Legally Kidnapped: Baby LK Report For January 23rd 2011 - The Octomom's Fetish
Isabella Brooke Knightly and Austin Gamez-Knightly
In Memory of my Loving Husband, William F. Knightly Jr. Murdered by ILLEGAL Palliative Care at a Nashua, NH Hospital
Monday, January 24, 2011
Afghan infants fed pure opium - CNN.com
Afghan infants fed pure opium - CNN.com
Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan (CNN) -- In a far flung corner of northern Afghanistan, Aziza reaches into the dark wooden cupboard, rummages around, and pulls out a small lump of something wrapped in plastic.
She unwraps it, breaking off a small chunk as if it were chocolate, and feeds it to four-year-old son, Omaidullah. It's his breakfast -- a lump of pure opium.
"If I don't give him opium he doesn't sleep," she says. "And he doesn't let me work."
Aziza comes from a poor family of carpet weavers in Balkh province. She has no education, no idea of the health risks involved or that opium is addictive.
"We give the children opium whenever they get sick as well," she says, crouching over her loom.
With no real medical care in these parts and the high cost of medicine, all the families out here know is opium.
It's a cycle of addiction passed on through generations.
RELATED TOPICS
Afghanistan
Opium and Opiates
Drug Addiction
The adults take opium to work longer hours and ease their pain.
Aziza's elderly mother-in-law, Rozigul, rolls a small ball in her fingers and pops it into her mouth with a small smile before passing a piece over to her sister.
"I had to work and raise the children, so I started using drugs," she says. "We are very poor people, so I used opium. We don't have anything to eat. That is why we have to work and use drugs to keep our kids quiet."
The entire extended family is addicted.
This part of Afghanistan is famous for its carpets. It's so remote there are no real roads. The dirt ones that exist are often blocked by landslides.
The closest government-run drug rehabilitation center is a four-hour drive away. But it has just 20 beds and a handful of staff to deal with the epidemic.
The health dangers from opium
"Opium is nothing new to our villages or districts. It's an old tradition, something of a religion in some areas," said Dr. Mohamed Daoud Rated, coordinator of the center.
"People use opium as drugs or medicine. If a child cries, they give him opium, if they can't sleep, they use opium, if an infant coughs, they give them opium."
The center is running an outreach program to the areas that are most afflicted.
Most Afghans aren't aware of the health risks of opium and only a few are beginning to understand the hazards of addiction.
"I was a child when I started using drugs" 35-year-old Nagibe says.
She says her sister-in-law first gave her some when she was a young teenage bride, just 14 years old. Her children grew up addicts as well.
When her husband died, she remarried.
She said: "My new husband doesn't use drugs, nor does his family. Because of that I was able to come here and get treatment. Now as an adult I understand and I want to leave this all behind."
She has been clean for four months, but every day is a struggle.
Carpet weaver Rozigul, 30, is in the detox program with her three-year-old son Babagildi, his pudgy face covered in blemishes. She started using six years ago.
"When I was pregnant with this baby I was using drugs. So he was born addicted and was always crying. I would try to keep him quiet and make him sleep, so I just kept feeding him opium," she says.
Her addicted mother-in-law shares the bed next to her, curled up in a ball and mumbling to herself.
Three generations from one family, all struggling with a curse that afflicts well over one million Afghans.
Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan (CNN) -- In a far flung corner of northern Afghanistan, Aziza reaches into the dark wooden cupboard, rummages around, and pulls out a small lump of something wrapped in plastic.
She unwraps it, breaking off a small chunk as if it were chocolate, and feeds it to four-year-old son, Omaidullah. It's his breakfast -- a lump of pure opium.
"If I don't give him opium he doesn't sleep," she says. "And he doesn't let me work."
Aziza comes from a poor family of carpet weavers in Balkh province. She has no education, no idea of the health risks involved or that opium is addictive.
"We give the children opium whenever they get sick as well," she says, crouching over her loom.
