Rahami: Shot in battle with police
Ahmad Khan Rahami, the twenty eight year old Afghan immigrant suspected of bombing New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood and planting bombs in Seaside Park and Elizabeth, New Jersey was captured after a gun battle with police in Linden, New Jersey yesterday, just four miles away from his last known address above a fried chicken restaurant in Elizabeth.
The hunt for Rahami, which included an unprecedented move by police authorities to use alert services to notify millions of people to be on the lookout for him, whom they described as armed and dangerous, turned out to be brief. A bar owner in Linden spotted a man sleeping in his doorway Monday morning and called police. Officer Angel Padilla confronted the man around 10:45 a.m., recognized him as Rahami, and was shot in the abdomen. Fortunately, Padilla was wearing a bulletproof vest. A second police officer, Investigator Pete Hammer, had a bullet graze his head. Rahami was shot in the leg.
Rahami: Wounded by return fire
By the way, as we predicted yesterday, Rahami was known to the F B I. Seems their investigation didn’t turn up any reason to be suspicious. Reports of Rahami being different, ditching t-shirts for traditional Islamic garb and growing a beard, after traveling to Pakistan and Afghanistan didn’t seem to get noticed.
Anyway, Rahami was charged Union County, New Jersey with five counts of attempted murder of a police officer. He was being held on $5.2 million bail and remained at a hospital. Federal charges have yet to be filed.
Gives deportees citizenship “by mistake.”
In a related story that ought to make us feel great about accepting more refugees or immigrants from areas of the world that would like us dead, the Department of Homeland Security released an internal audit yesterday that determined it had granted citizenship to eight hundred fifty eight immigrants who were supposed to have been deported.
Roth: Fingerprints were missing
Homeland Security’s inspector general found that the immigrants used different names or birth dates to apply for citizenship and such discrepancies weren’t caught because their fingerprints were missing from government databases. Inspector General John Roth said they were all from “special interest countries,” those that present a national security concern for the United States, or neighboring countries with high rates of immigration fraud. The report did not identify those countries. I guess they didn’t wouldn’t want to offend them…
Roth’s report said fingerprints are missing from federal databases for as many as 315,000 immigrants with final deportation orders or who are fugitive criminals. Three of those wrongly granted citizenship were given government security clearances, including at airports, and another became a law enforcement officer. Ain’t that somethin’?
News from our own backyard continues after this.
MHA: Exhibit announced
The Manchester Historic Association will unveil a new exhibit at the Millyard Museum on September 20 entitled, “It’s Showtime: A History of Manchester’s Theaters.” This exhibit will showcase the Palace Theater, which is beginning its second century as a cultural fixture in the city, as well as the many iconic theaters that live on in the memories of Manchester residents, such as the State, the Strand, the Lyric, the Modern, the Vitaphone, the Crown and so many others. Extraordinary photos from the MHA’s own collection will be complemented by artifacts, posters, costumes, memorabilia and mementos from the Vaudeville and Burlesque era right through to the city’s many motion picture palaces. The exhibit will be on display through December 17th.
Libasci: Charitable Fund rakes in the dough
The 2016 Bishop’s Summer Reception to benefit the Bishop’s Charitable Assistance Fund raised two hundred twenty five thousand dollars to help those most in need in New Hampshire. Maria Ryan, Ph.D. and Ovide Lamontagne co-chaired the campaign. The Fund is a not-for-profit organization within the Catholic Church. It enables the Bishop of Manchester, through a volunteer board of directors, to make grants to nonprofit organizations without regard to religious affiliation for projects that help people in New Hampshire meet their basic needs.
At the Reception, Bishop Peter Libasci awarded the Vita et Caritas Award to George Rousseau of Manchester. The award, given in memory of Ruthie Ford, recognizes a volunteer who demonstrates exceptional service to a non-profit organization assisting women, children and families.
Grenade?
There was a little excitement at the Goodwill Store in Hooksett yesterday as officers from the Hooksett Police Department were called there because a hand grenade found in a clothing bag. Responding officers were able to view the device and determine that it was an old smoke grenade that had already been detonated. They took possession and transferred it to the New Hampshire State Police Explosive Division for disposal. Hooksett P D is asking anyone with information about where it came from is asked to call them at 6 2 4 1 5 6 0 or leave an anonymous tip on our website by selecting the tip icon at hooksett police dot com.
Langton: Input to be collected
Debra Langton, Chair of the Manchester Board of School Committee’s Special Committee on the Superintendent Search issued a statement regarding the pending visit of the two finalists to be Manchester’s next superintendent of schools. The statement was released to advise the public of its opportunities for additional input. Said Langton, quote
In light of comments made at Wednesday night’s meeting of the Board of School Committee, I wanted the public to know that a question and answer session will be held at each of the five schools that the superintendent search finalists will visit. In arranging the school visits, search committee member and board Vice Chair Art Beaudry told each principal whose school was chosen that the committee wanted a 15 to 20 minute Q & A session and asked them to invite parents, students, staff and whomever else they believed should attend…At each session, attendees will be given an evaluation sheet which will be collected and given to members of the board in time to consider the public’s opinions prior to voting for a finalist. End quote.
On Friday, the finalists, Dr. Bolgen Vargas and Dr. Vincent Cotter will visit the Manchester School of Technology, Central High, McLaughlin Middle School, Beech St. School and Northwest Elementary before heading to an open forum for the public at Memorial High School, where members of the public will also be given the opportunity to fill out an evaluation form.
That’s news from our own backyard. Girard at Large hour ___ is next!
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