Hinsdale NH: What the Peeping Tom Incidences Disclose About the Police-Media System

My new Facebrook group:

Hinsdale Crime watch, Police watch and news

Aug 1

Got booted from crime watch.

July 31

Just heard from a birdy about a seminar the Keene's police chief put on last week. He said in the surrounding areas around Keene, there has been 90 heroin overdose deaths this year.
　
　
　

July 30:

Scot,

Do you know what an “injustice collector” is…a “fact collector” is very similar? A person becomes obsessed and aggravated by issues…he goes our collecting all the so called facts to avenge some grudge?

As a facts professional, you sure you got that right I was convicted with a class B felony? Thanks a lot the Brattleboro Reformer!

One of the great lessens I learned in my “replace the dilapidated bridge campaign” for over three years…is how to deal with all the irate and angry people who came upon me. I got tremendous positive signals from the greater public, but the irate people disproportionally bothered me. You just get a thick skin; “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me”. You get a wonderful mastery of your emotions over people being irate and angry with you. I’d seen those angry emotions pop up over and over again, you’d begin to see how unproductive these emotions are. You had to keep your wits about you when you are in that environment. That bridge work down there made me a better person!

***So I’d like to see the Hinsdale police put up on the internet a running trend of residential burglaries, business break-ins and car break- ins on a weekly or monthly bases. Or any other indicator of heroin and drug infestation.

Please give us a description on the trends with these heroin problem indicators.

“Over the past two months, Keene police have been getting report after report of residential burglaries around the city. The burglaries are all over the map, but many have been concentrated in the Court Street area, according to police records.

But homes are just the latest targets in a pattern of theft that changes every few months, police said. So far, July has been a quieter month with seven residential break-ins in the city, according to a recent tally.

A while back, it was car break-ins. Then it was local businesses.

The broken headlight sitting on my bedroom desk.

I was coming home from a bike ride…there was a congregation of people at the top Woodlawn Lane. I walked over to them, I see a body face down on the side of the road in a culvert. The boy is moaning into the dirt. So after everyone left, I looked where he laid. That is when I found the rather large car headlight fixture. I knew in broke off because vehicle hit one of our neighbors. I thought, it took a lot of energy to break it off and it must have caused a lot of damage.

I brought it in our house and showed it to my children and wife as a example to pay attention while driving in town and slow down. They all think I am really weird. I ride these roads all the time…many people go too fast and many are driving while distracted.

So I got that piece of headlight plastic on my bedroom desk. I never want to forget that suffering human face down in a culvert who was hit by a car I seen. Hopefully it would always remind to slow down and pay attention around my house!     

Note: I am constantly updating this and repairing the mistakes I made in first writing this up. If I make a substantial mistake or correction I will leave the mistake in and and also make the correction.

July 27: 

Connecticut is expecting to have 300 overdose deaths from heroin in 2014. If the proportion of deaths in the Conn population carried over to all the states…total heroin deaths in the USA would be 26,500 heroin overdoses. The Vietnam war was 58,209.

The Iran and Afghanistan war total deaths were 8267.  Katrina 1833. 

We are in a national emergency.

The west coast doesn’t have near a severe problem as the east coast. I don’t think there has been any rise from normal. 

Why?

Note: Many NH cities and cities all through the northeast are gearing up to contend and fight this  heroin war by adding to the force additional police officers and court officials.

This is like a severe hurricane or some other natural disaster...why hasn't the states put in for federal disaster relief? Or why can’t our federal politicians write into the federal disaster relief regulation that this heroin problem is a natural disaster.    

July 26@ 6:30 pm (Saturday party night?)

Oh Baby, say it ain’t so, Joe. 

I believe I’d discovered two heroin dealers within a mile of the Hinsdale Town Hall. In separate locations. I give one a 90% probability and the other one a 80% probability of being a heroin dealer. They were the nervous corner guys or building stoop guys in the inner city ghettoes…always looking you in the eyes from afar hoping for a signal.  Except these guys were young whites! Did I see one with a Connecticut license plate just up for a visit? One was peddling heroin right in downtown route 119 and everyone knows where it is. 

It is convenient, I 91 being the favorite drug transportation corridor?

Imagine what a burden this is for the Hinsdale police and the selectman…triage. This is going to cost them big time bucks for a bust and the courts, with utterly no economic payback for the town. All our tax money is going down the toilet on this. And you know if they are busted, they will be right back in the streets next day.

Is this the local hub, in the hub and spokes drug distribution system…

Holy shit, once your eyes are opened, HOLY SHIT!   

The basic question is, should a newspaper serve it profits and circulation first, or do they have a responsibility to serve a community first. It goes to the heart of  a private company or corporation.

Is there a holy alliance between the town police and town officials...

The basic question is, should a newspaper serve it profits and circulation first, or do they have a responsibility to serve a community first. It goes to the heart of a private company or corporation. 

I not saying we are anywhere like the Congo…but the shallow and superficial reporting by the newspapers and other new outlets are very similar to us.  

