In the fall of last year, the Brattleboro Food Co-op implemented a program with the catchy name “Bags for Beans for Brattleboro.”
Previously, the Co-op - like many other shops - had deducted 5 cents from the total grocery bill for each shopping bag or container a customer brings (called a “green stamp”), instead of using bags that the Co-op provides.
Now, customers have a choice between green stamps and receiving a bean for each bag or container. These beans are placed in any of three different containers next to the exit. The containers are large water-cooler bottles, clearly marked with the names of three different charities - currently, the Senior Center, Morningside Shelter, and the Overflow Shelter.
It is probably safe to assume that for most customers, a deduction of 5 cents per bag from the bill doesn't really make a noticeable difference, but these 5 cents do add up to sizable contributions for the individual charities.
College news • Mariah Lesure of Vernon was named to Castleton State College's women's lacrosse roster for the 2015 season. School news • The following area students were recently honored at Vermont Academy winter sports awards ceremony: Cam Wright of West Dummerston received the boys' varsity hockey team's Daniel...
Brattleboro Area Techies to meet BRATTLEBORO - The next meeting of the Brattleboro Area Techies will be on Thursday, March 19, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., at the office of Mondo Mediaworks, 139 Main St., Suite 701. Everyone who works with, or is interested in technology, from programmers to...
The Historical Society of Windham County will host a soup fest and extensive silent auction on Sunday, March 29, at the NewBrook Fire Station on Route 30. Doors open at 4 p.m., and admission is $5. The event will help raise funds for the Windham County Historical Society's restoration of the 1880 Newfane railroad station as a museum of the West River Railroad and as an annex to the Windham County Museum in Newfane. You won't have to ride the...
Since violence begins in the mind, it's time we ask ourselves a tough question: what myths still feed the epidemic of rape? In the U.S., sexual assault occurs every two minutes. One in five women are victims and, by age 12, one in four girls gets unwanted comments or is touched - even in public. While anyone can be a victim and while most men are not rapists, 98 percent of rapists are men, and they usually are not strangers.
In celebration of April's nationally recognized Month of the Young Child, KidsPLAYce is challenging the community to cover its lawns, fill its storefronts, and adorn public spaces with pinwheels to show love for children and families in the community and to support KidsPLAYce. From April 1 through April 30, giant carnival-themed pinwheels will be for sale for $10 each at KidsPLAYce, the Brattleboro Food Co-op, and Beadniks. Everyone is invited to decorate lawns or balconies, spread the word to friends...
Thank you very much, MacLean Gander. I am deeply concerned by the false labels and consequent drugging of children, at least. I believe you have the exact point: drugging children into compliance (to operate as robots) and form a docile workforce for the few rich on the planet. This scenario was foreseen by various thinkers. It's the substance of novels and science fiction movies. How did we allow this evil to get this far? It is a very sick world.
Hilltop Montessori School of Brattleboro is launching a “tiny house” raffle to benefit the school's financial aid program and Morningside Shelter. Jamaica Cottage Shop has donated a tiny house kit that Hilltop students and families will assemble this spring. The 7' x 12' house is built on a trailer for easy mobility and will be raffled off at 3 p.m. on the Brattleboro Common after the Strolling of the Heifers parade on June 6. Tickets are $20 each and can...
Some theatrical revivals show us what things were like in the past. Others vividly speak to our lives today. First produced 50 years ago, Fire does both. On March 24, at 7:30 p.m., Bread & Puppet Theater will be coming to the Hooker-Dunham Theater and Gallery in Brattleboro to perform one its very first productions, Fire. As Jon Mack, the director of Hooker-Dunham Theater, says, “Fire is a re-mounting of a show that was done some many years ago about...
What a beautiful page of clear thought by public high school students and huge NASA photo to catch the reader's eye. Maybe the Leipzig student will decide to return to the USA and help us reduce our national debt? Germany's economy is booming, but maybe Friedemann Schmidt will find work in journalism here in Vermont? It will be interesting to follow Ryan Taggard, placing second in the state in Sen. Bernie Sanders' essay contest. Will he go on in science...
