Ambulance, landfill public hearings tonight

Both Lebanon and Milton will hold public hearings tonight on high-profile citizen petitions that will prompt referendum questions on issues seen as vitally important in the respective towns.

In Lebanon, the questions include whether or not to keep Rescue 2, the town's best ambulance, how to pay it off if townspeople decide to keep it and whether the town should get rid of the much-maligned Rescue Department Enterprise Account once and for all and financially reshape the department with its own budget like other town departments.

Pro-ambulance petitioners are hoping many residents will make it to tonght's hearing.

"We're definitely hoping for a large turnout tonight and at the polls on Jan. 24," said Harrison Thorp, an organizer of the Save Our Ambulance coalition which pushed for the ambulance question revote.

Meanwhile, in Milton, the hearing will be to discuss before the Planning Board whether the town should allow solid waste landfills, either in zones that were previously off-limits or throughout the town.

Several anti-landfill signs have popped up around Milton in advance of tonight's hearing, most of them on White Mountain Highway.

A Milton vote on the landfill issue won't come till March, while Lebanon will vote on the ambulance question on Jan. 24, a Saturday.

Milton's hearing starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Nute High School cafeteria, while Lebanon's will be at 7 p.m. at the Lebanon Elementary School.