Category: Emelie Rutherford
NH Legion Touts Amendment to Protect Old Glory
WASHINGTON, March 12–Rollinsford-based Joe Caouette, who had been in the best of moods all day yesterday at the American Legion conference here, hit a slump at around 3:45 p.m. Hunched over a railing inside the Hyatt Regency Hotel close to the Capitol, the 72-year-old legionnaire thought his old buddy Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) had blown him off.
And Caouette (who said his name is pronounced “cow wet”) had a lot to show Smith at their planned 4:00 meeting: a box filled with more than 5,000 signed petitions from Granite Staters who want to see the Constitution amended so that no one can harm the American flag without being punished.
Then, within minutes, Smith’s office called, apologized for the scheduling mix-up and said the senior senator from New Hampshire could indeed meet with Caouette and his fellow New Hampshire legionnaires. “I knew he wouldn’t let us down,” said Caouette, a champion of the Flag Protection Constitutional Amendment, as he ran outside in the rain to Smith’s office. “He’s a veteran. His dad was a veteran. He understands.”
Caouette and the Americanism Commission of the American Legion, which he chairs, have visited the New Hampshire delegation every year sine 1989 to drum up support in the Senate for the Flag Protection Amendment. The 20 Granite State legionnaires at the annual Washington conference split into small groups so they could visit the offices of Senators Smith and Judd Gregg (R-NH) and Representatives John Sununu (R-NH) and Charles Bass (R-NH) in one day. They wanted to remind the New Hampshire legislators – all supporters of the amendment – to put heat on those senators who don’t support it.
The amendment’s 20-odd words were written in 1989. They would allow states – not the federal government – to decide if laws will be put on their books to punish people who burn or defame the American flag.
U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 1989 and 1990 held that flags can be burned under First Amendment free speech protections. New Hampshire, like all states, has criminal statutes that prohibit flag desecration, but they cannot enforce them because of the Supreme Court rulings. Under the New Hampshire statute, anyone who burns a flag would be punished with a one-year prison term.
Resolutions that would submit the amendment for ratification by three-fourths of the states have always passed the House but have consistently failed to garner the 67 votes they need in the Senate. Last July the House passed the proposed amendment, 298 to 125. And though it is not scheduled for Senate consideration, Caouette said he thinks this might be the year that the wavering senators will support it.
“It’s amazing to see the number of flags being proudly displayed across America,” Caouette said. “And people are getting it right – hanging them the right way and keeping the blue fields on the left. 9-11 has really changed how people regard Old Glory.”
“We’re trying to actually return the free speech aspect of the First Amendment to its original intent,” said Caouette, a veteran of the Korean War and a former postmaster in Rollinsford. “It’s not the first time someone has enacted an amendment. We have 27 of these.”
A newly released national poll conducted by Market Strategies in Alexandria, Va., indicates that 90 percent of people from 18 – 39 say the flag “is worthy of protection.” This is much higher than in the past, said Lee Harris, the Legion’s deputy director of public relations. “The national average was always around 75 percent,” he said. “So to see an increase like that, from such a young group, show the impact 9-11 had.” People 65 and older are the demographic group most in favor of protecting the flag.
George West, a national executive committeeman from Manchester, said the legionnaires are “awakening the American public because of the decision 13 years ago. I cannot go to your house and destroy your mail box. It’s a crime. But I can destroy your flag. We have to change that.”
So at the Tuesday morning convention, the American Legion chairman Paul Morin told the hundreds of cap-topped veterans how to tackle the senators they would visit: “When you visit the Hill, stick to our legislative priorities. Do not talk about non-legislative issues. Remain professional, consistent and focused. Remember your mission.”
Morin reminded the legionnaires that their ultimate foes are Senators Thomas A. Daschle (D-SD), the Majority Leader, and Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, who, he said, “are holding the flag hostage in the Senate.”
“All we’re saying is to send the decision back to the states,” West said. “We’re organizing a grassroots campaign. The president is behind us. He talked to us in Milwaukee when he was campaigning and later when he was president in San Antonio. Now we just have to work on Senators Daschle and Leahy.”
When Caouette, West and nine other Granite State legionnaires visited Smith’s office, the quick-tongued Caouette got right to business.
