As one of two active law enforcement officers to testify in favor of medical marijuana at a recent state Senate hearing, it became clear to me that many people do not fully understand the implications of opposing this bill. Simply put, supporting the continued ban on medical marijuana means subjecting seriously ill or handicapped individuals to arrest and prosecution. HB 648 would allow a narrow class of sick and handicapped individuals to use marijuana with their doctor's permission. At the Senate hearing, two members of the law enforcement community spoke against the legislation. They seemed defensive after I testified that as a sworn enforcer of the law, it was my duty to arrest and prosecute citizens who possess marijuana, even if it used for easing their intense suffering. Although I do not personally support this, it is my job to enforce the law as written, and there is currently no legal reason to be in possession of marijuana. [continues 212 words]
To Sen. Jack Barnes: Would your opposition to medical marijuana include withholding pain relief from your loved ones or just mine? Have you or a loved one ever had acute, un-relievable pain? If I'm in pain and I don't have medical insurance and so fall through the treatment cracks to the extent that I can't get morphine or morphine doesn't help, would it be okay if I had a shot or two of vodka? Or would alcoholic self-medicating impugn New Hampshire's reputation as a sane and safe state? Michael Stamm Concord [end]
I am writing in support of House Bill 648 regarding the use of medical marijuana. Having had two cancer surgeries and one full course of radiation and chemotherapy, and having witnessed the grueling and untimely death of a family member and close friend, I want my physicians to have every available medicine, including marijuana, to relieve my suffering. I do not want to endure what I have seen unfold in death throes, unassisted by what could have had beneficial effects, including medical marijuana prescribed by the doctors in charge. [continues 90 words]
234-138 Vote Sends Legislation To Senate New Hampshire residents suffering from severe pain or debilitating diseases such as cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis could use small quantities of marijuana for relief under legislation adopted yesterday by the House. The vote in favor of legalizing marijuana for medicinal use, 234-138, would allow ill patients to grow their own marijuana plants or purchase small amounts of the drug. The bill now heads to the Senate. A spokesman for Gov. John Lynch yesterday said Lynch has "serious concerns" about the bill, including the fact that it would put New Hampshire law at odds with federal law. [continues 385 words]
The federal government's refusal to acknowledge that marijuana in small, prescribed quantities has well-documented medicinal uses began long before former president George W. Bush launched his war on science. But because no truce has been declared in that war, countless people are suffering needlessly and dying in pain that might have been alleviated. Last week, Lancaster Rep. Evalyn Merrick, a victim of myeloma, described for her fellow lawmakers how even a minute amount of marijuana, in her case one puff, was enough to allow her to hold down food and drink for the first time since her illness worsened. Merrick is again sponsoring a bill that would allow physicians to prescribe marijuana for qualified patients under strict and careful guidelines. Her 2007 version of the bill easily passed the House, but it died from a threatened veto by Gov. John Lynch. This time, it deserves to sail through. [continues 381 words]
He Faces Drug Charges After Text-Messaging John Huckins, the 17-year-old Concord High School student who was arrested in March during an alleged drug buy set up by the Bishop Brady principal, will not be suspended for the rest of the school year, according to the terms of an agreement detailed yesterday by Huckins's attorney. Huckins will be allowed to finish his senior year at Concord High but will not be allowed to attend his senior prom, class day or graduation ceremony, said his attorney, Mark Howard. In exchange, Huckins will drop the lawsuit he filed against the school district alleging district officials violated their own rules regarding suspension procedures, Howard said. [continues 570 words]
