Jason Moon
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Free meals applied as a discount on first box.
It's March 2016, three years before Ben Pierce chased his water delivery driver down the street.
And we're one town over from where Ben's family lives, in Merrimack.
Merrimack is like a lot of other places in southern New Hampshire.
There are industrial buildings fanning out from the center of town, and a main drag with a park, a library, a few places where you can get steak for dinner.
On this night, tons of people are filing into a school gym, filling up the chairs that have been set up on a basketball court.
They had just announced that something had been detected in Merrimack's drinking water.
A chemical called PFOA, perfluorooctanoic acid.
They knew people would have questions.
I didn't even live in New Hampshire in 2016.
But I've been watching the aftermath of this night unfold since I started working as a reporter here.
There's a recording of the night on YouTube.
The room has the atmosphere of a town meeting.
It's an annual tradition in New Hampshire.
Town meetings can be kind of sleepy.
A couple dozen dedicated citizens showing up to vote on how much to spend on the sewer system or whether to cut down and sell trees from a town-owned forest.
But on this night, the room is absolutely packed.