Doug Lambert

It was a tea party unlike most one finds in the happy, upper-crusted hamlet of Gilford. A high-society type sipping hot herbal beverage with pinky raisedwas nowhere to be found. No fancy floral arrangements or doilies at this tea party. No, the tea party that took place in Gilford Tuesday night featured none of the usual highbrow activities and conversation one would expect to find at such affairs. The mood of the “tea party” that took place on December 7, 2004 at the Gilford Selectmen’s meeting was more in sync with another “tea party” occurring some 231 years prior.

Tuesday’s late afternoon Selectmen’s meeting was one the likes of which hasn’t been seen in recent memory. It was a day featuring the first major winter “event” of the season. The roads were the most treacherous they have been since last winter. And yet, the town hall meeting room was filled to the brim with folks. Despite the fact that the meeting date was incorrectly reported in numerous publications, Gilford residents piled into town hall, having discerned the right day and hour. This would be no ordinary meeting. Even the hallway outside the meeting room was packed with people.

Why were they here? This was billed as the big meeting of reckoning where the Gilford Selectmen would render their decisions regarding the construction of the new library and a new police facility. Thanks to the efforts of Selectman Kinney O’Rourke, the elected leaders of the town decided to wait on their final decisions for these projects in order to gauge public opinion AFTER the receipt of the December property tax bills.

And that was exactly why all those people were there — they got tax bills last week. It seems that people have had enough. It soon became quite apparent that many taxpayers mustn’t have waited for the meeting to let their feelings be known. Before any of those in attendance had the opportunity to lobby the Selectmen for relief and a respite from further costly construction projects, it was over.

Recognizing the prevailing outrage over the latest tax increases faced in the town, the police building project promoters wisely backed away from facing the people for a vote at this time. They are exactly right: NOW ISN’T THE TIME. The question of whether or not to build won’t even make it onto this year’s ballot. In the second surprise move of the meeting, the Selectmen voted unanimously AGAINST recommending the construction of a new library. While this question will still appear on the warrant, it will do so noting that the Selectmen are opposed. WOW!

With these two actions, the people were probably happy and left the meeting, right? Not so — those in attendance obviously came to tell their representatives more than just to say no to extravagant construction projects. They came to give their leaders an earful, and boy did they ever! One after another, people spoke. While pleased with the construction project denials, more must be done. The message was loud and clear: ENOUGH ALREADY! It seems as though the latest round of tax increases represent the proverbial straw that has broken the camel’s back.

Never before have I seen such a steady stream of direct concern so plainly articulated and bluntly delivered to the town fathers. People are fed up. They no longer have the patience to hear the bleating and wailing of the well paid, heavily compensated employees and department heads as they put forth their seemingly limitless demands on the taxpayers’ money. Many citizens said so Tuesday. “Cut some services.” “Reduce the number of employees.” “Obviously,” one audience member remarked, “a radical new way of conducting business is necessary here in Gilford.” It seems pretty clear that the current methods aren’t working to benefit those footing the bill.

On December 4th, 1773 — a week before the Boston Tea Party — a political tract known as the “Broadside against the East India Company” was distributed by “A Mechanic”. Addressed to “The Tradesmen, Mechanics, Etc. of the Province of Pennsylvania,” it noted that, “The Point in Question is, whether we have property of our own, or not? Whether our property, and the dear-earned fruits of our labor are at our own disposal, or shall be wantonly wrested from us, by a set of luxurious, abandoned and piratical hirelings, to be appropriated by them to increase the number of such infamous pensioners, and support their extravagance?”

The events of Tuesday are like nothing I’ve seen in my years living in the town of Gilford. The tone, while polite, was strong. The sleeping giant that is comprised of Gilford’s taxpayers has been awakened. For the purveyors of ever-increasing spending in town, it seems as though the jig is up. People’s taxes have skyrocketed and they have shown that they know why: TOO MUCH SPENDING.

Initial reports of the dumping of tea by “Mohawks” in Boston Harbor on December 16, 1773 astonished and outraged the Tories and other undecided colonists of the day. Many others were no so dismayed. At the Green Dragon pub in Boston, the Masons sang, “Rally Mohawks! Bring out your axes and tell King George, we’ll pay no taxes!” The rest, as they say, is history.

Doug Lambert lives in Gilford. His column appears every Thursday. Tune in this Saturday when he joins radio host Niel Young to interview Col. Oliver North. (WEZS 1350 beginning at 8 a.m.)