Allenstown News : Police

Reward offered for clue to man’s death

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:57:00 GMT

Authorities are hoping for new leads in the mysterious death of an Allenstown man as his family searches for answers.

The body of Jason Upton, 34, of 98 Main St., was found floating in the Merrimack River Aug. 2. The Attorney General’s Office said a cause of death was never determined, but Upton’s family suspects criminal wrongdoing.

Upton’s sister, Tracey Sheehan, 42, of Barrington, has established a $1,000 cash reward through the Concord Crimeline for anyone with information that will close the case.

“We fully believe there was foul play,” Sheehan said.

Assistant Attorney General Will Delker said the cause of death has been ruled “undetermined” at this point.

“We don’t know how he ended up in the river,” Delker said. “I can’t say foul play was involved or was not involved. It’s something we’re exploring.”

Delker said he could not comment on many specifics of the case, including whether any trauma was found on Upton’s body, because it could jeopardize the investigation.

Sheehan said her brother was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 20 and had a substance abuse problem when he died. However, she said many factors in the case point to homicide as opposed to an accident or suicide.

“He was found on the Ferry Street side,” of the river, Sheehan said. “There’s a spot by the cornfield where they’d build campfires. They like to party over there.”

Sheehan said her brother and his friends often used alcohol and drugs at the spot where he was found.

“I think it was a fight that went overboard,” Sheehan said. “Because of his bipolar condition, he had no fear and wouldn’t back down from anybody. You get people together drinking and doing other crap and they got no sense of a conscience. They lose it.”

Upton wasn’t typically violent, according to Sheehan, but had occasional angry outbursts when he and his wife, Danielle, lived with her for about a year before moving to Allenstown.

Sheehan said she’s received little information about the case from the Attorney General’s Office, but has carefully dissected the information that was given to her.

“The medical examiner keeps saying it’s undetermined, but we have to read between the lines,” she said. “If there was water in his lungs, they would have said he died of an accidental drowning.”

Delker said there are many factors that lead to such a determination.

“There’s no easy answer to that,” he said.

Sheehan said the last person to see Upton alive was their mother, Diane Vattes, 62, at Upton’s apartment July 25. Upton’s wife asked police to conduct a well-being check on July 27.

Sheehan said she has not spoken to Upton’s wife since his funeral.

Upton, who loved playing the guitar and became a roadie for a local rock band in the months before his death, would have turned 35 years old on Nov. 6. Sheehan and her mother celebrated by visiting his gravestone.

“She goes to the cemetery just about every day,” Sheehan said. “We met there on his birthday, Nov. 6, then went back to the house and had cake. It’s what she needed to do for herself.”

Sheehan said her mother took out a life insurance policy on Upton, who often drifted between jobs, but the policy will not pay for funeral expenses because a cause of death hasn’t been ruled.

Delker said the investigation continues into Upton’s death and welcomes tips.

“If there are any witnesses that have information, please contact state police,” he said.

Anyone with information can contact the Concord Crimeline at 226-3100 or New Hampshire State Police at 271-3636.

Allenstown Town Hall staff shuffles

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:50:00 GMT

BY DAN O'BRIEN

Allenstsown selectmen say they’re moving forward with plans to reclassify prominent Town Hall positions.

On Sept. 18, town employee Clifford Jones, who served as the building inspector, code enforcement officer, animal control officer and health officer, resigned from three of those positions, giving less than one day’s notice, town officials said.

Jones plans to stay on as the town’s part-time animal control officer, according to town officials. The animal control officer works between 12 and 16 hours per week.

Selectmen voted to terminate Jones’ contract as building inspector and code enforcement officer on Sept. 15 due to financial issues, but did not terminate his employment, according to minutes of the meeting. Jones said at the time he did not believe the selectmen could legally terminate his contract without terminating his employment, according to the minutes.

Jones said he did not step down from being animal control officer because that job falls under the leadership of Police Chief Shaun Mulholland, not the selectmen.

“I have the utmost respect for Chief Mulholland,” Jones said. “I don’t feel comfortable bailing on him. That’s the only reason I didn’t terminate being animal control officer.”

Tom Gilligan, chairman of the selectmen, said Deputy Fire Chief Rob Martin will serve as the town’s health officer for now, but the remaining two open positions have not been filled.

In the meantime, Gilligan and Selectman Jason Tardiff said the board is moving ahead with plans to hire a town administrator. Currently the position most similar is classified as the administrative assistant, which is held by Kelley Collins.

The selectmen also want to reclassify the position of administrative secretary, currently held by Cindy Baird, to accounting and administrative clerk.

Man’s body found in Merrimack River

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:45:00 GMT

By Dan O’Brien

A body found floating in the Merrimack River over the weekend was identified Monday, Aug. 3, as an Allenstown man.

Jason Upton, 35, of 98 Main St., was found by kayakers Sunday, Aug. 4, according to a statement released by the state Attorney General’s Office.

Authorities have not said whether Upton’s death was accidental or suspicious.

“A conclusion regarding the cause and manner of Jason Upton’s death is pending further testing… At this point, the police are treating his death as untimely,” the official statement read. “Because the police are in the process of interviewing witnesses who had contact with him before his death, more details about the circumstances are unavailable.”

