Here's how Susan Clark and Frank Bryan, in their book All Those in Favor: Rediscovering the Secrets of Town Meeting and Community, describe the weaknesses and dangers of Australian ballot:
“Voting by Australian ballot is much simpler than going to town meeting. It is much less time consuming. It is much less public, done alone behind curtains. It is much less threatening - no one ever knows what you think. The Australian ballot is quick, easy, private, unaccountable and, most important, simple.
“It is also deadly.
“In a way, the Australian ballot is worse than deadly, because it doesn't kill town meeting quickly. And the execution is dishonest. We are told it will save town meeting, while the reality is that it poisons it and lets it die slowly, sparing the executioner the moment of death and the acceptance of responsibility.
Brattleboro Area Techies to meet Feb. 19 BRATTLEBORO - The next meeting of the Brattleboro Area Techies, a networking group for tech users, will be on Thursday, Feb. 19, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., at the office of Mondo Mediaworks on the seventh floor of the Hooker-Dunham Building, 139...
Births • In Framingham (Union Hosptal), Mass., Jan. 27, 2015, a son, Karl Joshua Astolfi, to Shannon (Baker) and Tony Astolfi; grandson to Chas and Andi Baker of Brattleboro; great-grandson to Carolyn Albee of Brattleboro. • In Brattleboro (Memorial Hospital), Jan. 19, 2015, a son, Mason Anthony Houle, to...
This winter's brouhaha over the Newfane town charter has got lots of people paying more attention to governance in our town. That's a good thing. An even better thing is that some of these concerned folks have chosen to run for the Newfane Selectboard. My friend and neighbor, Carol Hatcher, is one of them, and I couldn't be happier. She is pretty darn close to an ideal candidate: smart, hard-working, fair, honest, and clear-headed. Before she makes a decision -
We are approaching Town Meeting Day in Guilford, where less than 10 percent of registered voters will vote on the town's tax appropriations. Those folks who have to work, those who are housebound, and others who can't make it to the meeting will be prevented from exercising their voting rights due to the voting process used. A voter must be present at Town Meeting when each appropriation is voted on. Compare this to the expanded access and opportunity an Australian...
Broad Brook Grange will hold its annual Pre-Town Meeting on Thursday, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m., at the Grange hall. The event will provide the only opportunity for voters to hear details of the articles that will be presented at the Annual Town Meeting and Annual School District Meeting. Participants can meet and discuss issues with the Selectboard and School Board prior to Town Meeting Day on Tuesday, March 3, the first Tuesday of the month. The meeting begins at...
I am wondering what the reaction in the United States would be if the chain of events that led to the current crisis in Ukraine were to similarly occur here. Can we imagine this? 1. The Soviet Union collapses, then Russia promises the United States that Russia will not recruit former NATO countries to join a Russian-backed military coalition. Russia reneges on this promise and four former NATO countries join the coalition. 2. Russia deploys several missile defense systems close...
The class divide in the United States is growing, yet class is rarely talked about. Let's break the silence! Cross-Class Dialogue Circles will happen in Brattleboro over six sessions, every other week, starting in early March. The days and time will be decided by the people who sign up. These circles are a powerful way for people across the class spectrum to come together to talk about their experiences with class, listen to one another's stories and perspectives, and then...
This is Vermont's “Year of the Arts,” and Brattleboro Time Trade (BTT) and the Arts Council of Windham County (ACWC) will host a fundraising event and art show. This year also marks the 20th anniversary of Gallery Walk. The first-ever Spring Forward Extravaganza and Fundraiser, hosted by BTT in conjunction with the ACWC, is one of the main attractions of the Friday, March 6 Gallery Walk. John Dimick, a Guilford painter and co-president of the ACWC, is helping to organize...
This year, you can share the excitement of the Oscars at the Red Carpet Hollywood Awards Night, a (local) star-studded evening on Feb. 22 at the Latchis Theatre on Main Street. The event is brought to you by the folks at the Monadnock International Film Festival (MONIFF) in New Hampshire, which, with the assistance of the Brattleboro Film Festival, is raising funds for its annual film festival. This year's festival - the third - takes place from April 16 to...
