I believe Daniel Cohen had good intentions in his letter, yet he used a disrespectful phrase - “mindless caution” - to describe Interim Town Manager Patrick Moreland's caution about lumping all the accidents of the last two years.
Patrick Moreland and the Brattleboro Police Department have been working daily with traffic safety and other folks. Traffic safety is a legally complicated subject, and there isn't anything mindless about it.
There are three things the police department can do once they have a formal complaint with a license-plate number.
1) The police can track down who owns the vehicle and call them to find out who was driving the vehicle at the time. They can talk with the person about their version of the incident. At this point, it is that person's word or your word.
The Rockingham Selectboard and Bellows Falls Trustees have opted to maintain the summer schedule of monthly meetings for the foreseeable future. The boards will meet on the first and second Tuesdays of the month, respectively. Special meetings will be called as needed. Here are the boards' August and September...
“When my daughter was young, we would say to her, when the leaves seemed to turn color overnight, 'How did you do that? Did you paint those trees?' And we would all laugh,” says Lynn Levine, a local forester and environmental educator. Autumn's color changes do seem magical: what...
Winstanley Solar Development (WSD) and Brattleboro Memorial Hospital (BMH) recently announced an agreement to collaborate on the construction and operation of a 500 kilowatt solar power array on land owned by Winstanley Enterprises. The electricity generated by this array will serve the main BMH hospital building and generate significant savings for BMH over the 20-year term of the agreement. This project is part of an initiative to bring solar power and utility savings to schools, municipalities, and hospitals in the...
If you were in Wilmington on Sept. 9, you might have seen some strange green flashes, and heard excited shouts coming from the Hermitage Golf Club. What you saw and heard were participants in Windham County Safe Place's Night Golf Tournament mastering the art of driving glow-in-the-dark golf balls. Our second annual tournament was a blast, and if you missed out, we hope you will plan to join us next year. We thank our sponsors for their support of this...
A free Fun Run has been held every other Wednesday from May to September since 1990, organized by volunteers intent on sharing their passion for fun and fitness for the benefit of healthy community. For 25 summers, whether the weather is hot and humid or cold and rainy, the Fun Run attracts youngsters and oldsters, runners and walkers, champion athletes and casual joggers, baby-joggers and families with kids (who like to see the horses and little lambs along the course)
Births In Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. (General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital), Sept. 27, 2014, a daughter, Kennleigh DeAnna-Marie Kickery, to Paul and Ashley Kickery of Fort Leonard Wood. • In Lebanon, N.H., (Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center), Sept. 18, 2014, a daughter, Charlotte Sophia Evans, to Rick and Caroline Evans of Bradford; granddaughter to Gordon and Linda Evans of Dummerston, and Sandy and Carol Curtis of Columbia, Md. • In Brattleboro (Memorial Hospital), Sept. 16, 2014, a daughter, Trinity April Gilbeau...
On Friday, Oct. 10, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 12, at 3 p.m., six artists at Sandglass Theater will share the mystique and low-tech charm of pairing song and story with scrolling pictures. With a serenade of ballads, stories, comic songs, and original compositions, the team of Eric Bass and Ines Zeller Bass, Amanda Maddock, Kirk Murphy, Anna Patton, and Brendan Taaffe will present an assortment of beautifully handcrafted “crankies” for your delight and entertainment. As Sandglass explains in...
Well over 200 people crowded into the new atrium of the 143-year old Brooks House to hear the dignitaries speak. More onlookers peered down on the crowd from second-story windows lining the hallway, ballroom, and new addition of the landmark building, closed when a five-alarm fire left the structure gutted and bandaged in plywood. The April 2011 blaze left 60 homeless and displaced 10 businesses. The shuttering of the Brooks House tore Brattleboro's economic fabric. “Only in Windham County, only...
Thanks to Wolf Kahn, the hills, forests, farms, and barns of southern Vermont may be seen in many of the world's finest art galleries, museums, and private collections. For nearly 50 years the beloved landscape painter, a leading figure in contemporary American art, has spent summers on a hillside farm in West Brattleboro. He has traveled the back roads and unmarked lanes of Windham County with pastels and sketchbook in tow, depicting the landscape in a signature style that hovers...
