Posted on 07/13/2004 12:49:23 PM PDT by COUNTrecount
Vermont ski town takes next step in secession plan By Linda Prospero
NEW YORK, July 12 (Reuters) - Officials from the ski resort town of Killington, Vermont, will meet with New Hampshire's governor on Tuesday in the latest step to secede from Vermont over what they consider unfair tax policies.
At an open town meeting last March, residents of the popular ski town voted to break away from their state and join New Hampshire, whose border lies 25 miles (40 km) to the east, because of what they see as Vermont's unfair tax structure.
David Lewis, Killington's town manager, on Monday said that he and other town officials will be giving New Hampshire Gov. Craig Benson on Tuesday a formal presentation and draft legislation allowing New Hampshire to formally adopt Killington as its own.
Lewis said that after he meets with Benson, he will begin working with New Hampshire legislators to get the bill introduced and sponsored.
"We are aware of a number of legislators who apparently will sponsor this legislation. We felt the first protocol would be to talk to the governor," Lewis said.
A spokeswoman for New Hampshire's governor on Monday said that Benson would wait until he sees Killington's proposal before making any decision. But he's "honored" to be governor of a state that Killington wants to join, spokeswoman Alicia Preston said.
Killington taxpayers send more than $20 million to Vermont through a variety of taxes, but get back only about $2 million in services, Lewis said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.netscape.cnn.com ...
Could you please copy in the rest of the article, or at least fix the link?
ditto
The mouse that roared -- in America!
Sorry.I thought I copied it all.
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-PLS&idq=/ff/story/
0002/20040712/1822250318.htm&photoid=/cp/news/top/i/killington_7.13.jpg
Hey, perhaps a Freeper ski trip is in order?
I'd want to secede from Vermont, too, if my Senators were Jeffords and Leahy.
Hey, perhaps a Freeper ski trip is in order?
Maybe Mark Steyn can meet us on the slopes ?
PS can't get article to load from either link.
Could they please leave and take Howard the Shrieker with them.
Uh, we tried that a few years back. It didn't work.
Well, there isn't really a Constitutional requirement that states be contiguous. There is, however, a Constitutional requirement that Vermont give its approval, so this isn't going to happen regardless of whatever the New Hampshire legislature thinks it's doing.
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-PLS&idq=/ff/story/
0002/20040712/1822250318.htm&photoid=/cp/news/top/i/killington_7.13.jpg
Try this whole address. I just got it to load.
A tad light on the snow..at least here in CT. :-)
Hey, I don't get all my tax dollars back in services either.
Do they have a battleflag?
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-PLS&idq=/ff/story/0002/20040712/1822250318.htm&photoid=/cp/news/top/i/killington_7.13.jpg
Try the above link
OK?
Article IV, US Constitution:
"Section 3. New states may be admitted by the Congress into this union; but no new states shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress."
Why would Vermont consent to the loss of a producer of tax income?
No new State is being formed, one part of a State is simply joining another state. It is not as though Killington wants to join Hanover, NH and create a new state.
The provision seems to say that a new state is formed when all or part of one state is combined with all or part of another state. "nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states".
(Yes, the alternative reading would be that the clause applies only if two whole states or two parts of states are combined, but not in casees such as here where a whole state is combined with part of another. I do not believe that this would be the proper construction.)
If my construction is correct, then both states, as well as Congress, would have to approve the new border.
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