12/03/04 - PLAISTOW — Holiday shopping has begun and for working parents, the task of finding free time to shop, without their children, can prove to be a challenge. Timberlane student council will offer one baby-sitting solution as it hosts its second annual “Kids’ Night Out.”

12/03/04 - PLAISTOW — Shopping in Plaistow can be very strenuous during the holiday season with the jump in store and street traffic, but it also takes a toll on the Police Department.

12/03/04 - NEWTON - A two-alarm fire destroyed a two-story house under construction on Zoe Lane last Friday, and officials are saying it was most likely a plumbing accident.

12/03/04 - RAYMOND - A $493,521 capital improvement plan for 2005 was approved by selectmen Monday night, including money toward building a new town office and police station.

12/03/04 - ATKINSON — Confusion over the language in the Atkinson Police union contract that addresses benefits resulted in a shouting match between selectmen Monday night.

12/03/04 - RAYMOND - Residents at 75 Batchalder Road were trying to scare away a family of chipmunks living underneath their mobile home on Nov. 19 by using a smoke bomb, but their plan "backfired."

12/03/04 - KINGSTON - Although a new commercial zone along Route 125 may help the town’s tax base and attract new businesses, some residents are concerned about property valuations and traffic safety.

12/03/04 - RAYMOND - The proposed school district operating budget has come in slightly above the default budget as the Raymond School Board attempts to get voters to approve a new middle school.

12/03/04 - PLAISTOW — The town is looking into the possibility of taking over the lease of the local senior recreation center in order to ensure that its programs are maintained and possibly expanded.

12/03/04 - RAYMOND - The 17th annual Christmas on the Common is Sunday at 6 p.m. with a tree lighting, carols, hot cocoa, cookies and cheer.

12/03/04 - KINGSTON - After more than an hour of roller-coaster discussion, the Sanborn Regional School Board approved a 2005-’06 budget Wednesday night to send on to the school district’s budget committee.

12/03/04 - RAYMOND - At Cammet soccer field, it is never a good time to make doughnuts. A local man was arrested this week, charged with criminal mischief, after he was allegedly caught in the act of damaging the Onway Lake Road playing field by doing "doughnuts" with his vehicle.

12/03/04 - KINGSTON - Teachers in the Sanborn Regional Education Association and the school district signed a three-year contract last week totaling $1.9 million.

12/03/04 - RAYMOND - The school district’s insurance company says it will not pay for legal fees incurred by School Board member Stephen Sloan while defending his seat on the board. Sloan fought to stay on the board, despite admitting he divulged non-public information.

12/03/04 - FREMONT - About 338 acres at the end of Andreski Drive, nestled next to Spruce Swamp, could soon be preserved for hiking, horseback riding, snowshoeing or cross country skiing.

12/03/04 - PLAISTOW - Residents of local neighborhoods want their streets back, but with the town’s biggest street taking up 80 percent of police patrol time it leaves little time for regulating speeding.

12/03/04 - KINGSTON - Road agent Rich St. Hilaire wishes he could predict the weather. It would certainly make plowing in the winter that much easier for his crew.

12/03/04 - KINGSTON - A head-on collision at the intersection of Route 125 and Route 111/Exeter Road sent three Easter Seals kids to Exeter Hospital on Saturday.

12/03/04 - KINGSTON - The School Board may ask voters in March if they are "ready for some football."

12/03/04 - PLAISTOW - As part of the town’s effort to address growing traffic problems along the Route 125 corridor, selectmen met with a local engineer this week to discuss a feasibility study regarding a project to connect Garden Road with the intersection at the Wal-Mart/Home Depot plaza.

12/03/04 - PLAISTOW - With anticipated increases in 2005 home valuations, selectmen this week approved warrant articles for the March ballot to adjust exemption amounts for the elderly and disabled.

12/03/04 - NEWTON - At a meeting scheduled for later this month the Planning Board is expected to discuss three housing projects that will require road improvements at the intersection of Smith Corner Road and Peaslee Crossing Road.

12/03/04 - SANDOWN - The town’s first-ever police union contract was adopted by residents on Saturday. Although voter turnout was low, the contract was approved by nearly a 2-to-1 vote. The town approved the three-year police union contract with a vote of 224 to 113, less than 10 percent of the town’s registered voters casting ballots.

12/03/04 - FREMONT - Michael Daly of 51 Pond Road has been decking his house with thousands of holiday lights for nearly 14 years. His father used to say "a 747 plane would try to land in their driveway."

12/03/04 - STRATHAM - Having a child with a disability can put a strain on just about any family. Having a place to turn to where caring people are ready to help with parents’ concerns can make all the difference.

12/03/04 - DANVILLE - How do you amuse first- and second-graders with yellow school buses, mud, bubble gum, and popcorn? Invite children’s entertainer Rick Charette to your school and let him do what he does best.

12/03/04 - EPPING - Eating an apple a day not only keeps the doctor away, it’s also teaching local school kids a valuable lesson in farming.

12/03/04 - RAYMOND - The School Board this week delayed making a decision on a final operating budget for the district after it became apparent that the default budget may exceed the 3 percent cap it placed on the budget.

12/03/04 - When it comes to speeding cars on our rural streets, it seems there is a strange paradox. If one is behind the wheel driving, it is not uncommon to curse "speed traps" and sputter about tickets issued by police. However it seems to become a serious problem when other drivers whiz past our homes and schools traveling well above the posted speed limit.

12/03/04 - The following people passed away recently. . .

12/03/04 - Area police made the following arrests and conducted the following business recently...

12/03/04 - After dropping a season opening 55-20 decision to Epping, the Raymond High School girls basketball team is scheduled to be at Farmington tonight followed by a Tuesday home game against Newmarket.

12/03/04 - Shooting woes both at the free-throw line and from the field were responsible for the Sanborn Regional High School girls basketball team opening the season with a 49-31 loss to Farmington as the Indians were 9-for-24 from the line and 11-for-58 from the floor.

12/03/04 - For the past four seasons the Raymond High School boys basketball team has toiled in the Class I ranks, regularly facing schools with enrollments far outnumbering that of the school which sits atop Harriman Hill Road.

12/03/04 - There will be a number of changes and a new look to the Sanborn Regional High School boys basketball program, which is preparing to open the Class M season with a new coach and an infusion of championship blood.

12/03/04 - Atkinson’s Miae Jacobs was second in the women’s field at both the Feaster Five 5K in Andover, Mass., and the Andover 3.5-mile cross country race.

12/03/04 - Whether it’s the traditional outdoor season or the fall and winter indoor season, the Plaistow Sparks softball team continues its impressive play.

12/03/04 - SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The most requested online definition this year was "blog" - a word not even yet officially in the dictionary, Merriam-Webster says.

12/03/04 - BOSTON - As the city sleeps overhead, teams of men and women clad in white jumpsuits labor underground in the dark recesses of the Big Dig, waterproofing the tunnel where water drips and seeps.

12/03/04 - WASHINGTON - President Bush has chosen former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik, who helped direct the emergency response to the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes against the Twin Towers, to lead the Homeland Security Department, charged with safeguarding Americans from future attack, administration officials said Thursday.

12/03/04 - BAGHDAD, Iraq - Mortar barrages hammered the heavily fortified Green Zone and elsewhere in central Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least one person and underscoring the vulnerability of even Iraq’s best-protected areas ahead of national elections.

11/18/04 - PORTLAND, Maine - A 51-year-old woman arrested last month as a suspect in a 1976 Florida murder was married last weekend in a jailhouse ceremony.

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