Mayor Guinta vs Rep David Scannell
The Union Leader reported today that Major Frank Guinta has threatened the job of state rep David Scannell. From the story found here....
Someone needs to explain the Mayor Guinta what this bill actually does. The bill doesn't make drugs legal, it simply stops the government from wasting money on criminal procedures over a joint or two. .25 ounces to be exact.Mayor Frank Guinta has asked state Rep. David Scannell to resign as spokesman for the Manchester school district after Scannell voted Tuesday to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.
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"He's the face of the district," Guinta said yesterday. "He interacts with kids on a daily basis, and he is taking a position to decriminalize marijuana. That is counter to logic, in my view."
I can't see how voting to support a bill that would free up judges, police officers and save perhaps thousands in tax dollars by changing a penalty from a criminal procedure to a simple fine is taking a counter position to logic when it also comes to speaking to children about responsible behavior. Do teachers or school officials who enjoy a glass of wine with dinner or an occasional beer after work counter logic by also speak to children about waiting until they are legal age to drink and even then to drink responsibility?
Frank Guinta has been a good mayor so far and I would hope after thinking about this whole situation he backs down, marking this one down as a stupid comment on his part. We'll have to wait and see.
Richard Barnes
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http://www.wmur.com/news/15652017/detail.html
At the time of my posting this only 152 votes said yes while 1006 said no (and 37 don't cares).
Second, there are good reasons having to do with the unitended federal consequences of being found guilty under the current law. A kid foun d guilty cannot ghet federal student loans for college. More than 500 kids have lost student loans already in NH.
It is shocking, isn't it? Even more shocking is the fact that I agree with Mr. Naile on his post about Windsor's tax collection actions.
I read your longer blog on the Governor's and Mayor's reactions to the House vote, and pretty much agree with everything you say. These guys are in full campaign mode, so what they say and do is colored by how they think it will play in the newspapers.
What has sureprised me is the response of the people, at least as indicated by the on-line comments in the Union Leader and the poll they ran. It seems that for once the people "get it" and aren't in the mood to accept the anti-marijuana stuff being peddled by Lynch, Guinta, and the Union Leader.
Like yourself, I have teenage kids and accordingly I am not an advocate for drug use (nor a user, I hasten to add!). But I do know that kids experiment, and I would hate to have their natural curiosity rewarded by jail time. I also would hate to have the parents of my kids' friends come to me and say that their kids couldn't go to college because they were denied a federal college loan because they were caught with a joint. The punishment is all out of proportion to the crime.
Let's hope as fairly reasonable humans with the best interest of ourselves, of our families, friends and neighbors in mind we can begin working together towards common goals as inevitably, bad laws affect all people, not just a particular party. I on the other hand am not surprised to see issues crossing isles. I've only been jumping up and down yelling about there only being one major party anymore.
http://www.merrimackforum.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=4715
Only 25% favor keeping it illegal and they all agreed that the bill lessening the punishment was a good thing. The other 75% all favored making it legal to some degree with 50% choosing to allow people to grow and own as much as they wish.
It's not just "stoners" making the noise any more. It's respectable people within society saying enough already. Doesn't the fact that America willingly elected a president who has admitted to drug use and now the Democrat party is about to nominate a second candidate who has admitted to past drug use send a message that people don't care what others choose to put into their own body?