The Congo in Southwest New Hampshire

'Our stories about others tell us more about ourselves"

The telltale sign of such mythical, distant reporting is a distinct assuredness. Confusion and vulnerability are stripped away, as are the subtleties and contradictions of life. People and places are reduced to simple narratives — good and evil, victim and killer. Such narratives can be easy to digest. But they tell us only a portion of the story.   

 

Is there a holy alliance between the town police and town officials...and the media.
Basically you know the deal, the newspapers only make pennies from Hinsdale residents. Hardly worthwhile. The cheap way out of this with their overwhelmed reporters is to get overly dependant on the disclosures of the town officials and police chief. The officials feed them cheap stories. SO the reporters don’t want to disrupt this communication path…they never want to irk the police chief because then he won’t feed them stories and tips in the future.  Welcome to the small town shame culture of “Peyton Place” and everyone repressing all their problems.  I can  remember the old Hinsdale police chief talking about the Brattleboro Reformer…he had utter contempt for this newspaper.

Peyton Place is an exposé of the lives and loves of the residents of a small New England mill town, where scandal, homicide, suicide, incest, and moral hypocrisy hide behind a tranquil façade in the years surrounding World War II. The film stars Lana Turner and Hope Lange, with supporting roles from Lee Philips, Lloyd Nolan, and Diane Varsi.

I give you an example…the Hinsdale Police chief set the agenda of the Thursday community meeting in the high school cafeteria. It is a peeping tom issue and I am worried about some vigilantes settling debts on their own. The newspaper reporters on their own would ever make the expensive trip out to Hinsdale and find out really what on the mind of the Hinsdale residence outside the agenda of the police chief. They can’t even portray the communities issues outside the chief agenda in the High school’s meeting. There will be retribution if the newspaper paint outside the lines of the chief and the town officials. 

I basically count four community members talking about making a police complaint…with absolutely no follow up on the complaints by the police.  One women talked about she was surprised the police never came out to his house to talk to her child about what he’s seen with the peeping tom issue he reported to mother. The mother said, at least they could come over to talk to my son so as to put him at ease and show that the police cared. In “community policing”, an issue like this isn’t really about the complaint…it’s about showing a police presence and establishing long lasting trusting relationships to the community members. Others talked about they were surprised the police didn’t come to their house to have a talk with their children trying to gather more evidence…a basic police work curiosity. One talked about calling the police because he had a dangerous unknown intruder in his house at midnight. He was hold the intruder by gun point…the police came to the house and arrested this dangerous guys. This man had children in the house. Once arrested, this man never got a call back from the police explaining what the charge the intruder with. Never got a call back at all.  I explained I had a missing three and a half old child missing from a neighbor for three hours, the mother was hysterical, called it into 911 three time, never got a immediate police response and never got a explination why the system screwed up. There is a wide spread pattern with the police force not properly interacting with community members making official reports to the Hinsdale police and they have systemic issue with communication across the board.
 

I think this police behavior all stems from inadequate police funding. I think this inadequate funding is blinding the police from knowing what is actually happening Hinsdale and it is blinding the community to knowing what is going on in their town. 

Right, the 4th estate’s role is serving their public. Their role is a immune system for us all. Their role is to courageously criticize the officialdom, town officials, the police department and collectively all of us They heroically and without any fear of reprisals publicly shine a light on our flaws hoping the wider system eventually corrects itself. This is the funding principles of our democracy and our democracy! We really don’t have a healthy 4th estate around here. We have a privatized and very limited news media system mainly serving itself. I am telling you folks, we are very prone to collusion with our officialdom and systemic corruption. Usually this falls hardest on the poor, weak and the disenfranchised.

So the main points of the newspaper articles coming out of the peeping tom community meeting should have been: “Hinsdale residents very concerned about police not responding to their reporting of criminal activity“ and “Hinsdale residents think their police department has a huge communication problem with them.”

How Many more secrets like this are hiding deep in Hinsdale:

A concerned Hinsdale citizen: "Tell you a story, about 8 maybe 10 years ago a teenage kid broke into our home, My neighbor caught him and detained him until the police showed up, When I got home my neighbor asked me if the police called me at work, or if anyone contacted me (we were working at the time), anyway I called the police and they came up, I wanted to press charges but the chief would not do it, personal friend I guess, this story has more twist to it, my point is NOTHING was done. I have heard of more of this kind of thing, you know that's not right. Maybe Vernon VT had the right idea when they voted NOT to fund their PD and now have state coverage."

I think the newspapers are fearful about the police and officialdom reprisals…these officials turning off the spigots the cheap penny ante stories. Remember, the papers crown these officials with status.

You scratch my back; I’ll scratch your back…the holy alliance. This doesn't really protect our greater good.

High Police Officer Turnover

During the end of the last police chief’s time, it seems to be the beginning of the police officer turnover. Once the new chief came in, there is rumors he got rid of some police officers deadwoods. Why the musical chair in the police officer ranks.Why the tremendous turnover of police officers in Hinsdale? Do the officers get experience and initial training in low pay Hinsdale...then head towards higher pay with their new qualifications.

