The rising cost of higher education means higher student loan debt for many Vermonters. The financial challenges brought on by this debt can be eased with a new loan repayment award program developed by the Vermont State Employees Credit Union (VSECU).
VSECU has developed Student Loan Independence for Today (LIFT), where for three people, the credit union will pay $5,000 in monthly student loan payments, totaling $15,000 in repayment awards.
“Soaring student debt, coupled with the difficulty of finding a reasonably paid job after college, can bring financial challenges to the basic living needs of an individual on a month to month basis,” said Steve Post, VSECU's chief executive officer. “With our Student LIFT program, VSECU will make the monthly student loan payment directly to the lender for the awarded recipients.”
Post said that for a person with a monthly student loan payment of $350, the $5,000 award will cover about a year of repayments on the college loan, giving the student or graduate time to find a job, build an emergency fund or take care of other financial responsibilities.
Morningside Shelter of Brattleboro and Our Place Drop In Center of Bellows Falls will participate in the Benchmarks for a Better Vermont (BBVT) Performance Institute, a grant-funded organizational development program. The institute is designed to help Vermont's nonprofits measure their performance through systems that are appropriate to their missions...
Peterson Toscano, survivor of 17 years of ex-gay therapy, will perform his one-man show Transfigurations: Transgressing Gender in the Bible, about gender non-conforming Bible characters. The performance will be held at the New England Youth Theater on Tuesday, June 26, at 7 p.m. with doors opening at 6:30. Admission...
William Sorrell, Vermont's longest-serving Attorney General, has faced little opposition at the ballot box over the past 15 years. This election, however, he faces fellow Democrat T.J. Donovan. Sorrell says he welcomes the competition. “There's a lot more to be done,” he said about why he's running again. “I still have great energy for the job.” During a recent visit to Brattleboro, Sorrell discussed his 15 years in office, his lost court cases, and his big wins. “I'm not resting...
A free three-week middle school summer camp, offering math, science, literacy, and technology for students who have completed sixth and seventh grade, will open July 9. The camp will be held on the Leland & Gray Union High School campus and is for residents of the Windham Central Supervisory Union's member towns, including Brookline, Dover, Jamaica, Newfane, Marlboro, Townshend, Wardsboro and Windham. The courses at the camp, called the Summer Educational Enrichment Kamp (SEEK), are taught by LGUHS teachers, who...
Brooks Memorial Library has summer reading programs for kids from birth through age 18. Registration for all programs began this week and ends on Saturday, June 23. All children, including children who are read to by others, are invited to participate in “Dream Big ...READ!” Children set their own reading goal for the six-week program, which begins Monday, June 25, and ends Saturday, Aug. 4. Participants will receive a reading record, a book bag, and bookmark at registration and children...
Obituaries • Harry N. Bevis, 77, of West Chesterfield, N.H. Died June 5 at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital after a period of failing health. Husband of Lana M. Martin for nearly 53 years. Father of Martin M. Bevis of Patterson, N.Y., and Laurie A. Leduc and her husband, Greg, of Vernon. Brother of Dorothea Temple of St. Johnsbury, Ann Lavalla and Steve Bevis of Hinsdale, N.H., David Bevis of Texas, and the late Chester Bevis. Born in Chesterfield, N.H., the son...
Town to pave three side streets on Thursday BRATTLEBORO - Resurfacing three small streets - Winston Prouty Way, Church Place, and Arch Street - is scheduled for Thursday, June 21. Owing to the narrow width and steepness of two of these streets, the streets will essentially be closed during the work. The Public Works Department will be closing Arch Street for the day on Thursday, since cars trying to start or stop on this steep grade would destroy the new...
I drove slowly along the refuge road at Brigantine on the New Jersey coast, watching the small birds popping up from the reeds and grasses and disappearing again quickly. Most were Song Sparrows still in the early stages of their annual breeding cycle: the males singing and defending their territory, the females building nests. Between scanning the mud flats for shorebirds, I was checking out these small birds, looking for the Seaside Sparrow or the more elusive Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow.
Vermont Telephone Company (VTel) is sponsoring a new computer skills training program in Bellows Falls and Saxtons River. The Rockingham Free Public Library will host one-on-one computer coaching sessions through collaboration with Vermont Telephone Company (VTel) every Tuesday through July 17. There will also be classes on Fridays, June 22 and 29, at Main Street Arts in Saxtons River. All sessions will be one hour long, beginning at 10 a.m., with the last sessions starting at 5 p.m. VTel is...
