On this episode of the Freecast
Uber Grandma gets her day in court and speaking of courting, the
relationship between church parking and UNH students may be
changing for the worse. And meanwhile in Durham, a mural is causing
more uproar than UNH’s spending habits. We’ve got tax levies on
nonprofits and Shea Levy on multiple topics. Starting now on the
Freecast
Featuring: Host Matt Carano,
Mike Vine, Nick Boyle and Rodger Paxton
Special Guest: Shea
Levy
Producer: Rodger
Paxton
Editor: Matt Carano
Segments
News (10 min)
Uber Grandma guilty on all
counts!
Seacoast United in Epping to add
new indoor facility and restaurant
Controversy over Durham Post Office
mural
NH Supreme Court upholds Tax levy
on Durham church parking spaces
Coast Guard Boardings & the Fourth
Amendment
Sponsor (5 mins)
Beach Pea Baking Co.
Local happenings (5
mins)
Bitcoin Nights at STREET - Tuesdays
at 7pm
Freecoast Yoga at the Praxeum -
Saturdays at 9am
Portsmouth Porcupine Powwow -
Sunday, December 18 at Noon
Seacoast Liberty meetup for Dec 22
is in Rochester at Magrilla’s 6 PM. See the full schedule at
freecoast.org.
Philosophy of
Liberty
Special Guest Shea Levy on The
Failure of Academia
Seacoast History (10
mins)
Prescott Park
Get Involved With The
Show!
News (10 min)
-
Uber Grandma guilty on four
counts!
-
- Stephanie Franz was found guilty of four
charges Tuesday – driving as an unregistered Uber driver on Oct. 17
and Nov. 21 in 2015, as well as on March 25, 2016, as well as
failure to display signage while working as a
driver-for-hire.
- All
of the charges are violation-level citations, not criminal
convictions. Franz was fined a total of $645.
- She
faced up to $3500 in fines and rejected a plea deal.
- Her
“crimes” are no longer illegal thanks to a NH state law passed in
June that preempts local ordinances on "transportation network
companies" like Uber.
- Portsmouth Police Prosecutor had discretion and
chose to continue with charges after the law changed. Difficult to
find who this prosecutor actually is. But basically they work for
the Portsmouth PD.
- Franz
still says, “I want to thank the policemen who were professional
and nice to me when they pulled me over. I get waves from them
now."
- She
has since obtained the vanity license plate "UBR GMA."
- Elizabeth Dinan has been following this story.
One of the best reporters at the Herald.
- Full
story:
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20161213/uber-grandma-found-guilty
-
Seacoast United in Epping to
add new indoor facility and restaurant
-
- The
town's Planning Board on Thursday approved Seacoast United Soccer
Club's plan to add a 45,000-square-foot indoor complex at the site
of its outdoor fields on Shirkin Road.
- Town
Planner Brittany Howard said the complex will include an indoor
soccer field, bathrooms and locker rooms, a snack shack, office
space, rooms for trainers from Exeter Hospital and a 100- to
130-seat restaurant on the second floor.
- Seacoast United has four outdoor turf fields at
the same location.
- The
timeline for construction is pending, as the board offered
conditional approval, which means Seacoast United must meet the
conditions. The club hopes to start building in the spring or early
summer.
- Willis said the opening of the Epping complex
will not affect any other Seacoast United locations.
- Seacoast United has long operated an indoor
facility in Hampton and also has facilities in Kingston, York,
Maine and Amesbury, Mass., where it also has a restaurant and
pub.
- The
club has 55 teams with more than 850 players.
-
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20161209/seacoast-united-indoor-soccer-facility-restaurant-approved-in-epping
-
Controversy over Durham Post
Office mural
-
- For
years, Durham’s post office has been at the center of controversy
over a mural some local residents find racist and
offensive.
- It
depicts a Native American holding a torch, apparently ready to set
a Dover settler’s house on fire.
- Some
Durham residents want the image of the Native American
removed.
- The
New Hampshire Commission on Native American Affairs also opposes
the image titled “Cruel Adversity” on the painted mural. The Native
American holding a torch is supposed to depict the Oyster River
Massacre in Durham on July 18th 1694. Five homes and 15 dwellings
were burned down by Native Americans who killed or carried off 100
settlers.
- Strict government rules don’t allow for the
removal of artwork from federal post office buildings. So it will
stay, but soon visitors to the post office will notice a new
addition: A written historical explanation of the massacre that
will be displayed with the mural.
- It is
currently being created by USPS Historian Jennifer Lynch in
Washington, D.C.
