A group of nonresident taxpayers - i.e., those who own second homes - want a bigger say in whether Vermont's largest wind-turbine project moves forward.
It seems clear that those property owners, under Vermont law, are not entitled to participate in a legally binding vote because they do not technically live in Grafton.
But some argue that all taxpayers - whether residents or nonresidents - should be able to participate in some sort of referendum on the proposed project. The results, according to a written request submitted to the Grafton Selectboard, should serve as “the formal and only position of the town of Grafton on the matter.”
“The way things stand now, we have no voice in whether this project happens or not, and we feel that's an injustice,” said Jud Hartmann, a property owner and nonresident who presented the concept to the Selectboard on Jan. 18. “So, this is the beginning of a process to have our voice included in the debate.”...
Vermont Yankee's decommissioning plan has received much constructive, timely, thoughtful criticism from interested parties. It has also been on the receiving end of ill-informed, poorly timed ideas that would seem to offer nothing but millions of dollars of added cost and many years of delay. The suggestion to relocate...
Dartmouth professor Allen Koop will discuss the history of America's troubled, promising, and unique health care system in a talk at Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro on Feb. 3 at 7 p.m. His talk, “The History of Health Care in the U.S.,” is part of the Vermont Humanities Council's...
The Police Department might soon call Black Mountain Road home. The Selectboard approved moving the police department to the north end of town on Jan. 19 after months of deliberating the multiple building configurations in the Police-Fire Facilities Project. In a 4–1 vote, the board approved moving forward with the $11.8 million project alternative. Along with moving the police department, the plan calls for completing extensive renovations and building an addition at the Central Fire Station. Under this plan, Fire...
Bernie Sanders said recently: “When we make public colleges and universities free [we are saying to every child that if they] study hard, take school seriously, they will be able to get a college education regardless of the income of their families.” “That is revolutionary and will transform our society.” He ignores the hugely important fact that, from the Land Grant Act in 1862, public higher education in this country was tuition-free - until the mid-to-late 1900s. The State University...
Monthly group for parents, caregivers of LGBTQ youth BRATTLEBORO - Youth Services is launching a support group for parents and caregivers of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth in the Windham County region, on Thursday, Jan. 28 from 5:30 to 7 p.m., in collaboration with Green Mountain Crossroads, a local nonprofit dedicated to connecting rural LGBTQ people. The first meeting of Joining Our Youth (JOY) group, will be at Youth Services at 32 Walnut St. Free and...
College news • Anna Mary Gaskill of Brattleboro and Sarah Harlow of Putney were named to the Dean's List for the fall 2015 semester at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, N.H. • Rachel Greenberg of Saxtons River, James Moore of Saxtons River, and Sam Molner of Wilmington all were named to the Dean's List for the fall 2015 semester at the University of Hartford in West Hartford, Conn. • Brennen D. Zolnoski, a biomedical engineering major from Brattleboro, has been...
The Brattleboro Fire Department absolutely deserves, and needs, a safe working space from which to operate. I think the the $2 million price tag is what put many voters, including myself, off the idea of the proposed new facility. I am hoping that a reasonable budget will be brought to the table.
After making a few adjustments, the Dummerston Selectboard finalized their Fiscal Year 2017 budget to present to Town Meeting. Some highlights the board discussed at their Jan. 6 meeting involved law enforcement, compensation and stipends, heavy equipment, and the capital fund. In the municipal portion of the budget, the board opted to increase the line item for fees paid to the Windham County Sheriff's Department for the town's law enforcement needs. Because the sheriff's department will up their patrols from...
As I have read about the so-called Liberty Mill Justice Center in Rockingham, I have been disturbed to learn that while the idea of an enlightened approach to justice is appealing, there are no guarantees that this large facility will remain a beacon of hope. More than 120 people will be detained there at any given time. Most of them will be receiving no rehabilitative treatment whatsoever but are merely being warehoused in order to provide an income stream of...
After three months and eight meetings, the Selectboard unanimously approved the proposed fiscal year 2017 budget on Jan. 19. Board chair David Gartenstein said, “This budget provides essentially level service from last year to this year.” Compared to fiscal year 2016, the proposed budget increased 3.71 percent. This increase translates into a property tax increase of $0.0182 per $100 compared to the previous year. The owner of a house valued at $100,000 can expect to see an additional $18.18 on...
Now is the time for Vermont to join Bernie Sanders' political revolution. According to our Declaration of Independence, government is instituted to secure our unalienable rights, and in a democracy, government is guided by our cultural, social, ethical, political, and economic values. Although no value is superior to the others, a robust economy is essential to our Vermont revolution. During the Eisenhower years, by intentional actions, we came close to a just economy: a shrinking gap between the upper and...
