“This will not be your mother's or your grandmother's Town Meeting.”
That's how Town Clerk Tim Arsenault described the upcoming 2021 Annual Town Meeting, which will resume Sunday, May 23, at 2 p.m., on the lawn outside Town Hall.
The date and time, unanimously approved by Selectboard members on a 4–0 vote, was the result of a recently passed state law that allows towns to postpone their annual meeting dates during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The election of officers was technically a part of Annual Town Meeting and took place on Town Meeting Day, March 2.
To vaccinate or not to vaccinate: That is not the question. The unasked question is this: How am I caring for my immune system? We all stew in this pandemic brew together - vaccinated folks in the research group, those without the vaccine in the control group. So when...
The Brattleboro Rotary Club's Gateway Foundation will offer college scholarships again this year to graduating students at Brattleboro Union, Leland & Gray, and Hinsdale, N.H., high schools. The amount of assistance will be $2,000 to $3,000 per student. A combination of financial need, academic achievement, and community service will...
The war in Afghanistan is 20 years old now. Troops enlisting today were born after this conflict began. These young people who sign up to defend our country deserve to have a government that does not waste their lives unnecessarily. Step one is for President Biden to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan. What began as a mission to root out al Qaeda in Afghanistan has morphed into a protracted quagmire with no clear goals or objectives, no end in...
When we plant a seed, we create a direct link between our ancestral past and our potential future. The seed we plant has traveled around the world, from farmer to farmer, from Native populations to traders and conquerors to royalty and eventually back to farmers. The carrot seed that we plant originated in Afghanistan; tomatoes and peppers, in South America; potatoes, in the Peruvian Andes; eggplant, in central Asia; watermelon, in tropical Africa. Most of our brassicas originated in the...
During this past winter, children in 27 early learning programs across Windham County have been able to look forward to bookmobile day - the day when the Winston Prouty Center's Sueño LeBlond stops by with a new delivery of books and materials from the Early Learning Express Bookmobile. Early educators have been hit hard financially by the pandemic and have even less ability than usual to enhance their libraries or purchase additional materials for their programs. Research shows that children...
Americans who object to wearing a mask, claiming it's an infringement on their civil rights, are not patriots no matter how many flags they pin to their lapels. The Bill of Rights enumerates our protected freedoms, but nowhere does it grant a citizen the right to harm others. Wearing a mask helps prevent the wearer from infecting others. The same goes for vaccines. Unlike masks, the vaccine protects the vaccinated individual from severe illness. But if people assert their individual...
I have been following the efforts to get broadband internet to everyone in Vermont, as well as elsewhere in the U.S. I've been disappointed at the manner and extent to which poles-and-wires companies are criticizing satellite internet, in particular the SpaceX Starlink system, Elon Musk's satellite constellation.Two of the slams are that it's too risky and will take too long to be operational. In the meantime, I do not see any of the poles-and-wires companies beating down the doors to...
We're just a few days away from starting the spring high school sports season in Vermont, but we still have a few things to wrap up from the winter season. • There were no North-South basketball all-star games this season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Vermont Basketball Coaches' Association (VBCA) still put together their 2021 All-Star teams consisting of the top seniors in the state. Local players named to the Boys' Division I-II All-Stars included Greg Fitzgerald and...
Infrastructure in the 21st century is more than roads, bridges, and water and sewer lines. It's also about making investments in human capital - and no institution in the United States is better positioned than libraries to deliver services, from providing high-speed internet access to lending gardening tools. A group of Vermont's library directors made that case to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., during an online roundtable discussion on April 8. Sanders said the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan recently passed...
College news • Sylvie Littledale of Putney was recently initiated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation's oldest and most selective all-discipline collegiate honor society. Littledale was initiated at Brigham Young University. • The following local students at Northern Vermont University were honored for academic achievement in the fall 2020 semester. Named to the Dean's List were Noah Bemis of Athens, Samantha Martin of Brattleboro, Braxton Lynn of Dummerston, Abigale and Hanna Buedinger of Vernon, and Joseph...
