The Hinsdale NH Police Station Kangaroo Court

I gave the spark in the heads of all of the interviewed people in this article. I protested over four years at the this bridge. I was the bridge angel for four years.  Yet I never got interviewed. We've always been disappointed with how little the Keene Sentinel kept up with Hinsdale NH.

By the way, the Hinsdale police department tried to arrest me over a bum court arrest warrant over a court appearance during those times. I had cleared the warrant and the police didn't know it. Anyways, since then, the police and me have only had positive interactions.  

Hinsdale-Brattleboro bridge project could begin earlier than planned

Posted: Friday, January 29, 2016 12:00 pm

Hinsdale-Brattleboro bridge project could begin earlier than planned By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff SentinelSource.com

HINSDALE — The two bridges that allow thousands of cars to cross the Connecticut River between Hinsdale and downtown Brattleboro could be due for a replacement two years ahead of schedule.

A draft of the N.H. Department of Transportation’s 10-year transportation improvement plan for 2017-26 has moved the start date for construction of a new bridge — a single span that will replace both of the old bridges — up two years, to 2019. The start date in the 2015-24 plan had been 2021.

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The project’s total cost is estimated at about $46.3 million, according to the draft 2017-26 plan, and at least the New Hampshire portion is expected to be paid for with federal highway funds.

It would also include leaving the existing bridges in place for pedestrian and bicycle use.

The border of New Hampshire and Vermont is the high-water mark on the Vermont side of the Connecticut River.

The existing two bridges, named after Charles Dana and Anna Hunt Marsh, were built in 1920 and rehabilitated in 1988, even though there were discussions at the time about replacing them. The Pennsylvania truss-style bridges connect Hinsdale to Brattleboro via Hinsdale Island, and carry thousands of vehicles per day.

State highway officials classify the narrow bridges as functionally obsolete, which means they’re outdated, don’t meet current design standards and have height and weight restrictions.

Hinsdale Selectmen Chairman Michael J. Darcy said Thursday that the town’s long-time residents who are now in their 70s and 80s are among the most excited about the possibility of a new bridge finally being built.

“They have all said basically the same thing to me — ‘I was told 30 years ago there’d be a new bridge; now I might actually get to see it,’ “ Darcy said.

Meanwhile, up the river, there is no time frame from when the Vilas Bridge, which connects Walpole to Bellows Falls, would be repaired and reopened.

That bridge, which was built in 1930, has been closed to vehicles and pedestrians since March 2009 after it failed a safety inspection.

“Due to financial constraints and the close proximity of nearby Arch Bridge, the Vilas Bridge is not a priority in New Hampshire as reflected by the current and draft Ten Year Plans,” William H. Boynton, public information officer for the N.H. Department of Transportation, said in an email Thursday afternoon.

As for the Hinsdale-Brattleboro bridge project, preliminary engineering is scheduled to begin this year, according to the previously approved 2015-24 transportation improvement plan. Under the new plan, if approved, preliminary engineering for the project would continue in 2017 and 2018, and construction would take place from 2019-2022, with Vermont paying for a portion of that work.

N.H. Gov. Maggie Hassan submitted the draft of the 2017-26 plan earlier this month to the N.H. Legislature after receiving recommendations from the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Intermodal Transportation in December.

Project Manager Donald Lyford said the current proposal is to build a new bridge connecting Hinsdale and Brattleboro downstream of the existing two bridges.

“Moving the roadway downstream provides the best opportunity to build the roadway over the railroad on the Vermont side,” he said.

A long time coming

A project to replace the bridges has been included in the state’s transportation improvement plan since fiscal year 1994. However, it was bumped from the 2013-22 plan because of lack of funding before being put back in the 2015-24 plan.

Discussion about replacing the bridges goes back even further, to the 1970s and ’80s.

Darcy said that during the past five years, Hinsdale officials have advocated strongly for a new bridge, and have received support from the area’s elected officials in the N.H. Legislature and Executive Council, which contributed to the project being moved up on the 10-year plan.

