Dawn Lincoln

We Made the Move! –
Dawn Lincoln and daughters Jaclyn & Kelsey

Date of Move: April 2004

Reported by Tim Condon, FSP Participant Services Director

It's not easy being a single Mom, especially when you're responsible for homeschooling two nearly-teenaged daughters. But Dawn Lincoln makes it look easy. Dawn, together with her two daughters (Jaclyn, 12, and Kelsey, 10), moved from Newington, Connecticut in April 2004, only six months after New Hampshire was chosen as "the Free State" in the FSP vote of August and September 2003. This dynamo Porcupine was one of the earlier members of the Free State Project to move into the Free State, and made the move in spite of homeschooling laws in New Hampshire that are more backward than many other states.

"I am currently homeschooling my daughters," explains Dawn. "The major hesitation I had with moving to New Hampshire was the homeschool laws in NH. I decided that I'd just have to deal with the over-regulation of homeschoolers, and work to help make it better. Since then I've found that one of the least invasive methods of complying with the homeschool RSA's ("Revised Statutes Annotated," the NH term for statutes), is to use a private school as your "participating agency."

What about research? What kind of study did Dawn make of New Hampshire before making the move? "Not too much!" she responds. "I knew I wanted to follow the FSP and wanted to do it sooner rather than later. Being from Connecticut, I wanted to find a spot in New Hampshire where I could be relatively close to visit my family and friends in Connecticut, and have them come visit us too. I needed an area with decently priced housing and access to a gymnastics studio for my 12 year old, so I used the FSP web site to do some research, and met with Jim Maynard and Shelly Otterson, both of whom live in Keene in the southwest part of the state."

There were plenty of scouting trips to New Hampshire before the move, though, Dawn recounts. "I made quite a few trips to come house hunting. It took us about four months to find the right house in the right location for the right price. After a few disappointments, we finally found the perfect house. I focused on Cheshire County, wanting to be close to Keene but live in a little more of a rural area than the city of Keene."

Now that she's "gone and done it," what are Dawn's impressions of the Free State overall? "I love NH!" she responds immediately. "The people here have been very friendly and helpful. The only person I've had a problem with is the lady at the Department of Motor Vehicle, but that's pretty standard everywhere, isn't it? This is a beautiful state with many people who really do believe in Live Free or Die. In my area, I've found that a lot of people are from out of state, especially Connecticut, so I'm not so much of an outsider as might be true in other communities. The chair of our local board of selectmen is even from Connecticut, and has only been in New Hampshire for about three years, so 'outsiders' are definitely able to become respected members of the community rather quickly in this area.

Any fears about the weather? The weather is typical New England weather," explains Dawn. "Not much different from central Connecticut where we came from. I know because I looked at houses in the middle of winter when it was snowy and cold. Some areas get more snow than others, of course. My realtor told me about a 'snow belt' - an area that gets more snow than most of the areas surrounding it. We steered clear of there!

"There are lots of lakes and plenty of nice summer days to use them," Dawn continued. "But I was glad we ended up with an air conditioner from our involvement with Freecycle, when the temperatures were up around 90 in the summer! Now we're looking forward to snowmobiling with friends this winter, ice skating on the nearby lake, and snow skiing. We are fairly active - we like to ski, bike ride, camp, hike, horseback ride, do gymnastics, swim, and boat. As a result of moving, we'll most likely get into a few new things like snowmobiling and/or four wheeling. It's really cool in the winter when you see the snowmobiles riding along the trials near the roads!

"However, in the late spring/early summer, you do have to watch out for the New Hampshire "official bird" - the black fly (deer fly, gnat, whatever you want to call it!). They are annoying as can be and love to fly into your eyes and bite too. I haven't tried this remedy, but someone told me that putting ammonia on the bite will take the itch out - I'll be trying it next spring!"

