From the Eagle Tribune;
October 6, 2011
Atkinson chooses new selectman
By Cara Hogan
chogan@eagletribune.com
ATKINSON — The town's new selectman is businessman Craig Schuster.
Selectmen appointed Schuster as the board's third selectman at a special meeting yesterday morning. Schuster will fill the remainder of the term of William Bennett, who resigned last week for health reasons. The term expires in March.
Selectman's Chairman William Friel said the decision was guided by input from residents who called, emailed and recommended Schuster.
"It was a tough choice," Friel said. "All five gentleman were great candidates and bring a lot to the table. Mr. Schuster is an outsider with no real political ties. He has management experience, capital improvement experience and budget experience."
Selectman Fred Childs agreed.
"He's a new face with new ideas," he said. "He comes here willing to learn."
None of the candidates were present for the announcement yesterday, after coming to Town Hall on Monday for their televised interviews with selectmen. Schuster beat two former selectmen and two Budget Committee members for the position.
Schuster has been living in Atkinson since 1999.
His wife, Robyn Schuster, works for the Salem School District. Schuster graduated from Western New England College in 1994 with a degree in business.
He now works full time as a manufacturing manager at Lubrizol, a chemical manufacturing company.
"I oversee 60 employees and I've developed systems to help my business grow over 100 percent," he said in his interview with selectmen. "Many manufacturing sites are downgrading or moving out of the country, but we've increased. All these skills will help me be a great selectman."
Schuster also is an Eagle Scout and very involved in the Boy Scouts in Atkinson. Although he works full time, he said he is willing to put in the long hours necessary as selectman.
"I do have a younger family, with one kid at Atkinson Academy and one in middle school," he said. "I will put in the extra time to create a great town for them to grow up in."
Schuster will sign paperwork and be sworn in before the next selectmen's meeting on Tuesday.
"It was a hard choice, but we're looking forward to getting into budget season," Friel said.
Atkinson Town Hall
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39 comments:
Sorry Phil, your relative didn't get the job!
Congratulations to Craig Schuster! The selectmen made an excellent choice.
Bill and Fred you guys crack me up. I pity Craig, too nice of a guy. He's got no idea what he's gotten into.
Thumbs up to Mr. Schuster and Selectmen Friel and Childs.
We were so fortunate to have all five of the men volunteer. Hope they all run for selectmen in the spring.
Mr. Schuster's appointment makes me feel encouraged about the new direction the town might take.
Thank you to the Atkinson Reporter for giving me a place to post my opinion, which I have not done for a long time.
Now that this is over, hopefully tey will get right to work implementing the suggestions from MRI.
The report may not have stated certain things in black and white, but they come thru loud and clear.
No talk of the Chief's duties or his role in the staff reorg proposed.
No reflection on the fact that the police log is not published and the report shows we in fact do have crime. We knew this.
No comments on the nepotism, though the spouse's job is not required. The other dispatcher is not needed. Who will do the paperwork for the private charity without these employees sneaking it in on the job?
No references to the missing equipment, high turnover, lack of training.
Nope, none of it. It's all there if you look, in the indirect statments and glaring oversight.
I don't believe for a minute that the original draft version and the one fed to the public are even close, with regard to content.
Hello? Is This The Atkinson Police Department? I Need Help
NH Insider
by Ed Naile
Tuesday, October 4, 2011 at 12:13PM
I guess it is safe to say that the next 10 years of litigation against the Town of Atkinson will probably revolve around the Police Department and the newly released MRI Report found here:
http://www.town-atkinsonnh.com/
Some towns in New Hampshire can be described as dysfunctional, Windsor, where the elected officials and friends do not pay property taxes is one, but Atkinson tops the field with its “part time police chief” who costs the municipality hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawsuits and a failed police department.
Check out pages 7-8 for a sample of the absolute stupidity displayed by part time chief/full time liability, Phil Consentino.
The public employee (Chief Consentino) answers the phone in the Atkinson Department office and gives out the names of “approved” contractors with a 10% discount for mentioning they got the name from the Atkinson PD.
And how do you get on the “approved” list in Atkinson so you can do business in town?
Is there any reason a contractor gets bumped from a list?
I’ll bet it would be a hoot to find out how you get blacklisted by Chief Consentino from working in Atkinson. But do you think the blacklist is written down for review - probably not. And I assume so safely because when you read the rest of the report you will find that Chief Consentino doesn’t keep written records of most things a professional or competent police chief would – unless it is a list of possible elderly voters who support his political agenda.
Chief Consentino isn’t very smart but he is a punk and a bully. Just look at some of his ravings on YouTube.
The one single advantage Consentino has in Atkinson is the complete weakness of the people who have floated through the Board of Selectmen during Consentino’s reign of stupidity.
If I was a contractor in Atkinson I would hurry on down to the Town Office and ask for, under RSA 91-A, a copy of the “Atkinson Police Department Approved List of Contractors and 10% Discount Policy.”
