FERGUSON, Mo

Aug 3: I nailed it: "What is going on in public housing in Ferguson?"

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/09/03/another-shadow-in-ferguson-as-outside-firms-buy-and-rent-out-distressed-homes/?ref=us

Another Shadow in Ferguson as Outside Firms Buy and Rent Out Distressed Homes

Ethel Walker and her daughter Tasha pay $650 a month to rent a home in Ferguson, Mo., from an investment firm 1,800 miles away in Los Angeles. A few miles from the Walkers, Corey Bryant and his mother are renting a two-bedroom home in Ferguson from the same California firm.

Certainly the whole clip tells a different story than the short CNN clip. The guy never got aggressive until the police show up.

Everyone knows you got size up the mental status…if he has indications of a mental condition then you got to speak softly at him. Maybe by retreating he would have calmed down. Certainly they could have waited a minute or two until all the rest of those cops swarmed onto the scene.  The outcome would have been different.

 Aug 18:  

Ok, so this is a white insider game. Usually in white flight the rental properties remain in control of the whites. They become house mongrels and tyrants…very powerful and rich. So with the blacks, who owns their own thei r homes and the rentals? What does the property owners of the blacks housing look like?

Usually the property mongrel or lords coalesces into a political force… they go to tax boards or the arbiters of the housing property tax boards or politicians gaining tremendous reduction in property tax rates…

How much corruption and fraud is involved in property values and tax rates?

In the 2009 economic, mortgage and housing collapse/corruptions, how did this shake out in Ferguson and St Louis???         

What is going on in public housing in Ferguson?

I bet you inadiquate police and court funding set this up?

I’ll bet you the kids knew some small crime was unenforced becuase the system including the jails was overwealmed.

Police $4,366,007 4,477,640 4,627,200 4,651,300 4,907,300
 Total4,737,743$ 4,834,244$ 4,999,700$ 5,025,700$ 5,282,900$ Fiscal

Year Ending or Ended June 30,2013 CITY OF FERGUSON, MISSOURIANNUAL OPERATING BUDGETFUNCTION: Public SafetyDIVISION: Police (40

$545,00 increase since 2011.

Divided by 3 equals 184,000 per year.

3.5% incease per year?

Crime rate shot up in 2008?

"Through the 90's Ferguson's population has grown by about 1%. It is estimated that in the first 5 years of the past decade the population of Ferguson has declined by about 4%. Since 2005 Ferguson's population has declined by about 2%."

The municipalities to the south and north of Ferguson are in much worst shape?   

Heroin is a terrible problem in the northeast…has the increase use of heroin acerbated the tension in Ferguson. It is a "white" problem in my area!

St. Louis has a heroin problem. And the problem is growing, especially among suburban youth.

As previously reported by St. Louis Public Radio, the number of deaths in Missouri caused by heroin has doubled in recent years, with 90 percent of those deaths occurring in St. Louis.

Here is my opinion of this. The Ferguson blacks get what they deserve because of their pitiful voting record and poor participation in government.

Aug 18: Well, this answered my question. It is worst than I thought. NH uses a proportion of their court fines to fund police training?

Isn't Obama pitifull!

In Ferguson, Black Town, White Power

By JEFF SMITHAUG. 17, 2014

POLITICS, wrote the political scientist Harold Lasswell in 1936, is about “who gets what, when, and how.” If you want to understand the racial power disparities we’ve seen in Ferguson, Mo., understand that it’s not only about black and white. It’s about green.

Back in 1876, the city of St. Louis made a fateful decision. Tired of providing services to the outlying areas, the city cordoned itself off, separating from St. Louis County. It’s a decision the city came to regret. Most Rust Belt cities have bled population since the 1960s, but few have been as badly damaged as St. Louis City, which since 1970 has lost almost as much of its population as Detroit.

This exodus has left a ring of mostly middle-class suburbs around an urban core plagued by entrenched poverty. White flight from the city mostly ended in the 1980s; since then, blacks have left the inner city for suburbs such as Ferguson in the area of St. Louis County known as North County.

