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You better watch out, you better not cry, you better look out, I’m telling you why: Satan is coming to town.

Or, at least, The Satanic Temple of New Hampshire and Vermont (TST) is bringing its Satanic Representation campaign to the capital. 

The faux devil-worshipping group unveiled its holiday display at the Concord City Hall Plaza in front of the State House over the weekend, just a few yards from the traditional creche displaying the nativity of Christ.

Now, visitors stopping to get a glimpse of the baby Jesus can get in the holiday spirit by also viewing a statue of the goat-headed demon, Baphomet, holding a lilac and an apple. There is also a marble slab displaying the TST’s seven tenets.

“A lot of people run from the word ‘satanic,’ but we embrace it,” TST Minister Vivian Kelly said at Saturday night’s unveiling.

State Rep. Ellen Read (D-Newmarket) helped the TST get the necessary permits for the display and told NHJournal the group has every right to have its display alongside the traditional Christmas imagery.

“Everything has the potential to offend, even the nearby nativity scene. Not only is over a third of the state not religious, never mind Christian, but I can imagine those who have been judged, harmed, or abused by the Christian church feeling offended by the nativity scene displayed on public grounds. And yet the nativity scene has stood perennially, unmolested, for years,” Read said in a statement provided to NHJournal.

The TST, not to be confused with Anton Lavey’s Church of Satan, is an atheist, liberal activist organization that supports abortion access, the rights of transgender people, and the separation of church and state. As Kelly said Saturday, the group supports people choosing their own path.

“People can live their best lives as they want as their true authentic selves,” Kelly said. “Just because we’re not large in numbers doesn’t mean our beliefs are less important than any of the other religions represented here.”

Critics of the Satanist display say it’s not an attempt to share their beliefs but rather an attempt at attention seeking from a fringe group that hopes to disrupt the Christmas traditions so many Granite Staters, regardless of their personal faith, enjoy during the holiday season.

“Christians should either ridicule these displays as cartoonish or else deny ‘The Satanic Temple’ the attention they use to generate media exposure and funds,” Shanon McGinley, executive director with Cornerstone, said in a statement. 

McGinley says the group is atheist in principle and holds no actual religious beliefs, but instead uses the guise of a Satanic church to push a feminist agenda.

“They are normal, atheist feminists who use Satanic imagery as a legal tactic, to fundraise through media exposure, and because offending Christian grandmothers brings a sense of meaning to their sad lives,” McGinley’s statement reads.

The Satanic Temple’s website acknowledges its atheism and that it embraces Satan as an anti-authority figure and uses Baphomet essentially as a mascot. Baphomet is a fictional creation of the Middle Ages that was later taken up by occultists like Aleister Crowley, who pioneered 20th-century devil worship and the practice of magic. 

Real or not, Baphomet drew onlookers Sunday, curious about the goat-headed demon.

“I like the Satanism display better than the Nativity,” said a woman from Manchester who declined to give her name. “I don’t believe Jesus was real. I’m not religious in any sense.” 

She and a group of friends had come to Concord specifically to see the paganism display.

“It’s the sole reason we’re here, to be honest,” she said.

A local Concord man, who also was unwilling to give his name, echoed those sentiments. 

“I think it’s so cool. It’s really I think it’s awesome, dude,” he said.

The man argued that if the Nativity display can be on the State House sidewalk, why not the Church of Satan display? 

“I think it’s funny that people get so bent out of shape about it,” he said.

Asked if he sees any moral differentiation between Christianity and Satan worship, he said ,“No.”

On the other hand, a passerby who didn’t stop to talk commented, “I hope someone tears it down.”

Read said someone did try to tear it down Saturday night, about two hours after it was unveiled. Though the incident was not reported to the police, Read said Baphomet was knocked down ,and a crack was put into the marble slab.

“If we presume that those that have vandalized the display of Baphomet are doing so in the name of Christianity, then does that speak for a family-friendly holiday celebrating love, peace, and goodwill towards all?” Read said.

