Tomorrow is the anniversary of Vermont's joining the union. "Vermont, Freedom and Unity" for 213 years.

	Alden Pellett/AP
	Killington resident Jim Blackman argues his in favor of a plan for the town to secede from the state of Vermont at a town meeting in Killington, Vt., yesterday. Voting with a thunderous "aye," residents endorsed the plan. The overwhelming voice vote inside the elementary school opened the next chapter in what could be a long and costly push to join New Hampshire, a state 25 miles to the east.

But not everyone in the Green Mountain State is happy. In fact, the folks in the fashionable ski-resort town of Killington have another motto in mind.

"Live Free or Die."

A couple hundred Killington residents turned out yesterday for one of those town meetings they like to have up there and cast a collective "aye" vote in thunderous support of secession from Vermont.

They want to become part of New Hampshire.

The problem is taxes. Killington is a wealthy community and the people and businesses there kick about $10 million worth of property taxes into Vermont's annual budget. The restaurants, inns and shops generate another $10 million in sales taxes and such.

But, according to Town Manager David Lewis, Killington gets back only about $1 million or so in state services.

"The state is treating us like a cash-cow," Lewis told Associated Press reporter Tim McCahill.

And with only about 1,000 full-time residents, Killington doesn't even have its own legislator. The people there share one with three neighboring towns.

So they don't have a lot of clout in the capital. Truth is, officials in Montpelier are kind of amused by Killington's secession plans.

"This is symbolic, clearly," Vermont Secretary of State Deborah Markowitz told the Rutland Herald. "Absent an armed insurrection type of thing, there isn't anything a town can do to secede. A town is a construction of the state and exists at the pleasure of the Legislature."

So there!

Besides, the state of Vermont owns the peak of Killington's namesake mountain. And no one wants to ski all the way from Vermont to New Hampshire.

Killington's rebels have a few hurdles to clear before they become the newest New Hampshirites. First, Vermont's Legislature isn't likely to let them go. And then there's the question of whether lawmakers over in the Granite State want to embrace such a band of malcontents?

Alden Pellett/AP
Killington resident Ted Olencki, right, smiles as town selectman Mike Miller, left, shows off a bumper sticker displaying the town as a New Hampshire address, at a Town Meeting in Killington, Vt, yesterday, less than an hour before residents endorsed a plan for the ski town to become part of New Hampshire.

New Hampshire Gov. Craig Benson told the AP he was "tickled" by yesterday's vote, but he doubts Killington will ever become part of his state.

"How do you take a piece of property completely removed from our borders?" Benson asked, pointing out that Killington is in the middle of Vermont, about 25 miles from the New Hampshire border. "How do you connect it?"

It would be a stretch.

We should send the Gateses an e-mail thanking them
Bill and Melinda Gates last year gave the College Board $4.4 million to create six new schools designed to prepare high school students for advanced placement classes. And the board, in its wisdom, is thinking of putting one of those schools right here in Pittsburgh.

And you thought our city government stunk before
The City Council is serious about trimming the budget. Yesterday's announced cutbacks included picture frames, bottled water and office air fresheners. The savings, according to officials, should amount to more than $27,000.

Once upon a time there was a festival ...
Kids have to learn about the realities of hard economic times sooner or later. Such is the case with the Pittsburgh Children's Festival, which has been canceled this year because of the city's money problems. But organizers are committed to its return next year.

Post Your Problems does not appear today
Lawrence Walsh's consumer column will resume in the days ahead. See his archive for previous columns.