If you thought the New England Coalition would be in a celebratory mood in the wake of the recent decision by Entergy to close the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant late next year, you would be mistaken.
The Brattleboro-based antinuclear group realizes that its work has only just begun.
“We're on a mission, a strategic mission, to make sure that the plant is safely closed down and decommissioned,” said NEC staffer Clay Turnbull at the group's 41st annual meeting on Sept. 28 at the River Garden.
Part of that work is NEC's role in the Vermont Public Service Board's ongoing hearings regarding a certificate of public good (CPG) from the Public Service Board to operate Vermont Yankee.
Over Columbus Day weekend, the Blanche Moyse Chorale again honors the memory of its founder, Blanche Moyse, by performing a favorite selection of J.S. Bach's choral music. This year's selection is the “Christmas Oratorio.” But why in October? Simply because Mme. Moyse's celebrated New England Bach Festival (NEBF: 1969-2004)
The Selectboard and Conservation Commission may soon be turning to residents for input on which “ancient” public roads, if any, the town should reclaim from history. At the board's Sept. 23 meeting, Chair Richard Clark said time was running out for Guilford under State Act 178 of 2006 to...
I sincerely thank all the volunteers, the sponsors, and donors who participated in this year's United Way of Windham County Community Day of Caring on Sept. 7! The event brought in nearly 100 community members, helping 13 area nonprofits with painting, sorting, construction, and gleaning projects throughout Windham County. These much-needed projects helped area organizations that work so hard every day on behalf of our community: Morningside Shelter, Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center, Farming Connections, Inc., First Baptist Church/Brattleboro Overflow Winter...
On Saturday, Oct. 5, Brattleboro will host its fifth annual Buddy Walk with proceeds supporting the development of an Inclusive Community Center in Brattleboro. The Buddy Walk was developed by the National Down Syndrome Society in 1995 to celebrate Down Syndrome Awareness Month in October and to promote acceptance and inclusion of people with Down syndrome. The Buddy Walk has grown from 17 walks in 1995 to nearly 300 walks planned for 2013 worldwide. In 2012, more than $11.5 million...
The Windmill Hill Pinnacle Association invites artists to start planning to join an art exhibit of works created on or about lands on the Association's trail systems. The project launched with a September plein-air painting event in Grafton, where artists gathered to capture scenes located in the Athens Dome area. To take the next step, and take advantage of fall and winter and chosen locations for an exhibition tentatively scheduled for winter 2014, visit the Pinnacle Association's website at windmillhillpinnacle.org...
For the 21st year, Friends of the Moore Free Library in Newfane have spent 11 months sorting and pricing more than 3,000 donated books. Soon a parade of Kindle School volunteers will walk the boxes stored in the library's attic over to the Union Hall on the Green in Newfane. This year's sale is Saturday, Oct. 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 6, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. As in years past, they will have...
If you were in Walpole, N.H., on Saturday, Sept. 21, you might have seen what you thought was a small meteor shower happening over the Hooper Golf Course. In actuality, you saw glowing golf balls shooting across the course in support of the Windham County Safe Place. Our first-ever Night Golf Tournament was a blast, and if you missed out, we hope to see you next year! We thank the sponsors and supporters of the event and extend congratulations to...
The Rockingham Free Public Library wants to know: What's the scariest story you can write in just two sentences? Throughout October, the library invites people of all ages to try this short writing exercise and submit their best two-sentence horror story. The collection of super-short stories will be performed as a dramatic reading just after Halloween, on Friday, Nov. 1, at 6 p.m., at the newly renovated library. One of the most famous examples is Knock (1949) by Frederick Brown:
Apple pie making begins in Dummerston DUMMERSTON - Apple pie making is underway in the kitchen of the Dummerston Congregational Church. For the next next two weeks, folks will gather to peel, quarter, core, and slice apples. Others will fill the pie shells, and top them off with each baker's own identifying crust. The pies will be baked and cold-stored for the annual Apple Pie Festival on Sunday, Oct. 13. Pie-making sessions are 9 a.m. to noon, 4 to 6...
