Town official troubles

The Epsom town offices have been packed at selectmen’s meetings since the firing of the town’s popular elected road agent, Gordon Ellis.

Selectmen fired Ellis, who’s twice been elected as the town’s road agent, after confronting him with four charges related to specific past jobs or his communication with the town’s road advisory committee.

Selectmen have said Ellis repeatedly neglected their orders and failed to respond to warnings about his job performance. Ellis appealed his firing, and was the subject of a Nov. 27 hearing that packed the upper level of the fire station with about 200 people, many of whom supported Ellis.

Selectmen listened to testimony from Ellis and two other witnesses. On Dec. 18, selectmen deliberated on Ellis’ appeal in nonpublic, despite requests from Ellis’ attorney that the deliberations be in public. More than 100 residents were turned away from the deliberations. Selectmen upheld the firing of Ellis, but did not reveal their decision to the public. Instead, they sent a letter to Ellis, which he did not pick up for eight days, and they sealed the minutes of their nonpublic discussion of the decision for 30 days.

Ellis, who’s also a school board member, said he plans to run for re-election in March.

Michael Briggs murdered

The death of a Manchester police officer, Michael Briggs, hit home for many people in Epsom, where the slain officer was raised and worked for years.

Briggs was shot on Oct. 16 while nearing the end of his bicycle patrol shift in Manchester’s downtown. The 35-year-old died a day later. Michael “Stix” Addison has been charged with the murder.

Briggs grew up in Epsom and was both a part-time officer on Epsom’s police force and a volunteer firefighter. Hundreds of mourners – including scores of uniformed police officers – turned out to MerchantsAuto.com stadium in Manchester for Briggs’ funeral.

After the ceremony, Briggs’ body was taken by motorcade past the Epsom traffic circle, where volunteers had labored a day earlier to plant flowers and place signs there intended to honor Briggs.

Two Epsom police officers, including friend and Police Chief Wayne Preve, were pallbearers at Briggs’ funeral. Briggs himself was a pallbearer at the funeral of Jeremy Charron, who was the last New Hampshire police officer killed in the line of duty. Charron and Briggs were friends while working together on the Epsom police force.

At Briggs’ funeral, mourners remembered him as a consummate family man and dedicated worker. Briggs was decorated for his work both as a United States Marine and for acts of courage as a police officer. He is survived by his wife, Laura, and two sons.

Suncook charts new course

Rivers don’t often decide to change course. But extreme flooding leading up to May 15 caused the Suncook River to forge through a weakened bank about a quarter mile south of Route 4 and fill up an unused gravel pit.

The water then broke through the south side of the pit, and has since been occupying a new course since returning to its historic banks about a mile downstream from the initial breach.

The change has captured the interests of local and regional scientists, most of whom have only heard second-hand accounts of such an event. State environmental workers have since been working with Epsom town officials to try to find money to study the newly redesigned Suncook.

At a selectmen’s meeting just days after the breach, residents almost unanimously said they wanted the river returned to its former course, which has since been dry.

The effects of the change have been dramatic upstream of the breach, where the once meandering river has now turned to thin rapids. Below the breach, new silt and sand is still being carried through the water, disturbing properties and upsetting the habitat.

When the old riverbank went dry – after water dramatically flowed upstream for hours after the breach – scientists made an unexpected discovery. More than 1,000 brook floater mussels, which are listed on the state’s endangered species list and the federal species of concern list, were found fighting for life with diminishing water and higher ammonia levels.

Volunteers collected the mussels, and transported them to the Nashua National Fish Hatchery, where troughs were set up to temporarily house the mollusks. Scientists have since returned the mussels to points upstream of the breach, where their familiar habitat still exists.