Sunday, January 19, 2014

Pulling a NH State "Dilapidated Hinsdale Bridge" on The Murder of Dustin Curtiss?


January 22. 2014 12:10AM

Manchester to hire 5 more officers


MANCHESTER — The police department will be hiring five additional officers in the coming weeks, a fraction of the number the city's police chief says are needed to deal with rising crime.

Mayor Ted Gatsas announced the plan at Tuesday's meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, following a presentation in which Police Chief David Mara outlined his request for additional officers.

Mara said, based on a recent workload assessment, that he believed the force needed 26 more officers in the patrol division and four more in the street crime unit, which consists of plainclothes officers who deal with quality of life issues.
At a projected cost of $84,000 per officer, for salary and benefits, funding the chief's maximum request would cost approximately $2.4 million.

The presentation marked the first time that Mara made his staffing request explicit since new numbers confirmed that crime has surged over the past year, increasing 24 percent in 2013 over the previous year, led by a 46 percent jump in robberies.

Gatsas and most of the aldermen at Tuesday's meeting were more concerned about how to pay for a smaller number of additional officers immediately than in dealing with Mara's maximum request, which likely could only be addressed through the budget process for the next fiscal year
You think, the state thinks they won't be spending money wisely prosecuting this Hinsdale murder case of a war hero in a low population area? Cherry pick the easy and winable cases...

Hometown prosecutor gets paid, and now awarded, for doing ‘the right thing’
For nearly a decade, Jeffery Strelzin has been the state’s legal point man on some of its most unsettling crimes. As the chief of the Department of Justice’s homicide unit, Strelzin, a senior assistant attorney general, is the first person police officials contact when investigating suspicious deaths. He has prosecuted several high-profile cases, including that of convicted cop killer Michael Addison and of Christopher Gribble and Steven Spader, the young pair found guilty of brutally murdering a Mont Vernon mother in her home in 2009.

It’s a demanding job, made increasingly so in recent years as budgets have contracted. But Strelzin, who is the state’s longest-serving homicide chief, seems to find more pride than stress in the work.
 January 19. 2014 10:10PM

Violent crime in Manchester up in 2013

By MICHAEL COUSINEAU
New Hampshire Union Leader

MANCHESTER — Violent crimes reported to police increased by 24 percent in Manchester in 2013 over the previous year, led by a 46 percent jump in robberies.
The 736 reported violent crimes — comprised of murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault — topped the previous two years, each of which saw 593 such reported crimes, according to Manchester Police Department figures released to the New Hampshire Union Leader.
Police Chief David Mara said much of the city's crime is traced to the need for money to buy illegal drugs...

Just saying, bet you an enormous amount of the crime in NH is generated by the heroin and other opiates crisis. So the major crimes unit and the state prosecutors departments are terribly underfunded. Then we got a runaway addiction problem leading to major crimes overwhelming our courts, prosecutors and major crimes, beside the historic issues with the state policing. This is all driven by a penny pitching state ideology of limited state government....like I said; our 1921 route 119 dilapidated bridge is a symbol of the ideology of limited state government and out addiction to our generalized hatred of government. What does these institutions look when they become overwhelmed...

We are just putting this on the backs of our children and grandchildren who are mostly in deep financial trouble as it is. We are building up a generation of lost souls...this is going to be so costly in the future
 

I just think a number of our children see no hope in the future...so why even have a good standard of behavior.
By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
New Hampshire Union Leader
No one sets out to die a heroin junkie.

The highly addictive narcotic is a drug of last resort for addicts who can never be sure of its potency or purity, but either graduated to it after abusing other street drugs or turned to it as a cheap alternative to prescription painkillers they no longer can afford, according to law enforcers.

Its use is on the rise statewide, as seen when heroin for the first time became the top killer of all drug overdoses in 2012. It was responsible for 38 of the 164 drug deaths that year.

The number of people who died from heroin in 2013 already shows a 50 percent increase and could go higher once all pending cases are closed. So far, heroin is responsible for 57 drug deaths in 2013, a year when authorities expect the total deaths will reach 200.

"It's a huge problem," said Dr. Thomas Andrew, the state's chief medical examiner.

Andrew said the number of total unintended drug deaths rose 400 percent from the 53 recorded when he started as medical examiner in 1997.

Serious issue

Speaking from a personal point of view as a physician, Andrew described the situation as a "public health crisis," but isn't sure the "social will" exists to really attack it.

"Are we going to decide as citizens that it is worth going after this problem in an aggressive way, or are we willing to write off these people as not worth the effort?" he asked.

"Are these really acceptable losses to us? ... In the end, every one of these cases is someone's son or daughter or sister or brother.
Originally posted on 1/12/2014 

By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
New Hampshire Union Leader


