THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2011
VOL. 20 NO. 61
BERLIN, N.H.
752-5858
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Celebrate the 4th of Gabayzadeh loses appeal July Day in Gorham BY BARBARA TETREAULT THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
GORHAM — The annual July 4 festivities kicked off last night in Gorham and will continue throughout the weekend as the town hosts the largest Independence Day celebration in the state. Things got started with a concert on the common, featuring Kid Dizzy, on Wednesday evening and the weekend promises plenty of entertainment with more live music, carnival rides and com-
munity events. The celebration culminates in the town’s annual parades on Monday, July 4 — a tradition organizers say has been traced back to around 1818. One of the parade’s organizers, Janet Corrigan, said that there will be plenty of highlights this weekend and lots to see and do. Among the projected feature events are Monday’s parades — both the see 4TH page 10
BERLIN-GORHAM -- Former American Tissue CEO Mehdi Gabayzadeh has lost his bid to overturn his conviction in his 2006 fraud case. The U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit voted Monday to unanimously uphold Gabayzadeh’s conviction on eight charges including bank and securities fraud and conspiracy. The 66-year old Gabayzadeh is serving a 15-year sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Dix, N.J. Gabayzadeh was found guilty of swindling banks, financial institutions, and investors of millions of dollars while he
was chief executive officer of American Tissue Inc. When American Tissue went bankrupt in September 2001, more than 700 people in the Androscoggin Valley were thrown out of work with the closing of both the Berlin pulp mill and Gorham paper mill. Gabayzadeh was convicted in April 2005, following a nine week trial in U.S. District Court on New York’s Long Island. The jury deliberated eight days before returning guilty verdicts on all counts. His sentencing was delayed until November 2006 because of health issues while he was incarcerated. see GABAYZADEH page 5
Art murals will replace broken windows at R&D building BY JENNIFER ST. AMANT THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
BERLIN - Twelve students from the Plymouth State Art Department painted 24 4’x8’ murals that will replace the broken windows at the Research and Development building at Heritage Park in Berlin. These students are Olivia Benish, Michelle Boudreau, Brittany Connors, Nicole Copple, Nathan Cote, Katie Cotnoir, Elizabeth Dalph, Meredith Gourley, Tara Krehbiel, Craig Maines, Kristin Sarette, and Sam Smart. The Plymouth State students have worked on these murals since January and were chosen to do the project through the connection Jim Wagner, housing and community development coordinator for Tri County Community Action, had with Thad Guldbrandsen, director of the Center for Rural Partnerships at Plymouth State. By mid- May, the
murals had been picked out by Wagner, who said, “The community will be surprised and pleased with the murals. The students have done a great job representing Berlin. The murals give the R&D building more appeal.” The R&D building is owned by Tri-County Community Action, and is currently under construction in hope of creating a welcome center and exhibit. As noted in the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources, the R&D building was developed in the early twentieth century by Brown Co. This construction helped build the paper mill financially. This establishment was used to conduct experiments to create products such as Kream Krisp, the prerequisite of Crisco. R&D also gave Berlin a chance to prosper and live to the city’s fullest see MURALS page 6
White Mountain Lumber employees recently helped bring in the art murals from Plymouth State University that will soon replace broken windows in R&D building at Northern Forest Heritage Park. Couture Construction of Berlin will later help install the murals into the windows (JENNIFER ST. AMANT PHOTO).
New Circuit Court model starts July 1; citizens won’t notice change BY MELISSA GRIMA THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
BERLIN — The court structure for local district, family and probate courts across the state changes tomorrow, but how does that affect the average citizen? According to Circuit Court Administrative Judge Edwin Kelley it won’t. “I don’t think the average citizen is going to see any overt change,” he said. As of July 1, the state is creating 10 Circuit Courts — one in each county, most with multiple locations — to absorb the smaller court administrations and create district, family and probate divisions under the Circuit umbrella. In Coos, where the 1st Circuit
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Court is located, the locations will remain the same, but personnel changes have already been made. The move by the state Judicial Branch, was designed to increase efficiency, Kelley said, and was implemented sooner than the original 10-year plan in order to address fiscal issues in the state. Part of the reorganization includes keeping all Coos locations for courts in Berlin, Colebrook and Lancaster intact, but streamlining administration across the state. “The goal of restructuring was to add efficiencies,” he said. Among the most notable of those efficiencies is the cross-training of judges so they will no longer
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be pigeon-holed into their respective courtrooms. A prime example of that, Kelley explained, is Coos’ own Judge David King, a probate judge who is also the new deputy administrative judge of the Circuit Court. King is certified to preside in district and family court as well as probate now. This allows law enforcement and those accused in Lancaster, for example, to not have to wait for a judge to be freed up from Berlin or Colebrook to address their case if King is in the courthouse dealing with probate or family matters. “That’s already an improvement,” Kelley pointed out.
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