The first time I met Aileen Chute, she was exploring the town by bicycle with her daughters and husband. Since then, Putney residents have noticed that her engagement with the town, especially its governance, is way beyond respectable.
Aileen (a fairly recent transplant from New Hampshire) is serving as a lister, as a member of the Planning Commission, and recently as chair of the Energy Commission. She also works in the Brattleboro Assessor's office, which gives her deeper understanding of how municipal government works around here.
Aileen and her family members show a deep, long-term concern for the vital organs of Putney, including our public school.
When I asked her about her vision for the town of Putney, she said it is to build a sustainable, equitable community, strong enough to withstand the adverse forces coming our way.
When Peter “Fish” Case and his wife Vickie said goodbye to their beloved Staffordshire terrier Dutch a few months ago, their hearts broke and they vowed not to get another dog. Then, on Tuesday, Feb. 23, smiling Finnegan loped into their lives and their hearts melted. Again. “My wife...
Running for a local public office is simple. Especially in our current pandemic. Doing the job is hard. Or it should be, if you are doing it right. Anyone can run if they live in the community where they wish to be elected. What they need to possess is...
Youth Services recently announced that Mack Mackin has joined the Youth Development team as the new youth and young adult intake and groups coordinator. Mackin will be working out of both of Youth Services' offices, in Brattleboro and Bellows Falls, where they will spend their time conducting intake screenings, providing brief and stabilization services for youth and families, and coordinating groups - including professional development and support groups for Youth Services' host home program. Mackin's position links youth and their...
The Sarasa Chamber Music Ensemble presents one of Mozart's most incredible works of chamber music in two concert performances on Friday, March 12 at the Brattleboro Music Center. The concerts, “Beauty through Adversity: Mozart's Divertimento in E-flat major, KV 563 for string trio,” feature Katherine Winterstein on violin, Jenny Stirling on viola, and Jennifer Morsches on the cello. “As we all face individual difficulties during these extraordinary times, Mozart's music can help lift spirits and remind audiences of the healing...
School for International Training (SIT) will host the spring 2021 Critical Conversations Webinar Series, which the college says “aims to inspire community-wide dialogue on global, interdisciplinary topics within SIT's Critical Global Issues Framework.” The semester-long series will feature more than 40 free webinars on the theme of “Alternative Modernities.” SIT President Dr. Sophia Howlett will be among the group of speakers who represent a diverse pool of researchers, scholars, practitioners, and community leaders affiliated with SIT and partner institutions worldwide.
Brattleboro prides itself on its democracy, and rightly so. And in many years, service on the Selectboard might have been an apolitical exercise in good government and civic participation. But the new board that will be elected on Tuesday, March 2 will face real policy choices, and depending on who we elect, it will chart a very different path. I feel uncomfortable writing this way on this subject. I know what I'm supposed to say: that all candidates are thoughtful...
College news • The following students at the Community College of Vermont (CCV) were recognized for academic achievement in the fall 2020 semester: On the President's List, which recognizes full-time students with a 4.0 grade point average, are Amanda Conley, Finnlay Fisher, Charles Galanes, and Addison Worsman of Brattleboro; Evan Bernard of Townshend; Miles Anton of West Dover; and Zachary Condon of Whitingham. On the Dean's List, which recognizes full-time students with a grade point average between 3.5 and 3.99,
Town deals with trash bag mix-up BRATTLEBORO - The manufacturer of the town's pay-as-you-throw garbage bags recently sent local retailers purple bags intended for Portland, Maine. That has caused some understandable confusion for customers and for Triple-T, the town's solid-waste hauler. According to Town Manager Peter Elwell, compounding this confusion is the fact that the Portland bags (30.6 gallons) are slightly smaller than the Brattleboro bags (33.5 gallons). Customers who have ended up with Portland bags instead of Brattleboro bags...
Maple Open House Weekend is cancelled again this year, due to COVID-19, but sugar makers throughout Vermont will continue to make what the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers' Association (VMSMA) calls “the best maple syrup and specialty products in the United States.” Vermont also makes the most syrup, continuing to lead the nation by a commanding margin as the top maple-producing state. Total U.S. maple syrup production in 2020 was 4.37 million gallons, with state maple producers' contributions accounting for 2.22...
Broad Brook Grange is launching a fundraiser to help its host facility, Broad Brook Community Center, which is raising funds for the upcoming Phase 2 of its renovation of the historic grange hall. One of the most costly items in the project is an Ansul kitchen exhaust system, which will cost more than $60,000. The system planned for the historic building will trap grease, vent odors to outdoors, and provide a fire suppression system that meets Vermont code for a...
