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'Chuck Roast' honors former fire chief

By ERIN PLUMMER
eplummer@...
Article Date: Saturday, November 17, 2007

Retired Meredith Fire Chief Chuck Palm has spent his career in the fire
service putting out fires and conducting controlled burns.

But Friday night, a few months after retiring as chief, it was Palm's turn
to be roasted as community members and old friends toasted and jabbed him
at the "Chuck Roast."

The roast is an annual benefit for the Greater Meredith Program's. Retiring
librarian Lydia Torr was the recipient of last year's friendly jabs.

This year the roast victim was Palm, who was both toasted and kidded by a
long line of old friends and colleagues.

"At the end of the (roast), hopefully Chuck will resemble that hamburger in
the announcement," said roast master and town Selectman Bob Flanders, who
said the event was to "show our respect for a gentleman that has dedicated
a lot of community service for his job."

Flanders said he had read Lee Iacocca's book "Where Have all the Leaders
Gone" that contained a list of attributes for good leaders. "As far as I
can tell, Chuck has a lead on the list."

Pleasantries continued throughout the evening, though roasters further
turned up the heat on Palm with a series of cracks and barbs that ranged
from the smirking to the raunchy.

Bill and the Flames, a band consisting of code enforcement officer Bill
Edney, Edney's son Jason, local announcer Chris Kelly, and Palm's old
friend Dave Emmanuel, playing "Chuck Palm is a Mean Old Man." Kelly started
the song with a story of how he and his son saw Palm plug his ears and
smile right before the fire horn went off at Meredith Central Station.

Edney presented Palm with a large headdress of black feathers, likening a
fire department to a Native American tribe.

"White is for good guys, black is for bad guys, is there any significance
to that color?" Flanders quipped.

Emmanuel, who had Palm as a scout master and worked with him in the
Stratham Fire Department, toasted "Scout Master Chuck," describing an
eventful four days in boy scout camp involving a camper climbing a fire
tower in his underwear and scouts getting sick on chewing tobacco.

"We got nothing but buck. We wouldn't be where we are today without our
scout master Chuck," said Emmanuel, who is now Stratham's assistant chief.

Belknap County Commissioner Christopher Boothby gave a presentation on
Palm's life in pictures titled "Chuck Palm: The Man, the Myth, the
Arsonist." Any photo of Palm as a child, at work, or playing with his sons
Garrett and Brian was followed by an image of a burning house or forest.

"He promised (his sons) a beach vacation and he was too cheap to go to the
beach," Boothby said, showing a photo of a burned forest before showing one
of Palm with his family at the beach, "so he erased the background."

Retired Police Chief John Curran entered the room in a firefighter jacket
with plastic, toy fire hat.

"The Meredith Fire Department under the tutelage of Mr. Chuck Palm, two
hundred years of tradition unhampered by progress," Curran said.

He pulled out a series of notes from his jacket pocket reading "chief,
let's forget staff meeting this morning. Let's meet at noon for lunch.
(Signed) Bill Edney" and several variations. Curran also said he was glad
current Fire Chief Jim Carrier was not present because "he is a man of
integrity."

Palm took the roasting in good humor, laughing along with each jab and
making his own comments while wearing the headdress the entire night.

He got the first laugh at the beginning of the evening when he said he
originally rated the ballroom with a maximum capacity of 150 people. "I was
told there's 160," Palm said. "The 10 people in here have to leave."

"May he have enough time to enjoy life a bit in his retirement," Flanders
said in a toast. "Hopefully he'll have a little more time to himself."