This article is by Robert Blechl of The Caledonian Record, in which it was first published July 23, 2013.
LITTLETON, N.H. — A New York woman who had been visiting the grave of punk rocker GG Allin injured herself Sunday by banging her head into the inside cage of a police cruiser after being taken into protective custody for alcohol intoxication.
Amanda N. Flottman, 25, of Fayetteville, N.Y., was among a group of at least nine people from seven states who, after being told to disperse the St. Rose of Lima grave site, went to the Walmart parking lot, where Flottman and Jesse Leon Short, 32, of Corvallis, Ore., were taken into protective custody.
On June 28, on the 20th anniversary of Allin’s death from a heroin overdose, a gathering was held at his grave site followed by a concert in Franconia.
“They had a big hurrah down there and we felt that particular weekend would be the weekend when we would experience any issues, but it was fairly calm and everyone pretty well-behaved,” Littleton Police Chief Paul Smith said Monday. “This threw us off guard. We didn’t expect to have a group of individuals down there this past weekend.”
About 8 p.m., police received a call from a resident reporting two campers set up at Allin’s unmarked grave along West Main Street and a group of people drinking and being loud.
“The officers responded, recorded all the names of the people there, asked them to disperse and they left,” said Smith.
A few hours later, in the Walmart parking lot where other campers were set up, another caller reported a group of people drunk, playing loud music and using foul language, he said.
Smith said the caller asked them to stop, but they did not, and police arrived to find the same group they dealt with earlier.
No one was arrested for disorderly conduct because the group dispersed when ordered, said Smith.
But because of their level of intoxication, Flottman and Short were transported to the Grafton County House of Corrections for treatment and services, he said.
Flottman was in the back of the cruiser being driven by Littleton Police Officer David Wentworth.
“En route, she started being disorderly, hitting her head on the cage in the back of the cruiser and injuring herself,” said Smith. “He went directly to Cottage Hospital, where she was treated.”
The extent of Flottman’s injuries were unknown, but Smith said it appears they were minor because she was then taken from the hospital to the jail.
Those in Flottman’s group came from Oregon, New York, Minnesota, Ohio, California, Missouri and New Jersey, he said.
In 2010, Allin’s headstone was removed after an incident of vandalism, but a base marker remains.
The cemetery is on private property and on private property it is not illegal to have an open container of alcohol, said Smith.
But the church and cemetery association have asked police to disperse and move along large groups of people congregating and being disorderly, he said.
“We are proactive and patrol [the cemetery] routinely,” said Smith. “It’s a collaborative effort between the police, cemetery association and the church and we will continue to be vigilant.”
