In 1994 my family came to point of decision. We had a CD of value equal to $50K. (Which makes a nice sized real estate purchase down payment.) The real estate market in New England was 'for sale', especially in New Hampshire where dozens of Lake Front properties were for the taking and the interest rates were at an historical low point. We had 2 children (at the time 9 and 3) and we contemplated a third.
We are a neighborly group of New Hampshire property owners within and around the Hermit Lake NH region. This web site was created to help us reach out to our neighbors and to help our neighbors reach out to us. We all have something very much in common. We love the pristine beauty of the lake and its surrounding hills and mountains. (Let's not forget the valleys either!)
What I've noticed is that everybody is a collector. Whether you realize it or not, you are probably one too. Being a collector is not hard but it can be expensive. People usually do it between the 'cracks' of their lives. Maybe you like bells so when you go on vacation you might buy a bell from, say, the Cayman Islands or from that trip to New Mexico. Pretty soon you have a shelf with lots of organized and eclectic bells... well you get the idea.
"A Civil Action" is both a book and a movie about water wells becoming polluted with a variety of volatile organic compounds including chlorinated solvents within the town of Woburn, Massachusetts during the late 1960's, 1970's and the health and legal consequences that were triggered by those events.
In 1997 I purchased a dock at a boat club on Newfound Lake NH. We put a pontoon boat on that lake for 2 years and then sold the boat... but kept the dock. From that point I began to rent the dock for the season and when the value went way up so did the property taxes and dues. I then started this website to make sure I rented my dock every year, without commission and at a top dollar price. I also provide this service to the other 87 dock owners of the club. After 3 years its now turning into an advertising vehicle. So maybe I’ll cover my property taxes on both the dock and on the Hermit Lake property !
I was fortunate enough to have been a Member of the Wayland Board of Selectmen from April 2005 to April 2008. I tried for re-election April 2008 and I lost. I then tried for re-election April 2009 and, again, I lost. I lost because they just couldn’t have guy in there that wanted to hold back taxes. I don’t think anybody would deny this... not even my adversaries. And by the way, my adversaries are also my friends.
Electronic Voting in New England Town Meeting
In December 2009 I filed a petitioner's article in Wayland for the purpose of bringing wirless, electronic keypad voting into New England town meeting. This technology brings speed, accuracy and privacy to every vote on town meeting floor. Something that has not been possible in 400 of manual voting. In April of 2012, after 3 long years of debate, speeches and town meeting articles, town meeting voted to accept this technology and fund it for 3 calendar years. This represents the single biggest change to New England town meeting in 400 years.
I created this website for my town as an effort to create a turnkey solution to have plantings done in a more timely and professional way. The project was launched June 2012. Lets see how it works out !
I feel like I’m always taking a risk when I tell this story. I mean, how would anybody take one seriously after they have told you that they saw a flying saucer?
In April of 1974 I planned a cross-country road trip with a friend in which we would drive from my home town of Philadelphia, Pa to Los Angeles California and ‘see the country’ and re-connect with a long lost cousin of whom I really looked up to.
www.Wunderground.com is supplying live doppler radar weather of New England with their equipment near Portland Maine. You will see the circular 'cross-hairs' to the west of Boston. The 'cross-hairs' is where Wayland is.