When exploring the Free State for a house to buy, Dawn recounts, she also visited and met with other Porcupines, including Jim Maynard's girlfriend Pat, Shelly Otterson, Justin Somma, and Calvin Pratt. She ultimately ended up outside Keene in the small town of Winchester. Says Dawn, "I bought a house right off the bat because I didn't want to have to move again. I have a 3 bedroom cape on an acre lot, just perfect for the three of us. My realtor was awesome - Robin Smith at Masiello Group in Keene. Her work number is 603-352-5433 x 235. She worked very hard for me and helped us finally land in the right spot. I highly recommend her."

What about new friends in the Free State? Has Dawn linked up with any? "Yes! " she responds. "Luckily, there are many nice people involved with the FSP who have been very welcoming and nice too! The 'Meet-and-Greets' have been a great opportunity to meet people, as well as functions like the annual Porcupine Festival, the Liberty Dinner, the Coalition for New Hampshire Taxpayers picnic, the state LP convention, New Hampshire Liberty Alliance meetings and more. I've met so many, it's hard to list them all! Kat Dillon and her daughter Kira are two of my favorite FSP members. Kat is really sweet and hardworking and funny too!

"I have also met a lot of people in town," Dawn continued. "My daughters are volunteering at a nonprofit daycare center in town, and I volunteered to help out on the Winchester Pickle Festival committee. It was a great way for me to get to meet more people. Plus I know most of my neighbors too. For instance, there's a farm right around the corner from us that has a sign up for eggs for sale. So, our first day here we stopped in for some eggs. We are really lucky - our neighbors at the farm have three kids and they homeschool and are incredibly nice. So, the girls have been having lots of fun with their kids, and helping with the animals."

What about the people in the Free State overall, I asked. How do they strike her now that the move is complete? "Well, you have to go out and get involved to meet people," Dawn responded. "But I'm very pleased with the caliber of people that I've come across. They're nice, they're helpful and friendly, and they seem to like their jobs too. The waitresses and cashiers are even nice to you here!"

How did the move itself go, I wanted to know. Did anyone help Dawn and her kids get you moved in when they got to the Free State? Says Dawn, "I had plenty of offers but we moved in slow, one load at a time, so we were all set."

In the meantime, Dawn cautions, New Hampshire isn't perfect; there's plenty of work for FSP members to do once they get here. "I was most surprised that the Live Free or Die state is micromanaging their homeschoolers!" she said. "And was even more surprised that many of the NH homeschoolers I've corresponded by email with don't seem to think it's that bad!" Nevertheless, she's glad, excited, and delighted to have "made the move" to the Free State: "It's really cool to be part of such an awesome historical event like the Free State Project. It's nice to feel like I'm really going to be able to make a positive impact in New Hampshire, to help them retain and hopefully gain more of the freedom they want and deserve. It's inspiring to see so many hard working, intelligent, well-spoken individuals in this state, all working together on various projects and within different organizations."

If you're wondering if making a move to the Free State might be right for you too, and what it would be like, Dawn Lincoln has a few things to say for you: "Come on up! Find a way to make it work and move as soon as you can! We need more people here to make things happen. There are lots of hard working people here already and lots of excellent organizations to get involved in. I love New Hampshire! Personally, I keep the FSP stuff to myself until I really know someone. Some people know about the FSP and think it's great, others have heard about things like the Free Town Project and aren't so sure. But I don't want to be prejudged by people so I just go about my business and volunteer for things and get known that way, so I can be judged by who I am and what I do, not for what groups I do or don't belong to."

"If anyone wants to contact me, please email me."

Back to We Made the Move!

Joel Moved

We Made the Move! – "Joel"

Date of move: March 2004

Are you scared of taking that leap into the unknown? Of moving and living in freedom in the Free State? So are lots of others!

But you need not fear. A steady stream of Porcupines is making the migration into New Hampshire right now. Here's the story of one of them (who wishes to remain anonymous; let's call him "Joel" for the purpose of telling his story). – Tim Condon, FSP Participant Services Director

My name is Joel, and I made the move from Tallahassee, Florida last year, arriving in the Free State of New Hampshire in March 2004.

