Sean Fitzpatrick told a Middlesex Superior Court jury considering double murder charges against him that he was asleep at his home in Freedom, N.H., when Michael Zammitti Jr. and handyman Chester Roberts were found fatally shot at Allstate Concrete Pumping in Wakefield.

“I was in bed. I wasn’t in Massachusetts. I certainly didn’t do this,” he said. “I had nothing to do with these homicides. Nope. No way.”

Authorities say Fitzpatrick stole Michael Zammitti’s father’s 16-gauge shotgun and a neighbor’s truck, then drove to Wakefield and killed Zammitti in a fit of jealousy after Michelle broke off their affair. They say Roberts was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Prosecutors say he walked into work right after Fitzpatrick shot Zammitti.

Fitzpatrick, 46, admitted he sent a note to Michael Zammitti’s father after the slayings. Authorities believe the note, which said, “Close Now or Lose More Family,” was sent to make investigators believe Zammitti’s slaying was related to the family business. Fitzpatrick said he sent the note because he knew he was a suspect and he wanted the police to leave him alone.

“I did not want the Zammitti family thinking anything like that … people were saying that I did it,” he said. “I felt desperate and distraught,” he said, breaking down in tears.

Fitzpatrick also admitted he lied before the killings when he told Michelle Zammitti and several friends that he was planning to move and get back together with an old girlfriend. Fitzpatrick said he hoped the story would allay suspicions Michael Zammitti’s mother had about their affair.

During cross-examination by Assistant District Attorney Daniel Bennett, Fitzpatrick said he got caught up in the lie.

“You tell one lie and you have to tell another lie,” he said. Fitzpatrick said he and the Zammitti family became friendly as neighbors in Freedom. Both Michael Zammitti and his father had vacation homes there, while Fitzpatrick was a year-round resident of the lakeside community.

He said Michael Zammitti often worked, and he began doing outdoor activities with Michelle Zammitti and the couple’s three children. The kids got to know him so well that they called him “Uncle Sean,” he said.

In 2005, Fitzpatrick said he and Michelle Zammitti began a physical relationship. He acknowledged that she repeatedly told him she would not leave her husband. Fitzpatrick repeatedly told the jury that he and Michelle Zammitti loved each other.

“This was more an affair of the heart,” he said. “It wasn’t a sexual thing.”

[WCVB-TV report via boston.com]

Reports indicate Freedom Fire and Rescue and West Ossipee Fire and Rescue responded to the lake after a call shortly before 11:45 yesterday morning reporting a passenger riding on the back of a PWC had fallen into the water and couldn’t be located.

The missing man, who hasn’t been identified by name, was described as an adult who was wearing a life jacket. New Hampshire Marine Patrol was also called on to assist.

[Report from Magic 104 Radio, Conway)

In a six-page motion to Hillsborough District Superior Court, an attorney for the big lake property owners group has asked that environmental violator Donald Lee be slapped with civil penalties of $5,000 per month, and that a lien be placed on his property to ensure he complies with a state-ordered remediation plan that is expected to cost $850,000.

Responding to the motion, Lee said he can’t comply with the specifics of an April court order to remediate his environmental damage to Ossipee Lake because the plan will cause irreparable harm to the shoreline and home of a neighboring property owner who is not connected with the long-running case.

Lee is basing his contention on Exhibit 33C, one of hundreds of complex remediation plan documents submitted into evidence in the September 2006 Superior Court trial in which he was found guilty of intentionally altering the course of the Lovell River and ignoring repeated DES directives to cease and desist. The judge, James O’Neill, ordered Lee to remove tons of sand and debris from the lake and restore the river’s natural flow at his sole expense.

After 19 months without an approved plan in place, O’Neill in April gave Lee 60 days to obtain a permit to implement the “preferred alternative” remediation plan presented by environmental experts at the trial. Exhibit 33C is one of the documents detailing the preferred alternative plan.

Bluffs attorney Jed Callen said the preferred alternative plan requires dredging a 700 ft. by 150 ft. channel and removing 25,000 to 30,000 cubic yards of sediment. Instead, according to Callen, Lee in June applied to dredge approximately 7% of the channel area specified by the court and remove 1% of the sediment.