Ferguson’s demographics have shifted rapidly: in 1990, it was 74 percent white and 25 percent black; in 2000, 52 percent black and 45 percent white; by 2010, 67 percent black and 29 percent white.

The region’s fragmentation isn’t limited to the odd case of a city shedding its county. St. Louis County contains 90 municipalities, most with their own city hall and police force. Many rely on revenue generated from traffic tickets and related fines. According to a study by the St. Louis nonprofit Better Together, Ferguson receives nearly one-quarter of its revenue from court fees; for some surrounding towns it approaches 50 percent.

Municipal reliance on revenue generated from traffic stops adds pressure to make more of them. One town, Sycamore Hills, has stationed a radar-gun-wielding police officer on its 250-foot northbound stretch of Interstate.

With primarily white police forces that rely disproportionately on traffic citation revenue, blacks are pulled over, cited and arrested in numbers far exceeding their population share, according to a recent report from Missouri’s attorney general. In Ferguson last year, 86 percent of stops, 92 percent of searches and 93 percent of arrests were of black people — despite the fact that police officers were far less likely to find contraband on black drivers (22 percent versus 34 percent of whites). This worsens inequality, as struggling blacks do more to fund local government than relatively affluent whites.

By contrast, consider the city: After decades of methodically building political power, blacks in St. Louis City elected a black mayor in 1993 and black aldermen or alderwomen in nearly half the city’s wards, and hold two of three seats on the powerful Board of Estimate and Apportionment, which must approve all city contracts. Well-established churches, Democratic ward organizations and other civic institutions mobilize voters in black wards. But because blacks have reached the suburbs in significant numbers only over the past 15 years or so, fewer suburban black communities have deeply ingrained civic organizations.

That helps explain why majority-black Ferguson has a virtually all-white power structure: a white mayor; a school board with six white members and one Hispanic, which recently suspended a highly regarded young black superintendent who then resigned; a City Council with just one black member; and a 6 percent black police force.

Many North County towns — and inner-ring suburbs nationally — resemble Ferguson. Longtime white residents have consolidated power, continuing to dominate the City Councils and school boards despite sweeping demographic change. They have retained control of patronage jobs and municipal contracts awarded to allies.

The North County Labor Club, whose overwhelmingly white constituent unions (plumbers, pipe fitters, electrical workers, sprinkler fitters) have benefited from these arrangements, operates a potent voter-turnout operation that backs white candidates over black upstarts. The more municipal contracts an organization receives, the more generously it can fund re-election campaigns. Construction, waste and other long-term contracts with private firms have traditionally excluded blacks from the ownership side and, usually, the work force as well.

But there’s a potential solution that could help Ferguson reinvest in itself and also help African-Americans compete for a bigger share of the pie: consolidation with surrounding municipalities, many of which face similar challenges. The St. Louis region has seen some preliminary support for the idea, with resistance concentrated in smaller political units whose leaders are loath to surrender control.

Consolidation would help strapped North County communities avoid using such a high percentage of their resources for expensive public safety overhead, such as fire trucks. It could also empower the black citizens of Ferguson. Blacks incrementally gained power in St. Louis City in part because its size facilitates broader coalitions and alliances. Another benefit of consolidation is the increased political talent pool. Many leaders just aren’t interested in running a tiny municipality.

In shrinking cities, politics is often a nasty, zero-sum game. But consolidation could create economies of scale, increase borrowing capacity to expand economic opportunity, reduce economic pressures that inflame racial tension, and smash up the old boys’ network that has long ruled much of North County.

When the state patrol and the national television cameras leave Ferguson, its residents will still be talking about how they can move forward. And they may be ready to expand the conversation so that it’s not just about black and white, but green.

Jeff Smith is an assistant professor of urban policy at the New School and a former Missouri state senator from St. Louis.

 

Palisades .206 Petition - OEDO-14-00145; Initial Recommendation (MF3608)

I am happy they answered me in the documents...this is not going to look good if a accident comes out of this.

