Issue #782
Westminster West Church hosts Zedashe Ensemble
WESTMINSTER WEST-The Zedashe Ensemble from the Republic of Georgia will give a concert of traditional Georgian music and dance on Sunday, Sept. 29, at 7 p.m. at the Westminster West Church.
Mountainous Caucasus Georgia, situated on historic crossroads on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, has "one of the world's most ancient and arresting three-part harmony-singing traditions," organizers say, with a "dark, sonorous vocal quality and startling, unexpected, and heart-stirring harmonies."...
UPDATED: Independent film series begins in Bellows Falls in October
Update: Plans have changed since The Commons published this story. The Bellows Falls Films Independent Filmmaker Showcase will begin in October. BELLOWS FALLS-A story of a dark comedy about bungling criminals will be the first indie film to screen as part of the Bellows Falls Films Independent Filmmaker Showcase...
Around the Towns
West River Education District hosts forums on proposed elementary school mergerThe West River Education District (WRED) will host three community forums during September about a forthcoming proposal in which all of the WRED students in kindergarten through grade 5 would be combined into a new, single elementary campus, to...
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ATP presents Dylan Thomas’s ‘Under Milk Wood’
WEST CHESTERFIELD, N.H.-Actors Theatre Playhouse (ATP) presents poet Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 20 and 21, and 27 and 28, at 7:30 p.m. with a special 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, Sept. 22. Under Milk Wood was first commissioned as a radio play by the BBC in 1953 and described by Thomas as "a play for voices." It tells the story of one spring day in a small fictional Welsh village populated by some of...
Rakish, Early Risers perform at Next Stage
PUTNEY-Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present a contemporary folk double bill with Rakish (Maura Shawn Scanlin and Conor Hearn) and The Early Risers (Ashley Storrow and Putnam Smith) on Friday, Sept. 20, at 7:30 p.m. Violinist Scanlin and guitarist Hearn unite to form Rakish. The pair gets their namesake from the traditional Irish tune "Rakish Paddy," an origin that aptly suits the duo and their shared background in traditional Irish and Scottish music. Yet the word "rakish" also...
Hospice hosts annual Amazing Hunt on Sept. 28
BRATTLEBORO-On Saturday, Sept. 28, from 12:30 to 4 p.m., Brattleboro Area Hospice will once again host the Hospice Amazing Hunt. The two-hour Hunt will kick off from Plated on Main Street at 1 p.m. Register online at brattleborohospice.org, then check in at 12:30 pm on the day of the Hunt. A black cat, a cornerstone dated 1867, a record by a local artist ... these are some of the possible search items in this Brattleboro Area Hospice fundraiser. Teams compete...
SEVCA offers tax assistance
WESTMINSTER-Vermont homeowners can receive a reduction in property taxes by filing a Homestead Declaration by the Oct. 15 deadline. Once filed, the tax rate is discounted based on the homeowner's income. Southeastern Vermont Community Action (SEVCA) offers free assistance with filling out the Homestead Declaration. Vermont homeowners are required to file a Homestead Declaration every year to receive the homestead property tax rate. Many individuals can lower their property tax bill by filing a Property Tax Credit Claim. The final...
Milestones
College news • Several local students at Community College of Vermont were recognized for academic excellence in the summer 2024 semester. Named to the President's List were James Tarvit of Bellows Falls, Gregory Crespo of Brattleboro, and Nadine Kissell of Vernon. Named to the Dean's List were Jonathan Kelley, Bethany Kriger, and Gabriel Sistare of Brattleboro, and Paul Youngson of Putney. Named to the Student Honors List were Jacob Harrelson and Karissa Pavlovic of Bellows Falls; Riley Barker, Chiasa Brooke,
BMC Chamber Series features Con Moto
BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Music Center Chamber Series welcomes Con Moto Friday, Sept. 20, at 7 p.m. The program will include Mozart's Adagio and Fugue in C minor, KV546; Haydn's Op. 33 No. 5 in G major; Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel's "Romanze"; and Dvořák's "American Quartet," Op. 96 in F major. The Con Moto ensemble, last heard in the BMC 2016 concert season, brings together four extraordinary musicians, all of whom have local musical connections. Joining cellist and Con Moto founding member Judith Serkin...