Callen said the court was clear that Lee was to implement a specific plan, not propose an entirely new plan. In addition to being unresponsive to the judge’s directive, Callan said Lee’s application contains “a pile” of extraneous documents, including pictures, graphics and reports, which are “not germane to the assigned task, not introduced at the trial of this case, and clearly submitted for the purpose of contradicting the findings and outcome of the trial.”

Firing back, Lee’s attorney, Finis Williams, said the court-mandated plan cannot be implemented because following Exhibit 33C will damage the property of abutting property owner James Lamm, including having to remove his house and portions of his shoreline.

Williams accused Bluffs attorney Callen of “not being candid” with the court by “submitting an improper exhibit” in the form of an incorrect version of Exhibit 33C, and by taking confusing and “totally inconsistent” positions on the meaning of the document.

“One has to wonder whether the said case is driven by the obsession of a few people who seek to take Mr. Lee’s property and turn it into their private club,” Williams wrote in his filing with the court.

Acknowledging there were errors in the original Exhibit 33C submitted to Lee, Callen said a correct document was quickly produced after the errors were discovered. He said mistakes he made in explaining the technical requirements of the plan to Williams were also quickly corrected, adding that the intent was to bring Williams up to speed because he did not represent Lee at the trial and did not hear the expert testimony.

The new legal filings are the latest turn of events in a case that is now in its 20th year without resolution despite the involvement of the N.H. Department of Environmental Services, the court system and the office of the State Attorney General.

An article detailing the background and history of the case can be found on the Ossipee Lake Alliance website at this link.

Fitzpatrick, 49, of Freedom, is on trial in Middlesex Superior Court in Massachusetts for the March 2006 slayings of Michael Zammitti Jr. and Chester Roberts in Wakefield, Mass. Soon after the shootings, Michael Zammitti Sr., who owns an Ossipee Lake vacation home near Fitzpatrick’s, filed a civil suit in Carroll County Superior Court seeking restitution for his son’s death.

A judge had already awarded $2.5 million in attachments on Fitzpatrick’s beloved lake house, when last summer an additional $120,000 was attached after being dropped into Fitzpatrick’s bank account by Taylor.
Taylor, who had it in his name as a result of a “joint venture” with Fitzpatrick, was “desirous” to do so, according to court papers.

Prosecutors say Roberts was an ill-fated bystander who died after Fitzpatrick had set out to kill Zammitti Jr. in order to have another affair with his wife. The two were found by Zammitti Sr. shot to death in the Zammitti family business, Allstate Concrete Pumping.

The case entangles local police and other area witnesses who helped prosecutors recreate Fitzpatrick’s alleged theft of a truck and haul from Freedom to Allstate Concrete, where prosecutors say he pulled the trigger and returned home to Freedom.

All five candidates previously interviewed will be considered for the job, although the obvious top two candidates are Ossipee’s Lt. Don Grow, a long-time veteran of the police department, and Kevin Smith, a highly-qualified veteran from Massachusetts who selectmen hired in a controversial vote that set off a public outcry.

Smith was hired by a 2-1 margin in a non-public session two weeks ago, only to have the offer rescinded after two selectmen took a public bludgeoning over the move last week. Grow, a Massachusetts native, toiled his entire 19-year career here and was expecting to be chief after Rick Morgan retired.

But Grow was passed over, along with Ossipee’s Sgt. James Eldridge, an 18-year veteran, in favor of the reportedly more highly credentialed Smith. Admitting the hiring had turned into a fiasco, selectmen pulled themselves from the re-interview process “In light of the political upheaval that has occurred,” said selectmen’s chairman Peter Olkkola Monday.

Instead, they set up a three-man board of Morgan, Terry Cotton and Morton Leavitt— all from different villages in the sprawling rural town. The trio will appoint the seven-person hiring panel, but are prohibited from sitting on it.

