2007 got off to an inauspicious start for Weare with a fivehour standoff on Jan. 11 between police and an armed and allegedly suicidal Weare man who recently lost his job.

William Lambroukos shot the telephones inside his house with a shotgun and was eventually driven out with pepper spray, accidentally shooting himself in the ankle. Later this year in October, he was arrested for driving while intoxicated after a single-car crash that seriously injured his 11-year-old daughter, Britany. Both were flown to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hospital.

This year also saw the rejection of both town and school operating budgets at the March elections, sending both to default levels.

The school budget failed by only three votes, a razor-thin margin upheld by a requested recount.

The school district had requested an operating budget of $11.9 million, about 1 percent or $126,628 higher than the default budget.

Voters approved all other school warrant articles, including money for a new contract with a $58,077 increase in salary and benefits for school support staff, district surplus funds to maintain water and septic systems and money for technological equipment.

The $4.3 million town operating budget on the ballot was about $86,000 or 2 percent more than the previous year’s budget and the default level.

Also on the ballot were warrant articles requesting money for road reconstruction, a building needs assessment, the hiring a new police officer, EMT staff for the ambulance eight hours a day, modified tax exemptions for the elderly and capital reserve fund requests totaling $325,334.

Petitioned articles included year-round public access to Horace Lake, establishing a fund to build a community center and a controversial change in rural agricultural zone lot sizes from two acres to five acres.

Voters passed the zoning ordinance changing rural agricultural lot sizes but rejected the articles for a new police officer, ambulance EMT staffing and increased access hours to Lake Horace.

Town departments and selectmen cut back on some services to fit town employee raises while on a default budget. The overall property tax rate, set in November at $15.27 per $1,000 assessed value, dropped 78 cents, or 4.9 percent, from the previous year’s rate. The town portion remained level and the school portion was lower by 81 cents, or 7.9 percent, because of an adequacy grant that was about $1 million more than expected.

Weare Middle School students performed the junior version of “Fiddler on the Roof” in February. John Stark Regional High School staged the musical “Children of Eden” in March.

Racing snowmobilers helped raise money for a teen battling lymph node disease and a 1- year-old with brain cancer in a February event organized by the Weare Winter Wanderers.

John Stark Regional High School saw the departure of Principal Arthur Aaronson, who left after eight years as principal, for a position as an educational consultant in Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates. Assistant Principal Michael Turmelle was chosen to replace Aaronson. Turmelle came to JSRHS in 1998 as a health and social studies teacher and became assistant principal in 2002.

Though he was the only applicant for the job, because he was an internal candidate, he was interviewed much more rigorously than an external candidate, said SAU 24 Superintendent Christine Tyrie. Turmelle said one of his main goals is to reduce student dropout rates.

A local group spearheaded by Walter Alderman formed a committee to explore longterm plans and resources for a bicycle and pedestrian pathway for students, in response to a 2006 town warrant article. The group will likely work with the national Safe Routes to School program, said Alderman.

Flooding hit Weare again with the storms of April 16, closing many of the same roads affected by the 2006 Mother’s Day flood, including River Road, South Stark Highway, Twin Bridge Road and Derring Center Road. The roads were opened by the following afternoon. Schools closed early but reopened the following day after a two-hour delay, except JSRHS which remained closed.

The children’s room in the lower level of the Weare Public Library received about an inch of floodwater, delivering a blow to a town and library already operating on a default budget. An engineer’s report two weeks before the flooding noted potential problems in the drainage system. A new drainage system for the children’s room, estimated at $20,000, would come out of the town’s building improvement capital reserve fund, but the library had to raise money for a drainage study.

Selectmen approved about $8,000 for repairs on July 16. The flooding elicited an “overwhelming” response from the community, said library director Christine Hague, from volunteers that scrambled to store books and materials in a safer area to groups that held fundraising events for the library, which raised about $4,600.

The Weare Rocketry Team, composed mostly of JSRHS students, was one of 12 groups nationwide granted a chance by NASA to design their own rocket and test it at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., in April. Though their rocket did not meet the time requirement, they qualified to resubmit a project next year.

A Weare Middle School rocketry team also qualified for the national Team America Rocketry Challenge in May. The Russell M. Durgin Memorial Road Race, held in May in Henniker, helped raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project, which helps injured soldiers transition into civilian life.

Durgin, a 2001 graduate of JSRHS, died during his second tour with the Army’s 10th Mountain Division. Weare residents Michael and Suzanne Couhie, who have two sons in the military and knew Durgin through tae kwon do, helped organize walkers and runners to participate in the race.

A Weare man allegedly shot another Weare resident in the chest with a handgun on June 19 following an altercation over the possession of tools. Thomas Lagerbloom, 58, was held on $1 million cash bail while his victim, Jeff Hebbeln, 47, was transported to Concord Hospital.

Lagerbloom was charged with attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault and theft by unauthorized taking and was scheduled for a probable cause hearing in Goffstown District Court.

Weare held its annual Patriotic Celebration from July 6 to 8, with a parade featuring “movie themes,” blacksmithing demonstration, police K-9 demonstration and a DJ providing music and karaoke.

Public Service of New Hampshire began construction on a $17.6 million project to provide more power to southwestern New Hampshire, featuring a new substation in Weare and two new transmission lines, to be completed in the second quarter of 2008.

The first six months of 2007 yielded a significant rise in recycling rates – now more than 25 percent of the solid waste collected, according to Carl Knapp, who heads the transfer station.

The brand new $18.3 million Weare Middle School was dedicated on Aug. 25. With 134,600 square feet and capacity for 920 students, three science labs, a new library and music room, the school represents a significant improvement in quality and safety over the old school, said Principal David Pabst.

A 38-year-old Weare man assaulted a 17-year-old student in the parking lot of JSRH on Sept. 10, leaving him with injuries requiring stitches, after being told the boy had raped his 15-year-old daughter.

The teens had been seeing each other covertly for several months, since the girl was not allowed to date, and the two later admitted going to the boy’s parent’s house to have sex. The students returned to campus through separate entrances, but the girl’s absence had been noticed and her parents notified. The girl told her parents and police that she had been raped. but later said that statement was false.

Since she was younger than 16, she is unable to legally give consent. The boy is less than three years older than her and was charged with a Class A misdemeanor. The father was charged with a Class B felony assault.

The 17-year-old student is scheduled to go to trial Jan. 3 in Goffstown District Court, following a hearing that same morning to see if the 15-year-old faces issues of self-incrimination.

The probable cause hearing at Goffstown District Court of the father has been continued.

After initial differences, Weare and Goffstown agreed to request a special election in conjunction with the March town elections to fill the seat of longtime District 7 state Rep. Bruce Hunter, who died Sept. 23. The filing period runs Dec. 24 to 31, and the primary will be Feb. 5.

A car driven by two Weare teens collided headlong into a bus full of Weare Middle School students Nov. 8 on Route 114 but no one was seriously injured.