State police said an autopsy was performed but the investigation is ongoing.

News photographer Brian Blackden of Pembroke, who was present when firefighters removed Upton’s body from the river, said three kayakers found the dead man floating along the shoreline in a grove of trees shortly before 4 p.m. Sunday.

Burglary bust in Allenstown

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:20:00 GMT

By Lauren Sausser

Two Allenstown men, William Ellis, 30, of 9 Albin Ave., and Daniel Leblanc, 28, of 5D Swiftwater Drive, were both arrested on May 23 in connection with a larger burglary ring that police believe is based in Allenstown.

Both were arraigned in Hooksett District Court on May 25 on multiple felony counts of burglary.

Allenstown Police Chief Shaun Mullholland said more than $10,000 worth of goods were retrieved from both residences including drugs, computers, televisions, Rolex watches, an AK-47 assault rifle and other firearms. The stolen property is believed to have been taken from other towns including Henniker, Mason, Lyndeborough, Hillsborough, and Meredith.

“There is a lot of property where we haven’t determined who the victims are yet,” Mulholland said. “We’re getting calls from other police departments now that the word is out.”

Ellis has been charged with three felony counts of stolen property and one misdemeanor count of drug possession. Leblanc has been charged with four counts of stolen property and one misdemeanor count of drug possession.

Hooksett District Court Judge Robert LaPointe set Ellis’ bail at $40,000. Leblanc’s bail was set at a total of $55,000. Portions of both of those bails stem from burglary charges in Hillsborough. Both men were being held at the Merrimack County House of Corrections.

The investigation into the burglary ring is ongoing, Mullholland said. Other suspects, who police believe are connected with the thefts, have not been apprehended yet.

If you have any information that may aid police in this investigation, contact the Allenstown Police Department, 485-9500.

Parking fines quadruple in Allenstown

Hooksett Editor — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:55:00 GMT

BY GINGER KOZLOWSKI

If a $5 fine won’t get people’s attention, perhaps a $20 parking fine will.

When the winter parking ban kicks in on Nov. 15, those parking illegally in Allenstown will face fines four times higher than the current fee. Selectmen agreed on the hike at their Oct. 20 meeting.

There are fewer places for some residents to park their cars as well, with parking restricted to one side of the street only on Whitten, Ferry and Webster streets, as well as Granite Street from the intersection of Main Street to the entrance to the Rite Aid Plaza.

Sandra McKenney, a former Allenstown selectman and resident of Main Street, near the affected streets, is upset at the changes, especially given the downtown in the economy.

“I mean, give us a break,” she said. “Five dollars is enough. That kind of increase is ridiculous.”

“The objective with the new fine amount is to limit the amount of tickets written,” said Police Chief Shaun Mullholland. “The objective is to convince violators that the risk and cost is to high to violate the parking ordinances. We anticipate less tickets written and less fine revenue due to this increase.”

The town currently takes in about $3,000 a year in parking fines, said Mulholland, which barely covers administrative costs.

Restricting the parking on the four streets just changed is intended to make it easier for snowplows and other maintenance vehicles to get through.

In the minutes from the July 21 seletmen’s meeting, road agent Chris Roy talked about how he couldn’t get plows through some roads with cars parked on both sides of the street.

Roy and the police chief measured the paved portions of Granite Street, which are 25, 23 and 21 feet wide; Ferry Street, which is 21 feet; Whitten Street, which is 21 feet; and Webster Street, which is 24 feet. A small dump truck is 10 feet wide and a police cruiser is 7.5 feet wide, according to those minutes.

This past summer, Jennifer Morin, a resident of Granite Street, presented a petition to town requesting that no changes be made, but, meeting resistance, managed to get selectmen to agree to restricting the parking to the north side of the street. During the normal winter parking ban, no vehicle can be on the street overnight between Nov. 15 and April 15.

“We were able to convince them that keeping the parking on the north side was the right thing to do,” she said.

Signs restricting parking were in place since the early part of October.

“Plenty of people are receiving tickets,” said Morin.

If the problem was with snowplows getting through, though, said Morin, she couldn’t understand why the ban had to be year-round.

“I still think it’s not needed, but I did my part. I fought for what I wanted,” she said.

The new fine amount is based upon several factors, said Mullholland.

“We looked at what other towns were charging such as Pembroke ($20),” he said. “At $5, many people would have ignored the parking ban or other parking restrictions as the risk of receiving a ticket at worse is only $5. The objective of a fine is to impose a penalty that would convince people to comply with the law, the risks not being worth the price. The cost of administering the parking tickets is more than what we are taking in, in fines.”

While parking fines, particularly for those who ignore the first ticket, result in some income to the town’s general fund, it’s not an income-generator for the town.

“We are a small police department (and) our objective is to limit the time and resources spent on parking issues to the extent possible,” said Mulholland. “In larger communities, parking fines are a considerable source of revenue. That is not the case here and our hope is that we will write less tickets.”

Don’t ignore those tickets. Penalties for unpaid tickets move from $20 to $50, and if another notice is sent, the penalty goes to $100.