Jan 11, 2014
Attorney General Joseph Foster says his office needs five to 10 additional attorneys over the next several years. (DAVID LANE/UNION LEADER COURTESY)
Early last week, state prosecutor James T. Boffetti was heading off to Brentwood where he has been filling in as Rockingham County Attorney since James Reams was stripped of his prosecutorial duties pending a criminal probe.
Then it was back to Concord to resume his normal duties as head of the state's Consumer Protection and Anti-Trust division. Waiting for him was the escalating and potentially life-threatening Fred Fuller Oil & Propane Co. debacle that left hundreds of residents with empty or near empty home heating oil tanks during an arctic blast of sub-zero weather
At about the same time, a 2009 video of three Seabrook police officers slamming a drunken driving defendant into a wall and pepper spraying him while in custody went viral on YouTube, prompting the New Hampshire Attorney General's criminal bureau to reassign investigators from existing criminal cases to launch a public integrity probe of the officers involved.
More staff needed
In a department whose most high-profile unit — homicide — just came off one of its busiest years in recent memory, these and other cases have further strained the office's 58 staff attorneys - a number that barely budged since the early 1980s. It's a point Attorney General Joseph A. Foster has publicly pounced on since taking office last May as reason why he will ask for another five to 10 attorneys over the next several state budget cycles.
"I think we are unusually busy. They (staff) have gone through cycles like that before," Foster explained.
"We work hard and buckle down and get the work done - perhaps at a slower pace than we would like, but they will get the work done, and they will do it right," he added.
Prosecutors cope by reshuffling priorities — a practice they call triage — with the emphasis given to cases involving public safety and meeting deadlines in pending court cases, Foster and Deputy Attorney General Ann Rice explained.

Former Attorney General Michael A. Delaney said this is one of the office's strengths."There are a lot of major, pending investigations right now and I think that office has always done an incredible job of handling some of the most important investigations in the state with limited resources," said Delaney, who served as attorney general for four years before he chose not seek reappointment last spring.

Given the first two weeks in a homicide case are the most critical, they get top priority. No matter what else is going on at the time, two prosecutors immediately are assigned to work with local and state police agencies on each homicide, Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeffery A. Strelzin said Friday.

"This is definitely one of the busiest years we've had in my time in the office," Strelzin said of the 25 homicides in 2013. Strelzin has been in the office 13 years and heads the homicide bureau. The state averages 19 homicides a year.
Until the case is finally over, the work doesn't go away. A case typically takes one to two years to prosecute so you have a constant backlog of cases. However busy your prior year was, coming into your next year you know you will probably have 20 new (homicides)," he explained.
Added paperwork
In addition, the office must respond to an increasing number of habeas petitions filed by convicted defendants seeking new trials and works on 150 active state and federal appeals a year, he said. They include the capital murder and death penalty appeal of Michael K. Addison which prosecutors have been working on since a Manchester police officer was killed in 2006 and likely will continue another 15 years, Strelzin said.

In addition, the criminal division handles several high-profile cases that have consumed enormous state, local and federal resources. They include that of missing Conway teen Abigail Hernandez, which remains an active and ongoing probe since her disappearance in October. The office also is working with the Hillsborough County Attorney's office in a criminal investigation of how a Manchester man became paralyzed with a broken neck suffered sometime after he entered Elliot Hospital emergency room to his being taken into custody by Manchester police and Hillsborough County Department of Corrections in October.


Prosecutors said it was not possible to give a precise number of total cases the office handles.

The onslaught of new cases since late fall has contributed to the delay in completing the investigation of the officer-involved fatal shooting of a suspected drug dealer in Weare last August, Foster said. Foster previously said he hoped to have the preliminary finding complete by the end of November.


But a Nov. 24 double fatal shooting of two men in Manchester and the Dec. 7 deaths of a Vermont couple on Interstate 89 in Lebanon by a man authorities alleged deliberately caused the collision in a failed suicide attempt diverted staff from the Weare case, he said.


"That's one of the problems. Every time one of these major issues come up, we all get pulled off to work on a new fire," Rice said.


Constant reshuffling

Not only have state prosecutors handling the case been diverted to other homicides, but the state police investigators working the case also were assigned to the newly-breaking homicides, prosecutors said.

Rice said the Weare officer-involved shooting investigation has taken "longer than most of the office-involved shootings that we have been involved in certainly. Without commenting on the substance of the case, I can say it's a complex issue."

Foster would not comment on when he expects the report to be ready.

Former Attorney General Delaney noted New Hampshire is one of the few states in the country that requires each of its law enforcement officers to undergo the same basic core certification training at the state Police Standards and Training Academy before they hit the streets.

"It's excellent training. And that is just the starting point. All of the agencies have their officers involved in regular training above that," Delaney said.

NH State Police Major Crimes Unit



Mike Mulligan



Oct 28, 2013

Basically, I said I noted your unit has seen a large increase in cases in recent years...has your budgets kept with your case load.
Well, left that on his voice recording machine.
Do you think he will give me a call back?

Mike Mulligan



Oct 28, 2013

Judged:

I don't think so unless his unit is really hard up for money.

If he is a political guy...he might be afraid of pissing off his bosses...

His site is only updated to 2011...don't have the money to update his government site?

Lets see, it is Oct 2013?

Mike Mulligan



Oct 28, 2013


Mike Mulligan



Oct 28, 2013

Right, the NH anti government political zealots would get pissed if a vital government agency declaired they don’t have enough resources.

The state police over the years have been known to be severely underfunded...

Infowars dot Com



Oct 28, 2013

Judged:

No mikey, no State needs more 'State police', they all need to return to proper Constitutional county law and sheriffs/deputies as the ONLY law enforcement!
It is improper to refer to a cop as 'officer' unless you're actually speaking to an elected sheriff. When the municiple or appointed State 'public safety' quasi-cops go bad, they can't be Unelected. It is a fact that the only truly lawful law enforcers are those elected as sheriffs or at least deputised agents working under one. Still many sheriffs violate people's Constitutional rights daily, even good old Sheriff Arpaio

what a Real police officer looks like-
https://www.google.com/#q=sheriff+richard+mac...

