Two weeks ago, lightning struck the Grafton County Administration Building. A shared server room inside of the Registry of Deeds serves most other departments. Many operations suffered considerable damage and ceased to function. This building houses the IT Department, Finance, Administration, Human Resources, Extension, Conservation, Maintenance, offices of the County Attorney and the computerized mechanisms for the farm.
The Registry of Deeds was completely unaffected. When I was first elected and took assessment, I immediately began shifting away from reliance on Grafton IT. Our systems, our servers, our digital database of well over 5 million images representing all interest and ownership of all property of Grafton County back to 1774 is all in the hands of the finest land records software vendor in the country, Fidlar Technologies of Davenport, Iowa.
Our annual contract brings 60 of the best minds in the business. They are innovators in product design and are committed to the highest levels of cybersecurity. Our offsite digital storage contract brings with it an insurance policy of $5 million should we experience any cyber incident. I have added additional layers of security for back-up including two brand new copies of microfilm of the entire database. All images are available online on multiple platforms at our website at NHdeeds.org.
I am a consumer protection advocate and Fidlar offers a free and secure property fraud alert system.
I have served in the role for 14 years and believe that I bring my acute business sense and commitment to helping people find the answers that they are seeking. There are changes coming with the talk of the new courthouse. I have spent years seeking a comprehensive master plan for the county complex. My efforts have been met with resistance, disrespect and hostility. I stepped up to the role to make a difference and I still have work to do. I would appreciate the honor of your vote on Sept. 10.
Kelley Jean Monahan
Orford
The writer is Grafton County register of deeds.
Confused about segregation
I’m not religious in any conventional sense. The world is a mystery to us, but a mystery of natural essence. So, perhaps I’m not qualified to comment on Randall Balmer’s recent column (“Reckoning with White Evangelical Racism”; July 6). I have to wonder at this kind of liberal, Democrat, leftist logic.
He condemns white evangelicals for seeking segregation at institutions like Bob Jones University or Jerry Falwell’s Lynchburg Christian Academy. He berates them as “segregation academies,” which are politically aligned with “the far right,” Donald Trump, and racism.
I can’t really understand this way of thinking. There are over 100 colleges and universities in America that are historically Black. There are also numerous denominations of Christianity that are considered Black Churches. They’re institutions segregated by race. They’re designed to accommodate Black people. Why is Balmer not triggered by that? How are they not segregation academies also? Why are white progressives so prejudiced against other white people?
Liberal logic is as much a mystery to me as the nature of existence.
Neil Meliment
Hartland
Vote Harris for liberty
As schoolchildren many years ago, we sang about “Our county … sweet land of liberty” and “with freedom’s holy light…” We pledged allegiance to “one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” I really believed all those things; that was the American way. I thought everyone agreed with that, and most did.
It is painful that many Americans have rejected those goals. Today’s Republican Party has abandoned its ideals, and seeks only to get and keep authoritarian power by whatever means. Party leader Donald Trump is morally and mentally unfit to serve in government; he boasts about becoming a dictator when back in power. Trump and his supporters are planning an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world.
The GOP’s plans for a second Trump presidency are not secret. Efforts to restrict voting will continue. “Freedom’s holy light” will not shine very brightly in a new Trump/GOP-run America.
What should be done? For Americans who value liberty, there is only one choice: Kamala Harris must be elected President in November. We may disagree with some Democratic programs, but she and her party respect and support democracy and freedom. If we hope to remain “The land of the free,” that is the way forward.
John Lamperti
Norwich