In advocating for the project, Darcy said he and other local officials have been saying a new, modern bridge is crucial to the safety of residents and to local economic development. They reiterated those concerns, as well as the importance of continuing to foster the relationship between the Hinsdale and Brattleboro communities, during public hearings last year about the 10-year plan, he said.

“I spoke a lot about the shared community we have with Brattleboro. The loss of those bridges would mean we would lose the community and everything that entailed,” he said.

About 8,000 to 9,000 vehicles per day cross the bridges, carrying people who work on the opposite side of the river from where they live, Hinsdale students attending the Windham Regional Career Center, emergency responders and others, he said. There are also people who come from Vermont to shop in New Hampshire.

Medical services for most Hinsdale residents are in Brattleboro, as well as the ambulance service the town contracts with, Darcy said.

Complicating the safety problem, the bridge ends on the Vermont side in an area called “Malfunction Junction,” a complicated intersection with an active railroad line. Moving the bridge farther south would create less congestion in that part of downtown Brattleboro.

Darcy said the state representatives and senator covering the town, and N.H. Executive Council Colin Van Ostern, have been very supportive of the project.

Van Ostern said the bridges are very old and in a very bad state and “replacing them is critical for economic development and public safety.”

In many ways, Interstate 91 in Vermont is as important to the western part of New Hampshire as Interstate 93 is to the central and Seacoast regions of the state, he said.

State Rep. Michael D. Abbott, D-Hinsdale, said Thursday that while the placement of the bridge project in the draft 10-year plan is good news, it won’t become a reality until it’s approved by the N.H. Legislature later this year.

In the meantime, he said, he plans to do his best to “baby-sit” it through the process so that it’s part of the approved plan.

Meghan Foley can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or mfoley@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MFoleyKS.

Reposting again from June 11, 2014 

Moving this up so people can make a complete evaluation on their own...

I wasn't mad at getting arrested, I should have been arrested. I was furious with all the serous class A charges and the felony.

June 13 update: This might help me sound not so crazy. Two hundred and sixty one days later from from my action we get this: 

Hinsdale-to-Brattleboro bridges get new sidewalks

May 10 :HINSDALE, N.H. -- The New Hampshire Department of Transportation has replaced the sidewalks of the two bridges linking Brattleboro, Vt., to Hinsdale.
NHDOT Public Information Officer Bill Boynton told the Reformer his department's bridge maintenance crews inspect the wooden sidewalk planks on an annual basis and replace the ones that are in poor condition. He said the sidewalks on the Hinsdale bridges have not been completely rehabilitated since 1987 and wooden sidewalks typically have much shorter lifespans than the ones replaced. Boynton said the work was completed on May and the estimated cost is $24,000.
The renovation did not go unnoticed by Hinsdale resident Mike Mulligan, who is known for his public demonstrations aimed at drawing attention to the bridges and their deterioration.
"Isn't that kind of amazing?" he said Friday about the new sidewalks, though he still thinks it will still be a long time before the new bridge becomes a reality. He said he hopes the refurbishment will have a ripple effect and speed up the bridges' replacement.
Mulligan was arrested during the summer for allegedly pulling up the wooden planks of the sidewalk on the Charles Dana Bridge. Mulligan said he did so because some of the boards were loose. On Feb. 26, he reached a plea deal and agreed to pay a $1,000 fine, plus a $240 penalty assessment, if he cannot pay $1,253.76 in restitution within a year for damage he caused to the portion of the Charles Dana Bridge designated for pedestrians. In exchange for pleading guilty to one misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief, he must also avoid going within 100 feet of that structure or the Anna Hunt Marsh Bridge, except for routine travel without stopping, or risk the fine and penalty assessment.
He was originally charged with reckless conduct, disorderly conduct, and two counts of criminal mischief. He also received a ticket for littering.
The two structures that connected Brattleboro to Hinsdale are Pennsylvania truss bridges built in 1920. The Anna Hunt Marsh Bridge connects Brattleboro to Hinsdale Island, which is connected to Hinsdale by the Charles Dana Bridge. JB Mack, the principal planner for the Southwest Region Planning Commission, has told the Reformer federal highway standards dictate the bridges are too narrow and have insufficient weight limits and vertical clearances. They are considered "functionally obsolete."
Currently, all ambulances and other emergency services exiting Hinsdale must cross both existing bridges and risk being stopped by the railroad tracks on the Vermont side. There is now a plan to replace the structures with one that will begin near the stop light at the former Walmart location in Hinsdale, span the Connecticut River, the southern portion of Hinsdale Island and the Merrill Gas Company tank farm on Vernon Road and before touching down near Brattleboro's "malfunction junction." Under the current plan, referred to as Alternative F, the Anna Hunt Marsh and Charles Dana bridges will be rehabilitated and preserved for pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The new bridge would result in minimal changes to existing land uses, according to a draft environmental assessment, and the potential for indirect growth impact and project-related growth impacts is also minimal. The assessment also says no agricultural lands would be affected by construction of Alternative F, which was chosen as the best plan.
The project will reportedly be funded by the Federal Highway Administration.