There are implication we don’t pay the officers enough, issues with enough training…and little promotional opportunities. We get the bottom of the barrow and they don't stay very long because of low pay and benefits. I heard rumors a new hire police officer would get better pay and benefits at Wal-Mart. I just don't think we compensate the police force so the best and bright want to be a small town police offer. I worry they are putting in too much overtime to even lave a real life. This is a very stressful job and they need time off to recover from their job.

A bad police chief would go, oh, another police officer quit. He go though the long hiring process lucky if he finds a qualified applicant, then wait to get him into the state police academy. Then on to the job training. This could be a very lengthy process. A good police chief would think, I got a high turn over…I need to hire on three or four police officers and train them up. He’s anticipate other police officers quitting and promotion. He’d over staff his police department with one or two police officers…considering training needs of the troops and vacations.

Basically he says Thursday the department got police opening positions…but he can’t get a fully trained and experienced officers actually on duty and sitting in cars or walking the beat. I'll bet you it's hard to find qualified candidates and with clean record...people who want to be small town cops. I think this is a police chief and selectman mismanagement of the highest order.

Just to be clear, this police force undermanning has been going on for years

Basically he says on Thursday the department got a police opened positions…but he can’t get a fully trained and experienced officers actually on duty and sitting in cars or walking the beat. I think this is a police chief and selectman mismanagement of the highest order.

Just to be clear, this police force has been undermanned for years. I believe they really use the police undermanning to control town budgets.   

Keene Sentinel

Hinsdale residents air concerns about alleged peeping Tom

HINSDALE — The town’s police department will continue to investigate reports of a peeping Tom in the community, but officers don’t yet have enough information to conclude there is one, Police Chief Todd A. Faulkner said Thursday.

Meanwhile, the department will move forward with establishing a community watch group after several residents said they were interested in being part of one.

Faulkner, Lt. David A. Eldridge and Sgt. Wayne H. Kassotis met with roughly 60 residents in the Hinsdale Middle/High School cafeteria Thursday night to discuss the alleged peeping Tom situation, which has several people in the community concerned.

Faulkner scheduled the meeting after the establishment of a closed Facebook page called Hinsdale Crime Watch, which had been reporting some of the alleged sightings.

Some of the information on the Facebook page, such as a description of the alleged peeping Tom and the number of incidents reported, is different, and in some cases more extensive than what has been reported to the police department, Faulkner said.

The information on the Facebook page can’t be used in the investigation because it’s considered hearsay, he said, and people who have first-hand information should report it to the police department.

“Since June 21 of this year, we received only eight official complaints about this potential issue. Of those eight complaints, only three detail a peeping Tom or an event like that,” Faulkner said.

Most of the reports were made to the police department hours to days after the incidents, and in the cases of two, which were reported immediately, police officers were unable to locate the alleged perpetrator, he said.

The majority of people reporting the incidents have been children or parents on behalf of their children, he said. In one case, police officers believe they know who was involved in the alleged peeping based on the description, he said.

The reports are spread across town, and not clustered in one area, he said.

“At this time, I don’t have information that would cause me to tell you to lock all your doors, close all your shades and sleep on the couch with your kids. We have something going on out there, but I don’t believe it’s a peeping Tom-type incident as of now,” he said.

He added, “Your children shouldn’t be afraid, and you shouldn’t be afraid for your children.”

Based on the information police have about the incidents, the person or persons involved may have mental health issues, Faulkner said. Some of the behavior being described is similar to somebody with a condition such as that of missing Chesterfield resident Ronald Cheever.

Cheever, 61, who has been missing since July 4, has dementia. He was last seen walking south on Winchester Road in the direction of Pisgah State Park on the afternoon of July 4, according to officials from the N.H. Fish and Game’s Law Enforcement Division.

“In speaking with Mr. Cheever’s family, the information being reported to us could be him or someone with the same disability as him,” Faulkner said.

Faulkner then handed out sheets of paper with information about Cheever’s disappearance and a description of him.

Cheever is described as a white male, 5 feet, 7 inches tall, weighing 180 pounds, and having gray hair. He was wearing tan shorts, sneakers, a red raincoat and a tan Harley Davidson Motorcycle ball cap at the time of his disappearance, according to the information.

Several residents at he meeting Thursday said they were concerned about hearing people say they were going to take matters into their own hands and not wait for police officers.

See, the Chief was talking about the scenario of war hero Dustin Curtiss’s homicide. Hinsdale police department and the state police are too overwhelmed and resource starved in order to solve this case. We are coming up to the one year anniversary (Oct) and not a peep out of the state attorney or the Hinsdale police department where this case is heading. Here we live in the “Promised Land” of libertarianism, anarchy and anti governmentalism. Instead of the home of the free and the brave…we are the home of the free-staters and anarchist.   

His father and Dustin got into a argument…the father solved the problem by killing his son. Everyone knows there has been violence related to this relationship for many years. This is a stand your ground or castle doctrine case, except in crazy New Hampshire it is between the farther and son. Again, if the Hinsdale police department was more intrusive, communicative and proactive…would Dustin be dead? There are rumors of a police delay in responding to this.

