Selectboard member and Road Foreman Todd Lawley recused himself from an otherwise unanimous vote helping pave the way for his son Nicholas to join the road crew on an emergency on-call basis.
According to draft minutes of the Oct. 2 Selectboard meeting, members took up the town's exposure in having someone who is not an employee operate town equipment, and the possibility of a perceived ethical conflict in hiring the road foreman's son for the road crew.
On a motion from Chris Druke, the board decided that Nicholas would be subject to the town's standard drug testing and application process and that, if he is used, he'd be paid $12 per hour. He will also have to meet with the Selectboard at its first meeting in November.
...The Rockingham Selectboard has passed an ordinance prohibiting the establishment of marijuana dispensaries. Josh Hearne, in casting the lone dissenting vote, said it was his understanding that such dispensaries were highly controlled “and should be treated as any other business coming to town.” Under Vermont's 2004 medical marijuana law,
Births • In Brattleboro (Memorial Hospital), Sept. 26, 2013, a daughter, Zoey Renee Mayle, to Amy (Powling) and Donann Mayle of Wilmington; granddaughter to Calvin Powling Jr. and Toni Powling of Newfane, Donald and Randi LaFrance of Westminster, Robert Mayle of Whitingham and Sheila Mayle of West Dover. •
The Vermont Suicide Prevention Resource and Training Center (VSPRTC), established by the Brattleboro-based Center for Health and Learning, is working with 13 institutions of higher education in Vermont this year to offer Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper training on campuses throughout the state. A strong focus of the work of the VSPRTC and the higher education programming is to create “health promoting communities” in which people of all ages have the knowledge, attitude, skills and resources to not only reduce the risk...
State Rep. Mike Mrowicki, D-Putney, told the Selectboard that Louisiana-based Entergy Corp. should start the decommissioning process for its Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in Vernon “right now, which is what we're hoping for.” He doesn't anticipate a big slump in the local economy. “They'll need a lot of jobs; I think they'll actually bring some more people in. There are a number of questions around what to do with that once it cools down and they can move it around,”
Comedian Paula Poundstone is headed to the Latchis Theatre Oct. 26 with Dummerston resident Tom Bodett, her cohort from NPR's “Wait Wait … Don't Tell Me!,” in a benefit show for the Windham & Windsor Housing Trust. Poundstone, celebrated for her spontaneous humor, and instantly recognizable in her trademark suit and tie, delights in connecting with her audience and keeping the show as fresh as a sparkling conversation. “I feel that we're sharing this experience together. I never find stand-up...
The Grammar School is excited to announce the installation of a new biomass wood pellet heating system for the main building to replace its 16-year-old wood chip/oil boiler. Building manager Chris Harlow and business manager Deb Gray researched many pellet systems before choosing Froling Energy of Peterborough, N.H. to design and install the system for TGS. Froling Energy estimates that in 10 years the entire system will be paid for from the savings in fuel costs. The company said that,
The Selectboard has chosen to fund Blue Cross/Blue Shield bronze health insurance coverage, with a fully town-funded Health Reimbursement Account, or HRA, for town employees starting Jan. 1, 2014. As Town Administrator Katie Buckley noted at the Sept. 23 Selectboard meeting, money in an HRA, if not used, is retained by the town and can help offset next year's costs. “We've had the good fortune of having a plan that's had an HRA for the past two or three years,
What do two successful artists talk about when they get together? Well, before they talk about art, they gossip about other people - just like everybody else. But when Red Grooms and Stephen Hannock met for a conversation about art on Oct. 5 at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center, they had an audience of more than 100 hanging on every word. The audience was crowded with local art notables such as Wolf Kahn and Emily Mason. Jim Giddings, whom...
A fast-moving line of thunderstorms brought high winds and heavy rain to Windham County late Monday afternoon, hitting Newfane the hardest. Vermont State Police from the Rockingham barracks said that Route 30 was closed to traffic near the NewBrook Fire Station due to trees, power lines, and utility poles littering the roadway around 5 p.m. Monday. Traffic was diverted to River Road while Route 30 was closed. The road was reopened by noontime on Tuesday. Wind gusts of up to...
Brattleboro Memorial Hospital has begun the community engagement portion of its emergency department capital campaign. The hospital is raising $3.5 million to renovate and expand the 31-year-old facility. Co-chaired by Art Greenbaum and Martha O'Connor, a committee of community leaders has spent the past year working to solicit charitable support from the hospital board, the campaign committee and key supporters, and BMH leadership, physicians, and employees. With more than $3 million committed, they now ask the community to join in...
The Twin Valley boys' soccer team is on a tremendous roll: undefeated, untied, and unscored-upon after its first nine games. After blasting Fair Haven, 8-0, on the road on Sept. 30 to end a challenging stretch of three games in six days, the Wildcats got a couple days off and were back at the friendly confines of Baker Field last Thursday night when they played host to Bellows Falls and rolled to a 4-0 win. The Terriers gave Twin Valley...