Entergy officials say they decided to close Vermont Yankee because of the low price of natural gas. If that's true, why is the company continuing to run its five other nuclear power plants, including Pilgrim near Boston and Indian Point in New York? The real reason Vermont Yankee is closing is because of the thousands of ordinary people who saw through Entergy's lies (“nuclear power is safe, clean, and reliable, and it doesn't cause climate change”) and volunteered countless hours...
Births • In Brattleboro (Memorial Hospital), Sept. 18, 2013, a son, Carter James, to Kayla Joyce of Townshend and Noah Chapin of Brookline; grandson to Bill and Jennifer Joyce of Townshend, Jorda Daigneault of Brookline, and Clifford Chapin of Grand Rapids, Minn.; great-grandson to Bob Litchfield of Newfane, Joe and Ruth Daigneault of Townshend, and Shirley Harford of Bayonet Point, Fla.; great-grandson to Anna Chapin of New Milford, Conn.; and great-great-grandson to Eliza Crowninshield of Jamaica. Transitions • Wendy Sanctuary,
For well over a decade now, I've enjoyed regular strolls along the West River Trail. Until recently, it was very common in the spring and early summer to see turtles crossing the trail, going off to lay their eggs. Unfortunately, I only saw two turtles this year, and both had been run over by the utility trucks working on the I-91 bridge. Over the last few years (probably for a number of reasons) there seems to be a lot less...
The Guilford Fire Department Auxiliary announces several fundraising events, and a chance for you to add to a cookbook. On Saturday, Oct. 12, the group will hold a coffee break/bake sale at The Vermont Welcome Center on Interstate 91. To donate baked goods, call Heidi Cleveland at 802-254-6743. On Thursday, Nov. 7, they'll hold a Pampered Chef party at the Guilford Fire Station at 6:30 p.m. Refreshments will be served. Now about that cookbook: The Auxiliary invites everyone to participate...
Brooks Memorial Library hosts the 10th season of Vermont Reads with a series of poetry readings from the Vermont Reads book “Poetry 180,” compiled by former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins. At the event - set for Thursday, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m., in the Library's Main Room - Guilford poet Ken Hebson has organized local published poets Arlene Distler, Barbara Benoit, Charles Butterfield, Wyn Cooper, Ed Rayher, and Tim Mayo to read their favorite poems from the book. The...
RE: “From Egypt, with love” [The Arts, Sept. 18]: This concert is yet another reminder of the rich artistic diversity we enjoy here in Brattleboro. As we go about our day-to-day lives, we might not notice that our community has grown - and continues to grow - into an international arts mecca. Both homegrown artists and those who've arrived from other locales are pushing the envelope on a number of cultural fronts, ranging from this important concert to Vermont Performance...
“Keep Vermont Weird” read the T-shirt in a shop window in downtown Brattleboro. That shirt would not fit in every Vermont town, said Pennsylvania-based community organizer Denys Candy on one of his many visits to Vermont. “OK, there's something going on here,” he said of Brattleboro, where it's evident people have a deep love and commitment for this area. It's also evident to Candy that Brattleboro has multiple initiatives and an inordinate amount of “silos,” Candy told a group of...
In answer to Ray Massucco's letter [“BF budget foes should become part of the solution earlier in the process,” Sept. 25]: Shame on you. It's not the taxpayers' job to do the budget. I attended a budget meeting with ideas and was not allowed to speak by the village president; I raised my hand for over 30 minutes and was never called upon. I had thoughts and ideas that would lower costs and raise revenue and yet they didn't want...
I usually check the amount of postage on an envelope to see if it's someone asking for money and decide that way if it's even worth opening before it goes into straight into the trash, so it's surprising that I even opened the mail that arrived a couple of weeks ago from the Arbor Society. Maybe it felt thick enough for me to look inside to see if they'd sent me a little gift. It's always nice to find a...
Let me be perfectly clear about this: I do not speak for the U.S. military. My views are my own, based on personal observations and experiences, and are not endorsed by the military. I will never make excuses for the behavior of a military member who commits a sexual assault. As protectors of the nation, we are held to a higher standard of conduct than the general population, and any infractions of a criminal nature should be punished with far-greater...