With no real medical care in these parts and the high cost of medicine, all the families out here know is opium.
It's a cycle of addiction passed on through generations.
RELATED TOPICS
Afghanistan
Opium and Opiates
Drug Addiction
The adults take opium to work longer hours and ease their pain.
Aziza's elderly mother-in-law, Rozigul, rolls a small ball in her fingers and pops it into her mouth with a small smile before passing a piece over to her sister.
"I had to work and raise the children, so I started using drugs," she says. "We are very poor people, so I used opium. We don't have anything to eat. That is why we have to work and use drugs to keep our kids quiet."
The entire extended family is addicted.
This part of Afghanistan is famous for its carpets. It's so remote there are no real roads. The dirt ones that exist are often blocked by landslides.
The closest government-run drug rehabilitation center is a four-hour drive away. But it has just 20 beds and a handful of staff to deal with the epidemic.
The health dangers from opium
"Opium is nothing new to our villages or districts. It's an old tradition, something of a religion in some areas," said Dr. Mohamed Daoud Rated, coordinator of the center.
"People use opium as drugs or medicine. If a child cries, they give him opium, if they can't sleep, they use opium, if an infant coughs, they give them opium."
The center is running an outreach program to the areas that are most afflicted.
Most Afghans aren't aware of the health risks of opium and only a few are beginning to understand the hazards of addiction.
"I was a child when I started using drugs" 35-year-old Nagibe says.
She says her sister-in-law first gave her some when she was a young teenage bride, just 14 years old. Her children grew up addicts as well.
When her husband died, she remarried.
She said: "My new husband doesn't use drugs, nor does his family. Because of that I was able to come here and get treatment. Now as an adult I understand and I want to leave this all behind."
She has been clean for four months, but every day is a struggle.
Carpet weaver Rozigul, 30, is in the detox program with her three-year-old son Babagildi, his pudgy face covered in blemishes. She started using six years ago.
"When I was pregnant with this baby I was using drugs. So he was born addicted and was always crying. I would try to keep him quiet and make him sleep, so I just kept feeding him opium," she says.
Her addicted mother-in-law shares the bed next to her, curled up in a ball and mumbling to herself.
Three generations from one family, all struggling with a curse that afflicts well over one million Afghans.
A Berkshire Horror Story-Ma. Atty. Louis Piccone
A Berkshire Horror Story
A Shattered Existence
Louis and Elena Piccone were one day living an idyllic life when the retaliation of a legal opponent put in motion the machinery of the Massachusetts Department of Social Services, an incompetent, corrupt and vindictive local Police force and a court system not quite up to the the task, resulting in the arrest, and incarceration in solitary confinement of Louis and the scattering of his family across the globe. The story includes professional misconduct, lies, procedural errors, incompetence, denial of civil and constitutional rights and just plain bureaucratic inertia that resulted in damage to this family and young children.
Idyllic Life
Louis Piccone: ivy league graduate, attorney, young father, happy husband, proud homeowner settled with his young wife and three young children in Dalton, Massachusetts because his career with General Electric brought him to the community with the promise of Norman Rockwell’s ideal of small town America. His devoted wife Elena, graduate of a prestigious Moscow University, daughter of the Russian diplomatic corps, successful business woman, loving mother settled into a happy life in her adopted community of the Berkshires by conducting her numerous errands in her beloved Jeep Liberty as any mother of three young children aged 3,5 and 7. Three happy, healthy, well adjusted, remarkable, well cared for children in the full enjoyment of the innocence of an early small town childhood who will hopefully make significant positive contributions to our world. Little did this happy family know that their happiness would soon be shattered by a cabal of vengeful, sadistic social workers, bullying, overzealous police and vindictive judicial system – the underbelly of small town politics and corruption in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts.
Please click on the link above to read the whole article.
