HInsdale Police Depart In Death Spiral With Only Three Cops

Update Dec 19

Update

Michell Sand and Gravel in Winchester had the Hinsdale contract for years per the town's road department. They were recently sold to a conglomerate. I called them today inquiring on what is asphalt prices today and the trends next year. The road department said they got special below market asphalt from Michell for years. The new owners so called said to the road department there is going to be a considerable price increase in the next year, like a contract price has already been locked in. The Hinsdale road department said  Mitchell Sand and Gravel would definitely get the new asphalt contract in 2020. This false high priced ghost winter asphalt is the sole bases for the "considerable" increase in asphalt prices in the next year's town budget gap. Today the Michell said they didn't sell asphalt in the winter. The plant is shutdown. I ask them what do you think the direction of prices in the spring? She says they don't disclose price trends or springtime prices. The prices of asphalt and components are too erratic in the winter. They absolutely don't make contracts in the winter and they never disclose prices until the plant startup. She says if they declare prices in the winter and the prices go up 200% in the spring, their loyal customers would rebel and they would ruin their reputation. They never disclose trends and prices of asphalt during the winter. Obviously Dracy is lying in the below statement.     

Darcy: "We learned last night [at Monday's board meeting] that the cost of asphalt is going to go up considerably,"

The Hinsdale Police department is investigating the town's asphalt contracts for fraud. Inflating asphalt prices to line somebody's pockets. The asphalt prices in our region are stable or declining based on my talks with the NHDOT and Keene's public works asphalt expert. Basically asphalt prices are keyed to petroleum prices. There is no justification for the "considerable rise" of asphalt prices in Hinsdale. I made the complaint to the police yesterday at their office and got it in their computer system. The young police women told me her investigation is beginning... 

***Hinsdale board struggles with budget

Posted Tuesday, December 17, 2019 8:33 pm

By Bob Audette, Brattleboro Reformer

HINSDALE, N.H. — Each year, the cost of goods and services increases and towns around the region struggle to take care of their communities while not overburdening taxpayers with ever-increasing taxes.

"We're always trying to present a budget that is providing the level of services that we need," said Mike Darcy, chairman of the Hinsdale Board of Selectmen. "But at the same time, we are trying to make it as economical as we can."

Every salient being knows this family budget model is grossly falsified. We all know there are really two components on a family budget: the income(taxes and property taxes) going into the budget and expenses going out of the budget. Why do these town officers never mention the property taxes feeding the  town budget. What is going on with our property taxes and home valuation?

Darcy noted that anyone who writes a household or business budget knows there are certain increases you can't control, such as health insurance and retirement plans, which you still have to pay. The money has to come from somewhere.

"We learned last night [at Monday's board meeting] that the cost of asphalt is going to go up considerably," Darcy said during a phone call with the Reformer on Tuesday. "And in the water and sewer departments, the cost of the chemicals we use to treat the water is going up. Those things are out of our hands. Even the cost of electricity is going up."

The Board of Selectmen asks its department heads to keep their budgets "as trim as possible" in the hopes of keeping any tax increases reasonable.

"It's very challenging," Darcy said.

On Monday night, the board heard from Hinsdale Police Chief Todd Faulkner, who said he has been able make $31,000 in cuts to his $1.4 million budget but expenses, going up $35,000, negated the cuts. The board had asked Faulkner to find an additional $20,000 in cuts in response. He said that's just not possible.

"We are down to bare bones," he said. Any further cuts, Faulkner said, would jeopardize the safety of officers and the public and might mean there is nothing in reserve for unforeseeable events like a cruiser that breaks down or a communications system that needs immediate repairs.

One suggestion that was made during the meeting was to cut two positions from the Police Department.

"Our numbers are not adding up for our residents," said board member Megan Kondrat, who pointed out the Police Department has budget lines for 10 officers but currently only has three and Faulkner on the payroll. Kondrat said it might be time to cut two positions if the town can't find enough officers to fill the open positions anyway.

"If we can't find a couple right now, I don't see us finding six officers in the next 18 months," she said.

"With that mentality," responded Faulkner, "we never will."

Faulkner said the major reason Hinsdale can't find officers to fill its open positions is because the pay is not commensurate with the level of work required. He said Hinsdale's officers have a higher call volume than other nearby towns and agencies that pay better.

"I and other officers have sat before the board many times and explained the need for better pay," said Faulkner, during a telephone call with the Reformer on Tuesday.

