Category: Avishay Artsy
Drug Benefits for Seniors May Be Key to N.H. Senate Victory
WASHINGTON, April 25–Seniors who have had to choose between the food on their plate or the pills that keep them healthy will be making another important choice this November, when the rise in health care costs promises to return as a key issue for New Hampshire voters in the upcoming U.S. Senate race.
Governor Jeanne Shaheen, the only declared Democratic candidate for Senator Bob Smith’s seat, testified this week (DATE) before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which began hearings on legislation to limit current patent protections for drug companies.
In her appearance before the U.S. Senate committee Shaheen said that rising health care costs ranks as the No. 1 issue in New Hampshire. “It’s the issue I hear the most about as I travel around the state, and the cost of health care is driven by the cost of prescription drugs,” she said.
Shaheen addressed the need to close loopholes in the 1984 Hatch-Waxman Act, which was created to spur generic drug competition and provide additional patent protection for research-based brand-name drugs. Hatch-Waxman allows generic drug manufacturers to get products to market once a brand’s patent expires, usually after 12 years, but also allows 30-month extensions if the brand-name company sues a generic manufacturer for infringement of its patent. Pharmaceutical companies have been criticized for manipulating the patent extension loophole by filing frivolous appeals to prolong drug patents and keep generic versions off the market.
Prescription drug spending went up 17 percent in 2001, and drug expenditures are expected to continue to increase by more than 12 percent per year over the next 10 years. It has been estimated that greater use of generics could save consumers $8 billion to $10 billion each year. For example, a prescription for the blood pressure drug Cardizem costs $1.45 per pill, compared to $.22 for the equally safe and effective generic version, a savings of 85 percent.
New Hampshire spent $41.7 million in 1996 on prescription drugs through Medicaid, but by fiscal year 2001 spending more than doubled to $88 million. Of the 17 brand-name drugs whose patents will expire within the next two and a half years, from the allergy pill Claritin to the depression relief drug Wellbutrin SR, an estimated 50 percent savings by marketing generic versions of those drugs would save $2.5 million for New Hampshire consumers, according to a study by the Business for Affordable Medicine coalition.
The problem disproportionately affects seniors; an AARP report shows that Americans 65 and older, who are eligible for Medicare and who represent 12.4 percent of the population, account for more than 40 percent of all drug spending.
In New Hampshire, a number of initiatives have been taken to offset health care costs for seniors: a recent program urging pharmacists to substitute generic drugs for brand-name ones where possible; creation of a tri-state purchasing pool with Maine and Vermont to acquire discounted drugs at a bulk rate; and distribution of pharmaceutical discount cards to seniors.
Last week the New Hampshire Senate voted unanimously for a bill crafted to bring down health care costs in the state. Prescriptions would be screened before being dispensed and generics substituted where possible, unless doctors specify that brand-name drugs are needed.
For low-income seniors in the Keene area, there are several pharmaceutical assistance programs that announce offers by drug companies of free or reduced-price medication. The Medication Assistance Program, run by the Cheshire Medical Center, serves as a “go-between” for finding special discount prices and helps seniors fill out the required paperwork. With more than 800 patients using the service, the total monthly savings are significant: $81,787 just this past February, according to Hayley Compos, the program’s coordinator. The program provides benefits similar to what is available on the Internet, but makes the process more comfortable for seniors who prefer one-on-one assistance.
But nothing comes easily in the struggle for senior assistance, because even after a qualified applicant requests a drug, it is uncertain it will ever arrive. “There are changes every day,” Compos said. “A pharmaceutical company can just say ‘I don’t feel like giving away this medication anymore,’ and they don’t have to notify me, and since it usually takes four to six weeks for medication to start arriving, I have no idea that it’s not going to be coming in.”
The lack of networking between small referral services around the state pushed Martha Bauman, a long-time advocate of prescription drug coverage, to start a statewide task force called the Monadnock Senior Advocates almost a decade ago. The group, she says, provides issue-oriented information such as a senior resource guide, develops partnerships with other senior service providers and hosts an annual event to honor the contributions of older residents.
Bauman says a major problem is that many seniors feel unable to improve a rapidly worsening scenario for medication users, though, she adds, as education increases, seniors are “becoming more politicized.” By empowering seniors, the group hopes to influence state health policy decisions.
Another recent initiative is the Medication Bridge Program, created two years ago by State Sen. Beverly Hollingworth, D-Hampton, which uses a software system to network 40 statewide pharmaceutical assistance programs and keep track of applications and provide technical assistance. More than 8,000 adults and children received an estimated $7.5 million in free medications in 2001 through the program.
The program’s director, Bernice Cameron, who also worked with the nonprofit Foundation for Healthy Communities to distribute informational pamphlets listing statewide assistance programs, communicates regularly with drug companies. “Everyone badmouths the pharmaceutical companies, but when we’ve appealed to them one-on-one, they’ve really bent over backwards to get assistance to the people who need it,” Cameron said. In 1999, pharmaceutical companies provided more than 2.7 million prescriptions valued at approximately $500 million for 1.5 million patients through patient assistance programs.
Though she considers the Bridge program a “Band-Aid solution” to the more important issue of securing federal financing for prescription drug coverage, she said it is a necessary service for New Hampshire seniors, especially in a state with less money collected from taxes and consequently fewer services than other New England states.
Some physicians believe that the assistance programs are not merely Band-Aid solutions, but can also create building blocks for a government consensus on how to make cheaper drugs available. “They’re trying to get their foot in the door now rather than deal with the government later on,” said Bill Siroty, an Amherst internist.
A major barrier to achieving a viable assistance program has been, for many administrators, the impossible burden of paperwork that the drug companies require. “It’s an administrative nightmare,” said Christine Spicher, Keene’s human services director.
Even for physicians, Siroty argues, current drug benefit plans are confusing and poorly managed. “As a doctor, I’ve seen that it’s become this patchwork quilt of different benefit plans run by different drug insurance companies, and it’s impossible to tell what plans patients are on,” he said.
With the population of seniors expected to double in the next 20 years, drug coverage is becoming critical. One interesting trend indicates that as insurance companies continue to cut drug coverage, and as Medicaid provides for the poorest among the elderly, soaring drug costs are now affecting the mid-range income level of seniors. “It’s become a middle-class problem,” said Steve Hahn, an AARP spokesman.
“Prescription drugs are everybody’s concern, whether you’re a senior or a single mom or working without insurance,” said Carmalina Nims, director of the Monadnock United Way.
