Saturday, January 30, 2016

More Columbia Whistleblower

Updated 2/1

(fixed up better)
 
05000397

My early problem (VY) was picking an issue I though would motivate the officials I was communicating to. We were amidst a blizzard of big problems. I had to pick two or three problems I thought would stick. I worried if I pick my biggest concern, the suits would easily shoot it down and I would have no credibility. So I picked three issues out of hundreds or thousands.
 
1) If we had a big fire at Vermont and had to shutdown and cool the plant down remotely...we were required to prove we had a workable system for this. This came fro the Browns Ferry fire and TMI accident. The system was never even tested for the life of the plant. This system was unworkable at the plant. It still is unworkable. I call this a show system for public consumption never designed to work. It was a paper Mache safety system. In paper only  
 
2) We are required to have two operable fuel pool pumps at the plant. One is operating and the other was in standby. This is the one that captured the imagination of Vermont and Gov Kunin. One pump was damaged with a shorting motor. We were required to shutdown the plant in a month if they couldn't fix the broken pump. We were out a year and the pumps was still broken. We operated another year with NRC permission. It bother all the employees we were openly violating the NRC rules and it was acceptable to the NRC. This particularly perturbed Vermont. We always knew Vermont was a paper tiger at the plant. The Vermont nuclear engineer couldn't even come on to the site without permission and scheduled visit. We always scoffed on how stupid Vermont was? 
This concern were designed for this. VY was supposed to keep the state up to date with all safety components that had problems and off normal conditions. Vermont thought they violated this voluntary agreement. Vermont Yankee and Vermont then wrote up a memoranda of understanding with interaction of each other. Vermont never had to play  the "mother may I" game ever again. You get it, the issue was always about a greater policy issue. 
3) Fix and understand our massive fuel failure problem.          
 
 It is a horrible situation to be in, when all the organizations around you are brain dead. Your group, the state and Feds, the news organization itself...it is a horrific situation to be in. Washington state has a much higher nuclear related economic percentage than Vermont. So the head winds are much more severe than my situation. Many more jobs are on the line. 

People think reporters and the media are liberal leaning. The retail, local business establish  and corporations are the guys who pays the freight mostly with the new media. These guys are predominantly teabagger republicans. They think we are all mushrooms. Insiders know it is just the opposite the news media is liberalism.  It comes to the point when you see all your issues(nuclear power)in your letters as being expressed through individual and corporate lens. They will put their own spin for their own reason on your issues. The media is hyper circulation sensitive. The news media is particular afraid of expensive legal suits. The pro nuclear forces have a huge infrastructure. So these forces can create a expensive legal suit independent of the facts for a struggling newspaper. The newspaper people are basically ignorant about nuclear plant issues, so they can't understand the risk of publishing your concern. Their ignorance translates they fear a legal risk...so they won't publish your issues.

These corporate structures like a nuclear plant are wizards at not putting on paper the shortcuts and risk they take for profits...their vulnerabilities. They got a pretty big infrastructure for that. I'd get pretty frustrated over the newspaper idiots. These reporter idiots would whisper in my ears translated into, we would never trust you,(they thought I was a idiot)you got to steal documents from the plant order for us to publish your issue. That is when I start spiting and screaming into their faces. I'd tell them with my intelligence, I am the guy who forces the plant bureaucracy to write the documents you want me later to steal. My fundament job here with you reporters is to force my organization and the feds...to cause the bureaucracy to document the known secrets, risk and vulnerabilities they are all afraid to put in paperwork. You just got to get over it, everyone hates you. This really is a deep corporatized system at all levels. It's the 1 percenters against everyone else. What you are doing is uses power and influence on your own accord. On a fundamental psychological level with the bottom-mid level people like reporters and outside people...your are upsetting the corporatized apple cart. Everyone realizes(outside your plant) in their own endeavors, a whistleblower could justly and unjustly disconnect them and their family from their income stream by expressing a secret truth everyone already knows. The good life could be over. You make everyone nervous by using power for your own reason. So there might be a façade people who shallowly admire whistleblowers and truth tellers...but in 99% of their minds everyone hates you. Believe me, just by getting these truths out to the all, whether successful or a grand failure... your life, what is in your head, will never be the same again. There is no going back. Most people get use to or are content with just being rock no boat. 

