[extropy-chat] FSP: Killington Votes to Secede

[Mike Lorrey]

7:45 am: Arrived at the West Lebanon McDonald's to meet others at the
declared rallying point. Howard Wilson pulled in a minute behind me. We
grabbed a quick bite and waited for others to arrive. Apparently Rich
Tomasso and company had their car break down in Grantham on the way, as
we left for Killington at 8:20am without anyone else showing up.

9:15: after one false turn (thank you mapquest) we made it to Sherburne
Elementary School. Walked in and met John Babiarz. Found the school
principle to get permission to set up our table in the hall outside the
gym. Got set up. Hardy Machia showed up a short time later. Met Town
Manager Dave Lewis, the selectboard, including Mike Miller, Norm
Holcomb, and Dave Feindesen, and arranged to set up the photo op after
the vote.

10am: Town Meeting Starts. A moderator is quickly voted in, a fellow in
his 80's who has been doing it for years, wielding an unpeeled pine
gavel that looks like it was made by Ethan Allen himself. They quickly
get on to Article 3, the vote to approve secession. 

The moderator read the Article:
"WHEREAS, Chapter 1, Article 4th of the Vermont Constitution provides
that "every person within this state ought to find a certain remedy, by
having recourse to the laws, for all injuries or wrongs which one may
receive", and

WHEREAS, Chapter 1, Article 9th of the Vermont Constitution provides
that "preveious to any law being made to raise a tax, the purpose of
for which it is to be raised ought to appear evident to the Legislature
to be of more service to the community than the money would be if not
collected", and

WHEREAS, the Vermont Legislature, in 1997, adopted Act 60, so called,
under which the Town as been required to raise more money than has been
necessary for the good of the community, using a state taxing scheme
which the Rutland Superior Court found to be arbitrary and capricious,
and abuse of the state's discretion, and results in the
disproportionate and inequitable taxation, and

WHEREAS, on an appeal of that decision, the Vermont Supreme Court
provided, in effect, that neither the Town nor its inhabitants would
ever have any meaningful recourse to the laws in order to remedy the
injustices visited upon them by the state, acting through its tax
department, in the administration of Act 60, and

WHEREAS this same Supreme Court decision employed a standard which
renders it virtually impossible for either the Town or its inhabitants,
in seeking review of the actions of state officials, ever to have
meaningful recourse to the laws for any injuries or wrongs visited upon
them by the state, and

WHEREAS, Chapter 1, Article 7th of the Vermont Constitution provides
that the community has "an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible
right, to reform or alter government, in such manner as shall be, but
that community, judged most conducive to the public weal", and

WHEREAS, the Town having no recourse under the laws of this state for
the injustices visited upon it, believes  it must avail itself of its
rights under Chapter 1, Article 7th of the Vermont Constitution to
alter its form of government, and

WHEREAS, the Town was originally chartered in 1761 as a township of
what was then known as the Province of New Hampshire, and

WHEREAS, the Town believes that, in light of the injustices visited up
on it, the public good of the Town and its inhabitants would best be
served if the Town were again to become a part of the State of New
Hampshire.

NOW THEREFORE, it is hereby resolved as follows:

RESOLVED, that the Killington Selectboard is authorized to petition the
proper officials of the State of New Hampshire that the Town of
Killington become a municipality of the State of New Hampshire, and

RESOLVED, that in the event such petition receives favorable
consideration, the Killington Selectboard is authorized to file such
further petitions with governmental authorities, including, but not
limited to, the Vermont Legislature and the Congress of the United
States and to take such further actions as may be necessary, so that
the Town of Killington may become a municipality of the State of New
Hampshire."

The selectmen and the town manager all stood and spoke at length at all
the things they've done to date, all the avenues within the state
system they have exhausted.

Discussion starts. About 40 people spoke in favor to varying degrees,
from avid proponents citing the founding fathers, to a few liberal
Democrats who supported the issue but worry about losing the fine
socialist state programs they have if they actually joined NH.
Even one 5th grade boy spoke, noting the parallels to the Boston Tea
Party, which he just learned about in school. One fellow talked about
how his property taxes had risen in just 5 years from $2200.00 up to
$11,000.00

A few people asked questions like "is my daughter going to lose her
resident tuition rate at UVM?". (Town Manager suggested she transfer to
UNH, to laughter)

The question was called, seconded, and a voice vote was overwhelmingly
in favor. Of the approximately 350 people in the hall (according to
town counters), about 5-10 voice voted against it (some in the media
are reporting a 2-1 preference. This is false).

Discussion went to Article 4, to move next years town meeting to 6 pm
instead of 10 am as it is now. After discussion, a voice vote went to a
paper ballot, and so the moderator got everyone's attention for me to
present the State of NH flag and the Gadsen Flag (Don't Tread on Me) to
the town manager, saying "On behalf of the citizens of the State of NH
and the members of the Free State Project, I present these two flags
and welcome you to NH", to tremendous applause and much media filming
and flashing. Town Manager Dave Lewis and I held them up one at a time.

There were eight tv crews there, and I was interviewed by three (WCAX
Channel 3, Channel 5, and Fox News Channel), as well as 6-7 newspaper
reporters. I also talked to a lot of townspeople who had questions
about how the town would transition to NH if it succeeded in secession.
The most pleasant surprise of the day was meeting so many teachers who
were against taxes... ;) I met one fellow who was doubtful about
secession, but who homeschools his kids.

Rich, Andy, and Chuck showed up about 20 minutes after I finished with
the reporters. We did outreach and discussions in the hall, then drove
down the street for lunch to discuss various FSP stuff. I am still
running on adrenaline from this morning, 12 hours later, and expecting
to sleep in tomorrow....

Tomorrow we get our pet legislators in the NH House to sponsor a bill
to accept Killington's petition to it. Henry McElroy (R-Nashua) chatted
with me tonight, and is going to base the bill on the petition
Killington is sending me in the morning. Henry wanted to be in
Killington, but was busy shepherding a resolution to pull out of the
UN.

I've got to work on the business plan for the Free Town Land
Development Group, and continue lobbying for a seat on the Board of the
Free State Project which just opened up.




=====
Mike Lorrey
Chairman, Free Town Land Development
"Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
                                       - Gen. John Stark
Sado-Mikeyism: http://mikeysoft.zblogger.com

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