Jason Talley's "competing with town services" idea

[Lloyd Danforth]

A private fire department could compete directly with the town's fire dept.

Kind of hard to compete with a volunteer Fire department.

[Jim Johnson]

A private fire department could compete directly with the town's fire dept.

Kind of hard to compete with a volunteer Fire department.

On the contrary.
A private fire department would have no shortage of volunteers since they are all gunge-hoe super heroes.  And it would still be a good old boys club for the towns movers a shakers.
Many of the bull shit things, like pumping out peoples basements or sending multiple fire trucks to minor medical problems, would be eliminated.
The majority of the services would be payed on insurance claims.

[jerry]

. 
A year round outdoor target range and some winter sports would be nice.

Done.. See http://nhunderground.com/forum/index.php?topic=19344.0
It's become a regular Sunday event in Grafton.

It also qualifies as a winter sport because some of the shooters are crazy enough to come when there is 3 feet of snow on the range,

[Jim Johnson]

. 
A year round outdoor target range and some winter sports would be nice.

Done.. See http://nhunderground.com/forum/index.php?topic=19344.0
It's become a regular Sunday event in Grafton.

It also qualifies as a winter sport because some of the shooters are crazy enough to come when there is 3 feet of snow on the range,

Is there a schedule of shooting competitions?
Do you have events in differing calibers out to a 1000yds?
It would be great to see an event where competitors have to run 5 miles through the woods, do a pistol and rifle event and then bicycle back to the start.
Or sky, shoot and run in the winter.

[jerry]

It's mostly .22 caliber rifles at 25 meters, with Tony giving Appleseed-style instruction; or pistols when he's off doing a real Appleseed shoot.
The berm can handle large calibers, but unfortunately no 1000 yard targets.

You are welcome to organize and run a biathlon here, but don't expect old geezers like me to compete.   

[Sutherland]

Here's a for profit idea someone can use that might appeal to motorcycle riders in grafton and may help kick off a privatized road services business.

I don't know how many paved roads there are their in Grafton but, in the spring time, motorcycle riders have to be extra careful from March until well into May of sand on the roads left over from the winter salt/sanding of the roads. Taking a turn too hard on a sandy road can easily result in dumping your bike on its side. Pick some of the more traveled, twisty, paved roads and advertised in the winter that you plan to do street sweeping on these roads if enough people are willing to chip in to an escrow account. Come the April 1st start sweeping the streets and publish completed street work on the project's Internet site. If the minimal cash does not come in, refund the money and try again the next year.

Example chip in schedule
$200 - Will sweep all sharp corners on streets 1,2, and 3
$400 - Will sweep all corners on streets 1,2, and 3
$600 - Will sweep all sharp corner on streets 4,5, and 6
$800 - Will sweep all corners on streets 4,5, and 6

I've almost had the motivation to sweep all the sharp corners on the 6+ miles on my own street in the spring time because I really wanted to ride without the constant concern of avoid sand all over the road. I'm think of doing this starting with my own road next spring. New Hampshire has the highest per captia bike ownership in the country and many people can't wait to ride after a long winter so I think their is a valid market for pulling in at least $10-$20 a customer especially since small towns rarely provide this as a service. If it is successful, it could lead to taking on stuff the town normally does like pothole repair. 

[K. Darien Freeheart]

I don't know how many paved roads there are their in Grafton but

Two or three.

I do know that some form of road mantainance is desired on a free market basis, at least at the corner of Hardy Hill and Kinsman Rd. that triangle is kind iffy, especially when people come flying up it on the right hand side...