Sfx: town moderator, debate
Fewer than 200 of Ossipee's 3100 registered voters came to this year's town meeting.
Most sat inside the linoleum floored meeting hall.
Judy Perault though, was just beyond the crowd, near the front door.
She came seeking support for a plan that could mean half a million dollars to her community.
About a year ago, Perault and her neighbors at the Pine River Campground, a trailer park, bought out the owner and formed a Coop.
At this meeting residents came to consider the warrant article that would allow the Coop- now named Sandy Ridge Estates- to apply for a federal grant to make infrastructure improvements.
But Perault, vice-president of the Coop, was nervous.
T.6
:02 ...right now, I just went through the budget book, it states in their the budget committee and selectmen aren't for this article so right now, it's starting to look a little bit dismal for us.
What made the town's reluctance even more frustrating, says Perault, is all the progress the Coop has made.
For instance Sandy Ridge residents removed some 200 tons of gargabge, including abandoned vehicles, and dilapidated trailes that had accumulated over 25 years.
The first time Chris Clasby visited the park he says he saw in a word, squalor.
Clasby works for the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund.
He helped residents convert the place into a Coop and serves as a technical advisor.
T.6
4:44...they have developed a construction schedule for the new water system, for the new septic system...they have improved theexisting water, done the necessary septic pumping to make sure they don't have failures, they have plowed the roads. They have done a lot of work. They've made a lot of improvements.
On its face, Clasby says, you think the town would want to help some of its most needy residents.
The area certainly cost Ossipee enough in calls to the police, fire department and local welfare office back when it was the Pine River Campground.
But now, as Sandy Ridge Estates, residents have been trying to take responsibility and improve the park.
At the same time Clasby knows Ossipee's been hurt before.
Years ago a developer didn't meet her obligations and saddled the town with over 200 thousand dollars in debt.
T.15
:05 in the town's defense, there could be some real concerns over the Folsum project, and the warrant articles that were necessary year in and year out ot pay back the loans on that project. So we are trying our best to address those concerns.
Because of that record, many in town insist financial fear is the only reason for any resistance.
But that's not how everyone sees it.
In one sense it doesn't even matter if the town approves the warrant article.
The New Hampshire Community Loan Fund has promised to assume liability.
So between the state, the Loan Fund, and the Coop it's likely some deal could be struck.
The real question- at least for Sandy Ridge residents - is whether the town will accept them.
As one resident described it, tell people you're from Sandy Ridge and they jump back five feet.
That attitude comes through loud and clear in the words of Randy Lyman.
42:27 there are very good people in there...they just don't have the expericnce that is being asked of them. If I asked them to manage a fruit stand, or run garden, build a road, fix a car, they could do it in a moment. But there is no way they are experienced in the world of financing.
Lyman's sentiment is often only whispered among friends.
But when Sandy Ridge approached town officials to support their plan, Selectmen Joseph Chromy made some very public comments..
Chromy declined interviews for this story.
But in a statement he read at a January selectmen's meeting Chromy implied Sandy Ridge residents were drunks, drug dealers, drug users and welfare abusers.
T.26
2:47 ... I was there when he read that statement. I was appalled. Absolutely appalled.
Judy Perault
... He read the statement, and him and the two other selectmen voted no. and immediately got up and left. We had no chance to question where he was getting his information. We had no chance to say- hey, I am not a drug dealer. I work for a living.
Chromy's comments forced Ossipee to acknowledge that some in town believe Sandy Ridge is nothing more than a dumping ground.
And Zoning Board member Lisa Hinckley says over the winter, that idea started to take root.
1:01 I think the attitude of some of the officials in the town have forced people to take a negative attitude at those people who are living in maybe a little bit poorer area of town and view them as less than.
But not all of Ossipee's top officials bought into the theory.
Police Chief Rick Morgan says back when the area was a campground, the town turned a blind eye to it.
