Issue #310
Waking up to the politics of the rich and the poor
E. M. Forster wrote “Only connect … ” as the epigraph to Howards End, and I have been thinking of that maxim as I have considered recent developments in American political life.
A lot is going on, from new awareness of how frequently white police officers kill unarmed black people, to a recognition that our system of incarceration is both fascist and deeply broken, to an understanding that rape is rampant on our college campuses. It is as if we are waking up.
What was left on the cutting room floor, and why it matters
The Education Governance Reform law presumes local actions create too much spending. That view ignores the Legislature’s role in the process.
The newly enacted Education Governance Reform law has set in place a process designed to lead to larger school districts - a process that, if not achieved by a certain time, will result in action by the state if local actions do not result in the desired reforms. This...
Around the Towns
'Politics of compassion' is subject of World Affairs Council talk BRATTLEBORO - The Windham World Affairs Council announced that Tom Redden, Ph.D. professor of history and politics at Southern Vermont College will be presenting on Friday, June 19, at 7:45 p.m., at the School for International Training. Redden is...
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Newfane briefs
Road Foreman report NEWFANE - Newfane Road Foreman Todd Lawley said that “most roads are in pretty good shape right now,” during his report to the Selectboard at their June 1 meeting. “We've been grading every day, unless it rains,” he said, adding, “we've been putting gravel down on some of the roads.” Lawley said his crew is still working on smaller roads, now that mud season is over. His workers have also been cleaning culverts with the back-hoe, and...
Milestones
College news • The following local students were awarded associate degrees from the Community College of Vermont on June 6 at Norwich University's Shapiro Field House: Kathryn Coburn and Amanda Lefevre of Bellows Falls; Lorina Drumheiser, Laurie Favreau, Dennise Neilson, Joshua Pacheco, Adam Rumrill, Anne Senni, and Amanda Williams of Brattleboro; Owen Diamondstone-Kohout and Bridget Bolster of Dummerston; Patricia Gilbert and Anne Tefft of Jacksonville; Karley Basinger, Elizabeth Kelton, and Alyssa Moffit of Putney; Katherine Johnson of South Newfane; Abigail...
Saxtons River to vote on wastewater bond
Saxtons River voters will be voting on a proposed bond to finance upgrades to its wastewater treatment plant Saturday, June 20, from 10 a.m. at 7 p.m., at the Main Street Arts building. The proposed $3.05 million upgrades to the 40-year-old plant would include installing a sequencing batch reactor system to replace the current system. Information for voters and a copy of the voter checklist are available on the bulletin board at the fire station. New voters can register with...
VTC's Shakespeare in the Park presents Romeo and Juliet
Vermont Theatre Company presents Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare's classic story of two “star-crossed” lovers, for the 26th annual Shakespeare in the Park production from June 25 to 28, in Living Memorial Park. Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare's most popular plays and has become a part of our popular culture in many ways. The balcony scene is perhaps the most well-known scene in any play in the world, as are such words as Romeo's, “But soft, what light through...
He made hunks of metal and plastic come alive
The year: 1966. The road: the Belt Parkway on Long Island. The car: a 1960 gray-blue Morris Minor convertible, top down and filled with camping equipment my parents just bought at a garage sale on the way home from a summertime visit to my great-grandmother in Amityville. How to get my 9-year-old self and four younger siblings home to New Jersey as well? No problem! We could be stacked in secure locations on top of the huge-even-when-folded Sears canvas tent,
BF boys, Rebel girls both fall in state finals
There's always heartbreak when you reach the state final and lose. For the No. 4 Bellows Falls Terriers, it was even more heartbreaking to know that they held their opponent to a single hit, and still lost the game. On a warm and sunny Sunday afternoon at Centennial Field in Burlington, the Terriers lost to the second-seeded Lamoille Lancers, 2-1, in the Division II championship game. The two teams were to play last Friday, but weather forced a postponement to...
Bellows Falls graduates 73 in the Class of 2015
A beautiful evening set the stage for the Class of 2015 Bellows Falls Union High School graduation on June 11. The Bellows Falls Union High School band, lead by Nicolas Pelton, and joined by incoming freshman band members, played Pomp and Circumstance as the Class of 2015 marched to their seats. Nearly 500 guests attended as five seniors offered remarks to their fellow graduates. Choral performances by the BFUHS chorus included the a cappella singing of the National Anthem. BFUHS...
