Nov. 4, 2003: After a four-year hiatus from Concord’s city hall, Allenstown Police Chief and former councilor Jim McGonigle wins a seat with 1,788 votes citywide, the highest of the three candidates running for councilor-at-large.
Nov. 4, 2002: Three dozen South Enders turn out to meet with city councilors about a few neighborhood hot topics: the Northwest Bypass, the Richmond Co. shopping center and the Interstate 93 expansion.
Nov. 4, 1947: Concord voters apparently aren’t in the mood to have fun this Election Day. By wide margins, they reject plans to construct a man-made lake and to permit high school sports and recreational bowling on Sundays.
Nov 4, 1976: Two days after winning a third term, Gov. Mel Thomson sums of the voters’ mood: “They think I’m an SOB, but they still vote for me.” Thomson says he may seek a fourth term or even a stint in the U.S. Senate. (Ultimately, he will lose to Democrat Hugh Gallen.)
Nov. 5, 1996: Jeanne Shaheen defeats Ovide Lamontagne to become the state’s first female governor. Voters re-elect U.S. Sen. Bob Smith.
Nov. 5, 1996: For the first time ever, Concord elects an all-female delegation to the State House. The members: Reps. Carol Burney, Jean Wallin, Mary Stuart Gile, Gloria Seldin, Liz Hager, Carol Moore, Toni Crosby, Marilyn Fraser, Katherine Rogers, Tara Reardon, Miriam Dunn, Mary Jane Wallner, Betty Hoadley and Sen. Sylvia Larsen. Come 1998, however, Rep. Dave Poulin will break up the old girls club.
Nov. 5, 1991: While acting as a commentator on the local cable channel as the city election results are being counted, Concord Mayor Jim MacKay learns that he has been defeated for re-election to the city council.
Nov. 6, 2003: The Monitor reports that the murder trial of Gary Sampson is underway in U.S. District Court in Boston. Sampson pleaded guilty to stabbing two Massachusetts men to death and strangling Robert “Eli” Whitney of Penacook in 2001. The jury will decide whether Sampson should get the death penalty.
Nov. 6, 2001: Mike Donovan beats Jim O’Neill in Concord’s mayoral election in a sweep of all 10 wards. The tally is 3,537 to 2,126.
Nov. 6, 1947: The Concord Monitor’s editorial writer expresses disbelief at voters’ rejection of a plan to build a man-made lake. “The Concord Lake proposal had been developed out of the soundest methods of government administration now known. Known advantages of the plan far outweighed disadvantages. In spite of all this, Concord said ‘No.’”
Nov. 6, 1907: By a count of 2,281-2,034, Concord voters decide to stop licensing saloons and ban them. Manchester, Nashua and Portsmouth vote to continue licensing. Franklin, Laconia and Keene join Concord in prohibiting them. The measures will take effect May 1, 1908.
Nov. 6, 1900: Concord Mayor Nat Martin, a local lawyer who made his name closing saloons, is defeated for reelection. He angered voters by trying to have it both ways – busting some backroom bars under the state’s 45-year-old prohibition statute while permitting other “clubs” to serve liquor.
Nov. 7, 2001: Concord parking enforcers give out the first boot, a metal lock that fits over a car’s wheel and prevents the vehicle from moving unless removed. It has been three months since the city announced that it would boot any car whose owner owed more than $100 in parking tickets.
Nov. 7, 1995: Bill Veroneau is re-elected Concord’s mayor.
Nov. 7, 1874: A new wrought-iron bridge is opened over the Contoocook River in Penacook. The cost is a little more than $17,000.
Nov. 8, 1988: U.S. Rep. Judd Gregg is elected governor.
Nov. 8, 1983: On his eighth try, longtime city gadfly Bob Schweiker is elected to the Concord School Board. Even he is surprised by the vote. “I really expected to lose,” he says.
Nov. 8, 1844: The local Columbian artillery turns out on Sand Hill in Concord to fire off a salute to the election of James K. Polk and George M. Dallas. As the cannon is being loaded, an explosion badly injures John L. Haynes, an officer in the unit. The explosion blows off Haynes’s left arm and shatters the bones in his right arm.
Nov. 9, 2002: The Concord High girls’ cross country team, already owners of the Class L and State Meet titles, adds a mud-caked New England championship to its cache in Portland, Maine.
Nov. 9, 2001: Dave Poulin, a 10-year city councilor from Penacook and a two-term state representative, dies at the age of 59.
Nov. 9, 1978: After losing in his bid for a fourth term, Gov. Mel Thomson hints at a future on the national stage: “The whole country is my nut,” he says, “and I’m going to crack it.”
Nov. 10, 2003: The Concord City Council votes to put an automated trash plan on hold until exact cost estimates are available.
Nov. 10, 1854: Concord’s Unitarian Church is destroyed by fire.
Nov. 10, 1887: Robert O. Blood is born in Enfield. He will be a World War I hero, physician, dairy farmer and, throughout World War II, governor of New Hampshire.
Nov. 10, 1995: The refurbished Capitol Center for the Arts reopens on South Main Street. The opening show features folkies John Sebastian, Jonathan Edwards, Janis Ian and New Hampshire’s own Tom Rush.