United Way of Windham County is offering two programs that provide free federal and state income-tax preparation services to eligible taxpayers: the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program and MyFreeTaxes.com. More than 70 percent of American tax filers don't know they can save $200 in tax preparation fees every year by using MyFreeTaxes.com, the first free national, online tax filing platform. MyFreeTaxes.com provides free federal and state tax preparation and filing assistance online to eligible households earning up to $62,000...
Mardi Gras will come early in Brattleboro, as a midwinter celebration is planned on Saturday, Feb. 6, at 118 Elliot in Brattleboro, to raise funds for a local nonprofit, MANOS, which teaches neonatal resuscitation to Nicaraguan health care providers. Festivities run from 7 to 11 p.m., and tickets are $10 to $20 on a sliding scale. MANOS (Maternal and Neonatal Outreach Services) is planning a return trip to Nicaragua this April. Members will partner with Nicaraguan medical professors to teach...
The Brattleboro branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) honored its 2015 scholarship recipients at its recent annual scholarship brunch. Present were Emily Stockwell, Haley Buffum and Tasaday Green. Awardees unable to attend were Chorsom Wetchanukroh and Judia Ziegner. Tasaday, who is studying mathematics, and Ziegner, a nursing student, received the mature woman scholarships and are attending Greenfield Community College and Vermont Technical College, respectively. Stockwell and Buffum graduated from Leland & Gray Union High School and attend...
In the most recent national discussions about the dangers of guns in our society, there has been little analysis focusing on the U.S. Supreme Court's role in the ongoing crisis of gun ownership in our country. While it would diminish cause and effect to draw a singular connection between the Supreme Court's decision on the Second Amendment (District of Columbia v. Heller, 2008) and the current Oregon vigilante actions, one can fairly conclude that Antonin Scalia's majority decision does have...
Legalizing recreational marijuana will have an outsize impact on Vermont if 3.2 million nonresident users living conveniently within 200 miles in states where it remains illegal are added to 80,000 resident users - five marijuana users per Vermonter - the RAND Corporation Drug Policy Research Center report commissioned by our legislators warns us. State by state, legalizing recreational marijuana is creating a national marijuana industry like the tobacco industry where, at least initially, there may be a niche market for...
Vermont's senior U.S. senator says the long-term storage of radioactive waste in Vernon - and at all former nuclear plant sites nationwide - is “unacceptable.” Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, in a new letter to the Vermont Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel (VNDCAP), points out that the federal government is starting a new program aimed at finding somewhere to store spent nuclear fuel. But that program is in its infancy. And Leahy doesn't offer any other solutions to the problem, noting...
If Windham Regional Commission (WRC) Associate Director Susan McMahon's project goes as planned, Windham County towns can save money and work more closely together. In Spring 2014, McMahon and her WRC colleagues began working on the Municipal Shared Services plan, which helps towns collaborate on common needs, such as sharing goods, services, and staff. She said it is something the WRC had considered for some time. “Our communities are asked to do more and more with less and less,” McMahon...
“I think there's a misconception that people who shop in thrift stores are not discerning,” Experienced Goods Thrift Shop's Assistant Manager Ellen Graham told The Commons. “But, to successfully shop in a thrift store, you must be discerning,” she said. “You're shopping for used clothing in weird lighting,” Graham says used clothing is “only a good deal if it's wearable." Part of Graham's job is sorting through every piece of clothing and pair of shoes - well, they hope the...
At its Jan. 11 meeting, the Selectboard voted to stop automatically mailing a copy of the town report every year to every registered Guilford voter. This change begins with the 2017 Town Report; the 2016 version will be mailed as usual. Although the vote was unanimous, it required some discussion. Board member Dick Clark expressed his concern that “we're doing away with all town traditions,” and did not want to see a day when the town only issued electronic versions...
The Brattleboro Union High School Music Department will present the school version of the hit musical Rent on February 11-13 in the BUHS Auditorium. The show is not suitable for children younger than 13 years old. The Thursday performance will begin at 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday evening performances will begin at 7 p.m. Admission is $6 for all seats at Thursday's show, $10 for all seats at Friday and Saturday evening shows. Senior citizens' tickets will be $6 for...
The Selectboard took another step towards solving the stalled Black Mountain gravity sewer line project. Board members approved $200,000 for continued construction phase engineering services from Hoyle, Tanner, & Associates on Jan. 19. The town hired Kingsbury Construction to install the sewer line, which will replace a more costly pump station. In an email, Director of Public Works Steve Barrett explained that the gravity system would be more cost effective than a pump station over time. The estimated expense for...