Riders start pedaling! The third annual Going the Distance bike ride to benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro will happen Saturday, June 30. The rain date is July 1. More than 50 riders have signed up to bike either the 100-mile or 58-mile loop from the Marlboro College Graduate School in Brattleboro through Massachusetts and back to the Boys & Girls Club on Flat Street. Organizers tried working the two loops through Vermont but decided the Massachusetts route...
Hearing a random song on the radio from an old Broadway musical the other day reminded me of a scene from my family album of memories. There we were, the five Cummings girls, all lined up on a hot summer night: the oldest three in our muumuus, the two baby girls in their tops and frilled bottoms. No slippers, only bare feet, toughened by early summer's running. All lined up, in order of age, by our mother, with her kerchief,
Last fall, the nonprofit group Friends of the West River Trail acquired ownership of the former West River Railroad right of way that runs between the Marina Restaurant off Putney Road and Rice Farm Road in West Dummerston. Now, the Lower West River Trail Committee is in the process of raising $200,000 to convert these six miles of long-abandoned railbed into a public trail for walkers and cyclists. On Monday, more than 100 people came to the Marina to participate...
There will be several races on the ballot in the Democratic Primary in Windham County for the Aug. 28 primary. The filing deadline for candidate petitions was last Thursday, and there were some surprises up and down the ballot. State Senate Mary Cain of Brattleboro is running for state senate against Democratic incumbents Peter Galbraith of Townshend and Jeanette White of Putney. Cain said she believes new candidates should enter the political field to run on issues they're passionate about.
Unity Hills Arts Centers, International (U-HAC), a recently formed cultural organization focusing on classical music, is bringing a chamber ensemble of musicians for a series of two informal benefit concerts in Townshend and Athens. The artists will be the husband-and-wife team of Joseph Swensen and Victoria Eisen, along with Gabriele Castelli and Amalie Elmark Nandfred, performing works by Mozart, Prokofiev, Faure, Chopin, Bach, Milhaud, and Brahms. The first concert will take place on Thursday June 28, at 7 p.m., in...
The towns of Dover and Wilmington took the unusual step of hiring a lobbyist, Kevin Ellis of the Montpelier-based KSE Partners LLC, to advocate for the two communities on education funding issues at the Statehouse this year. In an update presented by Ellis and Dover School Board member Laura Sibilia at a June 5 Dover Selectboard meeting, Ellis said that the town's efforts were bearing fruit. The best example of this, he said, was legislation that was drafted at the...
The New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) has voted to award initial accreditation to Bellows Falls Union High School (BFUHS). Late last year, a NEASC evaluation team spent three days at the school and spent time visiting classes and interviewing staff, students, parents, board members, and faculty members. These evaluators examine every aspect of a school and after the examination, NEASC extends accreditation to institutions that meet its standards. The importance of NEASC accreditation, according to BFUHS Principal...
For years, Brattleboro has billed itself as the “gateway to Vermont,” as has Windham County, by extension. But it seems that this gateway only goes one way. If you don't own a car, or you are unable or unwilling to drive long distances, you are pretty much trapped in southern Vermont. Quite frankly, public transportation is not a reliable option. Want to go to Boston? There hasn't been passenger train service from Bellows Falls or Brattleboro since 1958. There's only...
Lydia's Friends extend sincere thanks to the many people who made the June 19 Geranium Festival and Book Sale such a resounding success. The festival supports Dummerston's own Lydia Taft Pratt Library and the many services it provides the community. Community libraries are rich resources for the rural areas of Vermont. The Lydia Pratt Taft Library, founded in the 1920s, houses nearly 4,000 volumes, including many historical records. It facilitates an active interlibrary loan program, offers free wifi to the...
Have you ever wondered how a Pakistani pop star ends up performing in a small town in Vermont? The road may have been a winding one, but Arieb Azher and Acoustic Ensemble will play at the Immanuel Episcopal Church in Bellows Falls on June 22. The performance will be a part of the Eugene Friesen String Institute's weekend of classes and musical improvisations in Bellows Falls that will feature a duo concert, plus participatory performances, classes, discussions, and food. Azhar...
Considering the seasons that their teams had, it was almost a no-brainer for the Marble Valley League to award Coach of the Year honors in Division A to Brattleboro baseball coach Chris Groeger and Brattleboro softball coach Kelly Markol. Both Groeger and Markol have won this award numerous times. But both coaches will tell you that it was the players that were responsible for the success both teams achieved this season. Groeger has been the Colonels' baseball coach since 1999,
My father taught me to box when I was still so short he had to get on his knees to spar with me. When I grew taller, he taught me basic self-defense techniques. Both my parents believed that women should be intellectually and physically competent so they could manifest their ambitions and dreams. Real-world skills were an important component of a well-rounded education. Boys and girls, they believed, should know how to cook a meal, clean a house, do the...
