 per ticket, though only $5 if you’re under 16 in an effort not to comply with RSA 287-A:4. Raffle tickets will be printed on plain raffle tickets, in conflict with RSA 287-A:3. So as not to comply with RSA 287-A:1 II. (b), the proceeds from this raffle will be solely utilized to provide lavish and luxurious niceties for the editors of LiveFreeAndComply.org, and for no charitable reasons whatsoever. Please contact info@livefreeandcomply.org to arrange to buy tickets.

Should you desire to support another good cause, voluntary donations through a raffle are a great way to fund the Chocorua Public Library, and much preferable to library funding acquired through involuntary taxation. Hopefully this gives the Selectmen two positive reasons to not participate with the state in hassling local charities with another layer of bureaucracy to deal with.

Update: [Selectmen Go Crazy Regulating Local Charities] – The Tamworth Selectmen, professionals at sitting indefinitely on positive actions they could take, swiftly move at their 11/9/09 meeting to start helping the state enforce their gambling monopoly and cause more paperwork problems for local non-profits.