Local voices chime in on a variety of topics.
The “Live Free or Die” state is still dragging its feet on legalizing recreational cannabis. However, the 2022 legislative session offers something seldom seen, a legalization bill with the potential to pass. HB1598, legalizing the possession and use of cannabis, is a beacon of hope for many Granite Staters.
As I re-read the essay to discuss with my classes, in light of Will Smith’s “slap heard around the world,” which all my students were buzzing about, it occurred to me that—maybe—both stories were speaking to the same issue, something so ingrained in American males that it often goes unnoticed.
It’s incomprehensible to us how Republican elected officials can say “We don’t have enough money for Paid Family Leave,” as they write checks in the form of tax cuts to the largest corporations in and out of the State of New Hampshire.
The Webster House Night of Giving Gala honors the past and looks to the future as they continue to provide
Lounging on my couch, as I have for the last umpteenth number of nights, spun out in a rank stupor, now I have ghosts exhaling in my ear after dark, just when the wounds start to freshen. Stay with me…
Editor’s Note: This story was written by a local mom who, through a traumatizing experience, helped to change how Manchester’s police
That evening, I took a call from an acquaintance, a former liaison at the Bureau of Developmental Services. She told me about a law that states that adults with disabilities who have been found guilty of serious crimes in NH can be sent to secure group homes in the community that are monitored 24/7 rather than in with the general prison population. She said to make sure the lawyer, and more importantly, the judge knew that my son gets adult services in NH. This information brought me little comfort. I tossed and turned that night.
I glanced at my watch and replied, “Let’s go out. We have time to eat before we meet the lawyer. I’ll drive.” I grabbed my keys and looked over at him. He never did master the art of grooming and hygiene. He looked decent in the clothes I bought for him yesterday. He’d taken a shower before he came downstairs. He’s a good person, very bright and full of potential. But the world sees a sloppy-looking overweight man with long hair and a tangle of a beard. And the world notices unexpected behaviors. If I didn’t know better, most days I’d say he looks like a homeless person.
It’s the day before your birthday so stop reading the news. Stop thinking about that megalomaniac waging war in the Ukraine as soon as the pandemic started to wane. Stop obsessing about gas prices, and inflation, and your daughter’s college tuition, and the fact that being a human being of modest middle-class means these days is absolutely untenable. After all, you’re a just speck of dust in the dust-coated chaos of an eternal abyss.
It wasn’t long before a young officer approached me. He told me, “I don’t think we should be making this arrest. These are two people with disabilities.” He paused and said, “But it’s out of my hands. They’re taking him to the police station now.” I was told that my son is being charged with a Class B felony — second-degree assault — and faces up to seven years in prison. My heart pounded. I feel the contents of my stomach turn to liquid. My God, I’m the one who told him to call the police. What have I done?