One dead, one in critical condition at the Elliot Hospital after a double shooting on Lake Avenue occurred yesterday in Manchester. Manchester Police Chief David Mara and New Hampshire Attorney General Joseph Foster released a statement just after Midnight this morning with that information. They also said that while the investigation is still obviously in its early stages, they believe they have identified all parties involved in the incident. Despite that, they are requesting the public’s assistance in asking anyone with information about the shooting, which took place at about ten minutes to four yesterday afternoon, to contact the department. We’ve uploaded the details with this newscast at Girard at Large dot com.
Looks like a resolution in the tax dispute between the Manchester Water Works and the town of Auburn is on the horizon. Thanks to a new law that enables the utility to negotiate with the towns in which it owns land to make a payment in lieu of taxes an agreement is up for adoption. The pact will lower what the Water Works pays Auburn in taxes by three hundred eighty thousand dollars or fifty six percent over the next five years to three hundred thousand bucks. Auburn had turned a deaf ear to the Water Works complaints about changes to how Auburn was assessing the land, dramatically increasing the tax bill on the land which could not be developed. That led Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas to seek conservation groups to sell the land to. Those groups could put the land into current use, something state law barred the Water Works from doing, and all but eliminate the taxes paid to the town. In a statement issued Friday, Water Works Board President Paul Lessard said this was the best course of action noting that they retained control of the land they’ve owned for over one hundred years while freeing up capital needed to augment their water main replacement efforts without financially devastating the town of Auburn. Lessard will be our guest this morning at six twenty. We’ve posted the details with this newscast at Girard at Large dot com.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
In addition to tonight’s informational session on high school issues, the Hooksett School Board will hold a special meeting tomorrow night to review developments in the negotiations with Pinkerton Academy over a tuition contract. However, Board Chair Trisha Korkosz is feuding with Board Vice-Chair David Pearl over who called the meeting. At stake is who controls the agenda. In emails obtained by Girard at Large, Pearl and Board Clerk John Lyscars seem to have called a special meeting under the board’s rules, with an agenda to consider high school agreements and R S A ninety one A issues in response to Korkosz’s inquiry of the board as to whether or not one should be called. Korkosz responded by saying she called a meeting earlier in the day and had the agenda she wanted posted, which of course doesn’t include the right to know issues. That caused Lyscars to demand Korkosz forward any communications notifying the board of the special meeting and its agenda. He called her attempt to co-opt their agenda childish and wrote it was an embarrassment to see their board continue to run as it does. In doing so, he sent her a link to a Londonderry School Board meeting in case she wanted to watch how a real meeting was run. He formally noticed Superintendent Charles “rip your esophagus out” Littlefield to post the meeting and agenda established by he and Pearl, which, by the way, includes having their attorney present to answer questions from the board or the public about any of the pending agreements. For the record, we could find neither meeting notice nor the agenda on their Web site. Pearl will joins us this morning at eight forty.
Alderman at-Large Joe Kelly Levasseur has threatened to sue the city if anyone other than him looks at his email to decide what is and isn’t public record as he continues to fight the Right to Know Requests filed by me, Your Humble Host and Ward 10 Alderman Phil Greazzo. I filed a request demanding to see any email between him and the dog park detractors he claims to have no connection with. Greazzo took things a step further demanding that all of Levasseur’s emails dealing with public business be on file with the City Clerk under the state’s Right to Know Law. In response to Levasseur’s missive, which we’ve published with this newscast at Girard at Large dot com, Greazzo insisted that any redaction of Levasseur’s email be done by city staff with Levasseur present to ensure the public record is properly maintained. Levasseur seems to think email regarding the public business to and from his personal email isn’t subject to the Right to Know Law. Meanwhile, Manchester Public Television is refusing to provide copies of Levasseur’s Public TV Shows, despite what some would consider the clear language of the law, saying the material is copyrighted and can only be provided if the producer agrees, which of course, Levasseur won’t. Which begs the question: If you’ve got nothing to hide, Joe, why not let the information go? Isn’t that what you said to Greazzo over the dog park?
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is straight ahead.
