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Amidst the Selectmen’s latest firearms foibles, one Tamworth resident shared an experience he had at the town offices in which he described the actions of Anne Abear and Cassandra Pearce – the two secretarial drones in the Selectmen’s office. Easy-going Tamworth resident Bob Abraham stated he was at the town offices, invited behind Anne and Cassandra’s wall of security glass, on personal business. Firearms being a hot topic at the Selectmen’s meeting that day, Anne Abear reportedly inquired multiple times if he was carrying a firearm – he relented that he was. Bob was reportedly asked by Anne multiple times to show his holstered firearm; he stated that he reluctantly obliged and lifted his shirt slightly. Bob stated he was then promptly asked to leave Anne’s office – he complied to the sight and sound of her door being locked and her window shades being drawn shut behind him.

On his way out, Bob stated he heard Cassandra on the phone to Police Chief Dan Poirier to report that “there are people with guns” at the town offices. Turns out there were several other peaceful and responsible folks with firearms at that evening’s Selectmen’s meeting. Local officer Penny Frechette was observed in the hall later in the evening during the firearms discussion at the Selectmen’s meeting – Chief Dan Poirier refused a public records request for the specifics of his department’s call logs and reports for that evening, stating that he “doesn’t think that’s public information”.

Anne and Cassandra may want to ask themselves why they’re so concerned that people would be so mad at their actions that they think they need to be throwing local self-defense-minded gun owners out of their offices fortified with taxpayer funded security glass.

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.

Chair of the Conservation Commission, and Professional Poop Farmer, Ned Beecher sent a letter to his neighbor George recently, detailing the disaster that he had caused when he installed a meager little culvert and removed, horror of horrors, a tree stump. Not an ecological disaster, mind you, nor anything that impacted the properties of George’s neighbors, but a disaster of a far greater magnitude: no government permission was sought for the endeavor.

The letter includes helpful tidbits for George, such as a grand explanation of all his permitting options through the DES, his tree-stump removal violation, and a suggestion that George and his wife “may want to consult with the Planning Board and/or Conservation Commission to get a sense of the permissibility of what you propose, prior to spending time and money on the application process”. At least Ned understands that their subjective control of private property does have time and financial implications for local families and businesses, and it certainly will in this case as he CC’ed his letter to the NH DES as well as the Selectmen for enforcement action. Ned wraps up his letter with a particularly neighborly tone: “As noted, you are possibly in violation of three state and local regulations. You may need as many as three permits to proceed.”

Something is wrong when some poor fellow can’t remove a stump nor install a culvert on his own property without threats of being cost time and money, along with gracious offers to “get a sense of the permissibility of what you propose” from various town and state bureaucrats. Most neighbors help each other out with backyard projects, but apparently if you live next door to a town bureaucrat, you’re instead threatened with enforcement of onerous and unethical regulations.

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.

In remarkable recognition of our esteemed Selectman Willie Farnum’s proposal to raze unused portions of one’s home to save on property taxes, the Obama administration announced plans to expand Willie’s bulldozing idea to the underutilized portions of upwards of 50 cities across the country!

Dozens of US cities may have entire neighborhoods bulldozed as part of drastic ’shrink to survive’ proposals being considered by the Obama administration to tackle economic decline. The government is looking at expanding a pioneering scheme…which involves razing entire districts and returning the land to nature.

Farnum ought to be proud: a “pioneering scheme”! Perhaps Willie is a behind-the-scenes advisor to the president, or the Obama administration is perusing this site in detail; either way, ’tis a big day for Tamworth, NH!

Selectman Willie Farnum told citizens at a public meeting, in all earnestness, that if they were concerned about high property taxes they could physically destroy their homes to reduce their assessed value. Farnum encouraged tax-burdened Tamworth resident Bob Abraham to sledgehammer interior walls to reduce the number of bedrooms in his house, stating that he himself had razed a portion of his own home for precisely that purpose.

We would suggest to Willie that he, as a Selectman, is directly responsible for the tax burden on citizens and it would be more productive for everyone if he and his colleagues simply reduced spending, and thus the onerous property tax rate in town. Farnum campaigned on lowering taxes this past election season, and he ought to pursue that by substantially reducing spending and the resulting tax rate, not by destroying property values.