You know, if Dustin, the Dad, his family and the surrounding community thought the Hinsdale police department was a worthy and trustful partner, would somebody have brought the police department into this when the family conflict first emerged?  Why didn’t the father think he could get the police to help control his son. Why didn’t daughter in law or wife get the police involved…where they facing a severely dysfunctional and uncommunicative Hinsdale police department?

Was this murder preventable by good community police work and a more intrusive police force?

Don’t forget about the shootout in the North Hinsdale Road’s spiderweb leading to a unsolved homicide.   

Faulkner strongly advised against it.

“Taking the law into your own hands and trying to interact with the person could have a negative effect,” he said. “If the person is outside your home, your doors are locked, and you’re not in any immediate danger you need to call 911. If someone enters your home, and you’re in fear of your life, then you have to make that decision.”

Confronting someone, whether there is a physical altercation, could result in criminal or civil charges be being brought against either or both people involved in the confrontation, he said.

He then asked residents if they were interested in forming a neighborhood watch group. They said they were.

Faulkner said such a group would need to follow standards outlined by the Department of Justice, and he would schedule a meeting to present those standards and other information about forming a group at a later date.

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

The one day late story of the Brattleboro Reformer

I got to admit, the Reformer did pose the question, the Hinsdale police department is unresponsive to their citizens. But they don't want to investigate the magnitude of it?

Hinsdale police chief addresses residents' safety concerns

By DOMENIC POLI / Reformer Staff

Posted: 07/26/2014 03:00:00 AM 

HINSDALE, N.H. -- Residents expressed fear and frustration at a special meeting the town's police chief scheduled to address concerns there might be someone around town glaring into people's windows.

Chief Todd Faulkner set up the Thursday night meeting in the Hinsdale Middle/High School cafeteria and told the more than 80 citizens in attendance there have been eight official complaints since June 21 about a potential "peeping Tom," but only three of them were consistent with that particular crime. Faulkner said each case was investigated and only two share a possible link. Accompanied by Lt. David Eldridge and Sgt./School Resource Officer Wayne Kassotis, Faulkner tried to calm residents' nerves and told them the Hinsdale Police Department is doing everything possible to get to the bottom of whoever is creating their anxiety.

"This may not be a criminal. We have a significant mental health problem in the United States," he said, adding that a 61-year-old Chesterfield man named Ronald "Buddy" Cheever has been missing since he was last seen walking south on Winchester Road in Chesterfield on July 4. Faulkner said members of Cheever's family have stated the traits described in official complaints to the police match that of their missing relative.

I don't believe the below paragraph at all with the chief. This is a product of the shaming culture of small town NE. Basically he is trying to protect the image and reputation of the property owners, large property owners and businesses in Hinsdale. He is attuned to the needs of the wealthy, not to the safety of the middle class. He don't want to taint the paradise called Hinsdale NH with the idea we got a peeping tom or any other dirty issue in Hinsdale. We basically got a little town inferiority complex...we don't have the security and confidence that we can discuss publicly any issue that comes up to the plate. 

Maybe one more police officer on the force would get you out to do the investigations and collect the information?

Faulkner also told the crowd he did not approach the local media with the information he has because he did not want to unnecessarily alarm residents, as only two accounts are potentially connected. Faulkner doesn't have enough facts to give a description of a suspect because the information he has is unverified and some of it is conflicting.

Resident Beth Salg said she is worried about the reports she has read on Hinsdale Crime Watch (on Facebook), because some people have commented they plan to find and shoot whoever has supposedly been peeking into windows around town. She said she is terrified to have her children outside past a certain time out of fear that some misguided vigilante will harm them by accident.

"This is scarier than some guy looking in my window," she said.

Resident Beth Salg said she is worried about the reports she has read on Hinsdale Crime Watch (on Facebook), because some people have commented

The Dustin Curtiss homicide case scenario…we are all still poisoned by a unclear explanation of what happened and it still hasn’t gone into a court case. Is that how we solve family and other disputes in Hinsdale; vigilantism and violence with a gun? Hate government and love anarchy. We got a lot of incomplete and unfinished business in Hinsdale.    

they plan to find and shoot whoever has supposedly been peeking into windows around town. She said she is terrified to have her children outside past a certain time out of fear that some misguided vigilante will harm them by accident.

"This is scarier than some guy looking in my window," she said.

The conversation then turned to citizens asking the police to address what they feel is a lack of follow-up on certain cases. One woman said her son and his friend were the two children who reported a suspicious man watching them play on July 2. She said no police officers have kept in touch with her about the incident. Faulkner explained the description his department received identified the suspicious male as a mental health patient and not a "peeping Tom." The woman said her children are afraid to go out in their own yard and wishes someone with the department could have come to her home to reassure her family members they are safe.

Allen Damon raised his hand and said he created the Hinsdale Crime Watch Facebook page. He told Faulkner that more than a year ago he had to force a man out of his home at gunpoint and never heard back from the responding officers, even though he had said he wanted to press charges. 

criminal trespassing: not on Thursday, maybe as a follow-up on Friday. No seamless coverage between the police and Cheshire County victim/witness advocate...the compartmentalization, siloing and balkanization of the police and the justice system to the troubled town folks of Hinsdale. Do you think this only happens in Hinsdale...I bet you it is systemic and widespread coming through the Keene court systems?     