Palisades .206 Petition - OEDO-14-00145; Initial Recommendation (MF3608)

Mr. Mulligan,

My name is Jennie Rankin. I have been assigned as the new petition manager for your 10 CFR 2.206 petition dated March 5, 2014 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML14071A006). This petition was supplemented by your address to the Petition Review Board (PRB) on April 8, 2014 (ADAMS Accession No. ML14143A212) and by email dated May 21, 2014 (ADAMS Accession No. ML14142A101). In your petition, you request a number of actions to be taken by the NRC and Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (the licensee, ENO) for equipment failures at Palisades Nuclear Plant (PNP). As the basis for your request, you state that there have been various recent plant events and equipment failures at PNP, such as Primary Coolant Pump (PCP) impeller pieces breaking off and lodging in the reactor vessel, leakage from the safety injection refueling water tank (SIRWT), and flaws in the Control Rod Drive Mechanisms (CRDM). I would like to note that during the spring 2014 refueling outage, all of the CRDM housings were replaced with new CRDM housings that incorporated a design change in an effort to eliminate the cause of the cracking. In 2013, ENO replaced most of the SIRWT bottom, along with other repairs to ensure any water leaking from the SIRWT would be captured and collected. No leakage from the SIRWT has been noted since these repairs in 2013. I also would like to express my appreciation for voicing your concerns regarding these matters to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

The PRB is comprised of representatives from the following technical divisions within the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation: Component Performance, NDE and Testing Branch and, Vessels and Integrity Branch, within the Division of Engineering; Reactor System Branch, and Nuclear Performance and Code Review Branch within the Division of Safety Systems. The PRB initially met on March 14, 2014. At this meeting, the PRB reviewed your request for immediate action to prevent PNP restart due to a piece of impeller that was lodged between the reactor vessel and the flow skirt. It was determined that there were no safety significant concerns to prevent the plant from restarting as scheduled. Likewise, your request to immediately shutdown PNP until the PCPs are replaced was reviewed and it was determined that there were no safety significant concerns that would require a plant shutdown. This was communicated to you by email dated March 19, 2014 (ADAMS Accession No. ML14083A680). The PRB met again on May 19 and July 28, 2014, to discuss your petition, as supplemented, and in accordance with the criteria for review and rejection described in Management Directive (MD) 8.11, “Review Process for 10 CFR 2.206 Petitions." The PRB determined that the following requests from your petition meet the criteria for review in accordance with MD 8.11:

1. Request for PNP to open every PCP for inspection and clear up all flaws.

2. Request for PNP to replace the PCP’s with a design for their intended duty.

3. Request an Office of Inspector General (OIG) inspection on why there are different analysis criteria for similar PCP events between the NRC regions.

4. Request a ten million dollar fine over these events.

5. Request for PNP to return to yellow or red status, and intensify NRC monitoring of PNP.

I have referred to the OIG those allegations of NRC wrongdoing contained in your petition and in the transcript of when you addressed the PRB on April 8, 2014. I have also forwarded your request for OIG investigation regarding why there are different analysis criteria for similar PCP events between the NRC regions, as stated in item number 3 above.

Your remaining requests do not meet the criteria for review, either because they are not requests for enforcement-related action or because they are issues that have already been the subject of NRC staff review and evaluation for which a resolution has been achieved and the issues have been resolved. Although many of your requests do not meet the criteria of MD 8.11, the NRC staff appreciates your concerns and the below paragraphs explain why your requests were not accepted into the 2.206 process.

Concerns with NRC staff monitoring of PCP impeller issues

(Issue Nos. 1, 2, 11, 12, 14 of petition dated March 5, 2014)

This issue regarding failure of the PCP impellers resulting in pieces breaking free in the reactor vessel is being tracked by Region III through the Reactor Oversight Process (ROP). Region III staff, in addition to the resident inspection staff at PCP, have followed, and will continue to follow up with the licensee regarding the licensee’s corrective actions, in accordance with ROP activities. On August 8, 2012, Region III documented a finding of very-low safety significance and associated non-cited violation for the failure of the licensee to operate the PCPs in accordance with their design operating criteria (ADAMS Accession No. ML12221A340). Region III recently documented their inspection findings in the Palisades Nuclear Plant Integrated Inspection Report dated May 7, 2014 (ML14127A543). The report states the following:

Because the PCP-C impeller was replaced with a new impeller this outage, PCP-B was the only pump that remained in service with a refurbished impeller that was more susceptible to the fatigue-related failures that have been observed.

