Keene Council Says ‘NO’ To Pumpkin Festival

(Keene, NH) - There will be no Pumpkin Festival this fall in Keene.

The Keene City Council voted 13 to 1 against granting a permit for what would have been the 25th annual event.

The vote came after last fall's festival was marred by alcohol-fueled violent outbursts nearby that led to property damage, injuries and over 100 arrests. A safety plan was proposed, but would have cost anywhere from $100-$300,000.

Councilor David Meader said that this was a decision "we wish we didn't have to make."

IN OTHER NEWS:

A Vermont man faces sentencing today for the murder of his wife in New Hampshire. James Robarge was convicted in the death of Kelly Robarge just hours after she had filed for divorce.

He alledegedly beat his wife to death inside her home in Charlestown and buried her body in Unity, where is was found a week later.

A new public-private partnership will expand cell and broadband service to communities in northern New Hampshire. The project in Coos County will use "WiFi Extender"
technology that uses existing communication towers and provides
"carrier neutral" voice and data service and broadband.

Great North Woods Wireless, a New Hampshire cellular communications company, is bringing wireless to the area. The project also repurposes a $240,000 Northern Border Regional Commission grant that originally was appropriated for the building of a single tower. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said the expansion is great news for jobs, the economy and public safety in northern New Hampshire.

A Massachusetts man has been sentenced to 12 to 30
years in the New Hampshire State prison for severely beating his girlfriend's 2-month-old
son in Nashua in 2013.

Police say 22-year-old Enrique Santiago of Lawrence,
Massachusetts, repeatedly squeezed, slammed and shook the infant
on numerous occasions while his girlfriend was at work, and once
swung a pillowcase holding a tablet computer into the baby's
face.

The baby had been hospitalized in critical condition with
leg and arm fractures, broken ribs and bleeding on the brain.
In court Thursday, the child's mother, Maria Tata, said her
18-month-old son isn't crawling, walking, standing on his own,
and holding his own bottle. She said he can't do things that
other toddlers his age can do.