An aerial view of Seavey Island in the Piscataqua River, home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, seen from the east in 2001. Kittery is to the right and Portsmouth is in the upper left. The Piscataqua River Bridge carrying I-95 is in the upper right. Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald file
A New Hampshire legislator has fired the latest round in an on-again, off-again border dispute between Maine and New Hampshire over the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
Republican Rep. Joseph Barton, a freshman lawmaker, is the prime sponsor of a resolution that urges Congress to find that the Piscataqua River and Portsmouth Harbor are within New Hampshire and asks President Donald Trump to designate the duty stations of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard personnel as part of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Congress would have to redraw the boundaries, but Trump can reassign the duty stations, Barton said.
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The tax status of shipyard employees is a big reason for the resolution, he said. New Hampshire does not have a state income tax, and residents of the Granite State who work at the shipyard pay Maine taxes. Shifting the borders to bring the shipyard into New Hampshire would shield New Hampshire residents from Maine income taxes.
“We won’t get more tax revenue,” Barton, who worked as an engineer at the shipyard, said in an interview Thursday. “The citizens will get more tax relief.”
Some Maine income tax revenue would disappear if the more than 3,100 New Hampshire residents who work at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard no longer have state taxes withheld. It wasn’t immediately clear how much revenue Maine would lose. A spokeswoman for the state Department of Administrative and Financial Services said taxpayer confidentiality bars disclosure of information.
Kittery Town Manager Kendra Amaral said New Hampshire would inherit traffic problems if it takes possession of the Naval Station, which has two land-based access points, both of which run through Kittery.
If New Hampshire wants the shipyard it will need to build bridges from Portsmouth to the Naval Station island, “so they can assume all of the traffic congestion and infrastructure impacts Kittery, Maine, shoulders as the host of the (shipyard),” Amaral said.
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The issue of who has jurisdiction is not new. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled on a border dispute in Maine’s favor in 2001, dismissing New Hampshire’s claim to the shipyard. The court denied a New Hampshire request to reconsider, ruling that the boundary between the states is the middle of the Piscataqua River.
More than half of the shipyard’s nearly 8,000 employees are Mainers, according to the Seacoast Shipyard Association, an advocacy organization. And 56% of the Portsmouth shipyard’s $716.2 million payroll is for Mainers and 36% is paid to New Hampshire residents. The remainder of the shipyard workers live in Massachusetts and other states.
Its total economic impact in 2023, including purchased goods and services, maintenance and military construction, was more than $1.5 billion.
Barton’s resolution says jurisdiction and control over the Piscataqua River “is and always has been entirely” within New Hampshire’s Rockingham County and “complete dominion and ownership of the tidal waters and submerged lands” of the river, including Portsmouth Harbor, are part of the state.
“This is the boundary. This is where it is,” he said.
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The resolution has been the subject of a public hearing and must be voted on by the House and Senate and signed by Gov. Kelly Ayotte. Her office did not respond to an email Thursday asking if she supports the measure.
Ed. Note: If this was you and you are interested, please email [email protected] so I can put you in touch with OP.
“Dear PoPville,
I was biking home from a doctor appointment a little before noon on Friday, and stopped at a red light on New Hampshire & L st nw. There was a woman across the street who was looking fine in her dark blue (I think they were) scrubs. I might be crazy, but it felt like we kept checking each other out. By the third time,
if we were in a romcom, one of us would have waved. Sorry I didn’t, but if you are reading this and date men, reach out to the Prince if you are interested in that man on the bike. Have a great weekend!”
Ed. Note: If this is you, please email [email protected] so I can put you in touch with OP. PoPville is not affiliated with either party, please proceed with any potential connection at your own risk using caution as you would any online encounter. For those curious about past missed connections, many have been made and when possible I’ll try to update when/if more are made.
A New Hampshire motorcyclist who had been missing since the Fourth of July was found dead in Shelburne late Thursday night.
State police say they received a request from the Berlin Police Department just after 7:30 p.m. Thursday for help locating 41-year-old Wesley Grondin — the Berlin man was last seen riding his motorcycle on Saturday, July 4, and had been reported missing.
Troopers received a call a couple of hours later, around 10:10 p.m. Thursday, from a concerned resident who had been out looking for Grondin along Route 2 in Shelburne. The person told police they had found Grondin dead, along with his Harley Davidson.
According to state police, a preliminary investigation determined that Grondin was riding his Harley on Route 2 westbound in Shelburne when, for reasons that remain under investigation, he crossed over into the opposing lane, struck a post, and came to a final rest in the wood line.
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The crash is believed to have occurred just before midnight on July 4. At this time, police say there’s no indication that another vehicle or person was involved.
All aspects of the crash remain under investigation, however. Anyone with information that may assist investigators is asked to contact Trooper Hunter Newsham at Hunter.P.Newsham@dos.nh.gov.
KEENE, N.H. — A Nashua woman who had a town clerk falsely certify a marriage that never happened so she could claim her late partner’s property has been sentenced to seven days in jail, placed on probation and ordered to repay thousands to his estate.
Attorney General John Formella said Wendy Leedberg‑Snow, 60, turned to Winchester Town Clerk Jim Tetreault after the death of her longtime partner, Eric Leedberg — who was born in Lowell — using the falsified license to pose as his spouse and lay claim to property from his estate, an effort prosecutors describe as an attempt to rewrite the couple’s history for financial gain.
“This case involved a deliberate effort to manipulate official government records and exploit the death of a loved one for personal financial gain,” Formella said in a press release announcing the sentencing. “Our vital records system depends on honesty and integrity, and those who seek to corrupt that system will be held accountable. I want to thank the investigators and prosecutors whose work ensured justice for the victim’s family.”
According to Leedberg’s obituary, he was 53 when he died on Oct. 12, 2023, following a two‑year battle with cancer.
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In the obituary, Leedberg-Snow is described as his “significant other.”
Prosecutors said Leedberg‑Snow moved quickly after his death, relying on Tetreault’s signature to fabricate a marriage that never occurred and position herself as Leedberg’s surviving spouse.
Tetreault, who was a New Hampshire justice of the peace at the time, falsely signed the marriage license claiming he had officiated the couple’s wedding. He later admitted he never performed any ceremony for Leedberg‑Snow and Leedberg and had no personal knowledge of them ever being married.
Leedberg‑Snow used the fraudulent certificate to obtain property from Leedberg’s estate, including a pickup truck and trailer, and later attempted to influence a witness connected to the scheme.
Leedberg‑Snow pleaded guilty in Cheshire County Superior Court in Keene to felony counts of solicitation to commit vital records fraud, title fraud, theft by misapplication of property and witness tampering.
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In addition to her seven‑day jail term, she must serve two years of probation, pay $4,600 in restitution, return the truck and trailer to Leedberg’s estate and comply with a suspended three‑and‑a‑half‑ to seven‑year prison sentence, which means the sentence only takes effect if she violates the conditions of her probation.
Tetreault, who continues to serve as Winchester’s town clerk and “fully cooperated with the State’s investigation,” according to prosecutors, pleaded guilty in April to notarial misconduct, a Class A misdemeanor. As part of a negotiated plea, prosecutors dropped a felony charge of vital records fraud. He was sentenced to 90 days in the house of corrections, all suspended for two years on good behavior, and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine plus a $240 penalty assessment.
He resigned his commissions as a justice of the peace and bail commissioner and agreed not to seek recommissioning as a justice of the peace or notary public during the two‑year suspension period.
Tetreault could not be reached for comment at his office number.
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