12/17/04 - PLAISTOW - "Season of giving" took on a different meaning for the Robie family this year after it was given a notice of foreclosure just weeks before Christmas. But hope still looms.

12/17/04 - PLAISTOW - A 16-year-old Timberlane Regional High School student faces expulsion after he allegedly brought a loaded semiautomatic pistol to school with him Thursday.

12/17/04 - FREMONT - Jessica and Greg MacNeil of Sandown Road want nothing more than to adopt a baby Chinese girl, but it could cost between $15,000 and $30,000.

12/17/04 - RAYMOND - Residents may see an increase in their taxes next year. The Budget Committee is reviewing selectmen’s recommended warrant articles, which would total a 49-cent increase per $1,000 valuation.

12/17/04 - As area residents decorate their Christmas tree or cozy up to their fireplace this winter, they should remember a few safety tips.

12/17/04 - KINGSTON - Two weeks after the Sanborn Regional School Board proposed a $23.9 million budget for the 2005-’06 school year to the district’s budget committee for review, board members voted to reconsider the recommendation.

12/17/04 - RAYMOND - A developer wanting to build 10 single-family homes in town next year could expect to pay an estimated $43,880 in impact fees for schools and roads.

12/17/04 - RAYMOND - Representatives from several town boards met this week to discuss what to do with the old red schoolhouse behind Iber Holmes Gove Middle School that is in the way of the proposed new middle school blueprint.

12/17/04 - KINGSTON - Local authorities are investigating a report of large rats invading Jim Sloan’s home on Little River Road. The rodents may be coming from the town’s former landfill on Route 125, which was capped eight weeks ago.

12/17/04 - BRENTWOOD - The teenager who called in bomb threats that canceled Timberlane Regional High School’s senior prom in May was sentenced to one year in prison Tuesday, despite pleas from family members that his sentence be reduced.

12/17/04 - PLAISTOW - The Board of Selectmen will have a better idea of the schedule and cost of the Town Hall restoration project when bids on the construction come in on Monday.

12/17/04 - KINGSTON - It has been nearly 10 years since East Kingston Police Officer Melvin Keddy was killed on duty while trying to direct traffic at the scene of a Kingston accident.

12/17/04 - PLAISTOW - This holiday season, Timberlane student council is in the process of assisting the state’s Make-A-Wish Foundation of New Hampshire, with the "Adopt an Angel’ program. The organization is selling paper angels for $2, with all proceeds going toward the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

12/17/04 - RAYMOND - The Raymond School Board voted 2-1 to pay a "reasonable" portion of board member Stephen Sloan’s legal fees, to be determined by district legal counsel.

12/17/04 - KINGSTON - Walker Martin puts on a pair of his dad’s safety goggles to play with his toy saw. When the 3-year-old is asked why he is wearing the goggles, he answers with an indistinguishable grunt. His mom smiles and says, "That’s right, for safety."

12/17/04 - KINGSTON - Maria Leighton has collected about 1,000 toys for area and military children this holiday season through a benefit she calls Santa’s Loving Angels.

12/17/04 - KINGSTON - A Massachusetts man was arrested last week in connection with what police describe as a case of ongoing burglaries, which appear to be targeting a local car shop.

12/17/04 - KINGSTON - The next principal of the D.J. Bakie school will have some big shoes to fill. During a public forum Tuesday evening, community members generated an extensive list of qualities they are looking for in a new principal.

12/17/04 - KINGSTON - Within the next two years the Sanborn Regional School District hopes to implement a new ninth-grade reading class, a committee devoted to transition issues, student surveys, and a district-wide parent newsletter, to name a few.

12/17/04 - PLAISTOW - Another round of companies and municipalities that contributed waste to the Beede Waste Oil Superfund Site has reached a settlement with the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as efforts to clean the site continue.

12/17/04 - PLAISTOW - As part of a statewide program, third-graders at the Pollard School gathered in the gymnasium on Tuesday morning to receive gifts from the Danville Grange. More than 120 students sat patiently on the gymnasium floor, waiting to receive a free dictionary.

12/17/04 - HAMPSTEAD - It was recently tea time for JoAnn Erickson’s eighth-grade Advanced Foods and Entertainment class. The Hampstead Middle School students attended a formal English tea in the school’s library, hosted by Wendy Green, a media generalist assistant at the school.

12/17/04 - DANVILLE - Danville Police Department is welcoming the latest addition to its staff. Officer Mark J. Conway was hired during the summer and has recently completed the state’s full-time officer training program.

12/17/04 - HAMPSTEAD - A 45-year-old Hampstead man pleaded guilty to two charges of indecent exposure and lewdness in connection with an incident where police allege he gave alcohol and cigarettes to two minors in exchange for sexual favors.