The MRI Report says they have one.
And the gutless Selectmen thereby approve.
wait till craig sees what it like working with moe and larry
maybe now we can get the projects done before winter
I would love to see the look on his face once Craig learns about our PD crazy bin led by our top loony toon. Good luck Craig. Godspeed.
Just my opinion of course
this blog has won, now we dont have to worry any more about those elderly people they can get there own ride or depend on taxi services to get to dr. or pharmacy. Also with the new police there will be no noise in town what so ever, we will call the police if a pin drops, good luck to the new cops, ill be watching you very closly. You can look forward to hearing from me on a daily basis, weather its to complain about somthing so small you will chuckle or weather its to inform you that its too quiet in town.
Joy La
this blog has won, now we dont have to worry any more about those elderly people they can get there own ride or depend on taxi services to get to dr. or pharmacy. Also with the new police there will be no noise in town what so ever, we will call the police if a pin drops, good luck to the new cops, ill be watching you very closly. You can look forward to hearing from me on a daily basis, weather its to complain about somthing so small you will chuckle or weather its to inform you that its too quiet in town.
Joy La
Yeah, this blog has win.
Many people read it. It is hugely successful.
It exposes the good and the bad.
It is entertainment at times.
It let's people understand where others are coming from
It allows people to vent which both raises and lowers temperatures.
Free speech is a wonderful thing. So wonderful and beneficial to all town residents.
There are those in town that think we all want to shut down Elderly Affairs to save money. They're using this tactic to scare the elderly. I just want to firmly state here, anyone in town that is troubled financially or psychologically or are in poor health should be cared for. Not just the elderly! Maybe we will be able to serve everyone in need if we can figure out who's really in trouble and who's just a member of the Friends of Phil Club.
But nothing matters to you but blatant control over what people are allowed to thing or say about town corruption.
You already squandered $20,000 hard earned taxpayer dollars and God only knows how much on lawsuits your corruption and slander generate. Whatcha gonna do? Invest $600,000 (more hard earned tax dollars!!) retainer to a Faymouse egomaniac attorney to stop free speech allowed under the constitution of the United States?
The blog will always be in the face of those who create the Atkinson gulag.
Love using words you don't understand and have to pay an attorney to define for you.
To save taxpayer dollars just trot down to the too costly town library and take out the book "The Gulag Archipelago", a book by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
For those who are adequately educated-----and not flagrant ly totally uneducated morons,..... Or a banty rooster------ or an " I already learned EVERYTHING I need to know in law school faymouse attorney..... you can read it in the original Russian as the translation does lack texture.
(In Russian: Архипелаг ГУЛАГ, Arkhipelag GULAG.)
It is like "comparer des pommes avec des oranges" (comparing apples and oranges). Or, if you have Romanian roots... "Comparing Grandmothers to machine guns". Ha ha.
Fear gets Phil votes. He's used that card so many time. Like he's the only person to defend Elderly Affairs and protect from getting getting shut down by us evil taxpayers. What a false hero.
It's beyond insulting for him to make these claims. All Atkinson taxpayers fund EA. We all deserve credit for paying the tab and fully supporting the concept and program.
It's sickening how he's abused the program and hijacked the EA money to buy votes and favors for his personal political agenda. But it was somehow OK when the truth came out the EA budget of $19K well that was really over $40K cause he was misappropriatng PD funds to pay for all the rides. But because its for seniors, its OK. Right. Sure. The seniors who go along with his scam should be ashamed of themselves for supporting his illegal behavior. Especially those with means and don't really need EA. And you know who you are. Wait until his "confidential" list gets exposed.
Just my humble opinion of course
this blog doesnt care about the elderly and its clear to everyone. You shoud be ashamed of yourselfs. This blog will shortly be shut down but im sure you will make another one just as quick. You 5 people that use this have nothing better to do? Call the cops and blog. Hills that is, movie stars and swimming pools.
Whenever they say it's "for the elderly" or "it's for the children"
then you know damn well it's for the speaker's political interests.
Take care of your young kids and aging parents and stop expecting taxpayers to pick up your slack.
Take care of your family responsibilities and stop expecting the government to do it for you. How many poor elderly have you seen in town anyway? Not many! But, lets forget the elderly for a moment.
What are we going to do with BOS Attorney and Master Redactor Sumner Kalman? I say he's out. And maybe the tide has turned on the BOS and it will happen this time. With the money we save from cancelling that retainer he's holding over us, we could fly the truly poor elderly to Florida every winter.
I'm tired of that same old slander. Quit trying to portray decent taxpayers as the enemy of our seniors many of whom are relatives that we fully support.
The manipulation of vulnerable seniors in need of care and aid is disgusting.
Vote for a Ride!
Vote for a Ride!
Need some heating oil?
Need a walker?
Vote as you're told and you can have for free!
Confidential!
Confidential!
Not really but if you want a ride, give your info!
free speach ha the people who run this blog block out what they dont want printed
Stop free speech. It's the Atkinson political hack dream.
