Issue #260

Around the Towns

BRATTLEBORO - The Brattleboro Recreation & Parks Department will again offer discounted tickets on sale to Six Flags/New England, located in Agawam, Mass., The Great Escape/Splashwater Kingdom in Lake George, N.Y., and Bromley's Adventure Park, located in Peru.

Just 45 minutes away, Six Flags offers fun for all ages. For the ticket price of $38, you can enjoy access to all rides and attractions, including shows, street action, animations, plus the Hurricane Harbor Water Park, and park facilities. Children under 2 are free. On-site parking is available for $20 per day. For more information, visit www.sixflags.com/newengland.

The Great Escape/Splashwater Kingdom is only three hours from Brattleboro. Tickets are $35 for all ages. Children age 2 & under are free. The ticket will admit you to all rides and water fun at the park. On-site parking passes are available in advance for $15, a savings of $5. For more information, visit www.sixflags.com/greatescape.

Bromley's Adventure Park is located six miles east of Manchester, and an all-day pass is $28. For more information, visit www.summer.bromley.com or call 802-824-5522.

Read More

BAPC appreciates community conversation

The Brattleboro Area Prevention Coalition (BAPC) and Brattleboro Union High School partnered to hold a “Community Conversation on Preventing Teen Prescription Drug Misuse” on April 29. The event was co-hosted with members of the BUHS's ATI 802 Above the Influence Club. The conversation was organized in response to the...

Read More

Collaboration fuels collective reponse to hunger, food access in Putney

A diverse group of Putney residents gathered at the Public Library June 2 to hear from a panel about the innovative and collaborative work being done to address hunger and food access here. What resulted was billed as the Putney Food Summit, a fruitful discussion between panelists and audience...

Read More

More

Community Store plans fall through — for now

The dream of a group of volunteers to buy the former Sweetie's store on Route 9 has fallen through. According to a post by Dan MacArthur at www.facebook.com/MarlboroStore, the Marlboro Community Store Working Group met on June 16 to set its next course of action. The group has spent nearly two years trying to raise money. Although the group had a purchase and sale agreement with James St. Jean, the owner of the property, MacArthur wrote that the group was...

Read More

Our Place seeks input for its strategic plan

Our Place Drop-In Center seeks public comment on its performance Thursday, June 26, at 7 p.m. at the center. In updating its strategic plan, the center is asking both the general public and its users and donors how they see the daytime shelter and food pantry meeting its goal of eliminating hunger in Windham County one family at a time. Our Place has been serving the area of greater Rockingham and Walpole, N.H., for more than 20 years. It last...

Read More

Southern Vermont Dance Festival seeks volunteers, host families

As preparations continue for this year's Second Annual Southern Vermont Dance Festival, slated for July 17-20, the organization is seeking volunteers to handle a variety of tasks, from event organizing to set-up to clean-up. “The Festival couldn't have pulled off last year's event without the many, many, wonderful volunteers who were ready to pitch in no matter the task,” said Brenda Siegel, the event's executive director. Depending on the task and the amount of volunteer time available, SVDF will contribute...

Read More

Gould & Stearns to perform in NEYT benefit

Gould & Stearns, “the clown jewels of Vermont,” are reuniting for a pair of benefit shows June 28 for the New England Youth Theatre. Peter Gould and Stephen Stearns, collaborators for more than three decades, present an evening of their work ranging from classics to new pieces, duets and solos, mime, clown, story, and song. You'll see your favorite skits and hear stories of how Gould & Stearns came about. These performances offer more than fun for the whole family:

Read More

Milestones

College news • Nathan Nichols of Newfane graduated from Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y., on May 24. At Hartwick, Nichols participated in Honors Program, Soccer Club, and Orchesis Dance Club. He majored in chemistry and physics, and mathematics and cognates for a second major. • Ashley Morgan of West Townshend was awarded an M.S. in chemical engineering from Worcester (Mass.) Polytechnic Institute on May 17. • Emily Cuerdon, a stage and production management major from Putney, has been named to...