AP Photo: Checkpoint Cops Point Guns at Americans’ Heads
Fallujah-style security comes to Sacramento
http://www.infowars.com/ap-photo-checkpoint-c...
(^this is what pigs look like)

Cops With Tasers Have Now Executed Over 500 Americans
http://rt.com/usa/500-taser-law-enforcement-5...
--

talk about a State having a 'Major Crimes Unit' ppffftttttt
The govt. Ships In most of the damn drugs into the U.S. By the Ton and has gotten caught doing that And arming drug lords in Mexico etc.('Fast & Furious') and effectively causing the crime in America which has resulted in the NWO police state control freaks to claim the 'need' for MORE draconian laws and enforcement with More rights being infringed.
See how it works sheeple? It's called 'Problem-Reaction-Solution'
http://www.youtube.com/results...

Mike Mulligan



Oct 28, 2013

Our neighborhood domestic anti government terrorist...

Mike Mulligan



Oct 28, 2013

All right, do we have a spike in crime in NH? We do. What is the depth of it and the cause. Maybe the police and staties are hobbled and demoralized by local and state budget cuts. We know the courts are and the jails are too much of a financial burden on the towns and state. We know crimes usually increase during economic distress. Do the crooks know they got a green light to do as they please because they know the courts and police are hobbled by budget cutbacks and so called tax stabilization?

Are we heading to see much more lawlessness as the police and courts have been crippled by budget issues...

Mike Mulligan



Oct 28, 2013

So I left a message at the major crime unit lieutenant’s voice mail. Is he going to call me saying we got a huge budget problem...we are letting murders and criminals get away with major crimes because we are overwhelmed? Because we can’t do proper investigation...if I disclosed this it would give the prosecutors a tactical advantage in our cases.


Mike Mulligan



Oct 28, 2013

Judged:

FBI's New England chief worried about budget

Posted: 10/28/2013 05:00:26 PM EDT | Updated: about 4 hours ago

PORTLAND, Maine (AP)- The FBI's Boston chief has a lot to worry about between terrorism, conventional crime and intelligence gathering. But these days, one of his biggest concerns is his budget.
Vincent Lisi, special agent in charge for Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, told reporters in Portland on Monday that one of his biggest challenges is dealing with the mandatory budget cuts known as sequestration. He said the cuts amount to $700 million of the national FBI budget this year.

He said vacant positions aren't being filled and training has been slashed. He said it could be a few years before any new field agents are hired.

Instead of doing "more with less," the FBI is performing threat assessments and prioritizing its most important duties as it becomes accustomed to doing "less with less," Lisi said.

"It's doing less with less," he said. "You can't keep doing more with less. Otherwise, you'll end up being a mile wide and an inch deep."

Mike Mulligan



Oct 29, 2013

Mike Mulligan wrote:

So I left a message at the major crime unit lieutenant’s voice mail. Is he going to call me saying we got a huge budget problem...we are letting murders and criminals get away with major crimes because we are overwhelmed? Because we can’t do proper investigation...if I disclosed this it would give the prosecutors a tactical advantage in our cases.

"if I disclosed this it would give the prosecutors a tactical disadvantage in our cases."
The route 119 bridge disease in the major crimes unit of the NH state police?

Mike Mulligan



Oct 29, 2013

Judged:

“This is extremely important to public safety,” he said.“New Hampshire State Police have been dealing with an increase in calls and operating at reduced staffing levels.”
July 22, 2013
NH to add 10 troopers
State budget includes $723K for new officers
By John Toolejtoole@eagletribune.com
More state troopers are coming soon to New Hampshire highways.
Early next year, drivers on Interstate 93 should notice an increased presence, as will those on highways in remote parts of the state.
State police are actively recruiting for the 10 new positions Gov. Maggie Hassan and the Legislature authorized under the recently passed budget. The state budgeted $723,384 for salary and benefits for the new troopers.
The new budget provides for 343 troopers. There were 333 slots before, with 12 current vacancies due to retirements or other departures. The agency also must manage with troopers on leave for military service
“This is extremely important to public safety,” he said.“New Hampshire State Police have been dealing with an increase in calls and operating at reduced staffing levels.”

Mike Mulligan



Oct 29, 2013

Fills 10 of 31 trooper vacancies at the New Hampshire State Police. In addition, the budget hires civilians to conduct Division of Motor Vehicle commercial
licensing exams, allowing Safety to put five more troopers on the road.

Mike Mulligan



Oct 30, 2013

So why didn’t it go to a NH medical examiner...

Autopsy results released in Hinsdale shooting
Dr. Kimberly Springer of the Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner completed the autopsy on Curtiss’ body Oct. 15, two days after he was shot at least three times in a family dispute that turned violent, investigators said. The results were not released until today.

Mike Mulligan



Oct 30, 2013

Chief Medical Examiner
Department of Justice
Office of Attorney General

Chief Medical Examiner
Frequently Asked Questions
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) is responsible for determining the cause and manner of sudden, unexpected or unnatural deaths falling under its jurisdiction (RSA 611-B:11).

Mike Mulligan



Oct 30, 2013


Mike Mulligan



Oct 30, 2013

Oh, he died or was taken to a hospital in Ma.

Mike Mulligan



Oct 30, 2013

http://doj.nh.gov/media-center/press-releases...

gunshot wounds of the torso and upper extremities

Mike Mulligan



Oct 31, 2013

So a spokesman for the major crimes unit just got done talking to me by phone.

He says murders are tracking about normal.

He seems to say their case load was static...but he wasn't that sure.

They got enough money from the legislators to burn...just kidding. He said they have sufficient monies.