It doesn't matter what the sport is, if you don't score, you don't win. Against Windsor last Thursday, the Brattleboro Colonels' field hockey team had trouble putting the ball into the cage. In a game they lost 4-1 at Tenney Field, the Colonels were outshot 21-13, and Windsor had a 15-5 edge in penalty corners. But the Colonels controlled play for most of the first half, and had their moments in the second half. “It's just frustrating,” said Colonels coach...
Christian Stromberg, owner of Saxtons River Distillery on Route 30, really likes coffee. However, he says he has yet to taste a coffee liqueur that actually tastes like a good cup of joe. “What's out there on the market is not for people who like coffee,” he says. “They just don't taste like coffee.” So he decided to make his own. Perc is a 60-proof coffee liqueur that puts the flavor emphasis on the coffee - not the liqueur. And...
Organist Hans Uwe Hielscher will perform on the Estey pipe organ at First Baptist Church, 190 Main St., on Sunday, Oct. 13, at 7 p.m. The concert, a collaboration between the Estey Organ Museum (esteyorganmuseum.org) and the Brattleboro Historical Society, includes works by Groom, Rawsthorne, Guilmant, Pasini, Ketèlbey, Goemanne and von Suppé. Hielscher serves as director of music at the Wiesbaden Marktkirche in Germany, and was municipal organist at the Wiesbaden Kurhaus Concert Hall from 1979 to 2004. Since 1962,
The popular Rockingham Meeting House Summer Sunday Series comes to a close on Oct. 6 with Cliff Eberhardt, one of Bellows Falls' favorite performers, making his first appearance at the historic venue. “Cliff Eberhardt may not live in Vermont, but his heart is here,” says Ray Massucco, Vermont Festivals producer. Before he was even 10 years old, singer/songwriter and guitarist Eberhardt knew the performing life was one he would embrace. He grew up in a musical family - he and...
For the second time, photographers in Windham County will take part in Scott Kelby's annual Worldwide Photo Walk Day, this year Saturday, Oct. 5, starting at 9 a.m. off Flat Street in the alleyway between the Transportation Center and the Vermont Center for Photography According to Tom Singleton, who'll be leading this second annual photo walk through downtown Brattleboro, all that's needed is a camera and the desire to take photos in Brattleboro. Participants may shoot panoramas, high-dynamic-range images, black-and-white...
Kindle Farm School is merging with Health Care and Rehabilitation Services (HCRS). Kindle Farm and HCRS, a nonprofit community mental health agency serving residents of Windham and Windsor counties, have enjoyed a productive business partnership for several years, providing for enhanced therapeutic services, programming, and infrastructure at the school. The merger, recently approved by the Vermont Secretary of State's office, allows for increased financial stability for Kindle Farm, and will continue to improve services provided at the school. HCRS said...
Three major institutions with a special interest in the English author Rudyard Kipling are joining forces in Windham County Oct. 7 and 8 to present “Kipling in America, 1892-1896.” This symposium, a project of the Kipling Society, Marlboro College, and the Landmark Trust Society of America, celebrates the author's Vermont years and legacy with a range of distinguished presentations and discussions. Kipling was a short-story writer, poet, and novelist, and is chiefly remembered for his tales and poems of life...
A rich range of world-class art photography is at your fingertips during October at In-Sight Photography Project's 15th Annual Silent Auction and Exhibition. More than 200 photographs, donated by local, national, and international photographers to support In-Sight's scholarship fund, are on display next door to In-Sight at Vermont Center for Photography, 49 Flat St. The public is invited to the opening of the auction and exhibit at Gallery Walk on Friday, Oct. 4, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. All artwork...
State Rep. Michael Hebert, R-Vernon, received notice on Sept. 24 that House Speaker Shapleigh “Shap” Smith Jr. appointed him to the state's nuclear oversight panel. The seven-member Vermont State Nuclear Oversight Panel (VSNAP), part of the Vermont Department of Public Service, considers nuclear issues in the state, with a focus on the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in Vernon. “I think I'll be able to help our region with how we go on living after VY is gone,” Hebert said. Hebert...
