The First Rough Draft of History
Local news in the AI era
Last fall, Harvard’s Institute of Politics hosted an off-the-record Q&A with a seasoned CBS reporter famous for interviews with multiple presidents, heads of state, CEOs, crime figures, and spies, held in war zones and palaces. Students asked how the reporter practiced “self care” after interviewing people she disagreed with.
Not a single student asked about research, about hours spent devouring background materials for every hour of interview time, about preparation generally. No questions about professional craft. I was sitting next to a Crimson reporter who had hoped to ask something more substantial. She said to me later that focus on emotional labor was common.
Too many young people (except for student reporters) do not know the work that goes into writing the first rough draft of history. Years ago, I was a reporter for my hometown newspaper, a researcher and writer for multiple TV stations, and a research intern for ABC News, London, covering the March 1985 arms control talks in Geneva. I learned more about the importance of researching thoroughly, digging for details, and meeting deadlines in these jobs than I did in college.
Today, besides reading my local paper, I read student newspapers from the Crimson to the JHU News-Letter to Utah’s Daily Chronicle, where reporters are daily demonstrating the skills critical for future success: practicing habits of inquiry, digging in the archives, cold calling sources, double checking everything, learning to write clearly, swiftly, and accurately.
And yet educators favor teaching the passive skill of ‘media literacy’ over the active craft of reporting. At last count, some 18 states have some sort of required “media literacy” program either in K-12 or college. The idea is that teaching students about “bias” and “positionality”will help them be better citizens in a pluralistic society. Millions of dollars are poured in media literacy programs annually. Of course teens want them: believing everyone is biased and sitting around pointing out that bias is easy.
Do you know what group is the most media savvy? Reporters who have gone out into the community to report stories and have had those stories edited and published. College newspapers are full of carefully reported local news stories, many rough first drafts of history.
Legislators investing in Civics education ought to see student journalism as civics as well. With the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it is critical to consider the role of the press in making the case for a new nation. Newspapers were essential to the circulation of the Federalist Papers. Legislators ought to invest in student journalism more than “expressing viewpoints.”
Perhaps most importantly, students are increasingly getting their information from AI sources, which are wildly, infamously incomplete. I know this first hand. None of the stories I filed are there.
For a half a year after college I covered regional news for the Nashua Telegraph in southern New Hampshire, writing about zoning, taxes, computer purchases, salaries, energy and sewage controversies, and a visit to a local church by a controversial anti-Catholic pastor. My job was to figure out who was in the room, what they were arguing about, what power they held, and what might happen next. The work was outward-facing: listen carefully, reconstruct accurately, check claims, situate the dispute in law, policy, and history.
The stories I filed had nothing to do with “my” opinion or “my” viewpoint. They were about the community and their opinions, expressed in often contentious town meetings over AC power lines, nuclear power, and limiting growth that fill in key details about the state today. They’re a record of longstanding forms and techniques of self-government successfully managing conflict. But none of this record is online, none shows up in LLM search results. Students looking for “bias” won’t even find the stories to critique them.
The loss of local news is a national crisis, with a few initiatives responding productively. (I’ll give a shout to here to the excellent reporting being done by the Minnesota Star Tribune.) Most small town newspapers are not digitized and never will be; the hope is that at least physical or microfilm archives are being preserved. And so the rough first drafts of history, the names and dates and events and debates and decisions made across the country are becoming even more inconsequential with every AI query.
I’m documenting here some of my work from 1985, including some interesting reporting on power lines and on the late Ian Paisley’s visit to New Hampshire in September 1985, which I write about in much more detail in The Fitzwilliam. The Paisley story is virtually unknown because it failed, and it failed because Paisley’s supporters had no real understanding of what healthy religious pluralism looks like in practice. Paisley and his supporters were hoping to stir up dissent in one small town but a hoped-for explosion never happened. The state’s “live and let live” ethos was just as important as its “live free or die” motto, at least back then.
The story of Londonderry’s cold reception of a religious rabble-rouser matters now in a climate of increasing religious hostility and a need for the kind of pluralism that has largely worked in towns across New England for decades. It also matters now as those pushing a controversial category called “heritage Americans” argue that citizenship is linked to heritage. This was certainly not the view of the towns I covered in the mid 1980s. Pluralism was performed daily. Town leaders allowed the private platforming of an unpleasant speaker, maintained order, and billed the hosts for the costs of keeping the peace. All that is left of the story are my crumbling clippings. None of the LLMs (even the pro models) I queried knew anything about it.
It is dismaying to grasp how little AI “knows” about small town life. Because I used to read the local papers in the 1970s and 1980s, I know there was robust coverage of immigration and poverty and the grim aspects of rural New Hampshire life, including the early signs of the opioid crisis, which by 2016 had made New Hampshire's fentanyl overdose rate three times the national average. But almost none of this is online, except through pricy archives that generally only work when you know keywords of what you’re looking for. If you don’t know an event happened you don’t know to look for it. The first rough drafts are slowly fading from view.
The history of small-town decision-making may not matter in the global scheme of things, but local knowledge and local history matter. Pluralism as I came to understand it in the course of my reporting, was a set of habits that do not need a label when they are simply practiced. The people I interviewed had learned to live alongside neighbors whose beliefs they did not share and sometimes did not respect. They disagreed about religion, sewage, zoning, and planning. These habits were built over generations. In these small New Hampshire towns, people understood how to be neighbors, with fences.
Habits of coexistence can better survive the current moment of deliberate polarization if records of the history of coexistence are digitized and brought into the archive of what is currently known. If they are not, the only history future leaders and their AI tools will be able to reference is the history of current dysfunction, amply documented on the internet. Universities can play a role in digitizing and archiving, of course, as well as play a role in graduating more journalists than critics.