McGinley’s statement did not call for any violent response to the display, but it encouraged those who want to counter TST’s Baphomet to do so in a Christian manner. Christmas displays on private property, orthodox and joyful street preaching, and more displays on any public space possible are the best response, she said.

“We encourage Christians to place larger, more aggressive, and more frequent Christmas and other Christian displays in every public venue available,” McKinley’s statement read. 

One of the Bow parents fighting for his right to bear pink, XX wristbands at school athletic events faced a slightly skeptical judge during Thursday’s hearing in the United States District Court in Concord.

When asked by Judge Steven McAuliffe why he wore the wristbands to a Bow girl’s soccer game in September, Anthony “Andy” Foote testified he wanted to support girls in girl’s sports, and not negatively target people in the transgender community with his protest.

“The bottom line is girls are losing what they fought for,” Foote said. 

But McAuliffe wasn’t sold on that explanation, saying it reminds him of the people who protested against the Vietnam War when he was a young man.

“They said, I’m not protesting the war, I’m supporting peace,” McAuliffe said. “I don’t see the difference there.”

Foote, along with fellow soccer dad Kyle Fellers, Foote’s wife Nicole Foote, and Eldon Rash, are suing the Bow School District after they were banned for the offense of wearing pink wristbands marked with XX. Thursday’s evidentiary hearing will allow McAuliffe to decide if the parents can put on the wristbands at games or not. More testimony is anticipated Friday.

After Foote and Fellers were forced to remove the wristbands at the Sept. 17 game, and Fellers was ordered to leave the field, both men were served with no trespassing letters from the Bow School District that banned them from their children’s games and other school events. McAuliffe overturned the ban last month, but he did not block the district’s prohibition against silent forms of protest.

When questioned by the attorneys, both Fellers and Foote maintained on the witness stand they were supporting women’s sports by wearing the wristbands. But McAuliffe wanted to establish Foote and Feller’s need to publicly support for women isn’t occurring in a vacuum. 

“The object of your protest is, ‘I don’t like the fact a trans girl is playing on a girl’s team,’” McAuliffe said. “It’s all about the trans girls playing on girls’ teams.”

McAuliffe previously suggested there is nothing bigoted in believing that transgender girls — aka “biological boys” — should not play full-contact sports with biological girls. He said again Thursday that opinion is not out of bounds.

“You’re entitled to your viewpoint, a lot of people hold it,” McAuliffe said.

Bow’s Sept. 17 game was against the Plymouth High School girl’s team, whose roster includes biological male Parker Tirrell. The week before the Bow game, Tirrell won the right to play on the girl’s team in a lawsuit against New Hampshire’s law banning biological boys from girl’s spots, HB 1205. Tirrell played nearly the whole game against Bow on Sept. 17. 

In the days leading up to the game against Plymouth, and after Tirrell’s legal victory, Foote sent an email to Bow Athletic Director Mike Desilets demanding action to protect the girl’s team.

“Where’s your courage? Where’s your integrity? Stand up for real women or get out of the way,” Foote wrote.

Desilets also received an email from another parent warning about planned disruptive protests at the Plymouth game by angry parents. Foote said that email, warning that soccer dads planned to wear dresses and harass Tirrell, is not based on any facts and the writer had no conversation with him about his protest plans.

And, it was pointed out, none of those events happened.

Instead, the four wore their pink wristbands, there was no comment made toward Tirrell during the game, and no mention of any specific player.

“This was not about heckling Parker Tirrell,” Foote said.

McAuliffe also viewed the police body camera recording of the confrontation between Bow Police Lt. Phil Lamy and Fellers. Fellers had been ordered to leave the field after becoming verbally combative with officials. At his car in the parking lot, Fellers held up a sign with a “Support women in women’s sports” slogan and got into another verbal altercation with Lamy when the game ended.

Fellers was reportedly holding up his sign in the direction of Plymouth’s team bus, but said he did not notice the bus and had no intention of targeting Tirrell.