A teenage boy got off the bus recently in downtown Brattleboro. With blue headphones on and bopping to his own music, he picked up a piece of one-inch-thick chalk and wrote on a high black wall that he was grateful for “life.” Another person walking by gave him a thumbs-up, and the teen continued down Flat Street. Through the installation of her Walls of Gratitude - the centerpiece of a larger show she curated, Watching Angels - Margaret “Meg” Donahue...
Job seekers, curious high school students, and people contemplating a career change crowded into an event room at the Quality Inn on Putney Road for the first annual Southeastern Vermont Career Expo. A combination of 41 local businesses, education providers, state agencies, and staffing agencies greeted 503 people during the four-hour expo hosted by the Windham Workforce Investment Board (Windham WIB) on Sept. 26. “There are a lot of people unemployed in this area,” observed a hotel guest as she...
I'm writing this letter to thank Rockingham residents for the wonderful opportunity I've had to serve you as the director of the Rockingham Free Public Library for the last five years. The library is a tremendous resource for the town, and it has been well-used and well-loved by the community since 1909 when it was first built with funds donated by Andrew Carnegie. This gem of a building has just undergone a thorough renovation so that it can serve the...
RE: “What happens when a library loses its spirit?” [Column, Sept. 25]: What a beautiful and resonant description of what we love about and get from libraries!
Ghosts, memory, and conscience haunt the characters of “The Séance Society: A Mystery,” the first novel and a whodunnit by Michael Nethercott, which came out this week. The Guilford-based author will read from his novel, and perhaps tell a few ghost stories, at Mystery On Main Street bookstore, 119 Main St., Brattleboro, as part of the 2013 Brattleboro Literary Festival on Saturday, Oct. 5, at 1:15 pm. The event starts at noon. Nethercott will share the stage with authors Harold...
RE: “What happens when a library loses its spirit?” [Column, Sept. 25]: Andrew Carnegie would be proud! I am so glad to see that the sad situation of the Rockingham Free Public Library has united library patrons and Friends of the Library. I am further thrilled to know that my very intelligent, hard-working, and loyal sister - your former library director, Célina Houlné - is appreciated and supported by columnist Elayne Clift. This situation has served as a light to...
Amid the events of the Rockingham Free Public Library (RFPL) that have unfolded over the past several months, we, as the officers of the Bellows Falls Woman's Club, would like our collective voices to be known as very positive supporters of the library. Our club, organized in 1901 and admitted to the General Federation of Women's Clubs in 1913, has had a very special relationship with RFPL. One of the prominent goals of the General Federation is to promote literacy...
RE: “Creating a new and transparent process” [News, Sept. 25]: Ray Shadis, technical consultant to the New England Coalition, “noted that although property taxes have increased in Wiscasset (population 3,732 as of the 2010 census) absent the buffer of Maine Yankee's tax contributions, they've remained relatively moderate.” That's interesting, because on Sept. 18, 2013, The Boston Globe published “Its nuclear plant shut, Maine town full of regret/Wiscasset, Maine, long in economic depths.” That article states: “In the 17 years since...
RE: “Former library director envisions lawsuit” [News, Sept. 25]: It's about time someone revealed the truth. Thank you for your reporting on this very serious injustice.
RE: “After tense months, library nears opening” [Town & Village, Sept. 11]: The Rockingham Free Public Library Board of Trustees should resign en masse. We need a new broom to sweep up the mess they've made and undo the demoralization of our fine library staff, whose first duty has always been to the public and the patrons, and not to the egos of the most domineering members of the board.
At a special public hearing Sept. 25, the Selectboard amended the zoning bylaws to give the Planning Commission and Development Review Board more flexibility in setting the number of people serving on those bodies. No residents spoke up about the administrative change, which eliminates the requirement of nine board members in favor of “no less than three and no greater than nine” members. It remains up to each board to set the practical size of the board within that range.
