Last year Keene voters had two options to choose from regarding the Keene School District operating budget. Either a budget increase of .86% (5.8% tax increase) or a budget increase of 3%. The year before that was the same “lesser of two evils” option. The other six warrants on the ballot included various schemes geared toward allocating more money into the district’s hands. The voter turnout was a dismal 10% of registered voters. But can you blame them. After all who would want to waste their lunch break voting on a crappy, bloated budget and a bunch of money grabbing warrants? Vote: you lose. Don’t vote: still lose. This year, if everything works as planned, will be very different for Keene voters. With the assistance of Darryl Perry, I have drafted 7 very different petition warrants aimed at reducing the budget and removing certain authorities from the school board. They are as follows: (more…)
In this week’s episode we discuss the city of Troy’s staggering 36% property tax increase, outspoken fitness mom and her war against curvy girls and how I survived Black Thursday. Darryl and Rapsher join. Show notes, archives and audio at BlackSheepRising.org
The BEARCAT issue in Concord festers further as the city council prepares for another hearing on the matter next Monday at 7:00pm. Today the Ridley Report published excerpts from a school board hearing which resulted in a decision by the ultimate propagators of all things ‘for the children’ — the Concord school board — to neither recommend nor block the acquisition of the federal government’s Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck. Ridley’s update includes B-roll footage from recent uploads to Fr33manTVraw as well as James Cleaveland’s LightSpeedLiberty channel. An update in last Thursday’s Keene Sentinel republished a Monitor article covering the board meeting and decision.
The fourth Occupy New England regional convergence was held this past weekend at the University of New Hampshire’s main campus in Durham. The gathering brought together dedicated activists from around the Northeast to spend time workshopping, networking, and strategizing. In a twist of fate, riot police would descend upon the surrounding area as outdoor presentations on street medic effectiveness and bullhorn mastery occurred on the campus green.
Presidential candidate Vermin Supreme was about midway through a session on de-escalating tense situations when chants of ‘UNH, UNH’ were audible from down the street directly across from the audience. Moments later, riot police appeared to be blocking the road off as students poured out of the area, many bearing cell phones in a manner suggesting that they were video recording. I wandered down for a closer look, and was surprised to see multiple officers carrying paintball guns, and others holding large canisters of pepper spray, most wearing helmets with face shields, gloves, and other protective gear (short of physical riot shields). Students were compliant with requests to stay out of the area, but were clearly agitated by what had previously occurred, several students reporting to have been hit and bruised by rubber bullets (likely pepperballs). From across the road, Vermin’s voice amplified through his bullhorn, reminding everyone to stay calm, that this was only a test, and to ignore the man with the megaphone. The mood lightened lightly as the police froze momentarily and onlookers responded with laughter and applause. (more…)
The polls have closed, and 1625 votes have been tabulated (1 person showed up to Ward 4/5 as the polls were closing, so that ballot will be a hand-count and is not included in these results that were posted at the precinct – and it appears there were 2 “spoiled ballots”). Those voters, which represent approximately 10% of registered voters in Keene, have spoken and overwhelmingly approved all 7 Warrant Articles, and elected Chris Coates, Susan Fratus & Kris Roberts to 3-year terms on the school board. (more…)
Tomorrow is (town & school) election day in New Hampshire. In Keene, the voters have the option of supporting a bigger budget or an even bigger budget. If voters reject the proposed $62.3 million budget (an increase of 1.2%) for the 2013-2014 school year, the budget will be just shy of $63.5 million (a nearly 3% increase).
How’s that for choice? The school portion of the property tax rate will increase by either 5% or 10% depending on the will of the voters who show up and cast a ballot. (more…)
Last year Keene voters had two options to choose from regarding the Keene School District operating budget. Either a budget increase of .86% (5.8% tax increase) or a budget increase of 3%. The year before that was the same “lesser of two evils” option. The other six warrants on the ballot included various schemes geared toward allocating more money into the district’s hands. The voter turnout was a dismal 10% of registered voters. But can you blame them. After all who would want to waste their lunch break voting on a crappy, bloated budget and a bunch of money grabbing warrants? Vote: you lose. Don’t vote: still lose. This year, if everything works as planned, will be very different for Keene voters. With the assistance of Darryl Perry, I have drafted 7 very different petition warrants aimed at reducing the budget and removing certain authorities from the school board. They are as follows: (more…)