Man held in Mass. for molesting three girls

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 20:07:00 GMT

BY LAUREN SAUSSER

A New Hampshire man accused of sexually molesting three girls in Allenstown in 2005 is fighting extradition from Worcester, Mass., where he was arrested on Oct. 15.

Clyde Dauphinee, 43, is being held at the Worcester County House of Corrections on $100,000 cash bail while local officials in Allenstown appeal to the secretary of state and the Governor’s Office to bring him back to New Hampshire to be tried for the sex crimes. The three victims, whose identities will not be released because of the nature of the crimes, were younger than 13 at the time of the incidents.

Each was previously known to the suspect. Allenstown Police Chief Shaun Mulholland said it is unusual for a suspect to fight extradition under these circumstances.

The Police Department will now be forced to file a governor’s warrant to bring him back stateside, which requires signatures of the secretary of state and the governor of both Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The process takes about 30 days, he said.

“Usually people just waive (extradition) because otherwise they would just be delaying the inevitable,” Mulholland said.

Dauphinee was arrested at 6:30 a.m. at a residence in Worcester, where police were forced to kick in the front door after he refused to answer. Mulholland said officers found the suspect hiding in a bedroom closet without any clothes on.

The arrest, which was aided by the U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force, brought an end to the longtime search for the suspect, which began in 2006.

U.S. Marshal Steve Monier said the arrest brings closure to a case his office has been working on for a long time.

“We’ve had the case for a while since (Chief Mulholland) asked us to help him. The task force is a resource open to any local force or agency who has an outstanding felony warrant for a fugitive and we give high priority to sex offenders,” Monier said.

“One of our deputies discovered it was probable (Dauphinee) was in the Worcester area.”

All three sex crimes that Dauphinee has been accused of occurred in Allenstown in 2005 at his former home at 98 Main St.

Mulholland said that building is a brick multi-unit complex on the border of the Allenstown and Pembroke line that police officials often refer to as heartbreak hotel for the amount of criminal activity associated with the building. The suspect previously resided at Holiday Acres, a mobile home park in Allenstown, and was employed as a sales clerk at the Irving gas station on Route 3, across the street from the Police Department.

If convicted, Dauphinee will face seven to 15 years for each crime, with additional penalties because of the young ages of the victims, Mulholland said.

Eight arrested in heroin bust

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:31:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Allenstown and Pittsfield police busted a heroin ring after a long investigation that ended in the raiding of an Allenstown woman’s apartment on Wednesday, Aug. 20.

Police arrested eight people, including a family: two Pittsfield residents who were making runs from an Allenstown apartment back to Pittsfield, three people living in the apartment, and three teens facing marijuana possession charges who were also in the apartment when police entered.

A ninth person who allegedly also lives in the apartment is still being sought, said Allenstown Police Chief Shaun Mulholland. That person left before authorities hit the apartment.

Rose Watterson, 40, of 5 Whitten St., Apt. 5, was charged with possession of heroin with intent to distribute, a Class A felony, and with falsifying evidence after she attempted to hide the drugs inside her body, said Mulholland.

Watterson was arraigned in the intensive care unit at Concord Hospital on Thursday, Aug. 21.

While in the holding cell at the Allenstown Police Department, as police were in the process of obtaining a body cavity search warrant, Watterson removed the 48 “bindles” of heroin she had concealed inside her body and swallowed them, causing her to become ill and start vomiting, Mulholland said. “It shows you how desperate people are because that could have killed her,” said Mulholland, if one of the plastic baggies containing the drugs had burst in her stomach.

Police seized about $5,000 worth of heroin from Watterson and four other suspects, said Mulholland.

“That’s a very small amount compared to what’s been going on there,” Mulholland said. “That’s about a third of a day’s activity.”

The investigation started several months ago. The raid and arrests involved the Pittsfield and Allenstown police departments, the Merrimack County Sheriff’s Office, the Central New Hampshire Special Operations Unit, and the Attorney General’s Drug Task unit.

The apartment complex where Watterson lived is right across the street from Whitten Street Park, and the Allenstown Boys and Girls Club teen center.

Just before authorities entered the apartment, Suzanne Gross, 41, and Dennis Gross, 59, of 240 Dowboro Road in Pittsfield, had allegedly left the apartment with heroin. Surveillance officers observed the couple leaving the apartment, Mulholland said.

Pittsfield caught up with the Grosses and arrested them once they got into town. Suzanne Gross was charged with three felony counts of selling drugs and Dennis Gross was charged with transporting them, a misdemeanor.

At 9 p.m., about 40 police officers raided the Whitten Street apartment building from two different sides.

Along with Watterson, police arrested two other men who lived there with her: James Corriveau, 39, who was arrested on a felony heroin charge out of Massachusetts; and Kevin Folsom Sr., who was arrested on a misdemeanor drug charge.

Mulholland said Folsom is Watterson’s ex-husband and Corriveau is her current boyfriend.

Also arrested was the 19- year-old son of Watterson and Folsom who was living in the apartment, Kevin Folsom Jr., for possession of marijuana.

