The Steve Forster mess began in May of 2012.When the first complaint came in, proper procedure was never used to investigate the complaint. There was no hearing before the Select Board, who by ordinance are the arbitrators of such disputes:
For over four years now Mr. Forster has never been extended the courtesy to be summoned before the select Board to see the facts obtained by a town investigation into the complaint nor address the facts that the neighbor complainer thinks they have. Yet our local government has unleashed all of its powers to prevent this commercial farmer from advertising his farm to the general public. All kept very neatly out of the public eye, just like the town’s unlawful confiscation of Lorin Mulligan’s property. A law suit this town has lost and has lost badly.
We have lost so much in keeping a this farm from thriving. NH has a farm sustainability crisis and agritourism was enacted to help stop the decline in working farms here in NH. farm-viability-report-1
It should be inconceivable and frightening to everyone that such a fundamental tool for a commercial enterprise, attracting the general paying public to a business, could ever be denied by a governmental body.
The Select Board in 2012 did indeed kicked the can down the road. And when the outcome was not what we the people wanted,the legislative body of the people, used their can opener and approved not one, but two warrant articles that clearly set forth that these types of events are not only acceptable, reasonable, ancillary and accessory but indeed a necessary element of the future success of our local farms.
IT IS QUITE CLEAR, THE LEGISLATIVE BODY KNOWS HOW TO USE THEIR CAN OPENER! IT IS CLEAR THAT THE PROBLEM WAS SOLVED BY THE ACTIONS OF THE LEGISLATIVE BODY!
It is also clear that one branch of our local Government did not receive nor understand the message.
So now it is time for that legislative body to use our can opener once again and speak its mind at the ballot box and solve this problem.