Because I was convinced by the Free State Project plan, and committed to moving to NH from the time it was chosen, the only real research I did on the state beforehand was to look over a map to see where the big cities were. I chose to live in Manchester, the largest city and close to Concord and Nashua.

I arrived on a Thursday morning, found a newspaper, and started looking for a place to live. By that afternoon I'd found a room to rent. Nothing fancy, but it was clean and convenient.

On Friday morning I went through the newspaper looking for work. I'm a carpenter, and I was surprised to find that there were lots of opportunities. The very first person I talked to set up an interview for me that afternoon, and I was hired on the spot, for more money than I had been making in Florida!

So within approximately 36 hours of arriving in the Free State, I easily found both a place to live and a good job.

Not long after I arrived in New Hampshire, I had an opportunity to meet another FSP member named Patrick who was visiting from Nevada. He was doing his own research, and wanted to meet and talk to people who had already moved here, so we got together for dinner. I was a little nervous. Up to that time I'd never actually met another FSP Porcupine. I knew I wasn't crazy to have moved across the country in search of liberty...but I wondered if other people contemplating such a move would be.

I needn't have worried. Patrick turned out to be a normal guy, and our meeting was the beginning of a great friendship. Later that same week, I attended a Free State Project "Meet and Greet" party where I had the opportunity to meet all sorts of Porcupines, from FSP President Amanda Phillips to Michael Badnarik, who later became the national Libertarian Party presidential candidate. It was a great event, and by the time it ended I knew I'd made the right decision in moving to New Hampshire "ahead of the rush."

I've been in the Free State almost a year now, and I'm amazed at the frequency of new arrivals. Every week I hear of someone new moving here, and all are ready to get involved as soon as they arrive. We're putting together a great team here, consisting of both new movers and long-time Granite State residents, and we're going to make a difference.

For anyone and everyone considering "making the move," I say "do it now." You won't be sorry. The reward is Liberty in your own Lifetime!

Back to We Made the Move!

We've Moved - Charlie Gershfield

We Made the Move! – Charlie Gershfield

Let's Go

When I was still only vaguely aware of the Free State Project, my friend Herb was telling me on the phone that I should move to New Hampshire because it was a "libertarian state".  I wasn't sure what evidence he had of that other than what he had read on a license plate, "live free or die".  Herb and I used to work together a long time ago in the defence industry and, since then, I did the occasional contract job for him as we both moved around the country in our separate directions.  He was working in Burlington, Massachusetts at the time.  Meanwhile, Hazel and I were looking for a place to move to where our kids would be relatively safe, and where there would be some career opportunities in the area along with a group of home schoolers where the kids could find friends.  We had already decided on New Hampshire.  It's possible to get a job here without some insider already knowing you - but it certainly doesn't hurt if someone has worked with you and can recommend you.  So, with job offer in hand we went to work on the really big job - moving - and here's the story.

Moving Out

First of all, in order to move, you have to clean up a bunch of loose ends and sell your house wherever you live.  We owned a 40 acre place in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with a do it yourself house construction project going on, animals, a garage/barn that needed a major cleanup job, an old house that needed demolishing and a bunch of landscaping work that needed to be done.  My advice to anyone looking to move in the forseeable future: get your place in shape now.  Do not wait until you want to move because it's a lot of work and it's cheaper if you're not being rushed to finish things in time.  Those of you who are well organized people where everything is always in its correct place and the lawn is always mowed can disregard the above advice.  Also if you live in an apartment, good for you.  All you have to worry about is when the lease is up - or when you can get out of it.

Getting There

Of course, it's always best to travel light.  But we all have a bunch of stuff that we hate to get rid of.  It didn't take much deliberation for us to reject the idea of paying $15,000 to a moving company.  It's expensive to carry a lot of weight.  So we like to pack up as much weight as possible in boxes and send it through the post office.  They will keep your stuff at the post office at your destination for some time - I believe it's up to 30 days - until you can pick it up.  Send it by the slowest cheapest rate available.  If you're lucky you may be able to get someone to pace your stuff at the sending end so it doesn't all arrive at once at the destination.