Read More

VTC presents ‘As You Like It’ on June 26-29

The final production of Vermont Theatre Company's 30th anniversary season is “As You Like It.” A pastoral comedy, “As You Like It” has been called Shakespeare's most charming and most frivolous play. The story revolves around animosity between Duke Senior and her younger brother, Duke Frederick, who forces Duke Senior to flee and seek refuge in the Forest of Arden. Once there with her family and followers, love blooms, people sing and dance, and the play ends in generosity, love,

Read More

Setting the record straight on Co-op contract

In response to this commentary about the Brattleboro Food Co-op and contract negotiations with UFCW, let us set the record straight. The Co-op's management representatives have indeed been negotiating with the bargaining unit's representatives and their UFCW advisors since March of 2013, when the union formed its bargaining team. Not unusual for a very first contract, it took all of a year to work through the many agreements needed. It has been a learning experience for all of us. As...

Read More

Public hearing on post-VY funds set for July 10 in Brattleboro

On Thursday, July 10, the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) and the Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) will hold a public hearing from 5:30 to 7 p.m., in the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Brattleboro Municipal Center, 230 Main St. This meeting will take public comment on utilizing a portion of the $10 million made available through the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the state of Vermont and Entergy Vermont Yankee to establish a Windham County Revolving...

Read More

Experiment and explore this summer at Brooks Memorial Library

Keep your kids reading this summer by signing them up for the summer reading program in the Children's Room at Brooks Memorial Library. Actually, the Children's Room offers three summer reading programs: For the little ones, there's “Fizz, Boom, READ! Jr.,” where children 3 and younger, and their parents, complete 16 early literacy activities listed on the reading record. Participants will receive a book bag, coloring page, bookmark, and board book. Children 4 to 9 can sign up for “Fizz,

Read More

Ephemera and advertising is focus of Estey Organ Museum talk

Estey Organ Museum sponsors “The Estey Organ - Its Place in the Emergence of American Capitalism” at its Engine House Gallery, 108 Birge St., on Sunday, June 29, at 3 p.m. Kit Barry, curator of the Ephemera Archive for American Studies in Brattleboro, leads the presentation. Ephemera is any printed material that is meant for short-term or specific use, and then to be discarded. Examples of ephemera are magazines, newspapers, greeting cards, postcards, invoices, junk mail, and print advertising. The...

Read More

She’ll carry a brick, and she’ll use it, too

I am so proud of my hometown and Vermont, along with the other states that are actively pursuing the issue of leaving animals in hot cars. As an animal-cruelty investigator and volunteer rescue worker, I see way too many things - more than others care to see and, unfortunately, care to hear about. We are fortunate to have one Southern state now that has passed legislation making it legal to break into a car to get an animal in distress...

Read More

Vendors, parade entries sought for Fourth of July celebration

Vendors and parade entrants are sought for this year's Fourth of July celebration in Saxtons River. Vendors are invited to set up on Main Street before the 5K road race begins at 8:30 a.m. Anyone interested in renting a space should write Flo Levin at [email protected]. The parade begins at 9:30 and welcomes participants modest and grand. Entrants should write Susan Hernandez at [email protected]. The theme for this year's celebration is “A Star-Spangled Fourth” in honor of the 200th anniversary...

Read More

Get ready to ‘Fizz! Boom! Read!’ at the RFPL

Are you ready to “Fizz, Boom, READ!”? The Rockingham Free Public Library has a summer of exciting activities and reading planned this week through Aug. 15. Each week, the RFPL will feature different family events including live animal presentations, puppets, and natural science. Teens in middle and high school are invited to “Spark a Reaction!” at the library on Thursdays at 1:30 p.m. with a slate of programs just for them that include lots of hands-on science activities. Starting on...

Read More

BFUHS partners with area businesses to create Community Based Learning

As part of the Bellows Falls Union High School Community-Based Learning program, the Bellows Falls Community Bike Project has created an adaptive bike for a student here. Freshman Stella Lillie had a custom bike made and modified to accommodate her needs, thanks to the help of Bonnie Anderson, Todd Ward, and other volunteers at the BF Community Bike Project. The team put in a great deal of time to come up with a great-looking, safe bike. The Community-Based Learning Program...

Read More

Relieved and grateful parents say thanks

Our family is deeply grateful for the support the town of Brattleboro provided when our daughter went missing recently. And when we say the town, we mean friends, the school community, just concerned townspeople, and the Brattleboro Police Department. The skills and professionalism of the school staff and the police department have in our small town are both astounding and invaluable. In particular, we would like to thank Brattleboro Area Middle School Principal Ingrid Chrisco, school counselor Lauren Petrie, Brattleboro...