“Those who are against the amendment, like Ted Kennedy, I just don’t get it,” Caouette told Smith. “There was a flag draped over his brother’s casket. All the amendment does is let the issue go back to the state ballot. That’s all it does. Some say it’s up to the people to decide. Well, who do the people elect?”
Jabbing Smith in the arm, Caouette said, “We usually don’t have to haggle everything out with you.”
Smith replied: “Yeah, it gets pretty boring when you agree on everything,” adding, “A flag covered my father’s casket, too. That’s why I support that amendment. You got me.”
Smith, a Vietnam veteran whose father died in a service-related accident during World War II, expressed doubt about the proposed amendment’s Senate prospects. “They should let the people decide. I agree, but you pretty much know the lay of the land,” he said. “It’s hard because these guys get dug in and won’t change their vote.” Smith said he will not be sending ‘Dear Colleague’ letters to his fellow senators who do not support the amendment but will talk to them “face to face, one-on-one. That’s how I’ll have the most effect.”
Gregg, in declaring his support for the amendment, said in a statement, “The Stars and Stripes is recognized across the world as a symbol of freedom and democracy and serves as a reminder of the men and women who have given their lives to protect that freedom.”
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Gregg Confident He Will Garner Federal Funds for IP Land Deal
WASHINGTON, March 06--Pointing out that he sits on the Senate committee that appropriates federal funds - including money for land conservation projects - Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) said Wednesday that the final purchase of easement on the International Paper land in the North Country will "absolutely" go through "hopefully no later than the end of next year."
Gregg, a junior member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, has already secured $3.6 million to secure easements on the 171,000 acres in Pittsburg, Stewartstown and Clarksville. The funds would come from the Agriculture Department's Forest Legacy Program, which gives grants to states for private land conservation. President Bush's proposed budget for the coming fiscal year also includes $4 million.
Approximately $12 million is needed from the federal government to purchase the easements on the land next year.
Sitting in one of his capital offices in front of a panoramic picture of the view atop Mount Washington, Gregg said he is "not too concerned about identifying a specific" bill that will contribute the additional money. He said one such bill, the Wildlife Enhancement Act - which Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) introduced last year and which would give $9 million to the land purchase - is "certainly a source."
But, he said, "the real source is the Interior Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, and if they agree to put the money in, they'll fund it. I would hope that we can get another significant chunk of money this year equaling that or maybe even a little higher than that towards that project."
The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national nonprofit, will buy the land from International Paper later this month. It will hold on to the property until the easements and final plans for the property are hammered out. Lyme Timber plans to buy a small portion for logging, and the remaining land will remain as wilderness. Private contributors and the state government will help Gregg and his counterparts garner the needed funds. The New Hampshire state House approved a $10 million bond for the land, which the state Senate will soon consider.
Gregg served as co-chairman with Governor Jeanne Shaheen of the Connecticut Lakes Headwaters Partnership Task Force that was created last July to figure out how to preserve the land while paying heed to the people who rely economically on logging. The Granite State's other federal legislators served on the task force's steering committee.
Kathy DeCoster, the director of federal programs at the TPL, said "things are going very smoothly in the state, which helps bolster our push down here for funding."
Gregg's press secretary, Jeffrey Turcotte, said that since the Senator formed the task force last July, he "has pretty much worked on it full time gauging public support."
"I'm still very involved in it, making calls and having discussions" with people in New Hampshire and at the TPL, Gregg said. "We're committing a lot of energy to this. We have one person who is working on this issue almost full time."
"Gregg was governor at the time that land study has come to fruition," said Lesley Kane, the TPL's vice president for federal affairs. "There was a real look at the changing pattern of ownership land, how the New England states were going to confront large slots of land going up for sale. Since that time, many things have developed, and he's stayed involved."
Charles Levesque, the president of Innovations Natural Resource Solutions, a consultancy working with the TPL, calls the land deal a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." He added, "All this financial work is worth it, because we won't have this opportunity again."
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Smith Joins McCain in Introducing Bill That Cuts Army Corps of Engineers Pork
WASHINGTON, March 06--Declaring that "taxpayers' hard-earned money should not be devoted to pouring sand on the beaches of the wealthy," Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) Tuesday introduced a bill that cuts excess spending on Army Corps of Engineers projects.
Smith, the senior Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, introduced the Corps of Engineers Modernization and Improvement Act of 2002 with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).