It will be a year in July that a truck driver struck and demolished the marquee of the Latchis Theatre. Last week, Latchis Arts announced that a new marquee will be installed in September. “It's been a lengthy process,” said Latchis Arts managing director Gail Nunziata, “but the design is final, and we are on the production schedule.” The manufacturer; Wagner Electric Sign Co. in Elyria, Ohio; has been fabricating theater marquees since the 1950s, with restoration of historic theater...
Building a Better Brattleboro (BaBB) has been designated as an accredited National Main Street Program for meeting the commercial district revitalization performance standards set by the National Trust Main Street Center. Each year, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded nonprofit organization, and its partners announce the list of accredited Main Street programs that have built strong revitalization organizations and demonstrate their ability in using the Main Street Four-Point Approach methodology for strengthening their local economy and protecting...
A federal agency has found more deficiencies at the Brattleboro Retreat and has given the hospital 45 days to make more improvements. If the psychiatric hospital is not in compliance by the next visit from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), it could lose its Medicare provider agreement and federal funding, according to a statement from the Vermont Department of Mental Health. However, the Retreat is not in immediate jeopardy of losing funding. The last CMS survey was conducted on...
This year marks the Brattleboro North KOA Campground's 40th anniversary. This event coincides with the 50th anniversary of Kampgrounds of America, Inc. (KOA), of which the Dummerston location is a franchisee. Coincidentally, campground owners are also celebrating the 70th anniversary of the opening of the gift shop on the site that started the enterprise. Beverly and Ernie Kenney own the property, which they purchased in 2007. “We've been seeing the baby boomers getting back into camping; they retire and buy...
The Putney Community Center is looking for help in launching a capital improvement campaign. Our beautiful historic building, on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Putney Village Historic District, is in need of significant upgrades, including painting and insulation/weatherization. Our board of directors is specifically seeking to hear from: • Other Windham County nonprofit organizations with a community mission that, needing space for an ongoing program, might wish to partner with us for fundraising purposes. •
So, we'll finally get VPR in Putney [“VPR station for Brattleboro will soon broadcast,” June 13]? Hallelujah! I've always been able to get VPR in my cars, but not in the house. I hope it works.
RE: “Coming home” [Arts, June 13]. Grants Ferry is a very good read. I especially liked David Chase's sneaky sense of humor.
Phil Innes raises some important questions regarding pit bulls and the responsibility and role of their human's caretakers in dog related problems in society [“The pit bull quandary,” Viewpoint, June 13]. But I question his negation of the public outcry over the shooting of a sick abandoned dog, one that happened to be a pit bull, as “a big fuss.” Did he forget that the Windham County Humane Society also questioned the facts surrounding the killing of this dog, or...
RE: “The pit bull quandary” [Voices, June 13]. Dog attacks and dog bites are a people problem, not a dog problem. First off, no dog “snaps,” not even pit-bull type dogs. Dogs give indications of their behavior long before anything happens. People just don't notice when dogs start to exhibit their lack of respect for the family hierarchy; that is a people problem, not a dog problem. On to the point of pit bulls in particular being inherently dangerous. Any...
In the midst or aftermath of tragedy and loss, many people have found themselves supporting or creating a cause to address the honor and memory of those who died, or to fulfill a promise to those who struggled with an illness or other life threatening situation. Started with good intentions and hope for a better future, some of these movements turn into organizations or foundations that have succeeded, failed, or hit challenges along the way. One such organization is the...
As part of the town's diverse efforts to improve pedestrian safety, the Police Department will conduct additional enforcement of pedestrian travel and motor vehicle laws. Officers will be stopping both vehicles and pedestrians and will initially issue warnings. In the following weeks, and in the case of egregious violations, tickets will be issued as appropriate. The public is advised of the following state laws and town ordinances: • If a pedestrian is not crossing at a crosswalk, then vehicular traffic...
Technicians at Vermont Yankee are removing a motor generator in the nuclear plant's reactor building to determine the cause of an electrical failure that produced smoke Monday afternoon. Rob Williams, a spokesman for Vermont Yankee, said the plant was operating at 38 percent power Tuesday morning. It reduced its power to 36 percent Monday. “This morning, we are making preparations to remove the motor and continuing our investigation as to what happened,” Williams said. There are two motor generator sets...