Keene News

[Dave Ridley]

They're good about printing LTE's.  They're also locally owned.  Their photographer is nice to us.  So they get a complete pass for the unpleasant comment

[Kat Kanning]

People in NH don't seem to put up with robberies.

Stickup at Keene restaurant Suspect, 21, chased, caught
   

Melanie Plenda
Sentinel Staff


Two men held up at gunpoint in a downtown Chinese eatery Monday night were ultimately responsible for taking down the alleged stickup man.

Jeffrey J. Campagnola, 21, of Keene, was arrested and charged with armed robbery after the incident.

Keene police Cpl. Eliezer Rivera said at about 11 p.m., Campagnola went into the King?s Garden Chinese Restaurant at 88 Main St. The restaurant was still open, Rivera said, but there were no customers inside.

Wearing a scarf over his mouth and nose, Campagnola pulled out a black handgun, pointed it at the two men behind the counter and told them to give him the money in the cash register, Rivera alleges.


      


Police did not release the employees? names.

The man nearest the register couldn?t get the cash drawer open, so Campagnola fired two shots into the air, Rivera said. The man tried again to get into the cash drawer and again it wouldn?t open, so Campagnola fled the store.

But the two men, not willing to let him get away, started chasing him and enlisted the help of another man walking by, Rivera said.

?They saw another guy walking down the street and yelled, ?Stop him,? ? Rivera said. ?So the third guy started chasing him too.?

The would-be bandit led the men on a chase up Railroad Street, through backyards, behind Cumberland Farms and finally to the woods near 54 Water Street, where two of them tackled Campagnola, pinning him to the ground, Rivera said.

A bystander had phoned police. When they arrived they found the bystander and one of the restaurant employees holding Campagnola down.

Rivera said the gun Campagnola allegedly used was a BB gun.

Campagnola is being held for lack of $100,000 bail and was scheduled to be arraigned today in Keene District Court.

[Russell Kanning]

chuckle chuckle

[Kat Kanning]

There he goes with the furtive giggles again.

[polyanarch]

BB gun?

Even in WI where Concealed Carry is ILLEGAL people know the difference between a BB-gun and real pistol.

Wasn't there a single person armed (with a real gun) in the area when this happened?

[AlanM]

There he goes with the furtive giggles again.

Was he shambling at the same time? 

[jgmaynard]

Some punk kids (not punk in the cool sorta Sid vicious way) tried starting a gang here in Keene a few years back - they called themselves the McMafia. They tried damaging property and such and were probably suprised when the people here actuallt defended their property - chased a couple off, caught a couple themselves, etc. They died out pretty quickly.

JM

[Kat Kanning]

Parking a big-ticket issueAnd a surprise for those who use their lawns
   

PETER J. CLEARY
Sentinel Staff


In Keene, it turns out, you can?t park your car in your own yard without risking a fine.

A city-wide housing ordinance says residential property must have enough paved or graveled parking spaces for every car parked at the building. If a car is parked on the grass ? even on private property ? the car?s owner could be ticketed.

And a change in the city?s fine schedule approved at Thursday?s city council meeting means the fine for parking on a lawn is jumping from $25 to $100 on the first ticketed offense.

The tickets and the fines have left residents and city councilors wondering why, exactly, they can?t park their cars in their own yard.

Pearl Street, where residents say cars up and down the street were recently ticketed without warning, has been a hotbed of questioning the city policy.

?I got a ticket on my own lawn,? said Pearl Street resident Larry A. Martel. About a month ago, Martel said, he had visitors to his house and parked his truck on his lawn to make driveway space for the visitors to park.

His truck had been on the lawn for four days when it was ticketed, he said, without warning.

Other residents spoke of similar situations, where they had parked on their lawns or the grass in front of their houses and got tickets. All said the $25 fines came without warning.

It?s the city?s policy to warn people before they get a ticket, said Assistant City Manager Medard K. Kopczynski, the city?s code enforcement director.

But, he said, the city doesn?t have records of when warnings were issued, adding the warnings are verbal.

The fines are part of a housing-standards ordinance that a new code-enforcement employee was hired about six months ago to enforce, Kopczynski said. The ordinance was passed as part of an effort to address complaints from residents in neighborhoods around Keene State College, but the rules affect the entire city.

Councilor Mitchell H. Greenwald said the ordinance is unfair and selectively enforced.

?A couple of councilors are really using it as a punitive tool involving the college students,? he said this morning. Greenwald was the only councilor to vote Thursday against increasing the fine.

Other councilors, however, joined Greenwald in objecting the fines for parking on lawns.

Councilor Frederick B. Parsells questioned the regulation, saying at the council meeting that he thinks the fines are ?a little onerous.?

There have been complaints about the fines, Kopczynski said. But on the other side, he added, most of the complaints are coming from people concerned about illegal parking, not the tickets.

And most tickets result from complaints, Kopczynski said at the meeting.

?I think it's one of the few weapons we have to address the deterioration of neighborhoods,? said Councilor Angelo D. DiBernardo Jr.

DiBernardo supported the parking regulation, saying there are some areas near Keene State College where parking at houses is denser than in commercial lots.

The ordinance targets houses with inadequate parking for the number of cars, Kopczynski said. But while adding legal parking is a responsibility of the house?s owner, the owner of the car gets the ticket, not the owner of the house.

And there?s no appeal process for the ticket short of going to court, Kopczynski said. Pearl Street residents, however, said they?ve found ways to get around the fines.

Hannah M. Gerry, whose roommate got one of the tickets, said her roommate wasn?t planning on paying the ticket.

No one else on the street had plans to pay either, she said. One neighbor, she said, was collecting copies of the tickets with plans to challenge them all in court.

[Lloyd Danforth]

In West Hartford, CT, you aren't supposed to park, during the night, I believe, on your driveway between the house and the street.

[KBCraig]

All the councillors objected to the tickets and fines, then all but one voted for them?

Politicians! 

[Russell Kanning]

We will have to investigate. Al Kulas was disagreeing with this decision, when we talked to him today.

[Pat K]

Well they hired a new "code enforment officer" he has to justify his salary, by walking down the road and helping to relive the people of more of their own.


Maybe people should tie their tickets to rocks and.............

[Russell Kanning]

That would be a great goal ..... make it hard to collect fines in Keene. I would bet that most people don't like this new rule and we should just say "no".

[jgmaynard]

I happened to run into Mitch Greenwald (the councilor who voted against the fines) today on Main St. - He's said he's been getting all kinds of calls from people saying "What!?!?! Keene doesn't have anything better to do than search for cars on lawns?" He was NOT happy with the vote......

JM

[Russell Kanning]

Do you think we could help instigate a "I will not pay the fine" campaign?