“I don’t believe anybody should intimidate anybody,” Fellers said.

McAuliffe’s questions about Foote’s intent highlight the nuance in the legal issues at play. While there’s a free speech right to protest, there are also laws against harassment. The school district has maintained it was trying to protect Tirrell from anti-transgender harassment when officials confronted the parents over the wristbands and forced them to remove the items. 

However, that does not explain why the parents were subsequently banned from all after school events. That may be cleared up Friday when Bow Superintendent Marcy Kelly is expected to testify.

Embattled and indicted Concord Casino owner Andy Sanborn is learning the hard way that the house always wins.

Under a state order to sell his business before his gaming license is revoked, Sanborn’s lawyers claim the state has rejected his proposed buyer without good reason. This revelation came Friday as attorneys for Sanborn and the state tried to talk around the buyer’s rejection during an administrative law hearing before Hearing Officer Gregory Albert.

Any individual who buys Sanborn’s casino will need to pass a suitability determination process conducted by the state. Because the results of suitability determinations are not public, in order to protect the reputation of rejected buyers, neither side was able to say directly that the buyer was rejected. However, the rejection was obvious based on the context of the discussion.

Adam Katz, one of Sanborn’s lawyers, said the state is manipulating the case to prevent Sanborn from selling the business, has scared off multiple potential buyers, and has now rejected a qualified buyer based on errors.“The buyer is still trying to engage with the state on why their [suitability determination] letter is nonsense,” Katz said.

Assistant Attorney General Jessica King objected to any discussion that could reveal the result of the suitability determination, but acknowledged under questioning her office told the buyer there is no way to appeal the determination.

“There is no clear mechanism to appeal suitability in the law,” King said.

The buyer has no blemishes on his record and is someone no one could object to buying the casino. He was stopped from divulging the reason for the denial by King. King rejected Katz’s arguments that the state is interfering with the sale, telling Albert the Lottery Commission met with the buyer several times to go over the suitability determination process.

“This narrative the state is trying to obstruct and prevent this sale is false,” King said. “There is no evidence the state is actually trying to prevent anything.”

Last year, Administrative Hearing Officer Michael King ordered Sanborn to sell his business within six months after determining that the former Republican State senator obtained more than $800,000 in federal COVID relief funding he was not entitled to. Sanborn then used the money on improper purchases, such as prepaying his rent and buying sports cars. 

Sanborn was indicted last month on state theft charges for allegedly inflating his revenue in order to qualify for state COVID funds, getting about $140,000 more than he was entitled to get.

Since the sale order was issued, Sanborn has been trying and failing to sell the business. He obtained an extension from Albert, who took over the administrative law end of the case this year after Michael King retired. 

“[Sanborn] has been trying to sell and walk away for months. He wants to put this mess far in the rearview mirror,” Katz said.

Albert’s last extension, issued in September, allowed Sanborn 15 days to sell the business once the buyer had passed through the suitability process. Now that 15 days have passed since the buyer was rejected, the state says Snbiorn must lose his gaming license. The state also argues Albert overstepped his legal authority issuing the 15-day grace period.

Katz told Albert he does have the authority to issue an extension, since it allows Sanborn to comply with the original order to sell. Katz blamed the state for interfering with the sale and working against the original sale order.

“The point of [the original] order is to complete a sale quickly,” Katz said. “Mr. Sanborn clearly has worked to sell. The only problem is the chicanery from the state.”

A substitute teacher in the Bedford School District now faces three felony charges for possession of child sex abuse images after he was arrested this week.

Jonathan Harrison, 31, of Concord, allegedly used the dark web as far back as 2023 to access the images, according to a statement released by Bedford School District Superintendent Michael Fournier.

“In early August, the Bedford School District was notified that the Maine State Police had contacted Mr. Harrison at his summer place of work. The Maine police, in collaboration with the New Hampshire State Police, acted on a tip alleging that Mr. Harrison had been in possession of pornographic images of children on the dark web in 2023, and possibly earlier,” Fournier wrote in a message to Bedford parents.

