BRADFORD—Voters narrowly rejected a 2020-2021 operating budget for the Oxbow Unified Union School District last week.
With 1,178 people in Bradford and Newbury participating, 50.3 percent (593) voted against the $16,780,183 proposal while 49.1 percent (578) voted in favor. There were seven blank ballots.
This was the third attempt to get an operating budget for the current school year passed. The margin this time was much tighter than the previous two votes.
Last week’s turnout was by the far the highest in the two towns during the three rounds of voting held in 2020. Like the first round in June, ballots were mailed to all registered voters this time. For the Sept. 1 vote, ballots were only mailed upon request.

BRADFORD—Low-St. John Forest has long been used as an outdoor learning lab for students at Bradford Elementary School. But they may soon have an actual classroom to use when they are learning in the forest.
The Bradford Planning Commission has given its OK to the construction of an outdoor classroom shelter.
The forest was acquired by the former Bradford Academy and Graded School District in 1946 when Jessie Blakely Low donated 65 acres of forestland on Mount Tug off of Goshen Road. In 1961, Nina St. John donated an additional 60 acres. Now, the Oxbow Unified Union School District owns the property.

NORTH HAVERHILL—Three local men have been indicted for their roles in the January 2019 carbon monoxide deaths of a Lyman couple.
John and April Courtney died as a result of the poisoning. Last week, Richard Mallett Jr., 49, of Woodsville, Philip Poirier, 28, of Corinth, and Adam Vigent, 51, of North Haverhill—all three licensed gas fitters in New Hampshire—were indicted on negligent homicide charges.
Beginning in October 2018, the men installed a new heating system with a gas boiler at the Courtney residence. According to the indictments, Vigent came up with the installation and directed the system installers, Mallett and Poirier.

New Hampshire imposed a statewide mask mandate last week after “substantial community transmission” of COVID-19 was found in all 10 of the state’s counties.
Under the mandate, all New Hampshire residents over the age of 5 will have to wear masks or cloth face coverings over their noses and mouths when they are within indoor or outdoor public spaces and cannot maintain a physical distance of at least 6 feet. The order defines “public spaces” as any public or private spaces generally open to the public from lobbies and waiting areas to restaurants and retail businesses to parks and patios.
The mandate took effect on Nov. 20 and will remain in place until Jan. 15 under the current executive order from Gov. Chris Sununu.

NEWBURY—A legislative panel voted on Nov. 12 to approve a plan to open a new state juvenile detention center in Newbury.
The Joint Legislative Justice Oversight Committee signed off on a recommendation from the Vermont Agency of Human Services and Vermont Department of Children and Families to enter into a contract with the Becket Family of Services for a six-bed, secure residential treatment program for youth involved in the state criminal justice system.
Under the deal with Becket, the state would spend more than $3.1 million to renovate a former bed and breakfast on 280 acres at the end of Stevens Place, a dirt-covered, dead-end road off of Fish Pond Road. For the last five years, Becket has been operating the Vermont Assessment Center at Newbury at the site