Also on today’s menu:
Man Drowns In Lake Winnipesaukee
Secretary of State Gardner Retires
Trump Endorses Hungarian Dictator
An E-350 motor home caught fire and was engulfed in flames after colliding with a Honda Accord on January 3 in the town of Hill. New Hampshire State Police Troop D responded to a report of the crash at 11:43 a.m.
The operator of the motor home was able to escape from the burning vehicle, but the operator of the Accord was trapped in the car, which was in the middle of the road when rescuers arrived. Members of the Bristol and Hill fire departments were able to rescue the operator who was taken to Concord Hospital with what State Police describe as serious bodily injuries. The operator of the motor home was taken to Speare Memorial Hospital, suffering some burns and smoke inhalation.
The initial investigation indicated that the Accord, which was southbound on Route 3-A, drifted into the northbound lane, and the motor home swerved in an attempt to avoid a collision, but was unable to do so. After the vehicles collided, the motor home drove off the left side of the road before catching on fire.
The road was closed in both directions for several hours while the New Hampshire State Police Crash Accident Reconstruction Unit investigated the crash. Assisting at the scene were the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, Merrimack County Sherriff’s Department, Bristol Fire and Rescue, and Hill Fire and Rescue. The names and addresses of the individuals involved have not been released. Police ask that anyone who witnessed the collision contact Trooper Matthew Field at 603-223-3792 or email him at Matthew.N.Field@dos.nh.gov.
Man Drowns In Lake Winnipesaukee
A Massachusetts man drowned in Lake Winnipesaukee on January 1 after he and three others attempted to paddle to Grant Island at 11 p.m.
Marine Patrol reports that two attempted to cross in a double kayak, and the other pair in a canoe, with none of the paddlers wearing life jackets. Both vessels capsized, and the occupants attempted to swim to shore, using the boats as floatation devices. A witness who heard the commotion launched a second canoe and helped three of the paddlers reach shore. The fourth person’s body was recovered later by Wolfeboro Fire-Rescue and New Hampshire Fish and Game.
Why the group was out on the water in small craft at 11 p.m. on January 1 is subject to further investigation.
Secretary of State Gardner Retires
Secretary of State William M. Gardner, 73, considered to be the longest-serving Secretary of State in the nation, having first taken office in 1976, made a surprise retirement announcement on January 3. Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan will fill out the remaining year of his term. Scanlan, who has served as Gardner’s deputy since 2002, is a former state representative and licensed forester.
Gardner has been an ardent defender of the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary which gives citizens a chance to meet and help choose the nation’s leader, despite arguments that it gives the small state an inordinate amount of power over national politics.
A Democrat from Manchester, Gardner has served under 11 governors, 17 senate presidents, 13 house speakers, and 14 attorneys-general, having never lost in 26 consecutive elections by the New Hampshire Legislature.
Trump Endorses Hungarian Dictator
Former president Donald Trump has endorsed Hungarian dictator Viktor Orbán for reelection, saying the man “has done a powerful and wonderful job.”
During his tenure as the nation’s leader, Orbán has systematically undermined democracy in Hungary, silencing his opponents, forcing businesses to sell out to him or his friends, rewriting election laws, suppressing the press, packing the courts, and rewriting his country’s constitution. The country still holds elections, but they are no longer considered meaningful.
Many Republicans have followed Trump’s lead in supporting Orbán, and last August, Fox News host Tucker Carlson temporarily broadcast his primetime show from Budapest, where he interviewed and lavished praise on the prime minister. Orbán’s Fidesz party reflects Trump’s vision for the GOP: a populist Christian nationalism “seasoned with racism and xenophobia, endless attacks on ‘globalist elites,’ and an ever heavier thumb on the electoral scales,” as Ed Kilgore describes it.
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