The Brattleboro Selectboard recently voted 3–2 to hold this year's Annual Representative Town Meeting (RTM) completely in person, with no remote option. And with that, a large blow in a line of blows was dealt to the accessibility and diversification of our town's government, bolstering an increasingly regressive status quo.
Town meetings in Vermont are sacrosanct and celebrated instruments of government for the people, by the people. They are “democracy in action,” opportunities for the average citizen to speak up about issues that directly impact their daily lives and those of their neighbors.
Compared to growing disenfranchisement in other states, the government in Vermont is proudly said to be accessible, transparent, and truly representative. When I ran for a three-year term as a representative to RTM last year, I felt a sense of giddy patriotism as I went to vote for myself in our town's one and only polling place.
But the vote to hold RTM in person with no masking or vaccine requirements prohibits participation among those who are immunocompromised or otherwise unable to risk a case of COVID-19. The vote took place after several RTM members stated that they wanted to participate but would be unable to do so if it were fully in person.
Richard “Ricky” Adams, the director of technology for Windham Northeast Supervisory Union (WNESU), recently joined 11 other community members in serving on Youth Services' board of directors. With 20 programs - including restorative justice, after-school mentoring, transitional living, workforce development, counseling and case management - Youth Services, a nonprofit...
With two-thirds of Vermont towns requiring property value reappraisals, the House Ways and Means Committee is considering a moratorium on them and transitioning to a state-run reappraisal system. “This was not on my agenda coming into the session as, like, the project to take on,” Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, D-Brattleboro,
The Vermont high school girls' basketball playoffs began this week. Contending teams always want to go into this stage of the season with momentum. However, for the Leland & Gray Rebels, they entered the Division IV playoffs coming off a pair of losses to end the regular season. On the road against White River Valley on Feb. 15, the Rebels were held scoreless in the first quarter and trailed 26-5 at halftime on the way to a 48-12 loss. That...
Judi Forman is the current artist participating in Canal Street Art Gallery's Working Artist Program. This program provides an artist studio and exhibition space within the Gallery. The studio is open during the Gallery's regular hours, Tuesday to Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on 3rd Friday Gallery Nights from 5 to 7 p.m. According to a gallery news release, the goal of the program “is to provide an affordable space to complete a project, explore a new...
Food pantry moves to BBCC GUILFORD - The Guilford Cares Food Pantry has moved to the Broad Brook Community Center (BBCC) at 3940 Guilford Center Rd. The pantry will be open, as usual, every Thursday, 3–4 p.m., at the BBCC, beginning Feb. 23. There are no restrictions or requirements for coming to the Guilford Cares Food Pantry. Anyone in need of supplemental food assistance is welcome. The pantry is well stocked with staples, meat, fresh produce, eggs, bread, and butter.
College news • Noah Distefano of West Townshend and Veronica Stevens of Newfane were members of the class of December 2022 at Castleton University. They will be recognized during Castleton's 236th Commencement in May. • Tyler Millerick, a general business major from Vernon, was named to the President's List for the fall 2022 semester at Western New England University in Springfield, Massachusetts. • Cassidy Gallivan of West Dover and Avery White of Townshend were both named to Ithaca (N.Y.) College's...
The downtown arts venue Epsilon Spires will host an evening of Italian wine and film on Sunday, Feb. 26, featuring a tasting of four selected wines sommelier Rob Forman describes as “non-conforming” and a screening of Bernardo Bertolucci's early film The Conformist. “The Conformist is the one Bertolucci film you shouldn't miss,” writes film critic Aja Romano on Vox, even though the renowned Italian director is more widely known for classics such as Last Tango in Paris. She elaborates that...
The Brattleboro Music Center's Season Guest series welcomes Zara Bode's Little Big Band on Friday, Feb. 24. Bode's group performs classic American swing. Inspired by the likes of Duke Ellington, Django Reinhardt, and Ella Fitzgerald, the Little Big Band features chanteuse Zara Bode (of Signature Sounds artists The Sweetback Sisters) and a horn section led by clarinetist and arranger Anna Patton. The Little Big Band plays classics with new takes on the old radio hits. The performance is set for...