Joined in the initial decision to go with Smith by selectman Kathleen Maloney, Olkkola said the set up, approved by the town’s lawyer, would head off accusations that selectman “manipulated” the seven-member panel. The panel’s choice will be revealed to selectmen on the second Monday in September, and the board unanimously vowed to hire the winner.

At a second packed-house meeting in so many weeks, a row of police Monday stood watch in a show of unity as citizens applauded the board they had lambasted just a week earlier. Lingering feelings of bitterness and disappointment over Grow’s snub were swept over by gratitude and satisfaction over the official concession.

Monday at least effectively ended the tenure of Smith before it ever began.

“Mr. Smith is in agreement,” said Olkkola. “We all want the same thing.”

Weeks earlier, Smith leapfrogged the two longtime local police in a search that was conducted by selectmen almost entirely out of the public eye. When it was sprung on the public, the decision to hire Smith sparked an immediate negative reaction at town hall.

It also landed Smith in an uncomfortable spot, forcing him to introduce himself to droves of citizens as they were hammering the hire as “demoralizing” and reeking of impropriety.

It didn’t help to soothe raw nerves that Morgan, who spoke passionately in favor of his men, has a running feud with Olkkola. Further casting a pall of skepticism, was the revelation that Olkkola sits on the Huggins Hospital board of directors with Smith’s brother, Shawn.

“I applaud the board for taking a step back,” Morgan said Monday, proclaiming 291 had signed a petition calling for a “fair” new process.

“I said the first decision was town politics at its worst,” he said paying homage to the power of the people. “This is town politics at its best.”

Morgan has said police were “heartsick” over the Grow snub. Former state Rep. Mark McKonkey and others last week called it “cruel” to plunge an innocent Smith, the police department and the town into such a boiling morass of bad feelings, blaming Olkkola, the chairman.

But selectmen Monday were hailed by the citizenry, who endured a week-long wait for the decision allowing the panel to take a deeper look at not just Grow and Smith, but all five candidates previously interviewed.

“You’ve given a lot, I admit it,” Mike Nason said. “I appreciate it.”

Roy Barron said, “I’d like to thank the board for putting the train back in the station and restoring a lot of confidence.”

The process, to begin immediately, will include record keeping of the meetings of the hiring panels, at least some of which could be made public. The seven-member panel will be represented by three distinct areas of town, Center Ossipee, West Ossipee and Ossipee Corner. Complaints have arisen from the latter two that police aren’t doing enough to target speeders and other thoughtless lawbreakers in these outlying areas.

The panel will be filled out by a lawyer, a business person, a non-Ossipee police officer and a state trooper or county sheriff. It will come down to Smith’s top-notch resume pitted against Grow’s experience and deep respect within the community.

Olkkola and Maloney have said Smith has the most training and education and is a sure fit for the town. Even selectman Harry Merrow, who ultimately cast the lone vote for Grow, saying he wanted to preserve years of experience and police morale, said Smith looked best on paper.

Morgan has said local judges and the county prosecutor will testify that Grow is up to the task.

“It was a no brainier, we thought,” resident Joe Sargent quipped, backing Grow.

How did Grow and Eldridge handle the heady competition? No problem, Morgan said.

“There has never been an in-fight in my agency about the job,” he said.

Eldridge “fully supports” Grow, but would take the job if it was offered, leaving the town in the “extraordinarily luxurious position” of fielding two qualified in-house candidates.

Fitzpatrick is accused of murdering Michael Zammitti, Jr., 39, in his family’s concrete pumping business in Wakefield on March 13, 2006. Also killed was 54-year-old Chester Roberts, a sometime employee whom prosecutors contend was shot as a witness to Zammitti’s killing.

On the stand today, Michelle Zammitti said she and Fitzpatrick became close as her marriage to the father of her three children foundered. They talked constantly, met in New Hampshire where the Zammittis had summer homes near Fitizpatrick’s home on Ossipee Lake, eventually had a physical relationship and fell in love. The relationship evolved between 2002 and into 2006, she testified.

Michelle Zammitti testified that at one meeting toward the end of 2005, she told Fitzpatrick the only barrier to their being together was her husband, with whom she has three children.