But he had a proviso...he doesn’t see much budget issue from his view.

Excuse me now, I got to change my wet pants.

I don't mean this in the negative...he was highly skilled at communicating and talking like you would expect in a important and large organization.

Mike Mulligan



Oct 31, 2013

He wants me to take to the commissioner or the director...

Mike Mulligan



Oct 31, 2013

I like to talk to a, say a seasoned major crimes unit investigator...who would discuss his agency’s budget vulnerabilities.

More the first level boss or management of the investigators...

Somebody in the main artery of the information stream....a big picture person.

I wouldn’t want detained shit...just generalities. You know, how you guys doing...

 
Comments (Page 2)


Mike Mulligan



Oct 31, 2013

They got a pretty wicked and shinny on-scene heavy vehicle....

Mike Mulligan



Oct 31, 2013

1

It is a state police colonel who I'd be talking with nexxt...

Mike Mulligan



Oct 31, 2013

State employees to vote on contract offering the first raises in 5 years

By KEVIN LANDRIGAN

Staff Writer

CONCORD – Ending a long, sometimes bitter negotiation, a proposed, three-year contract for 7,800 state employees now goes to the rank-and-file for a final vote.

Mike Muligan



Nov 3, 2013

Mike Mulligan wrote:

All right, do we have a spike in crime in NH? We do. What is the depth of it and the cause. Maybe the police and staties are hobbled and demoralized by local and state budget cuts. We know the courts are and the jails are too much of a financial burden on the towns and state. We know crimes usually increase during economic distress. Do the crooks know they got a green light to do as they please because they know the courts and police are hobbled by budget cutbacks and so called tax stabilization?
Are we heading to see much more lawlessness as the police and courts have been crippled by budget issues...



Isn't it cool?

Mike Muligan

Nov 3, 2013
It is a experiment: we got lot a really poor working and economic inviroment and they are yanking away all the social servies because of budget problems...


NH investigators dealt with 25 homicide cases in 2013
ShareThis

By DAN TUOHY
New Hampshire Union Leader



 Manchester police investigate a murder-suicide at the YWCA on Concord Street in August. Authorities said Muni Savyon shot his son, Joshua Savyon, 9, during a supervised visit, then turned the gun on himself. (Mark Bolton/Union Leader File)


CONCORD — The New Hampshire attorney general's homicide bureau investigated 25 new cases in 2013, two of which have yet to yield arrests.

The state had 19 homicides in 2012 and 25 homicides in 2011, according to Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeffery A. Strelzin, the chief of the homicide unit.

About 36 percent of the cases were related to domestic violence. That is lower than the historical average, over more than 40 years, of around 50 percent. Other points from 2013 files, according to Strelzin, include:


• There were three fatal officer-involved incidents. There were two such incidents in 2012, and five officer-involved fatals in 2011.

• The state saw four double murders in 2013, which is more than what is usually recorded.

• The state is seeing more cases involving defendants making competency claims and insanity defenses.

Keene: David Wheelock, 48, of Keene, was shot multiple times and died Dec. 21 in his Keene residence. No arrests made. The state continues to investigate the homicide and ask for anyone with information about the shooting to call police.

Manchester: Two men die after a shooting at 331 Lake Ave. in Manchester on Nov. 24. Police said Edgar "Eddie" Hoffens, 22, of Manchester, died at the scene. Charles Cable, 20, of Manchester, died later at the Elliot Hospital. No charges brought to date.

Hinsdale: Dustin Curtiss, 26, of Hinsdale, was shot multiple times in the torso and upper extremities Oct. 13 during an apparent family dispute that turned violent. No one was arrested in connection with the incident, which remains under investigation.

Hampton: Robert Roderick, 56, died Oct. 3 after an assault in Hampton. Authorities charged Peter Bartoloni, 70, with second-degree murder for allegedly beating his roommate with a sledgehammer.

Manchester: Wendy M. Lawrence, 45, of Canterbury, was fatally wounded in an officer-involved shooting in Manchester on Sept. 30. A state trooper pulled her over while driving south on Interstate 89 and confirmed she was a habitual offender with a suspended license. Lawrence drove off, speeding toward Concord, and onto I-93 and into Manchester, where troopers attempted to stop her at an intersection. A trooper fired at the vehicle, hitting Lawrence. She was taken to Elliot Hospital where she was pronounced dead. Attorney General Joseph Foster determined it was a justified use of force.

Weare: Alex Cora DeJesus, 35, died from gunshot wounds in an officer-involved shooting in Weare as officers attempted to apprehend him in connection with a drug deal investigation Aug. 14.

Manchester: Muni Savyon, 54, of Manchester, shot his 9-year-old son Joshua with a handgun several times during a visitation at the YWCA at 72 Concord St., Manchester on Aug. 11. He then shot and killed himself.

Nashua: Two adults are found dead at their home at 17 Middle Dunstable Road in Nashua. Reginal Danboise, 67, killed himself by hanging after stabbing his wife, Mary L. Danboise, 63, to death.

Charlestown: Kelly Robarge, 42, of 124 Happy Acres Road, Charlestown, is reported missing and then found dead. James R. Robarge, 43, of Charlestown, is charged with reckless second-degree murder in the death of his wife on June 27.

Nashua: William Grant, 83, and his wife, Eleanor Grant, 78, are found dead in their Nashua home on June 17. An autopsy reveals death by stabbing. No arrests are made in the case, but investigators conclude evidence suggested Shawn Burne, 37, who died of an overdose Aug. 22, killed the couple during a robbery.