The marijuana decriminalization effort at the State House appears to have gone up in smoke. The Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday voted 4-0 against a bill that would decriminalize possession of one-quarter of an ounce of the drug, making it a violation rather than a misdemeanor. The House passed the bill 193-141 last month. Gov. John Lynch immediately issued a rare veto threat, and Senate leaders announced their opposition to it. In the House, sponsors focused their arguments on the fact that college students convicted of drug offenses can lose access to federal education assistance, a consequence they argued was too harsh. Yesterday, Sen. Deborah Reynolds said New Hampshire is the wrong place to fix that. [continues 285 words]
State senators from both parties parried with advocates of marijuana decriminalization yesterday, asking a number of skeptical questions about a bill that cleared the House but appears doomed in the Senate. The Senate Judiciary Committee did not take a vote on the bill, although its chairman, Sen. Joe Foster, has previously said he knows of no senator who supports it. Minutes after the House passed the bill, Gov. John Lynch announced that he would veto the measure, which would decriminalize possession of a quarter of an ounce of marijuana and cut penalties to a fine. [continues 641 words]
State Allows Drug Use For Suffering Patients A year after making medical marijuana legal for patients to use, Rhode Island lawmakers say it's time to establish a safe and legal means for them to obtain the drug. Right now, qualifying patients may grow marijuana, but they can't legally buy it. As a result, they often resort to buying it on the street. Some legislators and doctors call that scenario an unwanted weak link in an otherwise successful law. They've heard too many stories like that of Buddy Coolen, 29, a medical marijuana user who three months ago was robbed at gunpoint by a drug dealer while trying to buy marijuana to treat his debilitating gastrointestinal condition. [continues 495 words]
Marijuana Laws Beg For Cynical Response The "wrong message" to send to any teenager, to any child, is hypocrisy. It turns them cynical and makes them disrespect the law, when trusted adults evade reality for the sake of political concerns. The reality is that the inclusion of marijuana on the federal government's Schedule I list of controlled substances along with heroin and cocaine has always been a mistake. But the politicians' bogus "war on drugs" gets a boost from the illegality of marijuana. It is bulky, smelly and easy to detect. The "war on drugs" gets big results, big statistics, and therefore big budget and big media, from pot busts. [continues 383 words]
Ginger Merrill criticized the House for passing a bill reducing marijuana possession penalties, implying that small-time violators deserve to be saddled with a conviction that can follow them for a lifetime ("What were House lawmakers smoking?" Monitor letter, March 23). Her reasoning that such a reform is somehow comparable to hypothetically reducing penalties for driving while intoxicated only makes sense if you believe a college student caught with a marijuana cigarette is as dangerous as a drunk driver. Which are New Hampshire citizens personally more afraid of, a stoned teenager wasting a few unproductive hours on the couch or a maniac who thinks he's Mario Andretti after a dozen beers? [continues 115 words]
I was elated when I saw the latest marijuana story in the Monitor ("House votes to relax law for marijuana," front page, March 19). It is good to see common sense in action. Then I read the fine print. The governor has made it clear how he feels: No. I'd like to say a few words to the governor and his supporters, especially those among you who think of yourselves as Christians. You say you don't want to send the wrong message to the kids. But those kids are smarter than you seem to think they are. A lot of them have experienced both alcohol and marijuana, and many of them know when their elders are playing loose with the facts. [continues 109 words]
The New Hampshire House voted last week to decriminalize marijuana use. One of our respected representatives justified this decriminalization because teens who are arrested for marijuana use have a lifetime criminal record, making it difficult for them to attend college because it makes them ineligible for federal financial aid? Okay, yeah, so what?! With reasoning such as that, the House better decriminalize drunk driving while it's on a roll! Otherwise, teens who drink and drive may have a criminal record! Forget public safety - - save our teens from the consequences of their poor choices. Ginger Merrill New London [end]
Forty years ago, Harvard psychology professor Lester Grinspoon, alarmed at the widespread use of marijuana, set out to write a scientific paper that would definitively prove that the drug was harming its young users. Here is what he found: "By 1971 . . . I knew that far more harmful than any psychopharmacological property of this substance was the way we as a society were dealing with its use. While marijuana is, in fact, remarkably free of toxicity, the consequence of annually arresting 300,000 young people were not." [continues 417 words]