Simba hosts annual Summer Solstice dance
On Sunday, June 21, at 8 p.m., Simba celebrates the Summer Solstice of 2015 at the Evening Star Grange in Dummerston Center. This annual music and dance party happens on the first day of summer. In 1989, the band started by playing a benefit on the Brattleboro Common to shut down the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant; they called themselves the “No Nukes Band.” That group became Simba, and 26 years later, they have played on dance floors, lawns, and...
Solar tours scheduled for Solstice weekend
Solar projects in communities throughout Vermont will be open for public tours on Saturday, June 20, the weekend of the Summer Solstice. Like open sugarhouse weekend in the spring and open art studio weekend in the fall, the “Celebrate Solar Tours” will give Vermonters the opportunity to get an up-close view of solar systems to learn about the technology, solar economics, and the benefits of solar to the community. Solar customers, host farmers, and owners will be on-hand to speak...
Wilmington family, displaced by fire, settles into new USDA-financed home
Representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and community housing advocates gathered in Wilmington on June 10 to celebrate National Homeownership Month and to help the Kehoe family settle into their new USDA-financed home. The Kehoe family lost their home to fire in December 2014, and used a USDA direct loan to purchase their new home in April. “The search for a safe, affordable and decent home can be difficult for working class American families, especially in tight real...
Historical Society of Windham County receives grant to help restore historic depot
The Historical Society of Windham County recently received a $1,000 grant from the Crosby-Gannett Fund at the Vermont Community Foundation. The grant will help further the Historical Society's mission of preserving Windham County's heritage by restoring a county historic landmark, the Newfane Railroad Depot. “We are truly grateful for the support of the Crosby-Gannett Fund at the Vermont Community Foundation and their appreciation for the significance of this project,” said Laura Wallingford-Bacon, President of the Historical Society of Windham County,
Relicensing process for Connecticut River dams inches along
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is entering its third year of the six year process for re-licensing five hydroelectric facilities along the Connecticut River, in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. TransCanada owns the Wilder, Bellows Falls, and Vernon projects to the north; while FirstLight Hydro Generating Company owns the Turners Falls and Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage in Massachusetts. It is a complicated process along a river that shares interstate boundaries and involves New Hampshire's Connecticut River Valley Resource Commission...
Whitingham Farmers' Market opens for its second season
The Whitingham Farmers' Market - featuring homegrown, homemade, and handcrafted food and goods - opens for its second season on Friday, June 26, from 4 to 7 p.m., at the Whitingham Municipal Center in Jacksonville. The market will run through mid-October. Market organizers say that the first year was a tremendous success, with a core of about 16 vendors, regular entertainment, and a modest but steady stream of loyal customers. They invite everyone to come, shop, eat, and socialize, and...
Town talks trash
To help residents prepare for Act 148, Vermont's new regulations regarding rubbish, the Dummerston Selectboard scheduled a “trash talk” for its regular June 10 meeting. Michelle Cherrier, representative to the Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD), spoke at length about the changes coming as of July 1 on how residents must deal with their garbage. She was joined by representatives from three trash-hauling companies that serve Dummerston: Cheryl Franklin of Franklin & Son Rubbish Removal, Craig Goodenough of Goodenough Rubbish...
Three solar projects coming to town
Three proposed solar projects in Guilford are in the public comment phase. The entities behind the projects recently sent letters to the Selectboard notifying the board of their plans, and offered to meet with town officials. Bill Murray, representative to the Windham Regional Commission (WRC), attended the June 8 Selectboard meeting to report on his participation in the WRC's Project Review meeting where the solar plans were discussed. Murray provided a summary of the three projects, all located within a...
The Barefoot Movement comes to Hooker-Dunham Theater
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present Nashville-based bluegrass and Americana quartet The Barefoot Movement at Hooker-Dunham Theater & Gallery on Saturday, June 20, at 7:30 p.m. Described as heartfelt, energetic and down home, Telluride Bluegrass Festival award-winning The Barefoot Movement is “one of the most promising bands on the bluegrass scene,” according to CMT Edge. Their down-to-earth music ranges from poignant ballads to rip-roaring barn-burners. In the five years since The Barefoot Movement started playing together, they have...
