“We do not believe you and we are not stupid.”  That’s what Pinardville resident and Plan Pinardville opponent Gaetane Benner wrote in a letter to Plan Pinardville ad hoc committee member Tony Marts.  Marts, a local attorney who has been involved in several Goffstown development projects, issued a letter on Tuesday defending his participation on the ad hoc committee overseeing the development of the controversial master plan.  Benner challenged Marts’ representation that he’d only been marginally involved in development activity citing his involvement in the mixed use development involving Rite Aide and a swath of low income housing developed by Greater Manchester Neighborworks along Mast Road.  She also wrote that his name was all over the documents on the controversial Moose Club apartment development that’s building forty eight apartment units in Pinardville.  Benner also wrote that eliminating the residential neighborhoods from the zoning proposal was quote just another attempt to fool us end quote.  She believes that if Mast Road is developed as proposed, traffic pressures will force bypass roads to be built and lead to the takings of back yards to create alleyways as envisioned in the plan.  We’ve posted Benner’s letter with this newscast at Girard at Large.  It’s an interesting read of the various issues the neighbors have with the plan.  We’ve also reposted Marts’ letter.

In a related matter, our friends at Goffstown Today dot com are publishing a five part series on the proposed plans and members of the ad hoc committee.  They’ve raised some interesting points and questions, not the least of which are the conflicts of interest that may exist between members of the ad hoc committee and the intentions of the proposed plan.

Manchester Ward 5 Alderman Ed Osborne may be in for an election challenge after all.  Girard at Large has received a request from Melanie Ross-Brady announcing she will run a write in campaign and asking for time on the show, which we will of course provide.  In the email, Ross-Brady demanded Osborne resign over recent allegations that he verbally threatened special education school bus driver who was blocking a roadway for several minutes while awaiting the arrival of a student and inaction as the alderman from Ward 5.  She pledged, if elected, to respond promptly to her constituents.

Sea Coast Online is reporting that Arkansas Attorney Bryan Gregory Griffith, who worked for the Obama campaign and allegedly stayed at the home of State Senator Martha Fuller Clark’s from last June through December used Fuller Clark’s address to vote in the Nov. 6th  election by absentee ballot.   Since news about Obama campaigners registering to vote with the senator’s address broke late last month, three of them wrote to the city and asked to be removed from the voter list. Griffith is one of them and was removed from the voter checklist on Tuesday by the city’s Board of Registrars.  We’ve linked to the story if you’d like all of the details.

News from our own backyard continues after this.

The town of Candia’s coming together tonight along with the family, friends and supporters of Ryan and Celina Marion.  The couple was seriously injured in a motorcycle crash just days ago.  In an effort to raise funds for the struggling couple, raffles are being held and donations are being accepted at tonight’s Candia Cruise Night, held at the Irving Candia First Stoppe.  The event starts at 5 PM.  We’ve linked to the facebook page set up to coordinate and support the fundraiser.  You can get all the details there.

The state’s largest startup business competition, TechOut is back and will be held on September 26th.  Abi Innovation Hub, the competition’s organizer says it’s received a ton of inquires and questions around the application over the past several days and has, therefore, decided to extend the deadline until August 26th at Noon.  TechOut awards $100,000 in prize money to those with the best startup businesses: first place receives $50,000, second place $30,000 and third place $20,000. A panel of judges awards the top two prizes and the third prize, $20,000 cash, is decided entirely by the audience the night of the event.  We’ve linked to the application should you know anyone with an enterprising startup company abihub.org/competitions/techout-2013.

The Hillside Builders Club will host the second annual Luke Captistran 5 K, Fun Walk and Kids Run at the Derryfield Park/X-Country Trail on Saturday, October 5th.  The race and Fun Walk starts at 10 and the Kids Fun Run begins at 9.  Other community activities include: Face painting, the Key Club bake sale, raffles, vendor booths, and an awards ceremony.  This fundraiser was created in honor of Luke Capistran, a former Hillside student, Manchester athlete, and active community leader. He would have been a High School senior this year. Proceeds benefit the Luke Capistran Scholarship Fund, which sends Hillside students to YMCA athletic camps and sport clinics during the summer.  The Builders Club was able to sponsor six students for camp this summer.  We’ve linked to their facebook page from this newscast for all the details.

That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is just 30 seconds away.