Bill Would Decriminalize Quarter Ounce Smoke 'em if you . . . don't mind risking a violation on your record. A bill that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana passed New Hampshire's House yesterday by a wide margin, eliciting whoops and scattered applause in the chamber. But the revelry might be short-lived: Gov. John Lynch's office promptly announced that he would veto the measure if it gets to him. "This sends absolutely the wrong message to New Hampshire's young people about the very real dangers of drug use," said spokesman Colin Manning. "That is why Gov. Lynch joins with the House Criminal Justice Committee and law enforcement in opposing this bill. In the event that the bill reaches his desk, which seems unlikely, the governor will veto it." [continues 647 words]
For the Monitor February 25, 2008 I am writing to inform the public about HB 1623, the bill to reduce penalties for marijuana possession. As a taxpayer, I believe our limited law enforcement resources should be spent fighting serious crime. This is not an effort to legalize marijuana, just to reduce penalties so the punishment comes closer to fitting the offense. Twelve states have decriminalized marijuana since 1973, so it's not as if we'd be going first. (Oregon went first in 1973; Nevada was most recent in 2001.) The federal government has not interfered. [continues 163 words]
If you need residential alcohol or drug treatment in New Hampshire and don't have access to a private program, your search will probably go something like this: You'll call each of the six - soon to be seven - crisis detoxification sites in the state, inquiring about open beds. Quite possibly, none will be available. If, by the next day, you haven't changed your mind about seeking treatment, you'll repeat the process, calling each of the sites again, hoping for better luck. [continues 537 words]
The hearing on HB 1623, the bill to reduce penalties for marijuana possession, made for some interesting drama in the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee. The most eye-opening statement came from Berlin Police Chief Peter Morency, president of the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police. Morency claimed that "87 to 90 percent of our crime rate is directly related to drugs and alcohol." This mention of drugs and alcohol in the same breath got the attention of Democratic Rep. Timothy Robertson of Keene. Robertson asked Morency if, following the logic of marijuana prohibition, he would be in favor of reinstituting alcohol prohibition. [continues 324 words]
Re "Bills would lessen penalties for marijuana" (Monitor Local & State page, Jan. 23): In your story on HB 1623, relative to reducing penalties for possession of small quantities of marijuana, you state that: "Peter Morency, president of the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police, described the issue in terms of crime, pointing to the high levels of crime that he said were drug-and-alcohol related." In the very same testimony, Mr. Morency was asked if he would re-institute alcohol prohibition. In reply, he said he "certainly would consider it." Don't take my word for it; see the video yourself at nhliberty.org/2007/hb1623. It's 2 minutes 37 seconds in. Denis Goddard Concord (The writer is director of research for the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance.) [end]
To lawmakers: Alcohol is a drug that has caused more misery than all the other drugs in the world combined. The reason alcohol is not forbidden because lawmakers use it and like it - and it's good for the economy. Never mind that it's probably killed someone, somewhere, during the time spent typing these words. Marijuana, on the other hand, is God-given, causes munchies, turns up the senses and sometimes helps you get to know yourself a bit better than you might otherwise. [continues 201 words]
One Seeks To Reduce Possession To Violation Two bills before state lawmakers aim to loosen marijuana penalties, lessening the punishments for possessing smaller amounts of the drug or doing away with any punishment altogether. "None of the doom and gloom scenarios this bill's opponents may try to scare people with have ever come to pass following decriminalization," said Matt Simon, executive director of the New Hampshire Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy, regarding a proposal to lessen criminal punishments for marijuana possession. "It's time to reduce marijuana penalties in New Hampshire." [continues 706 words]