Falls Area Community Television (FACT-TV), in cooperation with the city of Keene, New Hampshire, is re-opening Keene's local access station to operate a cable TV platform for residents and community organizations to communicate their ideas, thoughts, and opinions. The studio is located on 60 Winter Street, beside the Keene Public Library. According to a news release, FACT “will provide training and support to every individual looking for a platform as a service to the local public. We look forward to...
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present Karan Casey, who organizers name as one of Ireland's finest singer-songwriters on Thursday, March 2, at 7 p.m. Casey is touring the United States in March in support of her new album Nine Apples of Gold. Together with Sheila Falls (fiddle) and guitarist Matt Heaton (guitar), Casey will premiere new material from her new album, mixed with favorites from her previous 11 albums. Singing songs charged with a sense of social responsibility...
Antidote Books, 15 Putney Road, presents a launch of Shanta Lee's new book, Black Metamorphoses, on Friday, Feb. 24, from 6 to 7:15 p.m. (1)Black Metamorphoses, published by Etruscan Press (etruscanpress.org) is an illustrated poetry collection that has been described by the author as “piercing a 2000+ year-old veil connecting directly to Ovid's Metamorphoses through an interpretation, conversation and interrogation.” Through exploration of a range of myths, she explains, the book “rises above direct conversion of the work into the...
Canal Street Art Gallery presents “The Spring Salon,” an open-call exhibition hung in the floor-to-ceiling Salon style. According to the gallery, the Salon “is inclusive of all art and seeks to expand access to original art in our community. The opportunity to exhibit is open to the public. Artists of all career levels, experience, and with or without formal training, exhibit their artwork.” Artists may submit up to three artworks with maximum dimensions of 48 inches in any direction to...
The Windham County Humane Society recently announced the establishment of the OC Tober Fund by Marilyn George to help pet owners struggling financially to provide veterinary care to their beloved pets through the Humane Society's Pet Care Assistance and Guardian Angel programs. “Keeping pets physically healthy and with the people that love them means fewer animals being brought to the Humane Society because the owner can't afford to treat an illness,” Maya Richmond, WHCS executive director, said in a news...
On the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, siblings Kerry Secrest, Honorary Consul of Lithuania to Vermont, and Christian Stromberg, owner of Saxtons River Distillery, are holding a casual fundraiser on Friday, Feb. 24, from 5 to 7:30 p.m, at Saxtons Distillery, 155 Chickering Drive. The event is free. Patrons are asked to come in solidarity with Ukraine, buy a drink, and make a donation of any amount. “Russia is preparing for a brutal spring offensive. To help...
Main Street Arts presents “Model, Muse, Assistant, Artist,” a group exhibition curated by photographer Rachel Portesi, to celebrate the individual work of the artists who have also worked in her studio as assistants and models. The exhibition features a selection of work by artists (1)Hannah Colantuono, Amaia Echanis, Rachel Portesi, Rachel Racco, Isabel Rodriguez, and Willa Sheehan. The show opening and artist reception will be held on Saturday, March 4, from 3 to 5 p.m. in the MSA gallery at...
During the months of March and April, Brooks Memorial Library hosts “Bloom,” an exhibit of watercolor flowers by the local group Art Among Friends. A reception will be held at the library on Friday, March 3, at 4 p.m. Art Among Friends is a group of six local artists: Connie Evans, Alice Freeman, Kathy Greve, Laurie Klenkel, Louise Zak, and Lynn Zimmerman. These friends gathered online during the pandemic to create, support, and encourage one another on their artistic journeys.
Broad Brook Grange's annual Sugar on Snow Supper will be held Saturday, March 4, at the Broad Brook Community Center in Guilford. The meal features ham, and the following homemade items: baked beans, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, cole slaw, rolls, doughnuts, and Guilford maple sugar on Guilford snow. Pickles accompany the snow. The event returns after a two-year hiatus, during which the Community Center, with which the Grange is a partner, has undergone a full renovation. There will be three...