Many New Hampshire seniors have even looked north to Canada for low-cost drugs, either organizing bus trips or ordering the medication on the Internet at often half the price in the United States. During the 2000 presidential campaign, some groups challenged candidates to “get on the bus” with seniors going to Canada to buy reduced-rate medications.
Next month, the Alliance for Retired Americans plans to send a bus from every state that borders Canada across the border to draw attention to the issue of affordable drug programs. “I promise you this, seniors will make it an issue in the November elections,” said Bette Cooper, the Alliance’s spokeswoman. “[Candidates] will face a very irate electorate that will be very vocalá. They will have things to say at the ballot box.”
In 2000, Congressman Charles Bass (R-NH) helped pass the Drug Import Fairness Act to prevent the Food and Drug Administration from improperly stopping the importation of safe and less expensive drugs manufactured abroad. Bass maintains that the price caps lead to higher prices in America, which has a free market in pharmaceuticals, by requiring U.S. taxpayers to subsidize the high cost of drug research while countries like Canada keep their drug costs artificially low through mandatory price controls.
Senator Smith also spoke in favor of the reimportation of prescription drugs. “That’s free trade, and if (seniors) can get them cheaper and wish to buy them cheaper, then absolutely” they should be able to buy their drugs from abroad, he said.
Shaheen, in her testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday, said that the reimportation of drugs from Canada was crucial to helping New Hampshire seniors obtain their medication. “Many of my constituents go across the border to buy their drugs, and the only difference is the price. I see it as an issue of fairness. Why can they get their drugs so much cheaper in Canada?”
A bill soon to be debated in the Senate to limit current patent protections for drug companies has the pharmaceutical industry up in arms. The bill’s sponsors, Senators John McCain, R-Ariz., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., say that their bill would speed the entry of generic drugs to the market and “achieve monumental savings for seniors and familiesáupwards of $71 billion over the next 10 years.”
Jeff Trewhitt, spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, says PhRMA is “adamantly opposed” to the bill, calling it “heavily tilted in favor of the generics industry.”
According to PhRMA, the number of generic drugs has tripled in the past 18 years, and of the generic drug applications submitted to the FDA for approval, 94 percent were given a “smooth transition,” Trewhitt said, while only a tenth of brand-name drugs ever enter the market. PhRMA contends that if Hatch-Waxman is amended, there will be less innovation, research and development of new drugs. Critics argue that the drug industry – America’s most profitable industry-spends more than $1.3 billion a year in advertising new brands, nearly double what it spends on research.
A number of bills to include a prescription drug benefit in Medicare have been introduced in the last few years. In June of 2000, both Congressmen Bass and John Sununu supported the Medicare Rx 2000 Act to guarantee voluntary prescription drug coverage, which narrowly passed the House. The plan promised to subsidize private insurance companies and health maintenance organizations to offer prescription drug coverage, which the insurance industry opposed, saying that it would be too expensive.
Last year’s prescription drug benefit plan, which would have provided $300 billion under Medicare, was defeated in the Senate. This year’s legislation would add an additional $50 billion, but advocacy groups say that amount is still inadequate. The Leadership Council of Aging Organizations argued that the $350 billion would cover, on average, only $2 out of every $10 beneficiaries will spend on prescription drugs. AARP spokesman Hahn said the bill would cover only basic costs and should include a “reserve fund” to help alleviate economic shocks as well as rising premiums.
“Our members are willing to pay for Medicare, but they want to see a good deal first,” Hahn said.
During the last session of Congress, Sununu co-sponsored a drug company-backed bill to extend patents on the allergy drug Claritin and seven other drugs and would have produced fewer generic options and higher prices.
Sununu supports pharmaceutical companies’ quests for patent extensions under the Hatch-Waxman act “if there was a delay in government approval of five years or more.” Though the legislation promises 20 years of patent exclusivity, most companies see only about 12 years of market time once the FDA approves the drug.
“Sununu has distinguished himself as a champion for the drug companies,” said Colin Van Ostern, communications director for the New Hampshire Democratic Party.
Senator Smith has voiced his support for the Schumer-McCain legislation. “I would be in favor of closing those loopholesá To extend those patents would not be in the interest of seniors,” he said, pointing out the difference between his stance and that of Sununu’s on closing the Hatch-Waxman loopholes. “I think there’s a huge difference between the two of us on prescription drugs. He favors extensions of patents, and I do not.” Sununu is challenging Smith for his seat in September’s primary.
Bass said he also supports manufacturing companies who seek patent extensions, within the scope of the law. “If for some reason a patent infringement took place, and an extension was permitted, the drug companies should have to justify or prove that the infringement existed,” he said.
Bass also warned that there should be a limit to how much Medicare can provide to seniors for pharmaceutical assistance. “This should not be a question of ‘see how much you can get,’ ” Bass said of senior advocacy groups that demand higher coverage. “Higher costs will make the premium higher, with the result that less people can afford it.”
With pressure from interest groups and senior constituents on the rise, many lawmakers expect a Medicare prescription drug benefit to be enacted by the end of the year.
“We’re expecting the House to act before Memorial Day,” Hahn said. In fact, both Sununu and Bass said they were committed to pushing legislation through this year.
Shaheen’s spokeswoman, Pamela Walsh, says the governor has written to each New Hampshire lawmaker to support a voluntary prescription drug plan under Medicare, and Shaheen said her opponents in November’s Senate race have not worked toward such a plan.
“They have not supported prescription drug benefits and efforts to lower the cost of drugs for people,” Shaheen said of Smith and Sununu.
The governor urged New Hampshire citizens to push for change by pressuring their representatives in Washington.
“What people can do is to lobby their congressional delegation and urge them to close those loopholes in Hatch-Waxman that keep people from having access to lower-cost generic drugs,” Shaheen said. “People are still going to have access to brand-name drugs, and if someone wants to spend more on their drug of choice, they can do that, but they should also have access to the generic drugs. It’s an issue of consumer choice.”
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire
Keene-born Sports Journalist Reflects on His Career
WASHINGTON, April 24--Steve Goff always knew what he wanted to do when he grew up. By the time he was 10, he was writing his own periodic sports magazine, which he sold to friends and relatives for a nickel a copy.
At 35, Goff, now the soccer editor for The Washington Post, has realized his dream and couldn't be happier with his job. A native of Keene, he got his start as a sports reporter at the Sentinel while in high school.
Goff played on his high school freshman soccer team, but even then his passion for writing about sports overcame his desire to compete in them. Because there was no Keene High School newspaper, Goff presented his services to the Sentinel.
