Ed,
Just a brief note regarding your recent editorial about trusting our government. We have trade associations to take our major concerns to the Feds. The situation on the local level should be much the same if citizens band together to influence state and local government.
Your suggestion about contacting my congressman or local rep is one that is often heard. My experience over 60 years tells me it is a fool’s errand. Just recently, I contacted Will Smith, my
local representative to the state legislature regarding a $470,000 grant from
the State of New Hampshire to Frasier NH LLC, a Canadian firm that
bought a defunct paper mill in Gorham, N.H. Two weeks or so after receiving the grant, Frasier declared bankruptcy, as did their Canadian parent (in New Brunswick).
I found out that the state granted the money to Frasier as no N.H. bank would touch them. Further, there was no claw-back provision in the grant, so the money is gone.
My question to Will Smith was something like this: “I want the name(s) and title(s) of the person(s) that authorized the grant.” I do not get an answer. I call him at home, but only get his voice mail. N.H. has a poor rating for transparency in government compared with many other states. I now know why.
— Sincerely,
Donald Bradley
Ed,
Most of the people I talk to in this side of the wood industry are wonderful people and your magazine has become a valuable source of knowledge and information.
Your “Letter from Ed” in the August 2013 issue was right on the target, and all your readers need to help you get this message out. Our bureaucrats are slipping these programs in all over the country, and like you point out most people don’t see what is coming down the road ahead of them. As we watch our western timber on public lands (and the jobs associated with it) literally go “up in smoke” because of mismanagement by our government bureaucrats, I pray that enough people will finally wake up and help us change the direction of this great country. We need to go back to what our nation’s founders and our grandparents warned us would happen if we all just sit back and sit on our thumbs.
Keep up the good work and thank you for your magazine.
— Dan Browning
Sapphire Lumber