Faulkner said he understands the burden increased costs put on the town's taxpayers, but he asked if they are willing to sacrifice safety and service in exchange for keeping the tax rate down.

One option the town is looking at as a stopgap measure is to sign a 40-hour-a-week contract with the New Hampshire State Police.

Lt. Michael Kokoski, commander of NHSP Troop C in Keene, said the pay rate, depending on the rank of the troopers assigned to the contract, ranges between $50 and $90 an hour. Kokoski also noted that the contract wouldn't be signed unless Hinsdale can guarantee there will be an additional officer on duty while a trooper is assigned to the town. That could be a Hinsdale officer or it could be another trooper, but the call volume in Hinsdale demands dual coverage, he said.

Faulkner told the Reformer the town is also considering a contract with Chesterfield or the Cheshire County Sheriff, which would provide an officer at a little more than $80 an hour.

Whoever the town signs with, said Faulkner, that money would come out of the budget lines set aside for the six positions not currently filled in the department.

Another option that was discussed was to cut one position in the police department and use that money to give raises across the board.

Faulkner said that he wouldn't want to lose a position, but that's a viable alternative.

"That's the best option I have heard, but I guarantee the new chief will come in and say we need to go back to 10 positions," he said.

Faulkner recently tendered his resignation. His last day on the job is Jan. 6, when a contracted chief supplied by Municipal Resources Inc. will step in until the town finds a full-time replacement.

Faulkner also pointed out that he budgets about $50,000 for the student resource officer in the Hinsdale schools and that the schools pay about $25,000 on top of that. But that money goes back to the town's general budget, rather than to the police department. Faulkner said the town should send the money back to him so he can use it to pay his officers a little bit more.

"Townspeople don't realize the amount of crime and the call volume we have in this community," said Faulkner, who blamed much of that call volume on the town's proximity to Brattleboro and Massachusetts and the presence of the Super Walmart on Route 119.

"The Walmart alone keeps us super busy," he said. "We arrest people from around the region there. We're dealing with gang members, drug users and violent offenders on a regular basis. Hinsdale is not the same town it was 23 years ago when I first started here. This is a great community, but you need a police department to hold these issues in check."

Darcy told the Reformer that the board is responsible for working with department heads to set the budget. The members of the town's Budget Committee, which are elected positions, review the budget and offer their guidance back to the board, which eventually has to approve the budget before presenting it at annual Town Meeting in March for approval from town residents.

He said while he can see both sides of the discussion when it comes to the police budget, he told the Reformer town residents concerned about the process should attend board or budget meetings to inform themselves in advance of the town-wide vote.

"It's not black and white," he said. "There is no simple fix."

On Monday night, the board voted to table the discussion about cuts to the police department and continue it at the next meeting.