Transcripts below
Aug. 7, 1985 Londonderry Presbyterian marks 250th year
Aug. 10, 1985 Planners seek support to slow growth
Aug 20, 1985 New sewage rules aimed at removing harmful materials
Sept. 12, 1985 Controversial minister in town only ‘to preach the Gospel’
Sept. 12, 1985 Paisley’s Londonderry Visit ‘an insult’
Sept. 13, 1985 Paisley talks in need of a new site
Sept. 20, 1985 Minister hopes Paisley Visit will be trouble-free
Sept. 23, 1985 “They have shaken hands with the devil”
Sept. 23, 1985 Officials walk the yellow line
Sept. 24, 1985 Paisley fires own charges. Explains stand in interview
Sept. 24, 1985 Dozens protest second Paisley service
Sept 25, 1985 He brought trouble, God’s word
Sept. 27 1985 Paisley’s gone, but Londonderry won’t soon forget
Oct. 1, 1985 Londonderry bills church that invited Paisley
Oct. 18, 1985 Church won’t pay police bill
Oct. 18, 1985 ‘Cheap electricity is great, but…’
Londonderry Presbyterian marks 250th year
August 7, 1985
LONDONDERRY — Those who pass the stark white church on Mammoth Road may not realize that it is home to a congregation that was worshipping in this area before Webster’s dictionary was written, before George Washington was in short pants, before Handel had even thought of writing his famous “Messiah.”
But the Londonderry Presbyterian Church is now celebrating its 250th year and invites all area families, churchgoers and historians to participate join in the celebration from Friday, Sept. 20, to Sunday, Sept. 29. Ruth Williamson, coordinator of the celebration, emphasizes that the events and activities are for the family and the community.
Of course, the building now known as the Londonderry Presbyterian Church is not the first place of worship for the parish; it was built in 1837, more than a century after the church was founded in what was then called Nutfield.
“That’s what Derry and this area was called back in 1735,” elucidates Mrs. Williamson. “The congregation worshiped there until the old church was built on the corner of Pillsbury and Hardy Roads in Londonderry.” The old church has since been demolished.
Though most of the 250th anniversary events are being held in the fall, the church will begin its celebration by floating down Mammoth Road in replica form in the Londonderry Olde Home Days parade on Saturday, August 18; being involved in Saturday’s festivities on the Town Common; and participating in the ecumenical service on Sunday morning, also on the Common.
The replica was built by Fred Lee and was last seen floating in the Bicentennial Parade in Londonderry in 1976.
On Friday, Sept 20, the official semiquintenary celebration will begin with an evening communion service at 7 in the church, A community hymn sing will take place on the Town Common the following day at 3 pm followed by a chicken barbecue and the installation of a time capsule, among other activities.
On Sunday, Sept. 22, the usual church services will take place, and a combined choir will sing at a 1735-style service at 4 p.m. A “high tea” will follow the service.
At 7 pm on Friday, Sept 27, the Junior Choir will sing in a musical program, followed by entertainment in the parish hall with the Barbara Mullen Dancers and an Olde-Fashioned Ice Cream Social.
Saturday, Sept. 28 will see an afternoon hay ride, and a 1735-style dinner in the church hall. Entertainment will include the Granite State Cloggers and Scottish Dancers.
On Sunday morning, Sept. 29, church services will be held, and in the afternoon, a replica 1735 church service will take place, with guest speakers, costumes, banners, trumpeters and the burning of the parish hall mortgage.
Planners seek support to slow growth
August 10, 1985
LONDONDERRY — The Planning Board, in executive session Wednesday night, decided to go forward and hold a number of public hearings in the hope of gaining support to implement an interim measure to regulate the town’s growth.
This interim growth control measure would take the place of a growth control ordinance, which was ruled “illegal and therefore unenforceable” by the Rockingham Superior Court.
In the court’s decision on July 31, Judge Douglas Gray struck down the building permit limit on single-family houses, which had been stirring up controversy in the town. The decision was a result of a lawsuit brought against the town by John Tokanel of Tokie Enterprises, who was denied a building permit under the ordinance.
The Planning Board set the first informational meeting for 7:30 on Aug. 19. Town Administrator David Wright said the result of the meeting could be “a moratorium on permits, the decision to enact an interim measure, or nothing at all.” Questions will be answered by the Planning Board, the town administrator and other town officials.
Discussion of the ruling was on the Board of Selectmen’s Monday night agenda, and Wright had hinted the board might, in executive session, decide to appeal the ruling. The board took no action but will, however, be supporting the Planning Board in discussing an interim growth control measure.
The ordinance in question had been passed in a special Town Meeting in June 1978 and limits building permits to 200 in any calendar year. Although included in the ordinance were several circumstances under which permits could be issued without the general restriction or with specific separate restrictions, none applied to Tokie Enterprises.
In Gray’s ruling, he noted the town’s present master plan was adopted in February 1979, six months after the growth control ordinance took effect. He cited previous rulings where the courts have held that while growth control ordinances can be valid as part of a “temporary emergency measure to allow the town time to develop a master plan for phasing in growth,... growth control ordinances are intended to regulate and control the timing of development, not the prevention of development.”
He said that, in this case, the growth control ordinance bore no relationship to any recommendations to the master plan as it had been adopted six months previously, and “makes no attempt to deal with growth control with a view toward timing of growth or relaxation of such control.”
Because the ordinance deals with an “arbitrary” number of 200, which has neither been reviewed nor amended since its enactment, “it results in a more restrictive growth rate each year” as a percentage of allowable growth over the previous year, he said.
It was for these reasons the ordinance was found illegal and unenforceable, and according to Wright, no one was really surprised. The Southern New Hampshire Homebuilders’ Association, which supported Tokanel in his suit, had warned last year it would take action after the 200 single-family house limit had been reached for the first time. The limit this year was reached in May.
