If the developers want it, the planning board will approve. Hooksett sold its soul years ago to developers and the almighty dollar.

Let’s destroy whatever quality of life remains in this town, increase the traffic, noise and congestion we already struggle with. Traffic lights and a wider shoulder won’t alleviate that (simply look at Route 3). Building Cabela’s off Exit 11 will effectively ruin the village area, but if it keeps property taxes in line, so what? That’s the sales pitch the town and Cabela’s will use to try to hoodwink the voters.

Naturally, developers claim they’ll pay for the road and sewer improvements, it’s in their interests.

They create the additional burdens to our infrastructure.

A fire station on the west side of the river sounds all well and good. However, will Cabela’s be paying for the personel needed to man the station? Will they pay for the new police required when our town is invaded by thousands of tourists?

What does Hooksett want to become? Manchester? Look what has happened there. As for the “museum element,” it’s nothing more than a glorified display of dead animals. Better to take your family to Charmingfare Farm in Candia to see live ones.

Here’s the tactic the town is using: If you don’t approve the TIF district, you will be footing the bill for the sewer and road improvements. News flash: You are going to be paying for it anyways.

I can show you 15 years worth of tax bills to demonstrate that point. Commercial growth has done nothing to keep our taxes in check.

The so-called “informational meetings” being held by Cabela’s are simply “positive spin” from a corporation that can afford to finance its own bond. If those of us who oppose this scheme could hire lawyers and PR firms we could hold our own such meetings.

Hooksett is in a race all right, a race to the bottom. Runaway developement isn’t inevitable. Please vote no on Article 5 – this may be our last opportunity to have a voice in the future of our town.

Diana Anderson
Hooksett

How many knew that in the late 1700s until the early 1900s, boating was popular and used to develop the area, bring merchandise and supplies to town, as well as for pleasure? In the early 1900s, Merrimount Cottages (located on 3A, near Exit 11) hosted tourists from far and wide to visit, hunt and fish the Hooksett area.

The town even offered “deferred taxes” to the historic Riverside Inn to attract its business to town way back in the 1800s. Seems even our forefathers thought it was a good idea to offer incentives to businesses!

In this same time period, a riverboat could be seen traveling up and down the river and docking at Robie’s Country Store. Manchester-Hooksett Steamboat Co. actually had two steamboats on the river with a base near what is today the Congregational Church.

In 1839, Henry David Thoreau actually boated the Merrimack up to Hooksett, hiked the Pinnacle Hill and explored the White Mountains as detailed in his book, “A Week on the Concord, Merrimack River.”

At one time, Hooksett also offered a small ski area near Exit 11, at which Lloyd Robie was a ski instructor. So, you see, Hooksett has a strong history of being a tourist destination.

There has long been a movement in town to preserve its historical nature as demonstrated by the efforts to preserve Robie’s Country Store, operating since early settlement times. Perhaps you’ve heard in the news of the proposed plans to restore the deck and docks at Robie’s.

Wouldn’t it be grand to see a steamboat back on the river?

There are folks in town who are working to create a vision for what Hooksett could be, focusing on its historical and natural qualities. The Lilac Bridge renovation is a key element in the Hooksett Heritage Trail, which will run along the eastern bank of the Merrimack River. That 3,500-foot section is for walking trails, not houses or commercial development, as someone suggested in last week’s paper.

Cabela’s is a good fit for Hooksett. It will breath life back into the town, underwriting many expenses we’ll otherwise have to pay for with taxes, offering us an opportunity to create an historical and natural theme to the village.

Support the vision ... vote yes on Article 5 at the May 9 election and open the options to bring industry to Route 3-A to keep our taxes down.

Alden Beauchemin
Hooksett

Maura and J.R. Ouellette and Dana Argo posed very appropriate and thought-out questions, and the commission and I did our best to answer them.

It was so nice to see citizens attend a meeting, ask questions, and explore the other side of issues.

Again, thank you to these citizens and I continue to encourage others to attend our meetings.

Chief Stephen M. Agrafiotis
Hooksett Police Department

All we were told was that the money was gone and no one from the department, including the chief, made any attempt to try and ease the overwhelming concerns of the officers. There were no meetings, no discussions, no hope, so the officers did what they had to do, which was to come up with a way to put money back into the detail account.