Wastewater and septic effluent are hard on a system. That's what Public Works Director Steve Barrett has discovered at the still relatively new Wastewater Treatment Plant. According to Barrett, the treatment plant's front line - the conveyor liner and shaftless screw - has worn out “and needs to be replaced as soon as possible.” The new system, which went online in 2012, operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, he said. The conveyor system removes abrasive materials from...
At the second meeting concerning the Liberty Mill Justice Center, Sheriff Keith Clark said he has paid no attention to social media. Really? That raises two concerns. 1) If he's telling the truth and not looking at social media himself or having anyone on his staff look, he is really in the dark ages, and do we want a dinosaur like this for our sheriff? 2) If he actually is monitoring social media and knows exactly what's being said about...
Unfortunately, the cost to provide emergency shelter and protection in a different facility while preparing a permanent home for the fire department is guaranteed to cost the town of Brattleboro more than any previous estimate. Scrambling is extraordinarily expensive in time, energy, and resources. The Brattleboro Fire Department is willing to place premium price tags on every life firefighters rescue 24/7. In the last five years, downtown Brattleboro has been literally saved more than once by the courageous men in...
The town of Brattleboro needs to understand the value of actually having an ongoing maintenance and repair budget and long-term improvement/enhancement plan to address its aging infrastructure, instead of waiting for a problem to occur. There are fire stations in New England that are much, much older than Brattleboro's, and they continue to operate efficiently. The key is preventative maintenance planning. Putting off repairs and maintenance is not the answer. However, if a new facility is going to be built,
The Brattleboro Selectboard's vote to endorse a plan to relocate the police station from the Municipal Center to Black Mountain Road with the purchase of the Reformer Building is a bad idea, for a number of reasons. First, one Selectboard member was quoted in the Reformer, stating that it, ultimately, would be cheaper to move than stay. Initially, maybe, but this point of view totally ignores the enormous fit-up costs that would be necessary to again rent the vacated Municipal...
Windham County Sheriff Keith Clark has had an issue with truth and transparency in a lot of his public jobs. The Liberty Mill Justice Center is him at work again. It's all about him and his desires. What about the people? His lack of local concern tells a bigger story. Be wary of Sheriff Clark and the way he does business. The LMJC project is a great idea - if placed properly outside of this beautiful village that we call...
This is an amazing time to be a citizen journalist. Your coverage of how people have come together via social media about the Liberty Mill Justice Center is right on. The mainstream media coverage of the LMJC project is also critical and helps us validate the development of this issue. Thank you for your in-depth report of something very positive that has come out of this unpopular proposal.
To read that Sheriff Keith Clark apparently feels he has received a “raw deal” regarding the disastrous launch of his planned detention center in Rockingham beggars the imagination. To complain that citizens are leery of a project for which he has provided no budget, no concrete plans, and no avenue for meaningful input is ludicrous. It wasn't the idea of Rockingham residents to jam a 120-bed detention facility into a residential neighborhood in Bellows Falls - no, that idea resides...
In the “year without a summer,” 14 parishioners left their church in West Brattleboro for a small schoolhouse on what today is the Town Common. Under a sky filled with volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Tambora the previous year and amid freezing temperatures from the event's climate disruption, the 12 women and two men would call their church the “Brattleborough East Society” in 1816. Two decades later, the growing Calvinist congregation moved their church piece by piece to...
On the morning of Jan. 12, police responded to an emergency call on South Main Street. When they arrived, they found the body of William “Bill” Joseph Guay. Brattleboro Police determined that Guay, 56, died of natural causes. According to his death certificate, he died from “bronchopneumonia (presumed),” due to years of smoking. His friends and fellow volunteers at Loaves and Fishes at Centre Congregational Church, where Guay served as chief dishwasher, volunteer recruiter, resident theological thinker, and quiet comedian,
There are two clear conclusions from a new state assessment of four major southeastern Vermont watersheds. First, the basin that includes the West, Williams, Saxtons, and lower Connecticut rivers is rich with recreational opportunity and biological diversity-including two federally endangered mussel species. But the region also has many problems, including waterway impairments related to bacteria, sedimentation, nutrient pollution, and temperature. The last problem is particularly acute, as the report notes “some of the highest number of miles of temperature impacts...
The Keene Jazz Orchestra (KJO) and Bellows Falls Union High School (BFUHS) Jazz Ensemble will be presenting a concert on Friday, Feb. 5, at 7 p.m., at the BFUHS auditorium. The music for the evening will be traditional Big Band swing, as well as contemporary big band jazz music. All proceeds go to the BFUHS Instrumental Music Scholarship Fund. The BFUHS Jazz Ensemble will open the concert under the direction of BFUHS Director of Bands Nicholas Pelton, who is also...
