YourNeighborhoodNews.com: The Hooksett Banner

Memorial Day is traditionally a time of parades, barbecues, and family fun. People wave flags, shout “Hurrah,” and watch as the brave soldiers, once only old but now much younger, march proudly past.

The accolades surely affect the soldiers, perhaps brighten their day and give weight and meaning to their sacrifice. But on this day of days their minds are elsewhere, perhaps in Flanders, with the winds and poppies, maybe on a hilltop in Korea of the past, smelling unwashed bodies, cordite and death. Their eyes may see small children, but only through an overlay of the green heat of Vietnam or the shimmering heat of a Middle East desert.

And that is the legacy of the citizen soldiers of the United States, to serve, to fight, to sometimes die, all for the tenuous, but priceless, ideal of allowing the freedom to have a parade, to wave a flag and to meet with family without fear.

However, those soldiers will be the first to say that despite what people think, they are not the heroes. The heroes, they would say, never returned. They are the ones that made the ultimate sacrifice, whose existence is carried on as names etched in memorial stone and memory.

But the old and young soldiers march, because the memories of the soldiers are important, but not as important as remembering they died so others could live in freedom.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
John McCrae, 1915.

Vote May 31

The perfect way to honor those who died for our freedoms, our right to have a say in the affairs of government, is to cast a ballot. On Tuesday, May 31, Hooksett residents get to exercise that right regarding a revised school budget.

No one in Hooksett wants to hurt children or be taxed out of their homes. No one wants endless wrangling over the budget. The school board has offered a lower operating budget that will continue to allow Hooksett students to participate in sports, field trips and other extracurricular activities. Could they do without those things? Sure, but it will be a diminished school experience.

If enough residents are feeling the tax squeeze, perhaps that pain will have to be shared by all.

But don't vote no simply because it's a revote. This is not the same budget. Take a look and see if the few cents on the tax rate is worth it to your children and your neighbor's children.
-Ginger Kozlowski

The voters and my neighbors in Hooksett paid me the supreme compliment in their reaction to my candidacy.

I am proud to be one of your representatives on the council. I do hereby promise to serve you, the people of Hooksett, with diligence and honesty.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Councilor Pat Reuppel, Nancy Winneg and Joan Holleran for their efforts upon my behalf. It is greatly appreciated.

Regardless of your choices made at the polls, we remain dedicated to earning and keeping your trust.

We would also like to offer our sincere appreciation to those who are supporting our requests to better serve our community.

We look forward to employing modern equipment and technologies to achieve our mission, and will work hard for you to meet our current challenges.

First, I was surprised that those two attack letters even got printed (above mine), considering The Banner had printed many letters this year where I stated my desire for Mount Zion to lease space at the Village School. In the Jan. 13 edition I clearly spelled out my whole proposal. For the three preceding weeks in a row, I shared my efforts for Mount Zion in the Letters section and "Mount Zion" was in the bold letter headlines of those as well. At least four letters since mentioned the 150 students or Mount Zion. Anyone with a clue knows my children attend.

My May 5th letter was quoted from by Fred W. Bishop, so much for his "ignorance" defense. Did he miss "more than 150 students are praying that it will too," in the same letter? I don't think so. I perceived his letter to be a malicious personal attack where he knowingly used false pretenses.

As for Becky Berk, she stepped in it all through her letter. First you need to show where I was "ranting in the Banner for months against the school budget, town budget." Your statement lacks proof.

Also, you must substantiate your declaration of my dishonesty. You can call me all sorts of names but, you cannot call me dishonest in the paper, without proof. Again, you have none because I haven't lied, nor misled readers in any way, regarding Mount Zion being my main reason for opposing Article 4.

My next bit of homework will be consulting with a professional. It is time for further research on the terms slander, libel, collusion and defamation of character.

Much more important is the effect of a pure protest vote: it will hurt real, actual children. Intentionally making life worse for children across Hooksett as some kind of protest vote is terribly mean-spirited. If you disapprove of the board's actions, vote against the board when they are up for election. A budget vote is not the place to do this. The children of Hooskett are not resposible for the voting process, but they are the ones who would be hurt by people voting on a misguided principal rather than civic responsibility. That would really be unfair.

A quality education program is not only important to the parents and the students but to the community as a whole. Education is the greatest responsibility of a community. My children have moved beyond the Hooksett schools, but I still have a vested interest in the quality of the schools. The market value of my home, and all the homes in Hooksett, is directly related to the quality of the schools and education programs. Like most people, I look forward to a financially secure retirement that will be dependent on a strong economy. The single greatest untapped resource of this country is not in the coal beds of West Virginia or the oil under the frozen tundra of Alaska, but sits today in classrooms across the country. In these classrooms sit the future entrepreneurs, creators, scientists and skilled workers, which will drive our nation's economy in a highly competitive world economy. We must not only inspire and guide the best and the brightest to soar to academic heights but to encourage every child to reach their own potential and allow no child to be left behind. Investing in all of them is at least as important as investing in 401Ks, IRAs and Social Security.

Many ask if we can afford a quality public education system. Yet, the real question may be, can we afford not to have a quality public education system? Please support Hooksett public education and approve the revised budget on May 31st.

On a normal day, if you lose a vote by 700 votes, or by seven, it shouldn't matter. When voters cast their ballots, they expect them to count, no matter how much it hurts. They have the right to be fully and honestly informed of their choices, and they collectively have the right to make final decisions.

This year, however, March 8 was not a normal day. As of about 3 p.m., the winter weather and driving conditions were arguably the worst of the year. The voter turnout was very low. I believe that some Hooksett voters were deprived of a vote by the weather that day, especially since the forecast right through the night before didn't predict much of anything significant, and many working people plan to vote in the afternoon or evening.

In this case, I think that the closeness of the vote and the low turnout, only in combination with the weather, can reasonably lead the board to ask whether the results were an accurate representation of the will of the community. Although I am generally an ardent supporter of education, I would not be supporting the re-vote were it not for the weather that day. The issue here, I believe, is one of voter disenfranchisement, not the fact that budget cuts will hurt. If the results had been reversed, I think any citizen would have been justified in coming forward to ask the board for a revote.

Now that the board has made the decision to have a second vote, it is incumbent on them, and all of us as voters, to promote the date of the vote as widely and frequently as possible. The board needs to step up to the plate here and expend a little effort and time to publicize the date and the issues at hand. Voters should not be disenfranchised again by a lack of knowledge that the school vote has been rescheduled. The vote will matter, whether up or down.

I can personally attest to the fact that it was impossible to make it to the polls after 3:30 p.m. on March 8. I was stuck in traffic for one-and-a-half hours with two young children, simply trying to get from Underhill School to Route 3, because buses were unable to make it up either hill to Route 3. My husband was stuck for two hours between SNHU and Underhill because cars could not make it up that incline on Martins Ferry Road. Add an additional hour trying to travel north on Hooksett Road to our home. My friend was stuck and had to be towed off the exit ramp at the Exit 10 toll booth area. A father called me to ask my daughter if she was sure his daughter got on her bus because she was not home at 5:45 p.m. from school. In fact, the last students off the buses arrived home after 6 p.m. I don't think I.m exaggerating when I say some voters could not possibly get to the polls! Voters were not counted. For some, it is not an option to vote in the morning, due to getting children to school and work schedules.

In short, please take advantage of this opportunity to vote yes on Tuesday, May 31, for the school budget as submitted by the Hooksett School Board. Two consecutive years on a default budget would shortchange each and every student in our community. As one resident said to me last week, "This is about the kids!"