The Tokie Enterprises suit had originally been brought as a class action petition, but request for class certification was waived by agreement of counsel, and the matter was handled as a singular action with a sole plaintiff. The decision came within hours of the hearing.
New sewage rules aimed at removing harmful materials
August 20, 1985
LONDONDERRY — To meet with Environmental Protection Agency regulations, the town Sewer Commission will be implementing a program to regulate the discharge of non-domestic sewage into the town’s sewer system. Londonderry’s sewer system will be connected to the Manchester Public Owned Treatment Plant (POTW), and in accordance with federal requirements, the town must take action to ensure against the discharge of harmful effluents.
The purpose of the program is to protect the Manchester treatment plant from hazardous waste, from waste which will corrode or otherwise do damage to the sewer system and from waste which may cause an environmental or health threat.
Hoyle Tanner & Associates has been given the contract to engineer and implement the program. Representatives from the firm, along with representatives from the state of New Hampshire and the Sewer Commission, held a hearing last week to discuss the program. They went over the limitations and answered questions about what the requirements will be.
Basically, implementation of the program means that any user discharging non-domestic waste must apply for a discharge permit, and disclose the specific type of effluent entering the municipal sewer system. If the material does not meet the guidelines set forward by the program, the users will be required to either build a pre-treatment facility, or cease discharging the harmful waste.
According to Sewer Commissioner Bill Merrill, “Our requirements must be as stringent as the EPA’s requirements, but they can be even more stringent.” He added that “We want to work with the users, not against them, and we’re going to try to be as helpful as possible.”
There will be a number of deadlines for complying with the program once it is implemented. Sixty days after the ordinances are accepted, a user must apply for the discharge permit; 120 days later, the user must be in compliance with the limitations of the program. Commissioner John Michaels said that a date for compliance might be 180 days after Oct. 1, a rough estimate of the date the program will go into effect.
Hoyle Tanner representative Michael Trainque outlined the six components of the program, which include: doing a survey to identify and evaluate non-domestic use; establishing the legal authority to enforce the limits; setting legal limits; compliance monitoring; establishing administrative procedure; and getting the resources to keep the program in place.
Trainque handed out a copy of the national pre-treatment standards, which listed prohibited discharges. They include: pollutants which create a fire or explosion hazard; solid or viscous pollutants which cause obstruction; heat in amounts which inhibit biological activity; and any other pollutants which cause interference with the POTW. The program also limits pollutants which cause corrosive or structural damage, or which have a pH lower than 5.
Merrill has noted that most of the relatively few users who may be affected by the program are within the limits of the program. The Sewer Commission will have the power to shut off sewer service to those not complying with the program.
Controversial minister in town only ‘to preach the Gospel’
September 1985
LONDONDERRY — Ian Paisley — member of Parliament, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland and Presbyterian minister — will be speaking in Londonderry this month. The controversial fundamentalist is on a restricted visa and will not be allowed to make any political statements or answer questions about politics in Northern Ireland. He is here, according to the Rev. David Brame of Manchester, “to preach the Gospel.”
Brame is the minister of Londonderry’s new Free Presbyterian Church of Northern Ireland. The Free Presbyterian Church was founded in Northern Ireland in 1951, with Paisley playing a large role. According to Brame, the church was founded because Presbyterians in Northern Ireland found their denominations were “no longer taking a firm stand on the inspiration and authority of the Scriptures.”
Paisley will be speaking at the Highlander Inn in Manchester Sept. 22-25 at 7:30 p.m. He will be drawing on his 40 years of experience as an evangelist to raise enthusiasm for the Free Presbyterian Church. There are currently 60 such churches in Northern Ireland, three in Canada and five in the United States. “The Marty’s Memorial Church in Belfast,” says Brame, speaking of Paisley’s own church, “has an average attendance of about 1,500-2,000 people.”
Londonderry resident Henry Paul felt there was a need for a fundamentalist church in this area and contacted the Greenville Free Presbyterian Church in North Carolina. The church sent Brame up to begin holding services and gathering support for the church.
“In three weeks of services we’ve had an average attendance of about 40,” Brame says. “That would indicate there is a need for this church in the area.”
Brame admits that Paisley is a controversial figure and that it is difficult to separate the political man from the religious man. “Dr. Paisley’s political involvement is with the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland — that is a completely distinct thing from the Free Presbyterian Church,” Brame says. “They are not mixed, but very often that issue is clouded in this country.”
Brame agrees that the Free Presbyterian Church’s stand is one that draws a lot of fire. “Yes, I know Dr. Paisley is often referred to as someone who preaches hate,” the Londonderry minister says. “But Christ’s ministry had both the positive and the negative, because if you’re going to stand for truth, everything that is opposed to that truth, and is indeed falsehood, must be brought to light.
“People accuse us of being unloving because we do not, like some people say, ‘let people go their own way,’ and ‘let people believe what they want to,’” Brame adds. “‘Religion is a private matter, don’t bother them,’ they say. But if I firmly believe they are in error, and that that error is going to lead them to hell, then the only way I can really express love for them is to point that out to them.
“If you go by someone’s house, and see them sitting comfortably in their living room, and yet you notice the top corner of the house is beginning to burn, you don’t say, ‘well, that’s their private concern.’ You go and do whatever you have to — you bust the door down, you break the windows in order to get in there and warn them. Well that’s the way I view it — they are in danger of hellfire, and therefore the most loving thing I can do is to try and alert them to the danger.”
The dangers Brame refers to are the doctrines that preach “salvation by works” and doctrines that don’t believe in the “person of Jesus Christ.”
“The byword of most of the cults, including Roman Catholicism, is that you can work your way to heaven by doing a certain number of works and thus ‘earning merit’ with God, when the Scriptures plainly show otherwise,” says Brame. “We preach salvation by faith alone.”