Damon said he just found out that man was arrested for criminal trespassing, but he was never notified of that fact. Faulkner apologized to Damon and said a Cheshire County victim/witness advocate should have contacted him.

Faulkner and Eldridge said the police department is still short one full-time officer and the case load is drastically large. Faulkner said each officer has a stack of files they are investigating.

A woman asked if pepper spray is legal in New Hampshire, and Faulkner said it can only be used in self-defense. He also cautioned the citizens present about taking the law into their own hands.

"The last thing we need is a George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin incident that happened down in Florida," he said in reference to the infamous case of Neighborhood Watch Group coordinator George Zimmerman fatally shooting teenager Trayvon Martin during a struggle after Zimmerman called the police to

What about war hero Dustin Curtiss whose voice was stolen from him by gun shots by his father and a noncommunicative police department?

report someone acting "real suspicious" walking around in the rain in his gated community. Faulkner told people to stay vigilant and report anything they deem suspicious. He said all officers are tracked and monitored.

"If an officer is at Hinsdale Heights and then enters into a foot pursuit and people call and say, ‘There is a flashlight outside my home,'" Faulkner said, "the dispatcher can say that is a Hinsdale Police officer."

Resident Keith Owen urged all parents in the cafeteria to be careful in how they talk to their children about the issue at hand. Faulkner also added that he cannot rule out that the person causing concern throughout town is not simply a teenager playing a prank.

Before the meeting wrapped up, Faulkner mentioned the new on-body cameras his officers are sporting. He joked that citizens do not need to worry about the officers turning into RoboCops and said all officers must inform people of when they are being recorded.

A few people told Faulkner they understand his officers have a difficult job and appreciate their work to keep the town safe.

Bottom line, this might be less malicious than I portrayed it. It might be a natural product of our low population density and our rather isolation. It just might be a product of a lazy minds.

VC Summer Plant is Nuts?

Humm, a government owned nuclear power plant in a anti government state.

*SCANA Corporation (66.7%) is a $9 billion energy-based holding company, based in Cayce, South Carolina, a suburb of Columbia. Its businesses include regulated electric and natural gas utility operations and other energy-related businesses. SCANA's subsidiaries serve approximately 661,000 electric customers in South Carolina and more than one million natural gas customers in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia.

*The people of South Carolina govern Santee Cooper (33.3%) through a board of directors appointed by the governor and approved by the state Senate. A board member represents each congressional district and each of the three counties where Santee Cooper serves retail customers directly; one board member has previous electric cooperative experience; and the chairman is appointed at-large.

 Hmm, overloaded by building out two nuke plants.

On March 27, 2008, South Carolina Electric & Gas applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a Combined Construction and Operating License (COL) to build two 1,100 MW AP1000 pressurized water reactors at the site.^[5] On May 27, 2008, SCE&G and Santee Cooper announced an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract had been reached with Westinghouse.^[6] Costs were estimated to be approximately $9.8 billion for both AP1000 units, plus transmission facility and financing costs. The operators are filing an application to increase customers bills by $1.2 billion (2.5%) during the construction period to partially finance capital costs.^[7]

Two events popping up at the same time is very disconcerting. Can’t tell the difference between a valve leak on the vessel head and a leaking pressurizer safety valve. Bet you they had a elevated tail piece temperature thinking it was the leaks.

It sounds like the the maintenance is dismal on this plant.

  

PRELIMINARY NOTIFICATION OF EVENT OR UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE - PNO-II-14-005A

This preliminary notification constitutes EARLY notice of events of POSSIBLE safety or public interest significance. Some of the information may not yet be fully verified or evaluated by the

Region II staff (Atlanta, GA)

Facility Licensee Emergency Classification

South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G)

V.C. Summer, Unit 1

U P D AT E - SHUTDOWN GREATER THAN 72 HOURS DUE TO LEAKING

PRESSURIZER SAFETY VALVE

On July 13, 2014, staff at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station (VCSNS), Unit 1 suspected that a pressurizer safety valve was leaking and made a conservative decision to shutdown the unit. On July 17, the vendor notified the licensee that pressurizer safety valve test results showed the valve was not leaking. The licensee subsequently identified that the source of the leak was a reactor vessel head vent valve and repaired the valve.

The NRC resident inspectors were promptly notified and were onsite to monitor the shutdown and activities to identify and repair the leak. The resident inspectors are also monitoring the licensee’s additional reviews into the valve failure.

While returning the unit to service on July 22, the plant automatically tripped due to decreasing water level in the steam generators. The reactor trip occurred when the condensate polishing system bypass valve failed to open as required and feedwater flow was reduced. All safety systems responded as designed. The NRC resident inspectors were promptly notified and responded to the site to assess the plant and monitor the licensee’s actions. The licensee has completed repairs to the condensate valve and the plant is currently being returned to service.

This preliminary notification is issued for information. The State of South Carolina has been

notified by the NRC.