On a motion from Lewis White, seconded by Steve Glabach, the Selectboard voted 5-0 to appoint Melanie Chamberlin to the Recreation Board. At the same Oct. 2 meeting, the Selectboard voted 4-1 to approve a request from Sarah Evans on the Recreation Board to purchase soccer supplies. The request covers shirts, gloves, boards, mouth guards, training markers, agility ladders, whistles, heavy-duty equipment bags, and cones. On that vote, White, who coaches a rec soccer team, was the dissenting voice. “We've...
The Selectboard voted unanimously Oct. 2 to ask the Planning Commission to amend its bylaws to strike a requirement that calls for a member of the Planning Commission to serve on the Development Review Board and vice-versa. The change comes at the request of DRB chair Jack Lilly, who forwarded a letter of interest from Alan McBean to serve on the DRB as an alternate. The Planning Commission has a full roster, so there wouldn't be any way to accommodate...
Food Connects, a Brattleboro-based nonprofit, has launched buying clubs for affordable local food in four local schools as part of the Vermont Community Foundation's Food and Farm Initiative. Community members near Brattleboro Area Middle School, Academy School, Putney Central School, and Guilford Central School can enroll now at www.FoodConnects.org. This year's buying clubs are supported by volunteers and students at each school. The clubs provide local food at lower prices through their partnership with Windham Farm and Food (WFF). Members...
West B Association to meet Oct. 10 WEST BRATTLEBORO - On Thursday, Oct. 10, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., the West Brattleboro Association (WBA) will hold its monthly meeting at The New England House, 254 Marlboro Rd. The Association will finalize planning for its Columbus Day Weekend Chicken Barbecue on Saturday, Oct. 12. Fire Chief Mike Bucossi will be on hand to discuss plans for the West B fire station, which might mean a less expensive option of the construction...
How often has the doorbell rung or a child interrupted you while you were cooking, causing you to forget about the chicken you left sizzling on the stove - until smoke filled the house? If this scenario or a similar one sounds familiar to you, you might want to think about it a little more, because it's likely that you, a friend or family member has run the risk of having a dangerous fire. The staff of the Brattleboro Fire...
Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) presents “Time to Innovate: Managing Time to Support Creativity,” a workshop led by Integral Master Coach Lyedie Geer on Tuesday, Nov. 5, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Drawing upon her extensive research and experience working with artists and creative entrepreneurs, Geer will help participants better understand their relationship with time and how to foster the creative process in each of its phases. Geer helps people fulfill their potential by bringing proven leading-edge theory...
Director Jane Baker calls it throwback theater, but whatever you call it, New England Youth Theatre's “A Very Brady 70's Show” recalls the classic sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz that originally aired from Sept. 26, 1969 to March 8, 1974 on ABC. The series, which has been on the air in syndication and through the love of its fans since it premiered - and having spawned a franchise of spinoffs, books, movies, songs, and lunchboxes - revolves around a large...
The Apron Theatre Company, in association with the Next Stage Arts Project, presents Arthur Miller's Pulitzer- and Tony-award-winning play “Death of a Salesman” at Next Stage in Putney on the next two weekends in October. Following successful summer productions of “Wit” and “The Cripple of Inishmaan,” “Death of a Salesman” is the third and final production of the inaugural 2013 season by Next Stage's “theater-company-in-residence,” the Apron Theatre Company, founded this year by Karla Baldwin, Hallie Flower, and Carrie Kidd.
Renovations that started in late July are now complete, and the Brattleboro Retreat has opened another in a series of specialty inpatient programs. The new 12-bed Emerging Adult Program, located in the Retreat's Osgood Building, began accepting patients on Oct. 7. The 6,053 square-foot inpatient unit will accommodate young adults ages 18 to 26 who are dealing with a variety of serious psychiatric illnesses including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, and clinical depression. Research studies indicate that initial onset of...
Brattleboro Community Television invites you to dress for the red carpet and be seen at their annual meeting, Wednesday, Oct. 9, at BCTV's newly renovated studio on the third floor of the Brattleboro Municipal Center, 230 Main St. At the meeting, set for 6 to 8 p.m., members will elect new board members and vote on other member business. Although all are welcome, anyone who has been a BCTV member as of Aug. 31 may vote. Food is provided by...