Read More

Community members sought for police chief search committee

A committee of citizens is being formed to participate in candidate interviews as one step in the overall process of hiring the next police chief. The Town Manager's Office will be accepting letters of interest from motivated members of the public for participation in the Police Chief Search - Community Committee. To get involved, send a letter of interest explaining your reason for wanting to participate and identify any formal affiliations as a professional advocate. Included in your letter should...

Read More

Bridging divides, one person at a time

From the moment I walked into the contact classroom and sat down next to Atiya, a quiet young woman from India dressed in a white traditional dress, amid row after row of participants from around the globe, I felt I had entered an enchanted world. A few minutes later, we all lined up, each of us sticking a colorful tag on the large map in front of the room - in some cases multiple stickers marking places where we'd lived...

Read More

OMC celebrates fifth anniversarty with student/faculty reception and concert

On Thursday, June 26, The Open Music Collective celebrates its fifth year with a reception and summer jazz concert featuring faculty and three student groups. In its five years, OMC has put on many concerts and workshops, including 10 semesters of ensemble classes including vocal, jazz, classical guitar, kids' composition, rock camps, and bluegrass. This also marks the offering of a fifth weeklong jazz intensive, taught this year by Harvey Diamond on piano, Claire Arenius on drums, Carl Clements on...

Read More

Intentional or not, it was infringement

Ms. Farabaugh's piece is ill-informed and therefore misguided. First, two obvious red flags: (1) the author is not a lawyer and is writing on legal subjects (she is ignorant) and (2) the author is the defendant in a lawsuit where the subject matter is also the subject of the article (she is biased). Here is the most important fact: The author used a copyright-protected work without the permission of the copyright owner. This is copyright infringement. However, there is a...

Read More

Turning Point’s USDA grant will let it return to downtown

During a news conference in Chester on Monday, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials announced eight organizations across the state will share $430,326 in USDA Rural Development Community Facility grants, loans, and loan guarantees to purchase, improve, or construct essential community assets. Turning Point of Windham County in Brattleboro received a portion of the funding. They will get a $162,126 guaranteed loan in collaboration with Brattleboro Savings & Loan to purchase and renovate a 15-room, single-family building downtown at the...

Read More

Yard sale benefits Halifax Conservation Group

The Halifax Conservation Group (HCG) will hold a fundraising yard sale Saturday, June 28, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at 72 Oak St. in Brattleboro. Proceeds will be used to further the citizen group's research and public awareness efforts regarding a proposed industrial scale commercial schist quarry in the Halifax Conservation District. The proposed quarry site is centered in one of the largest remaining contiguous forest tracts in Windham County. The Halifax Conservation Group is a large and growing...

Read More

‘Last-mile’ broadband Internet service projects move forward

Several “last mile” projects are in progress to provide high-speed Internet to previous un-served addresses in Windham County. According to the Vermont Telecommunications Authority, FairPoint Communications received funding to provide broadband Internet service to addresses along all or part of 11 roads in Brattleboro and Wilmington. Funding to Southern Vermont Cable (SVC) has extended access to its Internet service on all or part of two roads in Newfane, one in Putney, and in parts of Dummerston. The FairPoint and SVC...

Read More

N.H. House tries again to make Vilas Bridge a priority

The New Hampshire House Public Works and Highway (HPWH) Committee met Tuesday to discuss the fate of HB 1205, a bill proposing a 50-50 split of the roughly $5 million that is the estimated cost to repair the now-closed Vilas Bridge. Current costs are split at $4.65 million for New Hampshire, and $350,000 for Vermont. New Hampshire owns all bridges spanning the Connecticut River, and is responsible for all but 3 percent of their costs in maintenance and upgrades. Like...

Read More

Greater Falls Warming Shelter making plans for the future

The season for the Greater Falls Warming Shelter ended when the emergency site for the homeless closed in mid-April, but the work continues as the shelter's board looks to the future. “We are actively looking for a better space,” says Louise Luring, GFWS board president. “We are also working closely with Our Place Drop in Center to find a space we can share because we already share so many resources and clients. We welcome input from community members who might...