Police also arrested Brandon Millette, 18, of 36 Library St., Allenstown, and Daniel Millette, 17, of 56 Arlene St., Belmont, and charged them with marijuana possession.

Police believe the teens were operating their own pot business out of the home as well.

“It was like a department store. You went to one department and got one thing and went to the other department and got another thing,” Mulholland said.

This isn’t the first time Watterson has been arrested for drug activity, he said, adding she served time for heroin sale in the past.

This investigation was the result of anonymous tips from the Concord Crimeline, Mulholland said.

Two die in head-on collision

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:50:00 GMT

BY JENN MCDOWELL

Two Concord residents died in a head-on collision with a car containing two Allenstown residents on Route 28, according to police.

According to Allenstown Police Chief Shaun Mulholland, the two Concord residents were traveling south in a Kia Spectra when they crossed the center line and collided head on with a Plymouth Neon in the northbound lane at 9:39 p.m. on Friday, April 19.

The Judith Wright, 44, of 15 Academy St., Concord, in the Kia died at the scene. The driver of that vehicle, Russell Wright, 50, also of 15 Academy St., Concord, was flown to Dartmouth- Hitchcock Medical Center.

Police were still working the accident scene when the call came that he had succumbed to his injuries, Mulholland said.

The two occupants of the Neon survived, although the driver, 46, was still in the hospital at press time with head and leg injuries and was in and out of consciousness, Mulholland said.

The Neon’s passenger, whom Mulholland described as a juvenile, suffered the least extensive injuries, including some small bone breaks in her legs, even though her side of the car took the brunt of the impact.

That’s because she was the only one out of the four people wearing a seatbelt, Mulholland said.

“I think it would be a far different outcome if they were wearing seatbelts. Normally, we can’t say that with certainty, but in this case we can,” Mulholland said.

An officer, whom Mulholland said would remain unnamed, witnessed the accident just south of the Suncook Business Park on Route 28 when he went there to remove a radar trailer from the area.

At the section of Route 28 where the crash occurred, the speed limit changes from 50 mph to 35 mph.

Mulholland said speed was not a factor in the collision, as indicated by the radar trailer’s readings on the vehicles, but police are investigating whether alcohol or drugs were involved in any way.

“That’s being investigated very closely right now,” Mulholland said, adding investigators were waiting for the opportunity to speak with the Neon’s driver.

An accident reconstruction team was heading out to the accidents site, just north of the intersection of River Road and Route 28, on Monday, April 21, to try to recreate the collision and determine a cause.

Mulholland said it is unlikely that charges would be filed in the case.

“The only person who could be charged is now dead,” he said.

Mulholland said Allenstown has not had a fatal accident on Route 28, which heads into Pembroke and then into Epsom, since 2004.

Before 2004, the town averaged two fatal car accidents per year on that stretch of road in town, Mulholland said.

“The reason why they’re so bad is because the speed limit is 50. You’ve got a closing speed of a 100 mph,” Mulholland said, referring to the total impact speed of two cars crashing together. “You’re going to have injuries with that.”

Mulholland said Route 28 was closed down for about four hours while Allenstown, Pembroke and Epsom police and firefighters cleared the accident scene.

Allenstown cuts town positions, hours

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:33:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

The Allenstown Board of Selectmen has decided to cut more than needed to create a buffer for possible upcoming costs which would include paying for the outside accounting help needed as well as possible spring flooding of the Suncook.

There was a $191,996 difference between the default and proposed budgets, but in two meetings held on March 17 and 18, selectmen decided to cut an extra $43,000 from the budget.

The town’s operating budget will now be $4,822,968.

Following the March 11 vote, hours for the town clerk/tax collector, assessing clerk and secretary have been cut, forcing the Town Hall to close on Fridays.

The Highway Department took the largest blow, losing $71,100 from what its proposed budget, including two part-time landfill attendants. The remaining Highway Department employees will have to rework their schedules for landfill coverage on Saturdays. That includes the road agent, Chris Roy, who is on salary with the town.

The town will also delay the repaving of Library Street for another year to realize savings in the highway and sewer department budgets.

The Police Department’s budget was cut by $20,407, forcing the layoff of the department’s evening help.

Police Chief Shaun Mulholland said he has laid off his evening secretary, cutting the administrative hours of the department to between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., something that he said will eventually cost more to the town in Bow Dispatch service costs.

He has also considered cutting an officer from the force, but is waiting until after the town’s accounting issues are cleared up before making that decision.

The department got a federal grant to fund three officer positions in the 1990s, Mulholland said, and removing an officer from the force could jeopardize the department’s chances for receiving grants in the future. “This is a painful process,” Mulholland said.

The Fire Department is in no better shape, having to shave more than $24,000 off its proposed operating budget.

The school district budget was also turned down at the polls, leaving a default of $9,838,008.

The School Board has yet to discuss what will come out of the operating budget for Allenstown Elementary and the Dupont School, according to School District Administrator Peter Warburton, to make up for the $116,845 difference from the proposed budget.

According to statistics from the 2006-07 school year, Warburton said, Allenstown spends about $11,609.34, slightly more than the statewide average.

