The automated teller machine next to the West Brattleboro Post Office was recently closed down by TD Bank, and the associated night deposit box as well. According to what we have been able to determine, the bank does not intend to reopen the facility.
This loss will make accessing money harder for local residents as well as for visitors from out of state, and therefore it will have a negative effect on local businesses. Selling to people passing through is how our retail trade exports its goods and imports money, and selling to local people is the way that money keeps recirculating in the local economy.
The easier it is to access money, the more flexibility people will have in using it. More flexibility will result in more transactions, and the money from those transactions will generate other transactions. Any barrier to this trade is not a good thing.
While there are other ATMs in West Brattleboro, this is the only one, to our knowledge. that was open 24 hours a day. Furthermore, the night deposit box was of real benefit to local businesses and others.
At its monthly board meeting in January, the Board of Directors of the United Way of Windham County elected a new chair, Bahman Mahdavi, and vice-chair, Glenn Herrin, to lead the organization in 2011. “With the complex challenges in our community, it's really important that we have the expertise...
On Wednesday, March 9, the first in a series of three programs dealing with dementia will be offered in the Wellness in Windham County Spring 2011 calendar. Sponsored by Brattleboro Memorial Hospital and Grace Cottage Hospital, the program will be held in the new BMH Brew Barry Conference Center...
Broad Brook Grange extends an invitation to one and all to join the Grange. Membership is not limited to Guilford residents. Neighboring community members are invited to become members as well. The Grange offers many activities for its membership and Broad Brook Grange prides itself it its offerings to the community. With Guilford celebrating its 250th anniversary in 2011, the Grange will be co-sponsoring a vast assortment of events, the first of which was a free chili supper followed by...
Music • J Mascis comes to Brattleboro: In the quarter century since he founded Dinosaur Jr., J Mascis has created some of the era's signature songs, albums and styles. Now touring to support first solo studio record, Several Shades of Why, he will be appearing at Headroom (formerly The Tinderbox), 17 Elliot St., for an all-ages show on March 22, starting at 8 p.m. Kurt Vile, who played with J Mascis on his new album, will join him in Brattleboro.
The U.S. Census Bureau is in the process of releasing data from the 2010 Census, the total population count of the United States that is done every 10 years, and the American Communities Survey (ACS), which is done yearly and measures the characteristics of a population, such as income, the poverty rate, housing conditions, and employment. Will “Chip” Sawyer, state data manager for the Center for Rural Studies (CRS) at the University of Vermont, has been busy correlating and interpreting...
Obituaries Editor's note: The Commons will publish brief biographical information for citizens of Windham County and others, on request, as community news, free of charge. • S.C. “Jack” Chrisco, 85, of San Angelo, Texas. Died Feb. 21. Husband of Juanita (Culwell) Chrisco for 66 years. Father of Frank Chrisco and his wife, Ingrid; Jeanette Findlay Truehardt; and April K. Stout. Predeceased by his parents, S.C. Chrisco, Sr. and Bertha Lillian (Boswell); and siblings Mary Lee, Edna Earl, and Clara Mae.
It was recently brought to my attention that a story by Randolph T. Holhut ['We're bigger, but not by that much,' The Commons, Feb. 16] stated, “Athens grew by 30 percent, going from 340 to 442 residents.” This is an erroneous statement. According to the U.S. Census Bureau website's FactFinder section (factfinder.census.gov), Athens' population is 326. I have checked this website several times since last fall to see whether any changes occurred. I feel that I would be aware if...
This month marks the 20th anniversary of the Women's Film Festival. To celebrate, the festival is presenting a jaw-dropping 39 films in two venues, the Latchis Theatre and the New England Youth Theater, between March 11-20. The Women's Film Festival has a wealth of interesting films this year; it would be hard to find a bad night at the festival. You can approach the festival from a number of different angles, often several at once. You can choose films that...
Members of the Vermont Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs heard testimony from community leaders, business owners, and nonprofit organizations last week on Windham County's economic future post-Vermont Yankee. Four committee members sought information on Feb. 23 on shifting Windham County's economy to replace the money generated by Entergy's Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. “The state has an obligation to help us with the transition,” said Sen. Peter Galbraith, D-Windham, the newest member of the committee. The...
A plan to build four single-family homes near Morningside Cemetery, which met with neighborhood opposition, came to a resolution last week with the Selectboard's 3–2 decision to terminate the buyers' sale agreement. With the vote, the town agreed to return Byron and Lee Stookeys' $1,000 deposit, but the couple will lose the money they invested in items such as site surveys and architectural plans. The Stookeys purchased the land, intending to construct “new, decent” starter homes, ranging from 800 to...
BRATTLEBORO- The Brattleboro Recreation & Parks Department will offer the following programs in March and April. To register, or to learn more about the offerings, call the Recreation & Parks Office at 802-254-5808, weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon or 1 to 5 p.m., or visit www.brattleboro.org. Chess class There will be a chess class on Fridays from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Conference Room at the Gibson-Aiken Center, 207 Main St. The class is for children in grades...
Winter has had its way with me. I've stopped leaping out of bed in the mornings and saying to the cat, “Hooray, it's a new day! Let's get on with it!” No longer is each day a mystery. I know what it promises - more time on the tractor performing snow rearrangement and horse manure removal and less time writing. Now, even the prospect of two uninterrupted hours at my desk doesn't excite me. My cat, who normally sleeps later...