However, a review of the licensee’s evaluation to justify continued operation of PCP-B with a potentially cracked impeller continues. Additionally, the inspectors continue to review the licensee’s corrective actions to date and going forward to determine whether the licensee plans to eliminate the known susceptibility of impeller pieces breaking off.

In addition to continued monitoring of this issue under the ROP, Region III staff have addressed this issue at the public End-of-Cycle meetings conducted in South Haven, Michigan (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML14192B384 and ML14175A284 for meeting summary and NRC meeting slides). During the public End-of-Cycle meeting, the NRC staff presented a discussion on the reactor vessel foreign material inspection that occurred during the 2014 refueling outage and provided a poster session to answer any additional questions regarding foreign material caused by the failure of the impellers.

In regards to your concerns on why the broken vanes were not reported to the NRC by a Licensee Event Report (LER) or event notification, the requirements for reporting events to the NRC are in accordance with 10 CFR 50.72 and 50.73. NUREG-1022, Revision 3, “Event Report Guidelines 10 CFR 50.72 and 50.73” (ADAMS Accession No. ML13032A220) contains guidelines that the NRC staff considers acceptable for use in meeting the requirements of 10 CFR 50.72 and 10 CFR 50.73. Section 3.0 of NUREG-1022 provides examples and discussion of events that would require event notification or an LER. Region III monitors conformance with 10 CFR 50.72 and 50.73 through ROP activities and did not consider the impeller issues at Palisades to warrant notification in accordance with 10 CFR 50.72 and 50.73.

In regards to your concern on plant debris discovered in the primary side of the steam generators, specifically the impact of loose impeller pieces causing potential wear on the steam generator tubes, PNP’s technical specifications (TS) section 5.6.8 requires the licensee to submit a steam generator tube inspection report to the NRC. This report includes the active degradation mechanisms including foreign objects wear (regardless of origin), location and measured sizes of service induced indications, and any corrective actions (e.g., tube plugging) taken in response to the inspection findings. The NRC staff reviews these reports to ensure that the licensee is detecting potential tube degradation. The NRC staff documents their review in a letter to the licensee, which is made publically available in ADAMS.

Concerns with the design and operation of the PCP impellers

(Issue Nos. 7 and 8 of 2.206 petition dated March 5, 2014 and

Issue Nos. 5, 6, and 7 of supplemental email dated May 21, 2014)

You raised the following concerns:

a. Sequencing of the PCP during startup and shutdown conditions.

b. Potential erosion of the coolant piping walls from metal blade particles.

c. Failure of large pieces of the impeller.

The NRC staff notes that the requests regarding the above 3 concerns were not a request for an enforcement action and thus, did not meet the acceptance criteria in accordance to MD 8.11. The NRC staff understands your concerns and notes that these concerns are closely related to two of the accepted requests (Numbers 1 and 2 above), and will take your underlying concerns into consideration during the review of the accepted requests.

Concerns with pieces of broken impeller causing fuel damage

(Issue Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 of supplemental email dated May 21, 2014)

Many of your requests stem from your concern that broken pieces of impeller (small metal particles) can ultimately cause fuel damage. As a result of the October 2011 vibration event and the subsequent review of the licensee’s operability determination, the NRC staff studied the following potential issues associated with broken impeller pieces (various sizes):

1. Interactions within the PCP including impeding flow, impact with other vanes, impeding pump coastdown, pressure boundary damage, and Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR) impacts.

2. Passage through a reactor coolant system cold leg including potential impact with a resistance temperature device and pressure boundary damage.

3. Passage / lodging in the reactor vessel (RV) annulus including pressure boundary damage.

4. Behavior after leaving the RV annulus including potential interactions in the lower plenum, blockage of flow channels, fuel cladding damage, and control rod jamming.