A Shattered Existence
Louis and Elena Piccone were one day living an idyllic life when the retaliation of a legal opponent put in motion the machinery of the Massachusetts Department of Social Services, an incompetent, corrupt and vindictive local Police force and a court system not quite up to the the task, resulting in the arrest, and incarceration in solitary confinement of Louis and the scattering of his family across the globe. The story includes professional misconduct, lies, procedural errors, incompetence, denial of civil and constitutional rights and just plain bureaucratic inertia that resulted in damage to this family and young children.
Idyllic Life
Louis Piccone: ivy league graduate, attorney, young father, happy husband, proud homeowner settled with his young wife and three young children in Dalton, Massachusetts because his career with General Electric brought him to the community with the promise of Norman Rockwell’s ideal of small town America. His devoted wife Elena, graduate of a prestigious Moscow University, daughter of the Russian diplomatic corps, successful business woman, loving mother settled into a happy life in her adopted community of the Berkshires by conducting her numerous errands in her beloved Jeep Liberty as any mother of three young children aged 3,5 and 7. Three happy, healthy, well adjusted, remarkable, well cared for children in the full enjoyment of the innocence of an early small town childhood who will hopefully make significant positive contributions to our world. Little did this happy family know that their happiness would soon be shattered by a cabal of vengeful, sadistic social workers, bullying, overzealous police and vindictive judicial system – the underbelly of small town politics and corruption in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts.
Please click on the link above to read the whole article.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Obama says: “Government should not intrude on private family matters.”
Obama says: “Government should not intrude on private family matters.”
Yes, it is true, President Obama said “Government should not intrude on private family matters.” Unfortunately he said this in reference to the right of women, doctors and nurses to kill unborn children – in other words, abortion.
Does his statement apply to the child welfare system? No. The government’s role, apparently, is to encourage the killing of babies (because they want population reduction) but once those babies are born they’ll do whatever they can to break up families and take babies and children who will later be so scarred, hopeless and homeless they’ll decide to go fight in the government’s wars. Of course, they can’t take all children, so they focus on the sub-set of families that are having a hard time in life. When these families aren’t strong and well-moneyed, it is easy to kick them while they’re down. Bully-government-agent-mentality.
So, President Obama, I thank you for that nice thought – that government should not intrude on private family matters, but so long as CPS is attacking families, you sound like a hypocrite to me.
Parents have been writing to you about the horrors of CPS intrusion into their families ever since you became president. And what have you done for them? Have you interceded in the county child welfare agency destructions of families? Have you asked to know the facts? Have you contacted any of these families for more information? Have you helped even one traumatized child return to his parents who love him? Have you done anything to stop the drug-crazed doctors from forcing drug cocktails on foster children? Have you refused to renew CAPTA to save this country’s children and their families?
Just what have you done about child welfare? Anything? Anything at all? I ask because from my point of view you haven’t done a thing and when I see in the news that you say government should not intrude on private family matters I can only laugh. Since when do you really care about what government is doing to harm families?
Oh, I know you care about abortion. Killing babies is fine with you. Allowing government agents to traumatize children by pulling them away from their loving parents is apparently fine with you. Forcing husbands and wives to separate seems to be fine with you.
I’ll be praying for you, President Obama. I think you’re the one who needs to change.
Source: Obama recalls Roe v. Wade, backs abortion rights by David Jackson, published January 22, 2011 in The Oval.
Yes, it is true, President Obama said “Government should not intrude on private family matters.” Unfortunately he said this in reference to the right of women, doctors and nurses to kill unborn children – in other words, abortion.
Does his statement apply to the child welfare system? No. The government’s role, apparently, is to encourage the killing of babies (because they want population reduction) but once those babies are born they’ll do whatever they can to break up families and take babies and children who will later be so scarred, hopeless and homeless they’ll decide to go fight in the government’s wars. Of course, they can’t take all children, so they focus on the sub-set of families that are having a hard time in life. When these families aren’t strong and well-moneyed, it is easy to kick them while they’re down. Bully-government-agent-mentality.
