My son and I have used the Rockingham Health Center for primary care since I moved to Bellows Falls 13 years ago. Because I can't drive, it's important to me to have access to doctors in my own community. A lot of us count on this health center.
I have also used the urgent care section. When I had a serious problem, they transported me to Springfield Hospital. There are also specialists who come to the center on certain days, and the only dentist in Bellows Falls who takes Medicaid is located in that center. I and others need all these providers for our care.
With Springfield Hospital and the Rockingham Health Center in bankruptcy proceedings, I'm worried about what will happen to our health care in Bellows Falls. It's important for our community that the center stay open and that all the facilities remain there. This is especially important for those of us on Medicaid, because all the doctors and dentists there take Medicaid. This is crucial for dental care in particular.
The pandemic is showing how seriously we need medical facilities close to home. The governor should do all he can to keep this health center and Springfield Hospital open - not just during the pandemic, but beyond.
When I was a boy of 5, in 1967, my family, white and poor, was living in a neighborhood of Linden, N.J. that was otherwise occupied by people of color. Linden was two towns away from Newark, N.J. where my parents had grown up and lived most of their...
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced nine Vermont arts and cultural organizations will receive $629,154 in highly competitive direct grants through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to mitigate the financial impact of the COVID-19...
I began teaching my first new class in person on July 13 - four months after the last class I taught in person before the college where I work went entirely online for the rest of the semester. The need to reopen schools and colleges is a real problem in a time when the COVID-19 pandemic shows signs of exploding in the United States rather than receding. It is a problem playing out across the nation. A recent article in...
Brooks Memorial Library reopens BRATTLEBORO - Brooks Memorial Library is now open for brief periods of browsing and limited in-person services. Only 30 people will be allowed in the building at any time. Admittance will be on the hour and half-hour, from noon to 4:30 p.m. for visits up to 20 minutes, after which the building will be cleared for cleaning. Face masks are mandatory while in the building, and hands need to be sanitized upon entering. Individuals must maintain...
Two regional school districts have voter approval for their budgets after votes on June 30. In a second round of casting ballots, voters of the five-town West River Modified Union Education District (WRMUED) approved the fiscal year 2021 budget. Voters approved the district's pre-K-6 budget, 341–211. Voters in the towns of Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, and Putney overwhelmingly approved the Windham Southeast School District budget, 1,531–242. The voters traditionally vote the budget from the floor, but due to COVID-19 safety precautions,
The Brattleboro Literary Festival will host a free virtual Literary Cocktail Hour. The event, on Friday, July 17, at 5 p.m., will feature three mystery writers: Archer Mayor, Paula Munier, and Julia Spencer-Fleming. Archer Mayor is the locally-loved author of the Vermont-based Joe Gunther series. The Orphan's Guilt, the 31st book in the series, is forthcoming in September. Paula Munier is the creator of the Vermont-based Mercy and Elvis mystery series featuring former Army MP Mercy Carr and her retired...
College news • The following local students were honored for academic excellence in the spring 2020 semester at Western New England University in Springfield, Mass.: Elizabeth Arel of Whitingham was named to the Dean's List and Tylynn Kuralt of Brattleboro and Tyler Clement of Vernon were named to the President's List. • The following local students were honored for academic excellence in the spring 2020 semester at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala.: Mary Ellis of Vernon was named...
The Vermont Jazz Center will celebrate its 45th season by offering an online version of its annual Summer Jazz Workshop from Aug. 9 to 14. In the spirit of moving forward, the VJC says it has developed a structure to share the love of jazz and the wisdom of the faculty as a temporary replacement for its traditional summer jazz workshop in Putney. This year's program features an expanded faculty, a new take on masterclasses, plus two new features -
Poor, disenfranchised Thomas Abbotts. Our neighbor from Newfane clearly needs a dictionary, a civics lesson, and a reality check. Mr. Abbotts complains that by outnumbering and out-yelling the MAGA brigade during their recent rally in downtown Brattleboro, the protesters were “terrorizing us into silence.” First, let's take a moment to address the difference between “silencing” and “disagreeing.” I'm struggling to understand how the protesters - of which I was one - were guilty of censoring anyone's speech. The MAGAs were...