Fournier’s letter states Harrison was fired from his job Monday shortly after his arrest, though the district knew about the investigation for a couple of weeks. Harrison was suspended by the district when Bedford officials first became aware of the police inquiry. Fournier states no Bedford student was exploited by Harrison.

“At this time, we have no reason to believe that any of these images involved students from Bedford,” Fournier wrote.

At the time the investigation started, Harrison was working a summer job in Maine, according to Fournier. Harrison was ordered held without bail following his arrest on Monday.

NHJournal has contacted Bedford school officials about what specific classes and dates Harrison taught at the school. They have not yet responded. But WMUR reports Harrison has been placed on unpaid leave and will not be returning to work in the district.

Commissioner of Education Frank Edeblut told NHJournal the Department of Education will be investigating the case as well.

The Concord man charged with vandalizing cars outside this year’s state GOP convention, Lawrence Dunlap, agreed to jail time as part of a plea deal reached this week with prosecutors.

Dunlap, 37, was seen skateboarding outside Concord High School in April on the day of the Republican convention. He was later identified as the suspect behind dozens of keyed cars.

The deal he reached Monday in Merrimack Superior Court has all but three charges dropped. On top of that, the remaining three counts were downgraded from felonies to misdemeanors.

Dunlap was sentenced to 190 days in jail on one count, with credit for 108 days already served pretrial. On the two other charges, he is receiving a suspended sentence of 12 months. Those sentences will hang over Dunlap for the next three years to ensure he remains on good behavior. Conditions include undergoing a mental health evaluation, undertaking any necessary treatment, and making restitution to the victims for any cost not covered by their auto insurance. Dunlap is also not to contact any of the victims in the case.

Police zeroed in on Dunlap after viewing surveillance video from outside the high school, including video of a skateboard-riding figure believed responsible for damaging the cars. Once they identified the skateboarder as Dunlap, police executed a search warrant at his South Spring Street home where they found several guns, including an AR-15 rifle. Police also found a bag containing latex gloves, flex cuffs, dark clothes, face masks, a billy club, and a medieval-style mace. Raising more red flags was the document described as a suicide note manifesto Dunlap reportedly wrote.

Based on selections of the manifesto-suicide note released by police, Dunlap echoed some of the anti-Donald-Trump sentiment that appeared on his social media accounts.

“I can’t continue to exist for everyone else,” Dunlap wrote. “I truly despise humanity and all the filth we have accepted as acceptable. This world and economy requires personalities like Scott Herzog and Donald Trump. I’m sorry for the pain I know I will cause with this decision. Have me cremated and throw the ashes in the trash.” The full manifesto has not been made public. Concord Police denied NHJournal’s Right to Know request for a copy in May. On Tuesday, NHJournal renewed its request for the manifesto in light of the resolution to the case.

After Dunlap’s arrest, NHJournal discovered several anti-Trump social media messages he had posted, apparently in response to events in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.

““Y’all[Trump supporters] lost your s–t when [Obama] tried to fix healthcare. Never mind the sheer f—ery Trump has pulled for the last for [sic] years,” Dunlap posted.

Dunlap recently lost his job as a realtor and has been suffering depression and suicidal thoughts in the past year, according to comments made by Dunlap’s wife to police.

Lawrence Dunlap won’t be skating this time.

The 37-year-old skateboard-riding Concord realtor had guns and a manifesto in his home when he was arrested for keying 11 cars during the state GOP convention on April 14. A judge has ruled he’s staying in jail for now.

Concord District Court Judge Sarah Christie denied bail for Dunlap on Monday, saying the alarming items police found, as well as evidence about his mental health, are cause for concern about the risk he poses to the community.

Last week, police released a photo of a skateboard-riding figure they believed was responsible for damaging the cars parked outside Concord High School. Once they determined it was Dunlap, they executed a search warrant at his South Spring Street home on Friday, where they found several guns, including an AR-15 rifle. They also found a bag containing latex gloves, flex cuffs, dark clothes, face masks, a billy club, and a medieval-style mace. Raising more red flag was the document described as a suicide note-manifesto Dunlap wrote.