For this move, we purchased a 16 foot enclosed household goods trailer.  Including sway bars, electric brake controller and other odds and ends it came to about $5000 brand new.  Unlike a rental truck, you can store things in it for months while you pack or unpack.  And the same vehicle comes in handy when you move a year later - more on this in the next section.  And, of course, if you have no use for the trailer any more, you can sell it and get most of your money back.  There's a good market for used trailers.

Moving in

We rented here for a year before buying any real estate.  During the year, we had a chance to familiarize ourselves with the area and look around for a property to buy.  This also allowed time for the old place in Michigan to be sold.  It also allows you one year to change your mind and bail out without the complication of more real estate problems.  Find out the names of some newspapers that you want to look in for classified ads.  Talk to real estate agents.  They know all about advertising in newspapers.  You can find the contact information for real estate agents in the area you're interested in by searching on the Internet.  Get a newspaper subscription sent to your current address for 3 months and start calling landlords.  We found our rental house in the Peterborough Transcript.  It was in Temple (about 45 minutes west of Nashua) and this was in spite of the fact that we came with 5 kids, a dog, a rabbit and 4 cats. 

Buying Real Estate

If you are looking for real estate in the Peterborough area (about an hour west of Nashua, 1/2 hour east of Keene) I recommend talking to Barbara Quinlan at ERA Masiello in Peterborough (603-924-8373).  She was very helpful.  We ended up buying a place in Bennington, about 10 miles north of Peterborough.  It was close to people that Hazel had made friends with during the first year but it was a nightmare for my commute to Burlington Mass.  However, the place we got was cheaper than buying closer to the Boston megalopolis.  As a programmer, it was fairly easy for to make the point that I need to stay out of the office one or two days a week to have time to actually write some code instead of go to meetings all day.

And how cheap is it?  It's expensive - at least in the southeast portion of the state.  Maybe if you're coming from New York, Tokyo or London, you'll think this is cheap.  But by national standards this is high.  Our place is an hour and 45 minutes from the high technology center of the Boston suburbia, Burlington, Massachusetts, and a 40 year old raised ranch on 5 acres in medium fair shape with a large garage is $185,000, with 1200 sq. ft finished.  It goes up from there as you travel east and south.  And, as you can see from the picture this house needed a little bit of drain pipe work in the back yard.

Regarding the actual houses, there are two kinds here (roughly speaking):  200 year old houses that are made from post and beam hardwood, and the typical stick frame houses that are all over the country today such as the one we bought, a "raised ranch", for example.  For the same living space, a twentieth century house is cheaper and is easier to maintain than the antiques.  The old post and beam houses tend to be a little out of plumb with no square corners anywhere and the floors are not exactly flat or level.  Caring for one of these is a great hobby if you have the time for it and certainly these houses have plenty of character.  And they were built strong.  A hundred years from now, these houses will be 300 years old and our raised ranch will most likely be demolished.

Bureaucracy

First the good news.  There is no requirement to have insurance in order to operate a car on the roads.  Of course, you probably want it anyway and you need it to drive out of state.  But we purchased a used car from a dealer and drove it off the lot without talking to an insurance agent.  That was nice.  The state seat belt law only applies to under 18 year olds.

Now the rest of the news.  If you're bringing a trailer in, you should try to get a title for it first, or at least a copy of one.  They have a rough time understanding that you don't have a title because the state you came from only issues registations, not titles.  Property taxes are high - and we were unable to figure out how to predict what they would be based on the purchase price of the house and the town it's in.  They re-evaluate the property every now and then even if it hasn't been sold recently.  In taxes and registration, our 2 cars and a trailer are about $400 a year.  We had to go back and forth between the town hall and the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) in Milford to finally pay it all.  The driver's license is done at the DMV.  You are supposed to get the car inspected, although they don't volunteer that information when you register the vehicle.  Gas stations and repair shops do it.  Cable, phone, electric etc. was somewhat confusing.  You should get the story from whoever lived there before you about who to contact about all that.  To register to vote, start at the town hall.