“He wanted me to leave Michael for a couple of months…. (but) the only way that he and I would have the opportunity to be together was if something happened to Michael,” Michelle Zammitti recalled telling Fitzpatrick, who gave his lover a self-published book of poems called “inspirations of love” to memorialize his feelings.

Michelle Zammitti said she later made it clear to Fitzpatrick that their affair was over and she was returning to her husband.

The week following the shooting death of her husband, Michelle Zammitti was cooperating with law enforcement and made a two-hour telephone call to Fitzpatrick, who was unaware he was being secretly recorded.

During the conversation, played for the jury today, Michelle Zammitti pushes Fitzpatrick to explain where he was at the time of the killings, discovered around 8 a.m. Fitzpatrick said his truck was seen by a neighbor at 6:45 a.m. and that he was seen by a neighbor around 9:30 a.m. in New Hampshire.

“I was seen,” he said. “I was here.”

“Precipitation for the year through July is 35.97 inches, which is 9.57 inches above the 50-year average of 26.40 inches,” said Bunker, adding, “June was 6.78 inches, which is 2.81 inches above average, and July was 7.04 inches, which was 2.90 inches above average. That made it the second wettest July in 50 years.”

He said the precipitation total for the first five days of August was 3.33 inches. “The 49-year average total precipitation for the month of August is 3.98 inches so we are approaching that and we have not even gotten through the first week so we just might see a new record for the month.”

It’s also been a wet one on top of Mount Washington. Observer Stacey Kawecki reported this week that although May was “a little dry,” it’s been wet ever since.

“May had 3.79 inches of recorded precipitation, which was 4.75 inches below the 30-year climate average of 1970-2000. But June had 10 inches, while the average is 8.36 inches, so that was 1.64 inches over. And we recorded 12.88 inches in July compared to the average of 8.72. As of Aug. 5 (and not counting Wednesday’s totals), we had recorded 5.18 inches while the average for August is 8.08, so it is up there,” said Kawecki.

Is there any break in sight? Doesn’t seem to be, says Kawecki, who noted that a low pressure system is fixated to the north in Canada and it hasn’t budged much for the past week.

“This low doesn’t seem to want to go anywhere. When we see severe thunder storms, it is caused by air masses moving through, but what seems to be happening here is there is a lot of stagnant air. Even after a front passes through there is still that low pressure area to our north in Canada. Little waves of disturbances go through and it rains, but it’s still here,” said Kawecki Wednesday.

Weather buffs have been flocking to the Weather Discovery Center in North Conway, which features interactive exhibits and daily broadcasts from the summit crew.

“We had a broadcast today and everyone wanted to know why it was raining so much,” said Kawecki.

Subaru and the observatory are presenting a six-week summer science series Wednesdays at 7 p.m. at the discovery center through Aug. 20. For further information, call 356-2137.

The return of big birds like eagles, ospreys and peregrine falcons to the state is the result of the priority focus that has been given to the species by a coalition of agencies, including N.H. Audubon.

Mark Suomala is an experienced birder and naturalist who has worked as a field biologist for Audubon and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He has an extensive knowledge of these special creatures, and this Saturday, August 9th, he’ll share his experiences as part of Freedom Old Home Week in a special presentation called “Big Birds.”

The event is free and will be at 8 p.m. under the big tent at Freedom’s Calumet Conference Center on the shores of Ossipee Lake. If it’s rainy or cool, dress accordingly.

“Big Birds” is the latest in the Tales of Ossipee Lake series sponsored by Ossipee Lake Alliance. Directions to Calumet Conference Center are online at www.calumet.org or by phone at (603) 539-4773.

Information on Mark Suomala’s bird watching and nature tours can be found at www.marksbirdtours.com, and information on Ossipee Lake Alliance, now celebrating its fifth anniversary, is at www.ossipeelake.org.

Staff members, who watched the balloon-like lantern float over the camp at around 10 p.m., quickly extinguished the blaze and there was no damage. But Skelton said she wanted people to know about the potential danger.

“It was like a flying bomb and you cannot control where it is going to go,” she wrote in an email to Ossipee Lake Alliance.

