As the current Chairman of the Advocates for the North Mill Pond, I must discuss our concerns about a project before the Pease Development commissioners. 

The Million Air group, a Texas company, proposes to build a paved road through a wetland to a new 90,000-gallon jet fuel farm which will also border wetlands that connect to Hodgson Brook and eventually the North Mill Pond. We in the Advocates have been trying to protect the pond for 25 years with plantings of eel grass, pond cleanups, water testing and removal of invasive species. Most people don’t realize that the pond is the lungs and heart of the city with a great variety of flora and fauna. Last year, we had a fuel spill on the Route 1 Bypass and it worked its way down to the end of Thornton Street and into the pond. A minor spill took months to clean up; imagine a 10,000-gallon fuel truck, having an accident on this new road.

Even though our Conservation Commission opposed this project, the NH Wetlands Bureau approved this permit. This is similar to Aristotle Onassis versus the Isles of Shoals and Durham all over again. We must protect our watershed and the North Mill Pond.

Just before July 4th my neighborhood streets were littered with literature from a white nationalist group calling themselves The Nationalist Social Club. The Nazi party was the National Socialist Party. 

Another neighborhood near mine was hit with flyers claiming “Every single aspect of mass immigration is Jewish.”  Around the same time the Union Leader reported on a flyer titled “Every single aspect of the covid agenda is Jewish.” In Kittery, an anti-Semitic white nationalist group showed up with signs trying to recruit new members.

Why did these groups choose to crawl out of the sewer and publicly advertise their message? I believe it is because Donald Trump made them feel welcome at his rallies. He called them “very fine people.” He called them to come join him on January 6. Why did they choose the July 4th holiday? I think it is related to the rally the Trump campaign held near the White House on January 5th. Most people know about the January 6th rally which led to the assault on the Capitol, but the January 5th rally featured speakers who openly called for violence that the campaign did not want on the same stage as President Trump. One speaker led the crowd in chanting “It’s 1776” over and over. 1776 was the start of our revolution to overthrow the government. The 4th of July celebrates that date in 1776.

I believe it is time for the Republican party to renounce these groups and Donald Trump’s association with them. Maybe then they will crawl back into the sewer where they belong.

Let's start with a simple fact.

Assault rifles are designed to kill or wound as many people as possible in the least amount of time possible. If they are available for purchase by almost anyone walking in off the street that person becomes capable of firing 30-60 bullets within seconds, and repeating that as quickly as they can reload…again, within seconds. These are not "defensive" weapons.

This has resulted within recent weeks in the deaths of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, 10 people shot and killed in a supermarket in Buffalo, 7 people killed and dozens wounded in Highland Park, 5 killed in Tulsa – the list goes on and on.

But suppose that type of weapon wasn't available for sale to civilians. Suppose that all a potential shooter could buy was a hunting rifle or a shotgun, possibly a handgun with limited firing capacity. These weapons are designed to fire fewer bullets within a given time period, with a more extended time period to reload. In other words, if semi-automatic or assault weapons were not sold on the open market there could still be shootings, but fewer people would have been killed and wounded in Uvalde, Parkland, Newtown, and the dozens of other locations where these attacks have occurred. It's entirely possible that, without being able to anticipate the drama and swagger of firing such killing machines, the gunman may never have contemplated the attack in the first place.

So the answer to preventing the high victim numbers of these incidents seems pretty obvious. Restrict the sale of these weapons to legitimate military programs. We did it once, we can…and should…do it again.

It's not a complete answer. We still need to focus on mental health programs, weapons safety education, police response training. But we owe it to our children. We owe it to our teachers. We owe it to law enforcement, to remove any further possibility of having anyone legally purchase one of these weapons.

We owe it to each other.

Infrastructure projects have been the bread and butter of the American economy for generations. At times of economic downturn, investments in infrastructure have provided jobs for many and paved the way for safer, more efficient transportation.

That’s why I was thrilled by Congressman Chris Pappas’s advocacy to pass the Bipartisan infrastructure bill. The package will bring in $1.5 billion to the Granite State to reinforce, strengthen, and build roads, bridges, and transit. It also brings in money to clean up our waterways and ensure access to clean drinking water moving forward. Overall, this infrastructure package ushered through by Congressman Pappas will bring in an additional $277 million in state GDP each year.

The Congressman’s success brought over $600,000 to Exeter alone. This money will be used to complete replacement of our wastewater syphons and pipes that cross under the Squamscott River serving the east side of town. Because of their age, sediment has built up and the pipes are cracked, leaking wastewater into the river. When our Federal delegation works to help us upgrade necessary infrastructure, I am always reminded that these dollars are our actually ours. Our federal income taxes are coming back to be spent in Exeter. Congressman Pappas did that for us.

What I’m most excited about, however, is that the bill does not stop at traditional investments in roads and bridges. Congressman Pappas and his colleagues were innovative – they are now investing in building out rural broadband and clean energy transmission. This forward thinking is exactly what we need in Congress. I know I can trust a smart, innovative thinker to deliver creative solutions to our home state. We need him to continue his great work for our state and people across the country.