A local hero’s amazing story

In vivid detail, Keene veteran Earle Quimby Jr. reflects on life, military service

Published Nov. 11, 2011 12:15 pm

By Casey Farrar Sentinel Staff

The force of the blast rocketed an iron chimney grate across the room and flipped an exhausted Earle C. Quimby Jr. under the heavy bed he was lying on in an abandoned German house.

Steve Hooper Sentinel Staff

Out on a mission, the Army reconnaissance officer and his driver had run into a German unit, and now the 24-year-old Quimby was holed up in the house, waiting.

It was the midst of World War II, and Quimby had spent the first few months after landing in Europe speeding along snowy roads in an open-top Jeep. Crossing enemy lines, he reported troop positions and access routes back to Army brass.

“When I showed up, they had six drivers and a Jeep waiting for me,” Quimby, now 90, recalled during a recent interview in his Keene home. “So I knew their intention was I would be in German territory more than I’d be in American territory.”

Arriving in December 1944, Quimby was one of tens of thousands of replacement troops sent to bolster American forces that suffered some of the heaviest casualties of the war during the month-long clash known as the Battle of the Bulge.

“Right off the bat, I started getting shot at with the 88 mm field artillery piece, and they put grooves in the projectiles so if they were spinning very fast at high speeds it would make a very high screeching noise,” he said. “Demoralizing. We called them Screaming Mimis.”

It was an 88 mm that had hammered the side of the house where Quimby hunkered down after meeting the German unit in Belgium. The outfit had taken out Quimby’s Jeep, but he and his driver — who took cover in another building — made it through mostly unscathed.

“I got all covered with soot and I went to see my colonel and he just laughed at me because I was all black and I had no way to clean up,” he said. “You can’t use cold water to try to get soot off you. So I lived with it for a long time.”

 

Red Bull robber sought

Published Oct. 26, 2011 12:15 p.m.

By Casey Farrar Sentinel Staff

Keene Police Department image

Police are searching for a man captured on surveillance videos stealing cases of energy drinks from Keene supermarkets and who may have stolen a car in the city Sunday.

The man — who is in his 40s, bald, about 5 feet 6 inches tall and 140 pounds — has stolen or attempted to steal large quantities of Red Bull and Monster energy drinks and other groceries from local stores on Oct. 7, 17, 21 and most recently on Oct. 22 at Hannaford supermarket, police said in a news release.

Other stores hit by the energy drink thief have included Price Chopper and Shaw’s, police said.

In one incident, police said the man left in a white Jeep Cherokee with Massachusetts license plates.

In another, he got into a small silver car with a second male who helped him load the car with the drinks, and in a third incident employees noticed him making hand signals to someone and he was followed by a white or silver older model Cutlass.

The man is also a suspect in the Oct. 23 theft of a green 2005 Dodge Magnum with N.H. license 2446573 from Jake’s Five Star Convenience on Roxbury Street, police said.

An officer reviewing video realized the vehicle thief, described as wearing a red ski hat, a red jacket and blue jeans, may have been the man stealing energy drinks, police said.

 

Years after fatal cycle crash, family keeps memory alive

Published Oct. 25, 2011 12:15 p.m.

By Casey Farrar Sentinel Staff

JAFFREY — A lot has changed in the five years since Martin A. Taylor of Jaffrey died from injuries suffered in a motorcycle crash.

With each passing milestone or birth of a new family member, his family is reminded of the painful loss of the gregarious man they knew as Marty, who had a passion for fixing and riding motorcycles and told it like he saw it.

Like many families dealing with the loss of a loved one, members of the Taylor family say they take it one day at a time.

For some in the family, organizing a scholarship in his memory for students graduating from Conant High School who plan to attend a vocational school has helped them cope.

“It’s nice to raise money to help some kids we don’t even know,” said one of Taylor’s three brothers, Michael A. Taylor of Rindge. “For me it’s therapy, but more than that is that he’s still alive if people don’t forget him.”

Six scholarships have been granted so far — the first just a few months after Taylor’s death.

Area bikers help raise funds twice a year by participating in motorcycle rides called poker runs. Some knew Taylor well — they grew up with him, rode with him, spent hours visiting and chatting with him at the small garage he had in downtown Jaffrey, Michael Taylor said in a recent interview. On the rides, they reminisce about good times they had with their friend.

