The subject line in the email sent to the Derry News, and likely other news publications in the region, was striking in its presumptuousness, almost to the point of being absurd.
The subject line announced that a group of politicians would not only be attending and marching in the Londonderry Olde Home Day Parade, but that they would "headline" the event.
Such a statement displays a lack of understanding about what events like Olde Home Day truly mean in a community. Such events provide an opportunity for the residents of a town to celebrate their heritage and all that is positive about their community. They give a town the chance to host a day of fun and fellowship, with an open invitation to neighbors from throughout the region to pay a visit and join in the festivities.
These events tend to reflect the personality of a community.
Londonderry's Olde Home Day (actually a multi-day event concluding Aug. 16) always gives a nod to the history of the town and the parade features some of the best marching bands in the nation, led by the Marching Lancers.
DerryFest (Sept. 20) provides a snapshot of the changes in the community during the past few decades and celebrates the sprit of giving with participation by numerous non-profit agencies.
The Chester Town Fair (Sept 6.) offers visitors a chance to experience true, small-town New England life, if only for a day.
These community events are about the town and the townspeople. Politicians are certainly welcome to participate, but they need to remember — they are not the headline attraction.
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Quite a gamble
People in New Hampshire are wasting less of their money on gambling.
That ought to be good news for individual budgets, but for state government, it is not such good news. This is the kind of gambling the state not only promotes — it depends on it. It is, of course, the New Hampshire lottery.
From a high of $265 million in 2007, spending on lottery tickets dropped to $259.7 million in fiscal year 2008, which ended June 30.
That is not much of a drop — only 2 percent — and it is still vastly more — nearly 34 percent — than in 2000, when the lottery took in only $194 million.
However, it is enough to worry state officials — they note that about 30 percent of lottery revenue goes to support public education. The amount available for schools dropped from an estimated $79 million in 2007 to $76.5 million in 2008.
Officials and lottery sales agents blame the slight decline in part on the fact that there have been no record-breaking Powerball jackpots this year, and in part on the economy. As one business owner observed, people are likely to spend more on food and gasoline than on lottery tickets.
If they are, those are wise choices.
But that wisdom exposes the lack of wisdom of state officials, who should not be counting on people to gamble away more of their money every year. That makes as little sense as assuming that the value of real estate will increase every year, forever.
If the state wants to assume more of the cost of education, it should rely on a source of funding more secure and predictable than the inclination to gamble.