***I am going to tell what is going to haunt you for the rest of your lives being a ex whistleblower. I don't think you can ever undo being a whistleblower, the mental disease is irreversible. Going into this thing you think its the 1%ers or corporatist. It is the elites selfishness and narrow-mindedness. Post whistleblower, you are going to know its the multitudes who knew what was going on and didn't have the fortitude to act on what they knew. It was your blood brothers and sisters buddies who you worked with for years and decades who are the root culprits. You will see this same theme being played out for the rest of your life. You will be among the few who see the magnitude of our problem. You will be fighting losing battles for the rest of your life. It is the multitudes whose souls that are spoiled. God or the universe has chosen you to fight losing battles for the rest of your life. If you are carefully self reflecting on your life's history, you will see your soul as spoiled as any of your brothers and sister in the multitudes. Maybe even much more worst. It huge income stream at VY I was worst. One day I just woke up. Your first cry to outsiders for help was when the train jumped the tracts permanently. I can not overstate this....it is a massively transformative point in your life. Nobody will understand you for the rest of your life. Everyone is going to hate you for the rest of your life because you are unnerve everyone's so called stability. From now on, when the multitude see you, your will become a mirror. You will remind people they lead their lives on leash and they are enslaved. You will always carry a wisp freedom most people don't have...they will be jealous of it and it will always unnerve their slavish existence. Everybody will deeply and psychologically always hate you for the rest of your life. You will be forever reflecting back to the multitudes the world woes. 
The God that I know is perfect and ever loving.
The body and soul who houses me is weak and insecure.                                                    
The problem with new whistleblowers is they can't imagine how future events will psychologically affect them. So after years of the system ignoring them, they realized the power they really got. It goes to their heads. I have to the power to change any event I want. This stuff is terrifically addicting.
*********** 
  • These events are traumatizing the whole staff.
  • When I was a active anonymous whistleblower at VY, they affectionately called me the anonymous alligator. We all had a wicked sense of humor.  They would talk about me right in front of me. They didn't know who I was.
  • We had in plant newspaper...the plant of the day. Everyone, even when plant management was around, would kid the "plan of the day" is junk. If we what to really want to find out what's going on at the site, we'd read the Brattleboro Reformer. The newspaper is more up to date and accurate than  plant communication and the plan of the day. 

  • Everyone at the plant was excessively talking about the whistleblower especially in the highly technical cohesive jobs. The site becomes consumed by the speculation if issues were being driven by the whistleblower. I got blamed for a lot things I didn't do and they all missed the big things I was involved in. I even had to admit I was becoming a distraction to safe plant operation.

  • If there is a wiff of knowing who the whistleblowers are... other employees will go the whistleblower hoping he will fix their problem. I had security guard come to me with their problems. Upper management put me under special watch  by the security guards, they figured out I was the whistleblower. I reformed the security department over these secrets. Got a expensive main security gate house replaced and they brought a knew security vendor to come in a run the plant over our secrets.
  • Lets say a middle manager is angling for the job his boss has. He'd come to me with dirty linen on the boss hoping I could take him out. I took out a few  executives this way. A middle manage would have a grudge on his boss, he'd come to me with dirty linen hoping to settle scores.
  • I had a scandalous issue with a operation big wig. Had him dead to rights. This guy railed about the enemy whistleblower. I knew his family and kids. I had his career in my hands. I withheld my fire on him. It is my big regret at the plant. I should have immediately called a news conference.
  • You get it. I eventually filed six whistleblower lawsuits. In the pretrial hearings, they disputed all the prior issues I was involved in. We was looking to gain my credibility. I wish I could get a do over.  They either said they never got my message or the issues was created by somebody else. Where is you proof? You got to find a way document everything with court level quality.     

  • Our cell phones and modern internet connections...our new interconnectedness....goggle, yahoo, blogging and cell phone pictures ...I don't have that in 1992. These miracles with new technologies confer a lot of power to the whistleblower in you know how to leverage it.
  • "Energy Northwest officials have signed non-disclosure agreements and are ethically and legally bound to uphold them, said Energy Northwest spokesman John Dobken."
The above from management is a direct attempt to intimidate the employees through the newspaper. You see the conundrum management is in, if Columbia doesn't enforce the non-disclosure agreement then this legal document become nothing more than paper. Maybe the employees can talk to outsiders without fear of management.




January 29, 2016 7:23 PM
Energy Northwest board hires independent investigator

Unsigned letter says unsatisfactory performance of Richland nuclear plant being hidden Energy Northwest official says letter’s allegations lack context Executive board says results of independent investigation will be made public