Wealth today has no value unless it is used to reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent and address the global-warming crisis. Scientists believe carbon emissions reduction must happen immediately - by the year 2050, only 35 years from now - to prevent a catastrophic and suicidal calamity. People worldwide are calling for immediate divestment from all fossil fuel. Since we already have more than enough fuel above ground in storage to carry us through the needed transition time to the...
When I was 7 years old, my sweet, funny, smart cousin Madeline, just my age, got the measles. We were all getting the measles back in those days, like we got the German measles, also known as rubella (a milder form of regular measles), chicken pox, and the mumps. Spotty, itchy, and miserable, most of us got better in a week or so and then had the antibodies inside us so we'd never get them again. Good thing. The measles...
Two farm-to-school operations - Food Connects and Windham Farm and Food - plan to merge. Food Connects, an entrepreneurial nonprofit, will take over the operations of Windham Farm and Food, originally organized as a limited liability corporation and formed in 2009 “to improve food, farm and nutrition education and increase local food purchasing at local schools and other institutions,” according to a news release. Described as “an innovative food hub model with the primary goals of creating economic development and...
Protecting farmland is a good investment. Farmland attracts tourists. The towns that have protected the most land from development have the lowest property taxes. That's according to a study by the Vermont League of Cities and Towns. This kind of investment helps rich and poor Vermonters alike. The state pays almost all of low-income homeowners' property taxes for them. Poor renters are eligible for state money to help pay their rent. In Dummerston, the Selectboard is proposing an investment of...
Representative Town Meeting offers a unique opportunity for community members to become educated about the issues being discussed. In my experience, these meetings have genuinely allowed all present to ask questions and share their views. The atmosphere is formal, but cordial and respectful. Participants devote at least a day to the process. Town-wide votes have the risk of overly simplifying issues and having less-informed people making decisions. Most years, plenty of Town Meeting representative positions are available, even after the...
The Center for Digital Arts (CDA) is doing something unusual: presenting a show with nothing created digitally. On Saturday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m., CDA will host the New England Home Movie Tour, which features handmade and homemade works by a group of artists from New England: Luther Price, Jodie Mack, Robert Todd, Jonathan Schwartz, Jo Dery, Colin Brant, and Warren Cockerham. The tour, which includes both films and handmade slides, has traveled across the country in as diverse places...
Everybody missed it. All those stories about how Strontium-90 turned up in four test wells of the Vermont Yankee site. A 29-year half-life means that in about 300 years that property might be OK for a playground. I've no idea how many of us reading these words will be around in 100 years to see...who cares about that now, anyways? I was sitting home with my next letter to the editor written and ready, but I remembered that the Nuclear...
Putney Public Library and Alchemy Arts, a new community art space, are teaming up to offer a series of youth programs for Chinese New Year. Come bring in Year of The Sheep with creative, fun, and free events that will take place or start at Putney Public Library, at 55 Main St. Children ages 8 and younger are welcome with the company of an adult. Older children can come unaccompanied. • Wednesday, Feb. 25, 3:30 p.m.: “How the Rooster Lost...
Ever wonder why so many of us lose our voice precisely at the moment we need to ask for help? Credit shame, the pivotal emotion that drives self-defeating behavior, together with all-or-nothing thinking, our most common cognitive distortion. “Shame,” much like “stress,” means different things to different people. Here, shame refers to our ongoing sense that we are imperfect. Our sense of an imperfect self can, however, serve us well - provided we accept it and are open about it...
Our Place Drop-in Center thanked its corporate supporters recently with the sweet gift of a plate of homemade cookies. Our Place board members and volunteers made the cookies and delivered them to businesses and organizations around town that have contributed to the food pantry in one way or another. “We value the connection we have with them and like to show our appreciation with this gesture in keeping with Valentine's Day,” said Director Lisa Pitcher. Rockingham businesses that were the...