Paisley’s Londonderry visit ‘an insult’
September 12 1985
LONDONDERRY — “Paisley speaking here is an insult to the people of Londonderry,” says Roland Westerveldt, pastor of the Londonderry Presbyterian Church. “I’m sorry to see this happening.”
With as controversial a figure as Ian Paisley trying to raise support for an ultra-orthodox church like the Free Presbyterian Church of Northern Ireland during the same week the Londonderry Presbyterian Church is celebrating its 250th anniversary, a certain amount of resentment can be expected.
“What they say they’re trying to do in this community is already being done,” Westerveldt continued. “We have four fundamentalist churches in this community, and the Free Presbyterian Church coming here is redundant. We have two Baptist churches, a Fundamentalist Christian Church and the independent Trinity Bible Church, which stress the fundamentalist approach. And in this community, we try to build bridges between religions, not throw criticism.”
Westerveldt also says the Londonderry Presbyterian Church is “Presbyterian in the best sense of the word. The Christian Gospel is a positive message; it is not calling names and pointing out errors.”
Westerveldt says he has known Henry Paul, who prompted the Free Presbyterian Church coming to Londonderry, for 14 years. “He has said that there is a need for this church, but I don’t think there will be any loss of members from our church.
“Paisley’s speaking here during our 250th celebration is probably a coincidence,” admits Westerveldt, “but if it wasn’t, I would resent it.” Westerveldt said he didn’t think Paisley’s presence in town would affect the mood of the celebration, and he hasn’t decided whether he’ll speak out from the pulpit against the Northern Ireland minister.
“I may read something about our work in Northern Ireland. We support a retreat center, Cory Meela [sic], in Northern Ireland, where Roman Catholics and Protestants work and talk together about solving problems. We try to work together, not preach hate.”
Paisley talks in need of new site
September 13, 1983
MANCHESTER — The Highlander Inn and Resort suddenly and without explanation has canceled reservations for a series of religious conferences later this month by the Rev. Ian Paisley, leader of the Free Presbyterian Church of Northern Ireland.
According to the Rev. David Brame, who is handling arrangements for Paisley’s visit, the hotel sent a brief message via Western Union that it would not accommodate the Paisley conferences.
Brame said he did not know where the conferences will now be held.
He said he was shocked by the message and the medium. “I can’t believe it — they already accepted our check,” he said. “And it’s only 10 days’ notice.”
The controversial Northern Irish minister, who is also a member of British Parliament and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, was scheduled to hold a series of four conferences at the Highlander Inn from Sept. 22 to 25. Paisley is on a restricted visa and will not be allowed to answer any questions of a political nature. According to Brame, the purpose of the visit is to raise awareness of the Free Presbyterian Church, which is being established in Londonderry; gain support for the denomination; and preach the Gospel.
The manager of the Highlander Inn could not be reached for comment.
On Wednesday, the Catholic Diocese of Manchester issued a statement concerning Paisley’s visit to New Hampshire. The Rev. Frances J. Christian, the chancellor of the diocese, said, “It is our fervent prayer that Ian Paisley’s presence in New Hampshire, and the foundation of a community which subscribes to his misguided religious principles, will have no lasting negative impact upon the citizens of our state.”
Minister hopes Paisley visit will be trouble-free
September 20, 1985
LONDONDERRY — “We’ve been fortunate so far,” said the Rev. David Brame during Sunday’s church services. “Let’s pray things continue to go smoothly.”
Members of Londonderry’s newest church, the Free Presbyterian Church of Northern Ireland, hope that the Rev. Ian Paisley’s four-day visit to this area does not spark any trouble. Paisley is arriving tomorrow to conduct a series of four religious conferences in Londonderry Sunday through Wednesday.
Alan Cairns of the Free Presbyterian Church in Greenville, S.C., arriving in Londonderry tonight, will coordinate with Brame to help ensure the smoothness of Paisley’s visit. Because of Paisley’s anti-Roman Catholic views, church members have been wary of Londonderry’s proximity to largely Catholic South Boston and any protests the visit might cause.
FBI spokesman John J. Cloherty said nothing had come to the bureau’s attention about any problems stemming from Paisley’s visit. Paisley’s recent trips to South Carolina have been trouble-free, but he has not always been considered a welcome visitor to the United States. In 1981 he was denied a visa to make a fund-raising tour of this country, though he was allowed to enter the United States in 1982 to attend the funeral of a close friend. The State Department refused his first request for a visa in March 1983, saying “it was considered contrary to the public interest,” but granted a temporary visa later that summer so that Paisley could attend the World Congress of Fundamentalists in South Carolina.
According to a State Department spokesman, the minister’s visa has been an issue because of concerns with “Dr. Paisley’s record of violent rhetoric and inflammatory actions.” In 1983, the State Department said, “We considered his rhetoric and actions were contrary to the public interest in achieving a peaceful settlement to the problems of Northern Ireland.”
Paisley was allowed to visit Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., from July 29-Aug. 9 in 1983, but he was not allowed to go elsewhere in the country, speak on political matters or make fund-raising appeals on behalf of his political backers. At that time, a government spokesman said, “We’re satisfied the purposes for which we granted the visa are the purposes for which it will be used.”
Bob Jones, chancellor of the fundamentalist institution, called the earlier denial “nothing but Catholic bigotry.”
Since the 1983 denial, Paisley has not been denied a visa but has been bound to the restriction that he not make any political statements or answer questions of a political nature. He spent a week in Greenville, S.C., last October and visited again in April and May. Being careful to avoid controversy, Brame, the minister of the newest of Paisley’s churches in Londonderry, said there has never been a problem with Paisley visiting Greenville.
“They have shaken hands with the devil”
Monday, September 23, 1985
Londonderry – Nearly 100 protesters chanted, sang, decried and swore outside the “old-time Gospel tent” on Litchfield Road where fundamentalist Ian Paisley preached the first of his four scheduled religious services.