By Annette Cary
The Energy Northwest executive board is hiring an outside attorney to investigate allegations in unsigned letters sent in the past few weeks to some board members. The letters allege information about sub-par performance of the nuclear power plant near Richland is being hidden from Energy Northwest governing boards, employees and the
This is from one scared employee trying to encapsulate the feeling  of  his buddy employees. He know all the other employees are too terrified with losing their jobs.
public.  Although unsigned, the letters say they are from a group of unnamed Energy Northwest employees. “The executive board takes this matter very seriously,” said Sid Morrison, executive board chairman, in a letter sent to employees Thursday.
Operations at the Columbia Generating Station compare poorly to many of the other 98 commercial nuclear power plants in the nation, the letters allege, based on rankings prepared by the nonprofit Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, or INPO.Energy Northwest is a public agency, but it does not release INPO ratings. It says that all nuclear plants agree that INPO measures are proprietary to ensure the free flow of information among the owners of the reactors.
Energy Northwest officials have signed non-disclosure agreements and are ethically and legally bound to uphold them, said Energy Northwest spokesman John Dobken.We have seen a steady decline of the index with a return to low levels.Unsigned letterThe first letter, which is not dated, reminds board members that Energy Northwest was rated as one of two nuclear plants in the nation in greatest need of operational and human performance improvement in 2010.
Its INPO index rating improved as a new leadership team, headed by Mark Reddemann, was put to work. However, the improvement was not sustained, the letter said.“We have seen a steady decline of the index with a return to low levels,” the letter said, adding that the plant has ranked in the bottom 25 of the nation’s 99 operating commercial reactors since the end of July.That coincides with the conclusion of a refueling outage that was planned to be longer than usual. Energy Northwest’s intent was to improve productivity long-term, but the longer outage would reduce productivity short-term.However, the outage had unanticipated consequences. It lasted longer than planned, and the plant was operated at reduced power for several weeks after the outage as a stuck valve was repaired. Index points also were lost because of worker exposure to radiation.By September, the plant’s INPO rating had dropped to the 85th worst in the nation, the letter said.
Three months later, employees were told it then was ranked among the bottom 25 plants because of two pinhole fuel leaks discovered in the fall, according to the letter.The letter accuses management of keeping the plant online at all costs, pointing to the decision to continue operating at 65 percent power during the valve repair. Unwanted material that got into the reactor core during the valve repair may have been responsible for the pinhole leaks.Letter alleges $35,000 Nuclear Regulatory Commission fine stemmed from two guards taking nude photos while on duty.The letter also addressed the $35,000 fine Energy Northwest paid the Nuclear Regulatory commission, which was unrelated to the outage. The fine was paid after two security officers were found to be inattentive at their posts. The letter said the guards were taking nude photos while on duty.It also alleged that a security officer was playing a geocaching game on duty. Gamers were invited to attempt to enter a controlled area for the nuclear plant via an online game app.In another incident, a contractor employee fell from a ladder at the Energy Northwest Industrial Development Complex, suffering multiple broken bones and requiring a stay at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Energy Northwest had been touting a safety record of millions of hours without a lost-time accident. It then switched to touting millions of hours without a lost-time accident at Columbia Generating Station, missing an opportunity to let the organization learn from the accident, the letter said.The second, brief letter said that no improvements had been made.The message from management is that the INPO index score does not matter because the plant is producing so much electricity, the letter said. However, the letter alleged that all but seven commercial nuclear plants are better producers based on how close they come to producing at their full capacity.The outage gained us 30 more megawatts, which means Columbia’s cost of power is now even lower.John Dobken, Energy Northwest spokesmanThe performance data included in the letter does not provide full context, Dobken said. The nuclear industry uses hundreds of measures, from maintenance backlogs to collective radiation exposure to generation targets, he said.The outage gained the plant 30 more megawatts of generation capacity, which lowers the cost of power production, Dobken said. In December the plant, operating at 100 percent capacity, produced more power than any other month in its 31-year history.Before the refueling outage, the Columbia Generating Station had generated power for 683 straight days, a goal that only about 5 percent of nuclear plants achieve. “It speaks volumes to equipment reliability,” Dobken said.After the outage, the plant has operated continuously for more than 200 days. The industry-recognized milestone for continuous operation after an outage is 150 days, he said.
In addition, the plant set a new safety record for an outage with no recordable injuries by Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards.The collective radiation dose to workers during the outage was higher than anticipated, however, after checks of piping led to a decision to remove some contaminated pipes. The collective dose to workers was still well below federal safety limits, according to Energy Northwest.
The plant is meeting all Nuclear Regulatory Commission performance goals, and overall has no significant performance issues from the NRC’s perspective, said Victor Dricks, NRC spokesman. It is among 92 of 99 plants that receive the lowest level of inspection because it has no significant performance issues.The plant rolled out a performance improvement plan in 2011.“Resident inspectors have seen improvement in the areas of human performance, work planning and risk management,” Dricks said.
However, the plant’s corrective action program continues to have room for improvement and is a focus of the NRC, he said.We unanimously decided to hire an outside attorney who will independently investigate the charges.Sid Morrison, Energy Northwest executive board chairmanThe board discussed the letters this week in a closed session in Lacey. The senior leadership team of Energy Northwest had a chance to discuss the issues with the board, then the board met without them in the room, according to the letter sent to employees.A unanimous decision was made to hire an attorney to investigate and to publicly share the results of the investigation, the letter said.“We intend to accomplish these actions in a reasonably timely manner, balancing a proper sense of urgency that recognizes the seriousness of the concerns, with our commitment to ensure a full and thorough review of all the issues,” the letter said.
The process the board will follow underscores Energy Northwest’s commitment to give employees the right to bring forward concerns with confidence their concerns will be addressed, the letter said.The decision to hire an attorney to investigate should not be seen as validation of the issues raised in the letters, but the issues should be taken seriously, Dobken said.Chuck Johnson, representing Oregon and Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, attended the Lacey meeting and said he was encouraged that the board took the letter as seriously as it did.“I hope they will hire someone who truly is independent, who is grounded in nuclear power knowledge,” he said.

Friday, January 29, 2016

New Power Line Going In Hinsdale, NH

Update 2/1
 
There is two distribution lines along the right away.
 
I know from the Winchester substation they are connecting a new three phase line to the local plain road line. They are making all the lines on Plain and Monument Road (the guys that powers our houses) three phase distribution lines. We have reliability problems, the linemen say they put it in the bolster reliability. We now only have two phase. Big motors and loads favor three phase power. That is called economic development along Plain and Monument Road. Large businesses need three phase lines. I wonder if this is for the new solar site at the empty industrial site on Monument Road? Now if you could only get large load three phase electricity for the race track site.    
 
So why is giant NU building a power line in Hinsdale? Are they planning to transmit traitorous Canadian power to Boston. This property is a old abandoned line right-away before VY. I think this ended in Greenfield Ma. 
 
