N.H. soldier in picture with Bush

MANCHESTER (AP) – President Bush’s secret visit to Baghdad on Thanksgiving was an exciting time for American troops and for one household in Manchester.

David Legro was watching the news when he saw a soldier pass by.

“Hey, I think that’s my son,” he said to himself.

Indeed, it was his smiling son talking with the president, who was holding the turkey platter. The pictures ran on front pages of papers throughout the country. First Lt. Jason Legro, 25, of Manchester, a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and the ROTC program, has been in the army for about two years after three years in the reserves.

His father said he received an e-mail from his son with copies of the picture, and said he met the president. He did not elaborate, but “the smile said a lot,” David Legro said.

Jason Legro has been in Baghdad since early summer; his father didn’t know how long he would remain, but “it’s very scary,” he said.

He said having his son home would have been his first choice for Thanksgiving, but seeing his son with the president “is a very cool second.”

No one injured _in Weare house fire

WEARE (AP) – Officials are investigating the cause of a house fire Friday.

Dozens of fire fighters helped extinguish the fire, which broke out in a two-story house that is about a mile down a dirt road.

Weare Fire Chief Bob Richards says most of the house was saved, although fire fighters had to pull burning debris from a hole in the house’s roof.

No one was hurt.

Benefit concert set in teens’ memory

LONDONDERRY (AP) – A benefit concert is being planned in memory of one of two Derry teenagers killed in a crash earlier this month. Friends are organizing the concert at the Londonderry YMCA next month to remember Alan Kauffman, 19, of Derry. He and Matthew Lampassi, 17, died in a head-on crash with a dump truck Nov. 19.

Instead of paying admission to see a group of local bands, those attending will be asked to donate a new, unwrapped toy, which will be given to Children’s Hospital in Boston.

The concert is set for Dec. 12.