Regarding the Windham Southeast School District withdrawal articles on the town ballots, I would like to wait a few more years to see how this works out before we disrupt everything again and start over. The COVID-19 pandemic makes it hard to compare anything, and so far the current board has been open, inclusive, effective, and progressive. As membership changes over time, the liabilities of a large board not closely tied to the local communities might be more clearly revealed.
In the spring of 2015, the Vermont Legislature passed Act 46, a school consolidation law, “designed to encourage and support local decisions and actions.” This quote is from an Agency of Education (AOE) fact sheet. That same fact sheet lists five goals of the law for these decisions: to provide equity; to achieve or exceed the state's Education Quality Standards; to maximize operational efficiencies; to promote transparency and accountability; and that they are “delivered at a cost that parents, voters,
The Windham Southeast School District Communication Council is distributing a one-page informational sheet on the two articles on the individual town ballots on withdrawing from the School District. The School Board approved this info sheet for distribution on Feb. 16. It can also be found on the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union Website, linked from the homepage at the top: wsesu.org and directly at bit.ly/601-wsesd-info. Voting has begun on each of these articles in the four towns: Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, and...
On the March 2 ballot, Brattleboro voters will decide whether the Town Charter should be amended to allow a greater degree of self-governance to be exercised by the people of Brattleboro. Specifically, if approved by Brattleboro voters and then by the state Legislature, this article would allow future charter changes to be made by Brattleboro voters (and affirmed by the Brattleboro Selectboard) without having to obtain the Legislature's approval, as long as the provisions being adopted already exist in at...
Town Meeting Day is always important to Vermonters and gives us the chance to elect leaders and decide on issues where it hits us the most, at the local level. As with everything else, the COVID-19 pandemic forced changes to how we vote on Tuesday, March 2. Many towns in Vermont are postponing the traditional Town Hall meeting. In Brattleboro, there is no early voting at the Municipal Building, but that shouldn't stop you from voting. As a justice of...
I'm writing in support of Jessica Gelter for Brattleboro Selectboard. As a member of the Selectboard for six years, I know firsthand what it's like to be on the board. From the seemingly small matter of taking care of our sidewalks to the larger discussion of what community safety means to us, the work of the board goes to the heart of what makes our town an affordable and welcoming place to live. It's important that we have individuals on...
I encourage Putney voters to cast their ballots for Aileen Chute for Selectboard. I volunteered with Aileen at the Putney Central School's After School Forest Program (which she now directs), and saw firsthand her dedication to our community's kids and families. She is thoughtful, patient, and solutions-based. But she brings so much more: how lucky the Selectboard would be to have someone with her experience as an IT professional! Aileen truly “walks the walk”; she has spent hours serving our...
With Town Meeting Day, Tuesday, March 2, rapidly approaching, the voters of Athens will be asked to elect town officials. I will support Matt Perry as road commissioner and Janet Perry for Selectboard. Matt has been a road employee in Athens for the past 23 years. He was elected road commissioner in March 2019, when the road commissioner at that time retired. Since Matt's promotion to road foreman and becoming road commissioner, you may have noticed great improvements in the...
New Amsterdam Records recording artist and frequent Yellow Barn contributor Travis Laplante performs his composition “Dissolving Mirror” in SOLOs Episode 5. Filmed on the Hooker-Dunham stage, Laplante's performance premieres simultaneously on BCTV and YouTube at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 26. Rolling Stone describes Laplante's tenor saxophone artistry as “head-spinning flights of circular breathing” combined with “sparse, prayerful lyricism” and cites his album Human among its selection of the “currents that shaped the [jazz] genre [in 2019] and the must-hear...
Last week's installment of the battle for Southern Vermont League nordic skiing supremacy between Brattleboro and Mount Anthony was a skate event on Feb. 17 at Prospect Mountain in Woodford. The Brattleboro boys had four of the top seven finishers and edged MAU by eight points to win their meet, while Rutland was third. Brattleboro's Nolan Holmes won the 5K boys' race in 14 minutes, 21 seconds, beating out MAU's Peter McKanna by three seconds for the top spot. Tenzin...
In October 2020, Act 164 became law. This legislation outlines how Vermont will establish retail cannabis sales. The implementation of the legislation is still very much a work in progress. The act empowers communities to create a local cannabis control commission and for such commission to condition issuance of a local license on any zoning bylaw adopted. The purpose of this memo is to provide information on what zoning controls are authorized under the legislation. Many details have been left...
Town Meeting is coming up, and Putney residents will have a chance to join the groundswell of support for a single-payer national health plan. Article 12 on the warrant calls on Sen. Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders and Rep. Peter Welch to work vigorously to enact emergency legislation to ensure everyone gets the care they need during the pandemic, as well as to enact federal legislation that provides universal, comprehensive health care coverage, with no deductibles, copays, or other out-of-pocket...
