The Day the Music Died

For a long time, I was just like you. I was a believer. I grew up in that sweet naive notion that the “adults in the room” actually knew what they were doing. I bought the ticket. I took the ride.

I blindly supported “Cheshire County.” I looked at the elected officials and the suits walking down Court Street in Keene and I thought: These are the good guys. I believed they were the “best of the best.” I figured they lived by a code. Morals. Character. Grit.

They were “just like me,” or so I told myself. I was a taxpayer. I worked in the media. I helped them with their little projects, interviewed them for soundbites, and nodded along to their well-rehearsed talking points. I amplified their message because I believed it. Frankly, let’s get real…I was paid to believe it.

I believed right up until the moment I started bleeding out on my own floor.

That is when the illusion shattered. It wasn’t a slow fade; it was a violent, traumatic snap. As some of you know, I went through something that very few people survive. I nearly died. I was losing blood, consciousness, and hope in my own home. And in that chaos, I saw the truth.

I recognized the situation for what it was: The culmination of years of psychological abuse. I was dealing with the aftermath of a person who was a drug addict, a literal court-convicted liar, someone who stole narcotics from pharmacies. This was someone who weaponized the legal system to drag men into court for “domestic violence” warfare. Someone who is not above telling lies to get me out of the picture. And now? That same person is hoping to become a “counselor” for your family.

You would think—no, you would expect that a violent, life-threatening event would trigger a real solid and thorough investigation. You’d think the powers that be would want to see the details.

So, I trusted the Cheshire County Attorney’s office. I trusted them to do the one thing we pay them for: Investigate. With my face and neck full of stitches and a heart so broken…I trusted them.

The Sound of Silence

I never should have and trusting them is the biggest regret of my life. Instead, they ghosted. They ignored months of concerns I brought up about how evidence was being mishandled. When they finally acknowledged me, it was with a dismissive wave. They ignored me. The victim of a near-death rare trauma. Somehow, I was “the problem”.

My experience wasn’t a fluke. It was a feature of the system. They did what they have always done: They protected their own.

The gritty details of my specific nightmare will come out when my civil negligence litigation with Cheshire County kicks off in January. But in the year I’ve spent studying the devastating flaws in my own case, I noticed a pattern. A pattern so loud it sounds like a feedback loop at a grunge concert.

You don’t have to look very far to see the rot.

The Ambulance Chasers: ARPA Funds and Cheshire EMS

Let’s rewind to 2003? No, let’s look at right now, with echoes of the past. Cheshire County, New Hampshire, recently faced a massive federal complaint. The accusation? That they misused millions in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

We are talking about pandemic relief money. Money meant to save us. Instead, the county used it to start and subsidize a county-run ambulance service, Cheshire EMS. Opponents say this was illegal and harmful to existing providers.

Critics argue the county didn’t even have the legal authority to operate EMS. They undercut established services like Keene Fire and local private companies with heavily subsidized contracts. It gets dirtier: they allegedly conditioned ARPA money on towns signing with Cheshire EMS.

Think about that. “Sign with us, or you don’t get the relief money.” That violates the very purpose of federal pandemic relief. County officials, including Administrator Chris Coates, denied it, of course. They claimed the service was created to fill a “coverage void.” But when you look at the $3.5 million price tag and the aggressive tactics against local fire chiefs, it doesn’t look like charity. It looks like a takeover.

The “legal” challenge to the county’s power has largely been superseded by operational reality. DiLuzio is gone, and Cheshire County EMS is now the dominant provider in the region. Ironically, the very ambulance service that transported me to the helipad.

However, the critics’ warning about financial sustainability proved accurate: the service required millions in subsidies to stay afloat. The next major milestone will be July 2026, when the service must survive without the federal “COVID money” that the original complaint alleged was illegally used.

Bombshells and Black Ops: The Ghost of Detective McLaughlin

If you think this is new behavior, you haven’t been paying attention to the history of Cheshire County justice. Look at the trusted staff. Look at the “integrity” of the investigations.

Justice was subverted in New Hampshire in the long-running case of Father Gordon MacRae. This case is a stain on the region. It claims that retired Keene sex-crimes detective James F. McLaughlin ran an investigation driven by slander, bias, and financial incentives rather than evidence.

This led to MacRae’s wrongful conviction in 1994. The charges? Fabricated or unsupported. The tactics? Questionable at best, criminal at worst. We are talking about suppressed evidence, unreliable accusers, and institutional failures by prosecutors and judges. Things are sounding uncomfortably “familiar” in Cheshire County.