T.18
1:09 ... quite frankly, our elected officials dropped the ball in a huge way, and allowed those people who lived in that environment to stay in substandard, unsafe conditions for years and years. Even after there was a court order to change it. It was sad.
Morgan remembers a time when people had septic backing up into their homes.
For four months they had to boil their water before they drank it, due to septic leaking into a well.
And while both Ossipee and the state tried to compel the park to comply with minimum standards over the years, the owner never did.
Chief Morgan thinks some in town have turned their backs because they don't want to know about poverty.
T.18
9:03 ... there are certain people, and I pity them quite frankly, who live in ivory towers and a $200,000 house and just can't, they don't care about the person living in a $12,000 mobile home. They don't care. b/c they can not envision themselves ever being there.
T.35
6:21 in any community you live in, and I've lived in a lot. You find haves and have nots. And the haves have differences with the have nots, and the have nots, have differences with the haves.
Selectman and State Representative Harry Merrow.
...I don't consider it a true animosity here, most of the people in this town get along pretty well. And I think the town does a very good job of trying to help people....7:17 I don't buy this town is a stingy type of town that have and have nots fight each other. I really don't see that.
Park manager Bertha Parchman finds remarks like those laughable.
She's lived at Sandy Ridge for four years.
T.7
1:04 they consider us trailer trash. That's all they consider us. b/c they don't take the time, they've seen what it looks like before, but now they haven't taken the time to see all the trash is gone. Homes that were unrepairable are gone. And we are in the process of doing the sewer and the water. They don't understand that, b/c they don't care.
Sfx: town meeting sound.
In some sense, the vote on the grant was nothing more than a litmus test to determine what message the town wanted to send.
After nearly four hours at town meeting, the Coop's warrant article finally came.
Perault moved into the hall to sit with everybody else.
But she was still nervous.
And then Selectmen Merrow explained the board's position.
T.20
1:45...the reason I am against it, is b/c, number one, we had a bad experience, which cost us 40 thousand dollars a year for six years....3:35.... the issue with me is the town might get stuck with it, but the chances of that are 9,999 we won't but there is always one chance that we will.
The New Hampshire Loan Fund's Chris Clasby, attempted to reassure the crowd.
He told them his organization would guarantee the grant.
The offer stirred something in town resident Rick Cogswell.
T.22
1:30 Rick...I have always voted against what happened at the Pine River Campground. I am going to change my vote today b/c of what this man just said, he said he would guarantee the loan. The only thing we ever hoped down there was the problems would get fixed, and people would be safe.
2:11 It absolutely scares me to death that I would agree with Rick Cogswell on something...
Police Chief Morgan.
...the fact of the matter is, I secretly confess an earthquake or a napalm strike would hit Pine River Campground, b/c it would reduce my work by a pretty considerable amount. I say that in jest and in sincerity. It is different now....
4:45 ...if it can be done without us being on the hook, why not get it finished? We have been dealing with the place for 25 years, you are on the horizon of having it better. It is better right now. If you drive through there, if you ever drove through before, it's much better than it was. Let's let them finish it.
sfx: 5:30 Ok, to see if the voters of the town wish the selectmen to support a grant application in the amount of $500,000 to improve Sandy Ridge Estates, those in favor please raise your cards. Those opposed. Motion carries. 28, to see if the town will raise....
Sandy Ridge residents, left the meeting looking somewhat dazed.
Judy Perault walks over.
T.23
6:51 I am going to go home, and post a letter, and say we did it. going to call my mom, and then the board of directors has a lot of work to do, we still have all our plans and things like that, we still need to get accepted for the well sites, we still have to get accepted for sewage, but in the spring we are starting construction. So we have a lot of work to do.
The town of Ossipee plans to submit the grant application on behalf of Sandy Ridge later this year.
Awards are expected to be announced in the fall.
In the end, Ossipee approved the warrant article largely because they wouldn't be on the financial hook.
But still, residents of Sandy Ridge walked out of the town hall with a lot more than they ever could from a half a million dollars.
For NHPR News, I'm DG.
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