Issue #327
Working so volunteers blossom
A semi-circle of people -members of the press, Gathering Place employees, and volunteers - point their cameras and iPhones toward a trio holding award plaques in the Gathering Place's cafeteria.
In the center of the group, Carolyn Stoughton wipes away her tears with the side of her hand.
How you can help refugees, in Vermont and beyond
Thanks to the editors at The Commons for helping me share my story. We are amid the biggest refugee crisis the world has seen. We need to keep the momentum going to help all refugees fleeing conflict in Northern Africa and Syria. I am an advocate for change, immediate...
Jumping the gun?
Here's my issue with a proposed gas plant in Vernon: the Kinder-Morgan natural-gas pipeline hasn't even been approved in Massachusetts. Shouldn't folks wait and see where that stands first? Besides, the environmental impact is hardly worth it. Especially along our Connecticut River.
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VY pays for weather station
This is to all the anti-Vermont Yankee people: What about the weather station they generously pay for on the two-way radio?
Shedding light on the importance of forestry
Did you realize that approximately 86 percent of southeastern Vermont is forested? It has been estimated that annual tree growth in Windham County exceeds 20 million cubic feet. These forests provide a livelihood for many people through wood harvesting, wood products, hunting, tourism, and maple products. Forests are one of the region's most valuable renewable resources and contribute greatly to the region's economy and authentic sense of place, not to mention their fundamental role in water quality. The commercially important...
Connecting with businesses around quality, affordable child care
An employer in northern Vermont told Robyn Freedner-Maguire, that during a shift change, he'd watched parents exchange their infant in the parking lot. That employer is committed to finding better child care solutions for his employees, said Freedner-Maguire, campaign director with Let's Grow Kids, a statewide campaign intended to educate the public about early-childhood education. Freedner-Maguire told the story to participants at a brainstorming session with child-care advocates and a few members of the business community. Angela Earle Gray, Human...
Milestones
College news • Saskia Bailey-de Bruijn, daughter of Linda Bailey and Edwin De Bruijn of Brattleboro, has enrolled at Earlham College in Richmomd, Ind., as a member of the Class of 2019. • Jonathan Elwell, son of Peter Elwell and Wendy Harrison of Brattleboro, has enrolled at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., as a member of the Class of 2019. Transitions • Benjamin Wright, PMHNP-BC, recently joined the staff of Grace Cottage Family Health in Townshend. He is a Board...
Email address set up for Vermont Yankee comment, questions
State officials have created an email address to allow the public to comment on or ask questions about the decommissioning of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. The address – [email protected] – is meant to improve communications with the Vermont Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel. The panel is tasked with serving as a conduit for public information and education while also advising the governor, state Legislature, and state agencies on Vermont Yankee matters. “I hope people will use the email address...
Technology access is important to library users
Recently, Wardsboro Public Library conducted a survey to better understand how our community uses and benefits from free access to computers and the Internet at the library. The library offers four computers, wireless Internet, and assistance for all members of our community. Of the survey respondents who reported visiting the library in the past year, 77 percent used a public-access computer or the library's wireless network during their visits. Highlights from the survey include: • 4 percent of public technology...
Free computer classes offered for Putney seniors
Putney Cares and Landmark College will co-present a special four-class series of workshops hosted by the Putney Public Library to help those Putney area seniors who are not already familiar with them navigate electronic devices, social media, and the Internet. Back by popular demand, Tablets, Computers & Smart Phones, Oh My! will be held on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, - Oct. 22, Oct. 27, Oct. 29, and Nov. 3 - at the Putney Public Library at 55 Main St. The...
Around the Towns
New moms group meets at Prouty Center BRATTLEBORO - Mothers' Circle, a peer-led gathering for mothers with infants up to 12-months old, is held at the Winston Prouty Center for Child Development in Brattleboro on Tuesdays from 10:45 a.m. to noon. Mothers' Circle is confidential and led by a MotherWoman certified facilitator, and offers space to discuss the challenges of being a parent and the realities of motherhood. Free childcare for older siblings is provided; those who want childcare are...
Puppets in the Green Mountains was a success
Sandglass Theater is celebrating the completion of our ninth Puppets in the Green Mountain Festival, where we presented inspiring theater to over 3,500 people, including about 900 school kids, over 10 days of a wide range of events. We could not have even begun planning this festival, let alone produced so many shows, interviews, talks, and other events, without the tremendous help and support of many people, groups, organizations, businesses, and foundations. Our deep thanks and appreciation go out to:
State demands more info on VY trust-fund spending
State officials are demanding more-detailed information about how Vermont Yankee owner Entergy is spending cash from the nuclear plant's decommissioning trust fund. In documents filed Oct. 2, Vermont asked the federal Atomic Safety and Licensing Board to require the company to “provide the state all supporting documentation for specific expenses” from the trust fund - a request that applies both to past and future expenditures. Last month, Entergy agreed to continue providing notices to the federal government 30 days before...