5. Effects of a piece moving upstream of the PCP.

The NRC staff concluded there were no significant safety concerns resulting from broken pieces of impeller causing fuel damage due to several factors. Impeller pieces are likely to remain stuck at the flow skirt or at the bottom of the vessel as evidenced by the discovery of previous pieces. Flow conditions are insufficient to elevate larger pieces that may pass through the gap between the flow skirt and vessel wall to the lower core support plate. Should the impeller pieces be small enough to be transported up and through the gaps (a highly unlikely occurrence), the impeller piece would have to become lodged in a position to cause erosion of the fuel cladding. If this occurs, the activity levels in the primary coolant system would increase. Radiation monitoring would detect this increase in PCS levels, and the reactor would be shutdown in accordance with the licensee’s technical specification 3.4.16, “PCS Specific Activity.”

Requests for licensee information

(Issue Nos. 4 and 9 of the 2.206 petition dated March 5, 2014)

In regards to your request for Palisades to disclose internal Entergy reports regarding whether the PCPs were operated outside their design bases, the NRC staff does not require the licensee to disclose internal documents for public inspection as part of the 2.206 process. As part of the inspection process under the ROP, Entergy documents have been, and will continue to be reviewed, and any findings will be documented in the applicable inspection reports which are made publically available.

In regards to your request for Entergy to explain their decision for weld repair of the PCP impellers and details on how other plants have repaired their impellers, the NRC staff notes that this request is not a request for enforcement related action and thus, did not meet the acceptance criteria in accordance to MD 8.11. The NRC staff understands your concern and notes that these concerns are closely related to two of the accepted requests (Number 1 and 3 above). During the process of reviewing accepted request Number 1, the NRC will take your concern into consideration.

In accordance with MD 8.11, you have the opportunity to address the PRB to comment on the initial recommendations, either in person at the NRC Headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, or by telephone conference. Please advise me by return email if you would like to address the PRB. If you would like to meet in person, I will need to schedule a formal public meeting at the NRC Headquarters. If you would prefer to address the PRB via telephone, the NRC staff is available for a conference call at 10 AM ET on September 3, 2014. If I do not hear from you by August 22, 2014, I will move forward to process the acknowledgement letter which will contain our final recommendations for accepting your petition in part.

Thank you,

Jennie Rankin

Jenni Rankin, Project Manager

Plant Licensing Branch III-1

Division of Operating Reactor Licensing

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

(301) 415-1530

Westinghouse and Salem Plant Falsified Documents to NRC to Keep Plant Running

INSPECTION REPORT 05000272/2014003 AND 05000311/2014003

Description. The inspectors performed an in-depth review of PSEG’s evaluation and corrective actions associated with continued failures of RCP TVBs. The RCPs at Salem Unit 2 are model 93A supplied by Westinghouse. The turning vane is attached to the thermal barrier, internal to the pump, by twenty 1.0 inch diameter bolts fabricated from alloy A286. This material is susceptible to IGSCC as identified by Westinghouse in technical bulletin NSD-TB-94-06-R0, issued on August 11, 1994. Since refueling outage 2R18 in 2011, a total of seventeen TVB heads have been discovered in the reactor coolant system. The issue was originally evaluated during refueling outage 2R18, when two separated bolt heads were identified in April 2011, under order number 70123042 and determined not to have an adverse effect on RCP operations. During refueling outage 2R19, five additional loose TVB heads were found in the reactor coolant system. The licensee again communicated with Westinghouse and evaluated the condition as documented in order 70144776. The evaluation stated that “Dropping of the stationary hydraulic will have no direct impact on the seal assembly, as little or no contact between stationary and rotating parts should occur.” Additionally, during refueling outage 2R20,

Little or no contact...why doesn't the engineering firm westinghouse know for sure? And it is safe.

more loose turning bolt heads were discovered as documented in notification 20647694. The NRC inspector reviewed this notification and previous evaluations and questioned the basis for acceptability of contact between stationary and rotating components.

The licensee conducted additional reviews in coordination with Westinghouse and documented in OTDM S-14-003, that in the event of a failure of the turning vane assembly, it was possible for machining between the rotating and stationary parts to occur. Or so now it is unsafe after after seeing the damage.

