2006 in Bow featured growth, change, accomplishment, history, land preservation and school repairs.

Growth

• Bow Equestrian Village LLC, announced its purchase of nearly 30 acres of land on Dunbarton Center Road to build a 13- unit equestrian condominium village designed for horse-riding enthusiasts and their animals.

• In January, the town of Bow began construction of a new water supply well, the first step in a move leading to Bow’s first municipal water system. Town officials said they hope the project will attract businesses to Bow.

• In early February, WS Development announced it would no longer pursue rezoning Logging Hill Road, off Exit 1 of Interstate 89, to build a new shopping center.

• At Town Meeting, voters approved purchasing 154 acres of open space from resident Paul Hammond at a cost of $955,000. The property is located off Dunbarton Center Road.

• The town of Bow began organizing a hazard mitigation plan to prepare the town in case of emergency. The plan covers everything from extreme weather to terrorism.

• In September, selectmen reviewed options for the town’s water and sewage project, which is directed at expanding Bow’s business district along Route 3A. As of Dec. 31, the project is on hold, but selectmen hope to move forward in the future.

• Town Manager James Pitts invited Bedford Director of Planning, Karen White, to Bow to discuss performance zoning, a technique Bedford uses to develop its commercial, retail and industrial district.

• The Bow Fire Department, after hiring two full-time officers and planning to go 24/7 coverage, renovated an interior room for sleeping quarters. The move, however, according to fire department officials was a temporary solution to tight quaters at the station. What the department really needs, said Assistant Chief Richard Pistey, is a new firehouse.

The town invested in a study of facility needs for the fire and police departments. The initial reports came back detailing a need for drastic renovations or a new public safety building.

• Citing safety concerns and a growing student population, new Principal John House-Myers – who was hired to replace George Edwards in April – created a parking task force aimed at taking a proactive approach to parking issues at Bow High School.

In November, House-Myers presented the task force’s findings and announced parking would no longer be allowed along the side of the street. The move eliminated illegal parking spots so students could walk safely to school. The rear parking lot, near the basketball courts, was also striped to add more parking spaces.

Change

• To save the lives of local children, resident Kally Abrams and the Bow Police Department formed SPEED, Safe Proactive Easy Everyday Driving. The program is geared to lowering the residential speed limits in town to 25 mph.

Abrams and members of the Bow Highway Safety Committee proposed running a test plan on several residential streets, which would have brought speed limits in the area down to 25 mph. Selectmen did not support the SPEED test plan, but praised and encouraged Abrams and the police department to continue pursuing and providing an educational approach to speeding and the potential for tragedy.

• The Bow School District, in early February, announced its recommended warrant articles for much-needed renovations to Bow Memorial School, including a leaking roof, and obsolete heating and alarm systems and other problems. The total repair cost, if all warrant articles were approved, would be $6.5 million with a new geo-thermal heating system.

The Bow Budget Committee, at a Feb. 10 hearing, cut about $1.5 million from the school board’s proposed operating budget, including science programs, special education, music and social studies.

The school district’s $22.1 million budget and requested repairs to Bow Memorial School were approved. Residents voted against a new geothermal heating system at a cost of $1.5 million, however.

• Resident Donna Morrison continued to pursue building a before- and after-school center at 19 Bow Center Road, across from Bow Elementary and Memorial schools. But, voters rejected the rezoning request 732-546 in May.

• Voters approved moving School District Meeting from March to May to coincide with Bow Town Meeting beginning in 2007.

• Incumbent selectman Eric Anderson won another term on the board, but Isabel Sinclair, who had served nine years as selectman, lost her bid for reelection to Jack Crisp. Sinclair was later honored for her service to the town.

• Bow voters approved warrant articles to make necessary improvements to White Rock Hill Road and Page Road. Repaving and a shim and overlay to the roads were completed in September.

• On June 20, Bow High School bid farewell to George Edwards at a special ceremony attended by dozens of former and current students, teachers, parents and town and school officials. Edwards had accepted the position as principal of the new Bedford High School.

• Immediately after school was dismissed for the summer, construction crews began renovations to Bow Memorial School, including a new roof and ceiling tiles. Several tiles that had been painted by students throughout the years were retained.

