So, what did you do on your school vacation? 

For one high school dean of students, the answer is “got rowdy, got tazed and got arrested at a Massachusetts strip club.”  Yeah, you heard that right. 

Gagnon

Thirty seven year old Peter Gagnon, Souhegan High School’s Dean of Students, apparently, had a wee bit too much to drink at the Tens Show Club in Sailsbury, MA.  Not only was he drunk out of his mind, according to complaints filed with the police, he was encroaching on the striptease dancers’ personal spaces, that means he was getting too close for comfort, for those of you in Suncook, and he was also, apparently, having a sexual identity crisis as he  was said to have repeatedly entered the women’s bathroom.  It is unknown whether or not he was self-identifying as a woman to justify using the female facilities.

Anyway, the police were called after the married father of two, who resides in Pelham, refused to leave the club.  When police arrived, he wasn’t any more cooperative.  While the cops did offer him a ride home when they first arrived, he refused.  Unable to let him go because he was intoxicated, he resisted attempts put him in handcuffs so he could be placed into protective custody and brought to the station to dry out.  When warned he’d be tazed if he kept fighting them, he reportedly said “go ahead, taze me!”  They did.

Gagnon displayed an interesting sense of humor while at the station.  When asked for his phone number, he replied “one eight hundred BLEEP you.”  He also flew the New York State Bird at officers while they were taking his booking photo.  While he was in custody, his wife sent at text asking him where he was.  The police answered for him and asked her to give them a call.  She did.

Warburton: Not a school incident

In response to the arrest, S A U 3 9 Superintendent Peter Warburton issued a statement over the weekend saying Gagnon had been put on administrative leave.  Quote:

The allegations involving Mr. Gagnon did not involve any students of the District and did not occur during work hours. There are no known allegations related to student safety…The District and SAU maintain the practice of refraining from public comment regarding personnel matters.  End quote.

If the name sounds familiar to folks in Bedford, that’s because Gagnon was the Coordinator for United Nations’ International Baccalaureate program at Bedford High.  Our thanks to the loyal listener who brought that tidbit and the whole story to our attention on Friday.  We’ve linked to the article we received with all the details from this news read at Girard at Large dot com.

Extended school day starts today

Speaking of going back to school, starting today, starting today,  schools in Goffstown and New Boston will open fifteen minutes early and stay open fifteen minutes late to make up for the time lost to winter weather.  Our thanks to the reminder sent by yet another member of our Large and Loyal Listening Audience.

News from our own backyard continues after this.

The New Hampshire Senate concurred with the House of Representatives on Sentate Bill 2 3, the bill that legalizes firecrackers in the state.  The bill is now on its way to the governor’s desk.

Avard: Firecrackers for all

The bill’s sponsor, Senator Kevin Avard, Republican from Nashua, praised the bill in a statement, saying citizens should be allowed to purchase firecrackers in the Live Free or Die State.  Quote:   

By giving the people of New Hampshire the personal freedom to purchase and enjoy firecrackers, we are also giving small businesses the economic freedom to do more business in the state.  

He expressed his pride in the bill, which, when it bears its fruit at three A M, I’ll be sure to pop a call his way, in real time, so he can know how well it’s working to disrupt the quited enjoyment of their neighbors.

Wants another rezoning

Aldermen in the city of Manchester are being asked to consider a pair of re-zonings.  On the agenda for the Board of Mayor and Aldermen’s meeting tomorrow night is a request in the North End to extend a business district into a residential neighborhood on Day Street and a request in the South End to rezone almost twenty five acres of land from low density single family housing to high density multi unit apartments on the East side of South Mammoth Road

Proposed change: A multi unit invasion of single family zone

In 2 0 0 9, the same petitioner, William Socha, asked the for the same rezoning.  It was received and filed.  Since then, Socha has successfully petitioned the board for a rezoning on the West Side that allowed him to jam twenty one three bedroom units into two acres zoned single family  on Front Street and another one on the West Side that allowed well more than one hundred fifty units to be built on Hackett Hill converting a commercial zone to one that allowed high density multi  unit dwellings. 

NOT the 40 houses allowed by current zoning

If the requested zoning change is approved, there could be as many as two hundred apartment units built versus the forty single family homes allowed by current zoning.  City planners believe that a quintupling of the number of dwelling units will only have a quote “nominal increase in public school enrollees,” but they also said the city should expect an increase in the need for police and fire services.

That’s NEWS from our own backyard!  Girard at Large hour ___ is next!

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