The 98th annual Laconia Motorcycle Week will return to its usual time, running June 12-20 this year. Last year, due to the coronavirus, the event was postponed until August, and was scaled back to make sure it was safe for everyone.
Not only will it be taking place in mid-June again, but it will feature all of the familiar events: the Gunstock Amateur Hill Climb on Wednesday, June 16, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; the 98th Loudon Classic motorcycle races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon on June 18-20; a vintage race; fireworks over Weirs Beach; and several charity and sightseeing motorcycle tours, including the “Ride to the Sky” on the Mount Washington Auto Road and a 170-mile covered-bridge tour. The sightseeing train, running from Meredith to the Weirs, also will return on the weekends.
A sportbike show at the Weirs Beach Drive-In on the first weekend and another show featuring choppers later in the week are new for this year.
The ‘China Virus’
Authorities, both governmental and scientific, quickly ruled out the possibility that the coronavirus pandemic originated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, despite the fact that the first reported cases appeared in that area. Skeptics found the arguments against the institute’s involvement to be thin, since it is precisely the type of work being undertaken in Wuhan, and Chinese authorities tightly controlled access to the scientists working there and did not allow World Health Organization inspectors to have full access to the data.
Scientific articles went to a great deal of trouble to reject the possibility of human manipulation of the virus, stating, for instance, “the high-affinity binding of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to human ACE2 is most likely the result of natural selection on a human or human-like ACE2 that permits another optimal binding solution to arise. This is strong evidence that SARS-CoV-2 is not the product of purposeful manipulation.” Or, “Polybasic cleavage sites have not been observed in related ‘lineage B’ betacoronaviruses, although other human betacoronaviruses, including HKU1 (lineage A), have those sites and predicted O-linked glycans13. Given the level of genetic variation in the spike, it is likely that SARS-CoV-2-like viruses with partial or full polybasic cleavage sites will be discovered in other species.”
To further deny a link to Wuhan, there was a concerted effort to halt the use of the term “China virus” by authorities who argued that such a term is racist — even though it has been common practice to identify diseases by their point of origin or discovery: the Spanish flu, East and West African sleeping sicknesses, German measles. It is quite possible that the backlash to such unreasonable censorship fed the conspiracy theories that led to a rise in hate crimes against the Chinese.
Many Americans were taken by surprise, then, on Wednesday when President Joe Biden asked the intelligence community to determine the origin of the coronavirus pandemic. Prominent researchers had begun arguing that it would be unwise to dismiss the lab theory until more is known. An article in the journal Science and a series of reports in the Wall Street Journal raised questions about the role of the Wuhan lab. The article in Science stated, “Although there were no findings in clear support of either a natural spillover or a lab accident, the team assessed a zoonotic spillover from an intermediate host as ‘likely to very likely,’ and a laboratory incident as ‘extremely unlikely’. Furthermore, the two theories were not given balanced consideration.”
So Biden is taking a lead in seeking the truth. He said he had asked for an initial review in March, and that “one element” of the intelligence community “leans” toward the view that the novel coronavirus came from a laboratory accident, while two other groups believe it was animal-to-human contact that led to the pandemic.
Businesses And Speculators Win
Back in New Hampshire, the House Ways and Means Committee backed Senate Bill 3, which exempts businesses from having to pay taxes on Paycheck Protection Program grants that have allowed them to thrive during the pandemic. Before unanimously approving the exemption, several committee members objected, saying the PPP was intended to help struggling businesses, but most of the money went to large multi-state or international corporations.
While the exemption will lower the amount of taxes paid by the businesses, they have contributed to the overall expansion in business tax revenues by the state. The bill will go before the full House for a vote next week.
Meanwhile, senators agreed with the House that taxpayers should cover $10 million in losses experienced by speculators whom Scott Farah swindled out of their investments in the Meredith-based Financial Resources Mortgage Inc. ponzi scheme. The reason, according to supporters of the bailout, is that state regulatory agencies failed to intervene because they were unsure whether the banking, securities, or justice department should have had jurisdiction over the company.
Senator Bob Giuda (R-Warren) said, “This is nowhere near the total losses of the victims of the FRM scandal. It was the willful inaction of state government on what was clearly a ponzi scheme.”
As for those who are just scraping by on unemployment benefits, Governor Chris Sununu plans to end in early June the federal pandemic supplement that Congress is providing through the summer to keep people out of poverty. The supplement has allowed families to purchase their own food rather than rely on food pantries. Statewide, food pantries have seen a 20 to 35 percent drop in usage, with some experiencing higher losses. St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry in Laconia reports a 40 percent drop, and the Laconia Salvation Army’s food pantry has seen a 60 percent drop. That decline is likely to reverse with the state turning away the federal unemployment assistance.
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