A New Beginning Is Needed:

Wake Up Winchester!

We are losing good honest hardworking people, who care about our community,because of a small group 

of egotistical people who care only about power, lining their pockets and exploiting everything they can from our town. This hurts us all and prevents others who care from even trying to seek change. 

I am saddened by the loss of Bob Gray and Ellen Cole, two very nice professional people who have worked for the town of Winchester and did not get caught up in the dirty underhanded tactics that have tarnished our image, divided the town, ruined our main street and left downtown a desolate ghetto of junk stores and decaying buildings, Not to mention the financial state of the VFW, which has always been a high volume money making club; Not anymore!

All of this can change if everyone who cares,  pulls together and votes to change the course of our town and the VFW. I was told by a member of the club that only a hand full of people come to vote on officers and policy; you can make a difference by attending your club and voting for what you want, you are entitled and you can make it happen, even if you have been barred, you have a right to vote and if you put new blood in, then you can appeal your status, change by-laws and restore it back to the good old days, when everyone was treated as an equal.

Winchester has many nice people, but it is the clan of uneducated, backwoods, in-bread parasites; their sense of entitlement and supremacy, that has turned us into the laughing stock of New Hampshire. Just last week I was at a comedy show at the Colonial Theater in Keene, and sure enough Winchester became the focus of jokes from the comedian onstage...

Small town, small minds and smaller people... You see I have been the target of many of these same people since I first opened DeMille"s Cafe,  against their wishes and then again when I opened 136 Main. They tried to close me down, used every underhanded trick in the book and when that did not work they took to bullying tactics, but bullies don't like anyone who hits back and I hit fast and hard... So then they moved to spreading lies and vicious rumors, for years now I have heard that I am a drug dealer, Mafia, that I obtained an illegal liquor license, my bar was closed down by the liquor commission, you name it, I heard it. All lies, all vicious and all very low...

Let me set the record straight! I have never sold drugs, I am not the Mafia and I did not obtain an illegal liquor license. As a matter of fact, neither DeMille's nor 136 Main, ever even had a violation, other then a warning for having too many people, being over capacity. Hence, the small minds; when you have to blackball a person who is trying to support his family, that is just cowardice.

I have put up with this for many years now. When I opened 136 Main, my neighbor "Jackson" stormed into the cafe and was confronting Harry Bickford, telling him "I know who you are and that you sell drugs and my eye is on you" yeah, she knew what she was talking about, Harry was quick to tell her that he was not me and to rest assured that he knew me for many years and that I never sold drugs.

Then, when I moved into my house on Richmond road and was looking for a water source, I asked my other neighbor "Mrs. Lawrence" if she knew where it was, and she told me I know you and would not tell you anything, she asked why? and I told her that I was moving into the house, she said "no you are not" and I said, yes. I was floored and left shaking my head at such arrogance.

A month later a friend of mine stopped by and told me that he saw her in my driveway taking pictures, at which time I called the police and told him that she was trespassing and if it happened again I would press charges.

Yes, it is Green Acres, Hooterville; or more to be more direct "Bigot-Ville!"

My daughter was almost killed in a car accident six months ago, she broke every bone in her face, smashed her foot and was in the trauma center at Umass in Worcester for almost a month... Not one of my neighbors had the courtesy to ask how she was doing. These are the same people who have the audacity to walk into church and pretend that they are people of faith...

So what may you ask am I going to do about it? Well twenty years ago I would have handled it totally different, but I have grown older and wiser...

I am going to run for office again this year and I am in the process of writing a book, I have been taking notes for some time now, maybe I will put it into a blog too.

Yes, there are too many evil, selfish, careless people who have hurt me, my family and our town; But there are also many more good, hard working righteous, everyday people who want to see change, by pulling together, we can make it happen....

I have owned four other restaurants and pubs in resort beach areas and have never had problems with the towns, or the residents, I was treated with dignity and respect. I should not even let it bother me, or waste my time defending myself, but it was a slap in the face to me and my family, and they need to know that you don't let anyone get away with the bull-shit that was pulled in this town.

A friend of mine told me that he truly believes that the reason there are so many incompetent people running things in town, is because everyone knows what the other has done illegally, and therefor is afraid to seek the others removal, it all makes sense.

I will end with this quote that more people should take to heart, as it is true for everyone...

Essence of compassion:
Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving,
and tolerant with the weak and wrong... because sometimes in our lives we will have been all
of these.

Happy Holidays!

 

Larry Holmes