The Ben & Jerry's Foundation recently notified Post Oil Solutions that it was awarding its project, the Greater Falls Community Garden Collaborative (GFCGC), an Economic Justice Grant of $10,000 to pursue its food security work in its catchment area of Rockingham, Bellows Falls, Saxtons River, Westminister, Cambridgeport, Athens, and Grafton. Begun in November 2011 following a series of community conversations Post Oil hosted on the need to make local food more affordable and accessible to all citizens in the region,
Photojournalist Peter Miller roasted a pig and went on the road to celebrate the publication of his new book, “A Lifetime of Vermont People.” “When the book came out last August, I invited everyone to a pig roast party in my backyard,” Miller says. “[Burlington gallery] Frog Hollow then arranged a tour of the Vermont libraries that will be displaying photographs and text from the book.” Through the month of October, the Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro, in association with...
In the heart of the heart of the fall arrives a month that is, somehow, out of its time. By October, the tenth month, the year is old. The golden light of the afternoon partakes of age, and of a certain honest weariness and well-earned rest. But the curious thing about this long month is that it evokes not only the repose of age but also its devotion to memory, to the past. In October, as in no other month,
The Joint Board of Rockingham met last week in a special meeting to consider a seven-page proposal for merger. Selectboard chair Thom MacPhee said he was the one who pulled together the chairs of the three municipal boards - himself, BF's Roger Riccio, and Saxtons River's Louise Luring - as well as James McAuliffe and Paul Obuchowski, who have long considered the merger option for the community. Obuchowski assured the boards that the meetings which produced the proposal violated no...
Heirloom apple tasting DUMMERSTON- Scott Farm orchard manager Zeke Goodband will open to the public the farm's packing barn on Sunday, Oct. 13 for Heirloom Apple Day, the farm's annual heirloom-apple-tasting celebration. Goodband will offer tastings of a select group of more than 90 varieties of apples while sharing information and lore about the fruit. Informational sessions will take place at 10 a.m., noon, and 2 p.m. The farm is located at 707 Kipling Rd. For more information, call 802-254-6868...
The crisp days of autumn are upon us, and the bracing cold of winter is building just around the bend. Efficiency Vermont offers these tips to stay warm and lower your energy bills: • Take charge of your thermostat - You'll shave two percent to three percent off your energy costs with every degree you lower your thermostat around the clock. Lowering the heat from 72 to 65 degrees for eight hours per day can save you as much as...
The Grammar School in Putney is transforming anew into a 14th century Old English-inspired village on Saturday, Oct. 12, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., as it celebrates 25 years of its annual Medieval Faire. The event, a fundraiser for the K-8 Grammar School Student Scholarship Fund, includes games, food, live music and vendors, all presided over by King Arthur and his royal court. Come one, come all, and feel free to dress the part. Organizers say most activities will...
Despite the perception that they only bustle with activity in the fall, apple orchards require constant year-round activity. Nancy Miller and her son-in-law, Dean Miller, own, operate, and maintain the five-acre Cortland Hill Orchard off of Bonnyvale Rd. entirely on their own, pruning, planting, and harvesting apples and other fruits. For nearly all the orchards in the state, this year is a heavy crop - more bountiful than any year in recent memory, according to Nancy Miller. This year, fruit...
RE: “On joy and justice” [Viewpoint, Sept. 4]: What kind of diabolical mind celebrates the misfortune and hardship of others? Most definitely not one concerned with “justice.” The truth is, the closing of Vermont Yankee will cause hardship for hundreds of families. Lives will be disrupted, careers destroyed, children will be uprooted from familiar surroundings and forced to go on the road while their families seek other work, and honest and hardworking people will lose jobs for which they have...
Mara Williams, the chief curator of the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center, now has a bigger canvas to work her magic upon. In September, Williams was appointed to the U.S. Senate Curatorial Advisory Board. She nominated by U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who is a member of the five-member U.S. Senate Commission on Art. In addition to Leahy, the other commission members are Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.,
The following list of Windham County apple farms comes to us from the Vermont Tree Fruit Growers Association (vermontapples.org): Connecticut Valley Orchard Kurn Hattin Road, Westminster (802-722-3340; [email protected]). Pick-your-own apples. Cortland Hill Orchard 72 Miller Rd., Brattleboro (802-254-6925; [email protected]). Peaches, apples (pick your own and retail), pumpkins, squash. Dwight Miller and Son Orchards 511 Miller Rd., E. Dummerston (802-254-9111). Organic pick-your-own strawberries, apples, peaches, pears, cider, and more. Green Mountain Orchards 130 West Hill Rd., Putney (802-387-5851; www.greenmtorchards.com). Blueberries (pick...
BrattleMasters, the local chapter of public speaking development nonprofit Toastmasters International, is holding its next meeting on the road. Kipling Road, that is, at the World Learning/SIT Graduate Institute campus. Three prepared speeches are on the agenda, with an equal number of peer evaluations - and a lively “off the cuff” speaking opportunity called Table Topics which gives volunteers the chance to speak for a minute or two on a surprise topic. The meeting is Thursday, Oct. 10, from 6...