Region II received initial notification of this occurrence by the NRC Resident Inspectors who have been monitoring licensee actions. The information presented herein has been discussed with the licensee and is current as of 8:00 a.m. on July 24, 2014.

The radical reset of the NRC?

Sept 11:

This can't be good news?

Sept 11: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Thursday voted to approve the nominations of Jeffery Baran and Stephen Burns to serve as commissioners on the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a committee staff member said in an email.

Eleven of the 18 members of the committee voted in favor of Baran and Burns: Barbara Boxer of California, the committee chairwoman; Thomas Carper of Delaware; Benjamin Cardin of Maryland; Bernard Sanders of Vermont; Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island; Tom Udall of New Mexico; Jeff Merkley of Oregon; Kirsten Gillibrand of New York; Cory Booker of New Jersey; Edward Markey of Massachusetts; and James Inhofe of Oklahoma. All are Democrats except Inhofe, a Republican, and Sanders, an Independent.

Six committee members, all Republicans, voted against Baran: John Barrasso of Wyoming, John Boozman of Arkansas, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, David Vitter of Louisiana, and Roger Wicker of Mississippi. Those six members and Deb Fischer, Republican-Nebraska, voted against Burns.

Sept 9, 2014

Senate hearings

Really, how does our political system keep hiring these say nothing grey bureaucratic types…absolutely no real experience in managing a power plant or fleet? Don’t even have a token safety advocate…

Two lawyers with little hands on nuclear power plant or organizationl experiance. More of the same crap!

Usually how these things goes, is the administration says something like, if you nominate and vote for my choice, then I give you republicans a choice and I will get you the votes to pass your guy.

The deals are all made in the shadows and nobody can understand how the political sausage is made.

This is why the NRC is the way they are.

Jeffery M. Baran, Nominee for Commissioner, Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Jeffery M. Baran is currently Staff Director for Energy and Environment on the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, a position he has held since May 2014. Prior to this, Mr. Baran served on the Committee on Energy and Commerce as Senior Counsel from 2011 to 2014, and as Counsel from 2009 to 2010. He served as Counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform from 2003 to 2008. From 2001 to 2003, Mr. Baran worked as a law clerk for Judge Lesley Wells of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Mr. Baran received a B.A. and M.A. from Ohio University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Stephen Burns, Nominee for Commissioner, Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Stephen Burns is currently the Head of Legal Affairs for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Nuclear Energy Agency, a position he has held since 2012. Prior to joining the OECD, Mr. Burns served at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in a variety of roles. He was General Counsel from 2009 to 2012, Deputy General Counsel from 1998 to 2009, and Associate General Counsel for Hearings, Enforcement and Administration from 1994 to 1998. Mr. Burns also served at NRC as Director of the Office of Commission Appellate Adjudication from 1991 to 1994, Executive Assistant to NRC Chairman Carr from 1989 to 1991, Legal Assistant to Commissioner Carr from 1986 to 1989, and Deputy Director of the Regional Operations and Enforcement Division from 1986 to 1986. He began his career at the NRC as an Attorney in the Regional Operations and Enforcement Division from 1978 to 1983. Mr. Burns received a B.A. from Colgate University and a J.D. from The George Washington University Law Center.

I don't know what to make of this?

WSJ: President Barack Obama announced Tuesday that he will tap two well-connected energy experts for impending openings on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The White House will soon nominate Jeff Baran, an aide to retiring Rep. Henry Waxman (D., Calif.), who is the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Stephen Burns, a former NRC general counsel, to the commission. Mr. Burns is currently head of legal affairs for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Nuclear Energy Agency.

 None of these guys got real power plant experience. At least Burns know the ropes around the NRC. I thought it would go the Obama way, figure out how to dilute his power...pick one to make the liberals happy and the other to make the nukies happy.

RC Commissioner Nominees Must Demonstrate Expertise, Collegiality

Tuesday, July 22nd 2014


WASHINGTON, July 22, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Following is a statement from Nuclear Energy Institute President and Chief Executive Officer Marvin Fertel on two nominations put forward by the White House today to serve on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

"The nuclear energy industry is pleased that the White House has nominated candidates to fill the seats vacated by Commissioner Apostolakis and that will be vacated by Commissioner Magwood. As evidenced by the experience and capabilities of the two departing commissioners, the commission must be comprised of leaders who possess expertise and experience and who act as part of a collegial body committed to efficiently and credibly leading an agency of nearly 4,000 people.

"With the nomination of Stephen Burns, who served as NRC general counsel, President Obama has identified a figure familiar with the commission's responsibilities, processes and culture. Industry recognizes Burns' 33 years of service to the commission—he received numerous positive reviews and was repeatedly promoted. Industry has some concerns regarding certain actions taken by the NRC while Burns served as general counsel, including the chairman's use of emergency authority in the weeks after the Fukushima Daiichi accident and the decision to terminate the Yucca Mountain repository licensing process. The confirmation process will provide ample opportunity for Burns to elaborate on his views. The industry supports the federal court ruling reversing the agency's decision to discontinue consideration of the Yucca Mountain license application. The industry also believes emergency authority should be used only by the NRC chairman in rare circumstances in which other commissioners are unavailable to participate in agency decision-making.