Originally post in August 2013

The Hinsdale NH Police Station Kangaroo Court

The inaccuracies in this article are: I never scraped off any rust from the bridge. I just collect it after it all falls to the ground. You could go collect your own ten pound of rust on the ground if you want...

You notice, the police get their take on what happened and why, I can’t get my take on why I shut down the bridge walkway on the record...

I thanked the reportor for writting this...

Bridge protester arrested in Hinsdale

By DOMENIC POLI / Reformer Staff

Posted: 08/06/2013 03:00:00 AM EDT | Updated: about 10 hours ago

Tuesday August 6, 2013

HINSDALE, N.H. -- A local man familiar to area residents for his public demonstrations against the two bridges linking the town to Vermont was cited for allegedly causing damage to the pedestrian portion of one of them Friday.

Michael Mulligan, 60, was cited with reckless conduct, disorderly conduct, criminal mischief and littering, according to Hinsdale Police Lt. David Eldridge. Reckless conduct is a felony.

Mulligan was released on $5,000 personal recognizance and is scheduled to be arraigned in 8th Circuit Court District Division in Keene on Thursday, Oct. 3.

Eldridge said part of Mulligan's bail conditions mandate that he not walk within a mile of either side of the Charles Dana Bridge or stop any vehicle within 100 yards of it. The lieutenant said witnesses saw Mulligan pulling up some of the bridge's boards.

Mulligan's arrest came one day after he appeared at a public meeting hosted by the Federal Highway Administration, the New Hampshire Department of Transportation and the Vermont Agency of Transportation. The meeting, held in the Brattleboro Union High School Multipurpose Room, was held to discuss the draft environmental assessment that had been released and was used to gauge local support for a project to rehabilitate the Charles Dana and Anna Hunt Marsh bridges and construct a new one to span over the nearby railroad tracks in Brattleboro and touch down near the stop light at the former Walmart location.

Mulligan, who brought with him pieces of rust he had chipped off the bridges, said he feels the environmental assessment contains gross inaccuracies and said he fears the bridges are in danger of collapsing. He said the assessment overestimates "by many magnitudes" the bridge's integrity, even though those who put together the assessment consider it "functionally obsolete."

Mulligan, wearing a homemade halo, also referenced movies in which an angel lurks near a bridge before it collapses and said he is that angel for the Charles Dana and Anna Hunt Marsh bridges.

Domenic Poli can be reached at dpoli@reformer.com, or 802-254-2311, ext. 277. You can follow him on Twitter @dpoli_reformer.

From: Michael Mulligan
To: W Kassotis
Sent: Tuesday, August 6, 2013 3:40 PM
Subject: Re: Public Transpotaton and a Walkway?