Director and choreographer Alisa Hauser says she is excited to be working with the seventh and eighth graders at The Grammar School once again on a show in which she was a member of the Broadway cast. This year, the musical is Beauty and the Beast Jr., with performances March 25 through 28. Hauser played a Silly Girl in the original Broadway production. Last year, she directed Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. at The Grammar School, also on her list of...
If you have enjoyed VTC's productions of Ken Ludwig's Lend Me A Tenor or Moon Over Buffalo, you won't want to miss Shakespeare in Hollywood - it's another zany Ludwig performance, a wacky slapstick comedy. The scene is 1930s Hollywood on the set of a big-budget Warner Brothers' film version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. When Oberon and Puck magically appear, they are, in Ludwig's words, “Instantly smitten by the glitz and glamour of show biz and are ushered...
Children and parents in Meeting Waters YMCA's ASPIRE program at Rockingham Central School recently launched their Togetherhood initiative with two projects to benefit Our Place Drop-In Center. At the request of Our Place Director Lisa Pitcher, Y-ASPIRE children and parents at the Bellows Falls program have taken on two projects in support of the regional drop-in center and food pantry. The first was the development of a poster encouraging people to eat more fruits and vegetables, items Our Place has...
At the recent Girls on the Run International Summit conference, Nancy Heydinger, the founder and director of the Vermont council of Girls on the Run, was recognized as the 2015 Legacy Award recipient for her instrumental contributions to building Girls on the Run as an organization. Girls on the Run is an after-school program that helps girls develop physical, emotional and social well-being, offering strategies for dealing with everything from body image and bullying to peer pressure and the media,
My husband, Richard Gottlieb, died Feb. 15, 2012 from multiple myeloma, with a secondary (more devastating) soft-tissues disease caused by that bone cancer: amyloidosis, which affected his swallowing mechanism and his heart. The damage to his heart proved fatal when his heart stopped on that day after Valentine's Day. When it was announced that strontium-90 was found in the wells at the Vermont Yankee plant, I did some research and found that this calcium-seeking toxin gets into the ground and...
Listening to Gov. Peter Shumlin talk about the budget on the news lately, one would think that it is state employees who are being unreasonable. Just this past Thursday, the governor was interviewed on WCAX about state workers and balancing the budget. “I, too, am concerned that doing layoffs is not the best way to do this - that's why [state employees] should come to the table and make some pay concessions,” he stated. “Vermonters are not going to pay...
While it's hard to imagine Cher in the role of widowed accountant Loretta Castorini, or tolerate Loretta's loveless betrothal to Johnny Cammereri, this all seems unremarkable compared to her furious romance with Johnny's brother, the hot-headed, one-handed baker, Ronny Cammereri, played by Nicolas Cage. From time to time, the restaurant Popolo pairs movies with prix fixe dinners and this one hits the big screen in the restaurant on Wednesday, March 25, at 7 p.m. In “Moonstruck,” the chaotic and adulterous...
The Brattleboro Union High School Music Department will present an Early Spring Bands Concert on Tuesday, March 24, at 7 p.m, in the BUHS auditorium. No admission will be charged and the public is invited to attend. The concert will open with the concert band, performing their most rigorous program of the year. Director Stephen Rice has created a hybrid suite of sorts with the program. The band will open with the first movement of Ralph Vaughan Williams' “English Folk...
The nation's founders strongly believed in rotation in office. Term limits were left out of the Constitution because they could not foresee a time when politics would become a career for so many people. There are currently petitions out in Bellows Falls and Rockingham asking for the term limits question to be placed on the next annual meeting ballots. Once they become articles, the discussion will continue, hearings will be open to the public, and we all will have an...