 
***The red circled area is the new multimillion dollar high voltage transmission switchyard just north of the shuttered Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. The red lined mark is the right of way for the new transmission or distribution line. The broken yellow line is the railroad bike trail. This little forested area and Stebbins Island is called "HEAVEN". I bike this area incessantly. It is where I meet and feel my "God" all the time.   

I am thinking they might be running a line from the new Vermont switchyard south through VY property, down to the Vernon dam, and then across the connecticut river connecting to the new Hinsdale line. I imagine the line is heading out west east past the railroad bed bike trail. I am extremely pro transmission or distribution power line anywhere including high voltage.      


1)
2)
Hinsdale-Brattleboro Bridge Angel   
From:
Michael Mulligan <steamshovel2002@yahoo.com>
To: mfoley@keenesentinel.com      
June 29, 2013 
7:37 PM

Meghan,


I felt when you contacted me yesterday you where telegraphing to me an article you had written was coming out in the near future. Was that article the Brattleboro-Hinsdale Bridge? Politics in NH is completely broken and its harming the weak, sick and poor the most. It’s all controlled by government hating teabaggers republicans. But Hinsdale has shifted to the democrats in recent years. Go back in your the Keene Sentinel documents around 2000. Your newspaper helped me bankrupt the fourth largest paper mill corporation in the USA (American Tissue). I put out of business the Winchester NH paper mill. I harmed many towns in upper NH (Berlin) and threw out of work about 10,000 people. You ought to ask me someday why being a monster was worth it. The Winchester paper mill Ashuelot River pollution project turned into a $500 million dollar bank fraud case. The NHDES was corrupt as hell.

I updated my blog on the Hinsdale NH-Brattleboro project for you. That project and pictures of underneath the bridge are all documented on my blog. The NHDOT today is just as funding starved and corrupted at the 1998-2000 NHDES. We have been to this exact position as today with the possible replacement of the bridge at least three times in the past. The NH legislature then delayed it for decades at a time each time. You happy people are just so naïve with what is going on all around us.
http://steamshovel2002.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-hinsdale-nh-police-station-kangaroo.html

“The Hinsdale NH Police Station Kangaroo Court”

This is where that ne power line is going in.
http://steamshovel2002.blogspot.com/2016/01/new-power-line-going-in-hinsdale-nh.html

“New Power Line Going In Hinsdale, NH”  
I love the USA with all my heart. I know we live in the best nation on the planet and we are extraordinarily privileged to be living here. Government at the local, state and federal level is invaluable and leverages power from the wealthy/ powerful to the weak and poor. I am nonviolent and haven’t owned guns for over thirty years. People who own guns are cowards. I strongly feel its ok for the police and military to carry guns. I am pro police and I have strenuously advocated on much more funding and training for my town’s police department.

The Hinsdale NH Police Station Kangaroo Court

I gave the spark in the heads of all of the interviewed people in this article. I protested over four years at the this bridge. I was the bridge angel for four years.  Yet I never got interviewed. We've always been disappointed with how little the Keene Sentinel kept up with Hinsdale NH.

By the way, the Hinsdale police department tried to arrest me over a bum court arrest warrant over a court appearance during those times. I had cleared the warrant and the police didn't know it. Anyways, since then, the police and me have only had positive interactions.  
Hinsdale-Brattleboro bridge project could begin earlier than planned
Posted: Friday, January 29, 2016 12:00 pm
Hinsdale-Brattleboro bridge project could begin earlier than planned By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff SentinelSource.com
HINSDALE — The two bridges that allow thousands of cars to cross the Connecticut River between Hinsdale and downtown Brattleboro could be due for a replacement two years ahead of schedule.
A draft of the N.H. Department of Transportation’s 10-year transportation improvement plan for 2017-26 has moved the start date for construction of a new bridge — a single span that will replace both of the old bridges — up two years, to 2019. The start date in the 2015-24 plan had been 2021.

