Jim:

The Chief Justice of the NH Supreme Court, David Brock, was impeached in June. There are several charges of impeachment including: allowing recused justices to participate in case decisions, influence peddling (my term) in a case in the 1980's in which he made phone calls to a presiding judge about an ongoing trial, and perjury. The impeachment process was public in our House of Representatives & broadcast on NHPR. I listened to almost all of it. Spellbinding! The trial starts Sept. 18, 2000. As you know this is truely historical. New Hampshire has been in a fiscal turmoil for the past 18 months since the Supreme Court ruled that education is a State responsibility. In NH, education has historically been a local responsibility. The Court changed that w/ a ruling that interprets the phrase "cherish education" in our Constitution to mean the State has the fiscal responsibility to assure an education to every child. The State put a price tag on that of about $800,000,000 per year. Where the hell this money will come from no one knows, but there are some in our State who want to institute a sales and/or income tax. In case you are wondering... NH has NO SALES & NO INCOME TAX. We are a small State & frugal to beat the band! Except for home heating costs it is very cheap to live here. No joke about the heating costs. 20 degrees below zero is common in the winter, even in southern NH.

Everyone: SORRY ABOUT THIS LONG BORING POST!

Dave Smith in NH
"Live Free or Die"