Community mourns Officer Sean Powers: (photo courtesy of Hopkinton Police Department)

Members of the Powers family of Hillsborough and their friends gathered at Sean Powers’ apartment in town early on Thursday to mourn his passing. Sean, who graduated from Hillsboro-Deering in 2002 and served two tours in Iraq as a Marine, was killed in an accident on Rt. 202 at approximately 1:24 a.m. Thursday morning, according to the State Police.

Sean was traveling west, returning from a shift at the Hopkinton Police Department, where he has been an officer for several months, riding a 2004 Harley Davidson motorcycle, when Henniker resident Jeff Dennis hit him from behind with his 1992 BMW. Dennis then abandoned his car. He was not apprehended until 7:30 a.m.

Sean was pronounced dead at the scene.

“The initial collision looked like it occurred in the travel lane,” said Captain Russell Conte of Troop D in Concord. “But we are still looking at whether the car was passing or not. It is a double yellow line in that area.”

Lt. Scott Lester of the Peterborough Police Department was offered the position of Police Chief in Antrim at a meeting held by the search committee on Tuesday night. Lester is an Antrim resident who has served in several area police departments.

“I’ve known Scott all my life. He’s a local kid and I think he’ll run a good department,” said Dave Boule, owner of Antrim Lumber and a member of the search committee formed to review the candidates for the position. “I think he’ll be very approachable, which would be nice.”

“He’s an exceptional listener. And I think he’s going to be somebody who will help get the town back to where we want it to be, where the police are approachable and they are there as part of the community,” said Crista Salamy, another member of the committee. “And I don’t think he’s going to up and leave in two year’s time.”

Antrim Town Administrator Bill Prokop surprised selectmen at the end of their Monday night meeting with a letter of resignation. He will begin working for the City of Keene on Sept. 11 as the Director of Human Resources.

“I have totally, totally enjoyed this job here. I have not been looking for a job. This is a great community to work in,” Prokop said of Antrim. “An opportunity came to me in a city that is growing and has a great management team, and a lot of plans for the future.”

Although he has “mixed feelings” about leaving his town administrator post in Antrim, he does admit to feeling “euphoric” about the opportunity, which also affords him a significant salary increase.

“It’s bittersweet, but I’m leaving on a positive note, and I want it to be a smooth and orderly transition, and I know that feeling goes both ways,” he pointed out.

In an unprecedented move, the Henniker selectmen allowed an asphalt contractor to hike his estimate up $24,660 from the company’s original bid for a paving project, due to abruptly rising costs for petroleum products.
The selectmen chose Advanced Excavating and Paving to repave Bacon Road in June. At that time Advanced bid $62 a ton to bring in 2,466 tons of asphalt for the project. But because the company must now pay $60 a ton for the asphalt, leaving only $2 a ton to transport it, Advanced notified the Highway Department that it needed to increase their bid to $75 a ton, which would have pushed the price for the job up to $184,950 for the job, or $32,058 more than the original bid of $152,892.
Road Agent John Margeson spoke with the contractor about the price after that, and Advanced then agreed to do the job for $72 a ton, if they could begin the job by Thursday. Margeson said the problem was not unique to Henniker.