"I asked them if they needed help, because it's obviously a small staff, and offered to shoot pictures and write stories," he said.
He arrived at the newsroom by seven every morning, where he would write a story before leaving for his first class at nine. Weekends and summers were spent covering American Legion baseball games and soccer matches.
By his sophomore year at American University, Goff was sports editor of his college paper, The Eagle. In the fall of 1985 the Eagles, AU's soccer team, went to the NCAA playoffs, providing Goff his first introduction to professional sports writing.
At about the same time, he began working part-time at the Post, answering phones and covering high school sports and college soccer. He proved his abilities as a reporter and editor, eventually moving up to the full-time staff.
"I love to write, and I want to keep writing," he said. "I've found a niche, and because of that niche, the Post soccer coverage is probably the best in the country, and it's good to know I play a large part in that."
For the Love of the Sport
While attending a media luncheon at the start of the 1992-93 basketball season, Goff met Karen Goldberg, a reporter from The Washington Times, the Post's local daily competition. She had also been the sports editor for her college newspaper, and they were both covering George Washington University basketball games for their papers. They soon started dating. Despite Goff's initial apprehension that dating a writer from the local competition would hurt his chances for a promotion, they maintained their relationship and a year and a half later were married.
"It was a little strange," Goff said. "People were always saying to us, 'You work for the Post, you work for the Times, you must have a nice house rivalry.'"
Goff noted that marrying a fellow journalist is far from unorthodox; bureau reporters and foreign correspondents are often found in pairs. A mutual understanding of the profession's rigorously long hours for relatively low pay is crucial to the relationship, he explained.
"If you don't have a passion for the business, then there's not much reason for being in it. You're not going to make a million dollars, and it involves working on weekends and nights - it's not an easy life," he said. "It helps to be married to someone who knows how it works and shares the same passion."
After the birth of their son, Ryan, now 5 and a budding soccer player, the new mother decided to forego the traveling that goes along with sports writing. She opted instead to shift her career from the sports page to the family section, where she writes on health and medicine from their home in Reston, Va., a 20-minute drive from Washington.
Goff is typically at the Post from 5 P.M. until 1 A.M, helping to edit the newspaper's four editions, a demanding schedule but one he prefers.
"I couldn't function in a nine-to-five business suit world. It would be uncomfortable for me," Goff said. "I like consistency. I know when I'll be in the office, which is good when you're married and have a kid."
The World's Game
It's a crisp spring day at RFK Stadium. Goff is observing a scrimmage between the local Major League Soccer team DC United and the team's younger opponents from American University. He is positioned at the border of the field, hands clasping a tape recorder, notepad and pen behind his waist. "It's a lot of standing," Goff says, lifting one hand to shade his eyes. The youngest DC United player, Justin Mapp, 17, rushes past in a blur of red and white, the team's colors, and takes aim at the net.
"Goal," the reporter says softly, as the ball cuts through the air amidst a tangle of limbs and acrylic uniforms.
Goff's copy chief at the Post, Karl Hente, calls Goff "mellow" but adds that he still surprises his co-workers with his passion for the sport. "His intensity is fairly quiet," Hente said.
A long-time friend, Ridge Mahoney, a senior editor for the weekly magazine Soccer America, explains Goff this way: "He's not the most garrulous person. He has a great sense of humor but in a subtle kind of way, and he's far more laid back than other guys who cover soccer, the ones who live on the edge. He's not a wild-eyed enthusiast who only sees the positive in the sport. He sees the difficulty of growing the sport in this country."
Indeed he does. The game received a much wider audience in America when the 1994 World Cup was held in this country, but having traveled to nearly every Central American nation and all through Europe to cover soccer, Goff knows how important the game is in other cultures, compared to the United States.
"International soccer needs to be experienced," he says. "The game, the sport, the team means so much to the people that support it. Soccer for the most part is the world's game. It's not like that to the U.S. and it probably never will be, but to the rest of the world it's everything. The pageantry, the intensity, the rivalry, the emotions, it's all part of it. It's not just what's on the field. There's a whole circus going on around the game."
"That's one reason I've grown to love it," Goff continues. "Americans see it as dull, and it can be, but there's an awful lot of dull baseball games and NBA games. In it's context, soccer can be the most spectacular and exciting sport in the world."
Beginning next month, Goff will spend six weeks in Korea and Japan, covering the World Cup for the Post. In the long run, he hopes to lend his sports writing talent to a literary work, an ode to his passion and his profession.
"My ultimate ambition someday is that I'd like to write a book. I'd pick 11 places in the world, because there are 11 players on a team, where soccer means so much in the life of the people," and the soccer-worshipping citizens of cities like Glasgow and Buenos Aires would make up the chapters of the book, he said.
Though Goff has no intention of taking a time-out from covering soccer in the near future, he said the book would be a great thing to pursue. In writing it he hopes to change the way Americans perceive the game.
"International soccer transcends sport. It's about culture, society, race. It means more than just kicking a ball around."
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire
Chris Hansen, Peterborough Native and Washington Lobbyist, on Starting Over After 50
WASHINGTON, April 24--Seniors gained a strong new lobbying voice on Capitol Hill earlier this month when Peterborough native Chris Hansen, a former Boeing Co. executive, signed on as director of advocacy for AARP, the country's most-powerful interest group for elderly concerns.
Hansen, 53, retired last summer as senior vice president of government relations at Boeing, the country's largest airplane supplier. But after less than a year of being "intensely bored" in retirement, he accepted a high-profile position with the nonprofit organization AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons). Hansen could pass as the poster image of an AARP member: independent, active and willing to start anew after 50.
Hansen's newly created post makes him not only the organization's chief lobbyist on Capitol Hill but also gives him responsibility for overseeing state, grassroots and elections advocacy for AARP's 35 million members. His position will make him a key voice in Washington on issues such as Medicare reform and prescription drug coverage, Social Security solvency and such consumer protection issues as predatory mortgage lending and telemarketing fraud.
Born in Boston in 1948, Hansen spent his childhood shuttling between Needham and Belmont, Mass., and Peterborough, where he lived from age 9 to 17, while his father managed the W.W. Cross manufacturing plant in Jaffrey.
What Hansen misses most about Peterborough, he says, is the community atmosphere. His childhood memories include weekly church dinners, pitching for the Peterborough Micros baseball team, attending Boy Scout meetings and trout fishing with his father.
