Responding to students' ever-growing interests, Leland & Gray Union Middle/High School in Townshend has added to its line-up of after-school programs and activities.
Open to all students in grades 7-12, free of charge, the new offerings include:
• Photography: Christine Triebert of South Newfane will lead a series of workshops focused on the creative process. A three-time recipient of a Golden Light Award for photographic excellence, Triebert's original prints are held in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Polo Ralph Lauren, Bank of America, and The Ritz Carlton Hotel. Many of her images have been represented by major publishers in the U.S. and Europe.
• Create in Three Dimensions: L&G digital art specialist Kristen Wilson will lead a group focused on design basics, computer design, and 3D printing. Workshops will offer training in different software programs to help participants access new approaches to computer-aided design. Architectural designer David Cotton will be a special guest.
Brattleboro Police to host 'Coffee with a Cop' BRATTLEBORO - On Friday, Dec. 18, officers from the Brattleboro Police Department and community members will once again come together in an informal, neutral space to discuss community issues, build relationships, and drink coffee. All community members are invited to attend.
For seven years running, The Sweetback Sisters have been selling out theaters across the Northeast with their signature take on the holiday sing-along. The country, swing, honky-tonk, and old-time music sextet will again be performing their annual Christmas concert in Brattleboro at the First Baptist Church, 190 Main St.,
While Vermont's Universal Recycling Law (Act 148) has encouraged large commercial groceries to “[d]irect extra food of high quality to feed people by donating to food shelves” - a good thing - it should not be forgotten that many retailers have been doing this for years, even before there was a law, simply because it was the right thing to do. As a volunteer at Loaves and Fishes, one of the community kitchens “serving a hot meal to any one...
Bravo to Sheriff Keith Clark for searching for an innovative solution to our justice challenges. I particularly support the educational components proposed for this project. People at this meeting expressed concern for the safety of their community. Educating former inmates and helping them grow the skills necessary for a successful and productive life on the outside is a path to keep them from reoffending.
Windham residents need to protect their community from all wind developers. InvEnergy's application in Vermilion County, Ill. said that the noise would not cause sleep disturbance. Eleven months after InvEnergy's turbines started operations 1,665 feet and 2,225 feet from our home, we abandoned it to move to a mobile home trailer 8 miles away. That was in December 2013. Our house remains for sale, and there are no prospective buyers. Nobody wants to live in a wind farm. We are...
At the darkest time of the year, human beings have a tendency to slip into dark meditations and ruminative thinking. Write Action, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting writing and writers in southern Vermont, invites people instead to meditate on the theme of mercy, and to write a poem, a piece of fiction, or nonfiction prose with that virtue as a theme. All works must be 500 words or fewer. At the time of the solstice, people around the world...
A Christmas tradition continues with Vermont Theatre Company's production of Charles Dickens' classic tale of redemption, A Christmas Carol. The final four performances are this Thursday through Sunday (Dec. 17-20) at the Hooker-Dunham Theater, 139 Main St. Performance times are 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and 3 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for seniors and students on Friday and Saturday, and $12 for all on Thursday and Sunday. For those who donate a...
Transitions • West River Valley Thrives, a substance abuse prevention coalition serving youth in Newfane, Townshend, Jamaica, Marlboro, Brookline, Wardsboro, and Windham, welcomes Kristin Cox as its new program director. Cox has a master's degree in health-care administration and has experience working in the developmental services field. Obituaries • Dorothy “Dot” May Chabot (neé Barrows), 79, of Brookline. Died Dec. 8 at Grace Cottage Hospital in Townshend after a short battle with congestive heart failure. Wife of the late Roger...
Board discusses WSWMD budget GUILFORD - Guilford's representative to the Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD), Cheryl Franklin, presented her interpretation of the district's fiscal year 2017 budget to the Selectboard at its Nov. 23 regular meeting. Franklin, whose family owns Franklin & Son Rubbish Removal in Vernon, noted a few concerns, including the lack of contracts with some of the new MRF (Materials Recovery Facility) towns that are slated to send their recyclables to the district's Old Ferry Road...
A fast-moving, early morning fire gutted a home at 27 Edwards Village Loop on Dec. 1. No one was home at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported, according to a news release from the Vermont State Police Fire Investigation Unit. The building is a total loss, according to Vermont Assistant Fire Marshall Joshua Maxham, and damage is estimated to be around $350,000. West Dover firefighters were first to respond to the fire, after the department received...
