[fatlazyless]

Hey Rattlesnake Guy, while that's true for the NH Lottery, it was a national Powerball where Sen Gregg hit five out of six numbers on a five dollar, quik-pik at a Washington DC gas station on Oct 25, 2005, winning $850,000. Yes, he paid federal income taxes, and no there was no NH tax on it.

It's off-topic so how 'bout we just drop it.
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Laconia Daily Sun, Thursday, Jan 31, 08
By Chris Dornin
Golden Dome News

Big House majority backs Big Lake speed limits

CONCORD - The House voted 236-111 Wednesday to restrict boat speeds to 45 mph in the daytime on Lake Winnipesaukee and 25 mph at night. After a two-year experiment, those limits would sunset unless lawmakers renewed them. The bill would also list any boating violations on a driver's auto record.

Democrats favored the bill, which now goes to the Senate for action, 194-10. Several sponsors were Republicans, but their party generally opposed the bill 99-42.

The Belknap County delegation backed the bill by 10-6.

In its earliest draft, House Bill 847 capped lake speeds across the state permanently. Rep. Jim Pilliod (R-Belmont) the prime sponsor of HB 847, called the final version a major compromise. He said the idea for the bill came from a Gilford marina owner hurt by too many speeders. He was losing rental and boat-slip customers in his family-oriented market.

Several lawmakers noted the unprecedented lobbying campaigns from both sides.

Rep. Robert Theberge (D-Berlin) said most of the opponents he heard from live out of state and own summer cottages on the lake. He listened more to the residents and voted for the bill.

Rep. John Tholl (R-Whitefield) got bombarded too, even though most of the lakes up north are too small to worry about.

"The only one with any speed issues is the Moore Resevoir on the Connecticut River," Tholl said. "On Jericho Lake (in Berlin) you'd run out of water by the time you got up to planning speed."

Pilliod said he fielded a wave of nearly identical emails from opponents across the country. Then he got flooded with earnest and individualized messages from the in-state supporters. Then came a late salvo of "better thought out" e-mails from the other side.

"The opponents must have learned a lesson," Pilliod joked in his floor speech. "But I've been power boating since 1935, and I've never gone faster than 25. High speeds are fun for some at the expense of others' feelings of safety."

Rep. Pennington Brown (R-Epping) said a friend of his owns frontage on Squam Lake.

"A power boat cut an aluminum canoe in half," he said. "The bow and stern paddlers were startled."

Rep. Dan Itse (R-Fremont) told lawmakers he got an e-mail from a Marine Patrol officer saying the agency had received no reports of boating accidents involving speeds greater than 30 mph. Rep. Jim Ryan (D-Franklin) chairs the House Transportation Committee and said lawmakers received thousands of copies of that message.

"What it said isn't the whole truth," Pilliod noted. "I recall a family that bought some personal watercraft and played tag. The mother ran over her daughter and killed her."

Lieutenant Tim Dunleavy keeps accident data for Marine Patrol at its headquarters in Gilford. In an interview after the House session, he said there were 54 reported accidents across the state in 2007, and three were caused by speeding. That included one each on Lakes Ossipee, Tucker and Winnipesaukee. Nine of the accidents took place between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. Speed was a factor in only one of the 80 accidents in 2006, and it caused four of the 60 accidents in 2005.

"We have many accidents at speeds greater than 30 or 40 mph," Dunleavy said. "But it's usually a skier who falls and gets hurt or a tuber flipping over. Or a boat hits a wake and the passenger chips a tooth. It's speed-related if a boat doing 60 does a barrel roll and ejects people."

Rep. Bill Denley (R-Wakefield) offered an amendment to cap speeds only at night, when he said it's crazy to drive faster than 25 mph. Running lights look too much like shore lights.

"But a daytime speed limit is feel-good legislation," Denley said. "It won't make anyone safer. The lake is a busy, busy place, but high speeds are perfectly safe in a number of areas. Between Six Mile Island and Wolfeboro Neck on an un-busy day is one of them."

His motion died 260-83.

Rep Sherm Packard (R-Londonderry) argued against the bill as the former chairman of House Transportation. He said Marine Patrol officers clocked 3,852 boats on Winnipesaukee last summer, and only 91 were going faster than 41 mph.

"If we had that kind of compliance on the highways we could get rid of the State Police and save a lot of money," he said. "Let's not pass legislation to solve a problem that does not exist."

Pilliod said nobody expected large numbers of speeders with the cops watching.

"Even with the radar guns you had boats going 60 out there." he said.

Rep. Fran Wendelboe (R-New Hampton) represents Center Harbor and said the real problem is violations of the 150-foot rule and the boat-user restrictions near shore.

"We just need better boater training and a little more money for Marine Patrol in the busy season, especially on weekends," she said.

Rep. Alida Millham (R-Gilford) cosponsored the bill and said its time has come.

"I have a place on Mark Island," she said. "There's a gut between Mark and Timber islands. People speed through there all the time."

Rep. John Thomas (R-Belmont) suggested scrapping most of the bill and just recording a speeder's violation on their auto license.

Rep. Mike Whalley (R-Alton) warned the bill would tax Marine Patrol officers, who have authority to crack down on speeding now. Boats have to operate safely and leave no wake within 150 feet of shore and other vessels.

"The idea you can't swim or row on the lake is far fetched," he added. "I have a rowing scull and I use it on the lake every day."

Senators now are bracing for a barrage of orchestrated messages on one of the most divisive issues of the 2008 session. Sen. Joe Kenney (R-Wakefield) is co-sponsoring HB 847 and said a similar bill died in the upper chamber two years ago. He's hopefull this time. He toured the Meredith section of the lake two years ago wih a group of lawmakers. What they saw convinced them of the need for a speed cap.

"We got up to 45 mph and the wave action was enough to knock you out of the boat," he said. "At that speed you close on other boats fast. The state is going to have 300,000 more people by 2020. We have to learn to share our natural resources."
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Laconia Daily Sun
Chris Dornin, Golden Dome News



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This article should make the go-fasts jump for joy! So, how do you like them apples?

Hey, I think maybe this writer is a little biased in favor of the go-fasts. Shouldn't he be portraying the Democratic party as being totally objective and unbiased, and just a 'show me the facts' type of lawmakers!