Art showing at Bartleby's Books
Bartleby's Books will host the fourth annual showing of the work of Mary Procter and Bill Matuszeski. The show, which features their plein air acrylic landscapes of southern Vermont, will be on display through Wednesday, Nov. 18. Procter and Matuszeski are spouses who split their time between Washington, D.C., and Whitingham, where they have a home on Lake Clara. Their paintings were chosen for exhibit in the Windows on the Valley show in multiple locations in the Deerfield Valley this...
Wind meetings planned in Windham County
For years, opponents of a wind-turbine development proposed in Windham and Grafton have complained that they've not gotten much solid information about the project. That might change later this month, as a developer and landowner involved in the Stiles Brook proposal have teamed up to schedule public meetings in both towns. The sessions are to include discussion of a “preliminary draft study layout,” meaning that, for the first time, developer Iberdrola Renewables will show where windmills might be sited. The...
Grace’s Kitchen to close; last community meal Oct. 28
On March 16, 2005, First Baptist Church opened its doors to offer a free evening meal to the community. The intention was to provide a balanced meal to those in need in an environment that was friendly and safe. This mission was named in honor of Grace Thomas Deyo Wood, who, at the time, was the oldest member of the church. She passed away in May 2006, but her legacy lived on. Now, the time has come to close the...
Leland & Gray launches Help Empower Youth Career Initiative
The afterschool program of Leland & Gray Union Middle and High School has launched the Help Empower Youth Career Initiative, kick-started by a $11,500 grant from the Thomas Thompson Trust. On Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 4 p.m., the school will host a reception and banner-hanging ceremony in the Dutton Gym. Students will present the Career Initiative to the invited guests, including State Senators Becca Balint and Jeannette White and State Representatives Carolyn Partridge, Oliver Olsen, and Emily Long, who is...
MSA’s Taste of the Arts features dinner with cookbook author Crescent Dragonwagon
On Thursday, Oct. 15, at 6 p.m., Main Street Arts presents the second local artist featured in this year's Taste of the Arts series. But the Westminster West-based writer Crescent Dragonwagon is the first whose words and art literally can be tasted. She's a James Beard Award-winning cookbook-memoirist, and a selection of recipes from her seven published cookbooks will be served. After a meal beginning with Dragonwagon's 7-Layer Middle Eastern Mountain and a cup of Pumpkin-Tomato Bisque, diners will move...
State OK's first large solar array in Guilford
The town's first large-scale solar array has received state approval, but it might be hard to find even when construction is complete. In granting a certificate of public good for a 500 kilowatt, group net-metered solar facility on former agricultural land, the state Public Service Board noted that the array “would have limited visibility from public viewpoints” and “would be substantially shielded by the existing vegetation and topography.” That relative seclusion was a big reason that the site, at 1600...
Town reviews accident data
In response to a number of residents' requests to employ traffic-calming measures, the Selectboard analyzed car-crash data from the last 20 months on some of Newfane's heavily traveled roads. They also looked at injury rates from these accidents. Board member Carol Hatcher found the data on the Vermont Agency of Transportation's [AOT] Public Crash Data Query Tool, http://apps.vtrans.vermont.gov/CrashPublicQueryTool. She shared her findings at the Sept. 21 regular Selectboard meeting. Hatcher said the data shows Route 30 had the most accidents:
Vernon briefs
Firearms sale talks continue VERNON - Since the disbanding of the town's police department, Vernon's Selectboard has been trying to figure out what to do with its cache of firearms and other police equipment. There is some urgency in selling the equipment. Not only would it bring needed revenue to the town, but many of the weapons are stored in a vault without climate-control - the longer the firearms sit, the more they deteriorate, and their value drops. Plus, town...
Saxtons River works to create new community building
Residents who wants to be part of shaping the vision and prioritizing the programs for the new Saxtons River Community Building are invited to come to the dining room at Christ's Church on Thursday, Oct. 15. The meeting will be facilitated by Susan McMahon of the Windham Regional Commission. Dessert and coffee is at 6:30 p.m., and the meeting is from 7 to 8:30 pm. For more information, email [email protected]. The Saxtons River Community Building aims to combine energy gathered...
A plea for leadership
I've just been in Europe, and it was the same as here. Bus drivers, farmers, shopkeepers, teachers, all were doing the same thing: getting from today to tomorrow or the weekend, trying to raise their children to be good people, despairing at the behavior of some politicians, working to better their community or their children's future. I don't think God created us to do more than that. We weren't meant to amass wealth, establish religions, or have iPhones. And God...