Based on this information, the licensee conducted a plant cooldown, defueled the reactor and shipped all four RCPs offsite for inspection and repair at two vendor facilities. These inspections found TVB failures on all four RCPs.

 The NRC considers lying or being intentionally inaccurate to the agency as a safe practice according to risk perspectives.

An unresolved item (URI) was identified because additional NRC review and evaluation is needed to determine if the issue is more than minor and whether the issue of concern constitutes a violation. The inspectors will review PSEG’s evaluation and causal analysis of the as-found condition and the impact on safety components and accident analysis upon its completion. (URI 05000311/2014003-03, Repetitive Failures of Reactor Coolant Pump Turning Vane Bolts)

The Fuel of Crime in Brattleboro is Drugs

I feel we should treat pot simular to alcohol...legalized it.

So Hinsdale is surrounded by bigger towns whose police chiefs think the largest driver of crime is drugs.

What drives crime in Brattleboro?

Acting Police Chief to downtown merchants: Drugs are at the root

By Olga Peters/The Commons

BRATTLEBORO—A recent spate of break-ins and vandalism to Main Street businesses has left some merchants asking what’s behind it all —and how they can be part of the solution.

This below is a Keene Sentinal article a week ago, look at how astonishing similar is the first paragraph in the Sentinal's crime problem as in the Brattleboro's Commons.

"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."

“The great majority of our non-violent crimes — and even our violent ones — in Brattleboro are tied to drugs,” Acting Police Chief Michael Fitzgerald told roughly a dozen downtown merchants at their first-Tuesday Building a Better Brattleboro (BaBB) meeting at the River Garden.

The conversation touched on shoplifting, advice for installing alarm systems, “vagrants” sleeping on shop benches, and merchants photographing shoplifters or suspected drug dealers in the hopes of driving them away.

“How do we as a community make it unfriendly for those dealing drugs?” asked BaBB President Donna Simons, who owns A Candle in the Night.

Simons said she asked Fitzgerald’s predecessor, Police Chief Eugene Wrinn, about creating a neighborhood watch.

Keene is just like Brattleboro with crime.

My greatest fear is we are being overrun by anarchist, freestater, libertarians and government haters fleeing the higher population areas.

Authorities see drugs as common thread running through many recent thefts

According to Simons, Wrinn said if people drive the crime from downtown, it will find another neighborhood. Simons said she no longer worries about that.

“There’s a difference between [being] mildly accepting because you feel helpless, and [being] proactive,” she said. “I kind of feel we have to take downtown back.”

The conversation turned its focus to drug-related crimes in Brattleboro and how the town might create a supportive community while discouraging drugs and empowering merchants to protect their interests.

Some audience members spoke of witnessing uncomfortable interactions such as drug deals, pedestrian harassment, and customer intimidation.

A substance abuse counselor said she was intimidated by a group of men who hung around her former office. Clients wouldn’t brave the group to keep appointments, she said.

A man she often tried to avoid once blocked her path and stared her down.

“I’m not a chicken, but I know when I’m outmatched,” she said.

Fitzgerald said he understood that people sometimes fear retaliation over calling the police. Still, he urged the merchants to make contact — even if the only outcome was that the incident would be logged.

He should have said, my police force would move heaven and hell to put behind bars anyone trying to intimidate you from talking to the police.

Fitzgerald explained that intimidating or dangerous behavior constitutes disorderly conduct. “You’re endangering other people by your actions,” he said.

Police can address people blocking the sidewalk or intimidating others, he said.

Although Fitzgerald encouraged merchants to be proactive, he also reminded them to avoid danger. And he reminded them that even drug dealers have constitutional rights.

The Vermont judicial system views drug-related crimes differently than crimes where drugs don’t play a role, said Fitzgerald.

In the state’s mind, if it jails and releases someone addicted to drugs, then the only result is an addict who is clean while in jail, said Fitzgerald. Within a few days, the person will return to using drugs.

“You have to address the addiction,” he said. “It is the drugs that are driving it.”

