Friday, OctOber 5, 2012
VOL. 13 NO. 87
LacONia, N.H.
527-9299
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Exact rate of state’s Rooms & Meals Tax seems a mystery but there’ll be push back if lawmaker try to increase it
friday
Without strong inmigration, study concludes N.H. has lost its advantage
By michAel Kitch THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
By Ben leuBsdorf CONCORD MONITOR
CONCORD — The economic and demographic forces that produced decades of prosperity for the Granite State have pretty much petered out, according to a new report from the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies. Unless state policymakers act to revitalize or replace those forces — which created a growing, skilled workforce bolstered by people moving to New Hampshire — the local economy will become less competitive with the rest of New England and the nation, the nonpartisan group’s leaders said yesterday. “We’re not predicting Armageddon or anything like that,” said Daniel Barrick, the center’s deputy director and a former Monitor reporter. “But . . . in the near long-term, post-Great Recession, what are the tools that we need to rearm ourselves with to survive? see STUdy page 10
Laconia High School Football Coach Craig Kozens, at left, and Bill Greeley hold a granite paver similar to the one purchased by the Class of 1971. The paver will be engraved with a message from the class and will be placed along the pathway to all-new Bank of New Hampshire Stadium on the school’s campus. There are pavers and bricks remaining for sponsorship, a drive which is part of a capital campaign to pay for the facility’s construction. (Laconia Daily Sun photo/Adam Drapcho)
Class of ‘71 carving love for LHS in granite By AdAm drApcho THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
LACONIA — It’s been more than four decades since the members of Laconia High School’s Class of 1971 left the school. They’ve never stopped being Sachems, though, and they’re seizing the opportunity of a $1-million capital campaign to forever memorialize their sentiments for their alma mater. To purchase an engraved paver that will become part of the entrance to Bank of New Hampshire Stadium, the class collected more than $1,000 to donate toward the campaign, which will help enable the construction of a state-of-the-art athletic facility with a highly durable artificial playing surface, ideal for football and many other sports. The athletic facility is part of an over-
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all $16.8-million project that will include an expanded/renovated Huot Regional Technical Education Center and reconstructed high school, including new science labs. Bill Greeley, a member of the Class of ‘71, came up with the idea in July for his class to purchase a brick, which can be had for as little as $125, which will be used to pave the walkway spectators tread to enter the stadium. He floated the idea on his class’s Facebook page, which had a healthy following in the wake of last year’s 40th reunion. His classmates quickly responded, with, as he summarized, “The heck with the brick, we want the granite block.” The granite pavers are a foot square and can be engraved with a lengthier message than the see GraNiTE page 12
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CONCORD — Republicans yesterday jumped on a statement by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Maggie Hassan, which was curiously reported by the press, to charge that she harbors a plan to increase the Rooms and Meals Tax. Speaking to the Gubernatorial Tourism Summit at the Grappone Center on Wednesday, Hassan was asked about taxes affecting the tourist industry. The Union-Leader reported her to say that “I’m not going to support any raise in the rooms and meals tax above 9.5-percent.” She then continued, “as we all know, budgets are compromise documents, but I think it would be very ill-advised to raise the rooms and meals tax.” Since current rate of the tax is 9-percent, the two statements are at odds with one another, though this went unreported. Representatives Peter Silva (R-Nashua), Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, and Stephen Stepanek (R-Amherst), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, were quick to pounce. Recalling that as a state senator, Hassan voted to raise the rooms and meals tax from 8-percent to see TaX page 11
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