Officer Kassotis,

As you know, went to the bridges last night to perform my inspection of the recent work on them. It is the old half ass NHDOT. They didn’t use the proper techniques to discover all the not attached boards to the bridge. There is a ton of dangerous not attached boards on the east side of the Hinsdale bridge...lots more on the west side of the Hinsdale bridge.

I followed all my bail requirements. On the way back, I was almost overcome with a powerful urge to stop my bike and begin hucking more loose planks into the drink. The only thing that stopped me was I forget to bring my camera. I couldn’t huck planks into the water unless I could get the pictures to prove to you that I am guilty.

Anyways, we are close to pretrial disclosures....

I think Dick Tracy blew up Hinsdale's case against me. Basically, a political hack ordered or requested Dick to perform pretrial extracurricular court justice to me. We think it is the tip of the iceberg with corrupt court employees acting and being controlled by outside people. We think the courts hire people with poor integrity as a manner to appease powerful political local and state people of influence. How can I expect a fair trial if the courts and its employees are proven not trustworthy?

Here is a quote from my blog:

"You get it. Court employee Dick Tracy was punishing me...this was intentional. You get it, a local Hinsdale political hack with widespread state influence could order his court lackey employee in an off system court extracurricular manner to punish me for my alleged crimes. What are my crimes, I know the value and preciousness of human life?

The hack with the court’s permission becomes the judge and jury to me without a trial in a bail proceeding process.

The selectman pressuring the police chief to act in an illegal manner...

These are dark days in the Keene Courts..."

So I will be looking for all police documents relating to mike Mulligan and any incident associated with the Hinsdale/ Brat bridge since Jan 1 2011. All accident and incident reported about the bridge in the last ten years. All documents including the prosecutors, all notes, documents, investigations, emails, voice, cell, video...everything I can’t see. All witness statements and legal Analysis.. All communications between the police, selectman, the courts and Dick Tracy, and other town official associated with the bridge and me.

Going to have to do interviews with all the police officers and management including the police chief. Same for the selectman.

911

All NHDOT documents, communication and reports concerning the bridges, plus people interviews?

Going to have to set up a meeting with the prosecutor?

I am declaring I am representing myself in Court.

Could you get me the prosecutors name and telephone number please?

Mike



You get it. Court emplyee Dick Tracy was punishing me...this was intentional. You get it, a local Hinsdale political hack with widespread state influence could order his court lackey employee in an off system court extracurricular manner to punish me for my alleged crimes. What are my crimes, I know the value and preciousness of human life?

The hack with the court’s permission becomes the judge and jury to me without a trial in a bail proceeding process.  

The selectman pressuring the police chief to act in an illegal manner...

These are dark days in the Keene Courts...

From: W Kassotis
To: Michael Mulligan
Sent: Tuesday, August 6, 2013 1:31 AM
Subject: Re: Public Transpotaton and a Walkway?

I just looked at the bail paperwork and I see where it was checked that
you can not drive until you are restored by MV. Your license is active and
valid, it is not suspended so you do not have to worry about that.

I am still waiting for answers on your other question and will let you
know as soon as I hear

Thanks

The Hinsdale police department knowingly charged me with a obscenely inappropriate felony charge...even the class A was severely inappropriate. All this was, in the aim as the ends of putting to a stop my Constitution Rights to warn the public they are at  massively increasing risk with using these bridges.

And don't you dare destroy the "voice and video recording " of this interview!

I am just saying, if the police and prosecutors could gild the charges and accounts of the walkway...how could you not think this was going on in a widespread manner? How could you not think there was widespread court, police and prosecutorial misconduct going in our area? Somebody taught them how to do this?  

How could you trust the integrity of these guys...I wouldn’t trust any legal cases these guys had their fingers on in the last two years.

...Easy Does It wrote: Your lawyer will bargain it back down to a misdemeanor. If I were you, I wouldn't touch any more bridge planks!
Right, you are saying play it safe...don’t jump in the burning building with the intent to save precious human life. Don't you dare go through that no trespassing sign to save lives!

That ain’t me man, I am going to be running "towards" the bullets of that mad man Jared Lee Loughner…

No, the police and prosecutors can't file false and inaccurate charges on you just as a bargaining chip or to pre-set bail conditions...