The protesters, some of whom traveled from Boston, New York and Canada to voice opposition to Paisley’s religious and political beliefs, were kept apart from those in the tent by half of the Londonderry police force, who maintained a strong presence throughout the evening.
Carrying placards and waving flags, the crowd, many calling themselves supporters of the outlawed Irish Republican Army, harassed those who came to hear Paisley speak, broadcasting their hostility through bullhorns before and during the one-hour service.
The largely Catholic and Marxist IRA is seeking to unite predominantly Protestant Northern Ireland with the Irish Republic to the south under a socialist government.
Most of the protests condemned Paisley’s political and religious activities in Northern Ireland, though many protesters were also damning the U.S. government’s decision to grant a visa for the controversial minister and castigating the town of Londonderry for allowing Paisley to preach here.
“There is a terrorist among you!” cried one protester. “Next you’ll be inviting Hitler and then Idi Amin to speak here!”
“Ian Paisley is the greatest bigot in the world,” said Nashua resident Mike Conway.
“He spews hatred and is responsible for the continuing bloodshed in Northern Ireland,” said Conway, a native of Limerick, Ireland.
Paula Cunningham, who was raised in Belfast, shook with rage as she spoke of her loathing of Paisley. “Every Irishman and Irish-American disagrees with Ian Paisley and disapproves of America granting a visa to him. They have shaken hands with the devil.”
On the opposite side of the street from the protesters, a Canadian pastor from the Bible Baptist Church in Nashua expressed disgust for the many pro-IRA sentiments. “I preach the same gospel. I’ve been beaten, burned and sent to prison for preaching the same gospel as Ian Paisley,” the pastor said. “These people don’t know the truth.”
Officials walk the yellow line
September 23, 1985
Londonderry – Town officials walked the yellow line on Litchfield Road between protesters and worshippers last night during services conducted on the property of Henry Paul by the Rev. Ian Paisley.
“And that about tells our color,” quipped Selectman Norman Russell, who, like other town officials, had “no comment” about most of Paisley’s or the protesters’ views.
“The U.S. government gave him the visa,” said Town Administrator David Wright, discounting the protesters’ claim that Londonderry was responsible for Paisley’s presence. “The town had nothing to do with his visit here.” He added that the town had nothing to do with the protesters’ visit either.
“This is what democracy is all about,” said Russell, saying the protesters have a right to protest and Paisley has a right to preach.
“True,” agree Wright. “But it’s going to result in a lot of excessive expense.” He cited the cost of the extra police on duty and the other safety precautions.
Police Lt. Kenneth Lynch expressed concern that the protests would continue for the next three days of the scheduled services.
Paisley fires own charges: Explains stand in interview
Tuesday, September 24, 1985
Londonderry – The Rev. Ian Paisley laughs at protesters who accuse him of fascism.
“Fascism is the child of Roman Catholicism,” he said. “Hitler and Mussolini were both devout sons of the Roman Catholic Church.”
The fiery Northern Ireland pastor and political leader also criticized those who are protesting his series of sermons here, and rapped the World Council of Churches as “shot through with Marxism.”
Paisley spoke in an interview at the home of attorney Henry Paul after the second of four services being held this week on Paul’s property.
In the relaxed atmosphere of Paul’s home, Paisley spoke freely about his religious and political positions. He cannot do that publicly under the restrictions of his visa, which prohibit him from making public statements of a political nature.
Also present at the interview were the Rev. David Brame and the Rev. Alan Cairns of the Free Presbyterian Church of Northern Ireland, Mrs. Brame and family friends of Henry Paul.
“I am a Christian first and a politician second,” Paisley said. “My primary objective is to preach the Gospel. That is my mandate. My aim is to offer Jesus Christ to all men and ask them to turn to him.”
Paisley said the Free Presbyterian Church of Northern Ireland was founded because the Irish Presbyterian Church and other once-fundamental churches were becoming too “liberal.” He said that his objective as a minister of the Free Presbyterian Church, as a Member of the British Parliament for the European Economic Commission is to stop the spread of liberalism and the weakening of Reformation principles, and to speak out against the Roman Catholic Church.
“I voice my opposition, like Daniel,” said Paisley of his purpose in sitting in the EEC Parliament, where he says the majority of members hold views contrary to his own, and many ignore the Reformation as part of Europe’s history.
“I know lots of people don’t like me,” he said of his leadership role in Ulster as a member of Parliament. But I received the largest vote – a quarter of a million people voted for me – the largest vote ever recorded for a British politician living or dead.”
Paisley said he has an obligation to represent the wishes of his constituency in the British Parliament, in the EEC and in the Northern Ireland Assembly. But he brushed aside the issue of some protesters’ accusations that he does not represent the Catholics in his constituency.
They know the mandate when they vote, said Cairns, who said he can speak more freely about Northern Ireland politics than Paisley can. Cairns said Paisley’s position on political and religious matters is clearly stated when he runs for office, and many Catholics have voted for him.
Paisley said he draws a lot of criticism for his views, and takes many unpopular stands. “I’m anti-liquor and against the liquor shops,” he said as an example. “I believe the consumption of intoxicating liquor destroys men’s homes, their families and their minds. Drink is a curse.”
Paisley spoke of being imprisoned by Northern Ireland Prime Minister Terrence O’Neill for protesting the general assembly of the Irish Presbyterian Church. He said he had been protesting a series of pro-ecumenical, pro-Catholic resolutions being put before the assembly.
It was as a result of being put in prison that he got into politics and won the seat in Parliament that once had belonged to O’Neill, he said.
Paisley also spoke of the Free Presbyterian church’s disassociation with the World Council of Churches. He said the church had pulled out of that organization and the International Commission because the groups are part of a trend toward liberalism and away from the teachings of the Reformation.
