Also on today’s menu:
‘Turned Into A Pretzel’
City Manager Responds To ‘No Confidence’ Vote
Photos Tell The Real Story
Attorney General John Formella offers a lax interpretation of the law when it comes to members of the Executive Council. He told the New Hampshire Bulletin that a long-standing practice among executive councilors of not voicing objections to agenda items during the meeting, but handing the secretary a handwritten “No List” after the meeting, does not violate the council’s procedure manual, which states, “a silence or abstention will be taken as acquiescence or concurrence in the action taken by the majority of votes cast.” Formella said the action also does not violate the state’s right-to-know law, which requires votes be made public unless taken in a nonpublic session or during a secret-ballot vote, because the votes are recorded immediately after the meeting and are included in the meeting minutes.
The matter came up after Republican Executive Councilor David Wheeler acknowledged the practice in an interview before the Executive Council meeting on February 22. When asked whether the practice limits public transparency of his positions, Wheeler said, “I think just the opposite. I want to make sure my constituents know what my vote is and that my no vote gets recorded in the official minutes for all to see and know.”
While Formella said it is a decades-old practice, and Wheeler said other councilors also have used it, Anna Sventek of the Secretary of State’s Office said Wheeler is the only councilor to use the practice, according to records going back to 2018. Councilors Janet Stevens, Joe Kenney, and Cinde Warmingon said they were unaware of the practice, and Warmington is challenging it, saying, “I believe that the public has a right to know how all councilors voted. I think the Executive Council is the hallmark of transparency. We talk about it all the time. … It is directly contrary to the public interest to allow councilors to hide their votes from the public.”
Formella told the councilors that they have the authority to end the practice, and Warmington and Stevens made clear that they support doing so.
‘Turned Into A Pretzel’
Matt Lefebvre of Rochester, who was struck and run over while jogging on the morning of October 11, 2021, testified about the experience in court on February 22 in the trial of Joyce Howard, 69, of Dover, who is charged with second-degree assault and leaving the scene of the accident.
Lefebvre said being knocked down and then run over turned him into a pretzel. When the sports utility vehicle struck him and knocked him to the ground, he said, “I thought to myself, ‘Holy crap, I just got hit by a car.’ … Then I hear the [SUV accelerate]. I laid as flat as possible and yelled, ‘You gotta be kidding me.’” As the car lurched forward over his body, he felt excruciating pain: “It was like a wave, I could feel my bones popping and crunching.”
As he lay in the road, fearing that another vehicle would come along and hit him, he saw the SUV turn right onto Twombly Street and stop near the corner, but then it drove off, he said. Fortunately a “Good Samaritan” found him and called 911.
The trial resumes today.
City Manager Responds To ‘No Confidence’ Vote
Responding to the “no confidence” vote by the Franklin Police Patrolman’s Association, expressing “dissatisfaction” with Chief David Goldstein, lieutenants Daniel Poirier and Ralph Hale Jr., and City Manager Judie Milner, the city manager disputed the union’s characterization of Goldstein, saying, “The City of Franklin has full confidence [in] its police department under the leadership of Chief Goldstein. Further, the City is disappointed that the union did not choose a more appropriate forum, such as the upcoming negotiations, in which to raise their concerns.”
While there is no precedent for a New Hampshire police union voicing a “no confidence” vote in its leadership, other departments around the country have used the maneuver to express dissatisfaction, reports NHPR. The union said the vote was a culmination of three months of internal discussions.
Goldstein did not respond to a request for comment and Mayor Jo Brown said she could not comment. The Franklin City Council has not yet had a chance to discuss the matter.
The union’s three-year contract is set to expire this summer.
Photos Tell The Real Story
Providing an on-the-ground perspective of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, The Free Press has published “The War in Ukraine in Eight Photos” featuring the work of Lynsey Addario who has covered “every war of this generation,” including Afghanistan and Iraq. The photos capture “the bloodshed, the horror, and the resilience of countless Ukrainians.”
Addario, who calls the war a “fight for democracy, in that most people believe that if Putin is not stopped here, he won’t be stopped.” In the interview, she says, “Usually, I cover a story, and the public pays attention for a week or two weeks. This is a war that is in everybody’s interest.”
One of the most jarring photos shows the bodies of a mother, her two children, and a church volunteer who had been trying to escort them to safety during mortar fire. “I was there to witness it,” Addario said. “I was really shaken up, just witnessing the death of this mother and her two children. I myself have two children. I sort of instinctually had to tell myself that I had to take this photograph, because I had just witnessed a war crime. The shells were still coming in.”
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