Brattleboro celebrates EsteyFest through music and history
BRATTLEBORO-The Estey Organ Museum and Brattleboro Historical Society are partnering to host "EsteyFest," a multi-day festival that includes the biennial gathering of the International Reed Organ Society. Between Sept. 26 and 30, more than 100 organists and organ enthusiasts from around the world will gather for workshops, lectures, field trips, and musical events. The festival will include public concerts on Sept. 28 and 29, special visiting hours at the Estey Organ Museum and Brattleboro Historical Society, and the opportunity to...
'Radical Resonance' celebrates equinox
BRATTLEBORO-SideStream Studio presents "Radical Resonance," a Butoh workshop and performance to celebrate the fall equinox, at their Cotton Mill Hill location in Brattleboro on Saturday, Sept 21, from 1 to 5 p.m., followed by a performance at 5:30 p.m. This workshop will be hosted by Julie Becton Gillum, artistic director of the 14-year-running Asheville Butoh Festival. Gillum has been creating, performing, and teaching for over 40 years. Participants will investigate the possibilities of their bodies and explore this very profound...
All Souls Church hosts Women of Vision on Sept. 21
WEST BRATTLEBORO-Four women, diverse in their origin and tradition, with years of experience in peace-pursuing, arts, and community activism, have embarked on a journey together in the midst of darkness and chaos. This quartet, Women of Vision, is coming to All Souls Church, Unitarian Universalist at the West Village Meeting House on Saturday, Sept. 21, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. This event is co-hosted by the Brattleboro Area Jewish Community and All Souls Church, who have a long-standing partnership and...
Putney Public Library exhibits paintings by Jonathan Flaccus
PUTNEY-"Paintings," an exhibition of paintings and drawings by Jonathan Flaccus, is currently on exhibit at the Putney Public Library through Nov. 30. There will be an opening reception on Saturday, Oct. 5, at 1 p.m. "My husband, Jonathan Flaccus (1940–2019), was a prolific artist and photographer; although he is probably better known as the owner of The Unique Antique on Main Street in Putney," Marcy Hermansader writes in a news release. "He rarely exhibited his work and had no interest...
South Derry Master Planning Task Force meets on Sept. 23
LONDONDERRY-The South Derry Master Planning Task Force is an effort by local citizens and engineering consultants to reimagine the village. Stevens & Associates of Brattleboro has developed possible plans for the area based on public comment and will present maps and information on Monday, Sept. 23 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Neighborhood Connections, 5700 Route 100 or via Zoom. The meeting will be livestreamed on the GNAT-TV YouTube channel. This meeting is a follow-up to an informational meeting in...
Matters of fact
Jeff Potter has edited The Commons since 2008 and has been working in and around newspapers and other publications for more than 40 years. He's still learning. BRATTLEBORO-When we published Mindy Haskins Rogers' piece "No more secrecy" in the Aug. 11, 2021 issue, we knew this Voices piece, a combination of memoir and dogged first-person reportage, would be controversial in the extreme and have an explosive community impact. The piece is a tough read. It describes the behavior of Zeke...
Chamber awards salute the creative economy
BRATTLEBORO-It was a night to honor the creative economy as the Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce (BACC) shined a spotlight on that sector in its annual awards ceremony on Sept. 11 at the Brattleboro Country Club. Tom Bodett, co-founder of HatchSpace, was presented with BACC's Person of the Year award, while Randi Solin and Natalie Blake of Fire Arts Vermont were named BACC's Entrepreneurs of the Year and Next Stage Arts in Putney was honored as BACC's Member of the...
BF girls stop Wildcats, lose to Bears in soccer
-Girls' soccer in Bellows Falls has always been overshadowed by its field hockey program, but the Terriers somehow manage to find ways to be competitive. The Terriers showed some of that grit in a well-played game on Sept. 10 in Westminster as they rallied to beat a much-improved Twin Valley team in a tight 3-2 victory. "They came back, played really well, and didn't give up and just kept doing what we've been practicing, which is get the ball out...