Somersworth: Noah York, a 2-year-old boy from Somersworth, is pronounced dead at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover on June 14. An autopsy reveals death by smothering. Authorities charged Jared Pope, 30, of Somersworth, with manslaughter.

Laconia: Zachary March, 27, of 24 McGrath St., in Laconia, is found dead June 10. Authorities charge Kasey Riley, 19, of Laconia, with second-degree murder by strangling.

Manchester: Michael Larocque Jr., 24, of Manchester, dies from a gunshot wound at an apartment on Lake Avenue in Manchester. The resident in the apartment said he armed himself after hearing unknown people outside his apartment at 2:43 a.m. Shortly thereafter, the man's apartment door was kicked open and two unknown men rushed inside and charged him. The resident fired his gun several times during the break-in, killing one of the intruders, the man identified as Larocque. The Attorney General's office concludes it is a justified use of force.

Belmont: Priscilla Carter, 59, of 20 Sunset Drive in Belmont, and her son, Timothy Carter, 39, of the same address, are found dead from multiple chop wounds and blunt-force injuries on May 24. On July 9, Shawne Carter, 31, of Belmont, is charged in the death of his mother and brother.

Manchester: Mark Donnelly, 31, a father of two from Manchester, was killed in a drive-by shooting in the area of Pine and Prospect streets in Manchester on May 18. He died from a single gunshot wound to the chest. The shooting occurred after an argument with a man, witnesses said. No arrests have been made and the case remains under investigation.

Manchester: Michelle Hogarty, 46, found dead in her home at 316 Mammoth Road in Manchester on May 1. Her husband, John Hogarty, 55, is charged with first-degree murder in her stabbing death.

Walpole: Larry Albert Bohannon, 51, with a last known address of Grafton, died from gunshots to the head and chest March 29 after police officers pursued him in connection with a Vermont armed robbery. The attorney general determined it was a justified use of force.

Exeter: Amanda "Amy" Warf, 36, of Hampton, is found dead in an abandoned building in Exeter on March 7. Aaron Desjardins, 36, of 67 Railroad Ave., Epping, is charged with first-degree murder in his ex-wife's death. Sarah Desjardins, 34, of 67 Railroad Ave., Epping, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder and hindering apprehension in connection with the case.

Littleton: Catherine "Kitty" Houghton, 70, is found murdered in Littleton on Jan. 28. Rodney Hill, 37, of West Danville, Vt., was charged in her murder.

Nashua: Judith Rolfe, 66, died Jan. 19 from multiple blunt impact injuries to the head. Duane Rolfe, 65, her brother, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

The Attorney General's office is also prosecuting two counts of second-degree murder against Robert Dellinger, 53, of Sunapee, in the deaths of Amanda Murphy, 24, and Jason Timmons, 29, of 35 Fern St., Wilder, Vt., on Dec. 7. He is accused of knowingly driving his truck across the median on Interstate 89 in Lebanon in an attempt to kill himself and crashing into the couple. Murphy was also eight-months pregnant.

The New Hampshire Attorney General's office continued to investigate and prosecute older homicides. On July 14, 2013, there was an arrest in the homicide of Daniel Langlois, 25, a Manchester man who was shot Dec. 27, 2012. Jesus "Scoobie" Fernandez, 27, of Manchester, was charged with second-degree murder. And, in June 2013, the state brought charges against Thomas Milton, 30, and William Edic, 31, in the death of Anthony Renzzulla, 44, who was attacked in state prison in Concord in 2010. Renzzulla died from his injuries on Nov. 26, 2011.

New Hampshire Union Leader Staff Reporter Kathryn Marchocki contributed to this report.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Share the Cost of Bridge Work Equally


