WESTMINSTER-Southeastern Vermont Community Action (SEVCA) is recruiting volunteers to join its Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, offering free tax preparation services - as well as assistance with homestead declarations, property tax credit claims, and renter credit claims - to residents across Windsor and Windham counties.
With appointments available at multiple locations, SEVCA seeks to expand its volunteer base to meet the growing demand for this vital service.
Volunteers will help individuals and families with low to moderate incomes, persons with disabilities, and limited English-speaking taxpayers file their taxes accurately and efficiently. The VITA program aims to help people understand their tax returns and maximize their refunds, a critical boost for many households.
"Volunteering with VITA is a chance to make a real difference in our community," VITA Program Coordinator Emily Strasser said in a news release. "Not only do you assist people with filing their taxes, but you also play a vital role in helping them gain a better understanding of their finances and make informed decisions for their future."...
BURLINGTON-Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, has launched his 15th annual State of the Union Essay Contest for Vermont students. Each year, the President of the United States delivers an address to a joint session of Congress, which outlines priorities...
MONTPELIER-With the approach of winter, the time has arrived for putting out bird feeders. "Winter bird feeding is a great way to observe and learn about our year-round bird residents, such as black capped chickadees, nuthatches, and blue jays. It's also a great time to learn about winter visitors,
BRATTLEBORO-According to the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets, there are approximately 60 summer farmers markets and 15 winter markets in the state. Of those 15, a key player is the continuously running, November-through-March Brattleboro Winter Farmers Market (BWFM) which is in its 19th season. Support structure under the state's farmers markets is Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT), which assists markets around the state with promotion and consulting, and the Vermont Farmers Market Association, which promotes the...
PUTNEY-Next Stage Arts and Twilight Music present an evening of contemporary folk music with Antje Duvekot and Goodnight Moonshine (Molly Venter and Eben Pariser) on Saturday, Dec. 14, at 7:30 p.m. at Next Stage, 15 Kimball Hill. Duvekot is a German-born, American-raised singer-songwriter whose songs have been critically praised for their "hard-won wisdom, dark-eyed realism, and street-smart romanticism." Her bi-cultural upbringing and relative newness to English have "helped shape her unique way with a song, giving her a startlingly original...
Obituaries • John William Alexander, 57, of South Londonderry. Died peacefully on Nov. 23, 2024. John was a devoted father, grandfather, and friend. He will be dearly missed by all who knew him. Born on May 6, 1966, John grew up in South Londonderry, where his love for the outdoors first blossomed. Whether hiking through the woods, fishing along a stream, or camping under the stars, nature was his sanctuary. He was active in the Boy Scouts and received his...
BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Camerata presents "Seeing Double: Music for Two Choirs" Sunday, Dec. 15, at 4 p.m. at the Brattleboro Music Center. Directed by Jonathan Harvey, the chamber choir will perform "Great Service" by William Byrd and Mass in G minor by Ralph Vaughan Williams. "Our program is all about dialogue, on multiple levels," Harvey said in a news release. "First, physically, as both works are composed for double choir, meaning that there are two distinct vocal ensembles on stage singing...
WNESU School Board seeks feedback on Superintendent WESTMINSTER STATION - The Windham Northeast Supervisory Union (WNESU) School Board is asking for input on Superintendent Andrew Haas. To do this, they are conducting a short online survey. Students, teachers, parents, community members, and WNESU staff are all invited to share their thoughts. The survey asks about topics such as the superintendent's leadership and vision for the district, their work in creating a positive learning environment for students, and how they encourage...
BRATTLEBORO-Rasa String Quartet presents "Journey and Transformation" at the Brattleboro Music Center on Friday, Dec. 13. The 7 p.m. concert will feature a program that organizers say "evokes longing and nostalgia for distant places and cherished memories." From William Grant Still's tender mermaid fairytale to composers' reflections on faraway homelands and the lively melodies of a Haydn quartet, this concert "will invite audiences to reconnect with the beloved stories that shaped their past," say organizers. Performing will be Emma Powell...
BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) welcomes the public to a guided tour and discussion of the exhibit "Desire Lines," on Sunday, Dec. 15, at 1 p.m., at the museum. Admission is free, but registration is recommended. Walk-ins are welcome. To register, visit brattleboromuseum.org or call 802-257-0124, ext. 101. On view through Feb. 9, "Desire Lines" features the work of six artists who share a deep commitment to drawing as a means of artistic expression. Artists Alex Callender, Nandini...