While working in Washington, D.C. for Boeing, Hansen never forgot his New Hampshire roots. When the Export-Import Bank of the United States, an independent federal agency which helps support American exports, faced potentially steep budgetary cuts, he told a reporter for The Wall Street Journal that the budget cuts would not only hurt big businesses such as Boeing but would also exact a heavy toll on small businesses and communities. For example, the Micro Ball Bearing plant in Peterborough (now NH Ball Bearing), at the time the city's largest employer, would have lost a large share of revenue if Boeing, its biggest customer, scaled back its orders.
"I got very emotionaláheck, I used to play for the Micros. I understand what that means for small communities," Hansen said.
Elizabeth Schwartz, a colleague of Hansen's for over 15 years, said the lobbyist's respectful manner was never affected by his powerful position. "Chris didn't get caught up in the power culture of Washington, D.C. He was always very respectfulá something I think he developed from growing up in a small town in New Hampshire."
Early on in his career, Hansen's mother would call every year to ask what his new job position was, responding, "you make it sound like you're a lobbyist or something." "As though it were a bad thing," Hansen laughed, but he admitted that his mother was embarrassed to mention it to friends in her bridge club. He recognizes that the general public "has a phenomenally negative" view of lobbyists, but he admits some of that distrust is well founded. But there are many kinds of lobbyists, Hansen argues, including those that advocate what they consider to be good public policy, such as the issues addressed by AARP.
Hansen believes that his newest post fits well with his experience at Boeing, because "in my mind I was working for the people in both cases." By opposing European Union subsidies for Airbus, the European civil aircraft manufacturer and Boeing's principal competitor, he was defending American businesses and jobs, he said. He admitted, however, "that was more true of some issues than others."
Hansen got his start in lobbying unintentionally while reaching out to his Congressional representatives as a political science undergraduate at the University of Denver during the politically volatile decade of the 1960s.
"I can remember political science professors encouraging us to go on strike, and I didn't want to go on strike," he said. "What I did want to do is I wanted to express my views on some things, and I started becoming a big letter writer to Senate offices and congressional offices and started thinking of how to really get involved."
After completing his graduate studies at the American Graduate School of International Management and after a short stint working for a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, Hansen arrived in Washington in 1974, where he represented a group of 20 major international businesses before Congress and the Nixon and Ford administrations while simultaneously helping to direct a small international business trade association.
The next year Hansen joined General Dynamics Corp. and was soon promoted to corporate director, Washington affairs, in which post he managed daily operations in the Capitol and in field offices nationwide.
In May 1986, Hansen joined the Boeing congressional affairs office, where he held a number of positions and worked on issues ranging from space exploration to civil aeronautics. "I was basically stretched all over the place like a dog's breakfast," he said.
Of all Hansen's achievements at Boeing, he is proudest of how he was chosen by the company's senior leadership to lead the consolidation of the Washington offices of Boeing, McDonnell Douglas Corp., North American Rockwell Corp. and Hughes Aircraft Co., Boeing's former competitors and now its subsidiaries, into a cohesive organization.
"It was actually a very good process, pulling people together who were used to competing with each other, into a teamáit really worked, people really came together," he said.
During his tenure at Boeing, Hansen worked on developing relationships with Congressional members and their staff, engendering their trust and respect, and proving himself as a nonpartisan, reliable and honest representative of Boeing's business interests.
Doug Badger, chief-of-staff for Washington State Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn, worked with Hansen on several Boeing projects. "It always helps to have somebody you respect and who has credibility on both sides of the aisle and on both sides of the Capitol, somebody you can trust to put together a carefully thought-out and coordinated legislative strategy," Badger said of Hansen.
Denny Miller, a close friend and colleague, said Hansen's likeability was a necessary element of his success as a lobbyist. "This city is still 90 percent personality and 10 percent substance, and if you're not able to get in the door to sell a product, you're certainly not going to complete a sale," Miller said.
After more than 15 years at Boeing, Hansen decided to take an extended break, but after a few months spent consulting for friends and playing sports, he was ready to begin working again. "I had no idea what I was going to do, butáI was convinced that I was young enough that I could do something different and that I was still young enough to have a career ahead of me and I could learn something new," he said. "I guess it's a little bit of an unusual thing to do."
Hansen lives in Reston, Va., a Washington suburb, with his wife, Linda, 54, an artist, and their dog, Blue. After his two children, Erik, 21, and Jenny, 19, moved out to attend state colleges, Hansen and his wife have been working on building an art studio for her. She is preparing a gallery exhibit.
Hansen visits friends in Keene and Peterborough regularly, though most of his family members now live in Maine. When he does retire, he hopes to improve his golfing abilities, and find a waterfront home in a small town resembling Peterborough.
"I miss the lifestyle," he said. "We didn't lock our doors, people took care of each other and it was a much more stable environment. It was a big deal when somebody moved away, and I think by and large most of the people I grew up with still live there. There's a continuity in the lifestyle there that I appreciate."
Hansen sees his role in AARP as a personal mission as well. Since he has moved into the age group of those he represents on Capitol Hill, he says, he can easily relate to issues such as social security and health care.
"Our whole system is based on the fact that if you work and you do certain things along the way that there will be a retirement, and there will be medical security, and that you will be able to afford prescription drugs when you need them," Hansen said. "I think that's the promise of America."
The most enjoyable aspect of Hansen's new career is his conviction that he is having a positive impact on many people's lives.
"My favorite thing about what I do right now is that I can wake up in the morning and believe that I'm involved in a pursuit where I'm trying to help people. I really think I can make a difference here."
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire
Keene Protesters March On Washington
WASHINGTON, April 20--Tens of thousands of people arrived in tour buses at the U.S. Capitol Friday night and yesterday morning, but rather than coming to see the cherry blossoms, they arrived to decry the U.S. government's war on terrorism. And wedged in between people from all across the country were Erik Gillard and Nick Pumilia, students at Keene High School.
They and at least 150 other protesters arrived from New Hampshire, organized through groups such as Peace Action and the American Friends Service Committee. By noontime they had joined the thousands who had gathered for the weekend to protest corporate globalization, U.S. policy in the Middle East, and the drug war in Colombia, among numerous other issues.
Gathered near the Washington Monument, New Hampshire activists watched as hip-hop artists, fiery orators, and a singing group known as the "Raging Grannies" offered political commentary and entertainment. Meanwhile, volunteers with Food Not Bombs distributed day-old pastries and salad from local restaurants.
Dan "The Bagel Man," who helped found the group in Boston more than a decade ago, greeted activist friends and served food, "because if the people are hungry, we have to feed them, so they have energy to march," he said.