So, President Obama, I thank you for that nice thought – that government should not intrude on private family matters, but so long as CPS is attacking families, you sound like a hypocrite to me.
Parents have been writing to you about the horrors of CPS intrusion into their families ever since you became president. And what have you done for them? Have you interceded in the county child welfare agency destructions of families? Have you asked to know the facts? Have you contacted any of these families for more information? Have you helped even one traumatized child return to his parents who love him? Have you done anything to stop the drug-crazed doctors from forcing drug cocktails on foster children? Have you refused to renew CAPTA to save this country’s children and their families?
Just what have you done about child welfare? Anything? Anything at all? I ask because from my point of view you haven’t done a thing and when I see in the news that you say government should not intrude on private family matters I can only laugh. Since when do you really care about what government is doing to harm families?
Oh, I know you care about abortion. Killing babies is fine with you. Allowing government agents to traumatize children by pulling them away from their loving parents is apparently fine with you. Forcing husbands and wives to separate seems to be fine with you.
I’ll be praying for you, President Obama. I think you’re the one who needs to change.
Source: Obama recalls Roe v. Wade, backs abortion rights by David Jackson, published January 22, 2011 in The Oval.
Judge adopts twins for money, then gives them away
Judge adopts twins for money, then gives them away - KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana
OKLAHOMA CITY (CNN) - An Oklahoma judge is accused of defrauding the state out of tens of thousands of dollars is now facing dozens of felony charges and more may be filed soon.
Prosecutors said Judge Tammy Bass-Lesure adopted twin orphans, but then gave them away to a friend to raise while still accepting money from the state.
The judge is accused of taking nearly $22,000 dollars from the Department of Human Services (DHS).
OKLAHOMA CITY (CNN) - An Oklahoma judge is accused of defrauding the state out of tens of thousands of dollars is now facing dozens of felony charges and more may be filed soon.
Prosecutors said Judge Tammy Bass-Lesure adopted twin orphans, but then gave them away to a friend to raise while still accepting money from the state.
The judge is accused of taking nearly $22,000 dollars from the Department of Human Services (DHS).
Father: 'My children are being held hostage'
Father: 'My children are being held hostage'
Posted: January 20, 2011
1:55 am Eastern
By Brian Fitzpatrick
© 2011 WorldNetDaily
Jackson family at Maj. John Jackson's promotion ceremony.
It's every parent's nightmare.
Army Major John Jackson and his wife Carolyn, devout Christian homeschoolers with a history of serving as adoptive and foster parents, had their five children taken away in April 2010 by the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services – and despite the collapse of the evidence against the Jacksons, DYFS hasn't returned the children to their parents.
During the course of a nine-month legal battle to regain custody of their children, the Jacksons say they have encountered prejudice against their religion and homeschooling as they fight a state agency determined to see the children adopted by strangers no matter what the evidence says.
According to the Jacksons, DYFS employees, contractors and foster parents alike have demonstrated anti-religious bias, including one case supervisor who refused to allow the Jacksons to pray with their children as they wished, for the reunification of the family.
"You can pray about other things, you can pray that they'll be happy in their placements," said a DYFS worker identified by Jackson as Denise Hollerbach.
Jackson accuses DYFS of fraudulently misrepresenting statements by himself and his children to build a case against him, "brainwashing" the children by telling them they have been abused and "isolating" them by not allowing them to be assessed independently by U.S. Army investigators.
The father of five claims DYFS suppressed a medical report concluding that injuries suffered by daughter Chaya Jackson could not be proven with "medical certainty" to have resulted from child abuse. Dr. Mark S. Finkelstein of the Alfred I. Dupont Hospital for Children wrote, "It is equally possible that this injury may have occurred in or around the time of birth or in the later post-neonatal period" – before Chaya was adopted by the Jacksons.
"DYFS kept this out of the court. We had to get it and provide it as evidence," said Jackson.