The bill prevents projects that are not "in the best interest of the nation" from receiving funding through the Army Corps of Engineers.
Peter Sepp, the vice president of the National Taxpayers Union, said "too many Corps programs are undertaken for political benefits rather than sound economic benefits, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill."
"How can I look the people of New Hampshire in the eye and say, your tax dollars pay to maintain a waterway that sees two barges a year or to replenish the sand on a beach where the median home price is $1.5 million?" Smith said in a statement.
The proposed bill would de-authorize Corps projects that never received construction funds, some of which, he said, are over 25 years old.
The bill calls for some future projects to undergo an independent peer review. The bill also calls for projects to meet a cost-benefit ratio standard.
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Senate Takes Up Bill that Allows Drilling in Alaska and Bans MtBE
WASHINGTON, March 06--Debate on President Bush's energy policy bill began this week, and Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) is getting ready to fulfill his pledge to break with his party by opposing oil drilling in Alaska and to "fight like hell" to enact a ban on the polluting gas additive MtBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether).
"Developing a strong energy policy is one of my top priorities," Smith said in a statement. "New Hampshire, along with much of New England, has suffered through its worst energy crisis in a decade. Dependence on foreign oil has risen, oil consumption has increased and something must be done."
The 440-page energy bill, the most comprehensive to emerge in years, authorizes funds for the Energy Department through fiscal year 2006. The House approved it last August, though many key provisions, including the MtBE ban, have been added by the Senate Energy And Natural Resources Committee.
Smith said he played a major part in writing language in the energy bill that would ban MtBE, a petrochemical that is mixed with gasoline to make it burn more cleanly and reduce smog. MtBE has polluted waterways in New Hampshire and around the nation and Smith's language includes $400 million for cleanup and remediation of contaminated sites.
"MtBE from New Hampshire's perspective is extremely, extremely significant," said Lisa Harrison, Smith's communications director. "Thousands of wells, particularly in the southern part of the state, may be contaminated by MtBE. Senator Smith has worked with [Senate Majority Leader Thomas A.] Daschle [D-SD] to secure a commitment to debate MtBE," she said.
Resistance to the MtBE ban is likely come from senators in states that produce ethanol, a corn-based petrochemical similar to MtBE that is banned in New Hampshire. "They want their ethanol to be mandated as a replacement, which isn't good for us," Harrison said.
While his colleagues kicked off debate on the wide-ranging bill on the Senate floor today, Smith stood on the Senate's steps and told visiting students from the Sierra Students Coalition that the fight against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge "looks very positive right now."
Smith remains resolved to break with the Republican leadership by opposing drilling in 1.5 million acres of the Arctic reserve in Alaska. Because the Senate committee did not include a provision for drilling in the bill, pro-drilling Senators - including Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) - are likely to offer an amendment to allow it.
Smith, who plans to support a filibuster led by the Democrats to prevent adoption of the drilling provision, reported to the visiting students that pro-drilling senators don't have the votes to block the filibuster.
Smith, who votes with his party on more than 95 percent of issues, has made the fight against drilling a personal priority. A legislative aide said he changed his position after receiving 7,000 letters from constituents opposed to drilling.
Gregg, in a statement, defended his support for drilling, saying it will "minimally impact" the Alaska coastal plain.
Gregg cited the increase in the number of Central Arctic caribou in the Prudhoe Bay region since oil was discovered there in 1969, and said that advance technology would "drastically reduce the intrusion of necessary infrastructure on the environment when drilling."
"The Untied States could replace imports of all Iraqi oil over the lifetime of the designated area of ANWR," Gregg said.
In the House, Rep. Charles Bass voted (R-NH) against drilling, while Rep. John E. Sununu (R-NH) voted for it.
Adam Kolton, the Arctic campaign director at the Alaska Wilderness League, based in Washington, DC, said that oil from Alaska would not affect the Granite State. "No oil from Alaska is used in New Hampshire - not to heat peoples' homes, not for cars, not for electricity."
According to a poll conducted by ICR of Media, Pa., more than half of Americans oppose drilling in the Arctic reserve.
The energy bill also calls for incentives for alternative energy sources such as wind and solar, money for clean-coal technologies and new efficiency standards for consumer products such as air conditioners. It also would ease restrictions on utility conglomerates.
