Historic panel allows Portsmouth, NH to turn into Coney Island, NY: Letters

HDC turning Portsmouth, NH into Coney Island, NY

Sept. 27 — To the Editor:

Where was the Portsmouth Historic District Commission when you needed them?

How did they approve the oversized, gaudy building on the corner of Penhallow and Daniel Street?

Do they really think it fits in the cityscape of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, or do they think they are in Coney Island, New York?

Margery Katz

Portsmouth

Re-elect Cathy Stacey for Rockingham County Register of Deeds

Sept. 27 — To the Editor:

I am happy to endorse the candidacy of Cathy Stacey for Rockingham County Register of Deeds. I have been involved in the county affairs in all the 28 years that Cathy has been the Register of Deeds. She has had to cope with many challenges as the building where she works has had a series of plumbing problems, mainly in her office suite. She has had to deal with these leaks while recording a record number of deeds and documents.

She is responsible for recording all the deeds in the county, even back to the 1600’s, so that they are now available on line. She has coped with a complicated budget with minimum staff. The fees she collects, not only pay for her office, but also, she is a collector for all the recording fees. This has resulted in her collecting for the state $70 million, and for our county almost $6 million.

The latest service Cathy is now offering county residents, is the Property Fraud Alert System. Similar to TitleLock, this is designed to alert us if someone is trying to illegally use our property for a financial gain. The service is being offered free. Cathy is the longest serving county officer, and is the best informed. We are well served by Cathy Stacey as our Register of Deeds. Please vote to reelect her.

Rep. Kenneth L. Weyler

Kingston

Vote for Altschiller, a leader in gun violence prevention

Sept. 27 — To the Editor:

Following the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, last May in which 19 students and two teachers were murdered at the Robb Elementary School by a lone gunman wielding an assault-style rifle, our U.S. Congress did something it has failed to do after the shootings in Sandy Hook, Parkland, Columbine and so many others, and in a bipartisan way passed a very limited piece of gun legislation that tightened regulations on gun purchases by those under the age of 21 and encouraged red flag legislation at the state level. It wasn’t much, but it was the first gun safety legislation passed by Congress in decades.

Gov. Chris Sununu responded by signing HB 1178, a Republican bill that prohibits the state from enforcing any federal regulation on guns and from receiving help from ATF, DOJ and the FBI in the wake of tragedies. It went into effect on June 24, one month after the Uvalde massacre.

Immediately there were calls from county sheriffs’ departments, municipal and state police wanting guidance on how this new law is supposed to be enforced and what exactly can we do in an emergency like a school shooting.

Jim O’Shaughnessy, an attorney for school districts from Drummond Woodson, told the New Hampshire Bulletin: “There is no state law prohibiting guns on school grounds. Presumably there’s no town ordinance preventing guns on school grounds, because (RSA) 159:26 prohibits that. If this law passes, we basically have to ignore the existence of the federal law, and they’re left with really nothing.”

Enough is enough! The Republican extremist views on guns are completely out of step with the views of New Hampshire residents who believe that we must do what we can to keep our schools and communities safe, while continuing to respect the true intent of the Second Amendment.

This is one of the reasons I’m voting for Debra Altschiller for state Senate District 24, representing Exeter, Greenland, Hampton, Hampton Falls, North Hampton, Rye and Stratham. She has been a leader in gun violence prevention in her six years as a New Hampshire legislator. She is repeatedly endorsed by Moms Demand Action, has the trust of survivors, and has consistently stood up to personal attacks by gun absolutists, who fight tooth and nail against even the most obvious common sense legislation.

We need someone who will stand up for the safety of our children and our schools. This is why I’m voting for Debra Altschiller for state Senate District 24. I urge you to join me.

Dolores M. Benevento

Stratham

Editor's note: Debra Altschiller is the wife of Howard Altschiller, Seacoast Media Group's executive editor.

Would Abraham Lincoln be a Democrat today?

Sept. 24 – To the Editor:

Imagine if we looked at the actions of past Republican presidents through a current extreme partisan lens.  My goodness, the Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order signed by President Abraham Lincoln. With a stroke of his pen, he made the human “property” of slave owners valueless. What a liberal property grab that would be considered today.

Then there was the Weeks Act, which was a government land grab signed into law by President Taft. Although the New Hampshire tourism industry has greatly benefitted from the Weeks Act and the creation of the White Mountain National Forest, today’s conservatives wouldn’t allow such a thing.

Then there was the Interstate Highway System signed into existence by President Eisenhower, yet another government land grab and liberal jobs program by today’s standards. Eisenhower also founded NASA and DARPA. Years later DARPA would provide funding to a startup company Moderna, which would later create a Covid-19 vaccine.  Apparently former General Eisenhower was pro-science.

Then there was that liberal Nixon, who founded the EPA, i.e., the Environmental Protection Agency during his presidency. There was a national consensus that rivers in Ohio shouldn’t repeatedly catch on fire due to dumped flammable waste. President Nixon also didn’t think that people should have to die because they couldn’t afford dialysis, so he signed off on providing health care for that treatment.

As a former military officer, at least Nixon retained a shred of honor and resigned when it was pretty certain he would be impeached. The Republican Party my parents belonged to is pretty much gone. It has become a party of grievances and fear, shaped in large part by continuous self-inflicted trauma and propaganda. This is the same path that a democratic and enlightened Germany went down prior to World War 2. The similarities in the actions and nonsensical partisan rhetoric of extremist conservatives, walking oxymorons, are too similar to be disregarded. Please refrain from choosing a walking oxymoron the next time you vote. As far as supporting the Party of Lincoln goes, that party appears to belong to Democrats now.

Don Cavallaro

Rye

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Why allow Portsmouth, NH to turn into Coney Island, NY?: Letters