Peterborough voters approved a $11.7 million operating budget by a substantial margin Tuesday, while rejecting two petition articles calling for election of Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment members.

Liz Thomas won re-election to the Peterborough Select Board, beating challenger Tony Nichols, 757 to 200.

Also going down to defeat were two petition articles sponsored by developer Craig Hicks. One called for adding retailing as a permitted use in the town’s Commerce Park District. The other sought to rezone a 7.85-acre lot that Hicks owns at the end of Mercer Avenue from Rural and Family District to Village Commercial District.

Voters approved a petition article to rezone land on Old Street Road that’s owned by Monadnock Community Hospital to become part of the Monadnock Community Healthcare District.

The election drew 990 voters, a 23 percent turnout.

Details in Thursday’s Ledger-Transcript.

NEW IPSWICH — With help from tips from the public, police have identified and seized a vehicle they suspect to be connected with the hit-and-run accident last Wednesday that sent a New Ipswich mother to the hospital.

Crystal Hazelton, 24, was struck Wednesday morning while pushing her two-year-old daughter, Alexis, in a stroller on Thayer Road. Alexis was not injured in the incident.

On Monday, police seized a black Honda Accord from a residence on Thayer Road. During the execution of a search warrant on Tuesday, police determined that the vehicle had damage to the passenger door and a broken window. Police Chief Garrett Chamberlain said the department is not releasing any information about the owner of the car or any possible suspects in the case until further investigation into the case.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 235 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter at @AshleySaari.

More details in Tuesday's Ledger-Transcript.

WILTON -- One person was killed and one firefighter injured last night in a three-alarm fire at a home on Maple Street, which brought out emergency service responders from eight towns.

According to N.H. Deputy Fire Marshal John Raymond there has not yet been a positive identification made on the individual killed in the fire. The injured Wilton firefighter, Captain Joe Torre, was treated and released for burns on the sides of his face and wrist the night of the fire.

The Fire Marshal’s Office is leading the investigation of the fire's cause, which has yet to be determined.

More details in Tuesday's Ledger-Transcript.

A fire in a cooling unit at New England Wood Pellet in Jaffrey early Friday morning brought just under a dozen area fire departments to the scene, where Jaffrey Deputy Fire Chief Keith Dupuis said on arrival he saw heavy smoke billowing from a building.

Just before 1:53 a.m., a plant employee called 911 to report the fire, Dupuis said, and at the scene Jaffrey firefighters upgraded the fire to a second alarm. Flames were contained to one piece of equipment, he noted, but firefighters remained at the plant until 8 a.m. monitoring for extension.

“No employees, no firefighters [were injured], that was a good goal that we met,” said Dupuis.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, he said, noting that it will take pulling the cooling equipment apart to pinpoint what went wrong.

The plant is expected to resume operations later today or Saturday, according to Dupuis, who noted the fire resulted in limited damage to the plant, but much clean up to do, he said.
Firefighters from Antrim, Rindge, Dublin, Peterborough, New Ipswich, Keene, Fitzwilliam, Greenville, Troy, Temple and Winchendon, Mass., assisted at the scene.

More details in Tuesday’s Ledger-Transcript.