GRAFTON-The Vermont Symphony Orchestra (VSO) presents Brass Quintet and Counterpoint, on Saturday, Dec. 14, at 5 p.m., at Grafton Community Church. Counterpoint is a Montpelier-based choral chamber music ensemble for all ages and collaborates with the VSO to celebrate the holiday season. "The Brass Quintet and Counterpoint concerts are one of VSO's favorite holiday traditions," Elise Brunelle, executive director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, said in a news release. "We look forward to bringing this year's program to communities across...
GUILFORD-Guilford Center Stage gets an early start on its 2025 season with the first of its usual two productions taking place in February rather than spring. The theater group presents its 14th production on the 14th, Valentine's Day, with additional performances filling out the weekend. The February offering is A.R. Gurney's popular two-character play, Love Letters, which premiered in 1989 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. The play unfolds as the two characters, Melissa Gardner and...
BELLOWS FALLS-In mid-October, the Rockingham Energy Committee's fourth annual WindowDressers Community Build assembled 205 insulating window inserts for 27 families of Rockingham, Springfield, Dummerston, Proctorsville, and Perkinsville, Vermont, and Claremont, New Hampshire. About half of the inserts were provided at no cost to low-income residents, thanks to a Grow Grant from the New England Grassroots Environment Fund and fundraising by WindowDressers. The work was done at the St. Charles Social Center in Bellows Falls from Oct. 11 through 15. The...
BRATTLEBORO-For years, Republican politicians kept up the litany of "Hunter Biden's laptop." It was pure, opportunistic lack of empathy to endlessly attack a vulnerable person recovering from addiction as a distraction from honest policy debate. That his father chose not to collaborate with these heartless Republicans, refusing to allow them to destroy his son as a blood sacrifice, is a tribute to his decency. Steven K-Brooks Brattleboro This letter to the editor was submitted to The Commons. This piece, published...
-It's very rare that a Vermont high school football player gets a look from a Division I college program, let alone is actively recruited. It is even more rare for a Vermonter to get a scholarship from a big-time football program. He had to leave his hometown to do it, but Willem Thurber of West Brattleboro defied those long odds and will be playing football in the Atlantic Coast Conference for the University of Virginia (UVA) in the fall of...
BRATTLEBORO-I feel unsafe when I see a white man with a gun. I do not lobby for gun control. I don't want to take away my neighbors' guns, no matter their gender or race. I do not pester the Selectboard to ban guns in town. I think that would be pretty rude of me. But I do feel unsafe when I see a white man with a gun! The sight scares me. My heart rate goes up, and I have...
BRATTLEBORO-Vermont Suitcase Company (VSC) players know how to get folks laughing - belly laughs, slapstick laughs, laughs at poignant ironies, at itchy truths, at innocent manifestations of good-heartedness. Following the success of 2023's popular VSC play about Wenceslas, the 10th-century Duke of Bohemia whose kind and generous spirit made him worthy of his own Christmas carol, the company presents The Continuing Adventures of King Wenceslas and His Page, Edith: A Winter Tale for Winter People, with performances throughout the region...
BRATTLEBORO-The new Acceptable Community Conduct Ordinance passed by the Brattleboro Selectboard, if implemented, risks deterring people from reporting crimes. It could well make our town less safe. This ordinance imposes fines on properties with over three police calls in three months. These calls could be about hate crimes, sexual assault, and other violence. If you live in a building designated as a high-response property and you are being attacked, you may have to choose between getting help or losing your...
GUILFORD-This last election proves once again that the Democratic Party is like Lucy with the football - and we are Charlie Brown. The Kamala Harris we saw in the first week of her campaign, who seemed like a real human being, a breath of fresh air after all the darkness and rage and fear coming from Trump, was quickly put back under wraps by the party handlers and sages. She had to appeal to white wealthy Republicans, of course, not...
Elizabeth McLoughlin is vice chair of the Brattleboro Selectboard. The views expressed herein are her own and do not reflect the views of the Selectboard. BRATTLEBORO-I was surprised and disappointed to read former Town Manager Peter Elwell's letter to Representative Town Meeting members about the recently passed Community Conduct Ordinance. As my colleague on the Selectboard, Peter Case, commented, Mr. Elwell didn't call us first to discuss it. The making of this ordinance was an open process with a first...
PUTNEY-I just want to say how much I loved this article. It was so heartwarming and interesting to hear of the lives of three wonderful women, Alice Anderson Stockwell, Sylvia Smith Morse, and Janice Pratt Martin. It gave me the opportunity to step back to a time when things were simpler. And though those times were not easier, their experiences were so very rich in meaning. It reminded me of stories that my grandmother used to tell me of how...