The project’s total cost is estimated at about $46.3 million, according to the draft 2017-26 plan, and at least the New Hampshire portion is expected to be paid for with federal highway funds.
It would also include leaving the existing bridges in place for pedestrian and bicycle use.
The border of New Hampshire and Vermont is the high-water mark on the Vermont side of the Connecticut River.
The existing two bridges, named after Charles Dana and Anna Hunt Marsh, were built in 1920 and rehabilitated in 1988, even though there were discussions at the time about replacing them. The Pennsylvania truss-style bridges connect Hinsdale to Brattleboro via Hinsdale Island, and carry thousands of vehicles per day.
State highway officials classify the narrow bridges as functionally obsolete, which means they’re outdated, don’t meet current design standards and have height and weight restrictions.
Hinsdale Selectmen Chairman Michael J. Darcy said Thursday that the town’s long-time residents who are now in their 70s and 80s are among the most excited about the possibility of a new bridge finally being built.
“They have all said basically the same thing to me — ‘I was told 30 years ago there’d be a new bridge; now I might actually get to see it,’ “ Darcy said.
Meanwhile, up the river, there is no time frame from when the Vilas Bridge, which connects Walpole to Bellows Falls, would be repaired and reopened.
That bridge, which was built in 1930, has been closed to vehicles and pedestrians since March 2009 after it failed a safety inspection.
“Due to financial constraints and the close proximity of nearby Arch Bridge, the Vilas Bridge is not a priority in New Hampshire as reflected by the current and draft Ten Year Plans,” William H. Boynton, public information officer for the N.H. Department of Transportation, said in an email Thursday afternoon.
As for the Hinsdale-Brattleboro bridge project, preliminary engineering is scheduled to begin this year, according to the previously approved 2015-24 transportation improvement plan. Under the new plan, if approved, preliminary engineering for the project would continue in 2017 and 2018, and construction would take place from 2019-2022, with Vermont paying for a portion of that work.
N.H. Gov. Maggie Hassan submitted the draft of the 2017-26 plan earlier this month to the N.H. Legislature after receiving recommendations from the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Intermodal Transportation in December.
Project Manager Donald Lyford said the current proposal is to build a new bridge connecting Hinsdale and Brattleboro downstream of the existing two bridges.
“Moving the roadway downstream provides the best opportunity to build the roadway over the railroad on the Vermont side,” he said.
A long time coming
A project to replace the bridges has been included in the state’s transportation improvement plan since fiscal year 1994. However, it was bumped from the 2013-22 plan because of lack of funding before being put back in the 2015-24 plan.
Discussion about replacing the bridges goes back even further, to the 1970s and ’80s.
Darcy said that during the past five years, Hinsdale officials have advocated strongly for a new bridge, and have received support from the area’s elected officials in the N.H. Legislature and Executive Council, which contributed to the project being moved up on the 10-year plan.
In advocating for the project, Darcy said he and other local officials have been saying a new, modern bridge is crucial to the safety of residents and to local economic development. They reiterated those concerns, as well as the importance of continuing to foster the relationship between the Hinsdale and Brattleboro communities, during public hearings last year about the 10-year plan, he said.
“I spoke a lot about the shared community we have with Brattleboro. The loss of those bridges would mean we would lose the community and everything that entailed,” he said.
About 8,000 to 9,000 vehicles per day cross the bridges, carrying people who work on the opposite side of the river from where they live, Hinsdale students attending the Windham Regional Career Center, emergency responders and others, he said. There are also people who come from Vermont to shop in New Hampshire.
Medical services for most Hinsdale residents are in Brattleboro, as well as the ambulance service the town contracts with, Darcy said.
Complicating the safety problem, the bridge ends on the Vermont side in an area called “Malfunction Junction,” a complicated intersection with an active railroad line. Moving the bridge farther south would create less congestion in that part of downtown Brattleboro.
Darcy said the state representatives and senator covering the town, and N.H. Executive Council Colin Van Ostern, have been very supportive of the project.
Van Ostern said the bridges are very old and in a very bad state and “replacing them is critical for economic development and public safety.”
In many ways, Interstate 91 in Vermont is as important to the western part of New Hampshire as Interstate 93 is to the central and Seacoast regions of the state, he said.
State Rep. Michael D. Abbott, D-Hinsdale, said Thursday that while the placement of the bridge project in the draft 10-year plan is good news, it won’t become a reality until it’s approved by the N.H. Legislature later this year.
In the meantime, he said, he plans to do his best to “baby-sit” it through the process so that it’s part of the approved plan.
Meghan Foley can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or mfoley@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MFoleyKS.
Reposting again from June 11, 2014 

Moving this up so people can make a complete evaluation on their own...

I wasn't mad at getting arrested, I should have been arrested. I was furious with all the serous class A charges and the felony.

June 13 update: This might help me sound not so crazy. Two hundred and sixty one days later from from my action we get this: 
Hinsdale-to-Brattleboro bridges get new sidewalks
May 10 :HINSDALE, N.H. -- The New Hampshire Department of Transportation has replaced the sidewalks of the two bridges linking Brattleboro, Vt., to Hinsdale.
NHDOT Public Information Officer Bill Boynton told the Reformer his department's bridge maintenance crews inspect the wooden sidewalk planks on an annual basis and replace the ones that are in poor condition. He said the sidewalks on the Hinsdale bridges have not been completely rehabilitated since 1987 and wooden sidewalks typically have much shorter lifespans than the ones replaced. Boynton said the work was completed on May and the estimated cost is $24,000.
The renovation did not go unnoticed by Hinsdale resident Mike Mulligan, who is known for his public demonstrations aimed at drawing attention to the bridges and their deterioration.
"Isn't that kind of amazing?" he said Friday about the new sidewalks, though he still thinks it will still be a long time before the new bridge becomes a reality. He said he hopes the refurbishment will have a ripple effect and speed up the bridges' replacement.
Mulligan was arrested during the summer for allegedly pulling up the wooden planks of the sidewalk on the Charles Dana Bridge. Mulligan said he did so because some of the boards were loose. On Feb. 26, he reached a plea deal and agreed to pay a $1,000 fine, plus a $240 penalty assessment, if he cannot pay $1,253.76 in restitution within a year for damage he caused to the portion of the Charles Dana Bridge designated for pedestrians. In exchange for pleading guilty to one misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief, he must also avoid going within 100 feet of that structure or the Anna Hunt Marsh Bridge, except for routine travel without stopping, or risk the fine and penalty assessment.
He was originally charged with reckless conduct, disorderly conduct, and two counts of criminal mischief. He also received a ticket for littering.
The two structures that connected Brattleboro to Hinsdale are Pennsylvania truss bridges built in 1920. The Anna Hunt Marsh Bridge connects Brattleboro to Hinsdale Island, which is connected to Hinsdale by the Charles Dana Bridge. JB Mack, the principal planner for the Southwest Region Planning Commission, has told the Reformer federal highway standards dictate the bridges are too narrow and have insufficient weight limits and vertical clearances. They are considered "functionally obsolete."
Currently, all ambulances and other emergency services exiting Hinsdale must cross both existing bridges and risk being stopped by the railroad tracks on the Vermont side. There is now a plan to replace the structures with one that will begin near the stop light at the former Walmart location in Hinsdale, span the Connecticut River, the southern portion of Hinsdale Island and the Merrill Gas Company tank farm on Vernon Road and before touching down near Brattleboro's "malfunction junction." Under the current plan, referred to as Alternative F, the Anna Hunt Marsh and Charles Dana bridges will be rehabilitated and preserved for pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The new bridge would result in minimal changes to existing land uses, according to a draft environmental assessment, and the potential for indirect growth impact and project-related growth impacts is also minimal. The assessment also says no agricultural lands would be affected by construction of Alternative F, which was chosen as the best plan.
The project will reportedly be funded by the Federal Highway Administration.
Originally post in August 2013