Others never met Taylor, but heard about him from friends and wanted to do their part, he said.

A Harley funeral

The crash that killed Marty Taylor happened on Peterborough Street in Jaffrey in September 2006.

Taylor, 52, was riding his 2006 Harley-Davidson — the first new motorcycle he’d owned — to see his parents at a nursing home when an elderly driver turned in front of him, colliding with the bike.

Taylor was conscious following the crash, but suffered a brain injury and was flown to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, where he died six days later from his injuries. He was surrounded by his family.

At his funeral, a motorcycle hearse accompanied by a procession of more than 60 Harleys carried him to the cemetery in Jaffrey where he was buried. A few months later, Michael Taylor built a headstone for his brother out of Harley parts — his name is engraved on a windshield, which is attached to ape-hanger handlebars and a solar-powered headlight that shines.

The idea for a scholarship in his memory began a few months after his death.

 

Man accused of shooting fiance arraigned; bride in court

Published Oct. 19, 2011 12:15 p.m.

By Casey Farrar Sentinel Staff

BRATTLEBORO — A Vermont man told police he was trying to unload a shotgun with one hand while driving when he shot his fiancee in the leg last month, according to court documents.

Robert P. Nantell, 44, of Vernon, was arraigned Tuesday morning in the Windham Criminal Division of Vermont Superior Court on charges of first-degree aggravated domestic assault, simple assault with a weapon and reckless endangerment. He pleaded not guilty through a public defender.

Nantell’s fiancee, 52-year-old Ivonne Garcia, also told police that she believed the shooting was an accident and that she still planned to marry Nantell, court documents showed.

Garcia suffered a serious leg injury and was flown to Baystate Medical Center in Massachusetts for treatment. Her right leg was amputated below the knee as a result of the gunshot wound, according to court documents.

She was present at Nantell’s arraignment Tuesday.

Prosecutors have not asked for Nantell to be held on bail, and Assistant State’s Attorney Steven Brown said in court Tuesday that Nantell had been cooperative with police and it is likely the case will be resolved soon with an agreement between the state and defense, although he offered no specific timeline.

According to a police affidavit written by Brattleboro police Detective Erik Johnson, police responded to the report of a shooting Sept. 27 after 1 p.m. on Marlboro Road in Brattleboro.

In an interview with police, Nantell said he’d been driving east on Marlboro Road, with Garcia sitting on the passenger side of his green 1994 Dodge pickup truck, when he realized a round was chambered in the shotgun sitting on the floor of the truck between the seat and gearshift.

The muzzle of the gun, which he usually keeps loaded at home for protection and unloaded in the truck, was pointing toward Garcia, Nantell told police.

Nantell said as he was “trying to do the law” by attempting to unload the gun, he accidentally “hit the trigger” and realized Garcia had been shot, the affidavit said.

Nantell then pulled into the parking lot of a nearby gas station, drove through an attached coffee shop drive-through and parked in front of the gas station, he told police.

 

Woman central to McLeod case died six years ago

Published Oct. 2, 2011 12:15 p.m.

By Casey Farrar Sentinel Staff

As she awoke to flames on her bed, Sandra E. Walker tried smothering the fire with her hands before running to her bathroom and filling a coffee pot with water.

But as she returned to douse the blaze, as she would later describe to police, the fire had spread across the bed and the area around it.

Realizing she’d be unable to extinguish the fire, Walker said she ran out of her second-floor apartment, banging on the walls to wake up residents in other apartments in the High Street building.

Steve Hooper/Keene Sentinel

A family of four across the hall — Carl R. Hina, his wife of only three weeks, Lori M. Hina, their 4-month-old daughter, Lillian, and Carl’s 12-year-old daughter, Sara Jean — awoke to the commotion and dressed. But they wouldn’t make it out alive.

At 2:25 a.m., dispatchers from Southwestern N.H. District Fire Mutual Aid in Keene sent fire trucks to the building, located only a few blocks from the fire station. The first truck arrived four minutes later, dispatch records showed.

Firefighters searched the building for survivors, but never reached the Hinas as they navigated through a building quickly filling with an inky haze that cut visibility to zero, fire officials would say.