• In August, the Bow Police Department welcomed Kathleen Hazelton, formerly of the Hooksett Police Department, as its new dispatcher.

• Kathleen Holt, Bow School District Superintendent, resigned, effective the end of the school year, citing personal reasons. Holt served Bow for three years.

• The Bow Police Department hired Donald Wood, a former New York City police officer, to fill one of three full-time positions.

• Using a Homeland Security grant, the Bow Police Department upgraded a radio tower on Woodhill Road to meet modern needs through digital upgrades.

• Marilyn Graf, who spent more than 16 years teaching preschool and running children’s athletics programs in Bow, died Dec. 11.

Accomplishments and sacrifices

• Bow High School student Brittany Hooper raised $2,700 for the Neighbor Helping Neighbor Fund, which helps pay utility bills for those struggling to make monthly payments.

• Bow sixth-grader Clayton Caron won his second consecutive National Geographic Bee at Bow Memorial School on Jan. 6.

• In early January, Robert P. Cheney Jr. was named president of Familystrength, a Concord organization providing counseling and support services to children and families in New Hampshire.

• Less than a year after losing his right leg in a skiing accident in early 2005, Bow High School student Jon Parker returned to skiing.

• Bow High School junior Alexa Fay was featured in a Jan. 23 episode of MTV’s “Made,” a reality show tracking the progress of aspiring music stars.

• Bow mountain climber Robert Dawkins, who had recently returned from an adventure in the Himalayan mountains, presented a slide show at the Baker Free Library on Feb 22.

• Sixty-three students from Bow Elementary School participated in the annual Invention Convention on March 17.

• In April, Linda Vincent, a 10-year staff member at Bow Memorial School, was named 2006 Bow Hampshire Guidance Counselor of the Year.

• Teal Van Dyck, a Bow High School senior, won second place in a national poetry reading contest.

• The 19th annual Trans-New Hampshire Bike Ride to benefit muscular dystrophy was dedicated to Bow 5-year-old Elizabeth Hunter. In 2006, her father, Pierce, rode in the event for the third time.

• One hundred and thirtyfive out of 155 Bow High School music students traveled to Canada for the Toronto Music Festival. The group returned with several awards and accolades.

• In July, the Bow Police Department connected its new laptop computers to the state interface system sooner than expected, becoming one of the first in the state to have full access to the system.

• Jordan Vachon, 9, donated 75 teddy bears to the police department as part of her “boo boo bears” campaign, which she started in 2004 at the age of 7. Police Chief Jeff Jaran said his department would store the bears in cruisers and hand them out to grieving, traumatized or scared children.

• After serving 18 months undercover with the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Drug Task Force, Scott Hayes returned to the Bow Police Department and was promoted to sergeant.

• The Bow Rotary Club dedicated time and supplies to fix the roof on the old Bow Center School House.

• Donald Frost of Bow, who died Feb. 1 after battling lung disease, was honored when the American Lung Association dedicated its annual 5K walk in his name.

• Bow police officer Jim McIntire took a leave of absence in late September and October to donate one of his kidneys to his best friend in Wisconsin. McIntire returned to full-time service in November. He says he feels as good as ever.

• Dorothy Frost, who celebrated her 98th birthday on Sept. 11, was awarded Bow’s Boston Post Cane.

• Bow police Detective David Girard became the first town or city detective in the country to use a new technology that allows police departments to access computer hard drives through a remote server during investigations.

• On Nov. 12, after two new firefighters Dan Keller and Keith Lambert started working full time, the Bow fire department officially started offering 24/7 emergency services to the town. History

• The Bow Heritage Commission was asked by a local publishing company to provide photos for a new book detailing the history of Bow. Publication was expected in late 2006.

• Bow honored its veterans on Memorial Day with a holiday parade.

• Resident *** Welch, at the request of the Bow Heritage Commission, spent several months restoring the town’s old snowroller, which had been decommissioned in the 1920s when the town purchased its first snowplow.

• In October, the completely refurbished Bow snowroller was put on display next to the old Bow Center School House.

• The Bow Conservation Commission invited residents to participate in a photograph contest capturing Bow’s natural beauty. One photo may be selected by selectmen for the cover of the 2007 Town Report.

• Kim Thurlow and Stacey Rovinelli continued to renovate a 200-year-old home tucked away in what was known as the Chateauguay Corner district of Bow. The area is now Page Road.