I offer my enthusiastic support for Elizabeth McLoughlin's bid for re-election to the Brattleboro Selectboard. I've lived and worked in the Brattleboro area for my entire adult life and I love our community. As a clinical psychologist, I am particularly concerned about the degree of trauma and emotional vulnerability underpinning most - if not all - of the social problems we face, including homelessness, substance abuse, domestic and community violence, climate change, and crime. These are all complex issues without...
I am a Putney resident who wants more affordable housing - literally, in my backyard. There's an alternative to billion-dollar corporations monopolizing Vermont affordable housing building another project in downtown Putney. Right now, the federal government (through Vermont Housing Improvement Program funds distributed by the Windham & Windsor Housing Trust) is offering property owners grants of $30,000 to $50,000 to build affordable housing. These funds can be used to create in-laws or garage apartments and additions to homes, as long...
I have been following the letters and public hearings and coverage regarding the proposed amendment to the Brattleboro Town Charter relating to evictions of housing tenants. What BSAG Realty has done to tenants at Westbrook Court is, I believe, an example of why some persons and entities choose to be absentee owners: so they do not have to even see the faces of the people whose lives they are completely upending. I am also convinced, however, that we have many...
The currently sitting Selectboard in Brattleboro has unfinished business ... and it cannot be accomplished by the currently sitting members. For there to be honest and real “transparency,” three members of the board must change. Richard “Dick” DeGray stands out first as someone who speaks his mind and - from personal experience, I can say - as someone who will think through an issue and debate it. Dick and I may not always agree, but we will hear each other.
I have limited understanding of the killing and posturing that have gone on endlessly between the Israelis and Palestinians. But I think I know this: that, when tit-for-tat has gone on too long, it's up to the side that holds the most cards to make serious moves to end the turmoil. And in this case the advantaged side clearly is Israel - militarily, economically, politically. Their serious effort is overdue.
The Putney Foodshelf thanks the Putney Craft Tour for its generous support over the years. For about a decade, craftspeople on the tour have donated to the Foodshelf. Members have developed a variety of ways to contribute. Some make a donation from their overall proceeds; other members create a special sale event designated for the Foodshelf. For example, Green Mountain Spinnery donates proceeds from sweaters (some made especially for the event) and culls knitted items that have been in the...
I take a humanist or human rights approach to what I believe is a genuine and appropriate framework for community planning and problem solving. In this light, assistance goes first to those who need the most help. As I was taught when I was a kid: Everyone gets firsts before anyone gets seconds. Nobody asks to be born. But we're here and we are all entitled to a long, healthy and fulfilling life. This is the nature of being human...
I've known Liz McLoughlin for over a decade, since we both volunteered for the Drop-in Center's Empty Bowls Dinner. She is a serious person when she is not trying to make some lame joke, and I am glad she has chosen to run again for the Brattleboro Selectboard. Liz cares about Brattleboro, especially the things that were not finished due to the lack of a town manager. Now that we have Town Manager John Potter, I know she is eager...
With more wins than any other late-model stock-car racer at Barre's Thunder Road Speedbowl, Gov. Phil Scott has plenty of experience with speed sports. But standing at the base of Brattleboro's Harris Hill over the weekend, he apologized for not taking a turn at Vermont's sole Olympic-size ski jump. “I fully intended to compete,” the 64-year-old Scott told a crowd of thousands upon Saturday's start of the annual Presidents Day weekend competition. “But unfortunately, I left my skis at home.”
As I stated in my recent newspaper profile for this Selectboard race, we have problems in Brattleboro that only working together can solve. Crime is certainly a major problem. I have been working to understand and address our crime problem in my four years on the Selectboard. I've seen these issues myself on my police ride-along. Chief Norma Hardy reported to the Selectboard the nature and level of crime in our town. This data showed us that the most serious...
I believe that there needs to be more of a balance in leadership in our beautiful town, and I will use my years of involvement in the community to do just that. I know how to help in times of need. During Covid, I launched my take-out/catering business Bloomin' Italian and helped keep the Vernon community fed, as I still do to this day. As the Events Committee chair of the Friends of Vernon Center, I know what it takes...
