Tragic Death of Lee Slocum

[CNHT]

By now most of you have heard about this.
A few days ago, I lamented that running for office meant one might have to buy new clothes!
Here was Lee's answer:

"When something is going wrong and no one seems to be doing anything about it and you know what needs to be done, you will probably get up and speak.

Beware of all enterprises requiring new clothes.

Just do it."

A man of conviction, and wonderful legislator...he shall be missed.

[KBCraig]

I read about the accident last night, and I'm sorry to hear that he didn't make it.

The accident details sound like a good reminder of something I learned many moons ago: when turning left, keep the wheel straight ahead until you're clear to go. That way, if you get hit from behind, you go straight. But if you've already turned your wheels and get hit from behind, you'll be knocked right into oncoming traffic.

Kevin

[CNHT]

I read about the accident last night, and I'm sorry to hear that he didn't make it.

The accident details sound like a good reminder of something I learned many moons ago: when turning left, keep the wheel straight ahead until you're clear to go. That way, if you get hit from behind, you go straight. But if you've already turned your wheels and get hit from behind, you'll be knocked right into oncoming traffic.

Kevin

I do know this as many late nights coming home from the radio show I must turn in a bad spot off that same road. I cringe when I see the cars coming up behind me...it is a very dangerous place to be..

[cathleeninnh]

We saw the wreckage and the traffic tie-up. I didn't know any of the details until the article was posted. I also have heard the warning, but cant swear that I do that properly. I will watch Don and ask him to watch me. After so many years, driving is so instinctual. There are so many center turn lanes now that didn't exist when I started driving. That helps prevent this from happening.

Cathleen

[CNHT]

We saw the wreckage and the traffic tie-up. I didn't know any of the details until the article was posted. I also have heard the warning, but cant swear that I do that properly. I will watch Don and ask him to watch me. After so many years, driving is so instinctual. There are so many center turn lanes now that didn't exist when I started driving. That helps prevent this from happening.

Cathleen

This road is a known hazard. My friend's husband is permantly disabled after an accident there.
I stayed home yesterday, I guess I had bad vibes. Prayers for Lee, he will surely be missed...

[Recumbent ReCycler]

It is too bad that Lee Slocum died.  I don't recall ever meeting him, but from what I've read, it sounds like we've lost a good legislator.
I think that the DOT should be doing a better job of designing the roads.  This spring, I talked to a older woman who was working for the DOT, and she said that they are planning to start making roads narrower to try to get people to slow down.  I hope that they don't follow through with that idea, because it will make it more difficult for motorists to get around cars that are turning left, cyclists, and skate boarders (who are prohibited from riding on the sidewalk under current law), and will likely cause more accidents, especially with the dangerous 90 degree granite curbs that are becoming more and more common.  It would also make it more difficult to get out of the way of ambulances and other emergency vehicles.  I believe that poor road design is a major factor in a lot of accidents.

[CNHT]

It is too bad that Lee Slocum died.  I don't recall ever meeting him, but from what I've read, it sounds like we've lost a good legislator.
I think that the DOT should be doing a better job of designing the roads.  This spring, I talked to a older woman who was working for the DOT, and she said that they are planning to start making roads narrower to try to get people to slow down.  I hope that they don't follow through with that idea, because it will make it more difficult for motorists to get around cars that are turning left, cyclists, and skate boarders (who are prohibited from riding on the sidewalk under current law), and will likely cause more accidents, especially with the dangerous 90 degree granite curbs that are becoming more and more common.  It would also make it more difficult to get out of the way of ambulances and other emergency vehicles.  I believe that poor road design is a major factor in a lot of accidents.

This is a very dangerous road and I fear driving on it and sometimes don't take a turn if I feel too many cars are behind me.

[ravelkinbow]

May he rest in Peace.

[Dave Ridley]

Good God what a loss. 

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/NS/20060612/NEWS01/60612003

AMHERST ? Lee Slocum, whose years of battle against taxes and perceived government overreach made him one of the state?s most-recognized lawmakers, has died of injuries sustained in a Sunday afternoon car accident on Route 101.

Slocum died in the hospital overnight, after his car was rear-ended while he was waiting to turn left from the two-lane highway onto Old Manchester Road. His car, a Saturn wagon, was pushed into the oncoming lane and hit by a minivan.

Neighbors said such an accident was all but inevitable.

?All the time you?re waiting to turn left there, you?re looking in the rear-view mirror, afraid you?re going to get hit,? said Brenda Martucci, who lives two doors from Slocum on Williamsburg Drive, off Old Manchester Road.

?We heard the crash,? said her husband, Paul. The couple went down to the scene and saw Slocum, 63, being extricated. ?His car was so smashed up we didn?t know it was him.?

Slocum, 63, was taken to Elliot Hospital and later died of his injuries.

The accident is still under investigation.

Slocum, who got his bachelor?s degree in physics and worked as a software consultant, served on the Souhegan School Board from 1994-2000, and as a state representative from 2003 to the present. He and his wife, Jill, had lived on Williamsburg Drive for more than two decades; their three children are grown.

Amherst police said Slocum was struck from behind by a Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Eric Schulz, 25, of Turnpike Road, Townsend, Mass. Schulz was alone and not injured.

Slocum?s car was pushed into the northbound lane, where it was hit by a Toyota Sienna driven by Brian Krol, 44, of New Merrimack Road, Bedford. Krol, his wife Dorothy and their three teenage children were taken to Catholic Medical Center with non-serious injuries, police said.

Slocum made his political reputation by his dogged fight against government spending and for conservative values, ranging from his opposition to public kindergarten to his prominent role in last winter?s debate over what to call the annual lighting of the Amherst town Christmas tree.

Those who opposed him politically, however, described him as gracious.

?Clearly he did what he thought was the best for the schools,? said Kathy Skoglund, who as director of special education for Amherst schools was often the target of Slocum?s ire. ?But people always said that he really did separate the political from his personal life.?

?We were still good friends, even if we disagreed,? said Brenda Martucci, vice principal of Amherst elementary schools. ?He was a good man, a good family man.?

In Concord, legislators who served with Slocum during his time there praised his intelligence and work ethic.

House Majority Leader Michael O?Neil, R-Hampton, said he considered Slocum one of the experts as the House considered whether to allow Public Service Co. of New Hampshire to get into new power generation with a wood-powered plant in Berlin.

?He was one of our few real authorities on a very complex subject,?? O?Neil said. ?He?d come into our office, close the door and fill us with information that we never could have gotten anywhere else.?

Farmington Republican Rep. Timothy Easson saw Slocum in action defending a school voucher bill before the House Education Committee, which historically had rejected the idea.

?He faced questions from all corners and he had an answer every single time,?? said Easson.

Slocum had sponsored or co-sponsored 19 bills this year, covering such issues as school choice, prohibiting government services to illegal immigrants, tax credits for alternative energy, licensing home improvement contractors, notifying the community when sex offender moves into a neighborhood.

David Brooks can be reached at 594-5831 or dbrooks@nashuatelegraph.com.

[CNHT]

He was also on the Board of CNHT but of course the paper would never mention that. 

[tracysaboe]

Could this be another argument for free market roads then?

Humm. Sorry for your loss.

Tracy

[CNHT]

This had a nice photo of Lee:

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060613/NEWS01/106130083/-1/NEIGHBORS

The wake is toinght at Smith and Heald in Milford from 6-9 PM and tomorrow, services at the Congregational Church in the center of Mount Vernon.