And march they did, thousands of demonstrators with signs and puppets, down Pennsylvania Avenue and toward the U.S. Capitol. Helicopters hovered overhead while police officers, wielding batons and shields, cordoned off several city blocks for the rally.
The police presence was far less conspicuous than at the demonstrations held in Washington, D.C. two years ago to oppose the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. The violence, tear-gas and mass arrests of protesters that marred those demonstrations was also absent from yesterday's events.
The protesters that arrived from New Hampshire came in all ages.
"A lot of the time, older people tend to be more patriotic, but I'm glad to see a bridge between generations," said Nick Pumilia, 17, a junior at Keene High School.
However, Pumilia expressed frustration with the apathy of other teenagers. "It's daunting to think that the generation responsible for reinventing society is already so absorbed in the established culture," he said.
Many younger protesters were convinced their presence in Washington would change public policy.
"[President] Bush could be in the White House right now, shaking his head and seeing what effects his decisions are making," said Will Nallett, 18, from Chesterfield, who became politically active while trying to help Keene High School implement a recycling program.
While the protests could be seen from the White House, President Bush would not be looking out his window. Bush was spending the weekend at Camp David in Maryland.
The protests in Washington are a larger-scale version of the weekly peace vigils that have been held throughout New Hampshire since September 11th. Ed Bowser, 50, who began in October to organize vigils in Henniker, said that though the general response was supportive, "occasionally somebody stops by to tell us what we're doing is wrong, and we talk about it, but you can see the fear in their eyes because of what happened on September 11th, and how the government turned that fear into anger," which fueled popular support for the current war on terrorism, Bowser contended.
Many New Hampshire protesters expressed frustration with the U.S. support of Israel in the current Middle East conflict, and said that the "war on terrorism" unfairly targeted Palestinian civilians. "If anything, it's made the degree to which people suffer from all aspects of war a lot more clear to people," said Arnie Alpert, 47, coordinator of the Concord chapter of the American Friends Service Committee.
One of the students who came to protest was Maria Damato, 17, president of her senior class at Keene High School, and who helped organize a concert with the New Hampshire Hemp Council to support the decriminalization of marijuana. Damato reached out to other students last month to oppose on-campus military recruiters at Keene High School.
Damato said that her father, a Vietnam veteran, and her mother, the campus minister at Keene State College, raised her to "love life, then do your homework," she said. Active in her church, she traveled to El Salvador last year to help rebuild a village affected by an earthquake.
Another student organizer, Erik Gillard, 17, said his classmates were receptive to their ideas "if you get them in a comfortable situation where they're willing to listen." Soft-spoken, with long dreadlocks and rolled-up cargo pants, Gillard worked as an intern at an organic farm in Stoddard last summer, where he became interested in issues like genetic engineering and rainforest conservation.
Several students attributed their political ideas to the influence of their teachers. Two well-loved teachers to be precise: Tim and Brenda Dunn, English professors at Keene High School, who met while protesting the Gulf War at a peace vigil in Boston a decade ago.
"I think it's easier for kids to understand the two sides of the coin than for adults," said Tim Dunn, 62, president of the teacher's union and an army veteran. Clad in a camouflage fatigue jacket adorned with a bronze medal and a button of Albert Einstein, Dunn defended his use of left-leaning essays in his classes, even if parents disagree with his lessons. "That's why they send their kids to school," Dunn said. "If I wasn't changing people, I wouldn't be teaching them."
Dunn's military experience furthered his pacifist ideas.
"I don't think shooting at each other is the way to solve things, I just don't," Dunn said with a shrug, while his wife Brenda, 55, agreed. They both see themselves as role models for their students. "There's so much inside them you can help them discover," she said.
Other demonstrations are planned for today and Monday near the Washington Monument grounds and outside of the Washington Hilton, the site of a pro-Israel lobbying group's annual conference.
Police officials said the crowds were larger than they had anticipated and put the number at about 75,000. Metro transit officials said ridership increased significantly Saturday, but estimates would not be available until today. Organizers of the Palestinian-rights rally at the Ellipse said the gathering was the largest demonstration for Palestine in U.S. history.
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire
Smith Co-Sponsors Terrorism Victims’ Access to Compensation Act
WASHINGTON, April 16--U.S. Senator Bob Smith, R-N.H., introduced legislation yesterday that would allow victims of state-sponsored terrorism, like William Van Dorp of Kingston who was held hostage by the Iraqis during the Gulf War, to receive compensation from the frozen or blocked assets of those countries.
Smith co-sponsored the bipartisan Terrorism Victim's Access to Compensation Act with U.S. Senators Tom Harkin, D-IA, George Allen, R-VA, John Warner, R-VA and Hillary Clinton, D-NY.
"Our nation is at war against terrorism, " Smith said at a news conference yesterday, "and this is just one more tool to let the terrorists know they are going to be held responsible in many ways, and certainly compensating the victims is one of those ways."
Van Dorp, 50, a native of North Carolina who was living in Kingston prior to the time of the Gulf War, was working as an English language instructor to the Kuwaiti Air Force when Iraqi armed forces invaded Kuwait in August of 1990.
He was taken into custody as the only American among sixteen other hostages, held at a fertilizer refinery for four months where he was forced to eat food contaminated by pesticides, and lost 35 pounds from malnutrition.
When he was contacted in December of last year to join a class-action lawsuit against the Republic of Iraq and Saddam Hussein by other victims of Iraq before the Gulf War, he expressed initial doubt the case would succeed, but decided to file a statement as a plaintiff and pursue $100,000 to $200,000 in lost income.
Upon his return to the United States, Van Dorp said he spent several years in therapy, suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, consequently losing custody over his five children to his ex-wife.
Under the proposed legislation, which Smith called "long overdue," Van Dorp and other victims of state-sponsored terrorism would receive compensation from the estimated $2.3 billion in Iraqi frozen assets, or the six other "terrorist states" designated by the U.S. Department of State, which include Iran, Libya, Syria, Sudan, North Korea and Cuba.
Currently, the U.S. government actively opposes the use of blocked or frozen assets to pay court-ordered compensation. Rather than having American taxpayers compensate the victims of terrorism, Smith argued, the states responsible for the terrorism should be punished by tapping their frozen assets.
"Saddam Hussein, ironically, as recently as this month, had offered $25,000 to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers," Smith said, "and the State Department's excuse for not supporting us on this is that if they want to do it, they want the liberty of negotiating with the Iraqis. I say come on now, let's get real.