A recent Pew Research Center study showed growing public support for conservation and regulation as opposed to new exploration and more power plants.
Smith said he also worked on other parts of the energy bill including tax credits, energy diversification, alternative fuels, hybrid vehicles and a provision for tax credits for people who build and construct energy-efficient buildings.
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Smith: Punish Media For ‘Broadcast Fraud’
WASHINGTON, Feb. 28--Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH), whose Senate race in 1996 was inaccurately called a failure by CBS News, wants to punish broadcast news organizations that knowingly air false election polling data or closing times.
Late Tuesday night on the Senate floor Smith offered his "broadcast fraud" amendment to the election reform bill that the Senate is now debating. Smith's amendment calls for fines or prison terms for members of the news media who report false results or report that polls are closed when they are open - as happened in Florida during the 2000 presidential election.
On election night, all major news networks except Fox reported that the Florida polls closed at 7:00 Eastern Time, Smith said. Six Florida counties, however, are in the Central Time zone, so when polls in the Eastern Time zone were closed, 361 precincts were actually open for another hour.
"In the last hour of the election in the Florida Panhandle, 361 precincts were ready to go in that last hour, expecting a rush of people coming home from work, and the public was told, on all of the major networks, that the polls were closed," Smith said. "The voters in the Panhandle had their votes suppressed."
Smith said his amendment would "ban false or misleading information" that confuses voters. "The whole issue, rightfully so, by the Democrats in [the 2000 presidential] election was, were the voters confused by looking at these butterfly ballots," he said. "Yet not a word was uttered about the confusion and absolute flat-out misleading information put out by the media, not by political operatives."
Smith's amendment would impose a fine of $10 million and/or a five-year prison term on any outlet with a Federal Communications Commission license for knowingly broadcasting false poll closing times or election poll results.
Smith invited his Senate colleagues to watch a seven-minute video he sent to their offices containing segments of news broadcasts from the night of the contentious election battle between George W. Bush and Al Gore. The video, Smith said, shows newscasters, including ABC's Peter Jennings, CBS's Dan Rather, NBC's Tom Brokaw and CNN's Judy Woodruff, saying that the Florida polls had closed even though they were still open.
Smith said the tapes show "every one of these networks saying the same thing, over and over and over again, ad nauseam, between 7 and 8 o'clock: The polls are closed in Florida."
The Committee for Honest Politics, a Republican-oriented group, reported that 19,133 Florida voters were disenfranchised when they did not vote because they believed polls were closed when they were open.
Daniel Perrin, the executive director of the Committee for Honest Politics, received an affidavit from poll workers in Florida who described shock at their thinly attended polling stations in the later hours. A poll worker in Bay County said it was "like the lights went out," Perrin told the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee last year.
"The panhandle region is 2 to 1 Republican," Perrin said in an interview. "The media effectively suppressed the votes of thousands of voters." Lauding Smith for his "courage," Perrin said, "There's a large body of people who would never go up against those who own and operate nightly news stories."
As further evidence of the media's "wrong," "misleading" and "arrogant" actions, Smith on Tuesday referred to a letter Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris distributed to the news media on October 30, 2000, "trying to get the media to report the truth eight days before the election." Harris, he said, requested that the media delay predictions of the outcome of elections until after 8 p.m. EST.
Smith added a personal note to his late-night amendment-touting speech: "Dan Rather, in 1996 on my election, called my opponent and congratulated him on his victory," Smith said. "Then he called me a couple of hours later wanting to know what went wrong. I said: 'Nothing went wrong, Dan. I won.'"
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
New Hampshire Woman Receives $10,000 Award for “Up” Syndrome Fund
WASHINGTON, Feb. 27--Meredith-resident Ann Forts, 34, once told her father that she wanted to have as many friends as there are stars in the sky. Standing in front of hundreds of disability activists here last night while receiving a $10,000 award from the American Association of People with Disabilities, Forts beamed, "I think I'm getting close."
Forts, a motivational speaker and advocate for people with Down Syndrome, was one of seven people to received the Paul G. Hearne Leadership Award at a ceremony held at a Washington hotel last night and attended by members of Congress and disability activists.
Forts was chosen from hundreds of people to receive the award because she emulated AAPD founder Hearne's mission to open doors for people with disabilities. The AAPD in a non-profit that promotes political and economic empowerment for the more than 56 million children and adults with disabilities in the United States.