Peter Aguero, a storyteller from public radio's “The Moth Radio Hour” and a masterful raconteur, comes to Next Stage on Friday, Oct. 10, at 7:30 p.m. Aguero, returning to the area aftre having been a part of storyteller events at the Latchis in Brattleboro, will take the audience through a raw and sympathetic look at his relationship with his father in a piece he calls “Daddy Issues.” As Next Stage promises in its program announcement, “Through crippling honesty, brutal humor,
Ballots now available for early voting BRATTLEBORO - Early/absentee ballots for the General Election to be held on Nov. 4, are now available in all Vermont town clerks' offices. Anyone wishing to vote prior to Nov. 4, may apply for an early/absentee ballot until 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 3. Early/absentee ballots may be voted in person in the clerk's office, mailed to the voter by the clerk's office, picked up by the voter or delivered to the voter's residence...
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) seeks submissions for a new juried exhibit, “Open Call NNE (North-Northeast),” which opens at BMAC in January 2015. Artists at all stages of their careers, working in any medium, are encouraged to submit work for consideration by Nov. 14. For more details and to submit work, visit www.brattleboromuseum.org and click on OPEN CALL NNE. According to BMAC Director Danny Lichtenfeld, this will be different than the four other regional juried exhibits BMAC has...
With more than $21,000 in donations and sponsorships, the 14th annual Walk for Animals on Sept. 27 has given a tremendous boost to the Windham County Humane Society. Annie Guion, WCHS executive director, said the proceeds of the event will help the organization cope with a growing need for services related to lost, homeless, and abused animals. “We're thrilled,” Guion said, “We were hoping to raise $10,000 and we went way beyond that goal.” The Walk's top fundraiser was Donna...
Heirloom apple tasting DUMMERSTON- Scott Farm orchard manager Zeke Goodband will open to the public the farm's packing barn on Sunday, Oct. 12 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...
Working smoke alarms can make a life-saving difference in a fire. That's the message behind this year's Fire Prevention Week campaign, “Working Smoke Alarms Save Lives: Test Yours Every Month!” Along with fire departments and other safety advocates nationwide, the Brattleboro Fire Department is joining forces with the nonprofit National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) during Fire Prevention Week, Oct. 5-11, to remind local residents of the importance of having working smoke alarms in the home - and testing them monthly.
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...
Recently, 18 students from the Collège Madame de Staël, in Geneva, Switzerland, arrived for the U.S. portion of the Brattleboro Union High School Swiss Exchange. The Swiss Exchange started in 1979, and since then several hundred BUHS and Swiss students have shared life in their respective communities, schools, and families. Home stays offer a unique opportunity to gain new perspective, both on the wider world and on one's own community and county. Just as importantly, many of those students who...
The smell, the crispness, the “fashion,” the culture/traditions: apple cider, donuts, hay rides, scarves, wool hats, jumping in leaves, chopping wood, and all the incredible food! -Elizabeth G. Johnson * * * I grow homesick for past family gatherings. The faces and voices and laughter of grandparents and aunts and uncles and father now passed. Play in barns and woods with cousins now grown. The scents of family recipes from a hot and crowded kitchen. The shouts of relatives in...
The trustees of the library called a special meeting Sept. 23 to discuss David Gould's resignation from the chairmanship. Gould noted for the record that Hope Brissette had chosen to sit in the audience instead of with the rest of the board. The former, embattled chair, Jan Mitchell-Love, voiced her objection to the meeting, saying it violated open meeting laws because Gould had not sent out the agenda himself. Town Clerk and board secretary Doreen Aldrich told Mitchell-Love that she...
Most of Windham County, according to the Oct. 1 Vermont Fall Foliage Reports (www.vermont.com/foliage.cfm), is in the “early” and “moderate” stages, depending on elevation. While Brattleboro's streets display a moderate amount of variation in color, Mount Wantastiquet, looming just across the river, is still almost entirely green. Along Route 9, Marlboro, Wilmington, and Dover show an almost even mixture of red and green. Reports on the Vermont Fall Foliage page claim Readsboro and Manchester to be at- or near-peak.
