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October <strong>18</strong> - 24, 20<strong>17</strong> www.TheTownCommon.com Page 3<br />

Continued from page 1<br />

can volunteer to work for the<br />

town for up to 125 hours a<br />

year. If approved by the town<br />

Meeting, the veteran would be<br />

compensated by a reduction in<br />

property taxes at the minimum<br />

wage rate of $11, or $1,375 a<br />

year.<br />

This program would be similar<br />

to one offered to seniors who are<br />

property owners. That program<br />

reduces seniors’ property tax bill<br />

for up to <strong>10</strong>0 hours.<br />

In 2012, the Massachusetts<br />

Legislature authorized<br />

municipalities in the<br />

Commonwealth to adopt this tax<br />

program as a benefit for veterans.<br />

“I think it is fantastic,” said<br />

Karen tyler, the veterans’ agent<br />

for eight North Shore towns from<br />

Newbury to essex.<br />

Jarvis, calling the measure “a<br />

small gesture to our veterans,”<br />

said it would give former soldiers<br />

who are financially strapped<br />

“some breathing room.”<br />

Last week, he wrote in an<br />

email, “The veteran tax program<br />

I feel is very beneficial as it serves<br />

all veterans who own property<br />

in town. This by-law will allow<br />

disabled veterans with physical<br />

limitations to have a relative work<br />

for them in their place when they<br />

cannot perform the task.<br />

Continued from page 1<br />

And it is not just coins. pratt<br />

pulled out a box from under<br />

the counter that contained<br />

counterfeit military medals. one,<br />

which would be very valuable<br />

if real, purports to be a Nazi<br />

German tank officer’s medal.<br />

Another claims to be a French<br />

Army good conduct medal.<br />

He is offering them, with full<br />

disclosure that they are fakes, for<br />

a few dollars.<br />

The coin business is still good<br />

and generates great excitement.<br />

two customers recently got into<br />

a fistfight in the store over who<br />

would get to buy a high-grade,<br />

<strong>18</strong>04 big copper penny. The<br />

penny had come to pratt from<br />

an elderly man in rowley. passed<br />

down through several generations,<br />

the penny sold for $<strong>10</strong>,200.<br />

when the fight in his shop<br />

broke out, pratt told both men to<br />

A Tax Cut for Needy Veterans<br />

“This I feel is most important<br />

as there are veterans with physical<br />

restrictions who may solely rely<br />

on their VA disability check and<br />

have limited income.”<br />

tyler said she supports<br />

anything that brings benefits to<br />

veterans. “They have served their<br />

country and now they can serve<br />

their communities. It will benefit<br />

everyone in town,” she said.<br />

Three of the towns she<br />

represents – rowley, wenham and<br />

Hamilton – offer this program to<br />

their veterans.<br />

The city of Amesbury also offers<br />

the program to veterans, veterans’<br />

agent Kevin Hunt said. other<br />

North Shore municipalities are<br />

also considering adopting the<br />

program.<br />

rowley and wenham have two<br />

veterans in each who participate<br />

in the program. Hamilton has<br />

none, she said.<br />

tyler said she knows of no<br />

opposition to the measure, but<br />

Jarvis is prepared to speak at<br />

town Meeting “if I need to.”<br />

He was stopped last week by a<br />

resident, who worried that it<br />

would reduce Newbury’s already<br />

tight municipal budget.<br />

“It is not going to break the<br />

budget,” tyler said.<br />

what it shows is that if a<br />

veteran or a spouse of a deceased<br />

get out. If they wanted the penny,<br />

they could get a cashier’s check at<br />

the bank next door. one of the<br />

fighters came back with a check.<br />

The other man left, he said.<br />

Silver dollars continue to be his<br />

best sellers, pratt said. They are<br />

historic. Many of them hark back<br />

to the American cowboy era.<br />

The silver dollars appreciate<br />

annually about 3 to 5 percent,<br />

which is better than any bank<br />

savings account, he said. And he<br />

promises to buy any of the silver<br />

dollars he sells back so he can sell<br />

them again.<br />

pratt is also an avid treasure<br />

hunter. He admits the millions<br />

of hours he has spent searching<br />

for gold has collected more good<br />

stories than valuable coins.<br />

He once found a loaded world<br />

war II pistol buried in the dirt.<br />

He traced it to a home invasion<br />

in Lowell 20 years before.<br />

The most valuable coin was<br />

or disabled veteran signs up for<br />

the program, “they really need<br />

it,” tyler said.<br />

There are 340 veterans who live<br />

in Newbury. It is unknown how<br />

many veterans own property, on<br />

which they pay taxes.<br />

If the number of seniors who<br />

participate in the program is an<br />

indication of how many veterans<br />

will use it, it should be a handful<br />

at most. of the 1,502 seniors<br />

living in Newbury, only a dozen<br />

signed up this year to work off a<br />

portion of their property taxes.<br />

The state law gives each town<br />

flexibility in implementing the<br />

program. The board of Selectmen<br />

could cap the tax reduction<br />

benefit at $1,000, as it does with<br />

the senior property tax work-off<br />

program.<br />

The selectmen can also prohibit<br />

veterans from also volunteering<br />

under the senior program.<br />

to be eligible for senior tax<br />

work-off the program, applicants<br />

must be 60 years of age or older at<br />

the time of application, reside in<br />

the municipality and occupy the<br />

property for which the taxes are<br />

to be paid. They also cannot have<br />

a household income of $65,981<br />

or less.<br />

The state law did not impose<br />

an income qualification on the<br />

veterans program.<br />

Peter Pratt Worries About the Future of Antique Coins<br />

found behind Haverhill Stadium<br />

by a 15-year-old boy. The coin<br />

was issued in the late <strong>17</strong>th century<br />

as part of George washington’s<br />

presidential campaign. only 31<br />

of the coins were made. two went<br />

to Massachusetts. The one found<br />

had the initials Gw on the front<br />

and the year <strong>16</strong>77 on the back<br />

pratt got an estimate for the coin<br />

between $8,000 and $<strong>10</strong>,000. It<br />

was sold at auction for $<strong>18</strong>,200.<br />

The young man used the money<br />

to buy his first car before he had a<br />

driver’s license, pratt said.<br />

The story that draws his<br />

loudest laugh was over a high<br />

school ring he found in the water<br />

off Hampton beach. It was from<br />

Salisbury High School and he<br />

traced it to its owner. when he<br />

presented it to the owner, she got<br />

furious. It had been part of her<br />

divorce. Cursing the sight of the<br />

ring, she threw it back into the<br />

water, according to pratt’s story.<br />

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