On Sunday, March 22, at 4 p.m., at Centre Congregational in Brattleboro, the Brattleboro Music Center's Chamber Music Series continues with the Heath Quartet: Oliver Heath and Cerys Jones, violins; Gary Pomeroy, viola; and Christopher Murray, cello. The concert program includes Haydn, “Quartet in E flat major, op. 76 no. 6 (1799);” Janacek “Quartet No. 1, The Kreutzer Sonata (1923);” and Beethoven “Quartet in C sharp minor, Op. 131.” Described by The Strad as giving “passionate performances that combine technical...
Despite new numbers in Vernon's double recount on March 12, the results of the March 3 town election remain the same. The recount upheld the defeat of the fiscal year 2016 school budget and the win for Selectboard candidate Michael Courtemanche. Tim Arsenault, Town Moderator and chair of the Board of Civil Authority, thanked the five audience members for attending the afternoon recount, March 12. “It's important we have public integrity and citizens' trust in the process,” said Arsenault after...
The Midget team (14-18-year-olds) from Pleasant Valley Hockey Association of Saxtons River earned the title of Vermont State Amateur Hockey Champions during the championship game held on March 7 at Cairns Arena in South Burlington. They faced the midget team from St. Albans. The game was scoreless after two periods when they took a break for ice resurfacing. Both teams came back on the ice with spunk and a will to win. St. Albans put the first goal up at...
U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., admits to stalking his fellow representatives through the halls of the country's Capitol Building. Vermont's lone congressman and fellow Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., want to pass legislation to beat a March 31 cut off for heath care funding. Welch described the Congress as irresponsible for dragging its feet on approving funding for a Medicare reimbursement program aimed at rural hospitals during a press conference at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital (BMH) on March 13. “Providing health care...
It was the type of event that Susan Keese loved to cover. On Saturday afternoon, Williamsville Hall was filled with more than 200 people from all the worlds that she touched - as a reporter and columnist for the Rutland Herald, as editor of the alumni magazine at Marlboro College, as a writing teacher and coach, and, in her last big adventure, as a reporter for Vermont Public Radio. They were all there for a memorial gathering for Keese, who...
Some of the results of the Leland & Gray Environmental Action Force (LEAF) group are below the surface, such as the garlic they recently planted beneath the snow. Or reducing the amount of trash the school sends to the landfill by approximately 50 percent. The small but committed group of students, teachers, and community members that comprise LEAF has made a striking impact at Leland & Gray, despite its sometimes subtle presence. What is on the surface are prominently displayed...
Representative Town Meeting Members experienced two positive developments at its pre-Annual Town Meeting information session on Monday night. The first: Many new faces will join the ranks of Town Meeting members. The second: Selectboard Chair David Gartenstein's announcement property that taxes will not increase in the upcoming year. With members gathered for an informational overview of the new $15.5 million fiscal year 2016 general fund budget in the Academy School gym, Gartenstein explained that, initially, the fiscal year 2016 budget...
On Saturday March 21, from noon to 4 p.m., children's bicycles will be sold as part of the Bellows Falls Community Bike Project. The event will take place in the square to the left of the Village Square Booksellers. These are bikes that have been refurbished by volunteers; who come to the bike project to work in exchange for hours of bicycle credit. The sale will be followed by a “Fun-Raiser” at the Flat Iron Exchange Coffeehouse from 5 to...
Town Manager Peter Elwell outlined plans for evaluating town spending and creating a multi-year financial plan during Monday's pre-Annual Representative Town Meeting informational session. The purpose of the process, he told Town Meeting members, is to ensure that by the fall, the town can make budget decisions within a context of understanding both the services it offers and the long-term financial health of Brattleboro. Saving money by cutting services, staff, or programs is not the goal, he said. The goal...
A long-wished-for goal for train fans in Vermont is now closer to becoming real. On Monday, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., announced that the United States and Canada signed a long-awaited agreement designed to improve cross border travel and security between the two countries. According to a news release from Leahy's office, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Canadian Minister of Public Safety Steven Blaney signed a new pre-clearance agreement in Washington that was negotiated under the Beyond the Border...
