Week of Sept. 8-14, 2007

Saturday, September 8 Mud Bowl, now in its 32nd year in North Conway, has grown into a multi-generational sport. Not only are second generations of players and cheerleaders now involved with the charitable event, taking place this weekend, but there are more than a few father-and-son combinations now playing for the eight respective teams. The price of driver's education is going up, and the Conway School Board is wondering whether it would be more cost-effective to run its own program out of Kennett High rather than continue contracting out services. A Center Conway man, Michael Palughi, 25, was arrested Sept. 1 following a high-speed chase that started in Conway, continued through Fryeburg and ended in Chatham. It was a swashbuckling day for the 1999 and 2006 champion Nashua Mud Gumbys on the first day of the 2007 World Mud Bowl at Hog Coliseum in North Conway Friday. The mud-covered men in green from Nashua won both of their games to advance to Sunday's Game 12 semi-finals in the 13-game, double-elimination, eight-team mud football tournament. Carroll County Kennel Club dog show, referred to by club members as the "Westminster of the Woods," returns to Hussey Field on River Road in North Conway this weekend. Military expert talks about the war on terror at a meeting of the Mount Washington Valley Republicans.Monday, September 10 The county's insurance rating took a hit after a latest performance period plagued by lawsuits and liability claims from injured workers, potentially driving up the cost of premiums. Madison Fire Department is looking to recruit young volunteers. Statehouse Democrats are dismayed with Senate Republicans for refusing to fix a clerical error in a landmark new law that keeps kids in school until age 18.Tuesday, September 11 The mood was civil throughout most of Wednesday night's North Conway Water Precinct commissioners' meeting as commissioners Michelle Seavey and Jim Umberger interviewed candidates for a third seat vacated by Mary Gaudette. An unknown suspect apparently remained at large Monday days after fleeing the scene of a nighttime hit-and-run that killed a Rochester hitchhiker. A 22-day-old N.H. Department of Environmental order that tap water must be boiled remain in force in the Tamworth Village after the latest tests conducted by the state on Tamworth Waterworks, run by the Lakes Region Water Company, reveal continued contamination. A young drug dealer busted in two states will have five years to beat his cocaine habit in prison. The Nashua Mud Gumbys successfully defend their 2006 title with an exciting, double-overtime 20-18 win over the 2005 champion North Shore Mudsharks of Massachusetts in the World Mud Bowl final at Hog Coliseum in North Conway. A proposed redesign of the southern bypass terminus and an ongoing effort by Pennichuck Water Works to provide a dependable water supply to Birch Hill will be among the topics at Tuesday's Conway selectmen's meeting.Wednesday, September 12 Following an incident in which a former board member was verbally abused after trying to get several construction workers to stop smoking at Kennett Middle School, The Conway School Board sends a stern message: Harassment will not be tolerated, and smoking is never, ever permitted on school grounds. Mark Rosa, 26, is arrested for allegedly shooting a man with a bow and arrow. The victim was not seriously injured. In a letter of deficiency issued Tuesday to the operator of Tamworth's largest public water supply, state environmental authorities criticized two serious health risks revealed in an August sanitary inspection conducted in response to an ongoing E. coli scare. Meanwhile, the operator, Lakes Region Water Company, says it is cooperating with the state while insisting the system has always been clean.Thursday, September 13 On the eve of a hearing on the state's 10-year highway plan, selectmen vote 4-1-0 to push for a redesign of the southern terminus of the Route 16 bypass. District 1 Executive Councilor Raymond S. Burton (R-Bath) is seeking input on the state's next 10-year highway plan. Burton is chairing N.H. Department of Transportation public meetings on the plan throughout his district this week, including one at Conway Town Hall Thursday at 3 p.m. The Birch Hill water district has a new water worry: E. coli. A boil order remained in effect Wednesday on Allard Hill Circuit at the North Conway neighborhood, which has been fighting for years to upgrade its water supply. Police say the owner of a troubled 166 Valley View Road house plans to clear out all of his tenants, including a 59-year-old man who was injured after taking an arrow to the chest in the home's doorway Tuesday. The address, which was reportedly rented to a construction worker, who in turn said he sub-let rooms to the victim and the shooter, has in recent weeks been watched closely by police. Thoughts of fugitive triple-killer Michael Woodbury raced through the head of a civic-minded witness as he grabbed his cell phone and pursued a crazed half-naked suspect out of a gas station following a bow-and-arrow shooting in North Conway Tuesday. A search is under way for a Maine main reported missing on Mount Washington.Friday, September 14 The school board is sending out a letter to custodial staff, teachers and administrators, praising them for their efforts in getting the schools ready for the 2007-08 school year. A student was caught vandalizing lockers during the opening week at the new Kennett High School, and last Friday, at the fund-raising basketball game for the Millen Foundation, a student was caught climbing and trying to bend the school's flagpole. Conway School Board ponders what to do with the current SAU 9 administrative building once those offices are relocated to Kennett Middle School this winter. Mount Washington Valley Arts Association has expressed an interest in the building. Mark Rosa, a suspect in a bow-and-arrow shooting Tuesday, hints in Northern Carroll County District Court that he will claim self-defense.