Louis Joselphson is to be commended for making the case for substance abuse treatment ("State limits our ability to prevent crises," Sunday Monitor Viewpoints, Dec. 9). A study conducted by the RAND Corp. found that every additional dollar invested in substance abuse treatment saves taxpayers $7.48 in societal costs. There is far more at stake than tax dollars. The drug war is not the promoter of family values that some would have us believe. Children of inmates are at risk of educational failure, joblessness, addiction and delinquency. Not only do the children lose out, but society as a whole does too. Incarcerating non-violent drug offenders alongside hardened criminals is the equivalent of providing them with a taxpayer-funded education in anti-social behavior. [continues 80 words]
Shaheen: Admission Ripe For 'Dirty Tricks' A senior Hillary Clinton supporter drew Barack Obama's admissions of past illegal drug use into the Democratic presidential race yesterday, saying that Obama's honesty would expose him to Republican attacks in a general election. "It'll be, 'When was the last time? Did you ever give drugs to anyone? Did you sell them to anyone?' " Bill Shaheen, a co-chairman of Clinton's national and New Hampshire campaigns, told the Washington Post. "There are so many openings for Republican dirty tricks. It's hard to overcome." [continues 847 words]
Mental Patients' Drug Abuse May Go Untreated A man is shot and killed by the Concord police in his family's home after acting erratically. A woman is shot with a bean bag gun by the police after threatening behavior. A parent writes to me asking for help for her child who has a long history of mental health issues, but I can offer only very limited services. In each of these real cases, families and individuals are concerned and frustrated by a lack of responsiveness in our mental health system. Frankly, I share their concern. A growing number of people who are uninsured or under-insured and have co-existing alcohol and drug problems are not getting what they need from New Hampshire's mental health system. [continues 313 words]
Residents Raise Alarm About Drug Dealers; Town Works To Respond Priscilla Lemieux enjoys a smoke before bed, usually around 11 p.m. But she doesn't enjoy the activity she sometimes sees at that time, across the alley from her apartment. She sees cars coming and going, never staying long enough for a cup of coffee, and she says she knows what's happening. She's seen drugs and money exchange hands. "Right over there," Lemieux said recently, pointing out her living room window. [continues 920 words]
Marijuana Laws Based On Fear, Not Facts In his June 22 article ("Shea-Porter's gravitational pull") for the Monitor, GOP boss Fergus Cullen blasted Democrats for advancing the Nanny State and going too far, too fast on a number of issues. I agree with much of what he had to say. For example, like most New Hampshire citizens, I prefer to wear my seatbelt voluntarily rather than because I'll be pulled over, fined and harassed for noncompliance. And who really thinks there should be a fine for releasing helium balloons? (Wouldn't a public service announcement suffice and be less insulting to the average citizen?) [continues 530 words]
State House Vote Sees Debate Over Benefits By a slender margin, lawmakers decided yesterday against letting people with debilitating illnesses use marijuana for pain relief or other medical purposes. The 186-177 vote in the House killed a bill that would have decriminalized the drug's use for patients under the care of a physician for severe illnesses such as cancer, AIDS or multiple sclerosis. The debate preceding the vote heard testimony from lawmakers with medical degrees and some who said they would benefit personally from smoking marijuana for medical purposes. [continues 220 words]
Supporters of a bill that would allow marijuana use for medical purposes had a bad week. A House committee recommended (12-7) that the full House reject the bill. Also, WKXL in Concord refused to run an advertisement designed to drum up support for the bill, which the full House will debate this week. The advertisement was planned by the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington-based advocacy group. WKXL's owner, former U.S. senator Gordon Humphrey, said he was concerned that the message - that people suffering from painful diseases should be able to use marijuana to allay their pain - could be misconstrued by young people. "At various times, we have young people listening, so that's no lottery ads, no beer ads," said Humphrey, who has refused to run advertisements for the state lottery and a beer distributor before. [continues 94 words]