In it, he echoed some of the anti-Donald-Trump sentiment that appeared on his social media accounts.

“I can’t continue to exist for everyone else,” Dunlap wrote. “I truly despise humanity and all the filth we have accepted as acceptable. This world and economy requires personalities like Scott Herzog and Donald Trump. I’m sorry for the pain I know I will cause with this decision. Have me cremated and throw the ashes in the trash.”

In October 2022, the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office announced that Scott Herzog of Norwell, Mass., had been sentenced to a year and a half in prison “for failing to report approximately $1.5 million in income to the Internal Revenue Service.” Herzog owned a landscaping business in the South Shore area.

The full manifesto was not available on Monday.

After Dunlap’s arrest on Friday, NHJournal discovered several anti-Trump messages he had posted, apparently in response to events in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.

“Y’all (Trump supporters) lost your s–t when [Obama] tried to fix healthcare. Never mind the sheer f—ery Trump has pulled for the last for [sic] years,” Dunlap posted.

In addition to the vandalism of their cars, several of the Republican volunteers also reported having previously received threatening phone calls and letters.

In the case of state Rep. Lorie Ball (R-Salem.), one letter included an image of a gun and a handwritten message urging that someone “blow a f***ing hole in a gun owner’s head today. Save our children from GOP pr*cks.” She reported the message to the police at the time.

Asked about the increase in angry rhetoric and violence targeting Republicans, House Majority Leader Jason Osborne (R-Auburn) called it “the predictable and inevitable result of inundating children from an early age with messages of hate for their own country, family, culture, and for themselves.”

Concord Police Detective Evan Cristy writes in his report that Dunlap was identified as the suspect in the vandalism case after a woman walking her dog saw him on the day of the incident.

The woman told police she saw Dunlap get out of a white van and begin photographing the parked cars, Cristy wrote. Police obtained surveillance video of the area and were able to get the van’s license plate number. It came back as being owned by Dunlap.

Cristy went to Dunlap’s home Friday to execute a search warrant. Dunlap was home, but told the detective he would not make any statement and was contacting an attorney. During the search, Dunlap left his home on foot and police issued an alert to “be on the lookout,” as he was considered a danger. He was taken into custody a few hours later.

Cristy writes that Dunlap recently lost his job as a relator and has been suffering depression and suicidal thoughts in the past year, according to comments made by Dunlap’s wife.

Dunlap is charged with 11 felony counts of criminal mischief, as each car he allegedly damaged is estimated to need $1,000 in repairs. Each count carries a three-and-a-half to seven-year prison sentence if convicted. Given that he is charged with felonies, Dunlap’s case will be brought to a grand jury for possible indictments. Grand jury proceedings are secret, though there is typically at least one session a month in superior courts.

Dunlap is currently being held in the Merrimack County Jail’s medical unit due to mental health concerns.

Cowabunga, dude!

Dozens of cars were keyed when Republicans gathered at Concord High School two weeks ago for a state convention. Now, Concord Police want to speak with a skateboarding “person of interest” caught on video around the same place and time.

“I just hope someone comes through and identifies this bastard. I want to see him caught, and I want to see him in court,” said Di Lothrop, a Nashua Republican who had her car damaged while she was attending the convention.

Police started investigating soon after the damage was reported, though the image of the skateboarding individual is the first development made public. On Wednesday, Concord Police released the image through the Concord Regional Crimeline website.

The “person of interest” image comes from surveillance video footage taken of the area around the parked cars. The person, wearing a hat and baggy clothing, is reportedly seen skateboarding around the cars, later reported had been keyed, according to police.

Anyone with information about the skateboarder or the vandalism is being urged to contact Concord Police Detective Evan Cristy at (603 )225-8600, or the Concord Regional Crimeline at (603) 226-3100, or online through www.concordregionalcrimeline.com. People can also text a tip to the Crimeline by texting TIP234 and the message.