Forts started referring to her disability as "UP" rather than "Down" Syndrome around the age of 8, because she believes "Down" sounds too negative.
"My parents got the 'Down Syndrome Newsletter' and I put an X right through 'Down'," she said at a reception before the award, where she greeted people like Sen. Ted Kennedy, (D-MA) and Ted Kennedy Jr. as old friends. "It sounds so bad. I wish the person who discovered Down Syndrome was named 'Dr. UP.'"
Forts served on President Clinton's Committee on Mental Retardation for three years and served three terms on the New Hampshire Developmental Disabilities Council. She is now the director of the Direct Support Professionals Association of New Hampshire.
Forts created The Ann Forts "UP" Syndrome Fund four years ago. So far she has raised almost $200,000 toward her goal of $1 million by selling t-shirts, hats and other items with the "UP" Syndrome logo, like one she proudly wore over her black pant suit at the ceremony. The fund is designed to provide assistance to people with Down Syndrome and scholarships for people who plan to work in special education, according to her father and traveling companion, Bernard Forts of Moultonboro. The fund has spent $20,000 of the interest, he said, to help Down Syndrome children pay their medical bills and attend conferences.
"Ann started going to conferences at a young age, before high school," said her mother Shirley Forts, who also attended last night's dinner.
It was in high school, at the public Milton Academy in Moultonboro - where she was the first Down Syndrome student - that Forts became, as she calls herself, "a ham." "No, I wasn't the head cheerleader," she said with a wink," but I led the cheerleading squad."
Already involved in the disability community, Forts started speaking to human genetics classes at Dartmouth Medical School as a young adult. She then joined the Lions Club. After a few years the members held a benefit for her to raise money to establish her fund.
When she's not raising money she gives motivational speeches, like one she gave two weeks ago to elementary-aged kids in Wayland, Mass.
To pay the rent at her apartment in Meredith, where she has lived by herself for a decade, Forts also holds odd jobs, like one she has now at a video store. "I love movies, and TV," she said. "And I love to sing. I just got a Karaoke machine for Christmas. I'm a pro at 'New York New York.' I love my life."
Rep. John Sununu (R-NH) presented Forts with her award, remarking on how well known she is. "There's not a local sporting event or church dinner where you can't find Annie's smiling face," he said. "I join everyone that knows and has met Annie in declaring that she can do it."
Before presenting the award and getting a big hug and kiss from Forts, Sununu chuckled, "She's a hugger."
"Everybody knows Ann," Susan Swanson, the executive director of the Kennedy Foundation said at the ceremony. "She doesn't have much patience for people who aren't empowered."
Mrs. Forts said her daughter plans to put most of the award money toward her UP fund, but may use some for other expenses. "She's so busy. We probably travel 20,000 miles a year."
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Smith Touts Water Legislation
WASHINGTON, Feb. 26--Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) touted new legislation Tuesday that would more than double the amount of money available to drought-stricken New Hampshire towns next year to modernize their drinking and waste water systems in compliance with mandates from the Environmental Protection Agency.
"This is a very, very high priority for me," Smith said in an interview following a standing-room-only Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on the legislation that he introduced last week with Sen. James Jeffords (I-VT) and several other members of the committee. "Communities don't want to drink dirty water and don't want to create dirty surface water."
New Hampshire communities "from Manchester to Nashua to Concord" have been struggling to pay for their water systems, said Smith, the committee's senior Republican. Costs have risen across the country because as pipes and facilities have aged, the population has increased and federal water quality standards have become more stringent.
The Water Investment Act of 2002 would increase spending for New Hampshire under the Clean Water Act to clean the water in rivers, lakes and streams -to $35 million, up from $13.6 million this year. The act would also raise spending under the Safe Drinking Water Act from $8 million to $15 million in New Hampshire next year.
Local governments and utility ratepayers are currently contributing more than 90 percent of the money spent on water and wastewater needs, according to the American Public Works Association (APWA). The National League of Cities estimates that localities will pay close to $1 trillion over the next 20 years to upgrade their aging pipes and facilities.
The increased money in Smith's legislation would be used to help cities and towns clean up water pollution and upgrade their pipes, distribution systems and pumping stations.