On Friday, Feb. 20, Write Action will hold its open reading at the Bluedot at 7:30. Come read your own work - poetry or prose - or come to listen to local writers read their pieces or that of poets and writers they admire. There will be an eight-minute time limit for each reader. Donations to Write Action are gladly accepted. Refreshments will be served. This event is held regularly on the third Friday of every month.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Vermont (NAMI Vermont) will sponsor the NAMI Family-to-Family Education Program specifically for family members, partners and significant others of individuals with major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, borderline personality disorder, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The 12-week series of classes will start on March 5, meeting once a week for 12 weeks from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in Brattleboro. The course will cover information about the major mental...
The South Londonderry Free Library thanks the board members and all the volunteers at the Thrifty Attic for its very generous grant to bar-code all the books in your “house of books.” This grant will make it possible for the library to join Library World, which, in turn, will place all the books and holdings in “the cloud,” enabling patrons to see what the library has to offer via whatever Internet device you have, from anywhere. This ongoing project will...
I would like to congratulate the 44 people who came out to the Vernon presentation from the Vermont Council on Rural Development in the middle of winter, to start the process of fixing their future. This is just the beginning of a conversation that many other communities are having and continue to have. Vermonters and those who live in Transition Towns around the world are facing the same kinds of issues, where for any number of reasons townspeople want to...
The slate of candidates for the upcoming vacant seats on the Rockingham Free Public Library Board of Trustees will appear at a “Meet the Candidates” night at the library on Monday, Feb. 23, from 6 to 7 p.m. The session aims to give voters a sense of the candidates - and insight into their respective views on the library, its challenges, and its potential. Four candidates are running to fill the four trustee seats that will be vacant in the...
Secretary of State Jim Condos reminds all eligible state voters that early voting is now open for Town Meeting Day on Tuesday, March 3. Early voting applies only to those towns that vote by Australian ballot. The deadline to request an early ballot is Monday, March 2. The deadline to register to vote for Town Meeting Day is 5pm on Wednesday, Feb. 25. “Town Meeting Day can be a great opportunity for community members to come together, discuss the issues...
An expert in the field of aquatic systems will come to the Landmark College campus to speak about the role of science in worldwide efforts to curb global climate change. On Monday, Feb. 23, at 7 p.m., the Landmark College Academic Speaker Series will present Pete Murdoch on “Re-inventing Thoreau: Evolving Science to Support a Sustainable Future.” Murdoch, who works as a research hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) agency in Troy, N.Y., has studied the environment for more...
Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main St., has appointed the Rev. Bert W. Marshall to be its interim minister, beginning Sunday, Feb. 22. Rev. Marshall - no stranger to the Brattleboro area, having attended Vermont College of Norwich University here - graduated from the Yale Divinity School in 1997. He was born and raised in Nebraska and considers himself, in some ways, a product of the Plains. He's been a rock musician with his own band as a young man, and...
Last week, 0.5 percent of registered voters approved a $27.8 million Brattleboro Union High School District #6 budget for fiscal year 2016. Of the 14,174 eligible voters from the district towns of Brattleboro, Vernon, Guilford, Putney, and Dummerston, only 73 voters came to the BUHS gym to pass the budget overwhelmingly on a voice vote on Feb. 10. School board chair Robert Woodworth told the small audience that despite declining enrollments at other schools, the Brattleboro Area Middle School has...
When first approached by the Brattleboro Interfaith Youth to come to town for a concert presentation, Tiokasin Ghosthorse, an activist and spiritual leader of the Lakota People, was on his way to the annual Auschwitz/Birkenau recognition of victims of the Holocaust. Ghosthorse survived both the “Reign of Terror” from 1972 to 1976 on the Pine Ridge, Rosebud, and Cheyenne River Lakota Reservations, and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school and church missionary school systems designed to “kill the...
Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) is proud to host an exhibit of work by the 2015 Vermont winners of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Award-winning submissions will be displayed in the museum's Wolf Kahn & Emily Mason Gallery from Feb. 21 to March 7, during regular museum hours. An awards ceremony, featuring artists David and Michelle Holzapfel as keynote speakers, will take place Saturday, March 7, at noon. Since 1923 the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have honored...