"Our diplomatic efforts to change these countries have fallen on deaf ears. It's time that these countries compensate. We have the assets seized; let's give them to those people that deserve them," Smith added.
Smith is also working on behalf of Jeffrey Ingalls of Woodstock, who was held hostage as a passenger during the 1985 Lebanese hijacking of TWA flight 847 in Beirut. A New Hampshire couple, Claranne and Talmadge Ledford, were teachers in Kuwait who were also taken hostage by Iraq and are plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the Iraqi government.
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire
NH Spending Labeled Pork
WASHINGTON, April 09--Members of Congress were accused of "porking out" during the past fiscal year, with yesterday's release of the 2001 Congressional Pig Book. New Hampshire, with almost $100 million appropriated for various projects, was ranked the 11th highest pork-receiving state on a per capita basis.
The Pig Book, produced by the Washington-based non-profit group Citizens Against Government Waste, revealed an increase in so-called pork-barrel spending on a state-by-state basis.
At a press conference yesterday, Senator John McCain, R-AZ, whose 2000 presidential primary campaign focused largely on the elimination of pork spending, criticized fellow Congressmen for circumventing the appropriations process to "earmark" funds for their state's projects.
"Any project that is inserted into a federal appropriation without the budgetary process or the appropriations process is pork," said Sean Rushton, the media director for Citizens Against Government Waste. He called the unauthorized earmarks "items that individual members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees add illegally to the appropriations billá and tend to be frivolous uses of taxpayer dollars or kickbacks to interests in their home state."
The report defines pork spending broadly, requiring an earmarked appropriation to meet only one of the organization's seven criteria. As a result, many of the appropriations are listed as pork simply for having been added in after the presidential budget was approved.
The number of earmarks added to appropriations bills has skyrocketed in the past few years, Rushton said. Appropriators inserted 8,341 projects into the 13 appropriations bills, an increase of 32 percent over last year's total of 6,333 projects, costing taxpayers an estimated $20.1 billion.
Among New Hampshire projects labeled "pork" were the downtown Keene ice arena ($140,000), the cleanup of the Industrial Heritage Corridor Brownfields in Keene ($500,000), and funds for a wastewater treatment facility in Jaffrey ($1,000,000).
U.S. Senator Judd Gregg, R-N.H., secured the funds to assist restoration of the Keene Brownfields through his position as ranking member of the Senate Commerce Appropriations Subcommittee.
"I don't see it as pork at all. We're bringing the property back into full use, versus having urban sprawl and the abandonment of downtown areas," Keene city manager John MacLean said. "You might think it's pork-barrel spending, but it's not."
Tom Rodenhauser, director of the Monadnock Ice Center Association, defended the appropriation of federal funds to build and operate the proposed Keene ice arena. "We're building a community ice rink, and to anyone against providing opportunities for kidsá I wouldn't call this government waste; I mean it's laughable. This is community redevelopment."
Last year's report marked New Hampshire as the 13th highest pork spender on a per capita basis, two spots lower than this year. Though the report suggests the state is increasingly wasting taxpayer money, some see it as a sign of New Hampshire's strong congressional advocacy.
"This is a clear indication of how effective the New Hampshire delegation is, and how worthy the projects are that are submitted, and how well-prepared and capable the people of New Hampshire are," said Congressman Charles Bass, R-N.H., who assisted in securing the grant to build the Keene ice rink.
Congressman John Sununu, R-N.H., who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, defended the federal role in mandating funds for local projects.
"I think that simply because a member of Congress makes a request for a local priority, it doesn't mean funding isn't going to be well used or that it's not well-spent," Sununu said. "I think every project needs to stand on its own merits."
The group contends that if congressional delegates seek funds for projects in their home states, it should be done through the proper authorization and budget process and not in conference committees.
"We don't say that it's wrong for members of the House and Senate to fight for their local and state interests, but they should be forced to do it in a transparent way, in a fair way that guarantees that there's at least a certain amount of accountability when public money gets spent," Rushton said.
Senator Gregg said he would "continue to support and fund worthwhile projects in New Hampshire."
"To rephrase the words of Daniel Webster," Gregg said in a statement, "'It is, sir, as I have said, a small state. And yet there are those of us who love it!'"
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire
Senate OK’s Campaign Finance Reform Bill
WASHINGTON, March 20--The U.S. Senate voted yesterday to reform the nation's campaign finance laws after nearly a decade of gridlock. The Shays-Meehan-McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform act passed by a vote of 60-40, with Senators Bob Smith, R-N.H. and Judd Gregg, R-N.H. voting against the bill.
Smith and Gregg also voted earlier yesterday against a motion to end debate on the bill and move to a final vote. That cloture motion carried, 68-32. Both Senators previously voted against the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill, which the Senate approved last April.
"This legislation raises serious First Amendment concerns regarding limitations on free speech and political discourse," Smith said in a statement yesterday. "Full disclosure, not limitations on free speech, is the right kind of campaign finance reform."
Smith added, "I am also concerned that this bill hurts average Americans by limiting grassroots politics and by prohibiting the advocacy groups they support from fully representing their views."
Gregg referred to the bill as "a very poor piece of legislation" and "an affront to the First Amendment."
"[The bill] dramatically tilts the playing field away from parties and toward special- interest groups," Gregg added.
The legislation will now be sent to President George W. Bush, who is expected to sign it. Ten years ago his father, President George H.W. Bush vetoed campaign finance legislation that would have provided partial public financing for political candidates.
The House approved the Shays-Meehan bill last month by a vote of 240-189. John Sununu, R-N.H., voted against the bill and Charles Bass, R-N.H., supported it.
"[Congressman Bass] is hopeful that it passes the Senateáand is signed into law by the President," press secretary Sally Tibbets said yesterday before the final Senate vote.
Bass was one of the final four House members to sign a discharge petition forcing a House vote on the reform bill
"We wouldn't have a vote today if not for Charlie Bass," said the House bill's co-sponsor, Christopher Shays, R-CT. "He was huge, and he's been here for us for a long time."
At a news conference yesterday following the cloture vote, reform supporters heralded the end of what Arizona Senator John McCain called a "seven-year odyssey."
"I hope every young person feels more welcome at the table of American politics," said Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold, McCain's co-sponsor.
The reform legislation would ban unregulated "soft money," which corporations, labor unions and individuals may now contribute to national political parties. But it would permit limited soft-money contributions to state and local parties. The measure would restrict the use of soft money to finance "issue ads" by interest groups broadcast during the 60 days before a general election and the 30 days before a primary. The bill would also increase individual contributions to candidates from $1,000 to $2,000 per election, or $4,000 per election cycle.
