MONADNOCK LEDGER-TRANSCRIPT

UPDATE: Peterborough pizzeria owner describes robbery, assault on mother and brother

By Meghan Pierce
Monadnock Ledger-Transcript

Peterborough police are investigating an armed robbery and assaults that took place Wednesday evening at the Pizza Peddler restaurant on Route 202 North.

According to Peterborough Police Chief Scott Guinard, two men entered the restaurant at about 8:20 p.m.

“While one suspect physically assaulted a male employee and forced him to the floor,” Guinard wrote in a press release, “the second suspect assaulted a female employee behind the cash register, threatened the female employee with a knife, demanding that she surrender all cash from the register. After collecting an undetermined amount of cash, the two suspects then fled the store and drove off southbound on Route 202.” The car they were driving was described as a silver four-door sedan with a loud exhaust system.

In the press release, one suspect was described as a white male, 6-feet, 1-inch to 6-feet 2-inches in height, with a thin build, wearing jeans and an off-white coat with a hood face mask covering the lower half of his face. The second suspect was described as a white male, 5 feet 9 inches tall, with a chubby build and a ruddy complexion, wearing a gold hooded sweatshirt and a black winter vest over the sweatshirt.

Chris Petrakos, owner of the Route 202 North pizzeria, said he usually closes his restaurant, at 9 p.m., with an employee, however, that night Petrakos was unable to be there so his mother and brother were closing. There were no customers in the pizzeria when the two men entered, beat up his mother and brother and stole a couple hundred dollars cash from the register, he said.

The day after, Petrakos’ mother and brother were bruised from the assault but back at work at the pizzeria.

“We want to put this behind us,” Petrakos said.

Both victims were checked and treated at the scene by ambulance personnel.

Thursday Guinard said police are actively investigating the violent crime.

“We have information we are following up on,” was all he would say on the
investigation.

Petrakos said he believes the robbers may be local.

“They recognized them. They’ve been in here before,” Petrakos said. “They were just kids. They weren’t very old. I think they are going to find the kids.”

Petrakos owns the building and leases space to other businesses, including Kate’s Cut and Peterborough Game and Hobby. He said he already has a burglar alarm for the building, but now plans to install surveillance cameras throughout the building for his employees as well as for his
tenants.

“Everyone deserves that,” he said.

Petrakos said Thursday that he will offer a $500 reward to anyone who provides information to police that leads to an arrest.

Anyone with information on the suspects or their vehicle is asked to call Peterborough Police at 924-8050.

February 4th 2010 at 10:23:19 AM

Past NewsBlogs

Francestown: Injured girls left at scene of one-car accident

September 2nd 2010 at 10:56:30 AM

FRANCESTOWN -- Police are still searching for two juvenile males who fled the scene of a Tuesday night accident that left two female passengers injured with one of them requiring a Life Flight helicopter to get medical treatment.

According to Fire Chief Larry Kullgren, rescue workers were alerted to a single-vehicle accident on Scobie Road at 11:44 p.m. When Kullgren arrived, he learned the accident had happened as much as an hour earlier. The two juvenile females who had been injured in the crash called friends in Manchester, who then drove to the scene before anyone called 911, according to Kullgren.

“When I arrived, I found a group of teenagers standing in the road,” he said. “One of the females who had been in the crash was lying down covered in a blanket and was in and out of consciousness.”

Kullgren said both girls showed no outward signs of trauma, but due to one girl’s altered level of consciousness and complaints of neck and back pain, he called for a helicopter to transport the girl to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon. The second girl was taken by New Boston ambulance to Elliot Hospital in Manchester.

Officials believe all four occupants of the vehicle were under 18, said Kullgren. The accident occurred near the boat launch on Scobie Road. The driver of the Isuzu Rodeo lost control around a corner and the car left the roadway and struck a tree. The car was on its way from the Dodge Hill Road intersection to Route 136, according to Kullgren.

State Police responded to the call and are handling the investigation.

ConVal: Phones fail at high school, SMS, SAU offices

September 1st 2010 at 03:27:44 PM

A perfect storm of beginning-of-year calls from parents and professionals resulted in a near-complete failure of the phone system at ConVal High School, South Meadow School and SAU 1 offices.

As a result, district officials have set up emergency phone lines until repairs can be made.

