By Jodi Wolfe
Staff Writer

January
• Robert H. Proulx, 58, of Sleepy Hollow Lane, Epsom, dies Jan. 3 while hunting at Corbin Park in Croydon. When police and EMTs arrive on the scene, Proulx is pronounced dead from a single gunshot wound. Proulx was a taxidermist who owned Wildlife Taxidermy and Sports Center in Manchester.

Later in January, one of Proulx’s hunting partners, Steven Laro, is named the shooter.

TIGHT SQUEEZE – Chris Porter stands between the stacks at the Epsom Town Library, just before voters approved the construction of a new library. (File Photo)

• At the deliberative session of Town Meeting on Jan. 31, there is a record low turnout, 79 out of 2,590 registered voters. One of the big issues discussed is getting a full-time fire chief for approximately $50,000 a year. The warrant article is proposed by Selectman Michael Dempsey, who says he felt the current situation is unfair to Fire Chief Stuart Yeaton who runs the fire department and his family dairy farm.

However, the town votes to reaffirm the fire department’s volunteer status. Yeaton says he didn’t think his work on the farm affected his serving as fire chief. Residents also vote to amend Article 11 to pay for a $60,000 highway department truck in one year instead of four.

Other warrant articles give $250,000 to the Epsom Library Capital Campaign Committee and ask whether to make the position of a welfare officer and road agent elected or hired. The $250,000 for the new library gives voters a choice between two warrant articles, one to bond the money over a five-year period and one to pay it all in 2004, which would increase the tax rate by $1.49.

February
• At the School District Meeting deliberative session on Feb. 5, residents go over the $6.24 million operating budget line by line. School board members assure residents they have cut everything they possibility could.

March
• The town prepares for March 9 voting. Besides the two library warrant articles, $150,000 is proposed for rebuilding and improving town roads, $65,000 to buy a new highway department truck, and changing the positions of town welfare officer and town road agent to hired positions. The proposed operating budget is $2,162,280.

• The school district’s $6,147,898 budget passes after being on a default budget for the past two years. An article pertaining to the new library, paying out $250,000 in a bond passes. However the positions of town welfare officer and town road agent remain elected positions.

• On March 11, Steven Laro is indicted on three charges in the death of Robert Proulx. Laro is charged with one count of negligent homicide, one count of felonious use of a firearm, and one count of reckless conduct with a deadly firearm.

April
• After the town passes the $250,000 bond for the new library, the fundraising campaign kicks up a notch. So far $630,00 has been raised. This includes a donation of land worth $125,000.

• After former police chief Henry Farrin resigned in December, the board of selectmen choose Sgt. Wayne Preve as his replacement.

May
• The last phase of the new playground at Webster Park is completed. The equipment is handicap-friendly and comes complete with with a special swing for children in wheelchairs.

• On May 16, Epsom rededicates the 154-year-old town hall after it is restored by a group of volunteers known as the Epsom Town Hall Restoration Committee. With $30,000 in donations, the committee replaces the rear sill of the building’s foundation, updates all the lights, steps, doors and windows. The building’s entry and restroom are also handicap-accessible. The renovation is rededicated to Robert “Bob” Yeaton for his leadership in preserving the town hall.

July
• The Epsom-Chichester Lions Club is named Lions Club of the Year.

• Epsom Bible Church members build a facility to house the church’s Cornerstone Christian Academy on Black Hall Road. The academy is built in just two weeks.

August
• A fire blazes through the barn at the Spooky View Farm at the home of Charlie and Ruth Bachelder, leaving more than 70 cows homeless. The dairy farm, currently owned by the Bachelder’s son Keith, is damaged after one of the bearings on the hay elevator overheats, said Epsom Fire Chief Stuart Yeaton.

Yeaton offered Keith Bachelder a temporary home for his cows at his farm.

Besides a home for the cows, the Bachelder family received a lot of support from the community.

Later on, the Bachelders receive their insurance money and say they plan to rebuild the barn in the spring. Keith Bachelder continues to operate his diary business from the Yeaton Dairy Farm.

• Epsom community members rally around their former police chief, Henry Farrin and his family. Farrin is injured by a roadside explosion in Iraq the same day his family’s Florida home is hit by Hurricane Charley on Aug. 13.

September
• By September, the Epsom Public Library Capital Campaign Committee is $350,000 away from its $1 million fundraising goal. The committee is working on finalizing plans for the building to break ground in the spring. The committee is currently working on applying for grants for the campaign. A grant application is sent to the Bank of New Hampshire, as well as to Citizens Bank and the Kresge Foundation.

• Students at Epsom Central School put together 260 backpacks of school supplies and toys for children in emergency hurricane shelters in Florida.

October
• The wife of the fatally wounded Robert Proulx, Susan Proulx, files a $2 million lawsuit against Laro for damages in the Merrimack County Superior Court on Oct. 21. The first hearing, a structuring conference to set up the civil trial, is set to take place on Friday, Jan. 14.

November
• The Epsom School Board chooses Eckman Construction Company for its proposed addition to the Epsom Central School. The proposed addition would include new boilers, new classrooms, a new cafeteria, and a revamped parking lot.

December
• Epsom police investigate a stabbing that took place at 22 Briarwood Drive on Dec. 5. Brian Gove, 23, of Hopkinton, was arrested after stabbing Kenneth Hebert, 30, of Allenstown.

• Steven Laro is acquitted by a Sullivan County Superior Court jury on Monday, Dec. 13, on charges related to the shooting death of Robert Proulx. Laro was charged with negligent homicide and felonious use of a firearm as well as reckless conduct. The reckless conduct charge is dismissed by Judge Arthur Brennan on Dec. 10.

• Epsom police assist Allenstown police and other police with the seizing of 400 to 500 pieces of stolen property in Allenstown in connection with a greater Manchester crime ring.