BUDGET CENTER
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2013
THURSDAY
50 Vehicles Under $10K
VOL. 14 NO. 81
LACONIA, N.H.
See Page 3
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LaFond charged with manslaughter & negligent homicide
Laconia Laconia woman was driving vehicle that ran into 2 middle school students on April 19, killing convenience 14-year-old Lily Johnson; authorities also allege illegal drug possession and traffic offenses story robbed
Judge sets cash bail at $30,000
LACONIA — A thin man wearing a black scarf over his face threatened the clerk at the Cumberland Farms convenience store on Court Street with a knife and a hammer and then made off with an undisclosed amount of cash shortly after midnight Tuesday. Responding police were assisted by the Gilford K-9 unit but, after last being seen on Clay Street, the suspect was not immediately apprehended. The robber was described as a white male close to 6-feet
BY MICHAEL KITCH THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
see ROBBERY page 27
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Amy LaFond of Laconia is lead into the Circuit Court by Sheriff’s Deputies Vin Kondrotas and Doug Jamieson for her arraignment on charges of manslaughter and negligent homicide on Wednesday. (Alan MacRae/for The Laconia Daily Sun)
LACONIA — Six months after the car she was driving struck two girls at the Messer Street Bridge, taking the life of Lilyanna Johnson, 14, and severely injuring Allyssa Miner, 14, Amy LaFond, 52, was arrested at her home at 10 River Street shortly after 7 a.m. yesterday on charges of manslaughter, negligent homicide and assault — as well as on two drug offenses and three traffic violations. About 15 relatives and friends of the girls and LaFond’s husband sat quietly as LaFond was arraigned in 4th Circuit Court-Laconia later in the day. LaFond entered no plea on four felony charges and pled not guilty to a misdemeanor and three viosee LAFOND page 9
Coal tar removal will take 2 years & require 12 to 16 truckloads a day BY ROGER AMSDEN FOR THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
GILFORD — Work to remove tons of toxic coal tar contaminated soil from lower Liberty Hill could begin as early as next March in a massive $13 million cleanup project which will take two years to complete, according to plans presented at an informational meeting at Gilford Town Hall last night.
Officials of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) and GEI Consultants, Inc., representing Liberty Utilities, presented the plan to about 40 people, many of them residents of the Liberty Hill area. The tar was dumped into pits on lower Liberty Hill and then covered over in the 1950s, after a fire at a gas plant along
the Winnipesuakee River in Laconia. The substance was a biproduct of the gasification process. The presence of the deposits was not made known to the public until about 10 years ago and came as the result of testimony offered in a private-party lawsuit. Michael McCluskey, an engineer with the state Department
of Environmental Services’ Waste Management Division, said that the conceptual plan for cleaning up Liberty Hill was approved last year and that the design plan for the project is still being finalized by GEI and will be presented to the DES next month. John Ash, vice president of GEI Consultants Inc., said that see TAR page 27
Successor to Kings Grant Inn told it can’t have adult entertainment permit BY MICHAEL KITCH THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
GILFORD — Selectmen last night voted to grant the Lakes Region Cafe & Tavern — the former King’s Grant Inn — a live entertainment permit but not a so-called adult entertainment permit. Owner Will Drew, his
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business partner Tom Lyons, and his lawyer David Bownes had asked for both. In a new twist to an old story, the latest town objection to nearly-naked dancers comes from the planning director, who noted in a memorandum addressed to Drew on September 23 that exotic entertainment was
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included in his last permit however it was a “non-conforming use pursuant to the provisions ... of the Gilford Zoning Ordinance.” Town Planner John Ayer wrote that a non-conforming use allowed to lapse for one year or more or that is superseded by see GILFORD page 13
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