Work

I already had a contact for a job in the area, but it seems that the Nashua, Manchester, Concord region has a lot of business and industry.  And there is the route 128 (I-95) area in Massachusetts and the whole greater Boston area to look in.  Remember that if you work in Mass., you'll be paying real estate and real property taxes in New Hampshire and income tax in Massachusetts - the worst of both worlds.  This is what I'm doing, but anyway, it's a living.

What It's Like

Some people are concerned about the northern winters here.  After spending 7 years on the shores of Lake Superior, the winter here seemed quite mild.  There's a long fall where the leaves turn gradually from north to south, different species showing their colors at different times.  For those of you from the West, you have to see the fall colors in the East.  Then, there are the rivers and lakes.  This area is full of hills, some mountains, carrying rocky streams feeding into lakes that you can swim in or paddle around on in a kayak.  The kids get plenty of swimming time in the summer.  There's enough sun, rain and growing season to grow nice vegetables here in your back yard.  And it's not as sweltering hot as some places are in the summer.

The people here have turned out to be generally quite friendly.  Even the commute isn't so bad - there are enough considerate people on the road that let each other in, so that it's pretty pleasant - not at all like the stereotype of the Boston area drivers, who are supposed to try and run you off the road while pretending they can't see you.

The home schooling involves a little more bureaucracy than where we came from.  There are no reporting requirements in Michigan.  We decided to join an organization.  The kids are enrolled in Clonlara, a secular school in Anne Arbor, Michigan.  Clon Lara people deal with home schooling paperwork from all 50 states and they help you out.

Conclusion

When we first came up with the idea of moving,  the kids were not excited.  But after a year, they have met a lot of new friends and are now happy that they moved.   There are a lot of home schoolers in the area, so, for you home schoolers out there, your kids will have plenty of friends.  You yourself will also have an automatic group of people you have something in common with.

Any time you move, there will be things about the old place that you didn't even realize were important to you until they are gone.  New activities take the place of old ones and your life inevitably will change.  While some people welcome the change, others eventually refuse to move any more because they don't want to disrupt their lives another time.

I was originally from New York.  There are Italian neighborhoods, German neghborhoods, Polish, Korean, you name it.  People like to live near other people with a common culture and language.  I never found a libertarian neighborhood in New York though, or anywhere else in my travels for that matter.  After being here for a year, I've come to the conclusion that this may be the closest thing to a libertarian neighborhood we'll ever see in our life time.  And it may be a good place to move to before finally deciding to stop disrupting your life with additional moves.

Back to We Made the Move!

I Made the Move! -- Patricia Evans

I Made the Move! – Patricia Evans

Date of move: September 2004

By Tim Condon

Some people have all the luck! It's hard enough picking up and moving with your family to attain liberty in your lifetime. But think about people who have to make the move from far-flung places such as Fresno, California (Varrin & Edi Swearingen), Eugene Oregon (Christine Lopez and Seth Cohn), Forest Lake, Minnesota (Bradley and Margot Keyes), or Frost, Texas (Kat Dillon and her daughter Kira). Yikes!

Not to mention the inevitable search for a new job. But then there's Patty Evans. In order to live in liberty in her own lifetime, she had to pick up and move...a few miles across the New Hampshire-Massachusetts border. And--gasp!--she even got to keep her job (in Massachusetts), and now simply commutes across the state line!

Meet Patty Evans, whose roundabout introduction to the Free State Project may have resulted in the shortest move into New Hampshire of any migrating Porcupine.