Read more: Father: 'My children are being held hostage' http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=253365#ixzz1BtAsQUwj
Posted: January 20, 2011
1:55 am Eastern
By Brian Fitzpatrick
© 2011 WorldNetDaily
Jackson family at Maj. John Jackson's promotion ceremony.
It's every parent's nightmare.
Army Major John Jackson and his wife Carolyn, devout Christian homeschoolers with a history of serving as adoptive and foster parents, had their five children taken away in April 2010 by the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services – and despite the collapse of the evidence against the Jacksons, DYFS hasn't returned the children to their parents.
During the course of a nine-month legal battle to regain custody of their children, the Jacksons say they have encountered prejudice against their religion and homeschooling as they fight a state agency determined to see the children adopted by strangers no matter what the evidence says.
According to the Jacksons, DYFS employees, contractors and foster parents alike have demonstrated anti-religious bias, including one case supervisor who refused to allow the Jacksons to pray with their children as they wished, for the reunification of the family.
"You can pray about other things, you can pray that they'll be happy in their placements," said a DYFS worker identified by Jackson as Denise Hollerbach.
Jackson accuses DYFS of fraudulently misrepresenting statements by himself and his children to build a case against him, "brainwashing" the children by telling them they have been abused and "isolating" them by not allowing them to be assessed independently by U.S. Army investigators.
The father of five claims DYFS suppressed a medical report concluding that injuries suffered by daughter Chaya Jackson could not be proven with "medical certainty" to have resulted from child abuse. Dr. Mark S. Finkelstein of the Alfred I. Dupont Hospital for Children wrote, "It is equally possible that this injury may have occurred in or around the time of birth or in the later post-neonatal period" – before Chaya was adopted by the Jacksons.
"DYFS kept this out of the court. We had to get it and provide it as evidence," said Jackson.
Read more: Father: 'My children are being held hostage' http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=253365#ixzz1BtAsQUwj
Whose grievances will be 'redressed'?
Whose grievances will be 'redressed'? | Concord Monitor
By Shira Schoenberg / Monitor staff
January 23, 2011
The New Hampshire House has reconstituted a Redress of Grievances Committee to hear complaints from citizens, but exactly what does that mean? Perhaps a history lesson is in order.
In 1788, for instance, a hot issue for petitioners trying to get the attention of the New Hampshire House was horses. The Legislature, it seems, approved several military regiments of horses - but only assigned a single officer to a particular regiment. "Your Petitioners Humbly pray that your Honours would grant leave for Raising another Companey of Horse in the Twelfth Regiment Commanded by Col. Rand in order that your Petitioners may have the pleasure of acquipting themselves for that Service," petitioners wrote.
As the new committee begins its work, it faces a task rarely performed in modern times. When Vice Chairman Robert Willette, a Milford Republican, got assigned to the committee, he said, "The first thing I did was Google 'redress.' "
And at the committee's first meeting, Chairman Paul Ingbretson instructed members to look at the history of petitions, which are authorized by the state Constitution.
From the time the Constitution was passed in 1784 through the mid-19th century, petitions were common.
"The Legislature introduced very few bills on their own," said Rep. Shawn Jasper, a Hudson Republican. "People came forward and petitioned their representatives to take certain
action."
According to House researcher Richard Lambert, state archives contain 18,000 petitions written between 1680 and 1850.
One petition from 1785 asked the Legislature to make real estate a legal currency, which could be used to pay creditors instead of gold or silver. More than 60 petitioners wrote that people with large landholdings contracted debts during the Revolutionary War and could face imprisonment as debtors. "Individuals are cruelly Sued, Perplexed, Harressed, and brought almost to despair," they wrote. "Numbers of Gentlemen of handsome Fortunes Obliged to leave their Families, Farms, and Stocks."
Stuart Wallace, an NHTI professor who specializes in New Hampshire history, said common petitions in 1816-17 were from Revolutionary War soldiers or their widows, asking for state pensions.