Fitzgerald acknowledged merchant frustration in watching the person who burgled their store enter a rehab program and not prison.

Laura Lynde of Lynde Motorsports on Flat Street cautioned against creating an “us versus them” situation. If people sense hostility, they’re more likely to respond with hostility, she said.

Instead, she asked, how can each member of this community step up to create a supportive and drug-free environment?

Lynde, formerly of Hartford, Conn., said she adapted to protecting herself against such crimes as carjacking.

In her opinion, drug-related crime in Brattleboro has grown more prevalent. The town essentially is dealing with a drug cartel, she said of an intricate network of dealers and buyers, which other merchants said they have witnessed.

Lynde said she felt Vermont’s approach to drug-related crime— moving offenders to rehabilitation programs rather than prison — is wise.

The root of the problem, she said, is that, “we have a small-town police force dealing with city crime.”

Fitzgerald said he does not support creating an official police photo-sharing system of arrested shoplifters. “Once you pay your debt to society you’re done,” he said.

Fitzgerald also said he did not support loitering ordinances because they are too subjective. People more readily perceive homeless people as loiterers than they would someone wearing a suit and tie.

“And let’s not be too quick to judge people by their appearance,” he added.

Many of the merchants in the audience said that the people in town who are homeless were not behind downtown crime. Nevertheless, customers complain.

Simons said the combination of homelessness, “shady-looking people,” and young transient kids with dogs who sit in downtown doorways create a perfect storm for illegal behavior.

“The word is out that this area is very inviting,” said Orly Munzing, director of the Strolling of the Heifers, speaking of food pantries and other services in town that attract people.

To that, Jacob Alan Roberts, downtown coordinator for BaBB, suggested that one imagine how horrible the town would be if people were going hungry.

“Call more, I can’t emphasize that enough,” said Fitzgerald.“You know when something is fishy.”

Separately, Fitzgerald said that Brattleboro’s drug issue is not simply about law enforcement. He said he supports investing in rehabilitation for those dealing with substance abuse.

When asked if one type of drug use was more prevalent in town, Fitzgerald said he sees “a broad mish-mash.”

“Nothing is off limits,” he said. “That’s what’s concerning.”

BaBB will invite members from social service organizations in town to its September meeting to discuss ways merchants and service organizations might work together to help prevent crime downtown.

Indifferant Hinsdale Police, A Terrble Toll For Hinsdale!

At least they are warning the public...this crap is all around us and people are dropping like flies.

Worcester officials issue advisory after drug deaths

Worcester officials are issuing a public health advisory after at least nine drug overdose deaths there in the past six days.

Police suspect heroin is the problem, either unusually pure or cut with something deadly, but they can’t be sure until toxicology reports are finished.

Police say if the current pace of overdoses, both fatal and non-fatal, continues, there will be 503 this year in the city. Last year, there were 447.

Police Chief Gary Gemme said, “You never know what you’re going to put in your system when you buy narcotics off the street.”

The city’s public health director, Derek Brindisi, said officials are working with local health clinics and addiction treatment providers to spread the word that there’s something especially dangerous about the heroin circulating in Worcester right now.

“We’re in the midst of a public health emergency,” Brindisi said.

Probe into 2012Chesterfield homicide complicated by many rumors and theories

By ALYSSA DANDREA Sentinel Staff

SentinePosted: Tuesday, August 5, 2014

 

Posted: Tuesday, August 5, 2014 12:00 pm

Why did Douglas M. Farr Jr. fatally shoot his friend Mark T. McAuley near a secluded section of old logging roads in Chesterfield in April 2012?

That question is one state investigators probed for more than two years and yet the answer remains a mystery today. The authorities never made an arrest in the case, which was complicated by multiple theories and rumors about what could have happened.

Farr, 32, of Hinsdale told investigators he shot McAuley, 39, also of Hinsdale, on April 14, 2012, in self-defense with his .40-caliber pistol, according to the N.H. Attorney General’s Office.

But that office’s investigators found Farr’s tale of self-defense implausible. Furthermore, some of Farr’s friends and family repeatedly questioned whether he had told them the truth in the days after the shooting.