“I just thought everyone on the lake should be aware of these, as I think people light them from their boat thinking that it is fun to watch.”

No one knows where the lantern was launched or whether it was purchased at Blue Moon, but after hearing Skelton’s story, Consoli banished the lanterns to storage.

“We bought them through our fireworks distributor and just started carrying them last month,” she told the Alliance. “Now we know they can be a problem. We’re in the woods here, and trees can catch on fire.”

Chinese Flying Lanterns, also known as Sky Lanterns, are sold in the U.S. online and in convenience stores as novelties for parties and special events. Made of paper, they’re carried aloft by hot air generated by a candle. When the flame dies out, the lantern sinks to the ground.

The problem is that lanterns can remain lit after they fall to earth. Fire chiefs in England warned about Sky Lanterns after one landed on the roof of Winchester Cathedral two years ago. The government of Malaysia prohibited their use within three miles of the country’s airports after dozens of lanterns interrupted air traffic last year, and this February the devices were banned in the Chinese city of Nanjing, capital of eastern Jiangsu province.

In most places, however, the lanterns are legal and can be purchased online and in local stores like Ted’s Discount on Route 16. Reached by phone, the owner of Ted’s said he was surprised and concerned about the Huckins incident, and said he would consider whether to remove the product from the store or make certain that buyers understand the potential dangers.

The manufacturers of the devices say the product is safe as long as common sense and good judgment are used. Instructions caution buyers to use the product only in an open area and to keep water or a fire extinguisher nearby. It also cautions against launching lanterns while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Trial for the two March 2006 murders for Fitzpatrick, who was arrested at his job in Madison, opened Monday in Middlesex (Mass.) Superior Court. Fitzpatrick, 49, was allegedly trying to re-ignite a cooled affair with Zammitti’s wife, Michelle, who prosecutors say ultimately turned him down.

Two generations of Zammittis vacationed at a family compound near Fitzgerald’s home on Ossipee Lake, a destination where he and the Zammitti family had mixed as friends for years. The fire marshal ruled arson after Fitzpatrick’s house burned in February of 2007, in direct sight of a house owned by grieving father Michael Zammitti Sr. Authorities said father and son had no dangerous enemies and were not linked to criminal activity. No suspect was named, so charges never materialized.

Captivated by the tragedy of a neighborhood love triangle and intriguing forensic evidence, including allegedly saliva pulled off the seal of envelopes allegedly licked by the killer, “Dateline NBC” will dedicate an hour to the crime yarn. Court TV is also covering the case.

It will be “Dateline’s” second recent Boston-area visit, with producers having interviewed Boston Herald reporters in an on-air spot about the arrest of recently convicted suburban wife-and-baby-killer Neil Entwistle. Camera crews and Dateline producers are expected to spend time around Freedom and the lake feeling out the community.

Before he allegedly shot Zammitti and Roberts, a longtime Zammitti employee who was hit in the back as he tried to flee, prosecutors say Fitzpatrick mailed a ripped-from-Hollywood note with letters cut out from newspapers reading: “Notice — Close now or lose more family,” according to Middlesex district attorney’s office evidence.

Prosecutors said the “threatening” message, saliva from which they linked to a “sympathy” letter sent to Michelle Zammitti, was a ruse meant to mislead authorities into believing the murder was business-related. Moreover, local police could be called to testify about an unusual spate of burglaries prosecutors say Fitzpatrick carried out to throw police off his scent.

Since the killings, the Zammittis secured a $2.5 million attachment on Fitzpatrick’s property as they pursued a wrongful death suit last year. Zammitti Sr., was the administrator of his son’s estate, the suit says. Zammitti owned Allstate Concrete Pumping.

Fitzpatrick sold property on the street to the family in 1993, and the Zammitti family has moved real estate amongst family members and a trust, county real estate records show.

The salacious court case kicked off Monday in Middlesex District Court with the selection of a jury that the district attorney’s office estimated could take two days. The Zammittis and local police are expected to testify after the trial opens later in the week. It is not known when the “Dateline NBC” piece will air.