Sentinel Editorial
Share the cost of bridge work equally

Posted: Friday, January 17, 2014 12:00 pm


Let’s make a deal.
The Vermont Agency of Transportation recently made the N.H. Department of Transportation an offer. Vermont’s agency would pay the entire cost of rehabilitating the Vilas Bridge, which connects Route 12 in Walpole to downtown Bellows Falls. But then, New Hampshire would pay Vermont’s portion of all future repairs to bridges spanning the Connecticut River until the $4-6 million is repaid.
The motivation for the offer isn’t hard to discern. Since the bridge was closed by the N.H. DOT in 2009, merchants in Bellows Falls have complained their business is off by about 30 percent. That certainly provides some incentive on the river’s west bank to reopen the 84-year-old bridge.
But there are a lot of bridges – and other projects – on New Hampshire’s transportation to-do list, and there has apparently been little furor about lost revenue in Walpole. New Hampshire’s explanation for pushing off work to reopen the Vilas Bridge has centered around the fact that there are two other bridges spanning the river nearby, including the New Arch Bridge, which also leads into Bellows Falls.
At first blush, Vermont’s offer seems like a windfall. The bridge work gets done sooner. New Hampshire doesn’t have to pay immediately. Everyone is happy. However, a spokesman says the N.H. DOT is unlikely to accept, and the reasoning is sound. If the only goal is to reopen this particular bridge, the deal is good.
But that’s not the financial reality. There are 30 bridges spanning the Connecticut River, and New Hampshire is on the hook for nearly all the cost of maintaining or replacing each of them. In the case of the Vilas Bridge, for example, the Granite State is responsible for 93 percent of the cost of any work, while Vermont must pay for 7 percent.
That’s because way back in 1764 King George II of England set the boundary between the states ((SINCE THEY WERE COLONIES THEN, SUGGEST REPLACING "THE STATES" EITHER WITH "NEW HAMPSHIRE AND VERMONT" OR "THE TWO-THEN COLONIES")) as the western shore of the river. Now, George was a lame-duck monarch at that point as far as the American colonies went, but still, the U.S. Supreme Court re-affirmed this boundary in 1934.
Somehow, along the way, this fact led to New Hampshire being stuck with almost the entire tab for any bridge work, even though, as far as we know, none of the 30 Connecticut River Bridges is one-way. No, each of them carries cars both from the Granite State to Vermont, and from the Green Mountain State to New Hampshire. Thus, the benefits of the bridges would appear to be equal for each state.
There may be some instances where a town or city on one side has clearly benefitted from the existence of a particular bridge. In the case of Vilas, that community would appear to be Bellows Falls.
Thus, we find ourselves more intrigued by another deal, this one proposed from this side of the river. Five Cheshire County lawmakers have put forth a bill this session calling((??)) limiting the amount New Hampshire would pay for the overhaul of the bridge to 50 percent, assuming someone else would pay the remaining 50 percent.
Of course, the N.H. Legislature can’t force Vermont to pay more for a bridge repair than it would normally under the two states’ existing agreement. But it would seem in the case of a bridge New Hampshire considers a low priority and Vermont is clearly more eager to see reopened, there might just be some incentive there. In fact, we think the two states should revisit the idea of who’s responsible ((. . . SHOULD REVISIT THE FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY)) for all bridge work along the border ((TO BETTER REFLECT THE MUTUAL BENEFIT THEY ENJOY)).
The history of the Vilas Bridge is an interesting one. Where it now spans, the very first bridge across the river went up in 1785. And in 1930, when the current bridge was opened, it was dedicated as a “Symbol of Friendship” between New Hampshire and Vermont.
Friends don’t let friends pay 93 percent.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Vermont makes New Hampshire offer for bridge repair


By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff
SentinelSource.c
WALPOLE — New Hampshire isn’t the only state frustrated by the lack of funding available to repair its roads and bridges.
The Vermont Agency of Transportation, after waiting nearly five years for the N.H. Department of Transportation to act, has made an offer to the New Hampshire agency to pay for the entire rehabilitation — and subsequently the reopening, of the Vilas Bridge.
The double arch, reinforced concrete bridge, which was built in 1930, crosses the Connecticut River to connect Walpole to Bellows Falls. It has been closed since March 2009 when New Hampshire officials order it shut down to pedestrians and vehicles after it failed a safety inspection.
New Hampshire owns 93 percent of the bridge, while Vermont owns the remaining 7 percent.
Sue Minter, deputy secretary for the Vermont Agency of Transportation, said Thursday the offer was made as part of a recent informal conversation between Vermont’s secretary of transportation, Brian Searles, and Christopher Clement, commissioner for the N.H. Department of Transportation.
“We’re trying to solve a mutual problem, which is the bridge,” she said. “This is a concept we felt could be a win-win for both states.”
Since the Vilas Bridge closed, Bellows Falls’ businesses have reported a roughly 30 percent drop in commerce. Vehicles crossing the bridge from Route 12 in Walpole were dropped right into the heart of downtown Bellows Falls.
(Can you really trust them with the 30% and was the decline caused by the relative economic decline)
As part of the Vermont’s offer, New Hampshire must agree to cover Vermont’s portion of the bill on any future projects to repair or replace bridges connecting the two states. Once those payments equal the cost of rehabilitating the Vilas Bridge, New Hampshire will no longer be on the hook, Minter said.
“We’re not talking about changing the ultimate responsibility of each state as legally defined by the property boundary, but about essentially putting out a loan that would be paid back over time through the rehabilitation of other bridges,” she said.
New Hampshire and Vermont share responsibility for 30 bridges up and down the Connecticut River, she said.
The well-being of the Vilas Bridge is of particular interested to Vermont officials because the state has a strong policy of supporting downtowns and trying to restore historic bridges, she said.

(So why don't they support Brattleboro)
Vermont officials have yet to hear directly from their New Hampshire counterparts as to whether that state will accept the offer. But it’s likely the Granite State will decline, according to William H. Boynton, spokesman for the N.H. Department of Transportation.
“Simply getting the funding fronted for the rehabilitation does not work for us,” Boynton said Friday. “New Hampshire’s position is that we have too many unmet transportation needs and do not currently have the funds to address the Vilas Bridge.”
Of the two states, New Hampshire has the greater portion of the costs associated with any bridge project over the Connecticut River because the bulk of the river is in the Granite State.
N.H. Department of Transportation officials estimate the cost of rehabilitating the Vilas Bridge to range from $4.5-$6 million, Boynton said.
The project isn’t included in the draft of the N.H. Department of Transportation’s 10-Year Transportation Improvement Plan for 2015-24 because of severe funding constraints,” he said.
Those funding constraints have resulted in nearly 39 percent of the roads maintained by the state being in poor condition, and 145 bridges being red-listed.
State officials define red-list bridges as having known deficiencies, requiring weight limit postings or being in poor condition.
The Vilas Bridge was on that list for about two decades before state officials closed it.
The 2013-22 transportation improvement plan includes $60,000 for a preliminary engineering study of the bridge to be done in 2013.
“That has not happened yet due to staff limitation,” Boynton said.
Another factor that has made rehabilitating Vilas Bridge a low priority is that there is another bridge close by that crosses the Connecticut River, state officials have said.
“It difficult from our perspective to actively pursue this project when other communities with deficient bridges do not have the option,” Boynton said.