Opponents questioned the constitutionality of the bill's advertising restrictions, saying that they would silence free speech.
"As far as we're concerned, legislated restrictions on political speech are unconstitutional," said Ian Welters, communications director for the American Conservative Union. "Political speech, as an idea, is protected by the First Amendment."
"We think full disclosure is, of course, the obvious way to go," said Charles McGee, executive director for the New Hampshire Republican Party. "I think [this bill] will eventually be seen as Congress overstepping its bounds in terms of limiting free speech."
Supporters have argued that the bill would not restrict free speech because it would permit ads paid for with limited "hard-money" contributions.
"New Hampshire voters clearly care about this," said Colin van Ostern, communications director for the New Hampshire Democratic Party. "McCain made that clear when he won in the New Hampshire primary by 20 points campaigning almost solely on that issue." Van Ostern characterized Smith and Gregg's votes against the measure as "shameful."
Three New England Republicans: Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine joined eight other Republicans and Independent James Jeffords of Vermont in voting for the measure.
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire
Smith Takes Segway to the Sidewalks
WASHINGTON, March 20--The Segway vehicle received a helping hand from U.S. Sen. Bob Smith, R-N.H., yesterday when he introduced legislation that would allow the Segway and other motorized devices to be used on federally funded walkways and paths.
Several states, including New Hampshire, have already passed legislation allowing the Segway onto local and state-funded sidewalks. In February, Governor Jeanne Shaheen signed into law an act allowing such devices, referred to as "electric personal assistive mobility devices" to be used on sidewalks and public ways, and also created a task force to study how it would impact pedestrians.
Smith's bill would only give states the authority to lift prohibition of the Segway from federally funded sidewalks, but does not seek to affect state or local ordinances.
Smith is a ranking member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which has jurisdiction over transportation legislation.
Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, has spent months lobbying members of Congress and federal transportation officials to treat the vehicle like a motorized wheelchair and allow it onto public sidewalks. Smith expects to continue working closely with Kamen while seeking support from fellow members.
Currently, both the Manchester Police Department and the United States Postal Service use the Segway in their daily line of work. Smith suggested it can also be used as a recreational vehicle, and emphasized the battery-powered vehicle's energy efficiency and minimal environmental impact.
In a statement supporting Smith's bill, Kamen stated yesterday that "the Segway [Human Transporter] is both safe and has the potential to become an important alternative transportation solution that could help solve many of the pressing problems facing urban transportation around the world."
"What this does is remove a potential conflict that might exist between state law and federal law, as regards to Segway," said Brian C. Toohey, vice president of international and regulatory affairs for Segway LLC, the company founded by Kamen to design and market the Segway vehicle, which is manufactured in Bedford.
New Hampshire traffic officials have expressed support for the Segway, saying it could reduce traffic congestion and pollution.
"Down the road there probably will be issues that need to be addressed, but at the moment we are supportive of any and all efforts to increase people's mobility and make the Segway a viable transportation alternative," said Bill Boynton, a spokesman for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation.
Though Smith has not personally taken the Segway on a test run, Kamen demonstrated the vehicle for him in Manchester and Concord, and Smith said he expects the vehicle will "broaden the horizons of people's personal mobility."
The Senate committee's press secretary, Genevieve Erny, said that at least three-quarters of sidewalks are locally funded, with the rest receiving funding from either the state or federal government.
"A number of states have pending legislation regarding the Segway, and this gives them power to use federally funded sidewalks," Erny said.
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire
A Clash of Concerns Over Keene Bypass
WASHINGTON, March 14--Deliberations on the redesign of highway intersections along the Route 101 east-west corridor have stalled several construction projects, according to New Hampshire Department of Transportation officials.
Citizens groups and conservationists have been debating with highway engineers over the design of a number of intersections in the $60 million Keene-Swanzey Bypass Expansion Project, citing environmental and aesthetic problems with the current designs for the intersections along Route 101 south of Keene.
"To stay it's stalled right now is probably accurate," said Bill Boynton, a spokesman for the Department of Transportation. "We need to hear from the leadership of the city of Keene."
Concerned Cheshire Citizens, a local advocacy group for highway reform, has touted the merits of using circular traffic intersections, known as roundabouts, to contend with the highway's increasing traffic flow.
"I looked at the New Hampshire Department of Transportation's design for the highway around Keene, and it seemed to me to be way over-built and over-designed," said Rebecca Todd, an environmental lawyer who became active with the group several years ago.
Annie Faulkner, the group's president, agrees that the department's designs "tend to be big and expensive."
"They want to have a free-flow system, yet the system they've designed has lots of stops. They say it's a hybrid system, but I would think that in a hybrid system roundabouts would be compatible," she said.
According to Todd, roundabouts work well because they "move people safely and have a smaller environmental and aesthetic impact" than traditional traffic light intersections.
"Roundabouts don't need bridges, and they move traffic more efficiently and quickly than traffic signals," Todd said. Furthermore, concerns that Keene drivers may not be ready for roundabouts would be irrelevant because "a well designed roundabout will teach you how to drive it."
Jeff Porter, a senior planner with the Southwest Region Planning Commission, said the views of many planners toward roundabouts have warmed with time.
"Most of us who weren't highway engineers didn't realize how roundabouts are useful for suburban applications," he said. "They work really well in those circumstances."
Roundabouts have also received a thumbs-up from Mayor Michael E. J. Blastos, who endorsed them for being aesthetically superior, for being "user-friendly" once drivers become accustomed to them and for providing "greater flexibility and maneuverability."
"I think the Council as well as myself have ascertained that we favor the use of them wherever possible and whenever possible," Blastos said.
The proposal by the Department of Transportation that probably garnered the least support is for the intersection of Interstate 101 and Routes 9, 10 and 12. The T-shaped, or "trumpet," design would take up a much larger area than a roundabout, the Concerned Cheshire Citizens argue. However, Gil Rogers, assistant commissioner for the department, said that a roundabout "wouldn't work there," arguing that the intersection "deserves a flow of traffic similar to the other end of Keene," which is built with the trumpet design.