In the 1830s, there were so many grievances about railroads taking private land that the state created a railroad commission to handle them, Wallace said.
Divorces were also common reasons for petitions. The wife of Robert Rogers, a hero in the French-Indian War who led the Rogers' Rangers, petitioned the Legislature for a divorce on the grounds that her husband deserted her, Wallace said.
"You could petition for absolutely anything you wanted," Wallace said. "It doesn't mean you'll get anywhere; it just means you have a right to petition."
Citizens could also petition the Legislature to change their names, Jasper said. Often, people simply wanted to add a middle name. Sometimes, family disputes led a person to change his last name.
Petitions were commonly used by militias to remove officers. In the early 1800s, Jasper said, an officer showed up for a morning drill drunk, and was accused of selling a position in the militia for $5. The House found him guilty of selling the position but voted against removing him.
For a while, the General Court was also used as a court of appeals. Until the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in 1818, Lambert said state laws showed numerous examples of interference by the Legislature into individual court cases.
In 1791, for example, Elisabeth McClary, a widow from Epsom, petitioned the court regarding a man who "commenced an Action against her on an Account wherein were charged Sundry berrels of Rum which were never purchased by or delivered to her, but were in fact sold to one John Casey," according to an excerpt of state laws.
Petitions dwindled by the late 1840s, though provisions for petitions remained in state statutes until 1925. Lambert wrote in a report, "One can only speculate that changes in the legislative process and the establishment of a larger bureaucratic structure in the executive branch provided a better means to address the needs and grievances of individuals and groups of citizens."
The process is historic, and quirky
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No surprises here
Both of New Hampshire's Republican congressmen voted to repeal President Obama's health care reform.
Rep. Frank Guinta said the reform "exceeds the limits of the Constitution, places unfair and unrealistic burdens on small-business owners, inserts the government into your relationship with your family doctor, and sinks Washington even deeper into debt."
Rep. Charlie Bass said reform "has imposed burdensome mandates on individuals and small businesses, increased costs, and expanded bureaucratic control over our health care system."
Another lobbyist
The Granite State Fair Tax Coalition, which supports a "fairly levied" tax system, will now advocate for and against legislation. Until now, the coalition only focused on general education, not specific policies. Board President Laurel Redden said the change was prompted by specific proposals before the current Legislature, as well as the makeup of a Legislature that has committed to not raising taxes - and possibly cutting them.
One of the coalition's first targets will be defeating a constitutional amendment that would prohibit the implementation of a broad-based tax, like a sales or income tax. Otherwise, Redden said the group will oppose cuts to state revenue sources that will increase the budget shortfall.
"The loudest voices always had the bully pulpit, saying all you need to do is cut," Redden said. "We're trying to amplify the flip side, that you can do cuts and make efficiencies, but you have to figure out how you can meet the basic core needs of the state. You need to look at the revenue side of the budget, which no one seems willing to do."
Brunelle delay
The informational session with constitutional scholars, which developed out of a Republican attempt to oust Democratic Manchester Rep. Mike Brunelle from office on constitutional grounds, has been postponed from Jan. 27.
Meanwhile, after the unpopular reception the Brunelle issue got, Democrats were trying to keep it in the news last week. Deputy House Democratic Leader Mary Jane Wallner asked Republican leaders to sign an "open government pledge." Among the items: "Members of the Legislature will not attempt to remove other elected members of the General Court simply for offering a different viewpoint" - which is what Democrats contend Republicans did to Brunelle.
'Big trouble'
Attorney General Michael Delaney told the Executive Council that he is deciding whether to appeal a case regarding state hiring practices.
In November, a Merrimack County Superior Court judge ruled that the state must give laid-off state employees preference in being rehired into a more senior position, as long as the employee meets the minimum qualifications. The case centered on an employee of the Sununu Youth Services Center, but the ruling could have a significant impact on all the state's rehiring practices. Delaney argued that the ruling would allow a laid-off employee to "leapfrog" over everyone else for a promotion, whether or not the employee has appropriate management skills.
The discussion gave Councilor Ray Wieczorek, a Manchester Republican and frequent critic of the Sununu Center management, an excuse to ask Health and Human Services Commissioner Nick Toumpas what is being done about the problems there. Employees have complained about short-staffing, dangerous conditions and discrimination against union activists, while the Disability Rights Center criticized the center for using unnecessary force against children.
"You've already fired 32 players on the team, but the manager's still there," Wieczorek said. "Someone's going to be in big trouble (if an incident occurs), and you're at the top of my list."
Toumpas acknowledged, "I am ultimately responsible" and pledged to look into absenteeism and other problems.
3
The process is historic, and quirky
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Meanwhile, Gov. John Lynch recently met with a dozen Sununu Center employees. According to the State Employees' Association, employees told Lynch that they were previously able to create a "stable, consistent and safe environment" for residents, but are facing challenges with fewer resources and new management.
By Shira Schoenberg / Monitor staff
January 23, 2011
The New Hampshire House has reconstituted a Redress of Grievances Committee to hear complaints from citizens, but exactly what does that mean? Perhaps a history lesson is in order.
In 1788, for instance, a hot issue for petitioners trying to get the attention of the New Hampshire House was horses. The Legislature, it seems, approved several military regiments of horses - but only assigned a single officer to a particular regiment. "Your Petitioners Humbly pray that your Honours would grant leave for Raising another Companey of Horse in the Twelfth Regiment Commanded by Col. Rand in order that your Petitioners may have the pleasure of acquipting themselves for that Service," petitioners wrote.
As the new committee begins its work, it faces a task rarely performed in modern times. When Vice Chairman Robert Willette, a Milford Republican, got assigned to the committee, he said, "The first thing I did was Google 'redress.' "
And at the committee's first meeting, Chairman Paul Ingbretson instructed members to look at the history of petitions, which are authorized by the state Constitution.
From the time the Constitution was passed in 1784 through the mid-19th century, petitions were common.
"The Legislature introduced very few bills on their own," said Rep. Shawn Jasper, a Hudson Republican. "People came forward and petitioned their representatives to take certain
action."
According to House researcher Richard Lambert, state archives contain 18,000 petitions written between 1680 and 1850.
One petition from 1785 asked the Legislature to make real estate a legal currency, which could be used to pay creditors instead of gold or silver. More than 60 petitioners wrote that people with large landholdings contracted debts during the Revolutionary War and could face imprisonment as debtors. "Individuals are cruelly Sued, Perplexed, Harressed, and brought almost to despair," they wrote. "Numbers of Gentlemen of handsome Fortunes Obliged to leave their Families, Farms, and Stocks."
Stuart Wallace, an NHTI professor who specializes in New Hampshire history, said common petitions in 1816-17 were from Revolutionary War soldiers or their widows, asking for state pensions.
In the 1830s, there were so many grievances about railroads taking private land that the state created a railroad commission to handle them, Wallace said.
Divorces were also common reasons for petitions. The wife of Robert Rogers, a hero in the French-Indian War who led the Rogers' Rangers, petitioned the Legislature for a divorce on the grounds that her husband deserted her, Wallace said.
"You could petition for absolutely anything you wanted," Wallace said. "It doesn't mean you'll get anywhere; it just means you have a right to petition."
Citizens could also petition the Legislature to change their names, Jasper said. Often, people simply wanted to add a middle name. Sometimes, family disputes led a person to change his last name.
Petitions were commonly used by militias to remove officers. In the early 1800s, Jasper said, an officer showed up for a morning drill drunk, and was accused of selling a position in the militia for $5. The House found him guilty of selling the position but voted against removing him.
For a while, the General Court was also used as a court of appeals. Until the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in 1818, Lambert said state laws showed numerous examples of interference by the Legislature into individual court cases.