That ain't democracy!

They do that over in Russia and China...not in an open democracy.

Our bridges aren’t the only thing here busted!

...This is the Felony!

Count One: RSA 634.2 

…“Having no right to do so nor any reasonable basis to believe that he has such a right, he purposely damaged the walkway part of the bridge locate on route 119 linking Hinsdale NH to Brattleboro Vermont by purposely removing the walkway boards with a crow bar causing substantial interruption or impairment of public transportation"…

...From: Michael Mulligan
To: "wkassotis@pd.hinsdale.nh.gov"
Sent: Monday, August 5, 2013 3:14 PM
Subject: Public Transpotaton and a Walkway? 

Public Transportation and a Walkway

They constitutes vastly different usage and the potential of the people involved.

The walkway has maybe 20 people a day using it, while the road bed 10,000 vehicles. Three people in a car on average gets you to 30,000 people per day.

The walkway mostly has sightseers, while the road bed has general commerce and public business, such as employment, shopping and appointments of all sorts.

How can it be the same crime and punishment with legislative intent?

Mike

...Bail Commissioner Dick Tracy

“Justice/Bail Commissioner”... this was under his signature. 

...The isn't just bail conditions...this pretrial incarceration and punishment, just as if the judge has already ruled on my case without hearing my side

...To the police and prosecutor:

“Aug 4: "That was a perfect arrest to me this Friday...thank you and your partner for being so decent to me.

As I told you guys in the police station, I am in love with our Constitution and we live in the best nation on the face of the planet.

I also said the police are my heroes and they will always be! Believe me around here, I am one of the few people who understands how really important our government is. I’d seen it every day while I was on the bridge!

As far as the bail bondsmen...that is a different story. Once I’d seen the restriction with staying away from bridge for a mile, I was contemplating the consequences of my life for a few seconds with not signing the conditions of getting bail. He angrily said, “either sign the documents right now or go to jail.” He was trying to provoke an emotional incident in the police station out of me. I didn’t say anything to him in response. This was so unprofessional and disrespectful to me. He is a long term resident in Hinsdale once and does he still live in town? Why was he so mean? Why wasn’t he like you guys?

Would you please pass this note onto the prosecutor?"

 * * * 

I am telling you guys, I am a kind of person you have never dealt with before. I am highly skilled in my crafts.  

...I had yet to look at my police paperwork.

I didn't know I was charged with a felony, nor did I know I couldn't drive my car. I was afraid and too upset to look at the paperwork.

...The “Justice/Bail Commissioner”, well known Dick Tracy, who was a good old boy Hinsdale insider... He and his family owned the old Hinsdale downtown True Value hardware store. It went out of business. He has a lot of connection to the big players in Hinsdale and I'll bet you that is how he got his current court job?

...From: Michael Mulligan
To: "wkassotis@pd.hinsdale.nh .gov"
Sent: Sunday, August 4, 2013 8:27 PM
Subject: Re: Hinsdale Bridge Walkway

Officer Kassotis,

Is is obvious I came into the police station originally with one violation and four class A misdemeanors before you disclosed it to me. I think the bail bondmen called your police buddy out of the office for a discussion on my charges-class-felony. It could have been you...i was nervous, my brain wasn't fully recording events. Within seconds of this special conversation request, I asked to go use the bathroom...somebody directed me to the bathroom. The bathroom was within feet of the police-bail bondsmen conversation.

In the bathroom, I overheard the private conversation between my Dick Tracy and the police officer. I heard the police officer and bail bondsmen discussing the nature of the my complaints. I heard Mr. Tracy say something like,“I am not coming out here for nothing with just class A misdemeanors“. I know it was about a discussion with one class A changed to a felony.

Was it the bail bondman’s setting the nature of the my charges from a class A to a felony, not the police or prosecutor? Was it the bail bondman setting the condition of my release?

Why was the class A changed into a felony on the spot with a bail bondman private conversation?

