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VOL. 11 NO. 244
LaCONIa, N.h.
527-9299
FrEE
Police used text messages to trace alleged source of heroin that killed 23-year-old mom; 3 suspects facing life in prison By Michael Kitch THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
LACONIA — Yesterday police charged a man and a woman with selling the heroin that caused the death of Ashley Denty, a single mother who died in her Union Ave. apartment of a overdose on April 1, and a second woman with conspiring to close the drug deal. Karen Mekkelsen, 26, of 934 North Main Street, Apartment 13, Laconia and Ste-
phen Marando, 50, of 241 Mechanic Street, Unit 3, Laconia were both charged with selling the drug that resulted in the death of another, a class A felony, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. Amanda Kelly of 301A Court Street , Laconia was charged with conspiring with Denty to purchase the drug that caused her death, a class A felony, also punishable by up to life imprisonment. All three were arraigned in Laconia
Distirct Court yesterday afternoon and are being held in the Belknap County Jail. in lieu of cash bail. Judge Jim Carroll set bail for Mekkelsen at $500,000, Marando at $250,000, and Kelly at $20,000. Prosecutor Jim Sawyer told the court that the three all had extensive criminal histories, including drug offenses and in Marando’s case more than a half-dozen convictions for simple assault. see hErOIN page
Another brouhaha in Gilford, this time over use of school budget surplus By Gail OBer
THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
Laconia City Manager Eileen Cabanel and granddaughter Lily greet library trustee chair Bob Selig during a reception in her honor last evening at the Belknap Mill. Cabanel is leaving to assume a similar position in the town of Merrimack. (Alan MacRae/for The Laconia Daily Sun)
Cabanel leaves Laconia smiling By Michael Kitch THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
LACONIA — After a dozen years in the service of the city, 10 of them as City Manager Eileen Cabanel, joined by her daughter Lauren and granddaughter Lily, accepted the accolades of grateful community at a reception at the Beknap Mill attended by some 75 city employees and resiModern Woodmen
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dents yesterday. Cabanel is leaving Laconia to become town manager in Merrimack. “Our loss is their gain,” said Mayor Mike Seymour. “No question.” He noted that typically the life cycle of city managers runs just four or five years, adding that Cabanel’s tenure speaks to the see CaBaNEL page 12
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GILFORD — Budget Committee member David Horvath is challenging the right of the School Board to spend some of its projected 2010-11 school year surplus on items budgeted for next year. In an e-mail Horvath sent to Assistant Gilford School Superintendent Scott Isabelle, Horvath challenged the legality of the encumbrance of about $150,000 from this year’s projected surplus. “It is a concern of the BC that none of these items are line items in the 20102011 budget and further that some of these are in the 2011-2012 budget,” he wrote noting that fluorescent lights bulbs for the Gilford Elementary School aren’t in either budget and citing RSA 32:5-II of the municipal budget act. see GILFOrd page 10
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