VERSHIRE—Town meeting was held in person on May 22 this year with David Hooke presiding as town moderator as he has for 25 years.
An informational meeting on Saturday enjoyed a strong breeze while Sunday’s town meeting was hot for May, even under a striped tent behind the Town Center. The typical hot soup lunch, appreciated in March, was absent. Sunday’s meeting instead cooled by Justin Will’s iced coffee.
WELLS RIVER—The Little Rivers Health Care dental clinic plan was approved last Thursday by the Newbury Development Review Board.
At the March 19 meeting, two members of the community voiced support for the plan.
According to Andrew Barter, Little Rivers Chief Operating Officer, the former Jiffy Mart property purchased last year has undergone environmental assessments and soil samplings by Stone Environmental of Montpelier.
WOODSVILLE—Authorities say a 19-year-old man found dead inside a Woodsville business earlier this year killed himself with a knife.
The state’s chief medical examiner has found that Victor Maldonado of Barre died from self-inflicted stab wounds.
“Based on the investigation conducted into Mr. Maldonado’s death, he entered the business after-hours, and while inside alone in the business he acquired a knife and killed himself,” the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office stated in a news release on May 17. “His dead body was found by employees of the business when it reopened on the morning of Jan. 31.”
BRADFORD—At the meeting on May 10, the Bradford Selectboard unanimously approved several changes to the town’s traffic ordinance, including new prohibitions on parking for a stretch of North Main Street.
The bans are effective November through April when parking on the southbound portion of North Main Street between the Bradford Congregational Church and the Wells River Savings Bank will be prohibited. Similarly, a ban will be in place on the northbound section of the roadway from 70 North Main Street to 130 North Main Street.
WELLS RIVER—Little Rivers Health Care’s plan to redevelop a long-deserted gas station into a dental clinic will go before the Newbury Development Review Board this week.
The DRB will hold a hearing on May 19 at 5 p.m. in the congregational church vestry in Newbury Village.
BRADFORD—Bradford and Newbury voters gathered outside in perfect weather on May 12 and approved the $17,494,601 budget at the Oxbow Unified Union School District’s Annual Meeting.
The approval came with a vote of 60 to 10. Education spending next year will be $18,781 per equalized student, a 4.1% increase over the current year.
There was not much discussion on this big-ticket item since many questions had been addressed in an informational meeting the previous night.
HAVERHILL—The New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration has invalidated two articles approved by voters at town meeting in Haverhill in March.
At town meeting on March 16, voters narrowly approved two petitioned articles—27 and 28—that provided funding for Woodsville Precinct. The former provided $298,630 for the precinct highway department and the latter provided $146,974 for the precinct’s fire department.
GROTON—After Groton voters spurned (132-106) the general fund budget at town meeting on March 1, selectboard members have revised the budget, decreasing it by $22,275.
A special revote will be by Australian ballot on May 25 in the Community Building from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. An informational meeting will be held in the same building on May 23 at 6 p.m.
WOODSVILLE—Soccer field illumination was the subject of lengthy discussion at the May 9 meeting of the Haverhill Cooperative School Board.
The cost estimate for the project, which has been discussed at several board meetings this year, is $66,000. Not all board members agreed on the need.
Chair David Robinson mentioned that Woodsville Water and Light would supply the poles and labor at no cost to the school.
FAIRLEE—The dusty parking lot next to a one-story building beneath the Palisades has been empty for a month.
But, hopefully, not for too much longer. As the overcast days of April finally parted, Mother’s Day opened up a glimmer of hope for the Fairlee Diner.
Janice Neil of West Topsham posted that it was “a great one” for her on Facebook with a picture of herself standing beneath the Fairlee Diner sign holding her own handwritten message that reads “Coming in June!!” with “Jan’s” replacing “the Gilman’s” in the picture.