Free speech gets in the way of how hacks work. You got to stop the blog!
How is that right to know lawsuit in Superior Court coming along? How many lawyers and how much are you paying to try to stop citizen's right to know nowadays?
Good thing there is an unlimited taxpayer checkbook to fund all the attorneys to fight citizen rights.
Jesus, have some pity on LGC insurance & their attorneys. town officials writing like that? Theres gonna be a big premium raise coming!!!!!!!
Do you know why they call cops Dicks?
Threatening to kill people now are you?
Wow, you really must be scared of all this negative publicity and rightfully so.
I don't care what the pressure is. An officer of the law who did that should be removed immediately. You stepped over the line and then tried to shift responsibility. That's wrong and a threat to the community.
So our new Selectmen is a personal friend of Friend of Friel's huh? Friel voted for him and Childs didn't object. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm?
Now we know how the inexperienced guy got the appointment.
Can HARDLY WAIT to see what Friel and NEW associate has in mind for the REAL TAXPAYERS of this town.
Whatever it is.............it's not going to be good for our pocketbooks.
Budget season? MY BUTT! Just more pickpocket"s hands in our back pocket.
Just another day with the same old SCAM doing us taxpayers in.
When will this ever end in the taxpayers favor?
"we could fly the truly poor elderly to Florida every winter."
that would be so good. Take that wasted money but charter a bus. More fun cause we can talk. And we can use the rest of the retainer to rent a small apartment building, gossip, play cards, and talk over protecting ourselves from scammers in Atkinson. Putting the old frying under their bums so all our sisters get rides and services, not just who is on the secret approved list.
Solzhenitsyn is a true hero of the 20th century. A military officer of the Soviet Union during WWII, he was imprisoned for writing a letter that included a joke about Stalin. During his time in prison he met numerous others who had been in different camps - different places and different types - and started piecing together in his mind the full scale of the vast Gulag enterprise which eventually consumed more of his contrymen than the total count of those of all countries who died in WWII. That the size and scope of this mass internment was kept virtually a secret to most of the world (and to most Russians)for so long is only part of the horror to which Solzhenitzyn is responding.
From his first book, A Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovitch, a small volumn about a single day in the life of a typical Gulag prisoner - smuggled out of Russia and published in the West - he has devoted his life to various tellings of his country's recent history. Most of it to do with the Gulag. This isn't pleasant stuff. It isn't tight fiction like Darkness At Noon. This is the real stuff with no prettifying. He feels that someone had to tell the truth. We owe it to him to listen.
50 million died, world wide, in WWII. Thank you Adolf, Benito, Hirohito, (Hideki and Fumimaro). 30 million in Russia. But the bully Stalin (word translates "Man of Steel") took out more than 30 million of his own people he was sworn to protect!
You stand up to your viscious local bully now or stay silent and suffer the repression, stalking, and vandalism found in this sleepy little Gulag of a town. You must speak out.
It's up to you.
that proves to me that this blog or any of the 5 people who write on it dont give a shit about the elderly, you should be ashamed of yourselfs. You too will be old one day and im sure you will need the help of other. Please boycott this blog is you care about the elderly, thanks you very much
cat woman
slam pig
Why don't YOU boycott this blog? Put your money where your mouth is and GO AWAY.
"thanks you very much"
get 'yourselfs' an education.
That's it! I'm boycotting the blog!
Just so you know, I'm STILL boycotting the blog!
Boycott the blog all you want. The honest people will prevail and you will be putith under.
The time it takes to put you under is all that matters. You will be putith under.
Oh yeah, well I haven't stopped boycotting the blog so there!!!
why ask others to boycott something you engage in?
ridiculous!
A statement to the unread, uneducated, amateur Atkinson part-time politicians, full time bullies ....and their famously iimmoral fleet of attorneys:
A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an observer notices. We have lost our civic courage, both as a whole and separately, in this sleepy town of Atkinson. Such a decline in "honest" courage is particularly noticeable among our elected egotistical and non-intellectual political neophytes--causing an impression of a loss of courage by the entire population of the town of Atkinson. (There are a few courageous individuals who will stand up and speak out.)
Organized political hacks and their lawyers, lacking even basic intellectual skills--combined with a lack of honor--, show a false perplexity about the truth, and take blatant actions against the community. In their statements...unbridled lying, and even more so in their self-serving rationales they try to proove to all..as to how realistic, reasonable, and intellectually and even morally justified it is for them to "look the other way. And the lack of their own courage, at times attaining what could be termed a --lack of manhood-- is emphasized by occasional disjointed outbursts of support and total flexibility on their part regarding their own primary town liability.
Notice they generally get tongue-tied and paralyzed when dealing with threatening officers, bully aggresson from the podium, land violators, stalkers, vandalizers of property and known partying drug dealers.
-Should one point out that from ancient times, a decline in honest courage has been considered the beginning of the end?
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