Above, the Governor and Executive Council met at The Rocks in Bethlehem on Wednesday. Paula Tracy photo

By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org

BETHLEHEM – The Executive Council was greeted for its meeting at The Rocks Estate Wednesday by supporters of the Save Forest Lake Association which is fighting landfill siting issues and a local family backing LGBTQ+ rights concerned about recent action by Gov. Chris Sununu.

The summer meeting on the road in Grafton County, at the newly renovated North Country home of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, came as the council confirmed the reappointment of Morissa S. Henn of Concord as Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Sununu also nominated Rudolph W. Ogden III of Hooksett to be a justice of the state Superior Court and Stephanie Simek of Olympia, Wash., to be the first female executive director of the Fish and Game Department. A link to a story on Simek is here. https://indepthnh.org/2024/07/24/washington-state-woman-nominated-to-be-next-fish-and-game-director/

The council also approved the first-ever $100,000 death benefit for a retired firefighter who died of cancer that was linked to her job.

About 15 supporters of Save Forest Lake held signs and waved at the entrance to the property and later held an event in Dalton with Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington, a Democrat who is running for governor.

“I have been outspoken on this issue,” Warmington said after the meeting and underscored her position that the state should not be taking out-of-state waste and if elected would sign any legislation to that effect.

“I think that the state needs to be alerted to what their concerns are. We have no current need for a new landfill in this state. We should be looking at taking a pause and a moratorium,” Warmington said.

“Right now, we really need to be dealing with this PFAS contamination all across our state which is exacerbated by having these landfills here, particularly, when we have laws in our state that limit toxin and packaging and then we don’t require other states that dump their trash here to have the same laws and restrictions that we have. That is just nonsensical,” she said.

LGBTQ+ BILLS

Members of the Wood Family of Bethlehem, parents David and Teresa Wood and two of their three children Iris and Sage held hand-painted signs outside the doors to the meeting reading, “Let Them PLAY!” and “Live Free or Die” to decry Sununu’s signing into law last week three bills which they claim further marginalize the LGBTQ+ youths and community.

The bills would prohibit gender transition surgery and referrals for those under the age of 18, another would restrict girls’ school sports to exclude trans girls. He also signed HB 1312, which requires educators to provide two weeks’ notice to parents on all curriculum and materials related to gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, and identifies these topics as “objectionable material.”

Iris, 19, said “for me, I think it is really important to give kids choice in their extracurricular activities and I think it is good for kids to play sports. They build morale, confidence and really there are only a small number of trans student athletes in New Hampshire, it’s about five, and this legislation is extremely targeted to these people who may be already facing discrimination in their home communities, but to be facing discrimination from also legislators, from the governor, you know, it’s rough.”

Sununu vetoed one related bill, HB 396, which was related to public accommodation.

After the meeting, Sununu said there was a lot of support for what he thought were common sense measures but he said HB 396 deals with the civil rights of an individual and it was vague and had three components to it: one related to bathrooms, another to prison accommodations and another to locker rooms.

On the question of school sports, he was asked about implementation and said he thought that could be worked out at the community level.

“When it comes to just making sure there is fairness and safety in sports, I think it is pretty clear I think this is where everyone wants the law to be and we are kind of following that common sense approach. Twenty-five states have already done it. I think these issues will be taken a bit broader when you have the Title IX discussion at the federal Supreme Court and all that but in the meantime, I think the bill was pretty simple,” he said of House Bill 1312. 

FIRST TIME FOR RETIRED FIREFIGHTER TO GET LINE-OF-DUTY DEATH BENEFIT

The council unanimously supported the first-ever determination by Commissioner of Safety Robert Quinn to approve a $100,000 death benefit to the surviving spouse of retired Lt. Jessica L. Wyman of the Nashua Fire Department.

Quinn’s investigation into her Nov. 28, 2023, cancer death found that her cause of death was connected with her work.

Attending the meeting were her husband, Christopher Wyman of Merrimack and a representative for her previous employer, Nashua Asst. Chief Adam Pouliot.

Warmington noted it was the first time the spouse of a retiree has been awarded such a benefit and she wanted to commend Quinn for his decision. 

“I want to say this is a very good step forward and appreciate the department for bringing this forward,” Warmington said.

Executive Councilor Janet Stevens of Rye, a Republican, echoed those thoughts and called Wyman “a wonderful woman” and said the situation “screams the need for early detection and testing” and said the state is leading the nation in this subject.

Warmington noted the council previously approved funding for a pilot program that showed the need. There were 102 firefighters who were screened that found one confirmed case of cancer, a congenital heart defect and 69 other actionable findings.

“We know how important this program is,” she said.