This is the point of the basketball season where teams find out whether they have what it takes to make a playoff run. Leland & Gray girls' basketball coach Terry Merrow thinks his young team is starting to figure out what needs to be done to make it out of the first round. The Rebels' 7-6 record puts them squarely in the middle of the pack in Division III, but they are undefeated in the Marble Valley League's C Division...
Stone Church Arts presents Boston-based multi-instrumentalist Ian Ethan Case, best known for his innovative approach to the 18-string acoustic double-neck guitar, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 29, in the Chapel at Immanuel Episcopal Church, 20 Church St. Case has been performing around the country for the past eight years and is increasingly gaining recognition both for his unique instrumental compositions and for the highly original playing methods which are required to perform them. One of only about five musicians...
February's Gallery Walk will include an a cappella concert to benefit In-Sight Photography. Taking the stage on Friday, Feb. 5, at 8 p.m., six regional high school groups will give a concert at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center in anticipation of Saturday's collegiate event at the Latchis. The High School A Cappella Concert has received rave reviews in the past, and all proceeds support the In-Sight Photography Project. The line-up for Friday evening includes two high school ensembles -
Route 142, the two-lane highway that traverses Vernon from north to south, is, by most standards, not a busy road - especially since there are far fewer employees traveling to the shutdown Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. But some say building an information superhighway along this route could be the key to this town's future. For nearly a year, a group of residents has been investigating the possibility of creating a town-owned fiber optic network that could bring lightning-fast Internet speeds...
Psychologist and actor Ron Goldman has long been troubled about complex conflicts generated in him by the loss of his mother's family in the Holocaust. He has often asked himself how much did he really want to know and, once he did know, how could he face up to those painful events. After much soul searching, he discovered an interesting way to confront his family history: turn it into a play. On Saturday, Jan. 30, at 8 p.m., the Hooker-Dunham...
For 50 years, Rescue Inc. has lived up to its name as a provider of emergency services in southeastern Vermont. These days, though, Rescue itself is in urgent need of some relief. Windham County legislators gathered on Jan. 18 at the ambulance service's Brattleboro headquarters to get the latest on what Operations Chief Drew Hazelton is calling a “financial crisis.” There are increasing demands for complex medical services, and the state's Medicaid reimbursement rates - which haven't changed since 2008...
The Brattleboro Rotary Club bestowed the fourth annual “Norm Kuebler Four-Way Test Award” upon The Works Bakery Cafe at the club's weekly meeting on Jan. 14. The award honors the late Norm Kuebler, who was a past president of the club, a local businessman, and a longtime community volunteer. Kuebler was a strong proponent of Rotary International's code of ethics, called the “Four-Way Test,” which asks, “Of the things we think, say, or do: Is it the truth? Is it...
The Asian Cultural Center of Vermont (ACCVT) presents Lunar New Year of China, Korea, and Vietnam on Sunday, Feb. 7, from 1 to 3 p.m., at 118 Elliot Street in downtown Brattleboro (across from the fire station). This potluck is the 14th annual celebration of its kind in southeastern Vermont. Participants can dance with the dragon, do group calligraphy, join in a Korean tug-of-war, make a paper lantern, fold origami, and sing a New Year's song from East Asia. Visitors...
In the westernmost display window at Experienced Goods, there lies a pile of clothing so high that if you climbed on top of it, your head would bust through a ceiling tile. This textile mountain in the window is not what one typically sees in the thrift shop's front windows. It is not decorative. It does not celebrate any holiday. It is illustrative, though. This textile mountain represents just a fraction of the unusable items Experienced Goods receives every month:
Poet Wendell Berry once said, “If you don't know where you are, you don't know who you are.” This simple yet provocative idea has been at the center of the Hilltop Montessori Middle School's seven-week-long Sense of Place study that has taken its students far beyond the classroom to explore, up close and personal, the true meaning of “community.” Hilltop's middle school students have immersed themselves in a comprehensive study of both the ordinary and the extraordinary people, places, and...
The Halifax Community Club and the Whitingham Free Public Library are sponsoring “Wild Spirit Walking” at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 7, at the Halifax Community Hall. In 2015, Halifax residents Meggie Stoltzman and Patrick Wilkins took a sabbatical from their organic farm, Hermit Thrush Homestead (www.hermitthrushhomestead.com), to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. The 2,650-mile Trail runs along the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges from Mexico to Canada. Stoltzman's and Wilkins' through-hike began in mid-April and continued until late-August,
Recently, I walked into Experienced Goods - the best thrift shop around - and in place of what are normally extremely extravagant and colorfully creative window displays depicting the seasons or holidays, there was a mountain of clothing! There was also a note. I read the note, understood the predicament, and asked whose idea it was to pile the clothing in the window, because it was awesome! I was told that Ellen Graham, the assistant manager of the store, was...