Police dispatch costs to rise

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:17:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

After the Bow Dispatch Center increased its fees for the four other towns it covers, Allenstown, Epsom and Pembroke are faced with payments that more than double the prior year’s payments for Bow’s services.

Despite having to bite the bullet on the fee spike, law enforcement officials from all three towns say the increases are fair and equitable to the quality of service they get from Bow Dispatch.

“Where do you put a price on someone’s life? And that’s the way I look at it,” Epsom Police Chief Wayne Preve said, adding the dispatch services are imperative to officer safety.

Under the new fee agreement, Allenstown would pay just more than $40,000, Epsom would pay $43,000 and Pembroke would pay $59,000, based on 2006 call volume figures plus a $10,000 base fee for all the towns. Dunbarton, which accounts for the least percentage of overall call volume, would pay almost $23,000.

Those payments will add up to around $165,000 in revenue for Bow Dispatch, more than double the $79,000 they collected from the four towns for the 2007-08 year.

The need to increase fees arose from a need to create more revenue for Bow after a budget season that left the town, like all of the four remaining towns, with a tighter belt.

Bow Police Chief Jeff Jaran said it’s going to cost Bow taxpayers about $400,000 to run the dispatch center for the coming year, and, after collecting the fees, they’ll be left with about $235,000 to pay.

This is consistent with the call volume devoted to Bow service calls, which account for about half of the total.

In 2006, Bow Dispatch handled a total of 44,534 calls. Bow service calls counted for about 42 percent of that total. Allenstown and Epsom each made up about 15 percent of the total, Pembroke comprised about 22 percent and Dunbarton about 6 percent.

Preve said the increase was hard to swallow as the town works its way through the third year on a default budget, saying he budgeted $50,000 to prepare for the extra costs.

Preve said the costs were fair, given the workload at Bow Dispatch, the employees’ familiarity with all five towns and the lack of facilities to fold their dispatch service into Merrimack County which serves 13 communities.

He added moving to Merrimack County’s dispatch service would require better facilities and adding frequencies to the radio waves that would be specific to Epsom and possibly surrounding towns willing to get involved, namely Pembroke and Allenstown.

Pembroke Police Chief Scott Lane said he favors a regionally based dispatch service at some point, but agreed with Preve that would not be possible in the next few years.

Lane said he explored Merrimack County as well as the dispatch centers for Concord and Hooksett as options upon hearing about the fee increases for Bow’s service, but found there were spacial and technical issues that would not be worth the money saved at this point.

“No one’s happy about it, but it’s the cost of doing business,” said Lane about Bow’s new fees. “I can certainly understand where the residents of Bow would want to make sure everyone’s paying their fair share. We’ve been fortunate that fees were as low as they were for so long,” he said.

Allenstown Police Chief Shaun Mulholland said his department looked at folding into Merrimack County as well as running their own dispatch center, which would cost the town at least $350,000. He added the increases were fair, pointing out Bow is still paying the majority of the costs to run the dispatch center.

Police departments in Allenstown and Epsom have paid secretaries that filter out some of the less pressing calls that would otherwise go straight to dispatch, but both Preve and Mulholland said they still feel they are paying their for their weight of the overall call volume.

Mulholland added that Allenstown’s costs for Bow Dispatch services would likely increase in 2009 if voters pass a default budget at the election in March, which would force the department to lay off their nights and weekends secretary.

Holidays bring out drunk drivers – and police

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:12:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

To combat drunk driving around the holidays, local police departments created extra shifts and paid out some overtime for more manpower during Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

The police departments in Allenstown, Pembroke and Epsom are part of a task force with Chichester and Bow police as well as the Merrimack County Sheriff’s Office to take action against drunk drivers, a move to decrease arrests and accidents, something that has caught hold nationally.

The task force got funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation to run “saturated patrols” as part of their “Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest.” campaign.

The extra money paid for the man hours spent on the additional patrols.

Bow police recently joined the task force, so they are not being funded for their patrols this season, but will participate with the other agencies in future saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints.

Those who behaved While most towns saw no arrests or accidents related to drinking, police chiefs agreed that’s a product of preparation on the departments’ parts and residents’ wise choices.

“Everyone was doing what they were supposed to do,” said Epsom Police Chief Wayne Preve, adding his officers made plenty of stops that yielded no drunk driving arrests.

“There were so many cops out there, you couldn’t move without getting stopped,” he joked.

In a few situations, he said, his officers stopped vehicles that had already been stopped in other towns. Being the most central town in the task force, some cars were stopped for the same infraction in two or three towns, he said.

Keeping with a yearly tradition, the snow emergency parking bans in Allenstown and Epsom were lifted on Christmas and New Year’s Eve to allow parking on the streets. This encouraged people to stay where they were in the event they were impaired, Allenstown Police Chief Shaun Mulholland said.

“We prefer that they not drive impaired if it means they have to stay where they’re at,” he said.

Pembroke residents also seemed to stay under the radar, Pembroke Police Chief Scott Lane said, adding that no arrests or accidents related to drunk driving occurred during Christmas or New Year’s.

In the 1980s, Lane said, drunk driving was much more prevalent in town.