Michael Pieciak, who won his race for state treasurer by visiting every town in the state, is settling nicely into his new job. He has his staff settled in and ready to go. But he's already feeling pressure. Put it down to the environment. Vermont takes climate change very seriously, and there are many state-wide organizations fighting to make the state greener than green. These include the Vermont chapter of the Sierra Club, the Vermont Natural Resources Council, the Vermont...
I am 33 years old and I have lived in Vermont my entire life. I work with my in-laws and our family here on the Miller Farm, and my wife and I are partners in the “Miller Milk'' branded products you may have seen in stores. I have always felt as though Vernon is a part of my identity, and since returning, my roots have grown even deeper. My wife and I live in town, work in town, go to...
This year's Brattleboro Town Meeting ballot has a proposal to stuff some disjointed housing rental regulations into the Town Charter. We should vote it down and work for meaningful changes that will actually help people. I say that as one who was part of the group that launched this charter change effort but who moved away when the organizers insisted on listening more to what Burlington wanted than to what Brattleboro needs. There are many problems with the amendment as...
They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; they will long enjoy the work of their hands.” -Isaiah 65:21–22 (NRSV) In my Christian tradition, which has its roots firmly in Jewish tradition, there is perhaps no more foundational spiritual ethic than...
Town Meetings are a New England tradition that enables all voting-eligible residents of a town to learn about and discuss proposals for the coming year. I ask residents of Vermont to take this opportunity to participate in shaping policy on the local level. Budgetary implications and the resulting policy on a wide range of issues are determined at Town Meeting. With decreasing attendance at our Town Meetings, decisions are being made by a smaller and smaller portion of each town.
It seems like a bad dream: a group of off-duty state troopers invent rap verses using the most egregious of language - including “If being racist is right then I'll never be wrong” and multiple uses of “NAPA,” an acronym for “North American pavement ape” - while playing online games. Not an imagined nightmare, this series of events occurred among Vermont State Police troopers at the Westminster barracks. Documentation of this behavior, including names of troopers participating, was reported to...
Learn the tips and tricks about the art of imagery and storytelling from photojournalism experts at a panel discussion, “A Photo Is Worth a Thousand Words,” sponsored by Vermont Independent Media's Media Mentoring Project, which will take place on Wednesday, March 1 at 7 p.m., via Zoom. Hear what Kris Radder, photographer/videographer for the Brattleboro Reformer; Kelly Fletcher, documentary photographer; and Ziagul Azimi, journalist/executive for Afghan Women News Agency (AWNA) have to say. Together they will coach workshop participants in...
Nationally, tenants saw a 17.2% increase in their average rents in 2021 alone. In Brattleboro and beyond, out-of-state corporate landlords are kicking out existing tenants who pay their rent and follow the rules in order to jack up the rent for the tenants who follow. As I biked across Vermont as part of my U.S. Senate campaign this past summer, I heard this same story in Barre, in Burlington, and then back home again in Brattleboro. “To prevent evictions,” the...
After an extensive search and interview process, current Assistant Principal Dana Aquadro has been named the new principal of Leland & Gray Union Middle and High School. He will start in that role on July 1. A Vermont native who has lived here throughout his life but for one year post-college in Portland, Maine, Aquadro earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in education from Keene State College and his administrator's certificate from the Upper Valley Educators Institute. He says when...
The Commons and the Brattleboro Reformer will host a forum for candidates vying for seats on the Windham Southeast School Board. The forum will be held this year via Zoom and a call-in number on Monday, Feb. 27 at 6:30 p.m. The goal is to offer voters an opportunity to get to know the candidates before the four district towns - Guilford, Brattleboro, Putney, and Dummerston - go to the polls on Tuesday, March 7. Cindy Jerome, Dummerston town moderator,
An appeal of the decision by the Putney Development Review Board to approve the Windham & Windsor Housing Trust (WWHT) application to build a subdivision of 25 affordable housing units on Alice Holway Drive land has been denied by Vermont Superior Court's Environmental Division, spurring disappointment in opponents and giving the WWHT a green light to proceed after a 30-day waiting period. “We were pleased to have received word that the appeal of WWHT's zoning permit for the creation of...