Why did the police originally mark it a class A on the ticket and then change it to a felony?

What was the implications if I had a no higher than a class A to my release?

What was the motive for this change?

The Hinsdale police and Keene Court owes me an explanation with this police and court bondmen conversation…"

....From: Michael Mulligan
To: "wkassotis@pd.hinsdale.nh .gov"
Sent: Monday, August 5, 2013 10:02 AM
Subject: Re: Hinsdale Bridge Walkway

You guys (police) didn’t know I had my driving privilege revoked.

Honestly, how smart is this....

You guys set me up to get arrested with not having a valid driving license (by not openly discussing this with me last Friday at the police station)...

Driving privilege revoked and:

“Shall not stop at the Hinsdale Bridge within one hundred yards and shall not get out of the car within one mile.”

(confidential information)

There is grave wrong doing going on here.

As you know, I wasn’t verbally notified by the police officers or the bail bondsman that my driving privileges had been revoked last Friday? I just noticed it today. I am wondering if you (police) knew of these conditions. It is a common condition for a person to be nervous as heck with a arrest and not reading the paperwork he signed...you guys know this. This is why you verbally explain the conditions and then write them down for me.

This was all about that private meeting with the bail bondsman and upping my charges to felony?"

...From: Michael Mulligan
To: "wkassotis@pd.hinsdale.nh .gov"
Sent: Monday, August 5, 2013 10:16 AM
Subject: Re: Hinsdale Bridge Walkway

Just so everything stays accurate...

You never questioned me about my transportation means?

Both (event)#1 and #2 occurred by bicycle...

#1 I removed loose boards, took pictures…replace those boards. Went to the police station, shown pictures to the lieutenant…made an official complaint to chief by the lieutenant that walkway was unsafe. I showed a picture to the lieutenant of a huge dangerous hole in the walkway over the Connecticut River. He didn’t know that the planks had been replaced me?

#2 Next day I remove those loose boards and hucked them over the side. Along with substantial safety barriers are both sides. It should be noted the NHDOT was using my safety barriers at both end in the morning when they were working on the bridge. And I called 911 at 9:00 pm to get the police to put up their police tape for the night.  

...From: Michael Mulligan
To: "wkassotis@pd.hinsdale.nh .gov"
Sent: Monday, August 5, 2013 11:17 AM
Subject: Re: Hinsdale Bridge Walkwalk

Again, for accuracy’s sake:

You told my distraught wife at my house upon my arrest all mike has is misdemeanors and with $40 bucks he will be immediately released. You never told her I had a felony!

All you did is hand me those tickets...complaints. You never went over those charges point by point like I would expect out of a professional police force with a sensitive town and region wide case.

I was never verbally notified that I was charged with a felony or a driving restriction in the police station...but you told me clearly my 500 feet and one mile restrictions. I believe at one point you told me they were all misdemeanors...but I am not 100% confident about this memory.

You verbally went over the 500 feet and one mile...the bail bondsmen repeated it, and I had follow up questions in the police station because I was confused about the 500 feet and one mile restriction. I wanted to get it right.

We are still waiting on if NH has jurisdiction in Vermont with my 500 feet and one mile restrictions. Can I use my car to take my 89 year old mother in law to the Brattleboro hospital in an emergency...i am the main care taker during the days? Am I even allowed to stop my car at the hospital?

Right, I can’t get out of a car in down town Brattleboro. You said I could ride my bike over the bridge without stopping. If a bad walkway board pops up and it makes me fall off my bike I am screwed? That could cause me to be in the NH slammer until Oct.

What if I am in another car and there is a traffic jam, accident on the bridge or train back up within 500 feet of these dangerous and dilapidated bridge, going to I 91 or other issue or the hospital...then these conditions put me at immediate risk of jail and revocation of my bail condition until Oct 3.

The traffic light at malfunction junction in Brattleboro could put me in NH slammer until Oct! 

Should I follow safety traffic rules with my bicycle by stopping in this area?

Mike