NORTH HAVERHILL—A Lyme man who allegedly shot and killed his cousin in Orford in 2021 for “running her mouth” was despondent about the imminent demise of his marriage at the time of the killing. Brooke Goodrich, 25, was at home alone on Route 10 in Orford on Nov. 20, 2021 when she opened the door for her cousin, Lance Goodrich, now 36, who shot her in the head one time with his 9mm pistol, according to court documents.
NORTH HAVERHILL—The selectboard chair in Haverhill has resigned. Fred Garofalo submitted his resignation on Jan. 14 in a brief letter addressed to vice chair Steve Robbins.
BURLINGTON—A federal judge said on Jan. 12 that he has found a St. Johnsbury man charged with abducting a woman, crossing state lines, and sexually assaulting her in front of her son in Windsor County four years ago, competent to stand trial in federal court.
Senior Federal Judge William K. Sessions III said he also has found Everett A. Simpson, 45, formerly of St. Albans, competent to represent himself at the trial.
NEWBURY—Some commuters are abandoning Newbury’s Park and Ride citing personal safety concerns due to poor lighting and property loss. The park and ride, one of 48 in the state, is located at 100 Newbury Crossing Road just east of Route 5. Workers, students, and others park their vehicles to ride public transportation, such as Tri-Valley Transit, or carpool, mostly for destinations south.
WOODSVILLE—Survivors narrowly escaped a devastating house fire last week in Woodsville.
Area fire departments responded to 56 South Court Street across from Community Field on Jan. 5 at 9:42 p.m.
WEST FAIRLEE—Rivendell board members looked at the first draft of the 2023-24 budget at their Jan. 3 meeting. The proposed increase was nearly $1 million over the current year.
WOODSVILLE—Haverhill cannot send out its tax bills, because the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Authority will not certify the tax rate.
Last month, town officials received a letter from the DRA notifying them that the agency will not set the tax rate due to uncertainty resulting from a case before the New Hampshire Supreme Court. In that case, Woodsville Precinct appealed the DRA’s invalidation of two warrant articles approved at town meeting in 2022.
WOODSVILLE—A long-mooted plan to build an addition at Haverhill Cooperative Middle School to accommodate the district’s elementary school students has been ruled out.
Dick Guy, a former school board chair and current member of the facilities committee, said the panel received a $40 million estimate from an architect for the project at its meeting last week.“The committee is not going to consider it any further,” he told the Haverhill School Board on Jan. 9.
Instead, the committee will develop a plan for repairs and refurbishments at Woodsville Elementary School, although that project is still a long way off.
CORINTH—The severe wind and rainfall on Dec. 23 caused plenty of discomfort for area residents, some of whom endured power outages for close to a week.
The devastation left many in Orange County without power over the Christmas holiday and beyond, as some had to find some creative solutions to cook and keep pets alive.
ORFORD—After a disagreement with the town’s selectboard, the majority of the Orford Budget Advisory Committee resigned last month.
The selectboard voted on Dec. 28 to accept the resignations of four of the seven members of the budget advisory board.
In separate letters, the departing committee members cited different reasons for their resignations, but there was a common thread. All cited frustrations that their recommendations and diligence were being ignored by the selectboard.