McLaughlin’s legacy is one of “bombshells and black ops.” And yet, for decades, MacRae sat in prison while the system patted itself on the back. It is the same playbook: Decide the narrative, ignore the facts, bury the opposition. Exactly, a pattern I am familiar with.

The Mirror Image: Donna Pelliccia

Or, look into a case that is strikingly familiar. It is almost like they are working from a script. Look at what happened to Donna Pelliccia and her disabled daughter.

They were wrongly thrust into a criminal case after a neighbor made uninvestigated allegations. These allegations led to Pelliccia’s arrest and jail time for supposed online threats. Threats she never made.

Later, much later, after the damage was done a Cheshire County investigation (wow, they do those?) found the threats were likely fabricated. They faulted the Winchester and Troy police for mishandling the case. How did they mess it up? By failing to properly investigate the source of the messages. They seized computers without forensic follow-up. They allowed a miscarriage of justice to occur while Pelliccia fought for accountability.

Does that sound familiar? It should. This is basically the same situation I shockingly believe I faced as well….except mine was far more deliberate.

What bothers me (and it should bother you) is that Donna Pelliccia’s case is not just similar to what I experienced. It shows an evolution. They aren’t fixing the issues; they are getting more transparently arrogant about them. The citizens now need to take a stand. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not next year. Now.

The Liberal Echo Chamber

Here is the hard truth that nobody in the coffee shops on Main Street wants to admit: Cheshire County has become too liberal for its own good.

I’m not talking about traditional politics. I’m talking about the mindset of moral superiority. Instead of listening to citizens who disagree,  or evidence that doesn’t fit their own goals, they simply ignore them. Or worse, they try to find a way to disprove you, gaslight you, or bury you.

Go ahead. Try to make a valid point with someone “in power” in Cheshire County. It is very likely you will be blamed for being misinformed. You will be threatened. You will be told to sit down and shut up because the “experts” are handling it.

They have built an echo chamber where they believe their own press releases.

Trust is Dead (And They Killed It)

I’m not the only one feeling this. The data backs it up. The 2024 New Hampshire Civic Health Index poll shows a continuing decline in trust in local government.

Only a small fraction of Granite Staters say they “almost always” trust their local officials. Many more only trust them “some of the time” or less. This reflects a broader disillusionment driven by misinformation, reduced civic engagement, and frustration over contentious decisions – like those fancy downtown infrastructure projects that nobody asked for. You know, the ones that are now $8M higher than expected. I bet you don’t like that do you?

Let me ask you. Do you really think your opinion matters in Cheshire County?

The study highlights something interesting: when citizens know their local representatives personally, as often happens in small, nonpartisan towns trust holds up better. But overall? People are less confident in the government’s ability to manage everyday services and tight budgets in a way that earns their respect.

We are losing faith because they have given us every reason to doubt them.

The Pattern is Clear

From the ARPA fund cash grab to the wrongful convictions of the 90s, to the lazy investigations of today, the thread is continuous. It is a culture of hypocrisy.

They preach community while destroying local providers. They preach justice while ignoring victims. They preach safety while protecting abusers.

I blindly supported them once. I thought they were the good guys. But when I was bleeding on the floor, waiting for justice that never came, I realized the truth.

We are on our own.

But that is when you know you must do something. The 90s taught us one thing worth remembering: apathy is boring. It’s time to make some noise. If they won’t investigate themselves, we have to do it for them. If they won’t tell the truth, we have to scream it.

My civil litigation starts in January. The details will come out. But until then, ask yourself:

Who is Cheshire County really working for?

Because it certainly isn’t you.

Now It’s Your Turn

I’m one man with a story, but my story isn’t unique anymore. The pattern is bigger than me, bigger than Donna, bigger than any one family torn apart by arrogance and incompetence. What happened in my home, what happened in those courtrooms, what happened to other victims… it all points in the same direction. They will not stop themselves. They will not correct themselves. They will not police themselves.

So here’s where you come in. Start paying attention to what is happening in your own backyard. Look harder at the people who claim to speak for you. Ask questions. Pull records. Talk to your neighbors. Stop assuming the folks with titles and badges are automatically the moral center of your community. That era is over. It died right along with the trust they burned to the ground.

If you care about your town, your family, your safety, then you have a responsibility to get involved. Show up to meetings. Read the budgets. Don’t just accept the press release version of reality. Trust me. DO NOT believe local news. Start listening to independent journalists if you want the truth.  Hold these officials accountable the one way they can’t ignore.

Vote them out.

Corruption doesn’t survive sunlight. It survives silence. We have been silent long enough. It’s time to make sure the people running Cheshire County know the truth:

We’re watching now. And next election, the cancer gets cut out.