The Brattleboro Reformer from Brattleboro, Vermont • 2

Monday, March 16, 2009 REGION www.reformer.com Page 2 Uraillrboro frformrr Accu Weather' Four-Dav local Forecast for Brattleboro N.H. first-in-nation lottery turns 45 TODAY TONIGHT I TUESDAY I WEDNESDAY" EaRl hgt wrsi Partly sunny Mostly cloudy Partly sunny Mainly cloudy Almanac 'st. Albans I jiH Ptatttbtgh Johnsbui Berln Bratttetxxo ttvougti 60m yesteraay Temperature wgh 56 Low 20" ftomafhigh Af Normal low 25 Precipitation 24 hrs erring 6p.m. yest. 000 MorModate 133' Normal mor to date 1.45" 3.31" "if -nr 1 for Albany, NY 'GterJfals ilEnl Concord I to'S Heating Degree Days i JfcilW Portsmgiith Manchester "i mm mm ity of life.

And though backers claim slots could bring in about $200 million a year at a time when the state faces a significant budget deficit, the Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling says expanded gambling will damage tourism and intensify pressures on state and local budgets. Those arguments seem to have prevailed so far: The House recently killed two bills to expand gambling, and the Senate postponed action on its versions of the bills last week when it became clear the votes weren't yet there. Getting the original lottery through the Legislature also was a chore: State Rep. Larry Pickett of Keene proposed the bill five times over 10 years before he succeeded. Gov.

John King finally signed the bill in April 1963, and the first tickets went on sale March 12, 1964. The lottery, then called the New Hampshire Sweepstakes, was tied to horse races at Rockingham Park in Salem. Tickets were $3 each and sold at the track and a handful of liquor stores. Drawings were held after $1 million worth of tickets were sold, about every three to four months, said Rick Wisler, executive director of the state lottery commission. The top prize was $100,000.

News accounts of the first race describe one $100,000 winner clasping rosary beads in her white-gloved hands during the race. On the Net: New Hampshire Lottery Commission: httpflwww.nhlottery.org By HOLLY RAMER Associated Press CONCORD, N.H. "A tragic mistake." "A scandalous experiment in state financing." "The shame of New Hampshire." Opponents of expanded gambling argue that it would hurt the state's image and cause more problems than it would solve. But the quotes above aren't from the current legislative debate; they're from newspaper editorials written in 1964, when New Hampshire launched the nation's first legal state-run lottery. As the state considers allowing video slot machines at racetracks and other locations, it happens to be marking the 45th anniversary of its first sweepstakes.

In contrast to the local opposition the current proposals face, efforts to start the lottery elicited outrage on a national scale. "It is an unhappy commentary of human nature that the citizens of New Hampshire, apparently unwilling to carry a normal tax load, are tapping one of man's less noble impulses to raise money for the education of their children," editorialized the Milwaukee Journal. "Many solid citizens are convinced that the horses in the inaugural running of the New Hampshire Sweepstakes will be officially trampling New Hampshire's very morality in the dust," lamented The Saturday Evening Post. Even Reader's Digest weighed in. "Is either New Hampshire or Uncle Sam so hard up that this shabby dodge is the only 27 Month to dale 521 Normal mot to dale 501 Season to dale 5849 SMw 3 tutors waBw Tsrfrts are iodes Ntfii and trngWs low Prmrincetown 4231 Jim ColeAP IPjovideoce III River 4628 Nantucket 1 4428 In this photo taken from a scrap book in Manchester, N.H., Thursday, then-Gov.

John King bought the nation's first legal state lottery ticket. The state lottery is now celebrating its 45th Anniversary with a special lottery ticket. way out' It will mean moral bankruptcy for New Hampshire," the magazine concluded. offer similarly dire warnings today, arguing that expanding gambling will increase crime political corruption, destroy families and damage the state's qual Moon Phases Sun and Moon first Full New Sunrise today 7:01 a.m. Sunset tonight 6:58 p.m.

Moorrrise today 12:32 am. Moonset today 9:25 a.m. Forecasts and graphics provided by AceuWeather, Inc. 2009 Mar 18 Mar 26 Apr 2 Apr 9 AccuWeather.com News in Brief No square meals March meeting normal for most N.H. towns BOW, N.H.

(AP) March means town meeting for most New Hampshire communities, but about a dozen towns use a different calendar. March meetings became the norm in colonial times, and 208 towns still hold to that schedule, even though most town budgets start in January. Eleven towns, however, have moved their meetings to April or May and shifted their budgets to start in July, which makes more sense in terms of fiscal management. Two towns have town meeting in April. Nine others have town meeting in May.

April: Conway, Merrimack May: Bow, Chester, Hanover, Hooksett, Newport, Newmarket, Peterborough, Sanbornton, Stoddard. 2nd Maine town curbs water extraction NEWFIELD, Maine (AP) -Becoming the second town to do so in Maine, Newfield has voted to ban large-scale water extraction. Saturday's vote was 228-146 in favor of a new ordinance. Poland Spring Water and its parent company, Nestle, are believed to be interested in pumping water from an aquifer shared by Newfield and Shap-leigh. Shapleigh voted for a ban on water extraction two weeks ago.