Where were you when our governor, Gaz Métro of Canada, Green Mountain Power, our state Legislature and, and Vermont Attorney General William Sorell were conniving to shutter Vermont Yankee, which produced 70 percent of our in-state electricity? Nuclear power is a big part of the solution to fight climate change with its high-capacity, low-carbon footprint. Vermont's energy portfolio is getting browner, with increased purchase from the grid and building Canadian gas pipelines. We let them shut VY down, even as...
To Jerry Levy, Aaron Diamonstone and Windham County Voters: Becca Balint and I were a bit saddened and surprised to see the letter from you in last week's Commons. Your letter made it sound as if we refused to participate in forums where all candidates have been invited. This is not true. You, Jerry, came to the Windham County Democratic Party meeting to ask if the Democrats wanted to co-sponsor a forum. After much discussion, the vote of all those...
Anyone who lives in a state such as Vermont, where there is minimal public transportation and everyone drives, and who opposes nuclear power is living in a dream world of misinformation and denial. And they are hypocrites.
I did not miss the irony when I saw that Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio attended the People's Climate March. Allegedly, these two feel climate change is caused by people and that we must downsize and stop our over-consumption, but they don't feel strongly enough to reflect that belief in their own lives. Both own gigantic McMansions, fly in private jets, travel with huge respective entourages, and own multiple homes instead of just one. We can add to our list...
If Vermont Yankee is closed, residents of Vermont and surrounding states will regret that decision every time they open their electric bills for the next 18 years. I had the privilege of touring the plant in March 2014. As a former submarine engineer officer and maintenance requirements officer in the U.S. Navy, I've had the opportunity to tour a large number of steam power plants. VY was one of the most impressive and well-maintained facilities I've ever seen. For the...
Thanks very much for printing this letter from town nurse Jennifer Fitzgerald. The Deerfield Valley is especially in need of elder services, and we applaud Ms. Fitzgerald's efforts to bring together residents and organizations to make it happen. In 2010, the Governor's Commission on Healthy Aging warned that Vermont needed to prepare for a 42-percent increase in elderly population by 2017. With more than half of that time elapsed, our state and its organizations still have a tremendous amount of...
As the general election draws near, I am asking that you register to exercise your right to vote in your community and then make it count by voting your conscience in November. There are many proactive justices of the peace in Vermont to assist with this painless task if you cannot make it to your town clerk's office. The recent referendum in Scotland makes it globally clear the importance of defending our freedoms in the United States by voting for...
For an organization whose mission includes revitalizing neighborhoods, Windham/Windsor Housing Trust (WWHT) is showing remarkably little regard for neighbors to their properties. These neighbors include many hard--working, taxpaying citizens who largely make WHHT's mission possible by subsidizing their substantial property-tax exemptions for trust property. WWHT has been upgrading its multi-unit apartment house at 66 Washington St. since January. This project has been marked by fits and spurts of activity, and it has progressed very slowly until recently. I do not...
After a series of violations, followed by improvements, followed by more regulation dings on the part of the Brattleboro Retreat, the federal health care regulatory and funding agency Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has told the psychiatric hospital that it's time for a third-party review. According to Retreat Vice President for Strategy and Development Konstantin von Krusenstiern, Medicaid and Medicare funding will continue for Retreat patients for the foreseeable future. Based on an exit interview with surveyors from...
There are many ways cheesemakers describe their cheeses, but “spoiled little brats” is one I had never heard in my 19 years of cheesemongery, at least until I sat down to talk with Nancy Bergman and Kyle Frey of Spoonwood Cabin Creamery in Jacksonville. (I actually spoke more with Frey, as Bergman was up to her elbows in curds.) Spoonwood Cabin Creamery makes about 10 different cheeses, depending on season and demand, using goats' and cows' milk. All are either...