Brooks Library now allows public access by appointment BRATTLEBORO - Starting this week, Brooks Memorial Library will offer limited public access, by appointment, to the building for browsing and computer use. One household may visit the young people's collections and one may visit the adult collection for 15 minutes, on the hour and half hour. Computers, the printer, photocopier, and fax machine will be available for use during these brief periods. The library will be open Tuesdays, 1 to 4...
The basic purpose of support groups is to provide mutual aid and emotional support for people who share the same predicament. The value of support groups has, for some time, been shown to benefit the established group as a whole. At first, it is often difficult to talk in front of strangers. However, quickly, we find we are all dealing with the same - yet, conversely, different - issues. There is, however, much support in sharing experiences. Facilitators, based upon...
On Monday, April 19, the downtown arts organization Epsilon Spires will begin screening the film The Substance: Albert Hofmann's LSD as part of its Virtual Cinema series. April 19 is known amongst psychedelic enthusiasts as “Bicycle Day,” in honor of the first time that Albert Hofmann, then a young chemist at a Swiss pharmaceutical company, ingested a dose of a new compound he had discovered while studying ergot, a fungus that occurs on rye: Lysergic acid diethylamide, also known as...
National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day is Saturday, April 24, and West River Valley Thrives invites community members to take part in this national campaign to curb the opioid epidemic and end prescription drug abuse. Take-Back Day is sponsored by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and was created to address the crucial public safety and public health issue of prescription drug misuse. According to the DEA, more than 9.9 million Americans misused controlled prescription drugs in 2018, the majority of...
Theatre Adventure students with disabilities are soaring with self-confidence through a collaborative creative process that honors the artistry and voice of each individual actor. Performing artists with the nonprofit have embarked on a journey of their own for the creation of their show, Daydreaming. “Peter Pan flies into the open windows of the nursery. Those open windows invite a quite fantastical journey of other worlds of adversity, discovery, triumph, and claiming one's belonging,” organizers said in a news release. “Windows...
Everyone's Books will host a virtual book talk on Friday, April 16 at 6 p.m., featuring Leah McGrath Goodman's biography, Arianna Huffington: Media Visionary and Wellness Evangelist, released this month from Hachette. The biography describes the life and career of Arianna Huffington, chronicling her seven-decade journey from Athens to London, New York, Washington, and California. Goodman, of Brattleboro, will be joined by The Commons' award-winning reporter Olga Peters for the event, described in a news release as “an evening of...
The town is set to receive $3.3 million in federal COVID aid, according to U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt. Welch made the announcement at the Selectboard's April 6 meeting. At the same meeting, community members also outlined proposed projects recently submitted to Welch's office as requests made under Community Project Funding, also known as the earmark process. The funding is part of the $1.9 trillion federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), enacted last month. ARPA also includes substantial funding for...
As he gave his town manager's report at the April 6 Selectboard meeting, Peter Elwell made his customary spring announcement about the dates for curbside yard waste pickup. Then, he said that - in the spirit of changes and new seasons - he would share his own change of season: After six years as town manager, he will retire, effective Dec. 31. He views the rest of the year as a track athlete breaking the tape at the finish line.
The Vermont Agency of Transportation (AOT) announced last week that Amtrak passenger rail service in Vermont will resume, effective July 19. “We are very pleased to announce the restart of these vital transportation services for Vermonters and those who wish to travel to and from Vermont by train or bus,” said Transportation Secretary Joe Flynn in a news release. Amtrak service in Vermont was suspended on March 26, 2020, due to the COVID-19 State of Emergency order issued by Gov.
Canal Street Art Gallery, 23 Canal St., presents the exhibit “Martha Nichols: Mountain Sea and Sky” through May 8. It is the second exhibition for Nichols, of Andover, Vt., and it is the artist's inaugural solo show with the gallery. “Color, light and, more recently, sound are my primary interests,” Nichols wrote in her artist statement. “We are surrounded by ever-changing light, color, and sound as we go about our days in the landscape. I explore the vast variety of...
It's as if spring has never come before. How the call of the Canada goose high above my head, several weeks ago, flooded my eyes with tears. It's not as though the sound hasn't always filled me with celebratory welcome, like the sight and song of the first robin of spring, the first glistening pink earthworm in its determined transit over the muddy road. But, well, it's all more-so this time. Maybe it's because it's been so long since a...