"My first association with the Free State Project was about a year ago, driving south on Route 128 in Burlington, Massachusetts," Patty explained. "I am fascinated with vanity license plates, and couldn't help but notice the plate on the car in front of me. 'ANARCH', it said. Little did I know that I was driving behind self-proclaimed anarchist Amanda Phillips, the President of the Free State Project!" I made the connection when a co-worker told me a few weeks later about the FSP and Amanda, and her license plate. He thought I would be interested in the Free State Project because I grew up in Plaistow, New Hampshire, and had been planning on moving back to NH for quite a while."

One thing led to another, and soon Patty got a chance to meet Amanda Phillips in person. "A few weeks later my co-worker invited Amanda to stop by our workplace so we could meet her and each sign a Statement of Intent. I made an apple pie for the occasion, and decided to decorate the crust with 'NH' and a porcupine, the mascot of the Free State Project. Amanda liked it so much that she posted a photo of my pie on the front page of the FSP website for almost a month! The caption under the picture, coined by my co-worker, said 'Live Free or Pie'. I still use that caption as my personal signature, and include a link to the photo and the FSP website. LOL, you can still see that famous pie (long since eaten).

"Why did I join the Free State Project? Honestly, in the beginning I agreed to join simply to help with the membership count. I didn't consider myself Libertarian by any means, and the closest I ever got to being a political activist was making sure I got out to vote on the appropriate day. But I already had personal plans to move back to New Hampshire, a move of only a few miles because I lived in Haverhill, Mass., right on the NH border. I didn't have to make any soul-searching decision, like other more courageous members of the Free State Project, to leave my extended family, my job, and my home to move hundreds (or in some cases, thousands) of miles away from my hometown. In fact, I've been living in New Hampshire for almost a year now, and I still work at the same job in Burlington, Mass., and my family is nearby. So that part was easy."

Faced with the breakup of her 24-year marriage, Patty found it a good time to make the move to New Hampshire that she had been planning. "I have some very dear friends who live in Kingston, NH, who offered to let me stay with them for as long as I needed," she recounts. "I moved into their home in June 2004 and stayed with them through the summer. I am still so grateful for their hospitality and for the opportunity to live with them temporarily in New Hampshire. I remember the first night that I left work, and realized that I'd be commuting home to New Hampshire."

"'Home to New Hampshire'," she mused. "That sure has a nice ring to it!"

"My friends live on a small lake, so during that summer we spent many evenings out on the lake, in kayaks or in their canoe. Many of their neighbors around the lake do the same thing, so on the Fourth of July everyone paddled out to the middle of the lake to watch the fireworks. It wasn't town-sponsored fireworks, although we did see some professional displays from the surrounding towns. The fireworks displays we watched from the middle of the lake were from the yards of houses surrounding the lake. Everyone put on their own displays because fireworks are legal in New Hampshire! Many of the neighbors hunt together, and all take advantage of the open-carry guns laws too! It was that night that I knew I was never going to return to Massachusetts to live."

"So here I am, almost a year later, writing this letter from my new residence in Seabrook, New Hampshire. My personal life is still in limbo, so a temporary housing arrangement seemed like the perfect solution for now. I love the ocean, having spent all my summers growing up in a cottage that my parents owned in Newbury, Mass., so I searched for a place to live in the beach communities of New Hampshire. There are only 16 miles of coastline in the state, so I didn't have to search very long. I found a winter rental unit, actually half a house, at Seabrook Beach, and moved in during September 2004."

"Immediately after I moved back to NH, I couldn't wait to get those green and white license plates with the Old Man in the Mountain, and of course the state motto 'Live Free or Die' depicted on them. Until now, it's been almost 25 years since I had a NH license plate on my car," Getting the car registered turned out to be a "paper chase" for Patty, but she found out that the way they do it in New Hampshire still made it quite a bit simpler: "It's not necessary to go to the DMV in Epping, NH for most registration transactions," she recounts. "The Town Clerk in any New Hampshire town has the authority to issue license plates, renew registrations, and other routine registry transactions. So for a small $1.00 fee you can save yourself the trip to the DMV. And, as I mentioned above, I'm fascinated with vanity license plates, so of course I had to apply for one, which only costs $25.00. I picked one to honor the Free State Project, "QUILLS".