Town Administrator steps down
Rebecca Stone, Guilford's Town Administrator, tendered her resignation at the Sept. 14 regular Selectboard meeting. Oct. 2 was her last day. Board members expressed their regret, and appreciation to Stone, upon receiving the announcement. In a telephone conversation with The Commons, Board Chair Anne Rider said Stone “found a position that was a better fit, was part-time, and was close to home." The board is not yet ready to advertise for a new Town Administrator, Rider said. During the first...
Newfane briefs
Newfane considers surveillance cameras for recycling area NEWFANE - After a resident complained to the Selectboard at the regular Sept. 21 meeting about illegal dumping at the town's recycling bins in the Town Offices parking lot, board members inched closer to doing something about it. One suggestion the board is considering is installing surveillance cameras to monitor the bins. The town once had cameras there. The feed traveled over the Internet to the Windham Solid Waste Management District's [WSWMD] offices.
Not all gloom and doom
With presidential and gubernatorial electioneering pushing the election calendar up this year, some might forget that legislative candidates put themselves before voters only last summer. In last year's election, Vermonters spoke and Democrats listened, resulting in continued Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate - contrary to how some would try and spin those election results. Vermonters told us they wondered how we could keep and attract quality employers to build a workforce that meets current demands. Democrats listened,
Bach to the Land
The Manitou Project is offering an evening of Baroque sonatas by J.S. Bach, Telemann, Pepusch, and Loeillit, with the musical group Bella Nova: Wendy Redlinger, harpsichord, Gudrun Weeks, violin, Pedro Pereira, cello, Bill Rees, recorder. The concert will be Thursday, Oct. 15, at 7:30 p.m., at 118 Elliot St. Admission is $15 admission and proceeds from this benefit concert will help raise money for the nonprofit Manitou Project to buy the woodlands that it now uses in Williamsville and permanently...
Blinking lights, pedestrian terror
Here is another voice in favor of putting downtown's traffic lights back on cycle. I worked at the Latchis Hotel and Theatre for 10 years and during that time, I must have stood on the corner of Main Street and Flat Street at least 5,000 times, waiting to cross. In addition, my office window overlooked the same corner. It is safe to say I saw a lot of traffic, and had an overabundance of pedestrian experiences, in my day. Bring...
Feds approve VY spent fuel plan
Entergy's plan to manage Vermont Yankee's spent nuclear fuel is “adequate” and consistent with federal rules, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has decided. In approving Entergy's long-term fuel plan Oct. 5, the NRC also reaffirmed its endorsement for the company's controversial proposal to use the Vernon plant's decommissioning trust fund to manage that fuel. Fuel management is expected to cost $368 million at Yankee, but the NRC says Entergy “has demonstrated reasonable assurance that funding will be available to maintain the...
BUHS Players to present absurd one-act plays
A family in which everyone is named Bobby Watson, a fire chief who spends his time searching for non-existent fires in London and telling stories that make no sense at all, and a doorbell that rings when no one is there – these are just a few of the absurdities which await audiences at the night of absurd theatre to be presented at Brattleboro Union High School on Friday, Oct. 16 and Saturday, Oct. 17. The BUHS Players will be...
BF girls keep the faith through a losing soccer season
Losing seasons are never any fun, but Bellows Falls girls' soccer coach John Broadley has coached long enough to know that success in high school soccer is cyclical. Some years, you have lots of players coming out for the team and a talent pipeline filled with young successors. Other years, the cupboard is bare. In 2010, the Terrier girls were 1-12-1. The following year, BF went 11-4-1 and made it all the way to the semifinals. This year's edition of...
Following the founder
The new New England Youth Theatre (NEYT) executive director, Hallie Flower, says she finds that her head is swimming with all the details of what “this amazing organization” is up to. “To be frank, my exciting and challenging job is an octopus,” she says. “Executive director is a big responsibility, but it is amazing to work with people who are so passionately clear about what they are doing. And there is so much heartfelt programming at NEYT of which I...
Story Slam set to bring true tales to life
Why would anyone step onto a stage and tell a true story of personal transition? For Hillary Boone, host of this Saturday's Story Slam benefit for the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont, it's all about unplugging from Facebook and Instagram and reconnecting through face-to-face interaction. “Sitting together and listening and having this shared experience,” she says, “is so energizing and so rare.” Rare enough, Boone knows, that people who haven't heard of programs like “The Moth Radio Hour” might appreciate...