“The World Council of Churches is a platform for liberalism,” he said. He spoke of a Canadian totem pole the council had placed outside the Unity Church in Geneva, and said that the Free Presbyterians will have no relationship with heathen representations.
Paisley contended that the expressed aim of the World Council of Churches is to reverse the Reformation.
Paisley said that the liberalized Protestant churches are falling prey to the Roman Catholic Church. He said the Church of Rome is losing out very rapidly in many areas of the world, but is more powerful in Presbyterian areas where the teachings of the Reformation are weakening.
“The Roman Catholic Church here (in the United States) is powerful because the ecumenical pastor is willing to do everything the priests tell him to do,” Paisley said.
He asserted that many representatives of the World Council of Churches are Catholics from behind the Iron Curtain, and said the council is “shot through with Marxism.”
Paisley laughed at the accusation by the two men arrested at Sunday’s meeting that he was a fascist, and at that point linked fascism and the Catholic Church.
After mention of the two protesters, Paisley asked Paul whether they could go to the Police Department and ask that charges not be pressed. “They did it in ignorance,” said Paisley.
“Civil and religious liberty is basic to the Presbyterian church,” he said. “We have never protested a group of Roman Catholics or a group of atheists, but we will protest a group of Roman Catholics in a Protestant church.
We will protest against evil where the honor of Christ is at stake.”
Both Paisley and Cairns charged that the group that protested Paisley’s religious services Sunday and Monday nights was violating the civil liberties of those who came to hear “the word of the Lord.”
“We would support their right to protest,” said Cairns, “But there’s got to be something sick about people who would try to stop people from hearing the gospel.”
“They have no right to interrupt a religious service,” said Paisley.
Paisley suggested moving the tent farther away from the road on Paul’s property, outside of earshot of the protesters, but Brame said it would cost about $600 to make the move.
Paisley said he has the money and the tent will be moved. He said that, at the point in the service where he asked the people to accept Jesus Christ as their savior, it is crucial that the noise of the protesters not detract. He said the $600 will be well spent to move the tent.
Paisley, Paul and Cairns discussed the fact that no Roman Catholics had come out and protested the protester, most of whom they said appear to be supporters of the Irish Republican Army.
“They should condemn them,” said Paisley.
“By their silence, they have supported the IRA,” said Cairns.
Paul said none of his neighbors had protested Paisley’s presence.
“They should not be here disturbing the peace,” said Paisley of the protesters, adding that, if Londonderry residents are not unhappy, there shouldn’t be protests. “You have brought a murderer to Londonderry,” cried Paisley to Paul, mimicking the cries of the protesters and teasing his hosts.
“That pastor who denounced me,” said Paisley. “If he was an honest man, he would have denounced the protesters for disrupting a church service.” Paisley was referring to the Rev. Rowland Westervelt of the Londonderry Presbyterian Church, who called Paisley’s visit an insult to the people of Londonderry.
Cairns said Paisley ignores and treats with contempt any member of the IRA. He said he would never share a platform with an IRA supporter, or do a radio broadcast with one. He said that, although the protesters call Paisley a murderer, the IRA members are really the murderers.
Cairns also said that more than two-thirds of the murders in Northern Ireland are Protestants killed by the IRA.
“Our preaching the gospel doesn’t disturb their peace,” said Paisley, referring to the protesters. “I am only here to offer Jesus Christ to all men, and nothing will stop me from preaching the gospel.”
Dozen protest second Paisley service
Tuesday, September 24, 1985
Londonderry – About a dozen protesters showed up last night to voice opposition to the second of Ian Paisley’s four scheduled religious services.
The protesters, armed with an accordion, a drum and a tambourine and many loud voices, kept up the chants of “Paisley out, peace in!” during most of the service, but seemed disillusioned as their ranks diminished and the crowd inside the tent grew.
Francis Curran of Methuen said it was important they show opposition to Paisley. Another Methuen man said, “We think he’s raising money for the Ulster volunteer force.”
One said he felt like “The Salvation Army Band” because of their small numbers, made to appear smaller by the ranks of the Londonderry Police Department and a battery of reporters present.
“We had to get 50 more chairs for tonight,” said the Rev. David Brame, inside the tent, as he welcomed the crowd of nearly 200.
With trumpeter Mike Schock, the English Handbell choir from West Swanzey, and a duet of tenors from the Dublin Christian academy, the music inside the tent overpowered the singing outside.
Following a number of hymns and a talk by Dr. Bill Woods, a missionary from Brazil, who spoke about meeting Ian Paisley 25 years ago, Paisley rose to speak.
He said another Protestant had been killed last night, shot dead by a member of the Irish Republican Army. He also said 18 churches had been bombed, burned and destroyed this year by the IRA, and added, “That same spirit is outside this tent.”
Paisley spoke for nearly an hour, calling on Jesus Christ to “Dispel the power of the enemy.” He spoke of the Lamb of God, and said “All have sinned and came short of the glory of God.” Paisley also condemned those who take part in religious rituals, and said God calls the rituals “filthy rags.”
“God is not a rag merchant,” he boomed.
“You don’t get to heaven by paying silver and gold to any priest,” he continued, and challenged that today’s religion is “Subjective instead of objective.”
“If you look inward, you’ll be miserable. If you look around, you’ll be more miserable,” he said, with a glance toward the protesters, which caused the crowd inside to chuckle. “You have to look to Jesus,” he intoned.
The service ended with Paisley calling up to the front of the tent those who had accepted Jesus Christ, in what he later called “A breath of old fashioned revival meetings.”
He brought trouble, God’s word
Weds, September 25, 1985
Londonderry – “He may have brought trouble to Londonderry, but he also brought the word of God,” beamed the Rev. David Brame last night, introducing the Rev. Ian Paisley to preach his last scheduled service here
The Londonderry Baptist Church on Mammoth Road was the site of the fourth and final religious service of the Free Presbyterian Church of Northern Ireland to be led by the controversial minister.