Party officials released a statement praising Concord Police for the effort in the ongoing investigation.

“The NHGOP is grateful for the diligent hard work of the Concord PD in this investigation from day one and appreciate their efforts to bring those responsible to justice for the thousands of dollars in damage they caused while Republicans gathered for party business.”

Lothrop told NHJournal she believes there may be more than one vandal given the large number of cars damaged. She’s been sharing the image on social media since it was released, hoping someone will come forward with information leading to an arrest. She’s spending a substantial amount of money this week in insurance deductibles to get her car repaired, and she’s also preparing to be without her vehicle for more than a week. All because she volunteers for one of the two main political parties in America.

“It’s still something that sticks in my craw that someone would do this,” Lothrop said.

The state convention is essentially a volunteer-run operation with delegates and representatives getting together to craft policy for the party platform. It’s also a public event held in a public facility, open to everyone. Lothrop is unnerved by the idea she and others were intentionally targeted in this manner, calling the actions malicious and sad at the same time.

There has been an increase in political vandalism and violence from the left in recent years, as evidenced by events on Ivy League college campuses this week. Hundreds of arrests have been made, police officers have been assaulted, and several people hospitalized by progressive protesters denouncing America’s support for Israel in its war with Hamas.

Much of the angry rhetoric and threats is targeting Jews, both in Israel and the U.S. A progressive activist arrested after vandalizing an Israeli-owned business in Merrimack, N.H., has been posting celebrations of the Oct. 7 terror attack and slogans from Hamas on her social media feed.

There is so much concern about the safety of Jewish students at Columbia University that administrators are allowing remote learning until the end of the semester.

Granite Staters could see the cost of a life-saving ambulance ride more than double under a proposed law change that has New Hampshire’s Insurance Department Commissioner worried.

“I’m deeply concerned,” Commissioner D.J. Bettencourt told NHJournal.

Lawmakers are set to hold hearings this week on SB407, a bill that caps the rate for ambulance services at 325 percent of the Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement rate. The bill is meant to address the Medicaid and Medicare payment shortfalls that already have New Hampshire ambulance services scrambling to stay afloat. But Bettencourt said the proposal would actually set a floor for prices, which will increase costs and shift the burden onto insurance companies and individuals.

“There is no way you’re not going to see upward pressure on premiums,” Bettencourt said

Among the proposed changes in SB407 is a provision that requires health insurance companies to pay the full bill set by the local ambulance services, or 325 percent of the current Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement rate, whichever is lower. Bruce Berke, with the National Federation of Independent Business, said all that does is incentivize local services to set their rates right at the arbitrarily high rate of 325 percent of Medicaid and Medicare.

“The bill will increase premiums for New Hampshire employers who are providing health insurance to their employees but are struggling to afford rising premiums driven by increasing health care costs. The bill’s new mandate would establish government rate setting for the very first time in New Hampshire, essentially creating a ‘minimum charge’ mandate,” Berke said.

The problem the bill doesn’t address is that 80 percent of all patients who require ambulance rides in New Hampshire are on Medicaid or Medicare, Bettencourt said. That means the ambulance companies are significantly underpaid for the vast majority of the patients who require services, forcing them to make up the difference with everybody else.

Dave Juvet, senior vice president of public policy with the New Hampshire Business and Industry Association, said that because the state and federal governments aren’t dealing with the real problem, the cost of an ambulance ride for everyone else could go up 350 percent under the plan, he said.

“That’s just astronomical. I remain mystified why the state feels it needs to step in and somehow establish these rates and a one-size-fits-all rate,” Juvet said.

The effect will be increased insurance costs for employers, which could force them to hire fewer workers at worst or depress wages at best. Juvet said the vast majority of people in New Hampshire get their health insurance through their work.

“Somebody pays for the insurance, and in New Hampshire, that’s employers,” Juvet said.