Dead New Construction Plants In USA

U.S. nuclear reactors that were canceled after construction began

Posted by SDD Contributor on December 16, 2019 at 7:57 am

U.S. nuclear reactors that were canceled after construction began

March 29 (Reuters) – If utilities in Georgia or South Carolina decide not to complete nuclear power reactors under construction by Westinghouse Electric Co following its bankruptcy, those units would join a long list of abandoned U.S. nuclear projects. Westinghouse, a unit of Japanese conglomerate Toshiba Corp, is building two reactors for Georgia Power and partners at the Vogtle site in Georgia and two for South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) and its partner in South Carolina. The utilities, units of Southern Co (Georgia Power) and Scana Corp (SCE&G), have not canceled the reactor projects but said they were evaluating options. All 99 of the reactors now in service in the United States were started before the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania in 1979. At that time, utilities had construction permits from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build around 97 reactors, most of which were already under construction. The utilities only put in service 53 of those reactors. See below for a list of reactors that were never finished after obtaining a construction permit from the NRC, according to data from the NRC and Reuters: Plant Utility State Size (megawatt Cancel electric) Date Shearon Harris 2 Carolina Power & Light Co NC 900 1983 Shearon Harris 3 Carolina Power & Light Co NC 900 1981 Shearon Harris 4 Carolina Power & Light Co NC 900 1981 Zimmer 1 Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co OH 810 1984 Midland 1 Consumers Power Co MI 492 1986 Midland 2 Consumers Power Co MI 818 1986 Cherokee 1 Duke Power Co SC 1,280 1983 Cherokee 2 Duke Power Co SC 1,280 1982 Cherokee 3 Duke Power Co SC 1,280 1982 Washington Nuclear 1 Energy Northwest WA 1,266 1995 Washington Nuclear 3 Energy Northwest WA 1,242 1995 Washington Nuclear 4 Energy Northwest WA 1,218 1982 Washington Nuclear 5 Energy Northwest WA 1,242 1982 Grand Gulf 2 Entergy Nuclear Operations Inc MS 1,250 1990 Vogtle 3 Georgia Power Co GA 1,113 1974 Vogtle 4 Georgia Power Co GA 1,113 1974 River Bend 2 Gulf States Utilities Co LA 934 1984 Clinton 2 Illinois Power Co IL 933 1983 Forked River 1 Jersey Central Power & Light Co NJ 1,070 1980 Jamesport 1 Long Island Lighting Co NY 1,150 1980 Jamesport 2 Long Island Lighting Co NY 1,150 1980 * Shoreham Long Island Lighting Co NY 820 1989 Bailly 1 Northern Indiana Public Service Co IN 645 1981 Tyrone 2 Northern States Power Co WI 1,150 1974 Seabrook 2 Public Service Co of New Hampshire NH 1,198 1988 Hope Creek 2 Public Service Electric & Gas Co DE 1,067 1981 Marble Hill 1 Public Service of Indiana IN 1,130 1985 Marble Hill 2 Public Service of Indiana IN 1,130 1985 Sterling Rochester Gas & Electric Corp NY 1,150 1980 Bellefonte 1 Tennessee Valley Authority AL 1,235 1988 Bellefonte 2 Tennessee Valley Authority AL 1,235 1988 Hartsville A1 Tennessee Valley Authority TN 1,233 1984 Hartsville A2 Tennessee Valley Authority TN 1,233 1984 Hartsville B1 Tennessee Valley Authority TN 1,233 1982 Hartsville B2 Tennessee Valley Authority TN 1,233 1982 Phipps Bend 1 Tennessee Valley Authority TN 1,220 1982 Phipps Bend 2 Tennessee Valley Authority TN 1,220 1982 Yellow Creek 1 Tennessee Valley Authority MS 1,285 1984 Yellow Creek 2 Tennessee Valley Authority MS 1,285 1984 Callaway 2 Union Electric Co MD 1,150 1981 North Anna 3 Virginia Electric & Power Co VA 907 1982 North Anna 4 Virginia Electric & Power Co VA 907 1980 Surry 3 Virginia Electric & Power Co VA 882 1977 Surry 4 Virginia Electric & Power Co VA 882 1977 * Long Island Lighting Co, or LILCO, finished the Shoreham reactor but was not able to operate it commercially due to opposition in New York. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino)

Big Troubles With The NH's Prosecutors and NH Cities and Towns Police Chiefs

Merrimack Country surrounds Concord. To me this looks like ideology and budget cuts are weakening the prosecutors office. Does the Manadnock office have diarrhea of the prosecutor's employees much like the Hinsdale police department. You got the heroin and gangland crisis ravishing The NH Department of Safety budgets.  

Merrimack County police chiefs, top prosecutor look to improve relations in 2020

People arrive for the tour of the new Merrimack County Courthouse in back of the former building off of Court Street on Tuesday, October 9, 2018. GEOFF FORESTER

Robin Davis is the Democratic nominee for Merrimack County Attorney

By ALYSSA DANDREA
Monitor staff

Published: 12/14/2019 9:23:42 PM

After a rocky 2019, Merrimack County’s police chiefs and the region’s top prosecutor agree that more frequent and constructive conversations between them will be an essential step toward improved relations in the year ahead.

While members of the local chiefs association have frequently invited prior Merrimack County attorneys to join them at their meetings, this month marked the first time Robin Davis – who was elected county attorney in November 2018 – was in attendance. Davis said in a recent interview that she requested to meet with the police chiefs as a group after Concord Police Chief Bradley Osgood and Franklin Police Chief David Goldstein shared with the Monitor their concerns about her leadership style and the office’s prosecution of certain cases, particularly those involving crimes of sexual and domestic violence.

“We don’t have the luxury of not communicating or disliking each other if we are going to do a good job for the community,” Davis said.

“Whenever someone poses that there has been a breakdown in communication by myself or by my office, I do try to reach out to them,” she added.

While certain chiefs, to include Pembroke Police Chief Dwayne Gilman, say they’ve had success in meeting one-on-one with Davis when prosecutorial concerns arise, others say communication has been trying.

The Monitor requested to attend the most recent Merrimack County chiefs’ meeting on Dec. 4 but that request was denied. However, Davis, Osgood and Goldstein each agreed to phone interviews afterward to discuss the issues raised at the meeting and their efforts to work toward solutions in the new year.

Specifically, all agreed that more regular chiefs’ meetings that include Davis as well as one-on-one meetings with her are a natural first step. Davis has also asked each police department to have a designated liaison – whether a detective, the chief or another officer – to the county attorney’s office to establish a point of contact for prosecutors.

“I think it was a constructive starter meeting,” Osgood said. “We talked quite a bit about the chiefs wanting to be brought into the loop about plea and sentencing issues.”

The Dec. 4 chiefs’ meeting took place on the heels of a controversial plea resolution in a sexual assault case in Pembroke. Gilman said the county attorney’s office did not notify him and his detectives about a plea resolution before the defendant, Griffin Furlotte, was scheduled to appear in court and enter guilty pleas to reduced charges. Advocates also said the office did not confer with victims, one of whom told the Monitor that she was never directly asked what she believed Furlotte should receive for a sentence.

The county attorney’s office has since acknowledged the miscommunication with the Pembroke Police Department and said it plans to consult with the chief directly in future cases. However, Davis, victim advocate Jessica Clarke and prosecutor Carley Ahern said in a recent interview that they believe they had effectively communicated with the victims throughout the case and that the Monitor’s prior reporting was inaccurate.

Advocates and the victim said they stand by their statements that the office violated the Victims Bill of Rights, which requires consultation with victims about potential plea agreements and not just notification of a resolution.

Davis, Clarke and Ahern said they sat down with the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office to explain their handling of the case before the final plea deal that included a felony conviction for Furlotte was ultimately accepted by a judge. Davis said she has also conferred with the attorney general’s office about how to approach and strengthen “victim-witness relations,” and noted she will be following through on several recommendations.

Goldstein, who serves as vice president of the county chiefs’ association, said he and a representative of Concord police previously met with the attorney general’s office earlier this year to discuss their concerns about Davis’s leadership and her approach to case resolution. Several chiefs have questioned her decision to disband the office’s specialized sexual assault unit in favor of distributing cases among assistant prosecutors. Goldstein also referred to repeat instances of the office negotiating plea resolutions that don’t incorporate police departments’ wishes.

In response, Attorney General Gordon MacDonald recommended the county’s chiefs meet with Davis in an effort to prevent any disagreements from escalating to the point that the attorney general’s office has to step in, as recently happened in Hillsborough County, Goldstein said.

While Goldstein could not attend the Dec. 4 county chiefs’ meeting with Davis due to a scheduling conflict, they are scheduled to meet one-on-one.

“I did have my detective sergeant and prosecutor, who used to work with Robin, there to represent me and the department,” Goldstein said. “I heard not a lot of discussion was had, and so I’m not sure how productive that meeting was.”

“We’re going to keep trying because we have the public welfare at heart,” he added.

The county chiefs have not met regularly in 2019 but Goldstein said that will change in 2020, and that Davis is always welcome to attend.

While the Dec. 4 meeting was a start, Davis was also a bit surprised by the lack of conversation. She said she felt individual chiefs were reluctant to speak up because they didn’t want to appear as the sole voice of the association.

Osgood said Davis had asked to meet one-on-one before the chiefs’ meeting but that he felt doing so was inappropriate because he didn’t want to speak for the group. However, Davis said she hopes that in the future the chiefs will feel comfortable speaking both as department heads with agency-specific concerns and as members of the association.

Both the county chiefs and Davis agreed they’ll always have philosophical differences but that those differences aren’t an excuse not to communicate.

“I do try to look at sentencing very broadly,” Davis said. “The police chiefs favor incarceration in the first instance and then some type of rehabilitative services. There are cases where incarceration is the first element of sentencing but I don’t think that’s always the case.”

Statewide, bail reform that aims to release defendants pretrial unless they pose a clear danger to the community remains a contested issue. In Merrimack County specifically, Davis said more defendants have failed to appear for scheduled court hearings after being released on personal recognizance. She said she understands that officers are increasingly frustrated when they’re arresting the same people again and again.

Although chiefs may have personal disagreements or issues with her, Davis said she doesn’t want to see that affect the work of her assistant county attorneys, many of whom were there before she arrived.

“I have not set any additional policies or protocols for the prosecutors. I don’t tell them how to prosecute their cases,” Davis said. “The impressions that the chiefs and the victim advocates are leaving is that there has been some real change in my office and that’s not true.”

Chiefs have previously pointed to the significant staff turnover at the county attorney’s office since Davis took over. Davis also eliminated two part-time positions held by career attorneys.

This past summer, the office’s former sexual assault investigator Jennifer Adams filed a lawsuit against Davis and the county alleging wrongful termination, intentional infliction of emotional distress and intentional interference of a contractual relationship. She has accused Davis of creating a hostile work environment.

Attorneys for the county have said that Davis acted within the scope of her employment and that her conduct was not intentionally reckless or ill-intentioned. They also contend that many of the allegations resulted from disagreements over policy and personnel decisions, which are not grounds for legal action.

The civil case is still pending.

Surprising and Unpredictable Events Continue to Occur At Nuclear Plants.

This is going to intensify as these obsolete plants age. The fix must be very expeensive and just eat up refueling opertunities. 

New Degradation mechanism IN Westinghouse CRDMs 

Part 21

Event Number: 54440

Rep Org: WESTINGHOUSE

Licensee: WESTINGHOUSE

Region: 1

City: CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP State: PA

County:

License #:

Agreement: Y

Docket:

NRC Notified By: CAMILLE T. ZOZULA

HQ OPS Officer: OSSY FONT

Notification Date: 12/12/2019

Notification Time: 19:24 [ET]

Event Date: 12/12/2019

Event Time: 00:00 [EST]

Last Update Date: 12/12/2019

Event Text

PART 21 REPORT - FRACTURED AND DISLOCATED CONTROL ROD DRIVE MECHANISM THERMAL SLEEVE

"During a 2019 planned outage at a Westinghouse plant, site personnel identified a fractured and dislocated control rod drive mechanism (CRDM) thermal sleeve. The fracture occurred just beneath the worn area of the flange in the full cross-section of the thermal sleeve tube. A stress concentration exists at this transition. Previous operating experience (OE) with thermal sleeve failures did not include a cross-sectional thermal sleeve fracture such as this.

"Additional data supplied from the affected plant showed evidence of additional thermal sleeve locations with crack-like indications in the flange collar region (i.e., evidence of degradation but not failure). Although there was no evidence that control rod motion was hindered, Westinghouse is conservatively reporting this condition as having the potential to create a SSH (substantial safety hazard), were it to remain uncorrected.

"Based on new OE provided to Westinghouse, a defect has been identified that is associated with a previously unseen form of thermal sleeve degradation (i.e., mechanical fatigue and fracture that leads to flange separation). Control rod functionality could become adversely impacted not only due to the flange wear reported in LTR-NRC-18-34, but due to the additional coincident fracture and separation of the thermal sleeve tube from its flange. This condition could exist prior to reaching the flange wear criteria established in PWROG-16003-P, Revision 2. The information supplied in PWROG-16003-P, Revision 2 and NSAL-18-1 also does not address this new OE. If no action is taken to monitor and/or correct this condition, an SSH could occur if the insertion of more than one control rod is prevented.

"The probability for this to result in a SSH is low given that this is the very first observance of this phenomenon. Westinghouse does not expect that an affected plant would experience two or more stuck control rods during its current operating cycle. Even if multiple stuck control rods were to occur, such an event would be bounded by the licensee's ATWS analysis. Based on known wear conditions and wear rates, plants can safely operate for at least one cycle or until the next opportunity to perform a visual inspection.

"The potentially affected plants listed below are Westinghouse design plants that:

1. Operate with higher upper head bypass flow conditions, known as 'T-cold' head plants, and

2. Operate with thermal sleeves containing a collar (or upper centering pad ring) just below the flange.

Asco 2, Braidwood 1, Braidwood 2, Byron 1, Byron 2, Callaway 1, Catawba 1, Catawba 2, Comanche Peak 1, Comanche Peak 2, Doel 4, Hanbit 1, Hanbit 2, Kori 3, Kori 4, Maanshan 1, Maanshan 2, Seabrook, Sizewell B, Tihange 3, Vogtle 1, Vogtle 2, and Wolf Creek.

"A Westinghouse communication will be supplied to affected licensees in early 2020 to inform them that this defect has been reported. The communication will provide updated recommendations concerning future inspection guidance."

The person informing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission:

Camille T. Zozula

Westinghouse Electric Company

1000 Westinghouse Drive

Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania 16066

Direct tel: (412) 374-2577

Direct fax: (724) 940-8542

e-mail: zozulact@westinghouse.com

Helicoptor Intimidation Phenomena below the Vernon Dam

Update Dec 22

Can't you hear these Aliens talking to themselves: All these people want from us is our freakin money?

Update Dec 21

As I was walking away from this encounter, my first thoughts was this is a mirage. I really wondered if I was crazy. Is my mind creating it? Then, was it a apparition of the universe? What has happened to me recently, is I am having really vivid dreams like I never had before. Some are naughty, some are the model of my life with some disorientation(a little painful but accurate)and then some are astonishing insightful. Some gives me future hints in my life. It is about very minor events and it models my emotions in these insignificant situations. It feels like something knows me at very deep personal level. Today I pray for more dreams, just before I go asleep and I talk to it. Most people would be very terrified with what I am going through. I tell it over and over again I want to be your friend, I want to be in relationship with you. I never hear voices in my head. Basically the incident happens, then it hits me I seen it before in a dream. Then I stand in complete wonderment and awe. Hey, if you really love me, how about giving me the numbers in the next $500 million dollars lottery? I wonder if it has a sense of humor?           

Update Dec 16

Well, there is a alternate interpretation of why this occurred. My buddies in high places were sending me a message. A test of my intelligence and torturing me for laughs. It is a at-a-boy for doing a hard job and don't ever give up. They are laughing their ass off at this terribly whiny Mike Mulligan. 

Update: Dec 14

The storm occurred on Dec 2. So the event occurred on Nov 30 or Dec 1.    

Update

wop wop wop wop wop wop wop wop wop wop wop wop...  

Oh, come on, you know I passed the test. Everyone knows I passed the test...

By the way, they know I am a really smart guy. If this was a intimidation event, somebody must have been monitoring my daily activities for a long period of time. They would be picking up patterns of my life. Figure out what is the best contact area and what tools will be needed like a helicopter. Scheduling a helicopter for the immediacy of this operation and coordinating must have been a pain in the ass. I am very erratic with my biking and hiking. 

It might be a soft holograph type of thing. Imagine the advanced technology this is and it may not be earth based. 

I am ready for this!!!      

Here is a map link to area just below the Vernon dam:

https://goo.gl/maps/1QtmZD1gLrTsXdhX9

I spend a lot of time on the little peninsula just below the dam on the NH side. A lot, a lot of time. I walk and bike that circular trail all the time. The foliage in that area is spectacular. In the winter, I still walk this area. I walk almost all winter storms on this island, all the blizzards...the howling winds and swaying trees, snow that utterly blinds you, the isolation in a storm all by myself, it is such a beautiful experience.

This happened about two weeks ago. I was considering just ignoring this, not disclosing...making them think I was too stupid to catch what was going on. I have been confronted with death threats many times and I have just learned to ignored it as a tactic.  

So you walk the trail directly up to the dam. On the left, there is a trail. That is the beginning of the circular trail on the little peninsula. Oh, the miraculousness of spring time with all the birds building their families. Chipmunks everywhere and all those always busy squirrels. The geese, ducks, robins, owls, hawks, a eagle's nest that's been active for twenty years, and occasionally a turkey vulture clan visiting. The beavers who always scare the shit out of me by loudly whacking their tails on water trying to protect their homes...   

There is a spot at the beginning of the trail where I park my bike and take breaks. I am eating my lunch at this time. Maybe smoking a little : ) I begin hearing a low level helicopter noise about 5 miles north east of me. I could hear it taking a wide circle around me. It seemed interesting to me . I thought it was somebody sightseeing or the utility checking the lines. It flew a mile or two north of Vermont Yankee rather close. I just don't see that very often. The helicopter ends up just west the Vernon dam. The forest is so thick I haven't been able to see the helicopter yet. I really have no use of seeing the helicopter, but I am now monitoring the noise of the helicopter because it has got me curious.