Stone Church Arts presents Celtic harpist ÃÂine Minogue
Celtic harpist and vocalist Ãine Minogue, will be celebrating the Celtic Mid-summer Solstice on Saturday, June 20, at 7:30 pm. This special concert is presented by Stone Church Arts at Immanuel Episcopal Church, 20 Church St. This Pan-Celtic odyssey is an evening of music, storytelling, and tradition tailored to the celebration of Celtic mid-summer traditions. Áine Minogue is an Irish musician, vocalist, folklorist, and lecturer. She not only embodies the soul of traditional Irish music and dance through her sellout...
Understanding Vermont, one map at a time
Multiple Vermonts in every color of the rainbow line the walls outside Academy School's fourth-grade classrooms. Some maps depict the location of animal shelters in the state, others have ski areas, while still others show the location and types of wild animals or organic farms. What the maps have in common, despite the recognizable key-hole shape state, is that they depict the creativity, research skills, and interests of the school's three fourth-grade classes. The students created their maps through a...
Road to the past
Camping by car has been around for more than a century, but the golden age of the camper was in the 1950s and 1960s, when families took to the road to see America with their overnight accommodations attached to the back bumper. Compared to today's condos on wheels, the travel trailers of the post-World War II era are smaller, lighter, and much more spartan. But for those who like to spend time outdoors but would rather not sleep in a...
A bolt of innovation
Josh Traeger, Outreach Coordinator for VBike, pointed to a small, white button on the left handlebar of an electric-assist bike at Brattleboro's Burrows Specialized Sports. “That's the button that makes Brattleboro flatter,” he said. Since moving back to Brattleboro, after having lived in the flatlands of New York City and Jersey City, N.J., where biking was easier (if you were attentive enough to dodge taxis and delivery trucks), I have kept my bicycle in the cellar. I miss my bike.
No joy
With the return of warm weather, Dari Joy's parking lot is busy with customers from the Greater Falls area far into the evenings. But after dark, the restaurant's second-generation owner, Richard “Richie” DeMuzio, has seen a notable drop-off of customers after dark - a loss that, he says, has come in the aftermath of the destruction of his illuminated sign by a town snowplow in February. “People think we're closed, and drive on by,” DeMuzio said. The town's insurer, Vermont...
Don’t fear the Reaper
Next weekend, a big white tent is going up inside the River Garden on Main Street. Under this big top, visitors can listen to professionally produced audio stories collected from people in Vermont. It's part of the Wake Up to Dying Project (WUDP), a free four-day series of events about death and dying. Nina Thompson, founder and executive director of the WUDP, believes that if we pay just a little more attention to the fact that we die, we will...
2015 season at Actors Theatre Playhouse begins with Interval
The Actors Theatre Playhouse begins its 2015 season on Fridays and Saturdays June 19, 20, 26, and 27 with a new Playhouse program entitled Theatrical Explorations, featuring the latest collection of New Hampshire Poet Laureate Alice B. Fogel's Interval, a work based on Bach's Goldberg Variations. All performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Fogel's work will be explored thru a variety of performance techniques including improvisation, dance, music, video, and spoken word. Interval is rediscovered and enhanced by director Josh Moyse...
Away from the numbers
Many people, when they hear the word “calculus,” immediately make excuses about how they never understood math to begin with. Not so the 18 students in Kevan O'Donnell's Advanced Placement Calculus class at Brattleboro Union High School. On May 28, these students participated in “Theorems Out Loud,” an event during which each one recited from memory a calculus theorem to an assembly of their peers in the BUHS auditorium. A theorem is a general proposition not self-evident but proved by...
Super summer fun abounds at Brooks Library's Children's Room
There's still time to sign up for the summer reading program in the Children's Room at Brooks Memorial Library. Summer reading program sign-ups continue through Saturday, June 20. The Children's Room offers three reading programs for children from birth through age 12. Children ages 4 to 9 can join the “Every Hero has a Story” program. Each child sets his or her own goal of how many books to read, or listen to, during the six-week program. Children ages 10...