Derry to extend public water system
The town of Derry has been working with the N H Department of Environmental Services on a project to extend the Derry municipal water system south along Route 2 8 and into nearby neighborhoods. This project is designed to remedy well water contaminated by Mt B E. The design has been completed and construction is expected to begin this week. Given the late start and construction restrictions imposed by the N H Department of Transportation on Route 2 8, the plan will is to excavate lower volume town roads until mid-November. This fall, water main installation work will be conducted on
- Lawrence Road, from Route 28 to Stark Road,
- Stark Road from Lawrence Road to Gervaise Dr. and
- Frost Road from South Range to Skylark Dr
When the project resumes in the spring, more water main main will be installed
- on Route 28 from Berry Road to Ryan’s Hill – Pete’s Scoop,
- Blunt Drive, and
- Frost Road from Route 28 to Skylark Drive.
Service connections will be left at the property line for all abutting properties with the exception of those properties on the east side of Route 2 8 where the wells are not considered contaminated. Once the project is completed, additional information will be provided to area residents and businesses regarding connection to the system. Property owners will be under no obligation to connect. The town will post relevant information at derry n h dot org. Expect traffic delays in the affected areas. Any questions of concerns should be addressed to the Derry Department of Public Works.
Croasdale: Contamination isolated to specific fixtures
The much-publicized lead contamination issue in Flint, MI, prompted the Manchester Water Works to visit all of the city’s 22 schools over the summer to collect water samples from each of their nearly 500 sinks and drinking fountains. Twenty-five sinks and bubblers at 12 schools measured a lead level at or higher than the acceptable limit of 15 parts per billion after an initial sample. Those locations were retested twice and the subsequent samples showed much lower lead levels. After the third test, just two sinks and one drinking fountain had levels considered high. They have been shut down until they can be repaired or replaced.
Soucy: Lead exposure “highly unlikely”
Water Works Director Phil Croasdale said the source of the led was likely corrosion, which is why they were able to isolate specific fixtures where a problem existed. Manchester Public Health Director Tim Soucy said it was “highly unlikely” that any student would have received significant exposure to lead in the schools’ water. In released Friday afternoon, the district said, as an added precaution, 13 additional fountains and sinks identified after the second testing sample will also be shut off until they’re repaired or replaced. The schools affected are Gossler Park, Green Acres, Smyth Road, Jewett Street, Northwest, Webster, Hillside, Central and West.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
Your Humble Host has caused a stir in the gubernatorial election. Writing this story as if I weren’t talking about myself, here we go!
Dennehy: Illegal coordination?
On Friday, radio talk show host Rich Girard filed a complaint with the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office asking for an investigation into potentially illegal campaign coordination between the Washington, D.C. based political action committee Save the Children Action Network, also known as SCAN, and the gubernatorial campaigns of Republican Senator Jeanie Forrester and Democratic Executive Councilor Colin Van Ostern. In the complaint, Girard revealed that the Concord lobbying firm of Dennehy & Bouley is a paid, registered lobbyist for SCAN and that firm partner Michael Dennehy is also a paid consultant for the Forrester campaign. The firm’s other nameplate partner, Concord Mayor Jim Bouley, is a public supporter of and donor to Van Ostern’s campaign. Neither of these items would be a big deal if Save the Children Action Network hadn’t endorsed both candidacies and proceeded to spend over three hundred thousand dollars in support of their campaigns. SCAN and Dennhey & Bouley also have the exact same office address in Concord.
Firm at the center of the controversy
Girard pointed to an internal poll leaked by Dennehy to W M U R’s John Distaso showing Forrester well ahead of conservative rival State Rep. Frank Edelblut of Wilton and all but tied for second with Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas. In the article, Dennehy declined to disclose who did the polling work. However, a review of Forrester’s campaign finance filings showed it couldn’t have been anyone hired by her campaign because they’d not reported any polling expenses. Save the Children Action Network did, however, disclose a fifty thousand five hundred dollar payment to pollster TargetPoint Consulting, Inc. of Alexandria, VA to conduct a research survey on both the Republican and Democratic gubernatorial primaries.
Girard: Blows the whistle.
By Girard’s logic, if the Forrester campaign, to which Dennehy is a paid consultant, didn’t conduct any polls, but Save the Children Action Network, to whom Dennehy’s firm is a paid consultant did, it’s not terribly hard to connect those dots. Girard wrote quote:
Are we to believe that Mr. Dennehy, a paid consultant of the Forrester campaign and Mayor Bouley, a public supporter of the Van Ostern campaign, whose firm has been retained by the Save the Children Action Network that lists their firm’s address as their own, are somehow not aware of their own activities and, therefore, not violating the statute prohibiting campaign coordination?
Are expenditures “independent?”
Curious minds want to know. We’ve linked to the complaint, which has been published in its entirety with all the evidence we could collect at Girard at Large dot com. We’ll keep you up to date. Save the Children Action Network, by the way, was the same outfit that dropped nearly one hundred thousand dollars into school board and aldermanic races in Manchester, but didn’t file any campaign finance reports until after the election was over.
That’s news from our own backyard! Girard at Large hour ___ is next!
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