The Rev. George Souza, pastor of the Baptist church, offered the use of the facilities to Paisley Tuesday night, after rain had made the Litchfield Road site too muddy. The new location, in addition to being cleaner and warmer, had the added benefit of being farther away from the 50 or so protesters lined up on Mammoth Road whose voices could barely be heard inside.
Souza said there are “some doctrinal differences” between the Free Presbyterian church and his own denomination, but said he had “no problem with them.”
“We are regiments in the same army,” said Paisley of the Baptist church, as he stood to speak. “We are in the same fight – the battle for Lord Jesus Christ.”
After thanking the Baptist minister for the use of the church, Paisley’s first words were directed at the press and the protesters. He said he knew he was not treated kindly by either group, but quoted archly, “Woe unto he whom all men speak well of.”
Paisley said he had to deal with the press often in Great Britain and laughed about a suggestion he once got that he give a service for journalists. He quipped that the text he’d read from would include “Zaccheus couldn’t see Jesus for the press.”
Last night’s service was similar to the previous three, including the singing of a number of hymns and a reading from the New Testament. In his sermon following the reading from the book of Romans, Paisley stressed that “It doesn’t matter how good you are, you are not good enough.”
He spoke of those who say “If I could only know I believed right,” saying that “Faith and faith alone will save you.”
“It’s not the blood in the veins, but the blood shed that saves,” he preached, speaking of the death of Jesus Christ.
At that point, a woman entered the church through a door in the back and started to speak out against Paisley. “He doesn’t know,” she said, as she was quickly escorted out by the Londonderry police.
“That’s nothing, said Paisley. “In Northern Ireland, we have them coming through the door with guns in their hands.” He spoke of a man in his church being shot dead by an IRA man, and again blasted the IRA for destroying 18 churches in Northern Ireland in the past year. He blasted the INLA, who destroyed a church before he left, and wrote “Ha ha ha, we destroyed your church,” on the burnt walls.
He implied the protester was sent by the devil, saying “No wonder the devil doesn’t want me to get to this.”
At the heart of his sermon he intoned, “Faith is all you need. If I can set one person on the path to Christ, my visit to this locality will not be in vain.”
Londonderry resident David Lyons, who is a member of the Free Presbyterian Church, said he thought Paisley’s visit accomplished something. “If even one person accepted Jesus Christ, then the coming here was worthwhile.”
Nashua native Louis Murray, who was arrested Sunday night after verbally accosting Paisley, took an opposite view, saying, “He planted the seeds of a congregation that does not understand the inherent racism in his bible.”
He asserted that Paisley supports, among other racist causes, apartheid.
Lyons said that most of the churchgoers don’t think about the IRA at all, but that he was “totally opposed to their terrorist tactics,” adding they were in “the same category as the Ku Klux Klan.”
Paisley’s gone, but Londonderry won’t soon forget
September 26, 1985
LONDONDERRY — The Rev. Ian Paisley flew home to Northern Ireland late last night, but his four-day presence will have affected the community in many ways.
“All told, it’s going to cost us $2,375.10,” said Town Administrator David Wright, who said the figure did not include the cost of his aggravation. “I don’t know how you can put a monetary figure on that.”
Londonderry Police showed a strong presence Monday through Wednesday nights as protesters traveled to the small town in numbers reaching 100 in protest of Paisley’s visit.
The Northern Ireland minister gave a series of religious services to promote the founding of the Free Presbyterian Church of Northern Ireland in Londonderry.
Wright said the town had to pay for extra police duty for about 12 officers, including Chief Charles Webster and three Manchester police. He said the figure did not include payment for police who were already on duty, or the three for whom Londonderry resident Henry Paul was paying.
Paul’s property on Litchfield Road was the site of the first three services; the fourth was held at the Londonderry Baptist Church on Mammoth Road. It is estimated his cost for the services of three police officers for four nights would be about $732.
Webster said the station received six calls complaining about the volume of the protesters.
Wright said the one benefit of all the activity was that police have gained some good experience. “We don’t have this sort of thing happening very often in Londonderry, you know,” he said.
Members of the Free Presbyterian Church, said they feel Paisley’s visit was worthwhile, despite the protests. As a result of the experience, Londonderry resident and church member David Lyons said he would be one of the first to support “an ordinance to prohibit public protests of religious meetings.”
Selectmen said there was no such ordinance already on the books, and they had no comment about passing one in the future.
Londonderry bills church that invited Paisley
October 1, 1985
LONDONDERRY — The Board of Selectmen has decided to present the $2,376 bill for extra police services during the Rev. Ian Paisley’s Church of Northern Ireland, which sponsored the controversial minister’s visit.
The bill, added up by Town Administrator David Wright last week, came as a surprise to Free Presbyterian Church minister David Brame.
“I didn’t know about it,” he said, though he affirmed that Londonderry resident Henry Paul had intended to pay for the services of three of the 12 police officers needed to maintain order during protests of Paisley’s presence. Paul’s cost for the three officers is estimated to be over $700.
Paul, his son Daniel Paul, and Brame sit on the committee which manages the church’s funds, and Brame said the committee will need to meet to discuss the bill.
The newly founded Free Presbyterian Church in Londonderry had invited the Northern Ireland minister to give a series of four religious services Sept. 22-25 to preach the gospel and gather support for the fundamentalist denomination.
Paisley’s visit caused a stir in the town as protesters from as far away as New York and voice opposition to his presence.
Two New Hampshire residents were arrested after the first service on charges of disorderly conduct for verbally accosting Paisley. Though there were no arrests and the number of protesters was markedly smaller the following nights, town officials felt it prudent to maintain a strong, 12-person police presence for each of the scheduled services.