State treasurer hits the road with unclaimed funds
BRATTLEBORO-The sun had just set when a lone car pulled into the partially hidden and empty parking lot of the Brattleboro Collision Center on Old Ferry Road. Out popped State Treasurer Michael Pieciak, who was on a mission to return $5,150 in unclaimed funds to Todd DeAngelis, who owns the business. All in all, Pieciak returned $150,000 of unclaimed property to businesses, nonprofits, and service providers across Vermont's 14 counties on Sept. 9 and 10. This Unclaimed Property Road Tour...
An easy way we can all be part of the solution
Robin Rieske is facilitator of CSUR, a collaborative effort that includes Voices of Hope, Turning Point of Windham County, the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont, Building a Positive Community, West River Valley Thrives, Grace Cottage Hospital, Meetinghouse Solutions, and others in the community. They work together to ensure that substance use prevention, harm reduction, and treatment and recovery services reach our rural communities in Windham County. BRATTLEBORO-At Save a Life Day East on Thursday, Sept. 26, Community Substance Use Response...
A rich, percussion-driven universe
BRATTLEBORO-The Vermont Jazz Center lifts off its 2024–25 concert season on Saturday, Sept. 21, at 7:30 p.m., with the dynamic Trinidadian trumpeter, composer, and percussionist Etienne Charles. Come learn the stories of Charles's explorations and enjoy the band's serious grooves at the VJC on Saturday, Sept. 21. Calypso, funk, reggae, and jazz music will postpone the chilly, fall winds of Vermont. These joyful sounds will make you want to dance and feel like carnival really does exist. Charles has traveled...
Our real tragedy
Em Megas-Russell, a licensed social worker, Brattleboro resident, and business owner, collaborated on the Community Safety Review Committee report with Shea Witzberger. To read the full report from 2020, visit bit.ly/782-safety-report. I am disheartened to be writing this op-ed. I'd rather celebrate our town's active collaboration in cultivating dignified, innovative, and life-affirming responses to the basic human needs for safety and belonging of all our community members. Instead, I am writing from a place of heartbreak and outrage at the...
New round of motel evictions leave residents scrambling
-Ernest Martin prepared to leave the Hilltop Inn in Berlin on Sunday morning, uncertain about what could come next. The 58-year-old said a friend would let him stay at her home for "a week or two," but after that, "I have no clue." Martin, who suffered a traumatic brain injury after a hit-and-run several years ago, had been living at the motel since February. That morning, he had called the state at 8 o'clock sharp, hoping to secure his room...
An elegy, and a call to action
BRATTLEBORO-Beauty in decay - discovering it and capturing it - has been Jim Westphalen's quest for more than a couple decades as a fine art photographer and through the making of his first film, Vanish: Disappearing Icons of a Rural America. The 2023 documentary, which he calls a "self-funded labor of love," will be screened at the Latchis Theater on Saturday, Sept. 21. Originally from Long Island, New York, Westphalen would often spend time with his grandmother in the Poconos...
Fish & Wildlife Board's seats remain unfilled
Lisa Jablow is a longtime animal advocate and a board member of Protect Our Wildlife and the Windham Disaster Animal Response Team. BRATTLEBORO-An open letter to Gov. Phil Scott: To quote Yogi Berra, "It's like déjà vu all over again." Once again, there are members of the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board whose terms have expired, this time as of last February, yet they are still active members. According to state law, "A member serving a full six-year term shall...
PCB removal work expands at BFUHS
BELLOWS FALLS-The Bellows Falls Union High School Board has approved moving ahead with its initial PCB cleanup plans in the school's gym area. The cleanup will focus on two utility rooms diagonally opposite each other off two corners of the gym. Engineers believe that the rooms could be the major source of PCB contamination in this area of the building. The remediation is included in the $9 million of major BFUHS projects in the works. Topping the list of projects...