‘Living hell’ - Neighbor to Meredith crematorium begs selectmen to force change to chimney

By MICHAEL KITCH, LACONIA DAILY SUN

MEREDITH — "This is about as upset as I get," said Doug Frederick of the American Police Police Motorcycle Museum, who again appealed to the Board of Selectmen yesterday to address the emissions from the crematory at the Mayhew Funeral Home, which abuts his property. "Our life is a living hell up there."

Frederick contends that because the crematory is 15 feet down slope of his lot, its chimney reaches only to the second story of the building housing the museum, causing emissions to collect and ash to fall on his property. He suggested that adding 15 or 20 feet to the chimney would enable emissions and ash to clear his property and disperse in the air.

At the same time, he charges that the process by which the installation of the crematory was approved was secret, corrupt and incompetent as well as contrary to local zoning ordinances and state law.

Frederick has requested that Peter Mayhew, who owns and operates the funeral home, be required to add 15 or 20 feet to the chimney of the crematory, which he believes would enable emissions and ash to clear his property and disperse in the air.

Town Manager Phil Warren has advised Frederick that the town has no authority to address his complaints since crematories are regulated by state agencies, the Board of Registration of Funeral Directors and Embalmers and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.

However, Frederick told the board he took his complaint to both the Governor's Office and the Office of Energy and Planning, where he was told the issue is a matter for the town to resolve. Warren, who was echoed by Nate Torr, chairman of the selectboard, repeated that the town had no authority. "It's got to go someplace else," said Torr. "It's not an issue for the selectmen. We have no jurisdiction to do anything."

"I'll be coming to every meeting until the chimney is addressed," Frederick told the selectmen. "We are not here to ask that the chimney be raised, but to demand it be raised."

Frederick found an ally in Karen Sticht, who asked Warren to read the first general provision of the zoning ordinance, " No land in any of the districts herein set forth shall be used in a manner that is disorderly, unsightly, noxious, offensive or detrimental to the public or the owners or occupants of adjacent property," he read.