Posted: 7/27/2001 10:57:59 AM EDT
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[url]www.seacoastonline.com/news/7_19b.htm[/url] Donor town may revolt By Jesse J. DeConto, [email protected] NEWINGTON — Frustrated by heavy taxation, some residents here are ready to secede from the state of New Hampshire. The Newington Board of Selectmen voted this week to hold a public hearing on Tuesday, July 31. Residents will have a chance to comment on Article 10 of the state constitution, which gives New Hampshire residents the right to revolt. [b]Article 10 states: "Whenever the ends of government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the people may, and of right ought to reform the old, or establish a new government.[/b] "The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind," reads the constitution. Resident Guy Young said the state has used the constitution to oppress property-rich towns like Newington. "We found something we could use against them," he said. Article 10 justifies the town to secede from the state, Young said, and more than 50 townspeople showed they agreed by signing a petition Young presented to selectmen this week. "I've heard it kicked around for the past year or two," said Selectman Jack O'Reilly. "I was not caught totally surprised." O'Reilly said Newington residents are frustrated that the Coalition Communities have been unable to convince either the state Legislature or the court system to repeal the statewide property tax and replace it with a different tax structure. "That just seems to have stalled out," said O'Reilly. As a waterfront town, Newington has property values that range into the millions of dollars. This year, the town paid $1.9 million in state education taxes, and next year's bill is $2.1 million. "Over half of our tax money is going out of the town," O'Reilly said. He said a town revaluation next year will drive property taxes up even further. "You won't see a reduction in what you're paying." Expressing his own frustration with the statewide property tax at a previous meeting, O'Reilly himself suggested Newington should dissociate itself from New Hampshire. "Based on the lack of sanity, fairness and righteousness in Concord, I move that the town of Newington stop displaying the state flag commencing immediately until a fair school funding method is legislated," he said. Selectmen tabled that motion, but O'Reilly said it may come up again at Tuesday's meeting. "They wanted to wait a couple weeks and see what things transpired," he said. If residents support secession at the public hearing, the selectmen will seek counsel regarding the legal basis for invoking Article 10. "Whether that means we form a new government within the government we have, or separate and form a new one, we don't know," said Young. "I'm not a lawyer." Young said he hopes other Seacoast donor towns will join Newington in its constitutional battle with the state. "Maybe they're just waiting for someone to lead the way," he said. |
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Newington is about 30 minutes from me. It is a very expensive place to buy a home, if you can find one. The problem is that Newington is being overtaxed (they are a "Donor Town") so that the money can be used for "less fortunate" towns. This was all part of a Democratic plan to fund NH schools. We have no sales tax. I had thought that the law was found to be unconstitutional and that the state was required to pay back all funds related to the "Donor" status. Guess not. Steal from the rich and give to the poor - made possible by Government mandate. |
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The residents of Newington are prohibited from unilateral succession by Article 4 Section 3 of the US Constitution. If they wish to break away from New Hampshire, they would have to do one of two things: 1) Become a new State. This requires consent of the NH state legislature and the US Congress. 2) Be annexed to another state. This requires consent of the NH state legislature, the other state legislature and the US Congress. Now.....to leave the Union all together....well....that's a different matter. I can't remember, but I think that's been tried before. [:D] |
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I think we are all just about this fed up! Government has become 3 things: Corrupt, Self-serving and Oh! yes, did I mention CORRUPT!!! The trust of the people has been betrayed at every level. I hate traitors.....the blood of too many good men has been given for the freedom of this nation. Basically, we have a bunch of crummy, two bit politicians out only for their own good.......they have no moral right to govern decent people any longer! THE FRANCHISE RIGHT OF IDIOTS TO GOVERN ME HAS EXPIRED! |
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Quoted: The problem is that Newington is being overtaxed (they are a "Donor Town") so that the money can be used for "less fortunate" towns. This was all part of a Democratic plan to fund NH schools. We have no sales tax. Sounds kinda like, oh what is that.....hmmm...oh yeah, SOCIALISM. |
| mtnpatriot, Better get one on the coast or you are screwed before you start. A viable alternative is to ge the entire western US except the coast and then take Kali, etc. It would all have to be quick. There are a lot of military bases on the coasts. If you've got a good enough plan I might be interested. |
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Quoted: So lets all move to one state, vote an amendment to the state Constitution that allows secession, then vote for the state to secede from the union. So what state do ya'll want to move to? WY, MT, AK, TX,...which one? Interesting idea - I would like to see what (exactly) could come of such a thing. Tyler |
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Quoted: Well I was thinking about MT because of all the nuke bases up there. If a state secedes then wouldn't they get all the bases in that area? A couple of dozen nukes is a heck of a deterrent to an invasion no? You'd need the codes as well. That or enough time to break everything open and rewire. |
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Quoted: Yea, New Hampshire! [b]'Eat Cheese or Die'![/b] Wait a minute, I'm sorry, New Hampshire's state motto is 'Live Free or Die.' I was thinking about [u]Wisconsin's[/u] state motto.[:D] Eric The(AllYouNorthernStatesLookTheSameToMe)Hun[>]:)] You comparing the great state of Michigan with the likes of New York or New Jersey? Thems fightin' words Texan. Besides, Texas might as well be annexed back to Mexico considering your state's illegal alien population [;)]. Michigan and the Midwest, dont'cha know. Michigander in Maryland |
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Arizona did seceed for a couple of hours not to long ago. We were pissed about the banning of R-12 (freon). The Idea was to seceed and allow the manufacturing of freon (Souther AZ, we depend on freon). But someone (Democrap I think) put the vote up to take us back. Asshole. Would have loved to have been our own country ;) I used to have a URL explaining the whole thing, but lost it when I rebuilt my system, sorry. |