The Historical Society of Windham County recently acquired the historic Newfane Railroad Station, which sits on Depot Street behind the present-day Newfane Market. In celebration of the Newfane Station purchase, Glenn Annis will present a special program, the History of the West River Railroad, at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 15, at NewBrook Fire Station on Route 30. Light refreshments will be served at 6 p.m. with music by Jamaica resident and singer/songwriter Gene Morrison at 6:45 p.m. The evening...
The Wardsboro Public Library's Artist of the Month exhibition for October, “Remembering Arlo,” is dedicated to Arlo Monroe, who died in 2004. A decade after his death his watercolor paintings are prized by area collectors. A reception is planned for Tuesday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m., at the library on Main Street. The Monroe family lived in the old farmhouse that now houses the town's library. He even produced paintings of the buildings on the farm. In a letter sent...
One of Vermont's legendary broadcast news reporters has received the ultimate accolade from his peers. WTSA News Director Tim Johnson of Vernon learned on Sept. 30 that he would be inducted into the Vermont Association of Broadcasters (VAB) Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will take place on Saturday, Dec. 6, at the Burlington Hilton at the VAB's annual Hall of Fame Awards Banquet. Johnson, a former VAB Distinguished Service Award winner, was recognized for what the association called “going...
Churches normally don't encourage the worship of other deities, but on the Sunday of Columbus Day weekend Dummerston Congregational Church in Dummerston Center worships the apple, especially in its ultimate, divine form: apple pie. Church volunteers and friends are baking more than 1,500 apple pies in the two-week run-up to this year's annual Dummerston Apple Pie Festival, Oct. 12. Most pies will be sold whole to eager fans in front of the church; a nearby tent will offer hundreds of...
• || Readers Respond || Thoughts of Fall • Why do leaves change color? A forester explains the science behind the autumn magic. Sidebar: Color varies this season • Fall events take place around the region • Dummerston Apple Pie Festival celebrates apples, community • Keep warm this heating season without blowing your budget • || Editor's Notebook || Holding tight to fall: Every single great and glorious fall day could well be the last. We just don't know for...
Forget the official solstices and equinoxes and other astronomic definitions of our world and its position relative to the sun: we know in our gut and in our heart of hearts whether a new season has arrived in a meaningful manner. For me, that watershed moment between summer and fall comes with the subtle appearance of the first yellow, orange, or red leaf on the car windshield in the morning. That one leaf, to me, says that summer is over.
Windham Child Care Association (WCCA) invites you to its fourth annual benefit, Fall Into Art, at All Souls Church in West Brattleboro on Friday, Oct. 17, from 6 to 8 p.m. A fun-filled evening is planned, including a performance by Jazzberry Jam; catered fare by Vermont Country Deli; a cash bar by Windham Wines; caricatures by John Steven Gurney; children's art activities; and a one-of-a-kind art show featuring 60 local adult artists and 40 child artists. The artwork on display,
These autumn scenes come to us via “Quotidiously,” by Rich Holschuh of Brattleboro, who describes the photo blog as “a casual repository of things encountered nearby, whether at home or wandering about.” As a personal challenge, Holschuh takes all his images with his iPhone camera and presents them as-is - “no filters, apps, or editing, except for a rare crop,” he writes. You can find the blog, with photos of all seasons in and around Brattleboro and the region, at...
Crates and bushels of Vermont apples begin appearing at farm stands in late August and continue the approximate trajectory of fall foliage: as the trees get more colorful, we get more apples. Bottles of cider abound, as do hand-made pies and candied apples. Locals and visitors roam pick-your-own orchards, stuffing personal harvests into single-handled paper bags. Agriculture and tourism are two of Vermont's main economic drivers, and apples are but one of the places these two intersect. Apples are crucial...
She was born six months before RMS Titanic sailed on her fateful maiden voyage. Her lifetime encompasses two world wars, women's suffrage, the civil rights movement, the Atomic Age, the Space Age, the Digital Age, and the rest of the changes and advances of a tumultuous century. Vera Harrington has seen plenty in more than a century. Now a resident of Thompson House, Harrington got an early start on celebrating her 103rd birthday with a lunch at The Marina restaurant...