In 1791, for example, Elisabeth McClary, a widow from Epsom, petitioned the court regarding a man who "commenced an Action against her on an Account wherein were charged Sundry berrels of Rum which were never purchased by or delivered to her, but were in fact sold to one John Casey," according to an excerpt of state laws.
Petitions dwindled by the late 1840s, though provisions for petitions remained in state statutes until 1925. Lambert wrote in a report, "One can only speculate that changes in the legislative process and the establishment of a larger bureaucratic structure in the executive branch provided a better means to address the needs and grievances of individuals and groups of citizens."
The process is historic, and quirky
article tools
Comments (2)
Share
No surprises here
Both of New Hampshire's Republican congressmen voted to repeal President Obama's health care reform.
Rep. Frank Guinta said the reform "exceeds the limits of the Constitution, places unfair and unrealistic burdens on small-business owners, inserts the government into your relationship with your family doctor, and sinks Washington even deeper into debt."
Rep. Charlie Bass said reform "has imposed burdensome mandates on individuals and small businesses, increased costs, and expanded bureaucratic control over our health care system."
Another lobbyist
The Granite State Fair Tax Coalition, which supports a "fairly levied" tax system, will now advocate for and against legislation. Until now, the coalition only focused on general education, not specific policies. Board President Laurel Redden said the change was prompted by specific proposals before the current Legislature, as well as the makeup of a Legislature that has committed to not raising taxes - and possibly cutting them.
One of the coalition's first targets will be defeating a constitutional amendment that would prohibit the implementation of a broad-based tax, like a sales or income tax. Otherwise, Redden said the group will oppose cuts to state revenue sources that will increase the budget shortfall.
"The loudest voices always had the bully pulpit, saying all you need to do is cut," Redden said. "We're trying to amplify the flip side, that you can do cuts and make efficiencies, but you have to figure out how you can meet the basic core needs of the state. You need to look at the revenue side of the budget, which no one seems willing to do."
Brunelle delay
The informational session with constitutional scholars, which developed out of a Republican attempt to oust Democratic Manchester Rep. Mike Brunelle from office on constitutional grounds, has been postponed from Jan. 27.
Meanwhile, after the unpopular reception the Brunelle issue got, Democrats were trying to keep it in the news last week. Deputy House Democratic Leader Mary Jane Wallner asked Republican leaders to sign an "open government pledge." Among the items: "Members of the Legislature will not attempt to remove other elected members of the General Court simply for offering a different viewpoint" - which is what Democrats contend Republicans did to Brunelle.
'Big trouble'
Attorney General Michael Delaney told the Executive Council that he is deciding whether to appeal a case regarding state hiring practices.
In November, a Merrimack County Superior Court judge ruled that the state must give laid-off state employees preference in being rehired into a more senior position, as long as the employee meets the minimum qualifications. The case centered on an employee of the Sununu Youth Services Center, but the ruling could have a significant impact on all the state's rehiring practices. Delaney argued that the ruling would allow a laid-off employee to "leapfrog" over everyone else for a promotion, whether or not the employee has appropriate management skills.
The discussion gave Councilor Ray Wieczorek, a Manchester Republican and frequent critic of the Sununu Center management, an excuse to ask Health and Human Services Commissioner Nick Toumpas what is being done about the problems there. Employees have complained about short-staffing, dangerous conditions and discrimination against union activists, while the Disability Rights Center criticized the center for using unnecessary force against children.
"You've already fired 32 players on the team, but the manager's still there," Wieczorek said. "Someone's going to be in big trouble (if an incident occurs), and you're at the top of my list."
Toumpas acknowledged, "I am ultimately responsible" and pledged to look into absenteeism and other problems.
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The process is historic, and quirky
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Meanwhile, Gov. John Lynch recently met with a dozen Sununu Center employees. According to the State Employees' Association, employees told Lynch that they were previously able to create a "stable, consistent and safe environment" for residents, but are facing challenges with fewer resources and new management.
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