GILFORD — Police report a Stark Street man shot and wounded a bear Saturday night after he saw the bear attacking his neighbor's chickens.
Det. Sgt Chris Jacques said police responded at just after 8 p.m. and searched the area for the bear. He said police found it, it had been wounded by the shotgun blast, and they euthanized it.
Jacques said the N.H. Department of Fish and Game is investigating the shooting but do not recommend people take similar action in event they see a bear or other predatory wildlife.
He said people have a right to protect livestock or themselves from wild animals but recommends calling the police or the Fish and Game rather than taking anything but evasive action.

LACONIA — After asking fellow members for comments and getting none, School Board Chair Joe Cormier yesterday morning nominated Terri Forsten to be the next superintendent of SAU 30, the Laconia School District. A unanimous vote followed.
Forsten, of Concord, who has been the assistant superintendent in Laconia for seven years, will be paid between $116,000 to $132,000 annually depending on a pending contract negotiation between her and a subcommittee of the board. She currently earns $96,700.
Cormier said it was his desire to "remain competitive" and he said he did a salary survey of other Lakes Region communities as well as communities that are similar in size to Laconia. He said this was the range with the bulk of area superintendent earning at the higher level of the agreed upon scale.
The community was shocked last week when current Superintendent Bob Champlin announced his resignation at the end of this school year because of health issues. He will remain superintendent until June 30, when Forsten will assume the role and Cormier said he has been in phone contact with the district administrators regularly.
Champlin earned $115,000 annually, having forgone a raise in the past three years as has Forsten. He was scheduled to earn around $117,000 in the fiscal year that starts July 1 — his raise, according to Cormier, consistent with the raises earned by other district employees.
Assuming Champlin had gotten a three percent raise over the past three years. Cormier explained that he would be making $125,956.
Forsten described her ascension as "bittersweet," saying she had always aspired to be a superintendent someday.
She told the board was excited about the direction the School District is going and is looking forward to "a very strong school year."
"We have an outstanding system," she said describing the board and the employees as truly dedicated to educating Laconia's children.
Cormier said the Laconia School District plans on continuing with its current business model of having a superintendent and an assistant superintendent and will advertise for the assistant position.
Forsten has 17 years in the Laconia School District, serving from 1995 to 2005 as the principal at Pleasant Street School before being made assistant superintendent. She has worked in the Hollis, Candia, and Concord School Districts as a special education teacher and curriculum coordinator, as a special education teacher at the Lake Shore Psychiatric Hospital, as an assistant principal and a special education coordinator.
She is a graduate of Keene State College, earning her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and Special Education and her Master degree at the University of New Hampshire. She has also taken graduate classes at Plymouth State University and Harvard University and is certified to hold the position of superintendent of schools.

MEREDITH — A former Meredith man will serve a minimum 1 1/4 years in the New Hampshire State Prison after pleading guilty yesterday in the Belknap County Superior Court to two counts of possession of a dangerous weapon and one count of receiving stolen property.
Benjamin Vachon, 30, was sentenced to serve 1 1/2 to four years for one count of being a felon in possession must serve the minimum with three months suspended upon good behavior. On the second count of receiving stolen property he was sentenced to a suspended 3 1/2-to-seven year term that is consecutive to the first sentence.
On the single count of receiving stolen property he was sentenced to serve four to 10 years — all suspended.
Vachon was supported in court yesterday by his girlfriend, his mother, his step-mother, his father and his sister entered his guilty pleas. All four women spoke in support of him, telling Judge James O'Neill III that he "has a good soul" but had made mistakes for which he was ready to atone.
"The goal here was not the fight the charge," said Vachon's attorney Eric Wolpin, who noted that he and Belknap County Attorney Melissa Guldbrandsen worked out the plea on the day he was arraigned.
Wolpin said there were numerous issues with the state's case that he could challenge but said Vachon wanted to plead guilty and not go to trial. He said his client had been convicted on first-degree assault charges 10 years ago and had served eight months in the House of Corrections.
He said Vachon had been sober since 2006, was working and had a trade in the logging and tree business, but had suffered an injury that lead him to narcotics addiction and back to alcohol.
Guldbrandsen agreed that Vachon had been willing to plead his case from the day he was indicted and she told the court the police were in agreement with the negotiated plea.
Vachon was arrested by Laconia Police on March 23 and charged with his third count of driving while intoxicated. During the traffic stop, Laconia Police did an inventory search on Vachon's car and found an empty ammunition clip on the floor of the back seat and a loaded 9 mm handgun tucked underneath the steering column.
Police impounded the car and after getting a warrant found another gun, one reported stolen from Belmont, in a box in backpack.
According to a clerk in the 4th Circuit Court, Laconia Division, Vachon also pleaded guilty to the DWI in front of Judge Jim Carroll yesterday afternoon. She said he was sentenced to serve 30 24-hour sentences and his license was suspended indefinitely. Vachon was convicted of driving while intoxicated in 2006 and 2007.
O'Neill told Vachon he should consider himself fortunate to have the support of his family and he should not disappoint them again.