Hickey: More stats
While the numbers for July aren’t final quite yet, Manchester Fire Department Emergency Medical Services Officer Christopher Hickey has released updated statistics on the opioid crisis as of yesterday. He decided to go into the office to do some paperwork after rappelling down the facade of the Brady Sullivan Tower at 1000 Elm Street as part of the Granite United Way’s Live United Over the Edge fund raiser, which this year dedicated proceeds to the Safe Station program which provides on demand treatment to addicts. As of yesterday, the department had responded to seventy suspected overdose scenes, including two fatalities, in July. Last July, the department responded to eighty one overdose scenes, including eight fatalities. Year to date, there have been four hundred sixty overdoses, a five percent decrease versus last year to date, and twenty five fatalities, a thirty five percent decrease versus last year.
More tan just opioids in drug crisis. (Click graphic to enalrge.)
In addition to the opioid stats, the department released information showing that there’s been a near doubling in the number of times it’s responded to prescription non-opiate emergency calls since April. The number of times the department has responded to overdose scenes involving Spice, Crystal Meth and D M T, whatever that is, has more than tripled since last month.
Willard: Wants smoking ban in parks
Both Hickey and the Manchester Police Department reported the surge in Spice related overdoses earlier this month. Police Chief Nick Willard has asked the Board of Mayor and Aldermen to enact a smoking ban in city parks as a way of combating the rise of Spice related incidents. The proposal is pending before the board and has the support of Mayor Ted Gatsas who, you may recall, took some heat two years ago for acting swiftly and decisively with city staff to shut down three convenience stores selling tainted batches of Spice which led to a horrific number of overdoses in city parks. Gatsas also effectively reclaimed Bronstein Park for Central High School by posting it as school property to prevent its use by the public during school hours. He’d found the park had been made part of Central’s campus decades ago to meet state requirements for green space.
Officer Roussel with Lily and Ava
The Goffstown Police Department is hosting a CHaD Buddy BBQ on Wednesday August 2nd at 1 P.M. at its headquarters on Mast Road. Officer Nicholas Roussel is representing the Goffstown P D in the CHaD Battle of the Badges Baseball Classic for the second year in a row. This game is held to raise money for the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock (CHaD).
Lily and Ava: Excited for the BBQ and game
Officer Roussel has been paired with a set of twin Goffstown girls, Lily and Ava Burke. The girls were born pre-maturely and have been with CHaD since they entered the world. The Goffstown Police Department is hosting this BBQ for Lily and Ava before the game, which has a six o’clock start scheduled on August 11th at Fisher Cat Stadium. The girls, and their mom Amy, are extremely excited for the barbecue and the game. If you’re interested in attending the BBQ, please contact the Goffstown Police Department. We’ve got the link.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
DiPietro: Survey getting attention
Manchester Ward Six school board candidate Jon DiPietro launched a survey over the weekend to determine what parents and taxpayers think about the schools. According to DiPietro, he received almost one hundred responses in less than twenty four hours. We thought that was newsworthy. In the fourteen questions, DiPietro asks participants to prioritize the order of various issues, including: Redistricting, the budget, class sizes and standards and curriculum, among other items. He also queries their opinion on a number of topics, such as whether or not they believe the school district provides a quality education, spends taxpayer dollars wisely and is well governed by the school board. DiPietro even asks respondents what he’s missed in the survey. How about that? We’ve linked to the survey from this news read at Girard at Large dot com. DiPietro will be our guest in the seven o’clock hour this morning.
Board of Selectmen meeting tonight
The Auburn Board of Selectmen will meet at the Town Hall tonight starting at seven. On the agenda is an update on the Town Hall Entrance Project, about which people are eager to get details, and an informational item from Town Administrator Bill Herman advising the board of its ability to order a question to the ballot in March asking the town’s residents if they want to allow Keno. Herman said the board need take no action, but that if the board wanted to order the question to ballot, it would have to meet certain posting and public hearing requirements about which they should be aware. He also said that under the new law, five percent of the town’s registered voters could sign a petition to put it on the ballot. Herman said that would require two hundred seventeen of the town’s four thousand three hundred thirty five voters. Keno revenues, as you know, are the funding source for “Full Day K.”
Those concerned about restoring involuntarily merged plots of land and related regulations might want to key into tonight’s meeting, too as there’s a whole bunch of stuff on the agenda related to that. We’ve linked to it from this news read at Girard at Large dot com so you can take a look.
Fellows announced
The Vesta Roy Excellence in Public Service Series is pleased to announce the 2017-2018 leadership class. The eight Fellows selected this year include Kelly Caron and Mary Contaldi of Lempster, Virginia Drye of Plainfield, Laurie Jasper of Hudson, Gaby Jette of Merrimack, Dolly McPhaul of Sugar Hill, Julie Tucker of Rye, and Senator Ruth Ward of Stoddard.
Ward: Chosen as Fellow
The Vesta Roy Series is a political leadership-training program for New Hampshire Republican women who are politically active and have a strong interest in serving in political office or other public service. The Series’ mission is to increase the number of New Hampshire Republican women in elected and appointed governmental and political positions at the local, state, and federal levels. Applicants are chosen annually through a competitive application and interview process. Over a period of eight months, fellows convene on four Saturdays for day-long sessions with experts in media, politics, government and leadership. They also spend a day in Concord meeting with New Hampshire government officials and travel to Washington, D.C in May for meetings with members from other states’ Excellence in Public Service Series and national government leaders.
The Vesta Roy Excellence in Public Service Series is a not-for-profit organization funded and operated by the contributions of individuals committed to increasing the participation of Republican women in politics and government. For more information on the Vesta Roy Series, please visit vesta roy dot com.
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