12/17/04 - SANDOWN - The polls open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow for voters to decide whether the town should purchase a $1.3 million parcel in the center of the community for future town use. The vote will take place in Town Hall on the second floor (wheelchair-accessible).

12/17/04 - ATKINSON - Everything is as it was before. No changes were made to the Atkinson Police union contract at a meeting this week. This despite a meeting two weeks ago where 15 members of the Police Department attended a selectmen’s meeting to protest two selectmen’s interpretation of the contract.

12/17/04 - PLAISTOW - He was praised for his "fairness and dignity," for his "ministry and service to the Lord," and for being "too compassionate," but the man being honored for his retirement last Thursday was the head of a church.

12/17/04 - In a year where sickening abuse of inmates at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison has grabbed news headlines, the humane treatment of prisoners in our own Rockingham County Jail stands out in stark contrast. As Superintendent Gene Charron hands over the keys of the Rockingham County House of Corrections in Brentwood to his second in command, Al Wright, this week, we expect the good work the two men have accomplished to continue.

12/17/04 - The following people passed away recently. . .

12/17/04 - Area police made the following arrests and conducted the following business recently...

12/17/04 - After opening the season with two straight victories, including the 49-42 season opener over Portsmouth followed by Wednesday’s 62-51 win over Nashua South, the Timberlane Regional High School girls basketball team will be looking to make it three straight with tonight’s 7 p.m. home opener against Dover.

12/17/04 - The Sanborn Regional High School boys basketball team won its first game of the young season when Mike Wydola nailed a 3-pointer with 30 seconds remaining in overtime, lifting Sanborn to a 52-49 victory over Raymond.

12/17/04 - After winning two straight games, including Tuesday’s 68-34 victory over Sanborn, the Raymond High School girls basketball team is hoping to ride that momentum into tonight’s 7 p.m. home game against a Somersworth team that enters the game with a 4-1 record.

12/17/04 - With a quad meet sweep over Phillips Exeter, Manchester Central and Bishop Guertin followed by Wednesday’s dual meet victory over Nashua North, the Timberlane Regional High School wrestling team heads to the 12th annual Beast of East Tournament in Delaware with a 5-0 record.

12/17/04 - For the first time in five years, the Timberlane Regional High School boys basketball team will start the season with some size to go along with its athleticism.

12/17/04 - The Timberlane Regional High School hockey team is looking to be vastly improved over the 2003-2004 season when the Owls went 5-16-0 and failed to make the playoffs for the first time in the four years the program has been involved in varsity play.

12/17/04 - I have to admit, that Okemo Mountain Resort (Ludlow, Vt.) is an area I’ve often overlooked. No particular reason, except that, in the past, it’s been a little short of the kind of terrain I like to ski best.

12/17/04 - Pets are having a dog-gone good time. When owners are away, some local pets are left in the hands of Cindi Tuite, owner of Kindest Care Pet Sitting in Kingston.

12/17/04 - PLAISTOW - While competition is sprouting faster than weeds in a field, Red’s Shoe Barn with locations in Plaistow and Dover is finding the best defense is respecting business traditions and carrying specialty lines for the entire family.

12/17/04 - My editor said the business profile would test my writing skills, since it was a service-oriented establishment and didn’t have a tangible product, or sensory facet. I was ready. However, my index cards of interview questions didn’t deflect the poking and prodding my patience would receive that day.

12/17/04 - BOSTON - Federal transportation officials are threatening to withhold $81 million in Big Dig funding next year because of uncertainties about how much it will cost to repair hundreds of tunnel leaks and how that money will be recovered, Gov. Mitt Romney said Thursday.

12/17/04 - BOSTON - Two Boston police officers were justified when they fatally shot a Roxbury man in June, prosecutors said Thursday, a month after delaying the announcement after protests by the man's family and community activists.

12/17/04 - BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein met with a defense lawyer Thursday for the first time since his capture a year ago, days before several of his top aides are due to appear in court for hearings on alleged war crimes.

12/17/04 - JERUSALEM - Britain has yet to propose it officially, but Israeli and Palestinian officials are already arguing about the purpose and agenda of a Middle East peace conference in London.

12/17/04 - BURLINGTON, Vt. - A Milton man who crashed a car at high speed and then wandered into a house and kissed a sleeping couple is facing a variety of charges.

Get behind the lens with our award winning photographers. Check out their photos, read their bios, and see why Portsmouth Herald Photographers are consistently judged as some of the best and most talented in the New England area.

Read the work of many of your favorite Seacoast Newspaper columnists. Whether it be the cerebral slapstick humor of John Breneman or the witty humor of baby-boomer columnist Paul Briand you'll enjoy getting behind the stories with enlightened and often humorous takes on current news.