Looking back at an eventful year

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

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Staff photo by Bob Hammerstrom Police crime tape and saw horses block Trow Road in Mont Vernon, Thursday, October 8, 2009, just down from the Cates home where Kimberly Cates was murdered Sunday, and her 11-year-old daughter, Jaimie left severely injured by a group of four teenage attackers.

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Staff photo by COREY PERRINE Victoria Rowell, of Los Angeles, Calif. looks up at a statue of Harriet Wilson Saturday, Nov. 14 in Milford. The actress and foster child advocate came as the keynote speaker for the Sesquicentennial celebration of the first African American novelist. Dozens came out to enjoy a bus guided tour around Milford and Wilton and public performaces at Town Hall.

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Staff photo by Bob Hammerstrom^^With more shelving space now, volunteer Marilyn White of Milford stocks canned goods Monday, January 12, 2009, inside SHARE's new location off Elm Street in Milford.

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Here’s a look back at some of the events that made headlines in 2009:

January

Local school districts were trying to figure out how to to deal with the effects multiple days off due to the December 2008 ice storm.

In Milford, the SHARE food pantry moved into its new home on Elm Street.

School districts around the region added time – either to school days or at the end of the year – to make up for time lost to December’s massive ice storm.

The son of Milford High football coach Keith Jones was injured when he was struck by a snowmobile while sitting on some steps in his family’s garage.

Amherst selectmen declined to support a warrant article seeking $1.89 million to buy about 104 acres off Fellows Farm Road. They didn’t like the idea because it included the purchase of a home which, they said, was in poor condition.

February

In a surprising development, voters at Milford’s Town Deliberative Session increased the operating budget by $25,000 to replace a 13-year-old emergency vehicle.

A 4-year-old Milford girl, Angel Dixon, was injured when her father accidentally backed into her with his SUV.

Local police officers strongly criticized Gov. John Lynch’s plan to close Milford District Court and force them to take their cases to Merrimack.

March

Milford, Amherst and Mont Vernon, spurred by the ice storm of December, began looking into volunteers to serve on a Community Emergency Response Team.

The Milford-based Mechanical MAYHEM team of home-schooled students took the top honor at the state FIRST Robotics competition.

In local ballot issues: Milford voters rejected a plan to build four modular classrooms to accommodate kindergarten students and nixed $10,000 for July 4 fireworks.

Mont Vernon voters cut the town’s proposed operating budget by $27,751 before finally passing it at Town Meeting. At School District Meeting, voters cut $160,000 from the proposed operating budget.

Wilton and Lyndeborough approved the merger of their school districts to one of kindergarten through grade 12.

At their Town Meeting, Wilton voters voted against purchasing the former Draper Energy Building to use as a fire station and cut $200,000 from the town’s contribution to the fire station building/renovation fund. Voters at School District Meeting shot down an addition/renovation plan for the Florence Rideout Elementary School.

April

In its continuing dispute with former Police Chief James Basinas, Lyndeborough argued in Superior Court that the chief left his post voluntarily after the town voted to eliminate the job. The case is still undecided.

One school in each of the towns of Amherst, Milford, Mont Vernon and Wilton were determined to be in need of improvement under the federal No Child Left Behind program based upon reading and math tests.

Accent Auto Group of Milford closed after General Motors terminated its franchise agreement.

In Amherst, Souhegan High School Principal Scott Prescott announced he would step down in June. In early June, the school district decided not to hire a principal for the upcoming school year, but to go with an interim principal. The district names former Dean of Faculty James Bosman.

Destination ImagiNation teams from Milford Middle School and Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative High School win the right to go to the global competition in Tennessee.

Milford High School sophomores Gage LaFontaine and Alex Betty were killed in a single-car accident in New Boston.

May

The Milford School Board couldn’t agree on a replacement for a member who had resigned, so the decision went to the Board of Selectmen. They select a former School Board member Bob Willette.

Medlyn Motors of Milford was among hundreds of Chrysler dealers nationwide that had its franchise agreements terminated due to Chrysler’s economic woes. The dealership, a fixture in Milford for nearly 50 years, remained open as a repair facility.

June

Amherst and Mont Vernon began discussions about starting school 30 minutes later. The proposal was voted down by the SAU School Board in October.

Some Milford merchants asked the Board of Selectmen to reinstate a two-hour parking limit on the Oval. Other merchants opposed the idea. It was debated for weeks. Eventually, the selectmen decided to do nothing this year, saying the plan was too expensive.

Milford’s SHARE program moved to a new home on Elm Street, joining the SHARE food pantry, which moved there in January

The Federal Environmental Protection Agency decided, after years of discussion, to truck highly contaminated soils from the Fletcher Paint Site to an out of town site rather than clean them on-site. No date was set for the work.

July

Pat Condon was named director of the Wilton Main Street Program.

Wilton resident Nate Ball saved three young boys who were in trouble in the Souhegan River.

August

A plan to move the Mont Vernon Village Store down the road to the corner of Route 13 and Francestown Turnpike hit a snag when the Zoning Board of Adjustment voted, 3-2, against granting a variance.

Christopher Sackos, 42, of Milford, died when his SUV hit a tree in Sharon.

Under orders from the state, Milford and Lyndeborough implemented public kindergarten programs. Lyndeborough decided to send its kindergarten students to the Early Learning Center in Milford as a one-year stopgap measure while the School Board seeks a permanent solution to space issues.

Modular classrooms purchased for the Jacques School in Milford had to be sent back to the manufacturer per the order of the state fire marshal’s office, which said they hadn’t been properly certified for safety.

Wilton celebrated Old Home Days which the town observes every five years.

September

Milford’s Bernerd Harding, a World War II bomber pilot, returned to Germany to search for the wings he hid after his plane was shot down in 1944. He was unsuccessful. Harding died in November.

Amherst school officials suggested a plan to eliminate kindergarten recess in response to low math test scores. Many parents objected and the plan was eventually dropped.

Fifteen Milford High School athletes were suspended after they attended an underage drinking party.

October

The state Department of Transportation announced plans to upgrade a four-mile area of Route 101 in 2010.

A Mont Vernon mom, Kimberly Cates, was murdered and her young daughter horribly injured in an attack in their home. Four young men – two from Brookline and two from Amherst – were charged in connection with the crime.

Milford’s Great Pumpkin Festival celebrated its 20th birthday.

Work on the addition to Lyndeborough’s J.A. Tarbell Library began.

A crash between a truck and a train snarled traffic at the intersection of Elm Street and Route 101 in Milford.

November

School boards from Amherst and Mont Vernon deadlocked on the issue of later starting times, so nothing was changed.

Staff and teachers at Milford High School were praised for their response to the collapse of a student. They used the school’s Automated Electronic Defibrillator.

Mont Vernon’s Daland Memorial Library celebrated its 100th birthday.

Michelle Boehm, 48, of Milford, was killed in a crash in Nashua.

Milford marked the 150th anniversary of the publication of Harriet Wilson’s “Our Nig,” considered the first novel written in English by a black woman.

A fifth young man from Hollis was charged in connection with October’s murder and assault in Mont Vernon.

A debate began over whether to install security cameras at Souhegan High School in Amherst.

December

A send-off ceremony for members of the Milford-based N.H. National Guard 172nd Infantry Regiment (Mountain) was held. The unit will be deployed to Afghanistan early next year.

Milford school officials began to look at ways to cut their proposed budget.

A study committee recommended moving Wilton’s sixth-graders to the town’s middle school.

Two Milford police officers – Sgt. Kevin Furlong and Officer Eric Wales – were honored for the roles they played in the investigation of the murder and attack in Mont Vernon in October.