Staff Sgt. Jose Pequeno has been in a coma since March 1, when his Humvee was attacked by insurgents in Ramadi, Iraq. Pequeno, a National Guardsman and the Sugar Hill police chief, is being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Facility in Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, his community is building him a new house in the hopes that he will recover and come home.

The "Bring Jose Home" project has already raised $65,000 to build a wheelchair-accessible home for Pequeno, his wife, Kelley, and their three children, said Sugar Hill Fire Chief Allan Clark, who is heading the effort. A committee of at least 100 volunteers from the North Country have banded together to renovate Pequeno's old home, sell it, and build a second home next door on Cheney Road in Lisbon.

"There's no guarantee that he's going to come out of this coma," Clark said. "All we can do is hope and pray."

Through their efforts to help Pequeno, Sugar Hill residents have pushed aside sadness for hope. Some interviewed said his recovery process is so delicate, they fear negative thoughts could hurt him.

Sgt. Dave Wentworth, who is filling in for Pequeno as Sugar Hill's only full-time police officer, won't call himself an interim police chief.

"I'm just running things," Wentworth said. "For as long as I'm at the police department, he'll be the chief of police."

Town officials are not ready to ask: What if he doesn't wake up?

"They don't want to give up on him,"said Elizabeth Andross, former town clerk and tax collector who works as an administrator at town hall. "The selectmen are going to wait and see what happens."

Motivated and smart

Pequeno, 32, was born in New Orleans but grew up in the North Country, attending

high school in Lincoln, colleagues said.

Before embarking on his police and military career, Pequeno worked summers as a gorge guide at Lost River in Kinsman Notch, according to the Associated Press. He became somewhat of a local celebrity 10 years ago when he dove into the river to save an 18-month old girl who had fallen in.

Pequeno worked as a police officer in Lincoln and Lisbon. In 2001, he took over police command in Sugar Hill, a tiny town with wide mountain views and plenty of cows, horses and lupines.

Police officers and soldiers describe Pequeno as highly motivated, organized and smart. His shoes always shined and his uniform was neatly pressed, said Wentworth, who Pequeno hired to take over when he was in Iraq.

Spc. Chris Butler said he never saw Pequeno out of his uniform when they were in Iraq. Pequeno would prepare hours ahead of time for a mission, making sure the vehicles were fueled up and clean, checking the radios and the ammunition, said Sgt. Frank Sorrento.

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