Drew Cline, with the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, a free-market think tank, said SB407 keeps people in the dark and hikes the rates they will pay for healthcare.

“The fundamental problem with ambulance billing is that consumers are entirely cut out of the pricing system. No consumer knows how much any given ambulance service will cost or who will pay. SB407 tries to address this by setting an arbitrary number as the default market price, and that number is quite high. Instead of solving the underlying problem, this will just raise prices and insurance costs,” Cline said.

Still, says Chris Stawazs with the New Hampshire Ambulance Association, something must be done, or ambulance companies in the Granite State are going to be forced to shut down.

“Ambulance companies are going out of business because of poor reimbursement rates,” said Stawasz, who works for America Medical Response. “These are the most critical people in the world to be paying appropriately.”

Ambulance billing is complicated and involves private insurance companies dealing with ambulance services that are quasi-government agencies in many cities and towns. The billing process involves both the ambulance service and the insurance company essentially using the patient as a middleman, with bills and checks going to a patient who can get stuck with thousands of dollars in charges.

Stawazs claims SB407 keeps the process just between the ambulance service and the insurance company while bringing the rates up enough to cover the costs. But, he acknowledged, some people will have to pay more.

“Some patients will still have to pay out of pocket depending on deductibles,” Stawazs said.

But Bettencourt is concerned that SB407’s net effect is that health insurance will become out of reach for more people. He’s also worried about people who won’t call 911 and delay getting emergency care when seconds matter because they cannot afford the ambulance ride.

“We want people to focus on getting the help they need,” Bettencourt said.

At least 30 New Hampshire Republicans had their cars keyed, and several more received threatening messages as they participated in last weekend’s GOP biennial convention, part of a trend of rising political violence from the left.

“I didn’t expect this when I ran for representative, but it’s not going to stop me,” said state Rep. Lorie Ball (R-Salem.)

Ball was one of approximately 350 delegates who showed up at Concord High School on Saturday to conduct state party business and participate in the democratic process. Like more than two dozen other delegates, her car was damaged by vandals who appear to have targeted the GOP event. 

Di Lothrop, a party delegate and Nashua Republican Party leader is another vandalism victim distraught by the seeming hate behind the targeted strike in Concord. For Lothrop, it’s not the damage to her car but the damage people are exhibiting in their character.

“My husband Chuck and I are delegates. We were parked on the street adjacent to the high school’s main entrance on Warren Street,” she told NHJournal. “After the meeting, when we walked back to our car, my husband immediately noticed that our car had been keyed all along the driver’s side. The car in front of us had been keyed, too, as had several other cars along the same road.

“It seems as if someone knew there was a Republican event going on at the high school, and this was their chance to tell Republicans they hate us,” Lothrop said. “Divisiveness at its worst!”

In Ball’s case, the attacks go beyond damaging her car. She has also been subject to harassing and threatening phone calls and messages. In one case, she received a letter with an image of a gun and a handwritten message urging that someone “blow a f***ing hole in a gun owner’s head today. Save our children from GOP pr*cks.” Ball has since contacted police about the gun letter and has been in touch with the FBI about that threat.

And like many of her fellow House Republicans, a letter was sent to Ball’s home in January that referenced a recent vote and called her a “n*gger.”

Another victim of the car vandals, state Rep. Julius Soti (R-Windham), said the political temperature keeps rising in the state, and divisive language keeps ramping up. Soti himself started taking precautions when a liberal group put out a public list recently labeling Republicans and conservatives “extremist,” Soti said.

“I do look around a little bit; I do keep my eyes open,” he said.

The Israel-Hamas war has also inspired political attacks in the Granite State. Anti-Israel protesters have conducted two separate actions at the Elbit Systems facility in Merrimack. In both cases, some participants were arrested and now face charges of vandalism, damaging property, and other alleged crimes.

The progressive activists accused New Hampshire of bigotry in prosecuting those cases and pledged the protests would continue.