Steven Parkinson, the Portsmouth-based vice president of the New England branch of the APWA, said that the additional funds are vital to the economy of New Hampshire, which is experiencing the worst drought in more than 50 years.
"If the lakes don't fill up, boating will be down, and recreation is a good part of the economy," he said. "The drought affects development because houses cannot be built if you don't have the water supply. And because water's going to go first for human consumption than for manufacturing processes, [the drought] affects where companies look to locate."
"Hampton and Seabrook are already looking at mandatory water conservation measures for the coming years," he said. "We did not have a lot of snow this winter, didn't have a lot of rain last fall, so we're going to need help."
Meanwhile, the APWA and the Water Infrastructure Network estimate a shortfall in government spending of $23 billion. One source of relief, the State Revolving Fund - a low-interest loan program with which states pay for local wastewater treatment facilities and similar infrastructure - satisfies only about one-third of the states' needs, according to the General Accounting Office.
Smith called EPA water quality standards "sometimes unreasonable" and said they are creating millions of dollars in debt for communities such as Berlin. Smith said he is helping people in New Hampshire in the best way he can: by "providing them in essence with a tax break."
Smith's bill would also extend the repayment period for State Revolving Fund loans for disadvantaged communities.
Smith said his bill would provide help without increasing taxes. "I'm trying to give communities more flexibility to protect their aquifers and pumping stations," he said.
The Water Investment Act would also require the U.S. Geological Survey to assess water shortages and surpluses and provide funds for the small water system technical assistance center at the University of New Hampshire, which Smith said he has worked with over the past several years.
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Shaheen Announces Border Security Project
WASHINGTON, Feb. 26--Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and an ad hoc group of officials from the Northeast have received a $200,000 grant for a wide-reaching border security initiative that scans containers before they enter the country, the governor announced Tuesday.
Sitting next to Gov. Angus King of Maine, Shaheen asked her fellow New England governors to support a pilot security initiative that monitors all packages at their points of origin. Called Operation Safe Commerce, the process tracks containers throughout the supply chain process with sensing and tracking technology.
Shaheen is working with the so-called Operation Safe Commerce Partnership, which is headed by the Transportation Department's Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge, Mass. The group consists of representatives of Osram Sylvania, a Hillsboro-based electric company, as well as U.S. Customs Service, Border Patrol, immigration and crime-fighting officials from New England and Canada.
The grant, supplied by the Defense Department Technical Support Working Group, will pay for a pilot run of the process that will record and share tracking and sensor data from shipments along one route from Canada to New Hampshire. The pilot will test technologies such as global positioning systems, internal and external sensors and nodes that track the containers.
Shaheen described the Operation Safe Commerce system as "a whole series of measures that include looking at the point of origin of the cargo" as opposed to checking it only when it arrives. Containers, she said, would be sealed and paperwork would accompany them through the supply chain.
"The idea is to provide for strict accountability from point of origin, push out to make sure who is transporting cargo is who they say they are," she said. "This is not a one-shot or magic bullet. It is a series of measure that checks cargo at every stop."
Such solutions, proponents say, would not slow down shipping. And they would not cost as much as costly X-ray devices. Checking containers before, instead of after, they are shipped potentially saves time because much of the cargo that is shipped around the country comes from known sources, and therefore only unknown cargo would be checked.
A white paper on the project states it will "demonstrate that the movement of freight across international borders can be streamlined while security is advanced."
"I know everyone here has worked hard on improving trade," Shaheen said to her colleagues during a breakfast gathering in Washington that wrapped up the four-day annual meeting of the nation's governors. "The real goal is to improve security, but to do it in a way that makes borders more efficient. All of us who have traveled to Canada know that you will not make the 5,000-mile plus border safer by putting more agents along the border."
Shaheen explained that as governor of a state with a foreign border, she was approached by Coast Guard Commander Stephen Flynn, a security expert on the Council on Foreign Relations, after the Sept. 11 attacks. "He had been studying the idea of pushing out security to the point of origin of shipping and coming up with a tracking system and creating accountability at all points along the way," she said.
Flynn has written articles describing ways that Osama bin Laden could ship a biological weapon into the United States in a sealed container.
Shaheen said she agreed to report back to the other New England governors when they meet this summer, after the pilot project is completed.
"Obviously we haven't put money into our borders for many, many years," said Charles Tretter, the executive director of the New England Governors' Conference. "Now 9-11 has exacerbated the situation. Fortunately, the president did indicate he's putting more money into borders."