The Conservation Law Foundation, a New Hampshire environmental group, filed an appeal last year to nullify a construction permit obtained by the Department of Transportation from the wetlands bureau of the state's Department of Environmental Services. The permit would allow for highway development on thirty acres of wetlands, including at least one acre of vernal and seasonal pools that serve as breeding grounds for wildlife. The appeal was intended to criticize the issuance of a wetlands permit without the Department of Transportation adequately assessing its environmental impact. The case was heard in Merrimack County Superior Court on February 20 and 21, and the judge is expected to hand down a verdict by the end of next month.
The current design for the Keene bypass would require filling at least twenty-five acres of vegetative wetlands, which transportation officials say could easily be replaced elsewhere.
Tom Irwin, a staff attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation, disagrees. "We don't think it's a proper solution. The Department of Transportation did not do an adequate job to assess the impact to wetlands before jumping to the assumption that they can go out and recreate wetlands on their own. The extent to which they can artificially replicate existing wetlands is certainly arguable."
Not so, Rogers maintained. "We've done a couple that turned out magnificently, along Route 101 at Brentwood and at Exeter" as part of efforts by the Department "to minimize the footprint where possible," Rogers said.
A large and expansive highway intersection could also be "out of scale with the character and needs of a local community," according to the Conservation Law Foundation's website.
"I'm concerned that this big project would forever change the character of the region," Faulkner said. "Like many other citizens, I saw the need to protect what I love about living here,"
The prospect of incorporating roundabouts into the highway design has received widespread support from Keene residents and businesses, and a resolution in favor of roundabouts received unanimous approval of the Keene City Council in November. The Department of Transportation has reconsidered placing roundabouts at several intersections, including one at Optical Avenue.
"Our appeal had the unintended consequence of delaying the project and allowed for more local input into the project," said Irwin.
"There's a tendency to trust that the Department of Transportation knows what's best for us, but state agencies aren't always up on the latest technologies, and citizens need to be involved to make sure that the best alternatives are chosen," Faulkner said.
If the appeal to revoke the wetlands permit is approved, transportation officials will need to redesign the intersection with oversight from the Department of Environmental Services, according to Ken Kettenring, until recently the administrator for the department's wetlands bureau.
Though federal highway guidelines do not include recommendations for multi-lane roundabouts, transportation officials have opposed them, contending that they are not addressed because of a lack of documentation on their safety in this country.
"The Department of Transportation in New Hampshire has a design philosophy that we will support single-lane roundabouts, we will look at two-lane roundabouts but we will not look at three-lane roundabouts," Keith Cota, the department's project manager for the Keene bypass, said. "In the future, if they're proven to be safe and can move the traffic capacity, then it's possible [we will consider them]."
The three-lane roundabout issue has been used as a "red herring" to deter support for roundabouts, Irwin argues. According to traffic specialists, a two-lane roundabout would be sufficient for Route 101 at least until the year 2030.
Senator Judd Gregg, R-N.H., offered his assistance at the federal level to Keene residents who might seek increased federal funds for roundabouts.
"If I hear from the City Council of Keene, or the city planner of Keene, that this is the way they'd like to do this, and that's the consensus position, then I will do everything I can to get language in the transportation bill to accomplish it," Gregg said. "I haven't heard that from people in Keene or their representatives, and if that's the way they want to go, we'll do everything we can to accomplish it."
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire
Environmental Activists Lobby Smith to Protect Arctic Refuge
WASHINGTON, March 05--A group of New Hampshire high school students traveled to Washington to lobby Senator Bob Smith, R-N.H. on the energy bill being considered in the Senate this week and to thank him for his opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The ten activists, most of whom are high school students at The Derryfield School in Manchester, were attending a public lands summit organized by the Sierra Student Coalition, the student arm of the Sierra Club. Over 150 students from 35 states took part in the forum and in lobbying the Capitol.
In the energy debate which began yesterday and may continue through next week, Republican Senators hope to add an amendment to cut fuel imports by allowing oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Smith is expected to join an effort by opponents of the drilling in supporting a filibuster, which would halt debate on the Republican amendment. To overturn the filibuster, Republicans would need 60 votes, which Smith does not believe they have.
"I think right now it looks good for them not having the vote, so I think it looks very positive right now," Smith told the students. "I'm not sure what the procedure's going to be, and there may not be a vote because they don't have the votes to pass it."
Smith posed for photographs on the Senate steps with the students, who thanked him with a framed photograph of caribou in the Arctic Refuge, taken by award-winning conservationist Ken Madsen.
"There's a lot of connection here, you've got moose of course up thereáand in New Hampshire," Smith quipped about the photograph.
"It's really fun to be down here and know that our voices count," said Derryfield junior Christina Churchill, a member of the school's Conservation Club. "I think all we can really do is show that from New Hampshireáthere's a lot of support for these causes, and let them know that we really care about these places and protecting them."
Aside from studying potential environmental hazards of oil drilling in the Northern Wildlife Refuge, the students spent the weekend learning about public land issues in Alaska, Utah, the Northern Rockies, and the National Forests. They asked Smith to support other conservation efforts in these areas, which he offered to consider "on a case-by-case basis."
"I think it's really important to make sure that you hold your Congressman accountable, because they're supposed to represent you," said Derryfield student Katie Maglathlin. "If you don't tell them how you feel, then it's your fault if they make a stupid decisionáor one not in the mindset you'd like it to be."
The students also organized a letter writing campaign at their school, presenting Smith with 7,000 postcards signed by New Hampshire citizens.
"It's really been an interesting discussion, with a little bit of arm-twisting," Smith said. "But when you feel you're right on an issue, you stay with it. That's a good lesson for everybody, right?"
The students also met with aides of Senator Judd Gregg, R-N.H. and of Congressman Charles Bass, R-N.H. on Monday, and with an aide of Congressman John Sununu, R-N.H., yesterday morning. Both Smith and Bass have come out in opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, while Gregg and Sununu have strongly supported the drilling initiative.
Smith refuted the idea that his stance on the issue is intended to separate himself from Sununu, his opponent in this year's Senate Republican primary.
"Right now this is not about anyone's political campaign, this is about doing the right thing. I try to do what is rightáand let the chips fall where they may politically," Smith said, who emphasized a longtime opposition to the drilling.
One Derryfield junior, Sara Dewey, said she enjoyed meeting with Native American students at the Sierra Club summit and discussing conservation issues in areas like Black Mesa, Arizona and in Puerto Rico, "issues that we don't hear about in New Hampshire."
"Drilling the Arctic will not solve any of our energy problems but will destroy an irreplaceable natural treasure," said Matthew Connolly, Derryfield junior, in a statement released by the Sierra Club. "These lands represent the last wild, unspoiled places in America."
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire
