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.
Monday, December 16, 2019
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.
Friday, December 13, 2019
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
Update
wop wop wop wop wop wop wop wop wop wop wop wop...
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 milesnorth 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.
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...
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.
Oh, come on, you know I passed the test. Everyone knows I passed the test...
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
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.
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
Yankee site survey shows contamination
Did they sample underneath the main and startup transformer? They had big transformers explosions in the early days. These guys were filled with the deadly transformer fluid PCB. All the fluids soaked into the ground and I believe into the Connecticut river. You should check mud in the Conn River
Yankee site survey shows contamination
Posted Monday, December 9, 2019 7:42 pm
By Susan Smallheer, Brattleboro Reformer
BRATTLEBORO — Environmental groundwater and soil monitoring of the Vermont Yankee site has turned up 17 "areas of concern," but only five of those areas are so polluted they need additional cleanup, according to representatives from NorthStar Nuclear Decommissioning Co.
The contaminated areas stem mostly from historic fuel oil leaks, NorthStar said.
"Five need attention," said Corey Daniels, NorthStar's decommissioning manager told members of the Vermont Nuclear Decommissioning Citizen Advisory Panel last Thursday.
In addition, two diesel fuel spills also need minor cleanup, Daniels said.
Daniels said the 17 areas are mostly polluted from oil products — specifically diesel fuel or fuel oil — and are located near underground pipes carrying the oil, including near the 75,000 gallon underground diesel tank that provided fuel to Vermont Yankee's backup diesel generators.
He said there is a "legacy" spill near the site of the former Yankee cooling towers, which were demolished earlier this year.
He said that NorthStar had responded to concerns raised by state officials and had drilled six additional monitoring wells. NorthStar was already working with 32 existing wells.
NorthStar is working with Vermont state officials to locate and clean up any contamination as part of the overall decommissioning of the nuclear plant.
NorthStar is now updating its site investigation report, which was submitted in July.
The revised plan, including the requests from state environmental officials, addressed "data gaps" at seven areas of concern. It will be completed in the first quarter of 2020.
He said of the areas that will need to be remediated, the soil will be dug up and sent to a low-level radioactive waste facility in Texas...
Additionally, he said a detailed radioactive sweep of most of the 143 acres that make up the Vermont Yankee site has so far only turned up two minor spots of radioactivity — one site was a tool box and the other was "minor shine" from where radioactive materials were staged before they were shipped.
"Other than that, there have been no surprises," he said
He said NorthStar is using what he called "an ultra all terrain vehicle" that can measure the radiation on the site to the depth of several feet. He told the panel that the special vehicle, which can measure wherever it can be driven, has already made 1.3 million "discreet measurements."
Daniels said NorthStar is updating Yankee's site investigation report to include additional data. The contaminated soils in areas that can be accessed will be remediated.
In the meantime, NorthStar is continuing biweekly meetings with the Agency of Natural Resources, which is overseeing the non-radiological cleanup of the Vernon site.
Daniels said the state, with its heightened awareness of PFOA chemicals, has required that NorthStar test the areas, and Daniels said he is glad to report that no PFOAs were detected.
He also gave an update on the infiltration of groundwater into the turbine building. Back in 2015, when the problem was discovered, the infiltration amounted to about 6,000 gallons a day and forced Entergy Nuclear, the owner at the time, to store the radioactive water in portable swimming pools and tanks.
Thanks to efforts to divert groundwater away from the contaminated building, the infiltration has dropped to about 300 gallons a day. The lightly radioactive water is still being shipped to a facility in Idaho, Daniels said, about a tanker car's worth every two months.
"Technically, it's safe to make coffee with," he said, referring to the low level of radioactivity in the water.
He said the water being intercepted before it reaches the turbine building has tested clean of any radioactivity. NorthStar is still in the process of setting up more intercept wells.
Daniels said that since decommissioning began in January, NorthStar employees and contractors have logged 260,000 hours without a lost-time accident. And he said radiation exposure to those employees and contractors is well within NRC limits.
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