“When I first came on the job, you made your bread and butter on DWIs,” he said, adding that amount of driving-while-intoxicated arrests in town per year has decreased to around 30 from around 100 in the 1980s. “We still have too many problems with it, but it’s still better than it used to be,” Lane said. He added the force will be out in droves during the NFL playoff season, which he said often yields more drunk drivers than the holiday season.

Those who didn’t While Candia is not a part of the task force, they do coordinate with Raymond police to provide extra patrols in their towns during the holidays, said Candia Police Chief Michael McGillen.

Candia did have two drunk driving arrests during the afternoon on New Year’s Eve, according to Sgt. Scott Gallagher. “It’s a good thing they were off the road earlier in the day,” he said.

Eric Johnson, 49, of Deerfield, was charged with one count of driving while intoxicated after a concerned resident observed him acting intoxicated in the parking lot of Ace Hardware on Raymond Road. Officer Daniel Gray responded and pulled Johnson’s vehicle over as it exited the parking lot.

During a thorough search of the vehicle, Gray found an open bottle of vodka strapped to the inside of the vehicle’s hood with a bungee cord.

Johnson refused a Breathalyzer at the scene and was taken into custody. His arraignment was scheduled for Feb. 6 in Auburn District Court.

Robin Dahlbloom, 52, also of Raymond, was stopped about an hour later for operating without headlights. Gallagher, who pulled her over, said Dahlbloom was showing signs impairment, including slurred speech and awkward motions.

“She was lethargic in her motions and evasive as far as speaking with me,” Gallagher said, adding she refused a Breathalyzer. Her court date is also scheduled for Feb. 6 in Auburn District Court.

National trends
A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study looking at the trends in holiday drunk driving from 1982 to 2005 shows increases in the number of fatal accidents involving at least one impaired driver during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

According to the study, the average number of fatal accidents during the holidays involving drunk drivers jumps from 36 during regular year to 45 around Christmas and 54 around New Year’s.

Researchers predicted that if trends held this year, accidents involving a drunk driver would kill about 430 people nationwide this holiday season.

The study also found that fatal crashes resulting from drunk driving account for about 40 percent of total fatal accidents on Christmas and New Year’s.

Subway shop robbed, two are arrested

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 21:24:00 GMT

By JENN McDOWELL

Two Manchester residents are being charged with robbing a Subway sandwich shop in Allenstown after a collaboration of police efforts in Allenstown, Hudson, and Nashua revealed that robbery was unrelated to a recent string of Subway robberies in the southern part of the state.

Phillip Rawnsley, 30, and Michelle Despres, 22, both of 390 South Main St. in Manchester, allegedly held up the Allenstown shop on Thursday, Dec. 27, at around 9:40 p.m. The two employees on duty at the time were forced to empty the cash register of $180, according to Allenstown Police Chief Shaun Mulholland.

The next day, Mulholland met with Nashua and Hudson police to determine whether the Allenstown robbery was connected to two Nashua Subway robberies, one that occurred later the same evening and another on Monday, Dec. 24, and a fourth Subway hit in Hudson shortly before the Allenstown robbery on Thursday.

Surveillance tapes from the Allenstown shop did not match the tapes and descriptions of the suspects in the three other robberies, Mulholland said. “At least the people that went inside the building were two separate people,” he said.

Despres and Rawnsley were being held at the Valley Street jail in Manchester for a recent city convenience store robbery when Mulholland said it was found that female foot impressions at the Allenstown Subway matched those of the convenience store robbery evidence.

Police interviewed Despres on Sunday, Dec. 30, at the Manchester Police Department and confronted her with the evidence match. It was determined Rawnsley was also involved in the Subway hit.

Rawnsley was also being held on felony possession of a firearm in an unrelated state police case, Mulholland said.

While the two have not yet been officially arrested, grand jury indictments will be filed and both Despres and Rawnsley will likely be arraigned the week of Monday, Jan. 7, he added. Rawnsley will be charged with armed robbery and Despres with accomplice to armed robbery.

Neither Rawnsley or Despres had prior knowledge of the three other Subway hits in Hudson and Nashua, Mulholland said.

“It was just a matter of convenience. They drove by, and it looked like a convenient place to hit,” he said, adding both suspects have lengthy prior sheets.

Three other suspects have been charged in connection with the robberies in Nashua and Hudson.

Allenstown Year in review 2007

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 19:59:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Chief convicted of stealing
In March, former Allenstown Police Chief James McGonigle entered a guilty plea to stealing thousands of dollars from accounts reserved for the department, the New Hampshire Police Cadet Training Academy and Allenstown Police Association.

McGonigle was sentenced to 12 months for one of the charges and one to three years on two others.

He reported to Concord State Prison on June 8 to begin his sentence.

The charges stemmed from discrepancies in the books, which the department’s executive secretary, Donna Barnett, picked up on. She informed current Chief Shaun Mulholland, a captain at the time, who called the Attorney General’s office to initiate the investigation.

McGonigle, 58 of Concord, stole about $8,000 total from the three agencies beginning in 2000. Cashed checks in amounts from $5 to $1,500 were discovered. Selectmen put McGoSelectmen put McGonigle on paid leave in February 2006.

