Community Corner

Stories of the Year: Terror and Chaos on Boylston Street

Join us as we count down some of the most read stories in Merrimack in 2013.

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Carolyn Dube, Patch StaffVerified Patch Staff Badge

It's the end of the year and that means it's time to count down some of the top stories to hit Merrimack Patch this year (local stories of the year below). 

It's been a newsy year around the country as Sandy Hook students returned to school in a new location following the tragic shooting at the end of 2012. In April, two bomb blast created chaos and terror at the finish line of the Boston Marathon killing three and injuring hundreds who lost limbs, suffered serious burns and shrapnel wounds and a plethora of other injuries. Days later, an MIT police officer was killed and his friend was critically injured late that night in a shootout with the bombing suspects. 

We saw a country unite behind the city whose baseball team, months later earned its third World Series win in nine years. 

Outside of New England, we saw George Zimmerman acquitted of murdering Trayvon Martin, and Jodi Arias was found guilty of murdering boyfriend Travis Alexander. A royal baby was born in July and the President Obama-led Affordable Care Act went into effect.

Over the days leading up to the end of the year, we'll choose a story or topic a day that has generated the most buzz in town this year. Check back each morning as we bring you back through 2013.

Boston Marathon Bombings Strike Very Close to Home

It was a typical Patriots Day Monday up here. On Patch, we were dutifully following our local runners via the Boston Athletic Association's marathoner tracking app, updating readers as the five Merrimack athletes seeking the finish line of the Boston wound their way through Massachusetts.

I'd had the Boston Marathon coverage playing on mute on TV as I worked through the sunny Monday in my living room, when I noticed that the regularly scheduled programming that had come on following the marathon coverage, had moved back to Boston. 

Horrified, with the rest of the country, I watched the news scrolling across the screen, two explosions had occurred at the marathon finish line on Boylston Street. People were seriously injured, more bombs may be in the area.

Immediately, Patch editors throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire snapped into action. Our team in Massachusetts started covering every angle they could on the streets of Boston, cautiously reporting the news as it unfolded rapidly. In New Hampshire, we started checking in on local runners, had they made it to the finish line? Were they still running? Were they accounted for?

In Merrimack, Curt J. Fischer, 44, Nathan W. Fluet, 31, Alan T. Howe, 46, Melissa A. Skarupa, 39, and Adrian Wong, 25, were all safe. With at least a sense of relief mixing in with the sick feeling as we learned across New Hampshire that our runners were safe, we started developing a plan of action.

Over the next days and weeks, Massachusetts Patch editors took the lead on stories about the marathon and the aftermath, sharing them with us in New Hampshire. We focused on local angles, like Jeff Bauman, with strong ties to Nashua and Concord, who lost both his legs in the blast and became the subject of one of the most enduring photos to come out of the accounting of tragic events that day.

In Amherst, runner and Souhegan Cross Country Coach Dave Salvas recounted the events of his day – he'd been pacing friend through the race and they crossed the finish line just minutes before the explosion.

In Exeter, the tragedy hit even closer to home when an Exeter High School graduate's husband Dic Donohue was gravely injured during the shootout with the bombing suspects in Watertown on April 19. 

The stories hit home for people all around the country, but with Boston less than an hour from Merrimack, the coverage of the marathon became, collectively, some of our most read stories of 2013.


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