Efficiency help needed, energy advocates say
From urine recycling to shiitake mushrooms to electrically-assisted bikes, those attending a “Climate Change Economy” discussion Oct. 6 had no trouble coming up with a diverse list of causes and pet projects. But one issue that came up repeatedly was energy efficiency - how important it is, and how difficult and expensive it can be for Vermonters to make existing homes and businesses more environmentally friendly. The problem with even the most “green” strategies for new building is that, “really,
Harlow’s Sugar House becomes a drive-through — involuntarily
The staff at Putney's Harlow's Sugar House received a surprise visitor on Oct. 7, when a Subaru crashed through the front of the building shortly before noon. According to the report issued by Vermont State Police, the car “came to rest completely inside” the farm stand. The report noted the driver of the car was Risa Knapp of Brattleboro. “The car came through the outside wall, and took out 12 to 18 feet of the wall,” owner Douglas Harlow told...
Town pursues change of status for Fisch Road
The Dummerston Selectboard is moving closer to promoting Fisch Road from a Class 4 to a Class 3 road. For about 30 years, Dummerston's Highway Department has been maintaining the dead-end road, located about 2 miles from Sunset Lake. Because the road is Class 4, the town is under no obligation to do so. But, “there are quite a few homes on that road,” Board Chair Zeke Goodband explained in an email to The Commons. If the Selectboard decides to...
Trio de Pumpkintown brings stories, songs to Sandglass Theater
Folk musician Tim Eriksen and The Trio de Pumpkintown return to Sandglass Theater on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 7:30 p.m. Pumpkintown is an evening of old and new Yankee hymns, tunes, and ballads from the region's often-forgotten multi-cultural history, and stories - all accompanied by original and historical magic lantern projections. Audiences are asked to abandon any need to separate fact from fiction when considering the colorful history of the imaginary New England village of Pumpkintown. The Trio de Pumkintown...
Standing in the way of effective change: not good for our pro-gun movement
Let's get a couple of things straight. I'm well known for my quick and aggressive responses to the anti-gun advocacy groups whenever gun bans are being promoted. What might not be so obvious is that I also come out very strongly in favor when the groups for reduction of gun violence promote meaningful steps that could really have an effect. I am a benefactor member of the National Rifle Association, an organization that I enjoyed and learned from for 50-plus...
Stone Church Arts presents a capella quartet Big Woods Voices
Stone Church Arts presents Big Woods Voices, the union of four veteran area singers celebrating their common passion for a cappella harmony, in a benefit concert at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17. Big Woods Voices will perform this benefit concert in the smaller Stone Church Arts venue, the Chapel, of Immanuel Episcopal Church, 20 Church St. and seats are limited. The voices are, from soprano to bass: Liz Rogers, an internationally-touring singer-songwriter who started out with the Metropolitan Opera's...
Giving readers the experience of a place
“Coffee?” author Castle Freeman Jr. asks as Freddie the dachshund yaps a happy greeting. The old farm house the author shares with his wife Alice bursts with splashes of bright color. The art hanging on the wall, plates displayed above the kitchen window overlooking the back garden, books stacked by reading chairs, a hanging mobile near a doorway. The large grey wood-burning cook stove is the kitchen's most subdued item. “Alice is an artist,” Freeman says. “Color is her whole...
Working Lands supporters lobby for funding
Creamy goat-milk caramels have become a big business for Townshend's Big Picture Farm. And as the farm underwent a recent expansion, a $20,000 state Working Lands grant played a key role: The money was, Big Picture co-founder Lucas Farrell said, a “game-changer.” “The Working Lands grant is as direct and effective an investment in the health of our local economy and working landscape as you're likely to find anywhere, period,” Farrell said. But even after three successful, high-demand years, Working...
Drummer Carl Allen to present the Art of Elvin at the Vermont Jazz Center
On Saturday, Oct. 17, at 8 p.m., the Vermont Jazz Center will present world-class drummer Carl Allen with his group The Art of Elvin. This band includes Tivon Pennicott, saxophones; Freddie Hendrix, trumpet; Xavier Davis, piano; Dezron Douglas, bass; and group leader Allen on drums. “The group is a tribute to Art Blakey and Elvin Jones and features music performed by both Art Blakey and/or Elvin Jones as well as some original music,” Allen said in a press release. “In...
Stretching boundaries
Christine Triebert's latest photographic project is literally and figuratively cutting edge. Using a new process, “pigment printing,” and working rigorously with unconventional materials, Triebert realizes a poetic vision in “Through a Glass Dimly.” Twenty-one images are hung in the Mitchell-Giddings Fine Art art gallery on Main Street, downstairs from Candle in the Night, through Nov. 1. As has been the case with Triebert's photographic projects over the years, she is stretching the bounds of her medium. Her previous recent work...