In a quickly growing and aspiring community such as Dover, N.H., a lot can go wrong. Known for its mounted police and inviting atmosphere, in this quiet and peaceful town, it is up to the police force to maintain a continuous level of security to the society. On any given day disaster may strike, and it’s up to the brave men and women of the Dover Police Department to respond and bring swift justice to those who would threaten this child-friendly society. The police force is led by Chief Anthony Colarusso, Jr., who has been in charge of the force since being promoted in 2007. It's up to Colarusso Jr. and his elite group of officers to keep criminals off the streets and sustain balance all in the name of upholding the law. Since his promotion Colarusso Jr. has had busy days and slow days, but that’s all a part of being an officer of the law.
Colarusso Jr. started on the force in 1985 as a regular patrol officer under Police Chief ____. Since then he has worked his way up the ranks, being promoted from not only the chief himself but also the committee of special investigations. He has been involved in nearly every aspect of the police force during his time at the Dover Police station and before becoming the official Police Chief, spent time as the interim Police Chief at the station. While climbing the ladder of ranks, he has also taken time to give back to the community, volunteering in numerous different public organizations such as a school related programs. Since the time he started, Colarusso Jr. has been a model citizen and proved to be worthy of the title he has received.
After graduating from the University of Massachusetts in Lowell under the criminal justice department, Colarusso Jr. continued his education as a police officer until he was given the job with the Dover police squad.
Colarusso Jr. is married with children and now lives in Dover.
Monday, March 30, 2009
My future in journalism
After being in the Newswriting class I don't feel as if I will be following the career path the class has set. I am toying with the idea of being a video game journalist and up until recently had my own blog in which I had roughly 100 followers.
In terms of this class, I don't think it has helped persuade me to deviate from my initial goal of becoming a gaming journalist. If I continue in the journalism field, that is where I want to end up.
This course is interesting, but I often have a tremendously hard time finding things to write about. Finding “newsworthy” stories for the class is still a chore while I often find myself with a plethora of stories that would greatly impact the video gaming community.
In terms of this class, I don't think it has helped persuade me to deviate from my initial goal of becoming a gaming journalist. If I continue in the journalism field, that is where I want to end up.
This course is interesting, but I often have a tremendously hard time finding things to write about. Finding “newsworthy” stories for the class is still a chore while I often find myself with a plethora of stories that would greatly impact the video gaming community.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
New York Times Reading Log
Monday: Today I found interest in the story about the violence in Tucson regarding the Mexican drug cartels and the violence that is springing up in that area. I was amazed at the statistics that were given regarding the amount of home invasions the area had suffered and was more amazed that most of them were related to the drug cartels.
Tuesday: The story about the girl forced strip at her school when she was 13 caught my eye today. I was appalled at the things she was forced to do all because they thought she had prescription pills on her. I am a fan of the zero-tolerance policy but I firmly believe that this oversteps the boundaries set by those rules. It's one thing for a police officer to strip search someone who may have drugs on them, but a 13 year old girl in her own school is crossing the line.
Wednesday: The story about the possibility of a foreign crisis coming out of Mexico was the story I picked for today. The war on terrorism is hard enough to deal with, and it scares me to think what it would be like if it was from a country right next to us. I am saddened by the state Mexico is currently in, dealing with drug trafficking and such. I found this an interesting followup the story from Monday. I hope things can be smoothed over before the crisis becomes out of hand.
Thursday: Finishing out the week I picked the story on the postal service possibly going broke without help. I discussed this in my conference and the idea of the postal service having to cut back on when they operate is frightening to me. However, I understand how that's possible because the act of sending a letter is outdated compared to sending an email. But for those who need to send packages, this is an alarming bit of information.
Tuesday: The story about the girl forced strip at her school when she was 13 caught my eye today. I was appalled at the things she was forced to do all because they thought she had prescription pills on her. I am a fan of the zero-tolerance policy but I firmly believe that this oversteps the boundaries set by those rules. It's one thing for a police officer to strip search someone who may have drugs on them, but a 13 year old girl in her own school is crossing the line.
Wednesday: The story about the possibility of a foreign crisis coming out of Mexico was the story I picked for today. The war on terrorism is hard enough to deal with, and it scares me to think what it would be like if it was from a country right next to us. I am saddened by the state Mexico is currently in, dealing with drug trafficking and such. I found this an interesting followup the story from Monday. I hope things can be smoothed over before the crisis becomes out of hand.
