HI Guys & Gals
I got the email below from Dick Smith. Time to get our pens (keyboards) out again!
SB 464 went through the Senate Committee (Transportation) with an OTP. The full Senate then voted on the bill with an amendment that the boat speed limit on Winni would be 50 mph during the day and 30 mph at night. The bill is now in the House Transportation committee so it is critical that we “bombard” these House reps with e-mails and phone calls stated that you are strongly opposed to SB 464. If you wanted to send just one e-mail that would go to all the House Reps on the Transportation committee, here is the e-mail address to use: [HouseTransportationCommittee@leg.state.nh.us]
If you want to send an individual e-mail or phone a committee member, go to: http://gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/committeedetails.aspx?code=H27 and then click on individual names to see their phone number, address, and e-mail.
Don’t let these legislators take yet another one of your freedoms away from you. FIGHT BACK !
There are absolutely NO objective data from either the US Coast Guard nor own NH Marine Patrol reports that supports the notion that boat speed restrictions are needed. NH remains one of the safest boating states in the USA.
The core group behind this restrictive bill is a group of lakeshore property owners (the core group are residents of Bear Island on Winnipesaukee and labeled themselves “WinnFabs”). Their prime motivation was to drive the big performance boats (Fountains, Cigarette, Donzi, and Formulas off Winni and into the ocean). An unintended consequence is that this sort of restriction has a negative impact on the recreation of bass boaters. I testified in front of the Senators that it is not unusual during a bass tournament on Winni to run 50+ miles during an 8 hour period and that performance bass boats are designed to cover large distances quickly and safely in order to minimize run time and maximize fishing time.
Dick.
Posted to NH BASS FED NATION by Dan Dufour (NHBFN CD)