Flooding and repair

• In May, heavy rain and flooding significantly damaged town and residential properties. While many roads were shut down for days and, in some cases weeks, a culvert was washed out on Dunklee Road, causing the road and bridge to be shut down for months.

• Residents Ray and Eleana Walsh may have been negatively affected by the floods more than most. On Mother’s Day, May 14, the hill behind their home collapsed causing a small mudslide and more than $30,000 in damages. The Walsh’s were battling with the town and state over who would take responsibility and pay for repairs.

• The town’s Little League fields were shut down due to flooding in June. Little League officials openly complained because more than half of the season had been wiped out due to rain. Recreation officials said they were protecting the fields from costly damage.

• Because of costs relating to May’s floods, Bow selectmen were unable to apply surplus funds to this year’s tax rate. The result was a 6.1 percent tax increase over last year.

Other town news

• In early January, Bow resident and Libertarian Ken Blevens drafted a petitioned warrant article to prevent eminent domain from becoming an issue in Bow.

• On Jan. 7, the Bow Fire Department, using the police department’s all-terrain vehicle, rescued an unidentified man who injured his back in a snowmobile accident.

• On Feb. 27, the town of Bow hosted an open house for Tedd Evans, Bow’s new building inspector and code enforcement officer.

• A six-alarm fire burned down a Route 3A home on March 5.

• In April, Bow selectmen proposed a $6.8 million operating budget, a 4 percent increase over the previous year.

• Although the budget committee tried to cut all part-time officers and two proposed fulltime positions, Chief Jaran publically opposed the plan and the budget committee reversed course, choosing instead to cut new laptop computers from cruisers. The laptops were later reinstated to the budget as well.

• Six days after the budget committee approved the selectmen’s proposed budget, following a heated debate, the committee met again to determine if the budget had been improperly approved. Ultimately, the budget recommendations remained intact.

• On April 17, a Bedford student was found at Bow Memorial School. He told police he was kidnapped at gunpoint and dropped off in Bow. No further information was available because the student was a minor.

• At Town Meeting, voters approved the town’s $7.35 million budget. Before the meeting, however, selectmen and school board members were forced to cut $430,928 from the budget to cover a revenue shortfall discovered from the previous year.

• On June 13, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office released seven months of findings regarding a murder/suicide in October 2005. The report confirmed that Joseph Grigas shot and killed Elmer Rule before turning the gun on himself. The report did little to explain the reason behind the shooting, other than to explain Grigas was drunk and apparently had been in a small accident with Rule, his best friend’s father.

• The Bow Rotary Club hosted its annual Summer Concert Series, a six-week program bringing different types of music to the town bandstand.

• Vandals wreaked havoc on the community center parking lot by breaking car windshields, throwing eggs and tomatoes at other vehicles, and littering the area with garbage.

• The Rotary Club hosted its annual bike race in August. Hundreds of bikers from around the continent participated in the event.

• The Bow Police Department hosted its first annual Bike Rodeo on Sept. 17. The event was aimed at raising bicycle-safety awareness to local children.

• The Bow Police Department began using radar boxes in 2006, at selectmen’s request, to help compile speeding data in town. Resident Brian Milazzo, however, took exception to the plan after a radar box was set up in front of his home on Page Road, a notorious speeding area. Milazzo said the box, located outside his son’s bedroom window, could expose his child to radiation. The box was removed by police and relocated.

• The state Department of Transportation in September announced it would shut down Grandview Road for 10 weeks in 2007 to reconstruct the I-93 overpass.

• The town alarm system, which Town Manager Jim Pitts said was obsolete and beyond repair, was shut down Dec. 1 after several decades of service.

• Pitts announced that Bow would undergo its first property revaluation since 2002. Assessors, he said, would begin work in December.

Other school news

• At the School District Meeting in March, residents approved the proposed school board budget, of $4,723,983.

• The Bow POPS, or Parents of Performing Arts Students, initiated a campaign to raise $25,000 for a new piano for the Bow High School music department.

• More than 140 seniors, the largest class in Bow High School history, graduated June 17.

• Bow Memorial School students were invited on stage to sing with the Granite State Symphony Orchestra during its Dec. 17 holiday concert.