NORTHFIELD, MASS.-The writer says Donald Trump "won the racial hatred vote, the misogyny vote, and the white-women-with-little-education vote." Leftists like Jessie Haas enjoy being condescending and hateful and will be even more so in 2025 when Trump returns to the White House and makes America great again. The author insists that "the more informed you were, the more you voted for Harris." Now that made me laugh, because leftists are the most uninformed people on the planet. Harris ended up...
ATHENS-Fhar Miess's recent letter on behalf of Southern Vermont for Palestine advocates for the boycott of software used to make the lives of mental-health-care patients better and the workload of the clinicians they rely on less. While Mr. Miess's obsession with Jews is mildly flattering, his thinly veiled bigotry manifests in the form of illegitimate criticism of Israel, peddling conspiracy theories and false claims, while exposing himself and his "comrades" (as they refer to themselves) for the anti-American, aspiring insurgents...
BRATTLEBORO-Community House is located within the applicable zones identified by the town of Brattleboro and supports the recently passed Acceptable Community Conduct Ordinance. In the past few years, Community House has been very affected by Brattleboro's environment: • One student found a deceased body in the gazebo on the Town Common. • Staff have complained of feeling unsafe. • Unknown individuals have gone through our dumpster. • Staff regularly have cleaned up drug and alcohol paraphernalia on our property, including...
BELLOWS FALLS-Meetings over the past several weeks to discuss the idea of merging the Bellows Falls Fire Department (BFFD), the Rockingham Volunteer Fire Department (RVFD), and the Saxtons River Volunteer Fire Department (SRVFD) have been both informative, and at times, confrontational. Merging the three independent fire departments into a more cohesive single unit has been discussed and debated in Rockingham for decades, with no less controversy. Voters will decide this latest proposal at the next Annual Town Meeting, which in...
Peter Elwell, retired as Brattleboro town manager and now the board president of Groundworks Collaborative, sent this email (submitted at our request and lightly adapted for print) to all Representative Town Meeting members solely on his own behalf, as he explains in the piece. BRATTLEBORO-Members of Representative Town Meeting: Please vote to reject the Acceptable Community Conduct ordinance on Dec. 12. It is unnecessary and it is flawed. Before explaining my deep concerns about the ordinance, I need to say...
BRATTLEBORO-Assistant Town Manager Patrick Moreland admits there have been a few glitches as the system comes online. "We have had a few stumbles with rolling out the new system," he told The Commons on Dec. 2. Among the glitches: "A card reader in the Harmony Lot failed and needed an immediate replacement. That has been resolved. We believed that receipt paper would be included with new machines. On this, we were mistaken. Receipt paper has now been installed." One of...
BRATTLEBORO-Kathi Keller, 77, founder of Brattleboro School of Dance (BSD), is the master costumer who has designed, sourced, and created - by hand - all of the costumes for its performances over five decades. The Commons met with Keller at the BSD studio recently to see firsthand the hundreds of costumes she has made over the years in a very special room, the costume closet. Here's an excerpt of the conversation: Victoria Chertok: Tell me about the Sugar Plum Fairy...
BRATTLEBORO-When the first train steamed into town in 1849, a regional newspaper reported how "exhilaration of the moment burst forth" as residents celebrated the arrival of an easy route to seemingly everywhere in the world. Everywhere except neighboring New Hampshire, that is. The new rails ran beside the Connecticut River and a wooden covered bridge that carried horse-drawn buggies across to the Granite State, local historians recount. Transportation morphed into a steel span, and automobiles with the start of the...
BRATTLEBORO-For the 12th time in almost 24 years, Brattleboro School of Dance presents The Nutcracker ballet this weekend. "The Nutcracker is one of those iconic ballets that has charmed and uplifted audiences across North America seemingly since we can remember," Bridget Struthers, the school's director said in a recent phone call with The Commons. "Just a few bars from Tchaikovsky's luscious score immediately transport us by a moment of nostalgia to a place where we can see, hear, taste, and...
BRATTLEBORO-On Nov. 21, the town transitioned to a new parking system, replacing 147 meters with nine new centralized kiosks and updating existing parking lot kiosks so that all parking is paid for with coins or credit/debit cards, via text message or smartphone app. The changes have sparked frustration among residents and visitors, with complaints surfacing both online and in local stores. "We've heard nothing but complaints," said Red Durkin, owner of Everyone's Books on Elliot Street. "People are trying to...
Brenda Siegel is executive director of End Homelessness Vermont. NEWFANE-The Scott administration's announcement that it will implement the discriminatory practice that prevents people under 50 from having equal access to shelter as afforded under Act 113 is not only inhumane. It does not follow the law, which created no such prioritization categories and clearly states that those eligible for shelter are to receive it on a first-come, first-served basis. These "priority categories" de-prioritize people experiencing homelessness and living with disabilities...