(Hinsdale, Brattleboro)
Francis “Dutch” Walsh, development director for the town of Rockingham, Vt., which includes the village of Bellows Falls, said having another bridge up the road doesn’t solve the challenge emergency responders face in getting from Walpole to Bellows Falls or vice versa to provide mutual aid.
The other bridge, while newer than Vilas, crosses and active railroad line. When freight trains use the crossing, it can delay the response of emergency vehicles between the communities, he said. Vilas didn’t have that problem, he said.
While he understands New Hampshire’s funding situation, it’s frustrating that the Vilas Bridge continues to remain closed and deteriorating, he said.
“I’m very disappointed.”

Wednesday, January 08, 2014

Energy: In New England, we pay 40% above U.S. average

It is the world we create when self interest and secret free market force dominate over our collective interest…

And you bet, our NH roads and energy infrastructure problems emerge from the same  current dominate politics, ideology philosophy…

It is the Mexican standoff all across our political system for societal needs. We don’t trust the moral use of power in order to shape our society for the good of us all…we only believe in the use of power when it is secretly used to drive self interest…political, business and corporate interest that dehumanize us all. 


It is not so much the CEOs and Executives that I am irked and disappointing with…it is the vast army of the rank and file employees who let them get away with shaping our world like this. It is the rank and file employees who only gain a very limited freedom though the pennies that get thrown at them…that gives the soulless executives’ the power they hold over the good people of our nation. We give them the power to attach the balls and chains to our lives…to all of us…that hobbles all of our lives so dearly…our kids and grandchildren are going to hate their lives over our indifference just for a few mere pennies.
\
And the rich CEOs and Executives are chained to useless lives more than anyone else!

I am convinced if Moses walked on our planet today carrying a message from god concerning all our current the plagues to the Pharaoh…Mosses and Aaron would be saying right now at this very moment, “let my politicians, regulators, business owners, CEOs and executives go“...   

January 07. 2014 10:03PM

Energy: In New England, we pay 40% above U.S. average

By DAVE SOLOMON
New Hampshire Union Leader

GOFFSTOWN — Economic growth in New England will be constrained by the lack of natural gas pipelines in the region for at least another two years, and perhaps longer, according to a group of energy experts speaking at St. Anselm College on Monday.

"Growth in jobs and income will lag the national average despite many other advantages we do have in the region," said Lisa Shapiro, chief economist at the law firm of Gallagher, Callahan and Gartrell in Concord.
Shapiro was one of several speakers at the workshop "New England's Energy Future and its Effect on the Regional Economy," which was hosted by the New Hampshire Institute for Politics.Natural gas delivered to New England can at times cost seven to 10 times higher than the national average on the continental U.S., she said, given the high demand for transmission and the lack of space on pipelines, particularly in the coldest months.

"We really are at such a comparative disadvantage compared to the rest of the country," she said, when businesses size up the cost of energy in planning an expansion or relocation.

From 2010 to 2012, energy prices in New England declined 6 percent, she said, but the region remains the highest-priced market for energy in the U.S.


"We are now only 40 percent above the national average, but we had been at 50 percent," she said.

In addition to discouraging business expansion or relocation to the region, high energy prices sap resources for consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of the economy, she said.

New Hampshire consumers have already seen increases in electricity costs for 2013 versus 2012, with no relief in sight.

When energy spending goes up, that's less money for everything else, she said, especially with incomes stagnating as they have since 2008. The cost of electricity has been declining across the country as shale gas from Pennsylvania and Ohio flows into the vast transmission network that bypasses New England, with only five pipelines into the region.


"We need more pipeline capacity," said Dan Ford, an investment analyst for Barclas Capital who specializes in energy stocks. "The question is, who is going to pay for it?"

More than 50 percent of the power plants that provide energy in New England are now fueled by natural gas, but the owners of those power plants do not want to commit to long-term contracts for the purchase of natural gas.


Pipeline builders won't build without those contracts, and there's no indication that the stand-off will break anytime soon.

Anne George, vice president for external affairs at the independent system operator, ISO-New England, described steps the ISO is taking to encourage long-term contracts.


Ford said the costs of building new pipeline into New England may need to be "socialized" over the entire energy system.

The six New England governors acknowledged as much on Dec. 6, when they signed the New England Governors Commitment to Regional Cooperation on Energy Infrastructure Issues.


The pact commits policymakers in the six states to pursue solutions to the pipeline problem that could include a massive investment by New England ratepayers in pipeline construction through their electricity bills.
"States are interested in making ISO a collection agent to fund pipeline construction," George said.

Even if the governors are able to reach an agreement on "socializing" the costs of new pipeline, as Ford said, any new pipe in the ground is years away.

A Jan. 3 report in Environment and Energy Publishing summed up the challenge succinctly.

"The plan unveiled in early December commits the governors' combined political will to the task," wrote reporter Rod Kuckro, "but it remains to be seen whether the best of intentions can overcome market barriers, inadequate incentives and old-fashioned not-in-my-backyard sentiments that have bedeviled past efforts to build energy infrastructure in the six-state region."

