Opinion columns

Public health bill dying a quiet death

Fri, 25 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

My Turn

An important piece of bipartisan public health legislation is dying quietly on the table in the New Hampshire Senate.

House Bill 1182 prohibits the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles and sippy cups. BPA is a chemical that makes plastic products heat resistant and shatterproof. BPA is classified as an endocrine-disrupting chemical. It is similar in structure to the DES drug (now banned) given to women in hopes of reducing pregnancy complications. BPA is also found on cash register receipts and in the lining of almost all canned foods and all aluminum canned beverages, including beer and seltzer. The average amount of leached BPA in one can of food is about the equivalent of one birth control pill.

'Monitor' blind to ethics violations

Fri, 25 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

My Turn

I agree with the headline of the Monitor's May 18 editorial, "Ethics code could prevent problems." But the only way Concord's ethics code could really prevent problems is if it is understood and enforced so that people obey it.

The Monitor's editors take me to task for expecting councilors to obey the ethics ordinances and filing complaints when the ordinance appears to have been broken. Even before the board of ethics has met - and without anyone from the Monitor discussing the issue with me - the Monitor editorial board has proclaimed my complaints against Mayor Jim Bouley and Councilor Dan St. Hilaire to be "frivolous" and "baseless."

Nice to know where the Monitor is coming from; its news coverage can be judged with its bias in mind.

Lynch drove me out of state

Fri, 25 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

My Turn

Medical marijuana made life bearable

It was a tragedy for me and my family when Gov. John Lynch vetoed the medical marijuana bill in 2009. When an effort to override the veto passed the House but failed by two votes in the Senate, my hopes for a healthy future in New Hampshire were crushed.

Sixteen states plus the District of Columbia now offer legal protection for patients if their doctors recommend marijuana. Connecticut is on the verge of becoming the 17th state. Sadly, patients whose doctors recommend marijuana in New Hampshire have no choice but to sneak around, buying from the black market and living in constant fear of arrest.

I can attest to that fear. And now that I have moved from Manchester to Vermont, I can attest to the much more beneficial alternative, which is peace of mind. Legislators and Lynch should consider my story before casting final judgment on SB 409.

About that cartoon . . .

Felice Belman — Thu, 24 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Report To Readers

Marland is entitled to his view, too

I certainly didn't think state Republican Party officials would laugh out loud at Mike Marland's cartoon on yesterday's Opinion page. If you missed it, Marland drew House Speaker Bill O'Brien sporting a Hitler mustache, with a caption that said, "If the mustache fits . . ."

As you can see from the other pieces on this page, GOP officialdom didn't like it at all. The chairman of the party called for a retraction and an apology. The House majority leader demanded that I personally denounce the cartoon. A lawmaker from Laconia who served in World War II called it "outrageous, insulting and insensitive."

In fact, Supreme Court got it right

Wed, 23 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

My Turn

Right-to-Know ruling was narrow

Rick Newman's column, "Court got secret meeting rule wrong" (Sunday Monitor Opinion page, May 20), was critical of a recent New Hampshire Supreme Court decision involving the Professional Fire Fighters of New Hampshire and the Local Government Center. But Newman significantly misreads the opinion or interprets it so broadly as to be misleading.

The Right to Know Law has always recognized the confidentiality of legal advice provided by an attorney to a public body. The recent case is about how to treat minutes describing such legal advice provided in a meeting which was held before the Local Government Center was determined to be subject to the Right to Know law.

We'd like to keep Franklin shelter going

Wed, 23 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

My Turn

The Franklin Animal Shelter has been in continuous operation for 30 years. For the past 10 years the Granite State Animal League has operated the shelter under a contract with the city of Franklin. In the past eight years there has been only one Franklin resident involved as a regular member of the GSAL board of directors; the other members live in nearby communities, with one member living in Contoocook. There have also been a few local volunteers who have helped out regularly.

Over the years, GSAL has struggled to attract and maintain qualified board members to run the business of being an animal shelter. Several people who initially joined GSAL to help the animals eventually tried to do too much and burned out on the fact that running an animal shelter is a business first and an animal care facility second.

Civil rights leaders' words have meaning today

Tue, 22 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

My Turn

How inspiring that U.S. Rep. John Lewis and Ruby Sales pulled no punches in warning of a rollback in the civil rights they fought to obtain. How fitting that they did so in a state whose legislature seeks to do just that.

As the Monitor reported on May 19, the New Hampshire Supreme Court Society, a private organization, honored Lewis and Jonathan Daniels each with a Life and Liberty Award, in recognition of their dedication to civil rights. As is well-known in New Hampshire, Daniels died when he took the bullet shot at Sales, a black teenager and fellow civil rights activist. Sales, now in her 60s, spoke at the event, as did Lewis. Growing up in the segregated South, they have a historical perspective that should inform what we do today. We in the audience were on our feet after each speech.

Saving history is good for economy

Tue, 22 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

My Turn

Romney, Ayotte should know this

Now we know where Mitt Romney stands on historic preservation. He seems to think it's a waste of money.

And New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, a prospective vice-presidential candidate, stands right with him. If it's no longer functional, forget it.

Romney shocked history buffs and local leaders last Friday when he appeared before a small crowd of supporters and national media at a park in Hillsboro featuring the newly restored Sawyer Bridge, a 19th-century stone-arch landmark.

"This is the absolute bridge to nowhere if there ever was one," Romney declared, mocking the $150,000 in federal stimulus money spent to complete its restoration.

"That's your stimulus program at work, a bridge that goes nowhere," Romney said.

Ayotte, appearing with Romney at the Hillsboro event, added, "Should we be borrowing money from China to finance programs like that? Does that make any sense?"

Eight hours later, a song!

Tue, 22 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Monitor Board of Contributors

Lights out (briefly) at the stormy opera

It was a wild night at the opera. The Capitol Center for the Arts broadcast the third opera of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle, Siegfried, on Wednesday. The 60 patrons who attended were in for an otherworldly experience only Wagner could have composed.

The first act of Siegfried, introduced Texas tenor Jay Hunter Morris singing the title role in his first appearance at the Met. Morris, who sang Siegfried previously in San Francisco, was cast at the Met after two other tenors dropped out during rehearsals. The understudy Morris was given the nod only eight days before the premiere.

Halfway through Act One Morris treated the audience to the first actual "song" or aria, of The Ring so far, Siegfried's "Forging Song." After eight hours, it was great to finally hear a tune emerge. Morris stoked the fire and pumped the bellows while he reforged the mythical sword, "Nothung." He roared out the tune in the style of a pirate chantey, straight off the decks of the Black Pearl.

Redeeming Romney

Sun, 20 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

My Turn

Some good could come from bullying allegation

Youth violence and bullying seemed unlikely topics for this year's presidential campaign, but Republican Mitt Romney's childhood friends from the Cranbrook School have given the topic an unexpected cameo.

If Romney wants to now turn the conversation away from damage control and toward something politically and socially useful, he might take his own experience and the lessons he has learned from it and use them to educate the public.

Here are some points he might want to make:

Bullies are not just thugs, serial aggressors and kids with low self-esteem and a chip on their shoulder. Well-regarded youth with ordinarily good moral compasses can nonetheless do very injurious things.

Young people often do not realize the hurt they can cause their peers even when that is not their intention.