Thanks for support of holiday giving
To the editor:
The Derry Community Fund once again experienced an active and successful holiday season! This year, over 180 families representing 206 children and 25 seniors received assistance for Thanksgiving or Christmas. This could not have been possible without the generous contributions of our community.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to the Derry Santa Fund and Toys for Tots. We would also like to acknowledge the generous contributions of the following agencies:
The Marion Gerrish Board, Derry/Salem Elks, Derry VFW, town employees, Human Service Department, Caldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, Derry School District, St. Thomas Church, Pinkerton Academy (CATS and Mr. Gaucher's students), Mustang Club of NH, Derry Village Rotary, Aurora Senior Living, Community Bingo Center of Manchester, Order of the Eastern Star, BioSan Labs, Hannaford and Dunkin Donuts, both of Derry on Crystal Avenue.
These agencies generously donated toys, personal care items, food, money, and hand-made mittens and hats. Several agencies and individuals also adopted families from our list while the VFW sponsored a Christmas party, complete with gifts from Santa for over 90 children in our community. We are also thankful for our incredible volunteers who donated their time collecting, sorting and distributing food and toys during this busy season.
Several parents shared that they had never needed assistance before and were overwhelmed with both the quality and quantity of gifts. More than one mother tearfully noted, "My children would not have had a Christmas if I did not receive this help." Many recipients look forward to the day they can contribute to our organization.
We were overwhelmed with the number of agencies and individuals who helped out and touched the lives of so many families. Please know you have made a difference!
For the Derry Community Fund Board.
Gerry Vagos
Derry
Tax on Pinkerton makes no sense
To the editor:
During my years of service in the state legislature, I took seriously one guiding rule: Be wary of unintended consequences. Even with the best of intentions, legislation often times has the practical effect of creating more problems than it solves. Unfortunately, this is the case with HB 1201, a bill that would force Pinkerton Academy to pay property taxes.
Pinkerton Academy, located in my hometown of Derry, provides a comprehensive secondary education for more than 3,000 students from the towns of Chester, Derry, Hampstead, and, beginning in 2013, Auburn. The academy is a private, nonprofit school with a headmaster and 15-member board of trustees representing each of the sending towns. Pinkerton Academy is primarily funded by public tuition paid by each town and has developed a very strong academic reputation in the state.
House Bill 1201 sponsored by Rep. Frank Sapareto would assess Pinkerton Academy for property taxes to be paid to the Town of Derry. This would be the first instance in which a nonprofit high school - public or private - would have its educational facilities taxed.
Among its many shortcomings, this legislation would single-out this one school for taxation, establishing a dangerous precedent and exposing other schools and non-profits throughout New Hampshire to a similar misguided fate. If the law were changed to permit the taxation of a single nonprofit school, then would it also be appropriate and permissible to tax other educational institutions - or specific hospitals, churches, and philanthropic organizations - each and every time a legislator desires more revenue for his or her town? Of course not, and we should not open the door with this flawed legislation.
The proposed HB 1201 would force Pinkerton Academy to raise its tuition in order to pay for the new tax increase, perhaps by as much as $1,000 per student. The increase in tuition would likely cause Derry's partner towns, Chester and Hampstead, to raise their local property taxes, placing a greater fiscal burden on their residents and possibly harming future enrollment at Pinkerton Academy.
If there is a problem that HB 1201 is trying to solve, it has not been clearly identified. HB 1201 may generate new revenue for Derry by taxing one of its most treasured assets, but in doing so it damages its value, and may create irreversible, long-term adverse effects. And, because the towns of Chester and Hampstead already pay public tuition for their students enrolled at Pinkerton, those towns are doing their part to financially support both the educational mission and physical infrastructure of the school.
House Bill 1201 also raises a serious question of constitutionality. The proposed legislation does not change the law for all schools, or even all other independent academies, such as Northwood's Coe-Brown Academy. Rather, it singles out one school among a class of schools, creating the most un-level playing field imaginable.
Pinkerton is an educational gem in southern New Hampshire, and it has become an important part of Derry's overall appeal. The school is Derry's second largest employer, generating significant economic benefits for the town, and the school provides many services and amenities to the town's residents and local agencies at no cost. House Bill 1201 threatens to weaken this academic and economic asset, diminishing Derry's appeal to families seeking a quality education for their children and to the businesses that benefit from a vibrant community.
Rep. Sapareto's legislation is not only misguided, but it's completely unnecessary. More harm than good will come from such a bill. If I were still in the State Legislature I would surely oppose this legislation, and I strongly urge the House of Representatives to soundly reject HB 1201.
Bob Letourneau
Derry
Derry needs some positive thinking
To the editor:
It is time people got with the picture. We can believe Derry is failing and will fail or we can believe Derry will grow and be successful in spite of the rest of the economy. Either way we will be right. It is time to free ourselves from limited beliefs and thinking, and embrace unlimited thought and creation.
We can choose to create a great town by believing in ourselves and those who we elect to represent us, and it begins with voting in folks who are not limited in thought, and supporting those who are willing to believe anything is possible!
Nick Dellacava
Derry
Smack down Somali pirates
To the editor:
The recent rescue of hostages in Somalia by a Navy SEAL team brings into focus the ongoing problem we have with the Somali pirates. These pirates continue to wreak havoc on commercial shipping off the coast of Africa, and there are numerous ships and hostages currently being held by the pirates for ransom.
In February 2011 four Americans were taken hostage aboard their yacht off Africa, and were subsequently killed by their captors. During the same time frame the pirates commandeered the Italian tanker Savina Caylyn, which can carry $63 million of crude oil; and captured the U.S. bound tanker Irene SL 220 miles off Oman. The Irene SL was carrying 2 million barrels of oil worth $200 million.
Maritime industry officials believe over 40 percent of the world's seaborne oil supply could be at risk of pirate attacks and this could have an adverse impact on oil prices and the economies of countries dependent on oil imports.
Action has to be taken to combat the pirates. Shipping companies should place heavily armed professional guards on ships with shoot to kill orders. All countries with commercial ships traversing the African shipping lanes should provide naval warships to protect shipping, and if necessary, provide convoy escort duty just like they did during World War II. We might need slow moving strafing aircraft located at sea or on land to be available to quickly search out and destroy the pirates in their boats.
If the preceding steps do not work, the impacted countries should attempt to rescue the hostages and then sink the pirates' mother ships, and consider hitting the pirate havens along the coast of Somalia with precision aerial (possibly drones) and naval attacks.
Although diplomacy is preferable to military action, the Somali government is too weak to rein in the pirates, and therefore military operations are probably needed to solve the problem.
Donald A. Moskowitz
Londonderry