The Local Support and Community Action Team of the Governor's Economic Mitigation and Recovery Task Force has launched a series of virtual COVID-19 Recovery Visits to be held in each county across the state over the next several months. A meeting for Windham County is scheduled for Thursday, July 23, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The Action Team was convened in mid-April as part of the Economic Mitigation and Recovery Task Force and charged by Gov. Phil Scott with identifying...
A picture says a thousand words, and it was a recent photo in The Commons that caught my attention. I saw a bountiful field full of green plants which, on closer inspection, proved to be lamb's quarters. Hidden deep in these weeds, as in my own garden, was a second crop, red lettuce. Eagerly, I looked at the caption and was delighted to discover that this was at one of the Harlow farms. Wow, their gardens look just like mine.
In a normal July during an election year, candidates would be marching in parades. They'd be shaking hands and talking face-to-face with voters at farmers' markets, fairs, and festivals. They'd be knocking on doors and doing “honk-and-waves” at busy intersections. This isn't a normal July. The COVID-19 outbreak has affected virtually every aspect of daily life in Vermont, and political campaigning is no exception. Instead, candidates say they confine their campaigning to telephone town halls and video conferencing. Direct connections...
The boards of directors of River Valley Credit Union (branches in Bellows Falls, Brattleboro, Putney, Springfield, and Townshend) and Members Advantage Community Credit Union (branches in Barre, South Burlington, Springfield, White River Junction, and Windsor) have proposed for their member-owners' approval merging River Valley Credit Union into continuing Members Advantage Community Credit Union. This proposed merger does not significantly benefit current and future River Valley Credit Union member-owners, instead giving away our local control. River Valley Credit Union has 18,540...
Owing to a variety of circumstances ranging from staff illness to post-midnight computer network gremlins from hell, we are unable to bring you the abundance of letters - including campaign letters and other election content - that we had planned for this issue. Early voting is underway for the Vermont state primary election, which takes place Tuesday, Aug. 11. We will make this campaign-related material available on commonsnews.org through the week and publish it in print in next week's paper.
The journey through Sandglass Theater's almost-40-year history continues with weekly releases of archival video from productions that are no longer being performed. August will present three collaborative works and conclude with a special presentation of the recently retired D-Generation: an Exaltation of Larks. A question-and-answer session will accompany each livestream and will include special guests such as Sandglass founders, ensemble members, and collaborators. Sandglass will host these presentations as one-time events throughout the summer months via sandglasstheater.org, as well as...
This is not who we are. We are better than this. I can't bear to hear those platitudes from people who are blind, lazy, or have no sense of American history. This is who we are, and who we have been, since Columbus stood on American soil. Since then, Native American peoples have been oppressed, and the oppression continues. Forced into soul-destroying reservations, the 17th-to-20th-century Indian Wars led to the Wounded Knee massacre, where thousands of Native Americans were slaughtered.
“'Black Lives Matter' is the baseline,” says Amber Arnold, cofounder of SUSU Healing Collective. “We more than matter. How do we make sure our people are not just surviving but thriving?” With that goal in mind, SUSU Healing Collective started a GoFundMe campaign at the end of May to raise money to buy community-supported agriculture (CSA) shares for local families of color. In just five days, the campaign surpassed its goal of $12,000, and 22 families were awarded shares of...
The proposed sale of the Marlboro College campus has received increased scrutiny from members of the community and racial justice advocates who are troubled by allegations of racism against the founder of the organization that seeks to buy the property. Members of a mostly anonymous grassroots collective, Black N Brown at DP, have raised allegations of abuse and racism at Democracy Prep Charter Schools, a network of schools founded by Seth Andrew, whose Democracy Builders Fund has a signed purchase-and-sale...