SEABROOK, NH – Phyllis Willett lives for legendary live music. And what is more iconically New England, than a farewell tour of its most famous band?

“I’ve seen Aerosmith before; I even saw Steven Tyler at Market Basket in Portsmouth. But to see them in concert on New Year’s Eve; Rent a room down there, it would have been a great celebration!” the Seabrook woman said.

Aerosmith tour postponed   

But after Steven Tyler announced a vocal cord injury last September, the tour was postponed – with the Boston show bumped a year.

“I was going to go with my twin brother. My twin brother passed away unexpectedly January 8. That’s a no-go. Now I don’t even want to go,” she explained.

Phyllis had spent close to $1800 for the two Ticketmaster tickets, on a resale site with different rules: no refunds on postponed or rescheduled shows. She was told she’d have to resell them herself, but she doesn’t even own a computer.

“Unlike buying through an official channel, third party sites may have weaker refund and buyer protection policies. In this situation specifically no one is wrong. It’s a set of circumstances that no one could foresee,” said Paula Fleming of the Better Business Bureau. 

Full refund from third party website

WBZ contacted Ticketmaster, and Tickets-Center.com where the purchase occurred. After explaining the sensitive situation, Tickets-Center.com responded:

“In addition to the full refund, we would like Phyllis to keep the tickets. We want her to consider attending the concert as a tribute to her twin brother’s memory, a celebration of the bond she shared, and a step towards healing.”

Now after months of worry, countless calls and e-mails, and a trip to her credit union, Phyllis finally feels relief.

“Me not knowing there was a third party involved just made it even tougher on me. I’m just grateful I met you and WBZ did something for me,” Phyllis said happily. 

BRENTWOOD, N.H. (AP) — The man who blew the lid off decades of abuse allegations at New Hampshire’s youth detention center continued testifying at his civil trial Thursday, describing being treated for gonorrhea after being raped at age 15.

But the real turning point, he said, was the first of many assaults by a man he had grown to love as father figure.

In the seven years since David Meehan went to police, the state has set up a $100 million fund for former residents of the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester and brought criminal charges against 11 former state workers, including four accused of abusing Meehan.

But facing more than 1,100 lawsuits from former residents, the state also argues it should not be held liable for the actions of what it calls “rogue” employees.

That unusual dynamic began playing out as Meehan’s lawsuit –- the first to be filed — went to trial last week. On the witness stand for a second day Thursday, Meehan acknowledged lying on intake paperwork about having sexual experience before arriving at the facility in 1995 at age 14.

“Do you ever really just need to feel tough in any way that you can?” he asked jurors. “It was just another form of protection for my own survival.”

In reality, his first sexual experience came when a youth center staffer violently raped him under the guise of performing a strip search, he said. He later was quarantined in the infirmary for gonorrhea, he said.

“You lost your virginity to Frank Davis?” asked attorney Rus Rilee, referring to a former staffer who has pleaded not guilty to sexual assault charges.

“I’m not going to accept that in my life anymore, so no,” Meehan said. “I was raped as a little boy by somebody who should not have been in a position to have been allowed to do that.”

Over the following months, Meehan said his assigned youth counselor, Jeffrey Buskey, began grooming him, giving him soda and snacks and arranging for him to play basketball with a local high school team.

“At that point, I have a father figure. I have a man in my life I felt a relationship with,” said Meehan, wiping away tears after his lawyer asked him if Buskey, who also has pleaded not guilty, treated him like a son.

“How I imagined I could be treated, yeah,” he said. “Better than my own dad.”

But that changed in the fall of 1997, when Buskey forced him to call his girlfriend and break up with her and then forced him to perform a sexual act, Meehan said.

“I am angry sitting here trying to talk about it and trying to control these emotions,” he said. “But that’s when it starts, OK? That’s when it starts.”

Within days, other staffers also began abusing him, said Meehan, whose lawsuit alleges he was raped hundreds of times over three years. He said Buskey told him he was “his,” but if others wanted something, he should go along.

“It went from being somebody I trusted, that I thought was not just there to help me, but somebody I thought cared for me, to hurt,” he said.

The youth center, which once housed upward of 100 children but now typically serves fewer than a dozen, is named for former Gov. John H. Sununu, father of current Gov. Chris Sununu. In recent years, lawmakers have approved closing the facility and replacing it with a much smaller building in a new location.

The trial ended early for the day after Meehan broke down describing an incident in which he said Buskey forced a girl to perform a sex act to “teach” Meehan what to do.

“This is the only the beginning, and I’m doing everything I can right now to try to hold myself together because I know where this is going. I don’t want to keep having to say it out loud,” said Meehan, adding that he often struggles to feel safe.

“I’m forced to try to hold myself together somehow and show as a man everything these people did to this little boy,” he said. “I’m constantly paying for what they did.”

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Let’s face it.  New Hampshire State Troopers have a tough job and Granite-staters appreciate all they do to keep our roads safe.

When you look at the calendar worthy state police cruisers, you might notice not all the license plates are the same numbers.  In fact, these 2 and 3 digit numbers are quite a wide range.  Is this random or does it have meaning?

Read More: NH State Police Cruiser One of Best Looking in USA

This is a fun fact you can pull out at your next party, because there is a method to the plate numbers.

The plates are codes by series numbers.  The New Hampshire State Police recently posted what each number is based on, and for hundreds and hundred of people, it was an eye opener.

The comments were as interesting as the information from the post. Here’s how the plate numbers are assigned.

Troop A (Epping) – 100 series
Troop B (Bedford) – 200 series
Troop C (Keene) – 300 series
Troop D (Concord) – 400 series
Troop E (Tamworth) – 500 series
Troop F (Twin Mountain) – 600 series
Troop G (Commercial Motor Vehicle – Statewide) – 700 series

If you are wondering about the 800 Series plates, those are reserved for new troopers in their first year.  Once they get through the probationary period they move to a plate from their troop.

The 900 Series places are reserved for SIU Detectives (Special Investigations Unit), and sometimes you can see 2 digit plate numbers on the cruisers.  Those are for the upper level troopers at Headquarters, like Colonel, Major, Captain, etc., according to the post comments, below.

You learn something new every day, so if you didn’t know this bit of info, well, now you do.  Thank you NHSP for all you do.