At last night’s selectmen’s meeting, Wright made a motion to give letters of commendation to the members of the Police Department who demonstrated exceptional professionalism during the four protests. He also suggested giving commendations to those Fire and Police department members and volunteers who worked during Hurricane Gloria.
The motion passed unanimously.
Church won’t pay police bill
October 18, 1985
LONDONDERRY — Today town officials will be discussing a letter they received yesterday afternoon from the Free Presbyterian Church of Northern Ireland that says the church is refusing to pay the $2,375 bill for police services incurred during the Rev. Ian Paisley’s loudly protested visit here last month.
“It was anticipated,” said Selectman Norman Russell.
At Tuesday’s board meeting, Selectmen Chairman Harry Anagnos had said, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” referring to the expected letter from the church.
“Let’s just say it was a polite refusal,” explained Daniel Paul, who was responsible for the letter as a member of the committee managing the finances of the Free Presbyterian Church, which was billed by the town.
Paul did not want to elaborate on the letter before Town Administrator David Wright, to whom the letter was delivered, had a chance to discuss the letter with selectmen.
“We responded to their invoice,” Paul said. “We want to be cooperative. If the word litigation is heard, it will be from the press.”
The Rev. David Brame, minister of the church, who also had a hand in writing the letter, had charged the protestors should be billed for the police services because they caused the need for police presence.
The Free Presbyterian Church had intended to pay three police officers $17.50 per hour for the hours they were needed during Paisley’s four-evening service schedule. More than 100 people turned out to protest the services, and police felt more protection was needed.
Paul did not want to comment on who should pay the bill. He blasted the press coverage of Paisley’s visit and the aftermath, saying, “It is as if they (the press) wanted to be the catalyst” of more trouble by spending too much time on the bill controversy.
Paul said the church members have a “great respect” for the town fathers and want to have a good relationship with them. He stressed he wanted to give the town the opportunity of hearing of their refusal in a letter rather than reading about it in the newspapers.
According to Paul, local members of the press have been trying to snowball the issue of the $2,375 bill. He also said the church is striking a “pre-litigation stance.”
‘Cheap electricity is great, but . . .’
October 18, 1985
LONDONDERRY — More than 100 area residents turned out last night at the junior high school cafeteria to hear members of the New England Power Pool discuss the proposed high-voltage transmission line to cut through New Hampshire.
Billed as an informational hearing, the discussion was a forum for the representatives of the New England Electric Transmission Company, the New England Hydro-transmission Corporation and other power companies, to give presentations about the project, its impact on the environment, and its alleged health risks. The representatives also agreed to answer questions pre-submitted by residents.
The transmission line project is a joint effort by the Hydro-Quebec utility and the New England Power Pool to bring Quebec’s “vast hydroelectric resources” to a number of New England states. Phase I of the project is currently under construction and will bring 690 megawatts of hydroelectricity to the Comerford Converter Terminal in Monroe, N.H. Phase II will ultimately bring 2,000 megawatts of power farther south to Massachusetts.
Phase I will include 107 miles of transmission line (58 miles in the U.S.) and Phase II will include 121 miles of transmission line to be built in New Hampshire. According to New England Power Pool representatives, “With the completion of Phase II (in 1990), New England would receive over 10 million megawatt hours of energy per year
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from Quebec — approximately 10 percent of New England’s energy needs during the first full year of operation.”
While no one has disagreed that a cheap, non-nuclear energy source should be considered seriously, the fact that the energy will flow through transmission lines has a number of people concerned. Certain groups have expressed fear that exposure to ions given off by the DC wires will have an adverse effect.
Members of the Pelham-based Powerline Awareness Campaign (PAC) and the Virginia-based Taskforce Opposed to the Planned Power Line (TOPPL) were conspicuously present at the hearing, handing out literature and answering questions about the possible health hazards of exposure to DC current.
Both groups claim that ions given off by the power lines will cause health problems such as headaches, fatigue, tingling, stress, dizziness, nosebleeds, chromosome damage, nausea, a higher cancer rate and a higher suicide rate.
The New England Power Pool representatives, however, claim the health risks associated with electrical discharge are minimal or non-existent.
Jonathon M. Charry, a senior research scientist in the Laboratory of Neuropharmacology and Environmental Toxicology at the Institute for Basic Research in Staten Island, stated at the meeting that there would be “no harmful health effects from the proposed DC transmission line.”
Charry stressed that a “wide range of biological responses to air ions has been researched,” and “we have enough material to make an informed judgement about the potential effects of ions.” He added that research had been going on for 50 years.
Gary Johnson, a manager of electric research programs at General Electric in Lenox, Mass., said that the number of ions one is exposed to over a candlelit dinner would be greater than the number exposed to someone standing directly underneath the power lines. He also said audible noise given off by the wires would be negligible.
Both men made the point that any purported effect of ion exposure is small because the ion levels occur within “normal biological variability.”
Area residents present at the meeting said they were there to “get more information,” but seemed skeptical that the health concerns could be brushed aside too easily.
“I wish they would be more emphatic in refuting these reports,” Londonderry Selectman Norman Russell remarked. “The aspect of cheaper electricity is great, but the aspect of possible adverse effects on peoples’ health is of some concern.”
Lee Breslow of Londonderry said that he had been “concerned about AC wires for years,” and that the proposed DC wires add more fears.
The point about AI not knowing small town history becuase its not digitized is something I hadnt considered before. Its a feedback loop problem where future models will just keep reinforcing what's already online. Spent time at my local library archives once and found stuff about my neighborhood that Google has zero idea about. Student newspapers doing the actual work while schools teach media literacy theory is a pretty sharp observation.
The history of journalism is replete with ideological contamination but the need, indeed the demand for real objective research and reporting has never been stronger. Great essay. I am appalled that there is even a hypothesis of "self care" for the encounter with disagreeable ideas!