Despite rampant rumors floating about town and

giant “stock elimination sale” banners covering its front windows, Avery’s Furniture isn’t closing, according to owner Bob Lavoie.

Avery’s, a Factory Street landmark for generations, held a “private, preferred customer sale” that started Thursday and is running through today, according to a letter recently sent to special customers. The letter calls the event “a giant, wall-to-wall Retirement Stock Elimination Sale,” but never mentions the word “closing,” nor any synonym thereof.

It does say that Lavoie, a career furniture salesman who started in the business with his father, Eddie, at the former Eddie’s Bedding and Furniture, is “retiring after 55 years of operating a successful furniture store.”

“Nope, no way it’s closing,” Lavoie said last week. Beyond that, he chose to refrain from comment, hinting he might have more to say in a couple weeks.

Avery’s has been a business constant in Nashua since 1887, when Charles Holman Avery started selling furniture to millhands and merchants.

250,000 questions

City and Pennichuck Corp. officials aren’t saying why the city cut the utility company a $250,000 check last week.

The money was paid to Pennichuck on the same day both parties announced they had jointly asked the N.H. Public Utilities Commission to suspend hearings on the city’s efforts to acquire Pennichuck Water Works through eminent domain.nichuck agreed to sit down and try to work out a deal in which the city would buy the company’s assets.

Despite the closed lips on why the money was paid, the figure of $250,000 has surfaced before related to the city’s push to take over the company through eminent domain.

In November 2004, the company claimed it was hit by $250,000 in legal costs in fighting the city’s eminent domain case.

While legal costs for both sides certainly have grown in the ensuing two years, some have speculated the payment was some sort of compensation for what the eminent domain battle has cost the publicly held utility.

In the meantime, current Pennichuck Corp. President and CEO Duane Montopoli said he wouldn’t comment on the negotiations beyond a statement released Tuesday.

Mayor Bernie Streeter said only that the $250,000 payment was “part of the negotiations process” and declined to comment further.

Kudos for a prosecutor

The head of the Hillsborough County Attorney’s Nashua office was honored Thursday for his work on computer crime, Hillsborough County Attorney Marguerite Wageling announced.

First Assistant County Attorney Roger “Rusty” Chadwick was one of eight law enforcement professionals honored by New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte for their work on cyber crime, officials said.

Chadwick has worked extensively with the newly formed Southern Hillsborough County Cybersafe Task Force, a cooperative effort in which local police departments have targeted people trying to solicit sex with minors online. The task force made 13 arrests last year.

Chadwick also has prosecuted numerous similar cases resulting from past stings in Nashua and Hollis.

No comment

It appears there will be enough votes to eliminate the school board’s restrictions on public comment, a move recommended by members of the board’s policies and procedures committee earlier this month.

Currently, board policy prohibits people from talking about “administrative or personnel-related problems,” but the committee recommended striking that from the rules.

The vote will need to be approved by the full board before going into effect, and with the three members of the committee on board, and board member Sandra Ziehm a given, it will take only one more member.

Michael Clemons said he will likely support the vote, as long there is some type of warning given to speakers, letting them know that they, not the board, are responsible for what they say.

Clemons had been one of the most adamant against the change when some in the city started challenging whether it was a restriction on their right to free speech.

However, Jack Kelley isn’t convinced it’s the right move.

“I tend to favor what we had in place already,” he said.

City attorney Stephen Bennett has said the policy is unconstitutional, but private attorneys for the district argue it’s the board’s right to limit discussion to certain topics.

Legality aside, there is simply the question of whether the policy is beneficial to the district.

“That is where the discussion needs to go,” Kelley said. “I’m perfectly happy to sit at the meeting and go through the wording. But I do not want to have people getting personnel issues in public comment.”

The issue will likely be taken up at the next regularly scheduled full board meeting Jan. 29. In the meantime, board members have plenty to keep them busy this week.

Monday night, there is a special meeting scheduled to finalize the board’s goals, and Wednesday night, there is a curriculum and evaluation scheduled, with discussion of the high schools’ program of studies on the agenda.

The program-based budgeting advisory committee is also scheduled to meet Wednesday and Thursday nights.

Nashua . . . From the Inside was compiled by staff writer Dean Shalhoup, Patrick Meighan and Michael Brindley.