The inaccuracies in this article are: I never scraped off any rust from the bridge. I just collect it after it all falls to the ground. You could go collect your own ten pound of rust on the ground if you want...
You notice, the police get their take on what happened and why, I can’t get my take on why I shut down the bridge walkway on the record...
I thanked the reportor for writting this...




By DOMENIC POLI / Reformer Staff
Posted: 08/06/2013 03:00:00 AM EDT | Updated: about 10 hours ago
Tuesday August 6, 2013
HINSDALE, N.H. -- A local man familiar to area residents for his public demonstrations against the two bridges linking the town to Vermont was cited for allegedly causing damage to the pedestrian portion of one of them Friday.
Michael Mulligan, 60, was cited with reckless conduct, disorderly conduct, criminal mischief and littering, according to Hinsdale Police Lt. David Eldridge. Reckless conduct is a felony.
Mulligan was released on $5,000 personal recognizance and is scheduled to be arraigned in 8th Circuit Court District Division in Keene on Thursday, Oct. 3.
Eldridge said part of Mulligan's bail conditions mandate that he not walk within a mile of either side of the Charles Dana Bridge or stop any vehicle within 100 yards of it. The lieutenant said witnesses saw Mulligan pulling up some of the bridge's boards.
Mulligan's arrest came one day after he appeared at a public meeting hosted by the Federal Highway Administration, the New Hampshire Department of Transportation and the Vermont Agency of Transportation. The meeting, held in the Brattleboro Union High School Multipurpose Room, was held to discuss the draft environmental assessment that had been released and was used to gauge local support for a project to rehabilitate the Charles Dana and Anna Hunt Marsh bridges and construct a new one to span over the nearby railroad tracks in Brattleboro and touch down near the stop light at the former Walmart location.
Mulligan, who brought with him pieces of rust he had chipped off the bridges, said he feels the environmental assessment contains gross inaccuracies and said he fears the bridges are in danger of collapsing. He said the assessment overestimates "by many magnitudes" the bridge's integrity, even though those who put together the assessment consider it "functionally obsolete."
Mulligan, wearing a homemade halo, also referenced movies in which an angel lurks near a bridge before it collapses and said he is that angel for the Charles Dana and Anna Hunt Marsh bridges.
Domenic Poli can be reached at dpoli@reformer.com, or 802-254-2311, ext. 277. You can follow him on Twitter @dpoli_reformer.
From: Michael Mulligan
To: W Kassotis
Sent: Tuesday, August 6, 2013 3:40 PM
Subject: Re: Public Transpotaton and a Walkway?
Officer Kassotis,
As you know, went to the bridges last night to perform my inspection of the recent work on them. It is the old half ass NHDOT. They didn’t use the proper techniques to discover all the not attached boards to the bridge. There is a ton of dangerous not attached boards on the east side of the Hinsdale bridge...lots more on the west side of the Hinsdale bridge.
I followed all my bail requirements. On the way back, I was almost overcome with a powerful urge to stop my bike and begin hucking more loose planks into the drink. The only thing that stopped me was I forget to bring my camera. I couldn’t huck planks into the water unless I could get the pictures to prove to you that I am guilty.

Anyways, we are close to pretrial disclosures....
I think Dick Tracy blew up Hinsdale's case against me. Basically, a political hack ordered or requested Dick to perform pretrial extracurricular court justice to me. We think it is the tip of the iceberg with corrupt court employees acting and being controlled by outside people. We think the courts hire people with poor integrity as a manner to appease powerful political local and state people of influence. How can I expect a fair trial if the courts and its employees are proven not trustworthy?
Here is a quote from my blog:
"You get it. Court employee Dick Tracy was punishing me...this was intentional. You get it, a local Hinsdale political hack with widespread state influence could order his court lackey employee in an off system court extracurricular manner to punish me for my alleged crimes. What are my crimes, I know the value and preciousness of human life?
The hack with the court’s permission becomes the judge and jury to me without a trial in a bail proceeding process.
The selectman pressuring the police chief to act in an illegal manner...
These are dark days in the Keene Courts..."
So I will be looking for all police documents relating to mike Mulligan and any incident associated with the Hinsdale/ Brat bridge since Jan 1 2011. All accident and incident reported about the bridge in the last ten years. All documents including the prosecutors, all notes, documents, investigations, emails, voice, cell, video...everything I can’t see. All witness statements and legal Analysis.. All communications between the police, selectman, the courts and Dick Tracy, and other town official associated with the bridge and me.
Going to have to do interviews with all the police officers and management including the police chief. Same for the selectman.
911
All NHDOT documents, communication and reports concerning the bridges, plus people interviews?
Going to have to set up a meeting with the prosecutor?
I am declaring I am representing myself in Court.
Could you get me the prosecutors name and telephone number please?
Mike