Through gifts and bequests over the past 150 years, Brooks Memorial Library has assembled a rich and varied collection of art and artifacts that rivals even some museums. The collection includes sculpture, ceramics, paintings, rare books, maps, photographs and other ephemera and archaeological objects. Many, if not most, of these pieces have not been displayed for years. Some have never been displayed. As a way of sharing them with the Brooks members and others in the community, the Brooks Trustees,
Concern is mounting in the Obama administration over a growing number of nuclear reactors that are being closed prematurely - for the wrong reasons. Recently, Dr. Peter Lyons, assistant secretary for nuclear energy, told attendees at the Platts 10th annual Nuclear Energy Conference that the U.S. Department of Energy is reviewing recent nuclear plant closures and how they will affect our ability to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to the levels we need. Even more dire is the possibility of closing...
Every season has its iconic beverage. Winter demands hot chocolate and eggnog, spring brings dandelion wine, summer is the time for iced tea and beer. Autumn means apple cider. But why is autumn the time of year for apple cider when you can buy apple juice in the grocery store year-round? Why wait? Apple juice is not the same as apple cider. The main difference is that juice is filtered and cider isn't. If we were purists we would refer...
I only recently discovered casperita, a ghostly white pumpkin with a starchy texture and a not-quite-sweet taste. It's delicious, more like a plantain than a squash, and takes butter, garlic, and sage really well. Casperita is also very difficult to peel, because it has a thick, crunchy skin. You can make peeling easier by poking a few holes in the pumpkin with a sharp knife and putting it in the oven for 10 minutes or so at 400 degrees. Let...
Recently, I held my first culinary class, which featured herbs: parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Oh, and sorrel. Food is medicine, and cooking with herbs improves health and reduces disease symptoms. We explored each herb's healing benefits: Parsley purifies the blood, sage invigorates and strengths the system, rosemary stimulates and clarifies the mind, thyme cleanses and tones the respiratory system, and sorrel provides a nutritious source of minerals and enzymes. These herbs all grow vigorously in our New England climate.
Fourteen hours of standing: that's one thing I remember about the People's Climate March in New York City last month. The day started with a 7 a.m. arrival to help unload art banners. I got a reminder text from organizers at 6:20 a.m. to head to 61st Street and look for a white van. When I arrived, there were two, and I jumped in to help organizers from the South Bronx build their message van for the march. With the...
Ernie Johnson, Brattleboro's representative in Major League Baseball, was recently inducted into the Vermont Sports Hall of Fame. Johnson, who died in 2011 at 87, was an excellent pitcher at Brattleboro High School in the late 1930s and early 1940s and went on to have a solid nine-year career in the major leagues. He also was a broadcaster and executive for the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves for nearly four decades. He graduated from BHS in 1942 after going 6-3 on...
The Vermont Jazz Center will receive an Acclaim Award from Chamber Music America on Saturday, Oct. 18, at 8 p.m., during a concert offered by Cuban drum virtuoso Dafnis Prieto. The concert and award ceremony are at the Vermont Jazz Center, 72 Cotton Mill Hill. The CMA Acclaim Award recognizes “extraordinary cultural contributions in a locality or region.” It is offered by Chamber Music America (www.chamber-music.org), an institution serving thousands of members through grants, commissions, networking opportunities, a monthly magazine,
How do you interest people in a play whose title is a word hardly anyone knows or can pronounce? That's the challenge the Apron Theater Company & Next Stage Arts Project have set for themselves in presenting “Eleemosynary,” the final production in the 2014 season. Hallie Flower, the production's director, says the title, “though intimidating, is a real English word.” (Merriam-Webster defines eleemosynary as an adjective meaning “of, relating to, or dependent on charity; charitable.”) “I myself only now have...
Prescription opiate misuse and abuse such as OxyContin or hydrocodone is all over the media. Governor Peter Shumlin even called a statewide Opiate Addiction Forum to address the issue this year. What is not being highlighted in the media is prescription stimulant misuse and abuse - especially among teenagers and college students. Granted, the consequences and dangers are not as obvious but they are just as significant. In the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which is completed nationally in middle...