Military Had Been Key In Finding Traffickers Stretched thin from fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military has sharply reduced its role in the war on drugs, leaving significant gaps in U.S. anti-narcotics efforts. Since 1989, Congress has directed the Pentagon to lead the detection by air and sea of illegal drugs headed to the United States and to support the Coast Guard in catching them. But since 2002, the military has withdrawn many of those assets, according to more than a dozen current and former counter-narcotics officials, as well as a review of congressional, military and Homeland Security documents. [continues 402 words]
Legislation Exceeds Laws in Other States If Rep. Charles Weed's bill passes, selling marijuana would be legal in New Hampshire. Weed argued yesterday that legalizing marijuana use and sales would free up the police and government to tackle more violent crimes. In a hearing of the criminal justice and public safety committee, Weed said current laws are unfair to those who are convicted of marijuana use. They can be unfairly incarcerated with users of harder drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, he said. [continues 649 words]
For The Monitor Re "Bill aims to legalize marijuana use" (Monitor, Jan. 16): It won't happen - not with the mindset of our "leaders." The History Channel has shown and re-shown the story of marijuana and how it came to be illegal. Do congressmen ever watch TV (other than football)? Those who would rule us should be required to watch educational TV now and then and maybe read a book or two about the real world. Why is it, Mister Lawmaker, that you won't even allow medical researchers to study marijuana? What kind of evil do you think is in that flower anyway? [continues 220 words]
Until now, marijuana growing in New Hampshire has largely been a garden variety crime. The weather just isn't conducive to the high-intensity illegal agriculture that has drawn drug gangs to the national forests and parks of warmer states. But last week people woke up, and what they smelled wasn't roses. Law enforcement agencies seized 11 expensive homes in Andover, Pembroke, Concord, Canterbury, Hopkinton, Weare and other communities and confiscated 7,000 high-quality marijuana plants. The police called it the biggest drug bust in state history. [continues 504 words]
Just before Election Day, I fueled up my regular car, then the diesel. Two days before, I had ordered my next ton of corn for the corn stove. The price of feed corn had risen since summer by about 10 percent. The unleaded gasoline going into the car contained 10 percent ethanol derived from corn. Why was the price of gasoline so low compared to last year when the cost of a major component had risen? There are now two grades of whole corn: the corn that farmers feed livestock and stove corn. Stove corn isn't food-quality, has a higher btu output, has a little more cob content and is dustier. It costs less than feed corn. [continues 141 words]
This is not about the use of pot. But did Gov. Lynch authorize the National Guard to be called out to help confiscate and haul away the pot plants found in the home in Epsom (Monitor, Nov. 4)? I understand that 1,400 marijuana plants is a lot to haul away, no matter the size of them. However, the constitution stipulates that the National Guard shall be used to help the police only in case of natural disasters or to protect private property such as riots or mass lawlessness. [continues 66 words]
Nearly 1,400 Marijuana Plants Found In the biggest marijuana bust in the state's history, the police found nearly 1,400 marijuana plants worth up to $7 million inside a vacant Epsom house Thursday. The police brought 1,396 plants out of the basement at 35 Woodcote Drive, the state police said. They also seized grow lights, tools, industrial fans and transformer boxes used to divert electricity to the house, the police said. Aside from the basement and closets full of equipment, the rest of the house was empty, said Sgt. Ellen Arcieri of the New Hampshire State Police. [continues 344 words]
Screening An Option For Students' Parents Winnisquam Regional Middle School will give home drug-testing kits to parents at an open house this month. Distribution of the kits, donated by an Arizona nonprofit called NotMYKid, will follow a slide show advising parents on how to talk to their kids about drugs, according to Dave Tryon, the district's "chemical-free adviser." Also on the agenda for the back-to-school open house are a spaghetti supper and parent-teacher meetings. Tryon said he wasn't sure about the drug tests, but he liked that the kits are optional. He said the kits can be used as tools for parents to talk to their kids about drugs - and as an excuse for kids who don't want to try drugs. [continues 414 words]