Read More

Tissuegate

Our class tissues are not very comfortable. They hurt our noses very badly. We would like some softer tissues, please. These tissues make our noses chapped, but I'm grateful we have tissues for our class. They don't make my nose so runny, but they feel like sandpaper, and our noses get red when we use them. We would be so so very, very grateful for new soft, fluffy, and comfy ones that don't make our noses hurt. I am not...

Read More

Post 5 splits with Bellows Falls in Legion openers

Brattleboro Post 5 and Bellows Falls Post 37 opened the American Legion Baseball season last week with a home-and-home series that illustrated how thin can be the margin between success and failure in baseball. On June 17 at Vermont Academy, Post 37 got a solid pitching performance by its ace, Mike LaBeau, in a 3-2 win, but LaBeau's effort was nearly wasted by the sloppy defensive performance backing him. Brattleboro had 11 hits, and threatened to score in almost every...

Read More

Master multi-instrumentalist Martin Grosswendt brings an evening of American roots music to Sandglass Theater

On Thursday, June 26, at 7:30 p.m., Martin Grosswendt brings his masterful take on American roots music to the intimate stage of Sandglass Theater on Kimball Hill. In this rare appearance, Grosswendt is accompanied by guitarist and singer Susanne Salem-Schatz. Grosswendt, an extraordinary instrumentalist and powerful singer, covers a wide range of American roots music. He is particularly well known as an interpreter of the country blues of the 1920s and 1930s. His performances encompass the breadth and depth of...

Read More

Whitney debuts her first poetry collection at Next Stage

Former Brattleboro Reformer parenting columnist Diana Whitney announces the launch of her first book, “Wanting It,” published by Harbor Mountain Press. “Wanting It” has enjoyed strong pre-reviews from award-winning poets such as Vermont Poet Laureate Sydney Lea, who writes, “Readers will scarcely miss the erotic element in Diana Whitney's saucily entitled and brilliant book... Her hungry heart and eye invade her entire universe to such an extent that, if it did not exist, we should have to invent the adjective...

Read More

Twilight on the Tavern Lawn presents The Chris Kleeman Band on June 29

Twilight Music continues its 12th annual Twilight on the Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, rock, jazz, zydeco, Celtic, swing, blues, and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, June 29, with an evening of hard-driving, house-rocking, in-your-face blues by the Chris Kleeman Band. The seven-concert series continues every other Sunday through August 24. Concerts begin at 6 p.m. downtown on the Putney Tavern lawn (bring a lawn chair or blanket) or, in the event of rain, at Next Stage at...

Read More

Open for lunch and summer activities

It's summer! An utterance that brings joy to many schoolchildren who relish a reprieve from homework and pop quizzes. Summer also brings camps, workshops, and educational activities. One such offering is particularly sweet: The United Way of Windham County, in partnership with Hunger Free Vermont, kicked off summer meals programming with a picnic on the lawn of Green Street School in Brattleboro on June 21. Summer Food Program Coordinator Kira Sawyer-Hartigan, MSW, estimated that 25 kids enjoyed their first free...

Read More

Road trip

School is out and summer vacation has arrived. That means it's time for a road trip, which is exactly what the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) is offering visitors beginning Saturday, June 28. That is the day six new exhibits open at the museum, including “Road Trip: America Through the Windshield,” a contemporary take on the classic summer getaway. BMAC members are invited to preview the new exhibits and meet many of the featured artists at a cocktail reception...

Read More

Bringing it all back home

“Buy local” goes beyond purchasing vegetables from the farmers' market and shopping along Main Street. It also means showing up when area musicians perform. On Friday, June 27, the Hooker-Dunham Theater provides this opportunity with a concert featuring notable local musicians playing folk, roots, and rockabilly music. Singer/songwriter Abe Loomis, a native of Northampton, Mass., takes center stage, backed by his band Bright Lines, featuring an all-Pioneer Valley collection of talent. Jim Henry, one of the band's guitarists, recently returned...

Read More

Education as life

Let's take a moment to step back and reflect on what this day means. Our diplomas don't say much by themselves. They confirm that yes, you have the skills necessary to graduate high school: mainly filling in multiple-choice bubbles and coming up with solid excuses for why your paper is late. More than that, however, that little slip of paper means that you have had an education. This is nothing to sneeze at; just this fact alone puts you in...

Read More