The United States Drug Enforcement Administration announced yesterday that Manchester Police Chief Nick Willard will represent the state of New Hampshire at a D E A sponsored Opioid Training Course. that will be held on September 13th at the D E A Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia. Willard, along with one selected police leader from each state, will meet and discuss a variety of topics. In addition to the training, Willard will have the opportunity to address colleagues from around the country and discuss the practices of the Manchester Police Department and other law enforcement agencies throughout the state about their efforts to combat the opioid crisis.
On September 6th from 7 to 7:30 P M, the Supervisors of the Checklist in Derry will hold a session to register new voters, receive name and address changes from voters, approve applications for voter registration and approve changes to the checklist. This session is the last opportunity to register to vote before the September 13th primary. Applications to register to vote or to make name or address changes to voter registrations may be completed in the Office of the Town Clerk at the Derry Municipal Center during regular hours. Party affiliation cannot be changed until after the state primary.
The Manchester City Library will hold its ten dollar Bag Book Sale on Saturday, September seventeenth from ten to one in the Winchell Room at the main library. All proceeds from go towards its projects and programs. There will be over ten thousand different items to choose from. All you need to do is bring ten bucks for each empty, average size grocery bag you want to fill with books, audiobook and music C Ds, DVDs and other miscellaneous items. The sale items have been gathered from the library collection and donations and include a large collection of art books and books concerning religion. There are also children’s books, young adult books, large print books, adult fiction, biographies, cookbooks and books on science, social science, sports, crafts, and so many other subjects. A good size collection of older, former library musical scores will also be available. For more information, please contact Eileen Reddy at e reddy @ manchester n h dot gov or at 6 2 4 6 5 5 0.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
Photojournalist Jeffrey Hastings of Frame of Mind Photography is reporting a bit of breaking news that may affect traffic at the I-93 interchange on Wellington Road in Manchester. According to Hastings, New Hampshire State Police engaged in a high speed chase which originated in Epping and came West on Route 1 0 1 through multiple towns. The pursuit, according to radio broadcasts, reached speeds of over one hundred miles an hour with multiple agencies involved. The black vehicle being pursued was believed to be occupied by one female and two males.
The vehicle exited the highway at Wellington Rd. in Manchester and headed West onto Bridge Street , where the vehicle struck a maroon vehicle occupied by two folks on their way to work. That vehicle was pushed over one hundred feet by the collision. One occupant of the chased vehicle was able to exit the vehicle and fled the scene. The two other were critically injured. A passenger in the struck vehicle was also critically injured.
Manchester police are on the scene with K-9s searching for the person who fled the speeding vehicle, alongside the state police and other agencies. As of this report, the suspect has yet to be found.
More Right to Know fun is being had in S A U 5 5, which is comprised of the Timberlane Regional and Hampstead school districts and has Earl Metzler as its superintendent. Last night, facing a lawsuit that’s scheduled to be heard in Rockingham Superior Court tomorrow morning, the S A U board voted in public session to unseal and then re-seal the controversial minutes of the May 12th meeting, in which it gave Metzler a pay raise and bonus totaling more than seven percent.
The minutes, which were originally treated as one document and illegally sealed in non-public session, were broken into two sets for the last night’s votes: One that was to be sealed under the terrorism and security exemption, the other under the reputation of personnel exemption. The vote to reseal the minutes involving security exemption passed on a nine to two vote, with Donna Green of Sandown and Wayne Dinsmore of Hampstead opposed. The vote to reseal the minutes involving Metzler’s pay raise was six to five, with Green, Dinsmore, Board Chair Jason Cipriano (surprisingly) of Hampstead, Stefanie Dube of Danville, and Gregory Spero of Atkinson against. That, my friends, means the minutes were not re-sealed as state law requires a two thirds majority to seal minutes.
Absent from the meeting was Rob Collins of Danville, whose Facebook posting about the nonpublic minutes has led to a great deal of controversy and is cited in the lawsuit facing the district over the sealing of the minutes. Also absent from the meeting were Jack Sapia of Atkinson and Kelly Ward of Sandown. Who knows, maybe Metzler will comply with the law release the minutes beforehand.
The discussion regarding Manchester’s school redistricting continues tonight as the special committee appointed to come up with a plan will discuss the four that remain with the city’s middle and high school principals at a five o’clock meeting in the offices of the Manchester Health Department. The public is welcome to attend.
That’s news from our own backyard! Girard at Large hour ___ is next!