Upon receiving her ordination, Kate Judd will continue her work as spiritual leader of the Brattleboro Area Jewish Community (BAJC), but this time as its cantor, as well. “I converted to Judaism well over a decade ago,” says Judd, a candidate for ordination from the Cantor Educator Program at Hebrew College in Newton, Mass. As Judd told The Commons in 2013, “Many churches have cantors in place of rabbis, and up until the 20th century, the cantor was seen as...
The all-volunteer Grafton Fire and Rescue has had a busy March, as the town's firefighters responded to several situations, including a two-alarm house fire at 91 Stiles Rd. on March 12. Nobody was home when the fire broke out that evening, and Grafton's crew were among the 30 firefighters who arrived from around the region to put out the blaze. Firefighters gave a social-media shout-out to Amber Stevens, head of the Auxiliary, who made sure volunteers hydrated after she spread...
I stand in the doorway of the Bellows Falls Union High School cafeteria during the week of February vacation. It's 10 a.m. Lunch tables are folded upright and pushed against the wall and wrestling mats are rolled out across the floor. Eight wrestlers, ranging from 106 to 240 pounds, jog around the edges of the mat. Music plays loudly from a stereo in the corner of the room, but coach Todd Swisher's voice can be easily heard above it. “Let's...
Paul Dedell's “Out of the Lion's Mouth” will premiere on Saturday, March 21, at 7:30 p.m, and Sunday, March 22, at 3 p.m., at St. Michael's Episcopal Church. Featuring Elle Jamieson, soprano; Greg Lesch, bass; David Tasgal, clarinet; and the voices of The Choir School, directed by Susan Dedell, this modern take on a medieval mystery play is a quirky new look at a fascinating old story – Daniel in the Lion's Den. “I've discovered that most people don't know...
Gathering Threads: Contemporary Fiber Art, one of of five new exhibits that have recently opened at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC), celebrates hand-woven creations that stretch the limits of fiber art. In the museum's Wolf Kahn & Emily Mason Gallery, 13 artists display work that is pushing the boundaries of traditional textile techniques into innovative, hybridized forms. Gathering Threads reveals the many ways fiber can be exploited for its vast emotional and symbolic potential. BMAC Chief Curator Mara...
“New England Youth Theatre wants to collaborate more with local artists,” says Elissa Bhanti, public relations coordinator for NEYT. Without knowing that, local puppeteer Jana Zeller says she was recently brainstorming “how to use my set-painting skills to earn money,” and cold-called Sandy Klein, creative director at NEYT. “I showed her my portfolio,” says Zeller. It worked. Klein hired Zeller for the position of scenic artist for the theater's upcoming production of “Little Women,” the play adapted from Louisa May...
After a fun playdate with friends in the snow and sunshine yesterday, we took our boys, Søren and Austen, shopping. It was our first family outing (trial by fire) out in the world far from the protective bubble of the cozy nest we call home. Brett and I each pushed a shopping cart, and each had a child to mind. As I always say, “Divide and conquer.” As we often do, we split up and shopped separately. Before long, at...
It's too late to prevent climate change. No matter how fast we ultimately act to limit its potentially catastrophic impact - and we must act quickly, or it will be too late to do even that - we have to face the reality that climate change is here and will continue to be an increasingly dominant presence in our lives. We can't avoid it or wish it away. This frightening prospect can easily paralyze us into inaction, rendering us all...
Most know that the economy of Chittenden County in general, and Burlington in particular, is doing better than Vermont as a whole. But a chart from the Vermont Department of Labor that was making the rounds at the Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce's Legislative Breakfast on Monday illustrated how much better Burlington is doing. The chart shows the percentage of change in total non-farm employment in Vermont from the start of the 2007-08 recession in June 2007 to December 2014.