You get it. Court emplyee Dick Tracy was punishing me...this was intentional. You get it, a local Hinsdale political hack with widespread state influence could order his court lackey employee in an off system court extracurricular manner to punish me for my alleged crimes. What are my crimes, I know the value and preciousness of human life?
The hack with the court’s permission becomes the judge and jury to me without a trial in a bail proceeding process.  
The selectman pressuring the police chief to act in an illegal manner...
These are dark days in the Keene Courts...
From: W Kassotis
To: Michael Mulligan
Sent: Tuesday, August 6, 2013 1:31 AM
Subject: Re: Public Transpotaton and a Walkway?

I just looked at the bail paperwork and I see where it was checked that
you can not drive until you are restored by MV. Your license is active and
valid, it is not suspended so you do not have to worry about that.

I am still waiting for answers on your other question and will let you
know as soon as I hear

Thanks
The Hinsdale police department knowingly charged me with a obscenely inappropriate felony charge...even the class A was severely inappropriate. All this was, in the aim as the ends of putting to a stop my Constitution Rights to warn the public they are at  massively increasing risk with using these bridges.

And don't you dare destroy the "voice and video recording " of this interview!
I am just saying, if the police and prosecutors could gild the charges and accounts of the walkway...how could you not think this was going on in a widespread manner? How could you not think there was widespread court, police and prosecutorial misconduct going in our area? Somebody taught them how to do this?  
How could you trust the integrity of these guys...I wouldn’t trust any legal cases these guys had their fingers on in the last two years.
...Easy Does It wrote: Your lawyer will bargain it back down to a misdemeanor. If I were you, I wouldn't touch any more bridge planks!
Right, you are saying play it safe...don’t jump in the burning building with the intent to save precious human life. Don't you dare go through that no trespassing sign to save lives!

That ain’t me man, I am going to be running "towards" the bullets of that mad man Jared Lee Loughner…

No, the police and prosecutors can't file false and inaccurate charges on you just as a bargaining chip or to pre-set bail conditions...

That ain't democracy!

They do that over in Russia and China...not in an open democracy.

Our bridges aren’t the only thing here busted!
...This is the Felony!
Count One: RSA 634.2 
…“Having no right to do so nor any reasonable basis to believe that he has such a right, he purposely damaged the walkway part of the bridge locate on route 119 linking Hinsdale NH to Brattleboro Vermont by purposely removing the walkway boards with a crow bar causing substantial interruption or impairment of public transportation"…
...From: Michael Mulligan
To: "wkassotis@pd.hinsdale.nh.gov"
Sent: Monday, August 5, 2013 3:14 PM
Subject: Public Transpotaton and a Walkway? 

Public Transportation and a Walkway
They constitutes vastly different usage and the potential of the people involved.
The walkway has maybe 20 people a day using it, while the road bed 10,000 vehicles. Three people in a car on average gets you to 30,000 people per day.
The walkway mostly has sightseers, while the road bed has general commerce and public business, such as employment, shopping and appointments of all sorts.
How can it be the same crime and punishment with legislative intent?
Mike
...Bail Commissioner Dick Tracy

“Justice/Bail Commissioner”... this was under his signature. 


...The isn't just bail conditions...this pretrial incarceration and punishment, just as if the judge has already ruled on my case without hearing my side

...To the police and prosecutor:

“Aug 4: "That was a perfect arrest to me this Friday...thank you and your partner for being so decent to me.

As I told you guys in the police station, I am in love with our Constitution and we live in the best nation on the face of the planet.

I also said the police are my heroes and they will always be! Believe me around here, I am one of the few people who understands how really important our government is. I’d seen it every day while I was on the bridge!

As far as the bail bondsmen...that is a different story. Once I’d seen the restriction with staying away from bridge for a mile, I was contemplating the consequences of my life for a few seconds with not signing the conditions of getting bail. He angrily said, “either sign the documents right now or go to jail.” He was trying to provoke an emotional incident in the police station out of me. I didn’t say anything to him in response. This was so unprofessional and disrespectful to me. He is a long term resident in Hinsdale once and does he still live in town? Why was he so mean? Why wasn’t he like you guys?

Would you please pass this note onto the prosecutor?"


 * * * 
I am telling you guys, I am a kind of person you have never dealt with before. I am highly skilled in my crafts.  

...I had yet to look at my police paperwork.

I didn't know I was charged with a felony, nor
did I know I couldn't drive my car. I was afraid and too upset to look at the paperwork.
...The “Justice/Bail Commissioner”, well known Dick Tracy, who was a good old boy Hinsdale insider... He and his family owned the old Hinsdale downtown True Value hardware store. It went out of business. He has a lot of connection to the big players in Hinsdale and I'll bet you that is how he got his current court job?