The family would later be found in a back room in the apartment, killed by smoke inhalation, according to a medical examiner. Cuts found on Carl Hina’s hands indicated they may have tried to escape by breaking a window, officials told The Sentinel in the days following the Jan. 14, 1989, fire.

Within a week of the fire, Walker had recounted her story to police and fire investigators at least five times, according to court documents.

Her statements initially led investigators toward an accidental cause and early reports indicated it may have started when she fell asleep with a lit cigarette.

 

Trying to close a cold case

Published Oct. 2, 2011 12:15 p.m.

By Casey Farrar Sentinel Staff

A murder trial scheduled to begin Monday in a deadly fire has been postponed by a legal challenge that may keep the prosecution’s fire experts from testifying that they believe the fire was intentionally set.

Keene Sentinel file photo

David B. McLeod, 55, of Sacramento, Calif., was charged in June 2010 with four counts of second-degree murder for the 1989 deaths of newlyweds Carl R. and Lori M. Hina, their 4-month-old daughter Lillian, and Carl’s 12-year-old daughter Sara Jean.

Prosecutors say McLeod started the fire that killed the Hinas and they plan to bring in fire science experts to testify that the fire was caused by arson.

But attorneys for McLeod argue that since the experts based their findings on the statements of a woman who died more than six years ago, McLeod’s constitutional rights would be violated because she couldn’t be questioned in court.

 

Up all night

State resources added in underage drinking initiative in college towns

Published Sept. 19, 2011 12:15 p.m.

By Casey Farrar Sentinel Staff

They begin trickling into the streets Saturday about 9 p.m. in ones and twos, eagerly making their way to early parties or heading to downtown bars.

By shortly after 10 p.m., the groups of college students have swelled into the dozens. They pass in waves along the narrow streets surrounding the Keene State College campus — a mass of the freshly primped marching to the cadence of clicking heels, excited chatter and laughter.

It’s a common weekend sight in Keene during the school year.

In the first few weeks of classes, the Keene Police Department typically brings on two extra officers to patrol on weekend nights, said Lt. Steven M. Stewart, a supervisor in the department’s patrol bureau.

This weekend, they had extra backup in the form of a “saturation” detail by the N.H. State Liquor Commission aimed at combating underage drinking.

Seven investigators from the agency were out Friday and Saturday nights — some patrolling the streets and others visiting local liquor stores and bars to help clerks and bouncers check for fake IDs — said Sgt. Matthew L. Elliot, an investigator with the agency.

The initiative is part of a statewide move by the agency and local police departments to crack down on underage drinking in college towns in New Hampshire, according to Liquor Enforcement Bureau Director Eddie Edwards.

“The focus is providing training and education to establishments to help them spot fake IDs and prevent underage drinkers from buying alcohol or coming on their premises,” Edwards said. “It’s also to educate people that underage drinking is not acceptable, and that buying alcohol for young people is unacceptable.”

The detail in Keene this weekend was the third conducted by the state agency, following similar initiatives in recent weeks in Plymouth and at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. More are planned in other towns with large college-aged populations, including Hanover, where Dartmouth College is located, Edwards said.

 

In Brattleboro, adjusting to a new normal

Published Aug. 12, 2011 12:15 p.m.

By Casey Farrar Sentinel Staff

Michael Moore/Keene Sentinel

BRATTLEBORO — A day after hundreds of people gathered to mourn a deadly shooting at a local cooperative grocery store, employees at the Brattleboro Food Co-op quietly got back to business Thursday morning.

When the store’s doors opened at 8 a.m., it was the first time shoppers had been in the co-op since the Tuesday morning shooting involving two employees that police say was sparked by a workplace dispute.

At opening time, employees, co-op members and customers began getting back to a new normal, which was changed forever after 59-year-old store manager Michael Martin of Dummerston, Vt., was fatally shot in his office at the store.

A co-worker, Richard E. Gagnon, also 59, of Marlboro, Vt., is jailed in connection with the shooting, accused of first-degree murder.

As customers arrived Thursday morning toting reusable bags, some stopped outside, embracing and speaking over the clatter of nearby construction work on a new co-op and apartment complex.

