Meskhetian Turk refugees headed for Laconia home

[donsmith]

Open letter to the mayor of Laconia and People Of Laconia

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It seems to be a present issues that the State Department, Lutheran
Church and the City itself, is intent on accepting refugees. It is in my opinion that this should not be happing with out the peoples vote. I mean were does the State Dept, Church and city get off doing this without a vote. Manchester has suffered, by their own admittance, by taking in over 500 refugees and now they are looking to Laconia? Our services are already strained. Plus is the church or state department held accountable for the actions of these people once
the city takes them?? It seem like we do not have enough jobs for our
own people.

Why do we accept these people and what kind of government subsidies are
given?? I have heard that Portsmouth and Nashua is now a target for the
Lutheran Church to settle more.

I say let the church pay for all the cost!! And any legal issues that
arise from this!

Thank You Don Smith
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Meskhetian Turk refugees headed for Laconia home



LACONIA — City and school officials have been informed that upwards of
90 Russian-speaking Meskhetian Turks are slated to be resettled in
Laconia by a nonprofit refugee placement group working with the U.S.
State Department.

While the city has long been among the handful in the state to receive
people from around the world needing homes, officials have begun giving
thought to how they will handle services for the estimated 30 foreign
students that could be coming into the district to stay.

On Tuesday Superintendent Bob Champlin told the Laconia School Board
that the district welcomes any student, but will need to take a serious
look at an English for Speaker of Other Languages budget, from which a
teaching position was cut last year.

Ann Dancy of the Concord-based Lutheran Social Services of Northern New
England confirmed that Laconia is among a handful of New Hampshire
cities slated as a resettlement destination for dozens of Meskhetian
Turks. While the process of getting exit visas from Russia has been
slow, organizers say upwards of 90-100 people could be "trickling" in
over the next year.

"[The number of students] could be that high," said Dancy.

The non-profit agency is among two in the state that works with the
federal government's refugee program to place people who face
persecution in their own countries. Dancy noted that refugees are
different from immigrants in that they are people who must flee their
country after facing religious or political discrimination.

According to Lutheran Social Service Program Manager Amy Roach, the
United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees decides who qualifies as
refugees in countries all over the globe.

She said the commissioner's first preference in deciding a matter is to
see whether a given group can "repatriate" in its homeland with the
second choice being for the people to seek asylum in a neighboring
nation. However, in certain instances, varying factors contribute toward
a situation where a group cannot live freely or safely in its own nation
or one nearby, she said.

Such has been the case for the Meskhetian Turks — an Islamic group which
had been residing in southwestern Georgia until 1944, when then-Soviet
dictator Joseph Stalin had them deported to Central Asia where many died
from starvation and cold.

Dancy said debate continues as to whether they are ethnic Georgians who
adopted Islam or Turks who were part of the Ottoman Empire's expansion.

One thing that has little debate is that the Eurasian group is a people
without a true home.

In 1989 the Meskhetian people suffered a second time when they were
displaced by ethnic violence in Uzbekistan. There are several
populations that still remain to resettle and a stable area.

"Basically they are stateless and have been persecuted," said Roach.

Dancy said Laconia saw an influx of refugee resettlement in the 1990s,
but the trend slowed following the 9/11 attacks. Dancy added that most
refugees are resettled in Manchester, Concord, Franklin and Laconia.

Roach said the federal government provides approximately $400 per
refugee to help with the initial cost of housing, furniture and food,
with the Lutheran Social Services group providing additional money
through matching grants. Refugees are immediately eligible for many
federal programs that immigrants have no access to, such as Medicaid.

The students coming to Laconia will be enrolled in the local school
district just as any other child would.

Organizers of the resettlement effort say people should not assume the
group will be a drain on the community and its resources. Dancy said
studies have shown that most refugees who have moved to New Hampshire
have achieved 90 percent self-sufficiency within eight months of moving
here."Refugees are very resilient people ... they are survivors," said
Dancy. The refugees can apply for permanent residency after one year and
can apply to become full citizens after five years.

One challenge is placing Russian-speaking students in a school district
that last year cut funding for its program dedicated towards teaching
English to speakers of foreign languages. Champlin told the Laconia
School Board that it will need to take a hard look at the situation to
prepare for the students' arrival.

"This is a major initiative," said Champlin.

School Board member Beth Arsenault said that the exact method of
introduction of 30 students will not be fully understood until they
arrive and the district can see how they are spread throughout the 13
grade levels.

School Business Administrator Ed Emond said last year the district cut
its English for Speakers of Other Languages budget by one position, or
$46,000. The district had four teachers for people speaking foreign
languages, and now has three who work at Laconia High School, Memorial
Middle School and one that splits time between Pleasant Street School
and Woodland Heights.

Emond noted that the budget for such teachers is largely made up of
staffing costs, which currently run around $160,000 per year. Those
interested in helping with the refugee resettlement effort may contact
Lutheran Social Services Volunteer Coordinator Shelley Lathrop at
603-224-
8111 or via e-mail, slathroplssnorth.org. Those seeking more information
on Lutheran Social Services and their efforts can go their website at
www.lssnorth.org.