Good Morning Everyone. It’s Nine Eleven twelve years later and we remember those who perished on this day in the bloodiest attack ever made on American soil. If you were unable to attend the 100 Days of Remembrance ceremonies last night in Manchester’s Mount Calvary Cemetery and would like to honor the dead, there is another ceremony tonight at the New Hampshire Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen. We’ve linked to the details from this newscast.
A reminder that, for some reason, President Barry‘s chose to address Congress on the prospect of war with Syria on the Eve of this night.
About one hundred people in Pinardville attended State Representative John Burt‘s Plan Pinardville Uncensored meeting at the Bartlett Elementary School Last night. The keynote speaker was State Representative Jack Flanagan of Brookline. A former selectmen in his town, he recounted what happened to Brookline after it accepted a similar grant to help plan its sustainable future. What the town discovered is that they got a plan that was remaking the town in HUD’s image. The selectmen, with the backing of the unsuspecting town, decided to repay the grant that created the plan so they could ditch it. Flanagan urged Pinardville residents to understand that with federal money came federal rules and noted that those rules trump local control. Residents peppered speakers with questions about the plan and several spoke in opposition. Among those in attendance to observe were Goffstown Planning Board Chair John Hikel, Board of Selectman Chairman Collis Adams, State Representative Mark Warden, HUD’s Field Office Director Gregory Carson and Planned Pinardhood Ad Hoc Committee members Cheryl Adams and Dick Gamache. At the outset of the meeting, Burt orchestrated an amusing, but pointed skit that helped people understand how HUD being the original source of the funds attached rules requiring the town to surrender local authority in exchange for the money. Carson confirmed on multiple occasions that if the Planning Board killed the proposal at its meeting Thursday night, the town would not have to pay back the grant and would not have to implement the plan. I, your Humble Host, was the night’s final speaker. My message, which reinforced Burt’s purpose for the meeting, was to encourage those in attendance to be present at the Planning Board meeting and speak their piece, pro or con, and remind them that unless they do so, those in power won’t remember they work for the people not the other way around. We’ll have more on this during the show.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
Manchester mayoral candidate Patrick Arnold declined to disclose when he will file his pre-primary campaign finance report, except to say he would file it in accordance with the time frame established by the City Clerk. The city’s charter requires candidates file their finance reports within ten days of the primary election, both before and after. The clerk interprets that to mean anytime between the day before the primary to ten days out. Of the very few incumbents who have filed, Mayor Ted Gatsas, reported raising fifty thousand dollars since the end of June, when he reported having raised one hundred fifty thousand dollars in his incumbency filing. Arnold’s failure to file at the opening of the period has heightened speculation that the campaign is struggling to raise money in it’s long shot bid to unseat the well financed Gatsas. Among the more interesting findings in the filings: The Manchester Police Patrolman’s PAC has donated five hundred dollars to Ward ten aldermanic candidate Bill Barry, more than a third of his funds. Interesting thing is that I can’t seem to find record of their PAC’s registration with the city, nor can I find a registration for the Manchester Educator’s PAC which donated a hundred bucks to retired teacher Connie Van Houten, school board candidate in Ward 12. Ward 12’s where the big money’s being raised. State Rep. Dick Marston reported raising twelve hundred dollars and Keith Hirschmann, too busy to be on the show because of his pre-dawn door knocking campaign, reported raising thirteen hundred seventy five dollars in addition to seventeen hundred fifty dollars he contributed or loaned to himself. He’s spent almost fifteen hundred of it on consultants.
As we’d been told by a school board member yesterday to check our email inbox as they’d received some of the information this show has been asking for, I’d hoped to be able to share it with you. Alas, for the dozens of emails I had after a few hours away from the computer, there was nothing from the schools. Oh, you might enjoy this tidbit, though. The tuition contract dispute with Hooksett cost the district fifty two thousand dollars in legal fees. I think we should send Chucky the Super the bill.
A Local Boxer is on the fight card for Thursday night’s “Fight To Educate” event at the Verizon Wireless Arena. Participating in the Manchester Police Athletic League program since he was thirteen years old, M-PAL Boxer Joel Felix of Manchester, now twenty, was the Golden Gloves Heavyweight Champ in two thousand eleven. He heads into Thursday night event with a 4 and 1 record. Good luck, Joel! Knock his teeth out! Grrrrrrr!
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is straight a head!