Patty quickly found that there were financial benefits to living back in New Hampshire when she started shopping for car insurance. "Although New Hampshire doesn't require auto insurance, I decided to insure anyway, since I commute each day almost 40 miles into Massachusetts. I was able to insure my car through Geico, which would have been impossible in Mass., since they don't do business in that state. The result was that my insurance bill went from $1,150 per year in Mass. (I'm a step 9 driver, the best rating you can have), to an annual cost of only $850 in New Hampshire."

Even though she may or may not be living permanently in her present town of Seabrook, Patty Evans has found that she loves it there. "I just love small towns," she says. "There's an exchange area at the Seabrook town dump where people can drop off unwanted items that are still in working order, so someone else can have them! I haven't been there yet, but I also understand that's also the place to go to hear all of the latest town gossip."

"In this small town, I'm greeted by my first name at the post office. And neighbors who have lived here for years have invited me to their homes for coffee. During the Christmas holiday I was invited to a neighborhood wine and cheese party. When I had surgery on my throat in December, five minutes after I got home my doorbell rang; it was a neighbor who lives across the street. She had been waiting for me to come home so she could bring me a container of homemade chicken soup. Amazing! My friends thought I was very brave to try to start a new life by moving to a town where I didn't know a single person, but after living here for six months, I feel more a part of this community than I ever did in Haverhill after living there for 25 years!"

Yet another adventure Patty had was the first time she got to vote in a New Hampshire town election. "I moved here from Massachusetts in September 2004, but since there is no minimum period of time you have to live in the state before being allowed to register, I was eligible to vote in the March 8th elections. On the way to the polls I couldn't help but notice the proliferation of campaign signs along the sides of the road. Hand-drawn signs stuck in snow banks called out simple messages like 'Rachel Small for Librarian' and 'Asa Knowles Tried and True'."

I knew I had arrived at the Seabrook Community voting center because the snow banks, before and after the center, were literally covered with candidates' signs, some professionally printed, but many homemade! One giant sign, eight feet by eight feet, said 'Write in Earl Frost - Selectman!' in bright red, hand-painted letters."

"Even though I got there early at 9:00 a.m., I was surprised to find the parking lot was almost full. I found it amazing because it was a very cold and rainy morning. If this were the town in Massachusetts that I had moved from, the rain alone would have caused low voter turnout. In the pouring rain I saw many senior citizens, some of them handicapped, dutifully struggling to get out of their cars so they could go vote. The citizens of this little town take their right to vote very seriously."

"At the entrance to the Community Center, both sides of the sidewalk were lined with candidates. They were toughing it out in the cold and rain with umbrellas and big smiles. They welcomed each voter as they arrived, and some passed out what looked like business cards. One of the cards I received was quaint, and yet stirring: 'Write in Earl Frost III - Selectman - New Blood'. Inside the Community Center there were even more candidates greeting voters. After making my way through all the smiling candidates, I entered the Community Center gym and was directed by yet another smiling face to a line forming in the middle of the room. When it came my turn to vote, a poll worker told me I could pick any booth that 'didn't have feet'. I puzzled over that for a moment, and then realized that almost every booth had a curtain and a set of feet below it. Seabrook's town charter specifies that 'all elections for municipal offices and statutory ballot questions shall be by Australian Ballot in accordance with state and federal laws'. I soon figured out that 'Australian Ballot' means 'secret ballot'."

"The most interesting Article to vote on that day concerned repealing a 'cat license' ordinance. It turned out that Seabrook was the only town in the state, and possibly New England, to have a cat license requirement. Citizens of Seabrook were charged $7.50 each year for their cat licenses, and the fine for unlicensed cats could run up to $70.00. The intent was apparently to reduce the feral cat population in Seabrook, but like so many government bright ideas, the ordinance seemed to have the opposite effect. Many citizens, owning more than one cat, and not able to afford the license fees and fines, released the cats into the wild, which in turn increased the feral cat population in the town. Of course I voted to repeal it! And the repeal succeeded, by 1,043 to 747 votes."

