Nov. 17, 2003: Opponents of New Hampshire’s new parental notification law announce that they are suing the state because the law doesn’t provide a broad enough exception when the health of the mother is at stake. They are also asking a federal judge to block the law from going into effect Dec. 31.
Nov. 17, 2000: The state Fish and Game Department is considering the first increase in fishing and hunting license fees in more than a decade, the Monitor reports.
Nov. 17, 1847: Speaking in Lebanon, New Hampshire, Daniel Webster marvels at the coming of the railroad. “The world has seen nothing like it before,” he says. “I will not pretend, nobody can pretend, to discern the end. But everybody knows that the age is remarkable for scientific research.”
Nov. 18, 2001: Local businesses brace for a slow NASCAR event, which will be the Friday after Thanksgiving, the Monitor reports. Colder weather, the holiday and a locked-up Winston Cup season all mean a busy day rather than a money-making weekend. Originally scheduled for September, the race was postponed because of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Nov. 18, 1730: The Rev. Timothy Walker is ordained at Pennycook (later Rumford, then Concord), the community’s first minister.
Nov. 19, 2001: The Concord City Council makes a three-year, $150,000 commitment to the downtown, and on terms that downtown merchants want. The merchants hope to join the Main Street Program, an initiative to help preserve and sustain downtowns across the country.
Nov 20, 1845: Levi Woodbury of Portsmouth is appointed to the U.S Supreme Court.
Nov. 20, 1884: The Evening Monitor’s City Notes column reports: “One week from today is Thanksgiving. Let the turkeys paste that in their hats.”
Nov. 20, 1989: In bankruptcy court, Northeast Utilities of Connecticut announces it has struck a deal to buy Public Service Co. of New Hampshire for $2.3 billion.
Nov. 21, 2002: Seventy-five nonunion state employees gather at the New Hampshire Technical Institute in Concord to voice frustration after discovering they must pay the state employees union for the cost of contract negotiations, and if the employees don’t hand over that monthly tithe, they could get fired.
Nov. 21, 2001: The Brick Tower, the last independently owned motel in Concord, will close at the end of the month. The 47-room motel, which opened in 1958, could not compete with the newer hotels in the area.
Nov. 21, 1951: Peter MacPherson, the last survivor of a crew which built the cog railway up New England’s highest peak, 6,288-foot Mt. Washington, dies at the age of 100. He worked the scenic railroad in 1866 and was also the surviving member of the crew which built the railroad through Crawford Notch.
Nov. 21, 1729: Josiah Bartlett is born. He will become a N.H. leader during the Revolution, sign the Declaration of Independence, and serve as governor.
Nov. 21, 1987: On a gusty day during which the temperature never hits 20 degrees, Concord High School defeats Salem 14-7 to win its first state football championship since 1974.
Nov. 22, 2003: The 52nd annual Holiday Magic Christmas Parade in Concord goes to the dogs, the dogs on the Rolling Bones 4-H club parade float, that is. Joining the canines on the two mile route up Loudon Road are high school marching bands and children on unicycles.
Nov. 22, 2000: For the first time in recent memory, the tax rate in Penacook will be higher than in the rest of Concord, officials announce.
Nov. 22, 1917: Hugh Gregg is born. He will become governor of New Hampshire (1953-55), as will his son Judd.
Nov. 22, 1963: New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller’s schedule for a three-day campaign visit to New Hampshire is on the front page of the Monitor, but the trip will be canceled because of the lead story of the day: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Nov. 22, 1943: The town of Randolph makes a place in the record books when the largest 24-hour snowfall in the U.S. is recorded: 56 inches in a single storm.