The Gilfeather turnip is an amazing beast. This Poor Man's Lobster is fantastic - a turnip, and then some. It is sweet - so sweet, it could be a potato. It is huge - so huge, it could be a pumpkin. It is ugly and hairy - so ugly and hairy, it could be a shrunken head. This huge, sweet, ugly, hairy beast of a turnip is indigenous to New England. I like to believe it is special to Vermont;
When Spc. Casey Sheehan, a member of the Army's First Cavalry Division, was killed in action during the Iraq War on April 4, 2004, his mother, Cindy Sheehan, went through all the emotions that accompany the death of a child. Mourning eventually gave way to anger, and anger eventually gave way to action. In 2005, Cindy Sheehan established Camp Casey outside of then-President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. The co-founder of Gold Star Mothers for Peace had a...
When I would get sick as a small girl, my mother would make Junket for me. Junket was a powder that came in a cardboard box, much like Jello. You mixed it with lukewarm milk and poured it into little cups and, after waiting 10 minutes, you would end up with this slightly bland, overly sweet, lightly firm pudding. I would sit up in bed, propped by pillows, and spoon it slowly into my mouth, wanly smiling up at my...
The Selectboard on Sept. 25 said it is preparing to schedule hearings and a vote on endorsing and financing a long-proposed 11-unit affordable housing project here now that the project has the blessing of the town's Affordable Housing Committee. The project, centered on a $2.1 million investment from Windham & Windsor Housing Trust, is touted as likely to breathe new life into 113-year-old lodgings at 27 Old Depot Rd., and to provide low- or fixed-income income tenants with safe, clean...
Thank you, Elayne Clift, for your description of our library as community learning center and valuable cornerstone of our town [“What happens when a library loses its spirit?,” Column, Sept. 25]. Libraries are one of the very few places in our society where everyone is welcomed and treated equally. One of our tasks as community members is to support the work of public libraries and the people who dedicate their professional lives to serving their communities through these institutions. It...
The Town of Putney is going to pay 90 percent of its eligible workers' health insurance costs under the platinum tier of Blue Cross/Blue Shield as offered through the state's new health insurance marketplace, effective Dec. 1. At their regular meeting Sept. 25, Selectboard members debated funding levels available to it under Vermont Health Connect, the new marketplace wherein individuals, families, and small businesses in Vermont can compare public and private health plans and select one that fits their needs...
Town Manager Cynthia Stoddard and the trustees of Putney Public Library are investigating the town taking over the library's bookkeeping and establishing the library as a town enterprise. “They would become a municipal library. For all intents and purposes they are: We own the building; they fall under our personnel policy and municipal retirement,” Stoddard told the Board of Selectmen at their meeting Sept. 25. The library would preserve its autonomy and board, and wouldn't be a department of the...
Thursday, Oct. 3 7–8:30 p.m. - Vermont Reads - Poetry - Arlene Distler, Wyn Cooper, Tim Mayo, Barbara Benoit, Ed Rayher, and Charlie Butterfield. Brooks Memorial Library 7–9:30 p.m. - Poetry Slam with Kristopher Jansma – Landmark College 7:30–9 p.m. - Collaborations between Video Artists and Writers – Center for Digital Arts Friday, Oct. 4 7–8:15 p.m. - Jami Attenberg and Rosie Schaap - Robert H Gibson River Garden 7–8:15 p.m. - Walter Stahr and Megan Marshall - Centre Congregational...
When a state such as Texas rejects $10 million in federal aid intended to help its uninsured residents purchase health care under the Affordable Care Act, that's good news for the likes of Vermont, which needs - and will use - the money. That's according to State Rep. Mike Mrowicki, D-Putney, visiting the Selectboard Sept. 25 to apprise officials of a range of developments in Montpelier affecting residents here in his home town. Of the Vermont Health Connect exchange, which...
Who will win the Ugliest Turnip Award? Head on over to the annual Gilfeather Turnip Festival to find out! The 11th annual festival and contest, the signature fundraising event for the Friends of the Wardsboro Library, honors the root vegetable that was discovered and/or cultivated by Wardsboro farmer John Gilfeather. According to the website of Fedco Seeds, Gilfeather, who died in 1944, “sold them by the cartload” in Brattleboro and in Northampton, Mass., in the early 1900s. “Gilfeather, a lanky...