Let it first be said that a more holistic, comprehensive approach toward treating nonviolent offenders is a great idea. One also applauds the progressive vision for law enforcement from our county sheriff. And the idea of rehabbing a 10-years-dead-and-gone mill on the banks of the Connecticut River is wonderful. However, as a citizen of Rockingham, where the ironically named Liberty Mill Justice Center is proposed, one might be forgiven for wanting to look beneath the hood a bit. There are...
This holiday season marks the 116th annual Christmas Bird Count, a favorite tradition among Vermont's birding community. Birders in Vermont are encouraged to participate in the count, which began on Dec. 14 and runs through Jan. 5. Even novice birdwatchers can participate because every event is led by an experienced birder. Organizers and participants include birders and biologists from Audubon Vermont and the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department. “The Christmas Bird Count is a great way to join with friends...
According to Dummerston Planning Commissioner Andrew MacFarland, the town's cell tower ordinance is “confusing.” He and fellow planning commissioner Sam Farwell attended the Nov. 24 Selectboard meeting to ask the board to consider changing the town's laws governing cell towers and other telecommunications structures. They said these rules should be moved from the town's ordinances to the zoning bylaws, where, as Farwell explained, there is an established infrastructure and a written procedure for enforcement. “It's pragmatic,” Farwell said. MacFarland told...
I write to urge U.S. Representative Peter Welch to endorse Bernie Sanders for president. It is disturbing to me that Sen. Leahy and Gov. Shumlin have endorsed Hillary Clinton, the pro-war, pro-GMO, pro-1-percent candidate, against the candidate of the 99 percent. I am disturbed because of Clinton's obvious faithlessness; I hate to see them associated with it, and I would dislike even more to see Welch joining them. On militancy, Sanders has said: “Our response must begin with [...] the...
The Putney Selectboard has an opportunity to create its own regulations on salvage yards outside of the Agency of Natural Resources' (ANR) licensing procedures, Planning Commission Chair Philip Bannister recently told the board. The state statutes on salvage yards are in Title 24, Chapter 61, Subchapter 10. “It covers the storage of junk,” Bannister said, “and four or more [junked] autos.” At the Dec. 2 regular board meeting, Bannister referred members to the Vermont League of Cities and Towns' (VLCT)
The letter below was written by Sophia Ali-Khan, a Muslim-American woman. After she posted the letter on Facebook and it went viral, she was interviewed by Thomas Roberts on MSNBC. I learned about the letter after reading it on my grandson's Facebook page; I thought it was so powerful and important that I wanted to share it with our community - those who might not otherwise have a chance to read it. I hope it reaches into the hearts of...
A detention center - a jail - in Bellows Falls is without a doubt a very bad and (I might add) ill-conceived idea. Bellows Falls has no hospital. Inmates will need support services such as a fully staffed emergency room when violence erupts inside prisons walls. Guards will need immediate emergency medical attention also. Bellows Falls only has a small fire department. The private contracted EMS provider endures more than 900 calls in the village alone. The village fire department...
For the last five years, Town Clerk Gloria Cristelli and her assistant, Dedra Dunham, have been trying to preserve Newfane's history, and its integrity in maintaining land records, one document at a time. They are using modern technology to do it. “There's no state mandate to have redundancy” in records, Cristelli said, meaning a town is allowed to keep only one set of land records, such as mortgages, deeds, and court decrees, and those are typically on paper. Cristelli showed...
The creation of new federal regulations for cleaning up nuclear power plants is supposed to address a common complaint – that the decommissioning process doesn't allow for meaningful public participation. But even as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) gets started on drafting those rules, there is new controversy regarding the rule-making process itself. Six federal lawmakers, including all three members of Vermont's congressional delegation, have authored a letter demanding that the NRC extend its public-comment period and hold more public...
Facing what's been called “one of the most important decisions made in town for years,” Vernon residents are divided on how to proceed with the debate over hosting a 600 megawatt, gas-fired power plant. Some, like resident Bronna Zlochiver, are strongly urging officials to “go slow on this, because we need to answer all the questions that were asked. And I know I have a zillion more.” Others, like Vernon Planning Commission Vice Chairwoman Janet Rasmussen, believe that “time is...
The town of Brattleboro is considering options for the police station. One alternative is to purchase the Reformer building on Black Mountain Road. Although this alternative is estimated to cost approximately $1 million less than renovating the Municipal Center, other costs and considerations make investing in that structure for the police a better alternative than purchasing additional real estate. In addition to the renovation cost, the 22,562-square-foot Reformer building would have operating costs for utilities, cleaning, and maintenance. Based upon...