Also a long-time Concord city councilor, McGonigle resigned from both posts on April 10, 2006.

“It was a very precarious, very difficult situation to have to be in,” said Mulholland, who had to violate department policy which says that the chief must be involved in any internal investigations, to bring the chief to justice.

State police came in to run the department until Mulholland himself could take a lie detector test, which cleared him of any wrongdoing. He was then placed in charge of the department. “It’s not a great point of history in the Allenstown Police Department, but it is what it is,” said Mulholland.

Sewer expansion
A $15 million bond to expand the Suncook Wastewater Treatment plant failed with Allenstown voters a second time at the 2007 election.

The state placed a moratorium on the treatment plant in 2005, preventing any more hookups.

The plant serves both Allenstown and Pembroke, the cost to operate it divided between the two towns based on the number of hook ups. Allenstown owns the facility, and thus is responsible for passing or voting down the proposed expansion.

The town’s Sewer Commission is holding public input meetings on the expansion plan and funding in hopes of getting voters behind it this year. Selectmen have not recommended the article in the two years it has come up.

Resident Armand Verville, has spoken out against taxpayer funding and suggested the money come from sewage users, adding that he is not and would never be hooked up to the town’s infrastructure.

Michael Trainque of Hoyle, Tanner and Associates, the company in charge of the expansion plans, said a combination of federal and state grants could reduce the total project costs by 50 percent or more.

The plant has been taking on septage from other towns in a separate process from the sewer operations to help fund the expansion.

Meth lab?
U.S. marshals and Allenstown police closed in on an alleged methamphetamine lab at a mobile home on Edgewood Drive in August.

Although the home was vacant at the time, a search revealed meth production materials and equipment.

Emergency preparedness
Allenstown police and fire, along with all of its backup authorities, participated in a simulated terrorist attack on Oct. 20.

The attack was staged at Allenstown Elementary School. The scenario they played out was a parent disgruntled over school taxes, shooting several students and staff in the school and setting off a bomb.

Officers, firefighters, dispatchers and other first responders had to react to the events as they unfolded as if it were real.

While they knew it was a simulation, participants were not informed beforehard of the scenario or extent of the operation, and many were troubled at being inside the alarm- and smoke-filled building.

Local Boy Scout troops and other community organizations also participated as actors.

Missing man
An elderly Hooksett man went missing in Bear Brook State Park on Dec. 2 when he apparently got lost while hunting.

Search teams composed of agencies from all over the state looked for any trace of Russell Bussiere, 70, for the rest of that week.

A snow storm and extremely cold temperatures, particularly overnight, caused hope to dwindle that Bussiere would be found alive.

His son, Michael Bussiere, said his father had been hunting for over half a century and knows the state park area where he was hunting well, but many of the searchers and hunters alike said that it is very easy to get disoriented in the woods.

On Dec. 4, about 200 volunteers showed up to participate in line searches of more than 10 square miles of forest. Many of them had to be taken out of the woods when they got wet and cold and could not finish the search.

Teams tracked their progress on a GPS mapping system at the command post and remained in the woods for about eight hours each day.

By Dec. 6, the search had been scaled back to mutual aid agencies only, to ensure the searchers’ safety.

The missing hunter got wide press coverage, drawing Boston and regional news stations.

The family held a press conference on Dec. 6 thanking authorities and searchers for their efforts and expressing their realistic outlook that Bussiere would be found, but not alive.

Michael Bussiere said he would continue to take small parties out to Bear Brook to search for his father and hopes to find him in the spring.

Had this been an actual emergency... Towns test disaster response

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 20:35:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

A large-scale emergency exercise went off successfully in Allenstown on Saturday, Oct. 20, starting at 9 a.m.

The concept was to test 150 first responders from Allenstown and all of their backup agencies, including police and firefighters from Hooksett, Epsom, Pembroke, Chichester, Loudon and Bow, plus the National Guard, Tri-Town Ambulance, and the sheriff’s departments from Merrimack and Rockingham counties.

Allenstown Police Chief Shaun Mulholland and the town’s emergency director, Jane Hubbard of Hubbard Consultations LLC, began organizing the simulated terrorist situation more than a year
ago.

Roads in the immediate area of Allenstown Elementary, where the exercise was staged, were closed for several hours to allow responders uninhibited access to the school.

The scenario for the exercise focused on a parent, angry about taxes and the school budget, shooting students and faculty at the school and then detonating a bomb strapped to his chest.

It is set on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2007, at 9 a.m., and the shooter enters the building and immediately opens fire, killing two staff members in the main office. The principal called 911 to report the shooting, and Bow and Capital Dispatch set about getting police officers to the scene.

The perimeter and building had to be secured, the children evacuated and the wounded prioritized for the paramedics according to the extent of their “injuries.”

Police secured the second floor and saw the “suspect” in the library. The “bomb,” really a smoke bomb, went off with an ear-shattering bang and a plume of smoke at around 9:35 a.m.

After that, first responders were charged with getting the four “hostages” out of the building and securing the “shooter.”

“Victims” carried out of the school during the operation were limp and lifeless, and covered with “blood.”

