BY DERRICK PERKINS A couple of days every week, a group of old friends gets together on the second floor of the Ingram Senior Center to swap stories, tell jokes and shoot pool. For Joe Swift, a retired police officer, the morning sessions are an opportunity to reminisce and spend time playing a game with some good friends that he ...

BY JENN McDOWELL Edward Kruczinski and his family had a hard time finding a place to live since the mortgage on their Allenstown home was foreclosed on the day after Christmas in 2006. While Kruczinski, his wife, Carolyn, and their three teenage daughters finally relocated to one side of a duplex in town, the foreclosure ruined their ...

BY JERRY LIPTAKCentral’s student body had a message for visiting Salem and, more specifically, its star junior forward, Josh Jones: “Napoleon Dynamite – Gimme your tots!” Jones, the Central faithful feel, bears a striking resemblance to the awkward high schooler of film fame. But on Saturday, Feb. 23, Jones was anything ...

BY MATT SCHOOLEYWith the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Class L girls basketball tournament locked up, Manchester Central didn’t have much to play for in its regularseason finale vs. Salem High School. But when the contest on Saturday, Feb. 23, was over, the Little Green left with a 61-47 win in one of their most physical games of the season, ...

BY JERRY LIPTAKThe Division I match-up between 9-4-0 Salem and 5-6-2 Manchester West had a little something for every ice hockey fan: fine goaltending from both starting netminders, hard-hitting confrontations in the corners, frenetic action from blue line to blue line, even some heated verbal exchanges. Ultimately, the visiting Salem Blue Devils ...

By Darrell Halen   For more than a year, Army 1st Lt. Barry Couture “chased bad guys” and helped Iraqis rebuild their lives – a stark contrast to life in his relatively quiet hometown of Pelham. Couture, 25, led an armored platoon of about 24 men in eastern Baghdad. One man was killed, another seriously ...

 By Darrell Halen They’re four Salem area women who share a common bond – mothers of men serving their country in military uniform. And twice a month, over coffee and soda, they exchange stories and share their fears, giving each other moral support and, at times, a shoulder to cry on. They call themselves ...

By Darrell Halen   If Everett McBride Jr. and Michael Lyons return to the Salem Board of Selectmen in March, it will not have been without a fight. Two seats on the board are available this year, and three other candidates – Ron Giordano, John J. Manning and Roland Theberge – have also filed to run. The positions are for ...

By Matt Schooley The Concord High School girls basketball team was hungry for its first win of the season, but Salem High School wasn’t letting that get in the way of its fast start to the year, cruising to a 63-47 road victory. Concord kept the contest on Friday, Jan. 25, within shouting distance into the halftime break, but the ...

By Ryan O’connor Those formulating the rules must have had Nick Miles in mind when they put pen to paper. At the annual Salem Invitational boys gymnastics tournament, which took place Saturday, Jan. 26, those competing in the all-around are not eligible to place in individual events. “It’s to give everyone a ...