(Concord Monitor) NH DOT Chief: We Need Help

And I am locally the bad guy trying to bring attention to the dilapidated 1921 Charles Dana and Anna Hunt Marsh bridges....10,000 cars per days...warning everyone about the consequences when they shut down this bridge.
One thing I am certain with is our roads, bridges and highways…it looks likes the politicians are trying to save you money with this strategy. If you elect me I am going to save you a few pennies off your taxes. But they are recklessly doing the exact opposite. Or elect me if you hate government. Neglecting our highway system only means you are damaging it…it is going to be a much more expensive fix in the end. Further, it is a generational cost shifting…our children and grand children are going to pay for our reckless penny pinching.
You get to see the nasty politics in this. The NHDOT commission isn’t a independent operator just telling us what is collectively in our best interest. He is captured by the insecure and nasty local and Concord politics. The governor and the fearful legislators always controls the mouth of the NHDOT commissioner, if he wants a job. He can’t go to the cities and towns of NH trumpeting the damagers we face with under funding our transportation system…notifying the citizens of their needs. Right, NH politics is truly a soviet style gulag where head rolls if you tell the people the truth! NH politics is always about playing the concord insider game, and most of it is done in secret.
 
At the bottom of all this is in all the citizens of NH...the overall insecurity theology or philosophy that has been educated in all of us. Is I always automatically do what I think is in my own self interest. That is how they control us..they give us no choice!
Largely a resourced and politically dysfunctional organization...everyone knows I picked up the magnitude of NHDOT downsizing during my interviews with DOT officials...
 Since 1991, the DOT has reduced staff by 22 percent, or 430 positions. In that time, the amount of traffic on the roads has increased 30 percent.
Front page Concord Monitor DOT Chief: We Need Help
DOT commissioner: We need more resources
4268 miles of roads

ANNMARIE TIMMINS

Monitor staff

Tuesday, January 7, 2014
(Published in print: Wednesday, January 8, 2014)

Chris Clement, the commissioner of the state Department of Transportation, is a man who likes numbers. Just not his numbers.
He’s paving 200 fewer miles of roads a year than he’d like to. The number of “red-listed” state bridges is 145 and climbing. He’ll begin 2016 with a $48 million deficit in the highway fund. Thirty-seven percent of the state’s roads are in poor condition.
And while plenty of lawmakers say they want to finish improvements to Interstate 93, they’ve put $0 toward the $250 million bill.
Lawmakers reconvene today and will consider a few bills this session that would send more money Clement’s way, either from casino proceeds or a bump in the gas tax. The same lawmakers vetoed both ideas last year.
Since then, Clement has taken his case to the public, talking with locals in small meetings across the state and handing out 5,000 copies of his PowerPoint presentation along the way.
“I’m revenue agnostic,” Clement said in an interview with Monitor editors yesterday. “I’m not going to say (I want a) gas tax or casino. We are just presenting the needs. We are saying we have the need here and wherever the funding comes from . . . is just fine with us.”
In his Monitor interview yesterday, Clement went through his 53-page presentation, counting the ways he believes the state’s roads and bridges are dangerously deteriorating.
Clement discussed the promise he saw in last year’s gas tax bill from Rep. David Campbell, which would have increased the gas tax by 12 cents over three years, giving the DOT an additional $93 million a year – enough, Clement said, to cover the department’s immediate needs and work on I-93.
This year’s gas tax bill from Sen. Jim Rausch, a Derry Republican, would add 4 or 5 cents to the gas tax, generating $28 million a year for the DOT. If the bill passes, it would be the first increase in the gas tax – and thereby the state’s highway budget – since 1992.
But it would still fall short of what Clement argues his department needs.
“If the Legislature lets me use those funds, do I use all those funds and plug the operational hole in DOT and not fix roads and bridges and not continue (improvements on) I-93? Or do you use it toward I-93?”
Here’s what Clement wants lawmakers and the public to know about the upkeep – or lack thereof – of roads and bridges they use daily:
 Since 1991, the DOT has reduced staff by 22 percent, or 430 positions. In that time, the amount of traffic on the roads has increased 30 percent.
 The number of miles plowed in an average snowstorm would equal nine trips to Alaska and back.
 If the Legislature does not increase the DOT’s budget and Clement is left with a $48 million deficit, he will have to eliminate up to 700 positions or a combination of positions and programs.
 The number of “structurally deficient” state bridges will reach 175 by 2016. Clement said he doesn’t have the money to repair bridges and reduce that number.
 There is $500 million worth of turnpike projects that won’t be completed without more money. That includes a $195 million plan to widen I-93 in Bow and Concord.
 Thirty-seven percent of the state’s roads considered to be in “poor”condition equal the number of miles between Concord and Fargo, N.D. And the DOT is investing its limited dollars in the state’s other roads instead because it costs $50,000 a year to improve a mile of a “good” or “fair” road and $1.1 million a mile to do the same for a poor road.
 A federal program that brings the state $140 million to $150 million for road work expires in September. “If Congress doesn’t come together with another . . . program, that’s going to cause us problems,” Clement said.
 The $30 surcharge on car registrations the 2010 Legislature repealed raised $45 million for the DOT in one year.
Clement came to the DOT in 2008, initially as deputy commissioner, from private business. In his former life, numbers like these drove budget decisions. The transition to a government job has been a difficult one.
“I come into state government and I’m trying to sell the need for investment, and that’s how I look at all of this stuff, is investment . . . and it’s much more difficult because of politics. And because of the need to educate both the public, the businesses and the policymakers.”
Clement’s persistence in making his case has put him at odds with some lawmakers. That’s a risk he feels he needs to take.
“I’m not going to give up,” he said. “I’m going to keep communicating the need. I’m going to keep going out there and presenting just the facts.”
(Annmarie Timmins can be reached at 369-3323 or atimmins@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @annmarietimmins.)