The Leland & Gray Union Middle and High School Music Department presents its annual winter concert on Thursday, Dec. 17, at 7 p.m. The high school and middle school ensembles will be performing an eclectic mix of works, from high-adrenaline contemporary band pieces to folk music from around the world to big band jazz standards and beyond. In addition to the concert, the L&G Art Department will display students' visual work across all media in a winter art show. Doors...
The Brattleboro Music Center announces the Windham Orchestra's first concert of 2016: Stars. The concert will highlight the orchestra's local wind soloists. Last season, Jessica Murrow opened the program with Strauss' Oboe Concerto. This season, seven wind soloists, all women, will play works from 1849 to 1949. Copland's Clarinet Concerto is played by clarinetist and former area resident Karen Bressett. The orchestra is honoring her “artistry and accomplishments” as she plays this work written for jazz legend Benny Goodman, according...
Entergy administrators are staunchly defending their plan for storing Vermont Yankee's spent nuclear fuel, saying relocating the storage facility would take years and could cost “hundreds of millions of dollars.” Detractors worry that the location of Entergy's dry cask storage facilities will hinder decommissioning and might dramatically raise the cost of cleanup at the Vernon plant. More than an hour of debate on Dec. 10 in Brattleboro further exposed the deep divide between those factions, as the Vermont Nuclear Decommissioning...
Last month, state officials launched the equivalent of a Hail Mary pass in their attempt to curb spending of the Vermont Yankee decommissioning trust fund. Now, Nuclear Regulatory Commission staffers and Entergy administrators are playing defense, deploying a variety of unflattering terms – “duplicative,” “impermissible,” “alarmist,” “meritless” and “vague,” to name a few – to urge the NRC's commissioners to reject Vermont's trust fund petition. Both the federal agency and the energy company take pains to say the scenario state...
Vermont Theatre Company announces auditions for its next production, On the Verge, by Eric Overmeyer, on Sunday Dec. 20, at 5 p.m, in the BUHS auditorium on Fairground Road. Colin Grube is the director. Performance dates are Feb. 26-28 and March 3-6, 2016. The director is looking for actors for the piece about time traveling Victorian women. There are parts for Fanny (female 60s ), Mary (female 40s ), Alex (female 20s ) and one male, able to do a...
The Board of Supervisors for the Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD) approved adding another town to its membership on Dec. 10. Somerset, an unincorporated township located west of Wilmington, will join the district as a non-voting member under a Memorandum of Understanding drawn up between the former town and the district. The state unincorporated Somerset in the 1930s. It has no municipal government and only a handful of people still reside in the former town. According to Lou Bruso,
The state of Vermont has increased its focus on early education for children in recent years. Through new funding, such as the $36.9 million Race to the Top Early Childhood federal grant, or enacting legislation to provide universal publicly-funded pre-kindergarten, the state has sought to provide young children with quality, affordable childcare and education. Windham County has its share of public and private organizations tackling the issue. People working in the field, such as those at the Dec. 9 council...
Federal officials have issued formal notification that Vermont Yankee emergency operations can be drastically scaled back due to a “significantly lower” risk of radiological accidents at the shutdown Vernon plant. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Dec. 10 approval of plant owner Entergy's requested license amendment means that the plant's 10-mile emergency planning zone will disappear next year, as will millions in state and municipal funding that goes with it. The NRC action also paves the way for the next big round...
Michael Obuchowski has never been comfortable being in the spotlight. But the Windham County Democratic Committee wanted to honor the former House Speaker and current state Buildings and General Services commissioner. The inaugural Obie Awards dinner on Dec. 12 celebrated not just four decades of Obuchowski's public service, but also his service as the conscience and soul of his party - and as the mentor and inspiration for so many who followed his example. More than 80 people came to...
In late-August, Wayne Davis, project manager with the Vermont Agency of Transportation (AOT), said he had his “fingers crossed” for the Putney park-and-ride to open this fall. Davis got his wish, with barely two weeks to spare before the beginning of winter. On Dec. 9, the AOT announced the “soft opening” of the facility. According to the press release, the Putney park-and-ride is “scheduled for final completion in the spring of 2016." The difference between the “soft opening” and “final...
Vermont PBS will host a preview screening of the first episode of Downton Abbey, Season 6, at the Latchis Theatre in downtown Brattleboro on Sunday, Dec. 27, at 4 p.m. The show examines the life for gentry and servants in England, spanning 12 years, beginning at the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. The Latchis event, which is free and open to the public, will premiere the first hour of Episode One, followed by a discussion and audience reaction. Raffles...