According to Assistant Superintendent Kimberly Saunders, the phone systems at ConVal High School and the SAU/SMS building began failing in early June. At that time, employees and parents began to report dropped calls, line static and persistent busy signals. The problem gradually escalated until yesterday, when they came to a head.

District officials will meet tomorrow morning with representatives from FairPoint, Paetec and Black Box, the three infrastructure and service providers that manage the telephone lines for the buildings. District officials hope to begin repairs as soon as possible.

When asked whether the district could face significant costs for the repairs, Saunders said “that will likely be one of the topics in tomorrow’s conversation. FairPoint is in Chapter 11, so I don’t know what that will mean.”

For more information and emergency contacts, visit www.conval.edu.

Dublin: Delays expected on Route 101

August 30th 2010 at 07:35:54 PM

DUBLIN — Traffic delays are expected for the next two months as the Route 101 Pedestrian Safety Improvement Project will begin next week, Selectman Charlie Champagne said.
Work on the project is set to start next Tuesday, the day after Labor Day, and is set to end in the middle of November, he said.

“It is actually starting. The work around the Town Hall is actually starting,” he said.

The rock will be lowered, the oval will be expanded and new sidewalks, crosswalks and lighting will be added to the center of town along Route 101, he said.

Because the project will require at times closing one lane of travel on Route 101, delays should be expected, he said.

“There will be delays, one-way traffic on 101, during that construction period,” he said.

Police Chief James Letourneau said he estimates traffic delays would be no more than five minutes at a time.

“I would say they are going to try to keep the wait to a minimum,” Letourneau said of CSSI of Bedford, which has been contracted to complete the project.

“It will be for a large part of the time down to one-lane of traffic in the center of town so there will be alternating traffic,” he said. “Patience is going to have to be the virtue for all of us that commute here on 101.”

Rindge man hospitalized after shooting

August 27th 2010 at 12:59:14 PM

A 31-year-old Rindge man was shot in the face early this morning, according to Police Chief Scott Guinard.

“Details are sketchy right now as to exactly where this happened and as to exactly how this happened,” Guinard said. “It was reported to have happened in Peterborough.”

Guinard said the shooting is being investigated as a case of reckless conduct.

The man, whose name police did not release, was initially taken to Monadnock Community Hospital; at around 6 a.m. He was later transferred to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon for surgery.

“He’s been taken to Dartmouth for immediate surgery to have bullet fragments removed from the head and face area,” Guinard said.

Guinard said he and Sgt. Michael Chapdelaine responded early this morning. “We got involved at 5 this morning. From there we have been to one or more locations.”

He said he and Chapdelaine are investigating the case and are looking for people they want to talk to about the shooting.

“He was with other individuals when it happened,” Guinard said of the shooter.

“We are not releasing a lot of details on this. We are still investigating,” Guinard said. “There are a lot of unanswered questions right now. Maybe we’ll know more by Monday.”

Guinard said police have information that leads them to believe that there is no shooter on the loose and that the public is not in danger.

ConVal: Teachers' union endorses fact-finder's report

August 25th 2010 at 07:21:25 PM

PETERBOROUGH — In a Wednesday meeting, the ConVal Education Association endorsed the fact-finder’s report, which calls for a two-year contract that the association hopes will come before voters in a special meeting some time in December or January.

Of approximately 90 teachers and union members in attendance, “well over two thirds” voted to endorse the fact-finder’s report, according to Ken Cloutier, president of the CVEA. The CVEA leadership did not make a recommendation or enter the meeting with an agenda, he said.

Cloutier said the association plans to request of the School Board a special meeting, for which there will be a 100-day waiting period. Cloutier said the CVEA intends to continue negotiating, but felt the School Board’s goal of a contract agreement by the end of the year was unrealistic. He said the CVEA was also opposed to simply disregarding the fact-finder’s report, even though the report was disappointing to both sides.

“This is what we paid the fact-finder for. This is what we’re going to try to get right now so we can take a breather and focus on the kids in the classroom,” said Cloutier.

Cloutier recognized that it would be difficult to get a contract passed by voters without the School Board’s support.

“We need to be clear about both stances, what the benefits of our stance are, and try to convince the voters,” said Cloutier, who said he did not intend to disparage the board’s position. Rather, it would be up to the voters to decide.

“Are you going to win the race with an old car with bad tires?” he said. “Or are you going to buy something nice and take care of it?”