Joseph White's Greenfield, Mass., home office is like a modern-day hippie hangout. Books on Buddhism and yoga mingle with business planners and a laptop computer. An acoustic guitar rests next to a shuffle of sheet music for "Mr. Tambourine Man," just across the room from a fax machine. And then there are the marijuana stalks. Towering six-footers. Pint-sized plants for personal medical use. He even has a few ripe buds kicking around on a desk, not far from his cell phone. [continues 943 words]
Re "N.H. overdose deaths skyrocket" on page B5 of the June 25 Sunday Monitor: As the amount and frequency of alcohol use increase, the physical ability to tolerate the drug also increases. Impairment and health problems logically ensue. The use of any illicit drug is a choice that places the user at risk for health and impairment problems. One terrible outcome is physical addiction, but a person can also abuse alcohol or other drugs one time and experience a life-altering impairment problem, like a car accident that takes a life. [continues 266 words]
Thanks go to the Students for Sensible Drug Policy for compiling statistics about the number of college students affected by a 1998 law that suspends federal financial aid for students convicted of drug offenses. The numbers don't so much provide convincing evidence of the law's stupidity - that was clear from the start - but rather of the toll that it is taking. According to the information released by the student organization, more than 200,000 students have been denied federal grants, loans and work-study aid in the last six years because of the law. Included in that total are more than 500 New Hampshire and 200 Vermont students. [continues 509 words]
The Goal Is To Replace Jail With Counseling A 16-year-old Concord teenager on probation for marijuana use was back in court last week. He had missed court for three weeks in a row, skipped two classes and, after four months of sobriety, had smoked pot again. But instead of sending the teen to the Youth Detention Center in Manchester, the judge gave him a date book to help him remember appointments. The teen's probation officer vowed to help him find reliable transportation to court, told him to start calling her every night and set up an appointment with a therapist. The probation officer also asked if the teen could be rewarded with a sobriety coin, often given out in Alcoholics Anonymous groups, for not smoking that week. [continues 1320 words]
Canadians Find 'Prince of Pot' Harmless; DEA Begs to Differ Sweet marijuana smoke tumbles down the steps from "the Vapor Lounge," a corner of Marc Emery's Vancouver, Canada, bookstore where customers toke up at will. "We get high with everybody," Emery says, shrugging. "This is a pilgrimage spot, and people come here from all over the world. We get high." Illegal? Yes. So were the seeds he used to keep in a case in the store, with exotic names like Afghan Dream and Chemo Grizzly. So was the booming business he ran, complete with glossy seed catalogues describing the varieties' subtle and sublime nuances. ("Nebula: Fruity flavor and scent. Transcendental buzz. Harvest outdoor.") So, for that matter, are the other marijuana businesses that have sprouted up in the block around his bookstore. The street is nicknamed "Vansterdam,"with pot-hazy cafes, head shops filled with pipes and bongs, and neon signs advertising illegal seed sales. [continues 1268 words]
Plan From Restaurateur Draws Little Local Fire When he heard about a restaurateur's idea to open a drug and alcohol treatment center at the Daniel Webster Farm, Floyd Sargent thought it would generate controversy around Franklin. But eating breakfast and chatting with the other regulars at Mr. D's on Main Street every morning, he has yet to hear a negative word. "I haven't heard any myself, and I get around quite a bit," said Sargent, a member of Franklin's planning board who owns a property maintenance business. "I was a little surprised." [continues 1352 words]
Lockers, Backpacks Would Be Searched WEARE - Officials at John Stark Regional High School are considering using dogs to search students' lockers and backpacks for drugs. Principal Art Aaronson sent letters home to parents last week asking for feedback on the proposal. If the plan is approved, the school would work with the Weare police to bring dogs into the school. The dogs would not search students directly, but they would check the lockers and students' backpacks, which would be left in the hallway during inspection. The school board is still reviewing the idea, and John Stark officials are working out the cost of the plan. [continues 1049 words]