But amid concern that the ordinance could be overturned in court, townspeople voted on a different ordinance at town meeting Saturday, laying out what a water company would have to do to be able to extract water from the aquifer. That ordinance passed by a sin- gle vote. Discussion focuses on medical marijuana LACONIA, N.H. (AP) Both sides of New Hampshire's medical marijuana debate are coming together to discuss the issue. The Legislature is considering a bill that would allow seriously ill patients to use small amounts marijuana under a doctor's recommendation.

At a panel discussion Monday, supporters of the bill will be represented by a physician and state representative from Belmont, an Allenstown woman with multiple sclerosis and the executive director of the New Hampshire Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy. Bradley plans run for N.H. Senate CONCORD, N.H. (AP) Former New Hampshire Congressman Jeb Bradley will officially announce his campaign for an Lottery SATURDAY Tri-State Pick 3 Pick 4 Day: Evening: 4-3-4, 4-7-6-2 Megabucks: 8-22-29-31-33-39 (41) 1-6-3-9 Mass. 22-23-24-35-36-39 Hot Lotto: 2-18-25-29-36(16) Powerball: 7-30-33-44-51 P.Bali (10) P.Play(2) SUNDAY Tri-State Pick 3 Pick 4 Day: 7-9-5, 1-8-7-3 Evening: 8-6-2, 1-1-1-0 Mass.

Daily: 9-8-3-9 Zachary P. StephensReformer Round bales of hay sit at a farm in Westminster last week. 1 II ill I II I I I Brattleboro Night every Wednesday Night Free bag of popcorn with each ticket purchased THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT 6:20, 8:30 MCE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN it. 6:15. 8:15 WATCHMEN 6:20.9:10 FIRED UP i HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU ms 6:10.

8:30 TAKEN w. 6:40, 8:40 open state Senate seat on Monday. The Wolfeboro Republican was the state's 1st District congressman before being ousted by Democrat Carol Shea-Porter in 2006. The only other candidate to file for the District 3 state Senate seat so far is Democrat Bud Martin. The Republican who beat Martin for the seat in November stepped down last month after a drunken driving arrest.

The special election to replace him will be in April or May. seen on Maine school law repeal AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) A citizen-initiated bid to repeal Maine's school consolidation law is expected to get a fight, but the battle lines have yet to be fully-drawn. Gov. John Baldacci, after restating his case in his State of "This thing is a farce," Skip Greenlaw of Stonington, who has led the repeal effort for the Maine Coalition to Save Schools, said over the weekend. "I don't believe there's going to be any net savings," Last Tuesday, in his State of the State speech, Baldacci reaffirmed his commitment to government streamlining.

One specific example he cited was public education. The governor could get support for his anti-repeal stance from elements of the business community, according to a leader of last year's successful effort to repeal a pending beverage tax. "I think it's probably pretty premature to even start talking about that, quite frankly," cautioned Newell Auger, who represents the Maine Beverage Association and served as a primary spokesman and strategist for the 2008 Fed Up With Taxes people's veto effort. But at the same time, Auger didn't close the door to a new effort to retain the state's school system consolidation. "There's no benefit in saying no all the time," he said.

the State address, said he will actively try to defeat the pending referendum proposal. "I'll be working to defeat that because I think that's sending us backwards to our expensive past," Baldacci said. What remains to be seen is with whom Baldacci will join forces. Enacted in 2007, the consolidation law requires Maine's 290 school administrative units to be reorganized into about 80 regional units. Recent tracking by state education officials shows roughly 80 percent of students in the state are in school units that have met the requirements of the consolidation law and were given final, approval by the voters for reorganization plans or by the commissioner for alternative plans.

Initial savings from the reorganization were pegged at more than $36 million. Last month, Maine's secretary of state reviewed petitions submitted by repeal proponents and gave a green light to a proposed ballot question. If lawmakers decline to approve the repeal measure themselves, it will go out to voters. fftal vain, Gift Certificates Available www.yourneighbortioodtheatre.com Better health is at your fingertips. The Family Guide to Area Health Services Post 5.32 Linden St.

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V.F.W. Luncheon Menu March March 20lh Mon. Meatball Grinder Tue. Baked Ham Mac Cheese Wed. Chicken Quesadillas Thu, Corned Beef Cabbage Fri.

Seafood Salad Roll fPtttaio vegetahh 7C included witli mi 1) jl sJ Sandwiches, soup or burgers also available Mon-Yankec Beef Stew Cheddar Biscuit Tue- Corned Beef Wed- Sparc Ribs, Kraut Potatoes Thu- Liver and Onions Fri- Western wFF or Onion Rings sc.yC Serving 11:30 to 1:30 members and guests Tuesday March 17 GU I CORNED BFFF WITH ALL THE FIXINS Serving am 6:30 pm lake out available $7.00 Friday, March 20 FISH FRY 5-7 pm Brattleboro Memorial Hospital CuriMj for our Ctmuuuuty 40 Black Mm, Rd. Brattleboro BINGO: Wee), H) $1000 l.ukpot 17 Belmont Avenue, Brattleboro. VT 05301 802-257-0341 www.bmhvt.org i i ms ii ii ipi.