[VitaBene]

Here is another SL letter. Only the name is redacted. Sorry for the formatting of these letters- I use a full version of Acrobat that allows copying but it can't be manipulated.

Boat speed limit supporters have no data to back up their claims
To the editor,
As I was sitting at the Meredith
town docks reading Mr. Weeks’ eloquent
letter to editor concerning his
dramatic support for the speed limit
law on Lake Winnipesaukee, a few
things came to mind.
Mr. Weeks attributes the reduced
boating activity on our big lake to the
success of the new limits in effect. However,
reports in all local papers, not to
mention statements from the Marine
Patrol and marina owners, all stated
that boat traffic was way down from
normal this summer, not only on Lake
Winnipesaukee, which is the only lake
affected by the speed limits but the
entire Lakes Region — not very surprising
given the dramatic recession
we’ve had since last year, and the poor
weather in the Lakes Region during
June and July and parts of August.
The economy has battered people’s
retirement accounts, home values,
and the unemployment rate has risen
to a two-decade high. Not exactly the
environment one would expect a lake
area to thrive in and certainly not
due to the new speed limit law, a law
the NH Marine Patrol testified was
unnecessary to begin with.
What really surprised me the most
was Mr. Weeks statement that, “WE
FINALLY HAD A SUMMER WITHOUT
A HIGH-SPEED TRAGEDY”.
This made me wonder, when was
the last time a high speed tragedy
occurred on Lake Winnipesaukee?
New Hampshire Marine Patrol accident
statistics for Lake Winnipesaukee
do not list a “high speed tragedy”
in recent memory so how is it that we
“Finally had a summer without one”?
Accident statistics do not show any
boat accident and certainly no fatal
accidents where speed was attributed
as the cause on Lake Winnipesaukee
over the past decade or more.
As to his praise for the Marine
Patrol, it very well is deserved since
their budgets are not thriving in this
economy. But I feel the praise was
misplaced.
The Marine Patrol director is on the
record at least twice, in not supporting
the speed limit provision of the
current law. His reasoning? “Speeding
is not a problem on the lake”. The
tests that occurred on Winnipesaukee
last year, tests that WINNFABS supported,
pretty much backed up the
director’s claims.
The law has a sunset provision, a
given period of two years.
The supporters NOW want to make
the law permanent, without any data to
review. I know for a fact that their reasoning
is that they know full well that
the lake traffic this year was pretty low
(note the contradiction to Mr. Weeks
claim), not to mention that the data
would clearly indicate that the speed
limit portion of the law had no data supporting
it’s passing to being with and
nothing supporting it now.
Regardless of the outcome, I think
that the law should stand on its own
merits and that the original sunset
provision should remain as written! I
further state that the data should be
made public as soon as it is available.
The Marine Patrol would obviously be
a great, first hand resource for media
to follow-up on this contentious issue.
Regardless of anyone’s opinion of this
law, I do believe that the public has a
right to know the facts, all of the facts.
Unfortunately, there were far too
many people like Mr. Weeks and WinnFabs
that dominated the process,
and the public has not been served
well by their actions or words.
Whenever anyone, or any group,
tries to conceal the truth to support
an idea, a giant RED FLAG should
go up. Behind their statements, probably
well behind those statements if
history is any indicator, the truth does
exist. Lake Winnipesaukee is a state
treasure, not something that belongs
to people with political or ideological
agendas. It is a SHARED resource.
Before anyone buys into Mr. Weeks
drama concerning the chaos that has
magically disappeared, perhaps the
public, you, should directly ask him
and the WinnFabs to support any of
their previous claims that chaos of
speeding boats ever existed in the first
place!
Drama belongs in the theater, not in
the law-making process.