"The nomination of Jeff Baran merits close scrutiny. Although Baran has energy and environmental policy experience, his background includes little, if any, relevant experience with nuclear energy technology or the NRC regulatory process and policies. We look forward to hearing his perspectives on these matters during the confirmation process.

"This is a significant period in the NRC's history. The agency and nuclear energy companies alike are faced with the challenge of sharpening regulatory focus to properly prioritize regulatory issues to ensure that both industry and NRC staff and financial resources are committed to those issues most significant to safety. The ongoing implementation of post-Fukushima safety enhancements is part of this complex mix. The times necessitate that the Senate confirm commissioners with relevant policy expertise who will work collegially with the sitting commissioners.

"The industry is committed to continuing a world-class track record of safe operation. Similarly, maintaining a credible and efficient regulator is essential for an expanded role for nuclear energy in a sound energy and environmental policy for future.

Always "one way" with the NRC on fighting for our interest

I just wonder what she knows of the magnitude of the plant shutdowns?

 

Why is the first instinct of these guys is to give a cost reduction to the utilities. How come she not in there playing "lets make a deal"...we'll give you cost reduction on security and emergency planing if you will decomission the plants within the first ten years after shutdown

 

How come it's always one way...

Nuclear watchdog agency considers repositioning staff as fewer plants built, others go offline

ATLANTA— U.S. nuclear regulators may need to shuffle staff as fewer nuclear plants are built and financial pressures prompt utilities to shutter existing plants, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair Allison Macfarlane said Monday.

Macfarlane said NRC officials are in the early stages of researching how to reposition its roughly 3,800-member workforce as the industry's outlook changes. A recommendation is due in early 2015.

Expectations for the U.S. nuclear industry have radically shifted. Just six years ago, electric utility companies proposed building 26 reactors at 17 power plants spread across the United States. Instead, natural gas prices hit record lows, making it significantly cheaper to build gas-fired plants than nuclear plants. Around the same time, the U.S. economy fell into a deep recession, which further trimmed the demand for electricity.

Three nuclear plants are under construction in Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee.

"... We are not living the future that we had thought we were going to have a few years ago, right?" Macfarlane said during an interview at an NRC office in Atlanta. "We had, folks had thought that things would be quite different, that there would be quite a few more reactors being constructed right now. So, that's where the agency was sized and arranged, and now we have to rethink that."

The same trends that have discouraged electric utility companies from building new nuclear plants have encouraged them to take existing nuclear plants out of service.

Macfarlane said the agency may need new rules to govern decommissioned nuclear plants that no longer have radioactive fuel in their reactors, decreasing the chances of an accident or mishap. Already, utility companies that are shutting plants have requested loosening emergency preparedness and security rules designed for operating plants. Macfarlane said that plants being decommissioned may not need as much security as an operating plant.

"There's no fuel in the reactor," Macfarlane said. "Do you really need guards around it anymore? No, you don't, probably."

A Whistleblower’s Plight

Statement of Commissioner Jeffrey S. Merrifield atthe February 24, 2005, Briefing of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Nuclear Fuel Performance 

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Back in 1993, before Dave, Vermont Yankee was such a black hole organization. The NRC gave us good grades and all the employees knew we were a terribly disturbed organization. I was just a reactor operator. My only tool was to bring attention to the plant. I wrote a letter to the governor of Vermont and other state officials explaining my plight, which she ignored. So I got in contact with the local anti nuclear group. Told them about my letter, asked them to accuse her of sitting on a safety issues. They did, then she was immediately out on a podium demanding a investigation. We did have a terrible accident within 9 months...the worst one in the history of Vermont Yankee.

I was in the control room during a start-up, we had a spike in radiation that scared the pants out of all of us out of nowhere. It went away and we continued on the start-up after much delay. Well, we knew we had more leaking pins. I watch this for months. I decide we had somehow got fuel pellets out to the coolant. I framed it as fuel pellets were rattling around in the coolant. I tell my anti nuclear folks and they make a telephone conference with the UCS. Right, these guys got very little technical education and they are way out of their league. Everyone thinks these conditions were preposterous. It never happened before in the industry.

So it is a year later. I am more friends with my anti buddy. I failed to understand what a horrible position I placed the anti nukes in. He pops up saying Mike; I got to tell you a story. You remember that fuel pellet story and your phone call to the UCS. The UCS and us had a private discussion about you after that phone call. He said, what you talked about was impossible. That nuclear plant employee is terribly unbalanced, one wonders how he ever got a license, he is mentally unbalanced. Well, I was unbalanced thinking I could influence the site and its employees. The antis had a big meeting about this, they agreed I was unhinged. They wanted nothing more to do with me. My buddy took a chance, he got the story in the local paper. The company came back saying in the local paper, we know who this troubled individual is, he is a big problem…what he is talking about is an impossibility. We don’t have fuel pellets in the coolant and never did or will.

So my buddy said mike, I stepped way out of bounds for you, I was crushed by this story in the paper. My anti nuclear friends I knew for years say they were disappointed (he was the chairman of the group and very wealthy) in me and you ruined the reputation of our group. The state was watching closely this story and I had contacted them about it.

