Judging from the article, the residents of Grafton, New Hampshire, are complete idiots who know nothing about bears.
First and foremost, despite the opening explanation of the article, there are no grizzly/brown bears within 2,000 miles of New Hampshire. They are all black bears. While black bears can get as big as ~500 pounds, the vast majority weigh less than 300 pounds. Unlike grizzlies/brown bears who are very near-sighted, black bears have very good eyesight. Both types of bears are very intelligent (at least dog level intelligence), very curious, with an excellent sense of smell.
You need to be aggressive with black bears if you wish to alter their behavior. That means running towards them, shouting angrily, making yourself look as menacing as possible. That does not mean attacking, or throwing things at the bear. You should never have any kind of physical contact with any bear. It simply means to come across as aggressively as possible towards the bear. While being aggressive you also have to leave the bear a way out, otherwise it may just attack in self-defense seeing no other option.
The residents of Grafton, New Hampshire, are idiots for allowing black bears to take over their town. It has absolutely nothing to do with their political ideology, and everything to do with their complete lack of understanding with regard to black bears.
I've lived with grizzly/brown and black bears for 30 years, with hundreds of encounters, but never any problems. This past Summer was particularly interesting with regard to bears. Because the 2+ million tourists did not show up in Alaska due to COVID-19, the bears have been much bolder and more visible.
While there are certainly aggressive bears, most bears are not. Most of my grizzly/brown bear encounters have been while fishing for salmon. They wait at the edge of the forest until you catch your first salmon. They watch where you place the salmon, and when you go back to catch another they try to be sneaky and steal the salmon you just caught.
When a 10 foot long, 1,000+ pound brown bear tries to be sneaky it is difficult not to notice. All it usually takes is talking to bear to let them know they have been busted. Like a dog trying to sneak into a room they know they are not suppose to be in. At most, if they are being persistent, I might toss a ladyfinger firecracker in their general direction. They are not being aggressive, they are just looking for a free lunch. They just run off into the woods when busted.