Free Ward Bird committee releases video tape

MOULTONBOROUGH — The committee of friends and relatives of Ward Bird yesterday stepped up their attack on the credibility of the former Salem woman whose testimony resulted in Bird's conviction on a criminal threatening charge by posting an online video recorded by a Brentwood man who says he is Christine Harris's former landlord.

In the video (www.freewardbird.org/statements), Peter Curro speaks of false accusations and "torture" that he endured at the hands of Harris in the 1990s.

"Christine Harris did not pay rent owed to Mr. Curro, and when he tried to obtain it she tied things up in court for months with false accusations and delays," said committee spokesman Peter Miller. "Mr. Curro states that Ms. Harris made a similar false accusation of threatening her life that she made against Ward Bird. He also describes major damage to his home by the dogs that she bred there without his permission."

Bird is presently incarcerated at the Carroll County Jail, serving the sentence imposed on him in 2009 for threatening Harris with a hand gun after she wandered onto his Ossippe Mountains property while looking for a neighboring tract that was for sale. He has applied for a pardon from Governor John Lynch and the Executive Council and is expected to testify before them during a hearing into his request that will be held at the Statehouse in Concord on Tuesday of next week.

Bird contents that Harris initially refused to leave his property when asked and while admitting he had a hand gun on his person at the time of the incident, insists he never used it to threaten Harris. He chose not to testify at his trial.

Miller said Curro has provided the Free Ward Bird Committee with legal documents that illustrate Harris’s tactics and the committee will be sharing them with Governor Lynch and the Executive Council. In addition, the committee’s website includes statements by Harris’s former parole officer and business and realty agents who also strongly question her integrity.

“A review of Ms. Harris’s background reveals a series of legal charges and violations, questionable interactions with business agents, misstatements, and cruelty to animals,” said Miller. “Viewed collectively over a period of years it strongly suggests a lack of credibility.”