...From: Michael Mulligan
To: "wkassotis@pd.hinsdale.nh .gov"
Sent: Sunday, August 4, 2013 8:27 PM
Subject: Re: Hinsdale Bridge Walkway

Officer Kassotis,

Is is obvious I came into the police station originally with one violation and four class A misdemeanors before you disclosed it to me. I think the bail bondmen called your police buddy out of the office for a discussion on my charges-class-felony. It could have been you...i was nervous, my brain wasn't fully recording events. Within seconds of this special conversation request, I asked to go use the bathroom...somebody directed me to the bathroom. The bathroom was within feet of the police-bail bondsmen conversation.

In the bathroom, I overheard the private conversation between my Dick Tracy and the police officer. I heard the police officer and bail bondsmen discussing the nature of the my complaints. I heard Mr. Tracy say something like,“I am not coming out here for nothing with just class A misdemeanors“. I know it was about a discussion with one class A changed to a felony.

Was it the bail bondman’s setting the nature of the my charges from a class A to a felony, not the police or prosecutor? Was it the bail bondman setting the condition of my release?

Why was the class A changed into a felony on the spot with a bail bondman private conversation?

Why did the police originally mark it a class A on the ticket and then change it to a felony?

What was the implications if I had a no higher than a class A to my release?

What was the motive for this change?

The Hinsdale police and Keene Court owes me an explanation with this police and court bondmen conversation…"

....From: Michael Mulligan
To: "wkassotis@pd.hinsdale.nh .gov"
Sent: Monday, August 5, 2013 10:02 AM
Subject: Re: Hinsdale Bridge Walkway


You guys (police) didn’t know I had my driving privilege revoked.

Honestly, how smart is this....

You guys set me up to get arrested with not having a valid driving license (by not openly discussing this with me last Friday at the police station)...

Driving privilege revoked and:

“Shall not stop at the Hinsdale Bridge within one hundred yards and shall not get out of the car within one mile.”

(confidential information)

There is grave wrong doing going on here.

As you know, I wasn’t verbally notified by the police officers or the bail bondsman that my driving privileges had been revoked last Friday? I just noticed it today. I am wondering if you (police) knew of these conditions. It is a common condition for a person to be nervous as heck with a arrest and not reading the paperwork he signed...you guys know this. This is why you verbally explain the conditions and then write them down for me.

This was all about that private meeting with the bail bondsman and upping my charges to felony?"

...From: Michael Mulligan
To: "wkassotis@pd.hinsdale.nh .gov"
Sent: Monday, August 5, 2013 10:16 AM
Subject: Re: Hinsdale Bridge Walkway

Just so everything stays accurate...

You never questioned me about my transportation means?

Both (event)#1 and #2 occurred by bicycle...
#1 I removed loose boards, took pictures…replace those boards. Went to the police station, shown pictures to the lieutenant…made an official complaint to chief by the lieutenant that walkway was unsafe. I showed a picture to the lieutenant of a huge dangerous hole in the walkway over the Connecticut River. He didn’t know that the planks had been replaced me?

#2 Next day I remove those loose boards and hucked them over the side. Along with substantial safety barriers are both sides. It should be noted the NHDOT was using my safety barriers at both end in the morning when they were working on the bridge. And I called 911 at 9:00 pm to get the police to put up their police tape for the night.  
...From: Michael Mulligan
To: "wkassotis@pd.hinsdale.nh .gov"
Sent: Monday, August 5, 2013 11:17 AM
Subject: Re: Hinsdale Bridge Walkwalk

Again, for accuracy’s sake:

You told my distraught wife at my house upon my arrest all mike has is misdemeanors and with $40 bucks he will be immediately released. You never told her I had a felony!

All you did is hand me those tickets...complaints. You never went over those charges point by point like I would expect out of a professional police force with a sensitive town and region wide case.

I was never verbally notified that I was charged with a felony or a driving restriction in the police station...but you told me clearly my 500 feet and one mile restrictions. I believe at one point you told me they were all misdemeanors...but I am not 100% confident about this memory.

You verbally went over the 500 feet and one mile...the bail bondsmen repeated it, and I had follow up questions in the police station because I was confused about the 500 feet and one mile restriction. I wanted to get it right.

We are still waiting on if NH has jurisdiction in Vermont with my 500 feet and one mile restrictions. Can I use my car to take my 89 year old mother in law to the Brattleboro hospital in an emergency...i am the main care taker during the days? Am I even allowed to stop my car at the hospital?

Right, I can’t get out of a car in down town Brattleboro. You said I could ride my bike over the bridge without stopping. If a bad walkway board pops up and it makes me fall off my bike I am screwed? That could cause me to be in the NH slammer until Oct.

What if I am in another car and there is a traffic jam, accident on the bridge or train back up within 500 feet of these dangerous and dilapidated bridge, going to I 91 or other issue or the hospital...then these conditions put me at immediate risk of jail and revocation of my bail condition until Oct 3.

The traffic light at malfunction junction in Brattleboro could put me in NH slammer until Oct! 


Should I follow safety traffic rules with my bicycle by stopping in this area?

Mike