“Elbit and New Hampshire’s racist politicians thought they’d scare people with the trumped up charges they brought against the 3 activists that targeted Elbit in NH last November,” they said in a social media post. “They were dead wrong. Our people will never stop shutting this genocidal company down.”

Concord Police are investigating Saturday’s events, though they declined to respond to NHJournal’s requests for comment about the ongoing investigation. Some GOP delegates didn’t notice the damage until after they left the convention. Republican Party leaders are still reaching out, encouraging victims to contact the police.

Jeff Oligny, a former state representative who was a delegate on Saturday, said the party convention is all about volunteers giving their time. Delegates showed up to make changes to the GOP platform in order to do as much good for people in the state as possible, he said.

“It’s really kind of sad that someone would do that to people who are volunteering for the state,” Oligny said.

Lothrop said there are numerous security cameras near the high school, making her optimistic police will find whoever is behind the criminal act. She’s looking forward to her day in court with the suspect.

“I sure as hell hope they caught the person on video,” Lothrop said.

The New Hampshire GOP actively encourages anyone with information to contact the Concord Police Department at (603) 225-8600 and says, on X/Twitter, that they “look forward to bringing the perpetrator(s) to justice.”

Historical figures of New Hampshire, unite! You have nothing to lose but your state-funded highway markers.

The sponsors of a since-removed Historical Highway Marker honoring Concord-born Communist Elizabeth Gurley Flynn are appealing the dismissal of their lawsuit against the state. They argue no person from the Granite State’s past is safe from having their legacy erased from the public record — a common practice in Josef Stalin’s Soviet Union.

Attorney Andru Volisnky says Merrimack Superior Court Judge John Kissinger was wrong when he ruled against left-wing activists Arnold Alpert and Mary Lee Sargent, who supported the effort to have the state honor Flynn. Volinsky warned Kissinger’s ruling opens the door for anyone having their marker removed arbitrarily by the state.

“The court’s ruling protects the decision to remove the marker no matter the reason,” Volinsky wrote in his motion for reconsideration. “All removal decisions are protected from review by the court’s ruling on standing. No one could challenge a similar decision to remove a marker because the subject of the marker was a Republican or Democrat, woman, LGBTQIA, Black, Brown, Asian, or any other factor an executive councilor or a governor deems objectionable.”

The state removed the marker honoring Flynn last May, weeks after it was posted by the state’s Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. When more details about Flynn’s background became public — like her lifelong support for Soviet Communism and her state funeral in Moscow’s Red Square — several members of state government, including Gov. Chris Sununu, called for the marker to be removed.

Alpert and Sargent worked for months to collect signatures as part of the process to get the marker approved and installed. They filed the lawsuit challenging the subsequent removal, claiming the state did not follow its own procedures.

“The purpose of the marker program is educating the public about places, events, and people of historical significance, a category which certainly includes Elizabeth Gurley Flynn,” Sargent said. “There is no provision in statute or in the rules governing the marker program that says established markers can be removed based on ideological rather than historical grounds.” 

Kissinger’s March 20 dismissal, however, found neither Alpert nor Sargent have the legal right to challenge a decision that belongs to the state. The marker’s creation and installation was paid for by the DNCR, and it was installed on state-owned property in Concord.

“While no one disputes the time and effort expended by the plaintiffs in relation to the Flynn marker, the court finds no support for a determination that such efforts give rise to a legal right, interest, or privilege protected by law,” Kissinger wrote.

Flynn, a labor activist, women’s rights pioneer, and founder of the American Civil Liberties Union, was born in Concord in 1890. She joined the Communist Party in 1936, a time when many Americans were abandoning it in response to Stalin’s purges. Flynn remained an unapologetic Stalinist, and as a result was kicked out of the ACLU in the 1940s.

Flynn was convicted in 1951 under the Smith Act for supporting a Communist revolution in the United States. She would eventually go on to lead the Communist Party USA. In 1964, she died while in Russia. An estimated 25,000 people attended her funeral in Red Square.