Photos taken inside the building show a chaotic scene of low visibility and high stress. Voices carrying anxiety and confusion spilled out of the police scanner of Merrimack County Sheriff Scott Hilliard, who was positioned outside with observers.

“Could you imagine trying to make decisions in there? That’s about as real as it gets,” Hilliard said.
A command center was established to organize and plan the actions taken, and also to account for the students.

Selectmen’s secretary Kelley Collins gave a comprehensive “press conference,” which included actors playing the parts of reporters.

By all accounts, the exercise went on schedule and with few snafus along the way.

Mulholland said he is happy with the way it was handled, although there will always be some errors, even in a real situation.

“It’s managing the madness, is what it is. You’re talking about a very complex task. You’re never going to get a 100 percent solution,” he said.

He added that the entry into the school needs to be quicker.

Butch Burbank of the Local Government Center, the town’s liability and health insurer, said they did a training program with the Allenstown police a few weeks ago, testing the officers’ response to shooting situations.

“The officers at the time didn’t know it, but it was to prepare them for today,” Burbank said.

Local Government Center staff members played victims in the exercise, and will make some suggestions for improvement. Overall, Burbank said, the responders performed well under the extreme pressure and anxiety produced by the smoky, ear piercing, chaotic scene inside the school.

“Logistically, there’s a lot of moving parts we have to coordinate. I think the officers going in were disoriented,” he said.

Boy Scout troops from Allenstown and Candia, as well as other volunteers, participated in the exercise playing the victims.

Troop 120 from Candia got one step closer to their Emergency Preparation merit badges, which are required to gain the status of Eagle Scout.

“If you’re ever in an emergency situation, you want to be with these boys,” said Scout Leader Jim Hawes.

Hubbard said processing sessions with the actors, responders, planners, and key observers produced informative feedback.

“I think it went really well. The reason why we have exercises is so people can learn things,” she said.

Albert Dionne, Emergency Management Director for Hooksett said most of the mistakes he saw as an observer were minor and resulted from general disorientation, which would happen in a real situation.

“Most of them corrected themselves. No one took a turn out of play,” he said.

Roger and Sharon Bernard, who live directly across the street from the school, graciously let officers, organizers and spectators use their yard as an observation post.

“It was pretty exciting when they were running around with their machine guns,” said Sharon Bernard, adding that the simulation was extremely realistic.

Residents Elaine Wright, Kristie Devlin and Core Clemmer, who live a block down, also came out to watch the events unfold, impressed at how seriously responders took their duties.

“It’s good that they’re doing it to get themselves prepared,” Devlin said.

Mulholland said they are already planning another full scale for next year and have received word from Homeland Security that they will get funding for it.

Emergency practice – Roads will be closed Oct. 20 for joint exercise

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:34:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Roads in Allenstown will be closed for a few hours on the morning of Saturday, Oct. 20, to allow for a large-scale emergency management exercise involving more than 100 responders.

The operation will take place at Allenstown Elementary School and will test the town’s emergency response, backup response from neighboring towns, and communications systems through a simulated terrorist situation.

Allenstown Police Chief Shaun Mulholland, who is in charge of the entire exercise, and Emergency Response Director Karen Hubbard gained clearance from the town’s board of selectmen on Monday, Oct. 1, to close down several streets.

The sections of Granite Street and Cross Street between Highland and Main Street will be closed, as well as Main Street from School Street to Al’s Avenue west, and Sunnyside Street will only be open to residential traffic.

Mulholland said residents in the affected areas have received notification of the road closure, and the state Department of Transportation will put up digital road signs in the week prior to the exercise to remind Allenstown residents.

The exercise is scheduled tentatively to begin at 9 a.m. and run until around noon. Road closures, Hubbard said, will be in effect from around 8:45 a.m. until the exercise concludes.

Emergency personnel from numerous agencies, including fire and police departments in Hooksett, Pembroke, Epsom, Deerfield and Bow; the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management; the Department of Safety’s Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit and the National Guard will participate.

“In a real incident, we would use all those towns,” Mulholland said.

The specifics of the exercise, said Mulholland, cannot be revealed ahead of time because the police, fire, and emergency agencies involved cannot know what the situation will be prior to performing the exercise.

“They’re going to have to react to what happens,” Mulholland said.

Everything from dispatch communications to first response and back up response will be tested.

“We’ll be testing a lot of functions. It will be the first time we’ve ever operated a joint command post,” Mulholland said.

The operation, in planning for the past thirteen months, will serve to evaluate and, if need be, modify the town’s emergency practices.

Actors, mostly volunteer Boy Scouts, are also involved, playing the parts of victims and press, among other roles.

Selectman Tom Gilligan expressed concern that an actual emergency may arise during the operation, and asked if participants have a way out of role playing mode.

Mulholland told him that the phrase “code red” would be used to signify an actual emergency, adding that he reserves the right to call off the exercise should something happen to one or more of the players.

Weather on Oct. 20 will not be a factor on whether or not the operation takes place.

“Rain or shine, it goes,” Mulholland said.

During the exercise, the Merrimack County Sheriff’s Office will cover Allenstown, as all of the town’s own officers will be participants.