I write to express my utter dismay at the Letter of Support for Windham County Sheriff's application submitted to the USDA Rural Community Development Initiative Grant Program. Despite the lofty scope of this project as it seeks funding, it is a social experiment being forced upon the already overburdened and struggling community of Bellows Falls. The USDA has chosen to designate our community as “high-poverty” and a “USDA's FY15 Opportunity Community” without fully understanding what a prison - euphemistically titled...
Main Street Arts' 17th annual “holiday gift to the community” will take place on Dec. 19 and 20 when it performs Holidays at MSA in its new Heptebo Theater at 35 Main St. Among the performers will be songwriter Nick Kaiser; The Main Street Arts Children's Choir, led by Valerie Kosednar; the Adult Choir led by Eric Robinson; plus additional songs, dramatic readings, and a couple of surprises. All are invited. Admission is free although donations are gratefully accepted. According...
The Brattleboro Colonels girls' basketball team started its season last week with a 48-36 home win on Dec. 9 over the Springfield Cosmos, and a 47-37 road loss to the South Burlington Rebels on Dec. 12. This Colonel team has a good mix of youth and experience, and is strong defensively. For head coach Paul Freed, it is all a question of how well this team can come together, particularly when it is challenged. Against the Cosmos, the Colonels had...
Two branches of People's United Bank on opposite ends of Windham County were held up on Monday. Police say they don't believe the robberies in Wilmington and Brattleboro are related, and there were no injuries. The suspects in both incidents are still at large as of press time. The first robbery took place in Wilmington at about 9:15 a.m. Wilmington and Vermont State Police said a white male entered the front door to the People's United Bank branch at 29...
In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris - attacks on Western civilization in the heart of Western civilization - and with CNN blaring on television screens everywhere, I happened to be attending the 32nd annual Miami Book Fair. It was odd timing. Books, after all, are where you can find the whole of Western civilization, exactly the civilization that Islamic extremists want to destroy. So there was a fine irony in being surrounded by authors, publishers, and readers...
Jon Mack is somewhat surprised that running the Hooker-Dunham Theater & Gallery (H-D) should still be fun. After about 18 months of managing the small theater in downtown Brattleboro that's tucked away inside a building that once was an old shoe factory, Mack says the place “is actually doing extremely well, thank you,” and even made a small profit this year. H-D is run on a not-for-profit, cost-sharing model (“I am finished with the for-profit world,” Mack says). There is...
You might expect a certain amount of fatigue to set in among gun-control advocates. Ann Braden will not allow herself that luxury. The 35-year-old Brattleboro mother of two who founded Gun Sense Vermont told a crowd of about 70 that gathered in Pliny Park on Dec. 12 - to mark the third anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting - that while it is easy to turn off the television when the airwaves are filled with images of the latest...
Next year, how towns in the Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD) pay for recycling and other programs could change. On Dec. 10, the Board of Supervisors for the WSWMD approved a seven-member committee to explore other financial models - such as fee-for-service - that the district could use to raise money from its 20-member towns. Currently, member towns pay an assessment to the district based on population. This assessment provides programs such as community recycling bins, hazardous waste collection...
Like many men of his generation, Jay Karpin went off to war. Born in 1924, he enlisted in the Army Air Force the day after he graduated from Hicksville High School on Long Island in 1942, and he went through months of training to become a bombardier and navigator. He was assigned to the 493rd Bombardment Group, the last bomb group of the famed Eighth Air Force to become operational in Europe. And that is how the 493rd's - and...
Orchard Street Pottery will be offering its fourth annual Solstice and Seconds Sale on Sunday afternoon, Dec. 20, from noon until 5 p.m., in the studio and showroom at 658 Orchard St. Potter Walter Slowinski makes wood-fired, salt-glazed stoneware and porcelain teapots, pitchers, bowls, cups, mugs, vases, and other wares. The potter will be available to discuss the process, esthetic, and tradition of wood firing. Refreshments will be served in the old barn. For more information contact [email protected] or call...
The range of discussion Monday morning at Brattleboro's Latchis Theatre – from questions about butternut squash to concerns about global imports – shows the sweep of the federal government's new food-safety rules. But as federal and state officials worked to explain some of those rules to attendees who traveled from at least six other states, there was a common theme: Public education is critical, as is more federal funding to ensure that such education happens. For Vermont Agriculture Secretary Chuck...
African Dance Vermont will present a DJ dance party and performance with local African dance teachers and drummers, a benefit to raise funds to support the family of a local drumming instructor. The event will take place on Friday, Dec. 18 at 118 Elliot in Brattleboro from 8 to 11 p.m. Beverages will be offered for sale by Metropolis. Every Wednesday evening, the Brattleboro Stone Church comes alive with African drumming and dance classes. Raoul Ombang, originally from Cameroon, is...