Also on today’s menu:
Food Pantries Prepare For SNAP Benefit Reduction
70 Years Of Outdoor Living
MoneyGeek: NH Roads Are The Best
Christopher Hood, a member of the Nationalist Social Club-131 who is facing civil rights charges for trespassing on a bridge in Portsmouth last summer and fastening a banner, “Keep New England White,” submitted a motion in Rockingham County Superior Court seeking to have the judge dismiss the case, arguing that the group’s actions are protected under the First Amendment. “So called ‘hate speech’ or speech that disparages other groups or individuals — and the defendants do not by any means concede that their communication conveys such a message — has been held by the Supreme Court to still fall within the category of protected speech,” Hood argued.
The banner’s message allowed the state to charge Hood and fellow defendant Leo Cullinan with violating New Hampshire’s Civil Rights Act, rather than simple trespass. State prosecutors argued, “The fencing on an overpass, although public property, is not a public forum and is subject to restrictions regarding when, where, and what may be placed upon it or displayed from it.”
“Hate speech” and “hate crimes” elevate the seriousness of charges that otherwise might be minor offenses, and there is a legitimate argument for free speech protections, but the NSC-131 defendants also have another argument: “In light of the fact that this is a controversial issue, in light of the fact that no member of the New Hampshire Bar is willing to step up and be local counsel, I am effectively being denied local counsel,” Cullinan told Judge David Ruoff.
Massachusetts attorney Williams Gens has offered to represent Hood, but Ruoff previously denied that request, citing New Hampshire Supreme Court administrative rules. “This case right now is crossing over from a free speech case into a due process case because these guys can’t get counsel,” Gens said.
Food Pantries Prepare For SNAP Benefit Reduction
During the pandemic, Congress approved a temporary increase in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits — formerly known as food stamps — which kept as many as 4.2 million people out of poverty. Those benefits are scheduled to expire this month, and New Hampshire food pantries are expecting the loss of benefits to increase the demand for their help.
Patronage of local food pantries dropped during the pandemic, according to Jim Hochberg, who leads the CityHope pantry at CenterPoint Church in Concord. He said the increased public benefits covered people’s needs, and the pantry went from serving 70 to 75 families at a time before COVID-19 to around 30 at one point during the pandemic.
Nancy Mellitt, director of development for the New Hampshire Food Bank, said the organization is ready to provide extra supplies to the more than 400 food pantries and other organizations throughout the state if needed. “With food costs what they are right now and anticipated to increase, I think it could have an impact on those individuals who are food-insecure,” Mellitt said.
70 Years Of Outdoor Living
The Slim Baker Foundation for Outdoor Education, Inc., oversees 135 acres in Bristol, New Hampshire, with a rustic lodge, a network of nature trails, and areas for camping and other outdoor activities. This year, it will be marking the 70th anniversary of the Slim Baker Conservation and Recreation Area, established in the spring of 1953.
The area is a memorial to Everett “Slim” Baker, a conservation officer with New Hampshire Fish & Game for 20 years, who died of cancer in 1953 at the age of 42. He was a proponent of outdoor recreation and he dreamed of setting up a “school for outdoor living” in the Newfound Region.
When his illness became known, a group of his friends — C. Maurice Gray, John C. Greenan, Albert Genetti, Cheever Newhall, Luther Mitchell, and Richard “Wink” Tapply — established the Slim Baker foundation, selecting a 125-acre tract of land owned by Reba Follansbee as the place to honor Slim’s memory. The property included an area on Little Round Top (named by Bristol Enterprise publisher and Civil War veteran Richard Musgrove for the hill in Gettysburg where he had fought) that would become known as Inspiration Point.
MoneyGeek: NH Roads Are The Best
MoneyGeek, billing itself as “connoisseurs of insurance rate tables and statistical releases from the Federal Reserve”, analyzed data from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Census Bureau “to learn more about America’s urban road infrastructure, find the states with the best and worst road quality, and determine if more state spending translated to better roads.” Its findings determined that New Hampshire has the best roads in America, while “[spending] some of the lowest capital outlay per mile.”
Governor Chris Sununu highlighted the finding, saying, “New Hampshire has made smart investments in our infrastructure, and we’ve returned over $100 Million to cities and towns across the Granite State for roads and bridges. It’s with that sense of smart fiscal management that we’ve paved the way to be ranked the #1 state for taxpayer return on investment.”
Department of Transportation Commissioner Bill Cass said, “New Hampshire is blessed with a dedicated team of professionals that works hard to build and maintain our transportation system and I’m honored that we are being recognized for our work. I credit their commitment to our asset management strategy and sustained investment to our success.”
Support Our Efforts
Do you have a story to tell?
The News Café is a virtual meeting place where, each weekday, we discuss the news of the day: local, statewide, national, and international. Mondays are reserved for more personal observations which only paid subscribers will receive, while Tuesday through Friday will draw from news stories published by various sources.
The News Café relies on subscriptions, rather than on advertising and grants, for its support. That frees us to provide an independent focus on events and cultural issues without having to weigh whether it would upset advertisers or fit into grant guidelines. Our only obligation is to provide information we believe is useful to our readers.
Subscriptions to this newsletter are available for as little as $5 per month. Subscribers can share their knowledge, thoughts, and questions about any topic, and we may select some of those subjects for more in-depth analysis.
If you’re unable to pay but still want to receive all of the free public posts in your in-box, click the Subscribe button and select a free subscription.
Visit us at www.libertymedianh.org
Thank you for spreading the word on the Slim Baker Foundation, a wonderful local resource!