GRA: Did School District Intentionally Mislead Their Own Attorney?


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EDITORIAL

Did School District Intentionally Mislead Their Own Attorney?
Background & Historical Information Not Provided To School District's Lawyer

School superintendent Darryl Lockwood has made public claims on numerous occasions that the school district has an opinion from their attorney stating that construction of a school on Map 5, Lot 14 does not constitute a violation of the provisions of the deed to that land.

The attorney for the school district, Mr. William C. Tucker, indeed rendered an opinion supporting Lockwood's contention that a kindergarten on the property qualifies as a "public purpose", thereby meeting the restrictions set forth in the deed to the Glen Lake property. However, when securing the services of Attorney Tucker, the school district did not reference the terms set forth by the NH Water Resources Board, the Governor and Council and the voters of Goffstown when the property was purchased in 1977, restricting the use of the property to recreational green areas only.

Background

When the deed to Map 5, Lot 14 was crafted shortly after its purchase, it made use of the more general term for describing these restrictions, i.e., "public purposes". The obvious intent of the State of New Hampshire, Governor and Council, HUD and the voters of Goffstown (and acknowledged by our own 1997 Master Plan), of course, was that the land is to be used as a public park or other public recreational facility that would be accessible by the "public", whether they be from Goffstown, Weare, Dunbarton, Boston, or Topeka, Kansas, for that matter. Indeed, the property has been use in this way for nearly 30 years, with hiking, biking, snowmobiling and other outdoor activities being enjoyed by all visitors, regardless of where they are from. Indeed, we know of no use restriction on the Glen Lake property that is based on a visitor's home address.

The "Stretch"

Lockwood and the school district are now trying to convince us all that the term "public purposes" was incorporated into the deed to really mean "public purposes for Goffstown only", effectively denying its use to anyone who is not a Goffstown resident - especially once a kindergarten is built. Is that an accurate interpretation of the deed, or its intent? The GRA thinks not. Indeed, the GRA believes such manipulation of the term "public" could certainly serve to circumvent the true and factual intent of the State of New Hampshire, the Governor & Council and the voters of Goffstown when the land was originally purchased.

Interestingly, the school district never made these restrictions known to Attorney Tucker prior to requesting his legal opinion! In fact, the restrictions remained unknown to Mr. Tucker until attorneys for the GRA provided him with the aforementioned documentation nearly three months later.

Would Tucker have rendered the same opinion had he known of this information beforehand? The GRA is convinced otherwise. So are our attorneys. Let us know what YOU think!

Conclusion

The GRA, and its attorneys, believe that without the school district's omission of this vital information, Mr. Tucker might have provided a very different opinion as to the legality of building anything on the Glen Lake property. We believe that voters were misled into approving the transfer of approximately 20 acres (now 26 acres, by the way) of the property to the School District on March 8, as they did so without knowledge of the aforementioned restrictions (and much more). As such, the GRA and its attorneys believe that such a transfer, without regard to the factual restrictions mentioned above, and considering the misinformation and lack of accurate information imparted to the voters, would be a violation of public trust, and easily challenged in a court of law.

Did the school district intentionally withhold this information from Attorney Tucker in order to secure the legal opinion they hoped for? Let us know what YOU think!

Also see:
	NHDES Given "Inaccurate Information" by Lockwood
	Lockwood Makes False Public Claims - Again
	Conservation Commission Report Cites Deception & Misinformation
	Information Withheld from Voters
	Voters Misled by BOS, School District