The Monitor's Sept. 23 AP story on our efforts to organize in support of taxing and regulating marijuana incorrectly referred to the Marijuana Policy Project as a "pro-marijuana group." We are not pro-marijuana any more than the mothers who struggled for repeal of alcohol prohibition 75 years ago were pro-booze. Like them, we simply recognize that prohibition is a costly, destructive failure. We do not promote or encourage the use of marijuana or any drug. Having looked at the evidence, we believe that current policies cause much more harm than they prevent. San Francisco (The writer is director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project.) [end]
A pro-marijuana group based in Washington, D.C., is looking for activists in seven states to build grass-roots support for legalized marijuana, with the eventual goal being to get the drug legalized for all adults. The nonprofit Marijuana Policy Project is targeting New Hampshire, Arizona, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Montana and Oregon. The effort is in its infancy, and project officials emphasize they have no master plan for the seven states. Instead, the group is looking for local activists whose efforts would be funded by the project's grant program. The eventual goal is to put marijuana in the same category as alcohol, with the same kind of taxes and regulation. [continues 207 words]
Why Deciding Dope Case Divided Court With the parties warring over the composition of the federal judiciary, and with a Supreme Court vacancy perhaps impending, Americans should use the court's end-of-term decisions as whetstones on which to sharpen their sense of the ambiguities in the categories - -"liberal,""conservative,""activist,""practitioner of judicial restraint"- used when judges are discussed. Consider the case arising from the destruction, by agents of the Drug Enforcement Agency, of Diane Monson's home-grown marijuana plants, a case about which the court's two most conservative justices, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, disagreed. [continues 681 words]
SEATTLE - Betty Hiatt's morning wake-up call comes with the purr and persistent kneading of the cat atop her bedspread. Under predawn gray, Hiatt blinks awake. It is 6 a.m., and Kato, an opinionated Siamese who Hiatt swears can tell time, wants to be fed. Reaching for a cane, the frail grandmother pads with uncertain steps to the tiny alcove kitchen in her two-room flat. Her feline alarm clock gets his grub, then Hiatt turns to her own needs. [continues 1366 words]
Tower Leads the DARE Program at Local School DEERFIELD - A Deerfield police officer known for working with kids is being held at the Rockingham County jail on a pair of domestic violence-related charges. Paul C. Tower, the town's juvenile officer and the DARE instructor in the local school, was arrested by the state police Thursday on felony charges of threatening to commit a crime and tampering with a witness. On the evening of Nov. 21, Tower, 34, allegedly threatened to grab the steering wheel of his wife's 1997 Volvo sedan while she was driving, telling her, "How's it feel to die today?" according to a complaint filed by state police Trooper Jill Rockey. He then grabbed the wheel, saying, "I could just veer the car," Rockey wrote. [continues 734 words]
Students immerse themselves in politics at 3-day convention Manchester - In all his days spent meeting and greeting his way through New Hampshire convenience stores and living rooms, Sen. Joe Lieberman had never been asked that question. So, when a member of Students for Sensible Drug Policy wondered whether, as president, Lieberman would repeal the portion of the Higher Education Act that prevented students with prior drug convictions from receiving federal loans and grants, Lieberman just didn't know. He'd have to do a little more research, but his preliminary answer was yes. [continues 1381 words]
Senator Says Dean Cannot Win Against Bush MANCHESTER - Declaring himself "energized and raring to go," Democratic presidential candidate Joe Lieberman took on rival Howard Dean yesterday, suggesting that his rival is confusing excitement with electability. The Connecticut senator said Dean would return the Democratic Party to the days before the Clinton administration "when we had a lot of people in our base who were excited but weren't winning elections." Lieberman said he admires the way Dean has brought new activists into the party. But he said the former Vermont governor's claim to represent the "Democratic wing of the Democratic Party" won't be enough to beat President Bush. [continues 393 words]