I have an obscure and secret addiction. I regularly read blogs by homeschooling, homesteading families. I have followed some of these families through the (home) births of several children and through multiple seasons of gardening, canning, spinning, knitting, sewing, and barn building. I try to imagine life as part of an isolated, self-sustaining family unit where everything needed is made at home and by hand. Not unlike my childhood fascination with Laura Ingalls Wilder, it all seems too good to...
RE: “Absolute authority” [Viewpoint, Oct. 5]: Remarkable. Ryan Hockertlotz, your ability to see the issue of sexual assault in the military clearly surprises and delights me. Your opinion differs a bit from my own, and after several decades in uniform, I applaud myself a bit too much, perhaps, so I am especially appreciative of your original thought. Keep educating others. It's a bit late in the game for our culture to change, but it must change if our military is...
The town committee charged with constructing a skateboard park at the Crowell Lot on Western Avenue is cooling its heels while the Selectboard considers whether to approve designs for smaller park. Jeff Clark, chair of Brattleboro Area Skatepark is Coming (BASIC), says the process is in limbo. Following more than an hour of discussion at the Oct. 1 Selectboard meeting, members voted 3-2 to table until Nov. 5 a vote on a BASIC request to reduce the park's size. BASIC...
The project team behind the $14.2 million Police-Fire Facilities upgrade project reports a potential savings of $220,000. The team is exploring demolishing the West Brattleboro Fire Station, described as problematic, and rebuilding it nearby. “These are preliminary numbers,” cautioned Fire Chief Michael Bucossi. Project manager Steve Horton echoed the chief's caution. If the project team's preliminary suggestions come to fruition, the team would tear down and rebuild the West Brattleboro Station. Original designs from Montpelier-based Black River Design called for...
The ovens in the kitchen of the Dummerston Congregational Church have been going full blast since Sept. 30 to make the 1,500 pies that will be sold at the 44th annual Apple Pie Festival on Oct. 13. But this pie fest will be different from the previous 43. It will be the first one without Gladys Miller. She died at home on April 26 at the age of 79. The wife of the late Dwight Miller Jr., they ran the...
For four decades and counting, Morris dancing has colored the cultural landscape of Brattleboro and New England. Performed outside in the springtime, often in front of a pub or some other local landmark, this traditional dance form originally from England is a colorful, joyous celebration of spring. Three years ago, a group of dancers formed a new Morris team in southern Vermont. The first performance of the team called Windham took place at the grand opening of the Putney General...
On Sunday, Oct. 13, the Hogback Mountain Conservation Association is holding a work party for the Early Successional Habitat (ESH) on Hogback Mountain. Help is needed in cutting the growth on the former Meadows ski slope to rejuvenate the Early Successional Habitat to benefit the wildlife on the mountain. The goal: clear brush and saplings from the former ski trails at the now-defunct ski area to rejuvenate the shrubby young growth that is so appealing to many kinds of wildlife.
On Tuesday, Oct. 4 at midnight, the federal government shut its doors, closed for all but the most essential business concerning national security and the safety of the American people. Vermonters, like Americans in every state and town of this country, are frustrated, confused, and angry because of the Congress's inability to do its job and keep the government running. Visual consequences of the shutdown can be found around Washington, where museums and national monuments are barricaded. In the states,
Grace Cottage Family Health will offer flu shots to the public on Saturday, Oct. 19, from 8 a.m. to noon. No appointment is needed. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone older than 6 months get a yearly flu vaccine, ideally by October. According to Grace Cottage, getting an annual seasonal flu vaccine is your best way of avoiding seasonal flu and lessening the chance you'll spread it to others. Symptoms such as fever, body...
On Friday, Oct. 11, at the Latchis Theatre, there will be two showings of the documentary “Love Free or Die,” a film about the life of the Rev. Eugene Robinson of New Hampshire, and how he became the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church. Robinson's consecration as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2004 shook the worldwide Anglican and Episcopal churches, bringing them to near schism. He retired from the post earlier this year. Showings will be at 5:15...
The Selectboard approved emergency spillway repairs at privately owned Kenny Pond, also known as Grout Pond, at an estimated final cost of $3,700. About $500 of the total cost will be paid by affected property owners. The work is needed because, as Morris Root from Root Engineering tells the town, the condition of the 1930s-era dam has declined due to issues with the principal spillway conduit and a downstream stone wall. At $3,200, Vernon-based Renaud Bros. was low bidder at...
The Town of Wilmington has one open seat for justice of the peace, and is seeking candidates to apply to fill the term ending Feb. 1, 2015. The duties of Vermont's justices of the peace are many and varied: from serving as election officials to determining tax appeals and tax abatements to giving oaths to solemnizing civil marriages. The town clerk will send candidates' information to the governor, who will then appoint someone to fill this open seat. Any town...