-
http://www.nh1.com/news/racist-and-offensive-native-american-mural-asked-to-be-removed-from-durham-post-office/
http://www.unionleader.com/social-issues/Controversial-mural-will-stay-at-Durham-post-office-12142016
-
NH Supreme Court upholds Tax
levy on Durham church parking spaces
-
- Churches that earn money by renting parking
spaces can be assessed property taxes based on the market value of
those spaces, the N.H. Supreme Court has ruled in a 4-0
decision
- Which
affirms a Strafford county Superior Court ruling which found
parking spaces St. George's Episcopal Church leased to University
of New Hampshire students did not qualify for a religious
exemption.
- The
town learned in 2013 that St. George's and the Community Church of
Durham were leasing spaces to UNH students, and had been doing so
for more than 20 years. St. George's, located on Main Street near
Durham village, was earning $300 per space per semester for the 25
parking spaces it leased. That’s $15,000 per year.
- Durham assessed St. George's 25 parking spaces
at $75,000, which yielded an annual tax bill of about $2,200, town
assessor Jim Rice said.
- St.
George's requested a property tax abatement, which the town was
denied. The church then appealed that denial to Strafford County
Superior Court.
- State
law grants such exemptions for "houses of public worship ... ,
buildings and the lands appertaining to them owned, used and
occupied directly for religious training or for other religious
purposes." However, the Strafford County court ruled the church's
limited use of those 25 leased spaces was "too slight and
insufficiently significant" to warrant such an
exemption.
- Durham Town Administrator Todd Selig said he
was pleased from the ruling, which followed a roughly two-year
court battle and cost the town about $7,800 in legal
fees.
- MC
Opinion - all this has done is take 25 parking spaces away
from students.
-
http://www.fosters.com/news/20161209/high-court-upholds-tax-levy-on-durham-church-parking-spaces
-
Coast Guard Boardings & the
Fourth Amendment
-
Sponsor (5 mins)
Local happenings (5
mins)
-
Bitcoin Nights at STREET -
Tuesdays at 7pm
-
Freecoast Yoga at the Praxeum -
Saturdays at 9am
-
Portsmouth Porcupine Powwow -
Sunday, December 18 at Noon
-
Seacoast Liberty meetup for Dec
22 is in Rochester at Magrilla’s 6 PM. See the full schedule
at www.freecoast.org
Philosophy of
Liberty
-
Special Guest Shea Levy
on The Failure of
Academia
-
Seacoast History (10
mins)
-
Prescott Park
-
- The
Prescott sisters, Josie and Mary, are directly responsible for the
creation of what is now known as Prescott Park.
- Josie
and Mary were public school teachers and lived in Portsmouth all of
their lives. When their older brother, Charles Prescott, died in
1932, he left the two sisters a sizable inheritance. Josie and Mary
loved their city and long desired to see the waterfront section
along what is now Marcy Street beautified and made accessible to
all. In the last will and testament of Josie Prescott a private
trust fund of $500,000 was set up just for this
purpose.
- The
first parcels of land were deeded to the City in 1940, and the
Prescott sisters’ trust was established in 1949, upon the death of
Josie.
- This
trust's sole purpose was to purchase land parcels along the
Piscataqua River from lower State Street to Pickering and Gates
Street and to make this land into a public park. In 1954 with much
of the land purchase accomplished this private trust and associated
land were turned over to the City of Portsmouth to be administered
and maintained for perpetuity.
- The
Prescott Trust Fund, now a city trust fund, is responsible for the
care and maintenance of Prescott Park that includes almost all the
land and buildings from lower State Street to Mechanic Street and
includes Four-Tree Island.
- In
1974 The Trustees of Trust Funds for the City of Portsmouth, led by
Trustee Paul McEachern, and with the help of the New Hampshire Art
Association, brought an outdoor theatrical summer production to
Prescott Park. The idea was to help celebrate the country's
bicentennial and introduce summer arts and entertainment to
Prescott Park. Every year since then the summer season at Prescott
Park has included one or more full production outdoors of a
Broadway play for a family audience.
- Accompanying the plays have been scheduled a
variety of musical performing groups, art shows and viewings, youth
arts and craft workshops, jazz and blues festivals and many other
related arts and entertainment activities.
-
http://www.cityofportsmouth.com/prescottpark/history.htm
http://www.prescottpark.org/
Get Involved With The
Show!
- We
make the Freecast because we enjoy sharing news, knowledge, and fun
with you.
Yes you in particular, dear listener. Each one of you
matters.
- But
any good relationship is a two-way street. So here’s what
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- Give us feedback!
You can connect with us at our
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