PELHAM, N.H. (AP) – A man is accused of hitting a police officer with a stolen lawn chair.

Police say Sgt. Gary Fisher was working a security detail Friday night at a pool and spa store, guarding merchandise that was outside for a weekend tent sale. Shortly before midnight, he saw someone enter the tent and leave with a chair.

Police say Fisher confronted the suspect, Eric Coleman, 32, but Coleman hit him with the chair and fled. Fisher caught up with him and tackled him. Police say Coleman also had a movie poster and other items he’d stolen from a nearby movie theater.

Coleman is charged with two counts of theft, resisting arrest and assault on a police officer. He was released on $2,500 bail.

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Casket factory moves operation

NASHUA, N.H. (AP) – Officials say the closing of a local casket factory will deal a serious blow to the city’s Spanish-speaking immigrants.

The Batesville Casket Company factory is at the heart of the city’s Spanish-speaking neighborhood and provided good jobs and benefits for people who spoke limited English.

The factory’s parent company, Hillenbrand Industries of Batesville, Ind., plans to move the work to Mississippi to cut costs. Batesville is the nation’s largest casket-maker.

The 200 workers in Nashua started at about $11 an hour. After four years, they got more than $15 an hour. Some workers have been there for two decades and say they will have a hard time getting other work.

Nearby shops that cater to Spanish-speaking customers say the shutdown will hurt them, too.

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Portsmouth seeks sewage waiver

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) – The city is poised to get a waiver for sewage it dumps into the Piscataqua River.

But environmentalists say the Environmental Protection Agency shouldn’t renew the waiver, which exempts the city from strict limits on the amount of solid waste it discharges.

Portsmouth has had an EPA waiver for 20 years that allows it to avoid secondary treatment of sewage. The city only needs to remove about 30 percent of solid waste before discharge, instead of 85 percent.

The EPA says that’s OK because the tidal river dilutes the waste quickly and sweeps most of out to sea.

But the Conservation Law Foundation say the high levels of harmful bacteria are closing beaches and contaminating shellfish. They also say the contamination is creeping inland toward Great Bay.

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Girls alleged photographer touched them

NEWTON, N.H. (AP) – Police are investigating whether some female middle school students were touched inappropriately while posing for their school photos.

Police say several girls at Sanborn Regional Middle School complained they were touched inappropriately by a male photographer for Lifetouch School Portraits. The photographer wasn’t identified.

School officials say they have used Lifetouch for several years with no problems, but didn’t know whether the same photographer had come to the school before.

Lifetouch is based in Minneapolis.

AP-ES-05-15-05 1004EDT