Dec. 17, 1979: New Hampshire’s multi-million dollar ski industry, already plagued by high fuel prices, is getting nervous about the winter. With just five days until the start of Christmas vacation, only six of the state’s 35 ski areas are open. Not only has there been a shortage of natural snow, but warm weather has hindered artificial snowmaking operations. Ski area operators are praying for a heavy snowfall before Christmas to bail them out of a potential financial disaster, the Associated Press reports.
Dec. 17, 2001: Concord mayor Bill Veroneau ends his 16-year council career on a high note, as the council approves the money for the completion of the southern leg of the Northwest Bypass. “My six years as a ward councilor and 10 years as mayor have always been exciting, never boring and continuously filled with action,” he says. “Tonight is an example.”
Dec. 17, 1951: The temperature in Concord falls to 22 below zero, making this the coldest December day of the 20th century.
December 17, 1828: Ralph Waldo Emerson, who is under serious consideration for the job of assistant pastor to the Second Church in Boston (the Mathers’ church), visits Concord. He and Ellen Tucker, whom he met the previous Christmas, become engaged to marry. He is 25, she 17.
December 17, 1992: Gov. Judd Gregg orders a pagan symbol removed from the State House lawn. The young man who erected it goes to court, where Steven McAuliffe, in his first major decision as a federal judge, overrules Gregg’s order.
Dec. 18, 2001: David Rayment, a lawyer representing the Richmond Co., the Massachusetts company that wants to build a supermarket and shopping center adjacent to the South End Marsh, argues in a hearing at Merrimack County Superior Court that the Concord Planning Board unfairly rejected the project. Superior Court Judge John Arnold will later rule that the board did not provide the developers with enough evidence to support its decision to reject the proposal.
Dec. 18, 2000: For the first time in anyone’s memory, a crowd gathers at the State House to watch the casting of votes for president by New Hampshire’s four members of the Electoral College. The electors all choose George W. Bush, doing their part to ensure his narrow victory over Al Gore.
December 18, 1995: Concord’s Bob Tewksbury signs a one-year contract with the San Diego Padres for $1.5 million.
Dec. 19, 1979: At a campaign stop in Concord, Senate Minority Leader Howard Baker says a get-tough policy is needed to protect American embassies and suggests the creation of a special 50,000-member military unit to accomplish that. “As dangerous as the situation is in Iran, the real danger to this country is the growing impression throughout the world that you can push on Uncle Sam and nothing ever happens in return,” he says.
Dec. 19, 1895: Schoolteachers Robert Frost and Elinor White marry. They will honeymoon the following summer in Allenstown.
Dec. 20, 1979: U.S. Rep. John Anderson, a Republican from Illinois, comes to Concord to officially register for the GOP presidential primary. Ronald Reagan, he tells the Associated Press, “is a long way from being home free in this race.”
Dec. 20, 2000: Commissioner Leon Kenison announces his retirement from the state Department of Transportation. Kenison, 58, has worked in the department since he was a 23-year-old civil engineer fresh out of the University of New Hampshire.
Dec. 21, 2002: Concord boys’ basketball opens their season with a 49-47 win over Pinkerton.
Dec. 21, 1998: The Concord City Council orders City Manager Duncan Ballantyne to review the process used to rename 31 city streets after a prolonged furor over the issue. Ultimately, they say, some streets may revert to their old names.
Dec. 22, 2001: In a state where primary campaigns rarely heat up until just before the election, Craig Benson has thrown more extravaganzas than any of his four competitors – probably more than any candidate in the state’s history so far out from the election – and he never lets anyone leave hungry, the Monitor reports. Food, folks and fun is not his only tactic, but Benson knows that in a good activist’s heart, eating is next to voting. And so far, his strategy is attracting diners – and attention.
Dec 22, 1862: Nine days after the 5th New Hampshire Infantry was cut to pieces at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Captain James Larkin of Concord writes his wife back home that “there are several Concord people out here since the fight. . . . They had better come before a fight and bring a musket. They would do more good.”
Dec. 23, 2001: Bud Luckern, head hockey coach at Bishop Brady High School from 1974 to 1981 and 1985 to 1991, dies at the age of 66.
Dec. 23, 2000: Bradlees department store on Fort Eddy Road is about to go out of business, the Monitor reports. The 105-store chain, which struggled through the 1990s, will close all of its locations.