District Court to stay in Henniker

August 23rd 2010 at 07:34:00 PM

ANTRIM/BENNINGTON -- Police and residents in Antrim and Bennington can rest easy with the knowledge that their officers will not need to travel to Concord for district court proceedings.

A recent dispute between the landlord of the Henniker-Hillsborough District Court and the state threatened to result in the closure of the court, which is located in Henniker. With a lease set to expire this month and demands from the landlord for a 48 percent rent increase, town officials were scrambling to find an alternative site in either Henniker or Hillsborough. If no lease were negotiated, the backup plan called for court cases from Antrim, Bennington and seven other towns to be handled in Concord, nearly an hour away from Antrim and Bennington.

All that was averted recently when the state’s Bureau of Court Facilities successfully negotiated a one-year lease.

State Supreme Court rules in favor of former Jaffrey police chief Martin Dunn

August 19th 2010 at 03:31:20 PM

JAFFREY – The N.H. Supreme Court decided Thursday in favor of former Jaffrey police chief Martin J. Dunn in his appeal of a 2007 decision by the N.H. Retirement System.
The Supreme Court’s ruling voided the decision of the state’s retirement system to deny Dunn accidental disability retirement benefits, and remanded the case back to the retirement board for further proceedings.

Dunn left his job at the Jaffrey Police Department in July of 2006 on extended sick leave, and was terminated in October of that year after his authorized leave time had expired. In May of 2007, Dunn received a lump sum of $95,000 in a workers’ compensation agreement between the town and Dunn.

In October of 2007, the retirement Board of Trustees denied Dunn disability benefits for a psychological disability that allegedly developed in his work environment, according to Supreme Court documents.

More on this story in Tuesday’s issue.

Peterborough: Plans for wider bridge, traffic oval move ahead

August 18th 2010 at 07:58:24 PM

PETERBOROUGH — The Select Board unanimously agreed to recommend a modified roundabout at the Route 202 and Main Street intersection as part of its recommendation to the state for the design of the Main Street Bridge/Route 202 retaining wall project set to begin late next year.

As part of its recommendation to the state, the board also unanimously agreed to recommend that the Main Street Bridge be reconstructed as a cast-in-place, rigid-frame structure to best match what the bridge looks like today.

To accommodate bridge traffic during construction, the board recommends a phased construction of a wider bridge as opposed to installing a temporary steel bridge nearby.

The total cost for the project is expected to be around $4 million.

Public Works Director Rodney Bartlett said state officials have indicated they prefer an oval-shaped roundabout at the intersection to replace the current T-shaped intersection because it would improve traffic flow and lower vehicle emissions.

“At this point, DOT’s preference is to move forward with the modified roundabout,” Bartlett said.

Details in Thursday's Ledger-Transcript.

GOP House candidates debate tonight at FPU

August 17th 2010 at 12:36:47 PM

The first of three debates co-sponsored by the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript and the Fitzwater Center at Franklin Pierce University will be held tonight at Pierce Hall, starting at 6:30 p.m.

Tonight’s debate will include Republican candidates for the District 2 House seat, including Charlie Bass, Jennifer Horn, Bob Giuda and Wesley Sonner.

The event is free and open to the public. There will also be a brief opportunity to meet the candidates following the debate.

The Democratic candidates for the District 2 House seat will debate at Franklin Pierce University on Aug. 24 and the GOP Senate hopefuls will debate Aug. 31.

For more information, click here: Franklin Pierce University website

Jaffrey: Supreme Court finds for Van Dyke mountain zone plan

August 17th 2010 at 09:57:15 AM

In an order issued last Wednesday, the N.H. Supreme Court upheld the town of Jaffrey’s land use boards decisions regarding developer Robert Van Dyke’s 28-unit mountain zone condo development.

Van Dyke first applied for a development of 40 units in October of 2004, and the Planning Board denied this application. Following an appeal by Van Dyke, the parties agreed to return to the application process with just 36 units. The plan was subsequently reduced to 28 single-family homes in a condominium-style development with common land ownership.

In numerous appeals that went all the way to the state's Supreme Court, a group of 20 Jaffrey residents and the Society For the Protection of N.H. Forests have brought to light concerns about the density of the development in the mountain zone protection area of Mount Monadnock, a zone implemented in several towns surrounding the mountain in the 1990s.

More on this story in Thursday’s issue.

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