A month later we are in a refueling outage…I get a call to my bosses office. He’s got the boss of nuclear engineering in there. I have no idea what is going on. He is my enemy and he has been acting like that for months. One only wonders what my blood pressure was at time. He says good call…we have no idea how you called this. It was about a 12” picture if a fuel rod or pin. Most of the picture had a protruding 12 inch crack, looking like there was a small explosion or great pressure in it once. He says Mike, why didn’t all the fuel pellets fall out? I tell him I have no idea. He says the pins have walled off, with wielded cells in it. Little did I know they had brought in specialist with the NRC investigating if I had somehow sabotage the fuel and a nuclear power plant. Now that is impossibility.

So my anti buddy says he believes I am nothing but a kook. He believes the UCS….the UCS has to right. Then he opens up newspaper article with the state nuclear engineering talking about the cracked fuel pin and the seven missing fuel pellet. It explained the industry never seen an event like this. I had talked to him at the beginning of the outage saying my company is only going to sample only a small percentage of the fuel pins. The state engineer explains the company was only going to sample a small sample of the core, we made them sample all the pins. They found four of five leakers they were going to skip....this caused the rattling loose pellets in the coolant. He made a reference an employee who asked the state to step in. My anti nuclear buddy after reading this says he was flabbergasted…he was flabbergasted the UCS called me crazy and unhinged. Who can he believe? But now Mike everything I am reading in the paper says what I heard on the bridge phone was perfectly correct. Mike, at that point you made me believe the UCS was crazy! He talks to me, saying it is so hard to interpret what is going on in the nuclear industry for us.

I not saying the the UCS is unhinged, I just saying they are a single data point limited by what the nuclear industry discloses and the NRC. It is terribly unfair position we place the UCS in. It is a terrible position we place the state and newspapers in.

From these times, to well into the middle of the 2000s, the state of the reliability of domestic nuclear fuel was in precipitative and perilous decline.

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What a Stellar Black Hole Organization Is?

The media has gotten astonishingly vulnerable with listening to the single data point of Dave and the UCS. Dave comes from an engineer’s centric model of knowing a nuclear power plant instead of a licensed operator’s model of knowing a power plant. Some say he is angling for a NRC commissioner seat. Others think the NRC is entering a startling transition period…basically two commissioners have recently got politically fired and the whole NRC framework of regulations might be a stake when he brings on the new commissioners. The senate for the first time in the history of the NRC will need only 50 votes to confirm a new commissioner instead of 60 votes. It’s Reid’s nuclear option. These will be solely democrat choices.

Fracting is putting a beyond a once every a 100 year storm on the utilities and nuclear industry. The new reserves of natural gas are a “game changer” and the size of these reserves just might now be bigger than our imagination. It driving down the price of electricity and our national electricity load growth has been really weak since 2008.

So we set up our faux reality by a group of written and unwritten rules. If the world goes according to the rules then we are ok. But we have very little idea who gets advantage by the rules or the real motivations why the rules are written.

Do you know what a stellar black hole organization is? It is an organization who is powerful enough to suck in and control all information about itself. It sucks away all light itself. It controls all the rules associated with the organization. It only gives out daylight that is favorable to themselves and they play a extremely powerful influencer to other organizations around and above them. They are beyond the control of most nations and political system. They control the political systems about themselves. GM with their weak key ignition was a small organizational black hole. Most of our large institutional failures are black holes. You can use rules for unbelievable good things and to create horrible wrongs…they are just a tool. GM, the Japanese nuclear village/ Fukishima, 9/11, TMI, David Besse, nazi Germany, Nasa's two shuttles destruction, Katrina and our near economic collapse are black holes... That sucking feeling you perceive from the NRC, Dave and UCS is coming from a black hole…

I am setting up a rules system. Lets say you got a GM car with four passengers. What is the definition of safety…certainly not the reasonable person’s definition of safety? GM and the feds define safety (just make believe) as an event that could or did kill all four occupants in a car. An injury in a GM car accident, one occupant dead, indeed a dead pedestrian isn’t “safety related” according the generally accepted secret rules. The grand Establishment’s Jim Crow laws of the old south are very similar to this. Usually they are playing these games for billions dollars, status advantage and self-interest. This is the nuclear industry’s system of risk perspectives. It sets up the reality you think you know in your head. It is designed so you only see the tip of the ice berg.

If this unscrutinizable engineering or computer program of risk perspective program is so accurate, why couldn’t they use it to predict and anticipate the terrible behavior of the Salem plant’s staff or predict the broken bolts, or Salem would ignore prior notification. I dare you to try to get risk perspectives explained to you by Salem or the NRC! I guarantee you won't understand it.

None of these GM guys could imagine a weak ignition key switch could or would cause so much death and injury…would finally make this horrendous system of secret rule visible.

We could have a GM weak ignition switch accident in the nuclear industry in USA, not a full blown Fukushima… it would have terrible results for our nation.

Believe me, everyone is highly attuned to your question asking…