"Kayak Smile"  Learning to kayak on Chestnut Pond. A color photo changed to sepia to give it a timeless appeal.

BY JENN McDOWELLIt’s going to be a lot harder for the Hills family of Allenstown to stay afloat financially this year, with fuel prices hitting record highs. Jeanne Hills babysits her toddler grandson, staying home while her husband and her adult children work. With the price of heating oil averaging more than $4.50 a gallon, according to ...

BY GRETA CUYLEREleven years after Epsom police officer Jeremy Charron died in the line of duty, he was honored Tuesday, March 18, when the Hillsborough Post Office was officially named the Officer Jeremy Todd Charron Post Office. “The town of Hillsborough has produced many fine individuals, but none finer than Jeremy Todd Charron,” ...

BY JENN McDOWELLEpsom’s Board of Selectmen will remain at three seats for at least two more years after voters re-affirmed their 2007 vote to decrease the number of seats on the board. In a 275-495 vote at this year’s election, Epsom voters decided they made the right decision last year to go to a three-member Board of Selectmen after ...

BY JENN McDOWELLNew Hampshire towns are gearing up for the annual vote on town and school issues. Polls will open Tuesday, March 11. Hooksett’s official ballot town elections are not until May 13. Pembroke and Auburn adhere to the traditional Town Meeting format, and are only electing officials on March 11. Auburn will, however, decide ...

BY JENN McDOWELLAfter the Bow Dispatch Center increased its fees for the four other towns it covers, Allenstown, Epsom and Pembroke are faced with payments that more than double the prior year’s payments for Bow’s services. Despite having to bite the bullet on the fee spike, law enforcement officials from all three towns say the ...

Thanks to the patience and determination of landowners Les and Joan Ottinger and sister Geraldine Priest, 171 acres in Epsom -- including wetlands, a beaver pond, the headwaters of a tributary of the Suncook River, rare rocky ridge habitat, 19 acres of fields and a well-managed woodlot – are now permanently conserved. The easement took a ...

BY SUSAN CLARKA growing population, failing roads and maintaining experienced police and rescue workers have some voters and selectmen eager to get Epsom back on track. About 55 voters turned out to the Feb. 3 deliberative session of Town Meeting. Some were adament about controlling spending, while others said the town can no longer wait to ...

BY JENN McDOWELLA recent public hearing on a petitioned warrant article to bring Epsom’s Board of Selectmen back to five seats revealed that many residents who voted to decrease the number of seats to three at last year’s Town Meeting have changed their minds. Bruce Graham, one of those who voted to go to a threemember board, called ...

BY JENN McDOWELLAfter several years operating on a default budget, the town of Epsom will see a 22 percent increase in the coming year’s proposed town budget, the majority of that increase devoted to road improvements town officials say have been put off for too long. “It’s an accumulated need,” said Harvey Harkness, ...