That’s when we found out that most other departments within the state use the revolving detail fund. We only had about a week to get the Article 26 petition drafted, get it out there and start going door to door getting the 200 or so signatures that we needed. We got an overwhelming amount of support from our wonderful community, which we greatly appreciated, and now we just hope that enough people show up on May 9th voting day to support us.

Our families really do need this. This is the only way we can ensure that the $10,000 will not run out, but that it will continue to revolve over and over as the venders continue to pay for the detail officers.

We realize that this article is not exactly the best plan, to have to shut down the details and wait for the money come in to replenish the account then start them back up throughout the year is a great burden, but it’s one that the officers are willing to carry on there backs.

The chief of police, the police commission and the budget committee said that they would have supported this article if it was better funded, and the officers realize that. We could have asked the citizens for the $50,000 to put into the account so it would never have to shut down, but the officers were not prepared to ask the people of this town for one penny more than we had to. People’s taxes are going to be going up enough this year and, as we explained to the town council, we will take this burden on ourselves and make this work with the bare minimum $10,000 in the account. That’s why the town council supports this article. We never got a chance to explain the reasoning behind it to the budget committee, so it’s no wonder they didn’t support it. They look at what would be needed for it to work best. We looked at how we could accomplish our goal without a negative financial effect on the people of this town.

I’ve been asked what would happen if Article 26 doesn’t pass and honestly, I don’t know. I can’t even begin to imagine. I mean we’ve counted on this income for so long, I guess officers would either start looking for part-time jobs or start leaving Hooksett PD for jobs with other police departments.

This is going to be an extremely difficult year for the Hooksett police officers. With the union negotiations at an impasse, it means that this year when the contract expires in June, officers won’t get pay raises or even their step increases. In the past, officers have gone as long as two years without any sort of pay increases because of union negotiations being at impasse.

But when the police commission offers a 0 percent raise for the first year, 0.5 percent raise for the second year, and a 1 percent raise for the third year, you would expect negotiations to be at impasse. Are your police officers really worth 0 percent this year? All non-union employees for the town are going to be getting a 2 percent COLA and 2 percent step increase.

This, coupled with the town’s health insurance almost tripling this year, where in January you would pay about nine bucks a week for a family plan and starting in July you’ll be paying about 26 bucks a week for the same family plan. Those are some extremely concerning financial issues for the officers this year. And on top of that to have Article 26 not pass, I would expect we would have at least another five employees leave, just like last year.

I welcome any Hooksett resident, registered voter or not, to come on down to the Cawley Middle School on May 9 to meet the officers and stand beside us in support of Article 26.

Officer Jay Defina
Hooksett Police Department

Being a mother of one of the students involved – yes, I said one, because there are many students involved with this matter.

I find it disappointing myself that, as a parent, you would not look into this matter in full before you voiced an opinion as strong as you did.

I am very proud of my daughter right now. It took a lot of guts to do what she has done and this is just the beginning. From what I hear from my other two daughters that are now in high school, this should have happened a long time ago. I myself have the facts and you as a parent should be more worried about the students than a teacher’s reputation.

What about the students’ lives? It is OK to tell on an adult for what you think is wrong.

It’s people like you who make kids scared to come forward. The handling of this incident is actually being handled rather well and by the book.

Signed very proud parent of a wonderful girl!
(Name provided but withheld to protect child’s identity.)

First, I would like to thank the people of Hooksett for allowing me to serve them for the past three years. It was an experience that all should enjoy.

Secondly, I have never tried to convince the people of Hooksett of how to vote, but I see no need to give Cabela’s $4 million for their museum. I do not want to attract a waterslide, a go-cart track and an RV park to Hooksett.

Finally, I want to urge all voters of District 4 to write in Ray Langer for councilor. Think of the alternative.

So as I pick myself off the floor and wrap my aching ribs from the laughter incurred from Pat’s description, I would like to thank my fellow councilors for three great years. To David Jodoin, keep up the good work.

Pat thinks you walk on water.

Dan Belanger
Hooksett