Some of those arriving on foot crossed a pedestrian bridge — its red bricks splattered with candle wax drippings from the previous night’s vigil — where flowers had been woven into the iron handrails.

A few passers-by cast sidelong glances at the pale green building as they headed down the path.

Inside the store, co-op workers busily readied for the day, brewing coffee, stocking shelves and stacking rows of organic fruits and vegetables.

Solemn faces stretched into kind smiles as shoppers offered hugs and words of support to the employees and other customers.

 

Suspect arrested with gun in hand

Published Aug. 11, 2011 12:15 p.m.

By Casey Farrar Sentinel Staff

BRATTLEBORO — A Marlboro, Vt., man faces a first-degree murder charge in the shooting death of a co-worker at the Brattleboro Food Co-op apparently sparked by a workplace disagreement.

Michael Moore/Keene Sentinel

Richard E. Gagnon, 59, appeared Wednesday afternoon in Windham Criminal Division of Vermont Superior Court wearing shackles over a gray sweatsuit, a day after police say he shot store manager Michael Martin, also 59, of Dummerston, Vt., at the downtown grocery store.

On Friday the two men had argued about Gagnon’s employment after Martin offered Gagnon a severance package if he resigned from the co-op, and Gagnon had called in sick on Monday, according to a police affidavit released after Gagnon’s arraignment.

When he was arrested outside the co-op minutes after Tuesday morning’s shooting, Gagnon was holding a loaded handgun and carrying an extra ammunition magazine and a copy of his latest performance evaluation dated in May, the affidavit said.

Gagnon had been employed at the co-op for more than two decades, according to police.

That evaluation noted issues with Gagnon’s relationships with other employees and his management style and stated that if the issue was not successfully addressed, it could “ultimately lead to your termination of employment,” according to the affidavit.

In court Wednesday, Gagnon remained silent and pleaded not guilty to the murder charge through his public defender, Mimi Brill.

Gagnon was ordered held without bail by Judge David T. Suntag, pending an Aug. 18 probable cause hearing. If convicted, he faces 35 years to life in prison.

A request by Windham County Deputy State’s Attorney David W. Gartenstein that Gagnon submit to a DNA sample will also be taken up during that hearing.

The affidavit, which includes interviews with several store employees and accounts from two police officers, provides more details about the early-morning shooting.

An employee stocking shelves told police he saw Gagnon in the hallway before the shooting, and noticed that Gagnon seemed upset.

Another employee told police he followed Gagnon into the store’s office area in the back, and got no answer when he asked Gagnon how he was.

Gagnon left the office area, then returned, saying nothing, and entered Martin’s office, the employee told police.

The employee heard a loud bang from the office, but because he’d never heard a gunshot he was unsure if that’s what it was, he told police. He said the noise sounded like a “computer was exploding.”

 

Shooting death at Brattleboro gathering spot stuns town

Published Aug. 10, 2011 12:15 p.m.

By Casey Farrar Sentinel Staff

BRATTLEBORO — Yellow caution tape blocked curious onlookers Tuesday from the scene of a deadly morning shooting in which police say one employee of a cooperative grocery store in downtown Brattleboro shot another.

Police say Brattleboro Food Co-op worker Michael Martin, 59, of Dummerston, Vt., is dead and Richard E. Gagnon, also 59, of Marlboro, Vt., was taken into custody as a result of the shooting, which was reported at 8:16 a.m.

Brattleboro Police Chief Eugene Wrinn said emergency personnel from the police and fire departments and Rescue Inc. initially responded to the co-op for the report of an unresponsive man, who was later pronounced dead.

Wrinn declined to comment on how many people were in the store at the time.

The co-op was closed Tuesday and remains closed today. A community vigil is scheduled tonight at 6 on the Whetstone Brook Pathway, which runs past the store’s parking lot, co-op officials said.

The co-op was just opening for the day when the shooting occurred.

William G. Knowles, a resident of a Main Street apartment that overlooks the co-op, is a member of the co-op and cleans up litter in its parking lot every day, he said.

Knowles was in the parking lot Tuesday morning when he saw people coming out of the store and moments later heard sirens from responding emergency vehicles, he said.

“That’s when I did know something was wrong,” Knowles said.