GilfordGrok

Scott Laliberte

Former Gilford Elementary Assistant Principal

Moultonboro Central School Principal 

With the crashing of GraniteGrok a couple of weeks ago, I've been rather busy shuffling data around as we picked up stakes and moved from Yahoo to our new hosting company, Nexcess.  This site, GilfordGrok, will be following its big brother blog over to Nexcess as well over the next week or so.

And that's one reason why posting has been light from me for the most part.  But this situation with Moultonboro's Study Committee (the committee to see if Moultonboro should have a Budget Committee) seems to get bigger and more convoluted.

And now there's another local connection (besides last week's visit that turned from a public meeting to a closed door meeting, thanks to two of our elected leaders).

I mentioned in my second post on this subject that Doug and I met Hollis Austin, a taxpayer from Moultonboro.  Well, even though he is being to be made out as a bit of a crank by some of the long term  powers that are not used to being challenged, we found him to be thoughtful and polite (if insistent on his rights) and a nice guy.  And takes lots of videos at the various official meetings that he then distributes free and unedited to anyone that wants to see what their elected and appointed representatitives are saying (a process that seems to be making a number of those representatives, especially Jerry Hopkins, very uncomfortable).

In fact, Hollis gave me a VHS of the previous meeting of this study committee that announced the meeting here in Gilford, and a whole lot more.  My impression after watching that hour and a half meeting is that most of the folks on that committee are already predisposed, via the use of stereotypes, against forming such a committee.  But that's just my opinion.

And that is the opinion of Mr. Laliberte who made the Gilford Budget Committee and the budget process, sound quite badly.  I'm going to be putting up a transcription up here as soon as I can, and I'm willing to make DVD copies for anyone that wants one (thanks for the permission Hollis!) to see for yourself.  No, no stark raving, no maniacal utterances, but certainly riddled with biases and mangled facts (some not quite right, some really not right). 

If the MSC is getting "advice" like this, I feel sorry for the taxpayers of Moultonboro.