I endorse Janet Perry for Selectboard in Athens. I have held elected office in Athens for over 20 years as lister; I am the assistant town clerk and previously have served on the school board. I have also spent many years as a volunteer for various endeavors in our town. During this time, I have gotten to known Janet as she became more and more involved in our town, starting with serving on the Town Planning Commission. She joined the...
I am running for the open seat on the Putney Selectboard. I'm a semi-retired attorney and have lived on West Hill Road since 2015. I have practiced for the past 44 years in New York City, specializing in administrative law and civil litigation. In Putney, I have served on the board of trustees of Yellow Barn; in Windham County, I am currently on the Groundworks Collaborative board. My wife, Ann Macdonald, has also been active in the life of our...
Ice fishing has happened for thousands of years in this area, explained Rich Holschuh. Using a sharp instrument, an Abenaki angler would hack a hole in the ice, he said. “And then the practice was to build a little tiny hut over [the hole] like a little tent, a little tiny wigwam, and that also had the effect of cutting down on the glare so that you could see down into the water,” he explained. “You would physically lay down...
I am a teacher at Dummerston School and I have worked in the WSESD school district for 11 years. My partner also works for the district, at Academy School, and we have two children at Dummerston School. I am wholeheartedly committed to this district. When I learned about the articles on the current town ballots about un-merging from the recently formed merged school district, I was immediately concerned. As I began to research the implications of outlying towns leaving the...
On March 2, voters will be among a handful of Vermont towns considering whether to opt in to the state's retail cannabis market. Under state statute, towns must vote to decide whether to allow recreational cannabis retail businesses to open within their borders. The yes/no question on the Australian ballot for voters is “Shall the Town permit the operation of licensed cannabis retailers subject to such municipal ordinance and regulation as the Selectboard may lawfully adopt and implement?” The ballot...
While opting out of selling retail cannabis for now would give our town time to plan, opting in will most likely be a permanent - and irreversible - decision. On March 2, residents of Brattleboro will vote on whether the town should allow cannabis dispensaries once retail sales become legal in Vermont in 2022. That's not a long way off, but our community still has some time left to have a much-needed conversation about what retail sales of cannabis in...
I am writing in support of Jess Gelter as a member of the Brattleboro Selectboard. I have great respect for Jess. I have taught, coached, and worked with her through New England Youth Theatre for over 15 years. Jess is honest, straightforward, enthusiastic, courageous, eager, possessed of a stellar imagination and intellect, and a very effective team player. She is a good listener, problem solver, and person of action. She is most capable of tackling the toughest issues our town...
I'm writing to clarify some issues in the school board article in the latest Views of Dummerston. The vote at Town Meeting will not be to dissolve the new unified school district, as written in the headline, and referred to in the story. Article 14 on the upcoming Town Meeting agenda is a vote on whether to authorize the town to withdraw from the new unified school district. Article 15 then asks if town voters would conditionally approve of the...
The Marlboro School Board has sent a letter to Marlboro voters explaining several reductions to tax rates stemming from actions beyond our control which happened after we published the Town Report. Because Marlboro has always voted on the school budget via floor vote at Town Meeting and this year the vote will be by Australian Ballot with no possibility to discuss and debate in public, we feel that voters need and deserve this updated info in order to make informed...
Director Becky Graber welcomes the song direction of Canadian Coco Love Alcorn for the Brattleboro Women's Chorus February Anniversary virtual sing. The concert is part of the chorus's celebration of its 25 years of singing with online musical events on the 25th day of the month through the end of its current season in May. All singers (not just women!) are welcome to join most of these events, hosted on Zoom. Their next such online singing event takes place on...
I met Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth in 2004 at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, where he was a featured speaker in an interactive field study, “Alabama's role in the Modern Civil Rights Movement.” The Alabama Humanities Foundation invited K-12 educators from across the country to participate in this intensive institute, which featured lectures by scholars, interactions with leaders and foot soldiers of the civil rights movement, travel to key sites dedicated to the preservation of civil rights history in Birmingham,
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) presents “Unboxed: A Cultural History of Sneakers,” an online talk by Elizabeth Semmelhack, on Thursday, Feb. 25, at 7 p.m. This free event is presented in connection with the installation “Andy Yoder: Overboard.” Semmelhack will interlace the history of sneakers with stories of technological innovation, complex cultural politics, and shifting ideas of gender, tracing how these influences transformed sneakers into cultural icons. The creative director and senior curator of the Bata Shoe Museum...
Ten years ago on March 11, the world watched in horror as a massive tsunami created by an earthquake thundered over the coast of Japan. We watched as entire neighborhoods were swept out to sea. Then the news broke that four nuclear reactors were in its path. As The Guardian described it: The 40-foot wave triggered by the 9.0-magnitude earthquake just under an hour earlier had topped the 19-foot protective sea wall, flooding the site's six reactors and disabling all...