Michael Vlachich, Shaheen's special assistant for policy, pointed out that Shaheen was on the first trade mission to Canada after Sept. 11. "While there she met with Prime Minister ChrŽtien and ambassador Cellucci, who supported Flynn's approach," he said. "This is very important, because New Hampshire is one of the most tradingest states in exports."
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Kamen Touts Segway in the Nation’s Capital
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14--Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman didn't take a ride. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez, more intrepid, agreed to a lesson. And Rep. Charles Bass (R-NH), an old hand, hopped right on and posed for pictures.
Segway has hit the nation's Capital.
Manchester resident and inventor Dean Kamen swayed his two-wheeled device around Washington for five days, watching members of Congress and the administration try to navigate the gravity-controlled machine and chiding young people for being unwilling to forego sports for engineering and inventing.
Kamen was in town to drum up support for Segway before Rep. Bass introduces a bill that would classify Segway as a consumer product so that it can be used on sidewalks and in public spaces. Similar state-level legislation will be debated in the New Hampshire House this month.
Because Segway is battery-operated, Kamen touted it to politicians as something that, if used widely, would reduce pollution and help conserve gasoline. Kamen said it could also reduce inner-city congestion.
"I'm just telling everybody, look, we have to make sure this thing has the opportunity to be seen as a serious productivity tool and not a toy, so anybody that's going to listen I'll talk to," he said Thursday between photo opportunities with junior and senior high school students at an event for young inventors at the Commerce Department.
"I think the technology part is done," he said. "The issue is whether people will allow it to be used in an important way or whether it becomes like Jet Skis and snowmobiles - just fun, recreational toys."
Wearing a rumpled denim shirt under the golden National Medal of Technology medal that he received in 2000 from President Clinton and that he equates with the Nobel Prize, Kamen said he'll visit with Beltway politicians as often as possible. "The Postmaster [General] said they want to talk about this. If anyone down here says they've been thinking about it and want to see it, I'll be down here in a heartbeat." Kamen's week included visits with leaders at EPA, HUD, the Postal Service, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. He also met with a group of more than a dozen congressmen Thursday, brought together by Rep. Bass.
"It was great," Kamen said, while teetering on his Segway Thursday as the young inventors at the Commerce Department event navigated their own robots around him. "A bunch of the congressmen even took a ride."
"You've got these kids excited all across America," Commerce Secretary Don Evans shouted to Kamen as he wheeled around the hallways of the building.
The young inventors, who hail from junior and senior high schools in Washington, Maryland and Virginia, gathered to showcase their inventions that they developed as part of an organization called FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) that Kamen developed for young inventors. Benji Ambrogi, a mechanical engineer at Manchester-based DEKA, Kamen's flagship company, joined him as he addressed close to 150 youngsters spilling out of a 100-person capacity room.
Kamen encouraged the youths to pour their hearts and souls into technology instead of sports. "You can develop the muscles hanging on your arms and legs, or you can develop the one hanging between your ear," he said, reminding the teens that they are the future.
He said he built his invention company on "the idea that we're going to change the culture of this country."
Kamen raised some young eyebrows when he said the Segway is not for sale yet, but when he makes "a kindler, simpler version" it will cost close to $3,000.
"On my allowance I could only afford around $140," said Griffen O'Brien, a 15 year-old inventor from Virginia who says he'd love to snag one. O'Brien and his classmates on a team called Epsilon Delta won a prize at a FIRST competition last year for their robot, Ed, which they displayed for Kamen on Thursday.
O'Brien thinks a lot of his friends would like to buy a Segway, even "the non-geeks."
"[Kamen] is so excited about what he's doing it's infectious," said Phillip J. Bond, the Commerce undersecretary for technology. "So many industries are excited about it, including the automotive guys. They'd like to have it as something you leave in the back of your car and use it to get around on your own."
Bond's role is to help set policy on technology and motivate Americans to use the technology.
"There will be hurdles with legislation" for Segway, he said. "We just also need our legislators to realize how this new technology is coming on so we don't end up looking in the rear-view mirror."
Brain Toohey, the vice president of international and regulatory affairs at Segway, said members of the New Hampshire delegation have helped get the word out on Segway. "Believe me, he's had many meetings this week," he said of Kamen. "It's impossible for Dean to take a vacation."
