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- Written by Kat Roedell
- Category: Articles
The annual Greater Barrington Chamber of Commerce Open House was held on Tuesday, January 28, 2020, at the new office location of 748 Calef Highway, Barrington NH 03825. The turnout this year was greater than expected - there were over 35 people in attendance this year. It was a packed open house, full of current members, past members, and people who wanted to know more and become new members. Membership rates are determined by the type of organization and the number of employees within the organization.
Membership benefits not only cover the networking and business connections that a person makes within the chamber but also include the community building, a virtual team of other business owners, direct email and marketing blasts to other chamber members, member discounts and the ability to use the actual chamber offices for meetings.
The focus of the open house (besides networking) was to engage chamber members in participating in the annual events sponsored by the chamber. There are several annual chamber events such as the Peepers 5K Run/Walk, the annual Golf Tournament, the Barrington Village Festival, the Scholarship committee, the Bingo event, and the annual dinner.
Each event has a specific purpose and will be covered in more detail in future articles. Since the Greater Barrington Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit organization, the money raised in each event is used for specific reasons. The upcoming next few events are as follows:
Peepers 5k Run/Walk: This event is used to fund the scholarship program in the Barrington chamber, which actually gives away more scholarship money than any of the other Regional Chamber of Commerces in our area. Volunteers are needed for race day, sponsoring opportunities, and runners the day of the event. This year’s event is May 9, 2020 – Registration begins at 8 am.
The Annual Golf Tournament: The golf tournament helps fund the operating expenditures of the greater Barrington Chamber of Commerce Dues in the chamber is the lowest in the region, so annual events help offset costs. The next golf tournament is Friday, June 5th, 2020 - 8:00 am.
“On the first Friday, each June The Greater Barrington Chamber of Commerce is proud to host what is arguably the most fun golf tournament in southern NH. This event is hosted at the Nippo Lake Golf Club, In Barrington. Golfers are encouraged to dress to coincide with the theme of the year. Some notable past themes have included, Circus, Baseball, Roaring 20s, and Woodstock.” --(The Greater Barrington Chamber of Commerce Web Site)
The Scholarship Awards: Scholarship Awards are to be held on May 14th, 2019 at Nippo Lake Golf Club. The Chamber awards up to three (3) $1000 scholarships, one (1) $500 scholarship and one (1) $250 annually. Students in Barrington and family members of Chamber members are eligible to apply. Applications must be submitted by Monday, April 8, 2019. Applications can be downloaded here.
The new website was also reviewed at the open house, with a walkthrough of the uses and benefits for chamber members. This is a banner year for the Greater Barrington Chamber of Commerce, with much more yet to come.
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- Written by Patrick R. McElhiney
- Category: Articles
Turnout was much higher for Democrats than Republicans, according to the City Clerk’s certified results. 1,137 Republicans voted, while 2,153 Democrats voted in Barrington. The Democrats also had more absentee ballots than the Republicans – Democrats sent in 117 Absentee ballots, while Republicans only sent in 42 Absentee ballots. Of the 1137 votes on the Republican side, only 980 were for President Trump or approximately 86% of the votes – so 14% of Republicans didn’t vote for President Trump in Barrington, NH. The only other major candidate on the Republican side was Bill Weld, who got 120 votes. There were 15 other Republican challengers, with no one of them receiving more votes than Mary Maxwell, who got 11 votes in Barrington, NH. Five of the fifteen Republican challengers received no votes in Barrington.
Democratic candidates Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg were neck and neck with each other in Barrington, with Bernie winning the popular vote by just 34 votes. Bernie Sanders got 587 votes in Barrington, while Pete Buttigieg came in second with 553 votes. Next was Amy Klobuchar, who had a great debate performance recently, surging her votes to 404 for 3rd place. In 4th place was Elizabeth Warren with 207 votes, Joe Biden in 5th place with 147 votes, Tom Steyer in 6th place with 85 votes, and close behind in 7th place was Tulsi Gabbard with 83 votes. Tulsi Gabbard was the only Democratic candidate to visit Barrington, NH during the primary season.
Andrew Yang, who recently dropped out of the race, received 68 votes in Barrington, NH for 8th place, while Deval Patrick received only 12 votes. There were 24 other Democratic candidates for President in the New Hampshire Primary, not one of which received over 4 votes, and most of which received 0 votes. Barrington’s voter turnout was 44.88%, according to Town Administrator Conner MacIver. We asked him if he had any information about how Independents voted, and he said, “At the Primary Election, undeclared voters must choose a Republican or Democratic ballot. After voting, individuals are able to change their registration back to undeclared.”
You can see the full tabulation of results here.
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- Written by Patrick R. McElhiney
- Category: Articles
On Wednesday, February 12, 2020, House Bill (HB) 1490 to establish a committee to study the taxation of property owners on private roads was introduced to the House Committee on Municipal and County Government by Dover Representative Peter Schmidt and co-sponsored by State Senator David Watters. HB 1490 came about through the efforts of the New Hampshire Private Road Taxpayers Alliance (NHPVRTA), a non-profit organization trying to unite property owners on private roads on a state-wide basis to support their efforts to rectify the unfair tax treatment of property owners on private roads. The NHPVRTA can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
After introduction of HB 1490 several private residents from different parts of New Hampshire including the President of the NHPVRTA spoke to the committee in support of the bill. These residents owned property on private roads that were of all types, dirt, gravel, stone and paved and only one was from age-restricted community development. There were approximately 18 members of the Municipal and County Government Committee (MCGC) present and an equal number of individuals present supporting the bill.
The common theme in support of HB 1490 was that although owners of properties on private roads were assessed and paid taxes equal to owners of properties on public roads they had substantial additional costs for snowplowing, maintenance and replacement of those roads that other taxpayers did not. It was mentioned by one supporter that all 11 of the senior communities in Londonderry are situated on private roads.
Some private road property owners talked about safety issues in the event of a need for emergency services stating that their private roads although acknowledged by the local authority and required to meet certain minimum standards were incapable of access by certain types of emergency equipment. A retired Fire Captain addressed his concerns about the existence of certain inaccessible private roads. A City Councilor also addressed the committee about his take on the issue of private roads but he concluded that since there is an apparent proliferation and concern about issues surrounding private roads that it would probably be a good idea to study the problems.
The MCGC members were very respectful of the supporters of HB 1490 and quite a few committee members asked very good follow-up questions but many of those questions could not be answered as there was insufficient research done to this point about certain relevant facts. One example of an unanswered question was “what percentage of NH roads are private roads?”
The committee now needs to deliberate on HB 1490 and a decision should be made in about 2 weeks.
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- Written by Patrick R. McElhiney
- Category: Articles
CONCORD- Yesterday, Attorney General William Barr addressed the dangers that sanctuary cities and sanctuary policies pose to the general public. In jurisdictions that have adopted these policies, local law enforcement officers are restrained from working with their federal law enforcement partners. The result is that federal law enforcement officers are hampered in their efforts to locate, arrest, and remove people who are in the United States illegally. This may include individuals who are actively engaged in criminal conduct.
Barr’s remarks resonate in New Hampshire, where the opioid crisis has been fueled by foreign drug cartels who exploit our citizens for the sake of making a profit. Their lethal drugs reach our state through a network of traffickers who often employ criminal aliens as dealers to sell drugs in our communities. To shield themselves from arrest, criminal aliens often reside outside of our state, sometimes living in sanctuary cities where they feel safe.
The highest obligation of the government is to protect its citizens, especially from victimization by criminals. This requires coordination on the part of law enforcement at all levels. When local communities adopt sanctuary policies, those policies can jeopardize public safety by preventing the federal government from arresting and prosecuting removable aliens. While reasonable people can debate the merits of various immigration policies, few would contest that those who commit serious criminal offenses while unlawfully inside this country should be prosecuted and then removed from the United States. When a sanctuary jurisdiction refuses to honor an immigration detainer and releases a felon onto the street, all of our citizens are endangered. These policies also endanger the brave law enforcement officers who must try to identify and arrest criminal aliens after they have been released by sanctuary cities.
Here in New Hampshire, we frequently prosecute criminals who are unlawfully in this country, including those who have taken up residency in sanctuary cities in other states. Many of these criminal aliens have distributed fentanyl, heroin, and other dangerous drugs, thereby causing great suffering. It is not uncommon to encounter criminal aliens who use fraudulent documents to mask their true identity and immigration status. If these criminals are released before they can be removed from the United States, it can be challenging to locate them again. Enforcing our laws is a complicated and difficult undertaking and sanctuary policies only make it more difficult to protect our citizens.
While New Hampshire has not been at the forefront of the sanctuary movement, it is important to realize that we are negatively impacted by the adoption of these policies in other states. The reality is that criminals can shelter behind sanctuary policies to the detriment of everyone else in society. This is especially true if you are an interstate drug dealer looking for a place to hide while hooking Granite Staters on your deadly product.
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