I hear a small drop in the noise level of the helicopter, then the wop, wop starts to radically increases. I feel the helicopter is right at the beginning of the pool at the Vernon side at a low level. The wop, wop, wop really increases at this point. I on the far side of a small bluff. About 100 feet from the waters edge. The top of the bluff is about 50 feet in elevation above the pool water level. The sides of the bluff are at a very steep incline. I usually climb that bluff every time I am down there for exercise purposes and to enhance my balancing capabilities. Balancing exercises including biking are very important for old people like me. It is even more fun doing this in the winter and especially during a snowstorm or blizzard. It is a short climb. My heart at the end of the climb is jumping out of my chest and I am gasping for breath.        
I feel the helicopter noise was coming from below ground level, meaning it was at a very low altitude just above the pool. The helicopter was coming directly at me, the wop wop wop noise dramatically was increasing. It was so loud it scared the shit out of me. I thinking man, I am witnessing a helicopter crash. The wop wop wop noise was unbelievable. Then I see the helicopter blades coming up from the ground level just in front of me. I mean, I am pissing my pants noise. He is passing me about 30 feet north of me at a very slow speed at a low altitude. I now feel he was manipulating his engine speed and blade rotation to enhance the frightening wop wop wop. He slowly passes me, the pilot window was directly facing me, I can see him staring at me. I can see his fucking smile.

The helicopter looked somewhat like a Vietnam era type helicopter. It looked like a rather new or shinny light whitish or yellowish color commercial helicopter. It looked like a work horse type of helicopter. I didn't see sight seeing windows on the ship. Kind of a utilitarian kind of design. I don't think I seen any windows other than the pilot and passenger windows. I raked my eye sight carefully around the ship looking for electronic gear, windows and freakin open doors. The body of it was quite long and slender. Like a commercial cargo or executive helicopter. It was by no means a tiny, small or medium size helicopter. This was a very expensive operation. 

I wouldn't be talking about this if it was just one pass. Was it the FBI or something? A military or homeland security helicopter?  As the ship passes me, all I am thinking this is so fucking cool. I think this is just a coincidence. I had a nice cell phone on me with a beautiful camera. It just never crossed my mind to get the cell out. The second pass, did he want me to take a picture of him?   

The helicopter noise just begins to fade away directly east of me on this first run. I can't see it from in the woods. But I am keeping track of it. Then the noise start increasing and I realize he is circling me again. I am thinking, can he be circling me? Oh yea, there is this little guy on my shoulder saying, mike you are getting paranoid again? The outsiders are going to think you are crazy or something. Same track as before. I am a little bit flustered by the first run. 

I can hear him now lining directly west of me. I am actually kind of paralyzed. I can't believe this might be happening to me again. I am thinking he will never take the same tract as before. Yea, I am thinking is somebody is trying to assassinate me. Then I think, if they are, they will eventually get me anyways. So then I think, fuck you, I am going to stand there like a man and look right up at you. But the guy on my shoulder says, be cool, it is impossible he will take the same track. So now he is on the exact track as before, directly at the beginning of the pool. 

I hear the exact dip in the wop wop wop noise like he is reducing altitude. Remember the bluff is directly in front of me and I believe this is what is obstructing the noise from the low altitude ship. The noise seem to be coming amazingly from below my ground level as the ship gets closer. Almost couldn't believe it. I am then thinking, steal yourself from the scary loud wop wop wop noise you know is coming. The noise is really loud and it feels like it is heading directly towards me again. I see the helicopter blades rising above the trees directly in front of me.  I can't believe the blades are not hitting the branches of the trees. I begin to see the body of the helicopter...I see him slowing down. The noise is ten times as loud as the first run. I am utterly terrorized and having a hard time not bolting. He is on the same path as before, but seems to be even slower and louder. These were very frightening events. I can now feel the wop wop wop on my fucking chest. I estimate the altitude of the copter as 50 to 100 feet above me in horizonal flight. The pilot is staring at me in a serous face. I see his head move to keep eyes on me as he moves past me. It is a really slow motion movement. And I am staring him back with my hands on my hips thinking mother fucker, fuck you. My mother knows me as terribly oppositional.

I was thinking I am going to laugh this off. Somebody thinks I am so important to spend all this money on me. Should I never go into the woods again by myself? Is somebody threatening to assassinate me or silencing me? It has somewhat rattled my cage. No, it big time rattle my cage and I am still haunted by these events today. You got my attention. I wish I knew why you want me to shut up on. I am going do my typical coping strategy done all my life. It never worked really. Going to make believe my feelings aren't real. I was considering never go back to this area again. I have been back there maybe four times since by myself. Really on the alert status the first time back. Am stealing myself for contact...I wish you would talk to me. I would welcome it. These events still haunt me big time.