"I have to say, I am so impressed by this town and its people. I am so glad I moved here. And I hope that I can help with an 'evolution' (not a 'revolution') through my association with the Free State Project. There is a level of grassroots political activism here in New Hampshire that I haven't seen since the early 1970's. Free State Project early-movers are already taking active roles in their new communities in so many different ways. They are running for local offices and become involved even at the State House level by getting to know our representatives and the House Bills they support. Free State Project members are also testifying at hearings at the State House, and protesting injustices--such as the recent zoning variance issue in Hampton that threatened to destroy a resident family--by handing out flyers and standing in front of the courthouse with handmade signs during hearings on the matter. FSP Porcupines are also raising money for pro-liberty organizations like the Liberty Scholarship fund and the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance."

"The most amazing thing about the FSP early-movers is how much they care for each other and their new home state, and how willing they are to help each other become comfortable in their new homes. I have attended a few Seacoast Porcupines group monthly meetings, and have become acquainted with many of the Seacoast early-movers. I also met Kate and Adam Rick when they were visiting last summer at a 'Meet and Greet' at Newick's in Dover, NH. I've also helped out a little by reviewing pending House Bills and posting them on the House Bills email list. And I'm also responsible, along with my fellow Porcupine co-worker, for the release 'into the wild' of the Geocaching Free State Project Travel Bugs."

Says Patty, "The Free State Project early-movers are like true pioneers, laying the groundwork, clearing the fields, and planting the crops that will support the liberty-loving communities of New Hampshire's future, and I'm proud to be a member of this group!"

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Karl Beisel

We Made the Move! – Karl Beisel

Date of move: June 19, 2004

After my first visit to New Hampshire in the summer of 2003, I could barely think or talk about anything else. More than a year later, and after 5 months of being a New Hampshire resident, I still can't think about anything else. I love this place!

My decision to make the move was pretty easy. The city in which I lived, Washington, DC, was already a cesspool of corruption and unfreedom. The government's dysfunctional overreaction in the aftermath of September 11 only worsened the situation – barriers were erected around city parks, SAM sites popped up on the National Mall, machine-gun toting "police men" put everyone in their place at public gatherings. Even that perennial of terrorist targets, the local DMV, had metal detectors and more guards installed. The city, and its surrounding suburbs, had gone mad.

What a difference in New Hampshire! In December of 2003, I took a week off to explore the southern part of the state for a town or city where I could see myself living. When I passed though Concord, I stopped at the State House. I had read that there were (gasp) no metal detectors, and people could just walk in and go about their business. I tested it out, and sure enough, walked right in, visited the House chamber, and toured the facility on my own. The whole state seemed as far removed from Washington, DC as the moon, but much prettier.

As a result of my tour, I chose to live in Manchester. The following spring, I traveled back to Manchester to buy a house. There was plenty of housing to choose from in the city, something for just about every budget. I quickly found what I wanted and moved in mid-June.

After moving, I met a number of other Porcupines, as well as several like-minded residents. There was no shortage of things to do for the freedom. Activities like meet-and-greets, political meetings, conventions, campaigning for political candidates, and informal social gatherings quickly maxed out my schedule. Most of the folks who have moved are very active in various ways to promote freedom. This is incredibly encouraging.

Of course, life isn't all about the fight for freedom – its about enjoying its fruits as well. As a hockey player and fan, New Hampshire's got me covered, with several local leagues, a top college team, and a minor league team. I'm looking forward to other winter sporting opportunities that were less accessible to me before. I'm now in the process of starting an adult kickball league here in Manchester, one of the very few good things to come out of Washington, DC.

The bottom line is that moving to New Hampshire was the best decision I could have made. I think I'll stay! :)

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