Rep. Bass said in a statement that in addition to helping ensure that Segway can be used on public ways, he will work to get tax credits for Segway that are enjoyed by buyers and manufacturers of environmentally friendly products with low emissions.
"The manufacturing of Segway in New Hampshire will broaden the tax base and help provide Granite Staters with good high-paying jobs," Rep. Bass said in a statement on Thursday.
That's fine for Kamen, who said there was "no chance, no chance" he'll leave New Hampshire. "It's perfect - small enough that people have a voice and can get their ideas out," and have access to government officials, he said. "And big enough that it's very attractive to engineers and scientists who I want to come work for me."
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Smith Hopes to Garner Federal Funds for Granite State Roads
WASHINGTON, Feb. 13--A week after he introduced legislation that would make up for millions in cutbacks in federal transportation funds for New Hampshire for the upcoming fiscal year, Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) pledged to rewrite transportation laws next year to bring 40 percent more in federal funds to the Granite State for projects such as the widening of Interstate 93.
The bill Smith introduced last Thursday would restore more than $20 million that President Bush's budget proposes to cut from New Hampshire's highway funds next year.
"There is a lot of support for this," Smith said on Wednesday. "I sent a 'Dear Colleague' letter out, and it already has up to 25 co-sponsors in the Senate on both sides of the aisle. I think the law is very clear that we should stay at authorized funding levels."
Carol Murray, the commissioner of New Hampshire's Department of Transportation, who on Tuesday told state lawmakers that highway spending was in jeopardy, said on Wednesday that she fully supports Smith's bill. She warned the New Hampshire House's Public Works and Highway Committee of looming cuts, she said, because she wants the legislature to be frugal when drafting a new 10-year plan in case Smith's bill fails.
"I'm asking my counterparts in other states to step forward and support Senator Smith in what he is trying to do," Murray said. "But there is no way one senator can do it all. The more the other state DOTs talk to their congressional delegations, the better the chances are that the senator's bill is successful."
Smith is the senior Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which originates highway and bridge legislation. His bill proposes using funds from the Highway Trust Fund, which has $20 billion in untapped funds, to make up for spending shortfalls in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), the primary surface transportation law.
Smith's legislation would increase total federal highway funds to the levels authorized in TEA-21, which Bush's budget would cut by 27 percent, or by $8.6 billion. Under Smith's bill, co-sponsored by members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, $20 million of the amount that Bush proposed to cut from New Hampshire's share of highway money would be restored, so that the state would receive close to $140 million, or approximately what it received this year, according to Smith's spokeswoman.
"Quite frankly, to a small state like New Hampshire, those cuts are a huge amount of money," Murray said. "If in fact the administration's budget goes through, the projects we have planned now for the 10-year plan [such as expanding I-93, building an access road to the Manchester Airport and improving the Route 101 Corridor from Bedford to Wilton] would still happen, and stay in the order they're in, but the dates would be adjusted."
If reelected, Smith would play a key part next year in reauthorizing TEA-21 for the first time in six years. Smith said he would seek to increase Granite State transportation funds by $200 million to $1 billion.
At the top of Smith's list of priorities for that extra money is the expansion of I-93 from Manchester to Salem, about which he has met with state transportation leaders a half-dozen times, he said.
David "Jeff" Brillhart, the manager for the initiative to add extra lanes to the congested I-93, said his group is now sorting through an environmental impact statement for the pending project. "It's two inches thick," he said. "Once we know it's up to par we'll set dates for the next meeting." The next set of meetings will hammer out the project's final design before construction begins in March 2004.
"I want to put my personal reputation on line for putting I-93 on time," Smith said. "It is a very important project for New Hampshire. A lot of lives are lost on 93."
Smith has selected the I-93 project as a pilot for a streamlined approach to collaboration among all officials and agencies involved.
"All of the stakeholders from all kinds of federal and state agencies are all there around the table and working in a concurrent manner," he said. "We have gotten great feedback, and other areas such as San Diego are interested in modeling themselves after it."
Smith met with transportation industry leaders last week to discuss highway priorities and TEA-21 reauthorization and will continue to seek their views when working on legislation.
Smith also said he will invite people from New Hampshire who build, repair and use the roads to testify.
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