Those revelations are part of the nearly 1,300-page report on the shooting the N.H. Attorney General’s Office released last week.

The Sentinel filed a Right-to-Know request seeking a copy of the report more than a year ago, after Farr and his fiancee, Erin Breault, 35, of Hinsdale, died in a car crash on Route 12 in Keene. But the office did not conclude its investigation into the homicide until May, and refused to release the report until last week.

Only one witness

McAuley’s body was found one-quarter mile south from the Bradley Road and North Hinsdale Road intersection, police said. He suffered multiple gunshot wounds, according to an autopsy.

The authorities lacked eyewitnesses, including Farr, who in the year between the shooting and his death turned down interviews with police, at the advice of his attorneys.

As The Sentinel’s review of the documents continues, here is some of what else N.H. State Police interviews with key witnesses revealed:

Multiple acquaintances of Farr and McAuley said the two struggled with drug addiction, and speculated whether the shooting was a drug deal gone bad.

Andrew Laffond of Hinsdale, a cousin of Farr’s, told police he believed the shooting was about heroin or drug money owed to Farr. He claimed Farr was addicted to drugs and that someone had given Vicodin to Farr shortly before the shooting.

“I also heard that my cousin said that he was real scared of somebody and that if worse came to worse then he’d have to kill somebody, and that’s what made me really believe that, you know, he could’ve possibly,” Laffond told police during an interview that June.

Farr was married to Heather Burnett of Hinsdale for about five years and had three children with her. She told police Farr was dependent on narcotics, so much so that he stole pills from family members.

She and Breault had a hunch that Farr repeatedly caused injury to himself so that he could keep getting narcotics, according to police interviews. Neither could prove that theory, though.

Burnett said Farr was depressed and had contemplated suicide, but she never thought he would purposefully harm another man. Burnett said she didn’t know McAuley.

Mark LaValley of Brattleboro, an acquaintance of Farr, told police he speculated that Farr shot McAuley and then shot himself in the shoulder. He also indicated a third man was involved in the shooting, but declined to say how he knew that, according to the report.

In addition to contemplating whether the shooting was fueled by drugs, acquaintances and family of Farr shared other theories with police. But because none of them had witnessed the shooting first-hand, they could only speculate.

One rumor was that McAuley hired a private investigator to dig up dirt on Burnett, according to documents in the case file. The theory was that McAuley used the promise of that evidence to lure Farr into the woods. Farr would do anything for his children, acquaintances said, and he could use that evidence against Burnett to seek primary parenting responsibilities for them during a custody battle.

But there was no proof to back up that rumor, according to the report.

Farr’s fiancee, Breault, and mother, Monica Burdette, also alleged Burnett was involved in getting Farr to the Chesterfield woods, but when police asked what proof they had to make those claims, nothing materialized.

Farr’s mother allegedly told Burnett during a phone conversation that someone was after Farr, although she never specified who. The call took place on the day of the shooting, and Burnett recalled Burdette was in hysterics.

Initial reports to police from Burdette and Breault suggest McAuley had used zip ties to strap Farr to a tree before shooting him in the shoulder. Farr also told the women he was able to cut himself free with a knife McAuley dropped, and he then shot McAuley, according to documents.

Farr’s ex-father-in-law, Bradley Burnett, told police he heard two men tied Farr up and that he then escaped, shooting one of them.

A lifelong friend of Farr’s, Leon Dunbar, said the craziest theory he heard was that somebody drove by the shooting scene and saw a Chevrolet Tahoe parked with two men seated inside, holding pit bulls. That story’s relevance to the shooting and its origin was a mystery to him, he told police.

Dunbar said he tried to convince Farr to talk to police to set the story straight, but Farr always said his attorneys, including public defender Caroline L. Smith, advised him not to.

In the report, the Attorney General’s Office redacted some personal identifying information and medical information under exceptions allowed in the Right-to-Know law and through the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The officials also did not include an interview with a minor, criminal records and certain photographs that would constitute an invasion of privacy, according to a letter dated July 28 from the office.