Thursday: Finishing out the week I picked the story on the postal service possibly going broke without help. I discussed this in my conference and the idea of the postal service having to cut back on when they operate is frightening to me. However, I understand how that's possible because the act of sending a letter is outdated compared to sending an email. But for those who need to send packages, this is an alarming bit of information.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
New York Times Reading Log
Monday: The story I found most interested on Monday was the story regarding the secret jails that are in China. It's always creepy to hear about jails or prisons in which no one sees, but these "black houses" sound exceptionally ominous and are closer to the everyday lives of the Chinese than they think. It's haunting to think that people land in these secret prisons for seeking justice.
Tuesday: Tuesday's story was the Shakespeare story. I am a big fan of Shakespeare and the finding of a new portrait of him shocked the world as possibly the only portrait of him recovered. I found this neat that this was discovered nearly 400 years after Shakespeare had died.
Wednesday: The big story for me was the story of Madoff planning to plead guilty to the crimes he had committed. After scamming people out of their money and essentially stealing for all of them, he is finally going to a place fit for him.
Thursday: Finishing out the week was the stories on the shootings. It seemed that the cover page was smothered in bad news as shootings in the U.S. and Germany showed up. I had never seen a split story like that on the cover page either (where it said for one shooting go to page x and for the other, go to page y) so that sparked an interest in reading both to see how they were similar and different.
Tuesday: Tuesday's story was the Shakespeare story. I am a big fan of Shakespeare and the finding of a new portrait of him shocked the world as possibly the only portrait of him recovered. I found this neat that this was discovered nearly 400 years after Shakespeare had died.
Wednesday: The big story for me was the story of Madoff planning to plead guilty to the crimes he had committed. After scamming people out of their money and essentially stealing for all of them, he is finally going to a place fit for him.
Thursday: Finishing out the week was the stories on the shootings. It seemed that the cover page was smothered in bad news as shootings in the U.S. and Germany showed up. I had never seen a split story like that on the cover page either (where it said for one shooting go to page x and for the other, go to page y) so that sparked an interest in reading both to see how they were similar and different.
Monday, March 9, 2009
School on Saturday Sparks Debate
Portsmouth School Board debated the inclusion of a Saturday school day for students who have disciplinary problems during the regular school week. However this was met with mixed reactions from the public.
Tim Steele presented the new idea which would cost the school roughly $3,000 a year to reduce the number of in-house suspensions students are receiving due to poor behavior. During this time students would not be allowed to make up missed work, and would miss no weekly class time as they would if they were suspended. “I know this isn’t good news for parents,” Steele claims, “but I hope the threat of Saturday classes will make the students think twice before breaking the school rules.”
The need for a more strict detention came from students being caught smoking on the grounds of Portsmouth High School. This was not the only problem, but was one of the worst claims Steele.
Peggy Bacon, a parent who works 6 days a week disagreed with the proposal. “Why do we need a change? I know my son isn’t perfect, and I know he’ll probably wind up on the Saturday list at some point, but I’m not going to force him to go.” She said. “I just don’t think it’s going to make a any difference, and the parents are going to pay for it -- in higher taxes as well as in ruined Saturdays.”
Bob Farley, a town resident responded. “Parents can whine all they want about this, byt maybe it’s time parents in America were made to take a little responsibility for their kids.” He said. “Parents aren’t teaching their kids any discipline, so the kids have no respect for rules. Maybe if they have to miss a few Saturday morning cartoons they’ll start wising up.”
Lisa Gallagher, a senior at Portsmouth High School spoke last. “I don’t like this idea. I think it’s just being done to make like easier for the faculty, so they don’t have to deal with detentions during the week. Anyway, what if someone skips the session?”
Steele responded that the student would not be allowed to return to their regular classes until the Saturday detention was served.
The board then voted, and with a 5 -3 outcome with one member abstaining from the vote, Steele was asked to return to the next meeting with statistics regarding the number of in-school detentions given out this year.
Portsmouth High School
Portsmouth School Department
Portsmouth School Board Meeting Dates
Tim Steele presented the new idea which would cost the school roughly $3,000 a year to reduce the number of in-house suspensions students are receiving due to poor behavior. During this time students would not be allowed to make up missed work, and would miss no weekly class time as they would if they were suspended. “I know this isn’t good news for parents,” Steele claims, “but I hope the threat of Saturday classes will make the students think twice before breaking the school rules.”