Preliminary numbers - from, okay, a small group - show that the majority of enterprises located in West Brattleboro (“West B”) receive the bulk of their business from the global market. Not bad for an area west of Interstate 91, south of the West River, and north of Omega Optical. In other words, it's an area that contain at least 207 businesses, according to West Brattleboro Association President Michael Bosworth. As of Feb. 12, preliminary data gathered from 30 businesses...
I can't get them out of my mind. Can't stop wondering what has become of them. Can't stop trying to imagine how they face day after day after day in captivity. I'm talking about the hundreds of girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria and the countless women and girls in Syria and Iraq subjected by ISIS to circumstances unbearable to contemplate, let alone endure. The hope last year that the Nigerian girls might be freed was dashed when a...
A concert to benefit the Marlboro Alliance Scholarship Fund will feature Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations BWV 988 arranged for string trio by Dmitry Sitkovetsky and performed by violinist Ida Kavafian, Steven Tenenbom, viola, and Peter Wiley, cello. The program, at Ragle Hall in the Serkin Performing Arts Center at Marlboro College, is dedicated to outgoing Marlboro College President Ellen McCulloch-Lovell and her husband, Christopher Lovell, in appreciation for their support for the greater Marlboro community. The Goldberg Variations, BWV...
The pairings for the 2015 Vermont girls' basketball tournaments came out on Feb. 16 with some intriguing first-round matchups for our local teams. Topping the list in Division III is the latest installment of the West River vs. Deerfield River rivalry between Twin Valley and Leland & Gray. Twin Valley (12-8) earned the sixth seed and played host to 11th-seeded Leland & Gray (8-12) in Whitingham on Feb. 17. The teams split the season series, with the Rebels winning in...
If February didn't exist, who would dare to invent it? But since it does, Friends of Music at Guilford, now in its 49th season, will present “Light and Variable: Music to Defy February,” on Saturday, Feb. 21 featuring the woodwind quintet Variable Winds, in a program designed to take your mind off the unloved month. “Light” might not be the first word you'd connect with Gustav Mahler, but FOMAG Administrative Director Joy Wallens-Penford describes the work that the composer made...
In a heartfelt ceremony in the Robert H. Gibson River Garden on Feb. 11, Isiaha Greene was named the Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro 2015 Youth of the Year. Greene, 18, described by event organizers as “a true example of an extraordinary young man,” is recognized for outstanding high achievement in the areas of academic excellence, healthy lifestyles, leadership, character and service as well as obstacles overcome. “Isiaha is what you would call a quiet leader, doing the right...
Voters will see few if any contested races in town elections on Tuesday, March 3. Incumbents comprise the majority of the ballot, and all three of the town's voting districts still lack a full slate of Representative Town Meeting members. But with their felt-tipped pens hovering above the “yes” and “no” circles on the Australian ballot, voters will face several significant referendum questions this year. Several questions propose to amend the town charter: lowering the voting age for town-wide elections,
A recent successful talk this January launched the start of a project to incorporate more events into the Vernon Free Library's repertoire. Library staff is committed to bringing in more local authors to meet the community in events that are free to the community. Deb Berryere, chair of the library trustees, is excited by the possibility of the talks to bring more people through the doors. Authors come for free or for a small fee, exchanging time for publicity, a...
Reading in the paper about all the terrible accidents caused by the recent weather, I couldn't help but wonder why people go out in what are obviously very dangerous situations. “Just stay home,” they say on the radio. “Stay off the roads,” they say on the TV. “Dangerous conditions - avoid driving,” they say on the Internet. But still, there were all those people out there driving, all those cars sliding off the edges of the road. Well, of course,
The 93rd Harris Hill ski jumping competition had plenty of snow. In fact, it had too much snow. A Saturday night storm left about 5 inches of snow, and volunteers on Sunday morning had to scramble to clear the hill of the new-fallen fluff. A power outage caused by a fallen tree on Riverside Drive also threw organizers a curve. Add gusty winds and bitter cold, and it was a tough day for spectators and competitors alike for Sunday's Fred...