The need for a more strict detention came from students being caught smoking on the grounds of Portsmouth High School. This was not the only problem, but was one of the worst claims Steele.
Peggy Bacon, a parent who works 6 days a week disagreed with the proposal. “Why do we need a change? I know my son isn’t perfect, and I know he’ll probably wind up on the Saturday list at some point, but I’m not going to force him to go.” She said. “I just don’t think it’s going to make a any difference, and the parents are going to pay for it -- in higher taxes as well as in ruined Saturdays.”
Bob Farley, a town resident responded. “Parents can whine all they want about this, byt maybe it’s time parents in America were made to take a little responsibility for their kids.” He said. “Parents aren’t teaching their kids any discipline, so the kids have no respect for rules. Maybe if they have to miss a few Saturday morning cartoons they’ll start wising up.”
Lisa Gallagher, a senior at Portsmouth High School spoke last. “I don’t like this idea. I think it’s just being done to make like easier for the faculty, so they don’t have to deal with detentions during the week. Anyway, what if someone skips the session?”
Steele responded that the student would not be allowed to return to their regular classes until the Saturday detention was served.
The board then voted, and with a 5 -3 outcome with one member abstaining from the vote, Steele was asked to return to the next meeting with statistics regarding the number of in-school detentions given out this year.
Portsmouth High School
Portsmouth School Department
Portsmouth School Board Meeting Dates
Sunday, March 8, 2009
New York Times Reading Log
Monday: I found an interesting story on the number of public colleges getting a "surge of bargain-hunters". I found it interesting that while the economy is in a complete crisis, students wishing to further their education are still doing so, but it's as if they are almost better "shoppers" when searching for the college that is right for them. In other words, many are asking themselves: "What college will give me the most for the money I have?" and public colleges seem to be the answer with a broad array of career paths.
Tuesday: The story I found interesting today was the story of the two Chinese artifacts that were up for auction in Paris that of course the Chinese claim are theirs. The interesting twist that I discovered while reading the article was that the man who bid the winning $18 million had no intention of paying, but was doing so simply as an act of patriotism.
Wednesday: Today I found the story of the debt collectors calling for the deceased intriguing. I never knew that debt collectors would even try a stunt like that, and I also learned that while the spouse or children of the deceased have no legal obligation to pay the debt off, many of them decide they will. Some of them pay because they feel that should because it's the right thing to do, while others are not informed of the fact that they have no legal obligation. I found this creepy how we as the payers could possibly not get all the education we need to make a choice about whether or not to pay off a deceased loved one's debt. And apparently this type of debt collection is increasing.
Thursday: Rounding out the week was the story about the "cricket attack" that happened in Pakistan. The Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked due to a lapse in security which left them completely vulnerable to a "commando-style attack". This attack was eventually responsible in the death of six police officers and two bystanders. I found this article to be terrifying. Any international sports teams should be able to trust that they will be taken care of in the name of good sportsmanship. They are there to play, not to get caught up in some violent outbreak.
Tuesday: The story I found interesting today was the story of the two Chinese artifacts that were up for auction in Paris that of course the Chinese claim are theirs. The interesting twist that I discovered while reading the article was that the man who bid the winning $18 million had no intention of paying, but was doing so simply as an act of patriotism.
Wednesday: Today I found the story of the debt collectors calling for the deceased intriguing. I never knew that debt collectors would even try a stunt like that, and I also learned that while the spouse or children of the deceased have no legal obligation to pay the debt off, many of them decide they will. Some of them pay because they feel that should because it's the right thing to do, while others are not informed of the fact that they have no legal obligation. I found this creepy how we as the payers could possibly not get all the education we need to make a choice about whether or not to pay off a deceased loved one's debt. And apparently this type of debt collection is increasing.
Thursday: Rounding out the week was the story about the "cricket attack" that happened in Pakistan. The Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked due to a lapse in security which left them completely vulnerable to a "commando-style attack". This attack was eventually responsible in the death of six police officers and two bystanders. I found this article to be terrifying. Any international sports teams should be able to trust that they will be taken care of in the name of good sportsmanship. They are there to play, not to get caught up in some violent outbreak.
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