For everyone except labor activists, the 1981 strike by the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) has faded into the dim mists of memory. But President Reagan's harsh treatment of the strikers set the tone for three decades of union busting in America. On Aug. 3, 1981, PATCO went on strike, seeking better working conditions, better pay, and a 32-hour work week. Reagan reacted by declaring the strike a “peril to national safety” and ordered the strikers back to work.
a9ywfN szxqgxijtpvb, [url=http://pcofylvjlxng.com/]pcofylvjlxng[/url], [link=http://ujyueaxjsawp.com/]ujyueaxjsawp[/link], http://hekileeckvdf.com/
The Town Manager committee received notice last Friday that Dale L. Martin, of Linden, Mich., to whom the committee had offered the town manager position, had declined the offer. Selectboard and committee member Ann DiBernardo said that Martin e-mailed the committee with the news, and his reason for turning down the job was “salary,” which she confirmed as being “between $70,000 and $80,000” per year. She speculated that there might have been other considerations “like our history of town managers...
I'm writing in response to Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg's letter [The Commons, Feb. 23] regarding my recent column, “High Noon in the OK Corral,” in which I referred to deinstitutionalized people suffering from mental health issues. I am grateful to Ms. Cohen-Rottenberg for her thoughtful feedback. Her letter added balance to my commentary and shined light on some things I'd hoped were implicit. I would like to offer clarification on two points she made. First, I never intended to “decry the movement...
Friday, March 4 ||5 p.m.–8 p.m.||WFF Previews, Reception, and Digital Art Show. (Latchis 4.) Friday, March 11 ||6:45 p.m.–8:45 p.m.||Women Without Men, 95 min. Hauntingly exquisite imagery transports us in this “magical realism” exploration of the lives of four socially diverse women living under oppressive conditions. Set in 1950s Iran, we see the widening rift between the West and Middle East. Iranian exile Shirin Neshat's first feature drama. (Latchis.) ||8:45 p.m.–11 p.m.||Poodle Trainer, 9 min. Irina Markova, the star of...
The third try was a charm for this town's efforts to build a new garage for the highway department. Voters on Tuesday approved a 10-year, $340,000 bond, 249-103. The bond will cover about one-third of the $963,438 cost of the project. The remainder of the cost will be covered by a capital account that was set up by the town in the late 1990s for the garage. Voters had previously twice rejected bond votes in 2008. The current garage, built...
Look for a new pizza-plus operation at the crossroads of Routes 30 and 35 in mid-July. After several years of uncertainty and variable hours under the last lessee, John Papadopoulos of Brattleboro, the site of the former Townshend Corner Store has been bought outright by Spiro Leristas, the owner of Village Pizza on Putney Road in Brattleboro. Since the Corner Store closed in the 1980s, the site has been something of a black hole, as numerous businesses and restaurants have...
Three newcomers to the Selectboard claimed victory on Tuesday, while voters rejected two proposed changes to the town charter. Kenneth Schneck, dean of students at Marlboro College, won the three-year seat vacated by Martha O'Connor. Schneck came away with 839 votes. His opponent, past Selectboard member and current chair of the Charter Commission, Spoon Agave, had 567. Schneck, slightly sunburned from standing outside the polls all day, said that he was “really appreciative, more than anything.” He said the “coolest”
Dave Shapiro, a versatile and beloved jazz musician and educator, was found dead in his West Townshend home on Feb. 17. He was 58. Shapiro was born April 22, 1952, in Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduated from Brooklyn College in 1973 with a B.A. in music. A gifted be-bop bassist, Shapiro was a busy freelancer in the New York City jazz scene in the 1970s and 1980s. He played regularly with such jazz legends as Woody Herman, Chet Baker, Lee Konitz,
Supporters and opponents of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant gathered in the Vernon Elementary School gym on Feb. 22 for the first Vermont State Nuclear Advisory Panel (VSNAP) meeting since 2009. VSNAP did not meet in 2010, despite its mandate to act as an advisory panel considering nuclear-related usage in the state. The seven-member panel consists of a representative from the Agency of Human Services and the Agency of Natural Resources, the commissioner of the Department of Public Service,
After a year of study and much lobbying by school officials, voters rejected a bond issue for a proposed $10.5 million renovation of the Bellows Falls Middle School by a mere three votes. By a vote of 474-471, the measure went down to defeat by Australian ballot on Tuesday. In the selectboard race, incumbent Peter Golec narrowly defeated Lamont “Monte” Barnett, 480-427, for a three-year seat. Incumbent Ann DiBernardo and newcomer Josh Hearne were the top vote-getters for the two,
It may be a cliche, but it sometimes is true - every vote does count. Just ask incumbent Lewis Sumner, who defeated newcomer Earl Holtz, 137-136, to win a three-year seat on the Selectboard. Sumner, a lifelong resident of Halifax, has served on the board for six years. Holtz, who moved to town two years ago, serves on the town broadband committee and has been a fixture at Selectboard meetings. Town Clerk Patricia Dow confirmed Tuesday night that there will...
Now that the calendar has turned to March, the postseason for basketball, hockey and skiing has begun. The regular season wrapped up for our girls' basketball teams last week, with the first round of the playoffs beginning this week. The Brattleboro ice hockey teams will also begin their playoff odyssey this week, and the Brattleboro nordic ski team is set for its state championship races in Craftsbury and Mountain Top Resort this week. As for boys' basketball, the regular season...
Whenever I become downhearted over man's inhumanity to man, I recognize that man's inhumanity to women is even more frightening. Take, for example, the 2009 documentary Africa Rising, by award-winning filmmaker Paula Heredia, which will be shown in the upcoming Women's Film Festival. This is an anti-female genital mutilation (FGM) film. (Yes, female genital mutilation is so common that there's an acronym. There's also a pro-FGM movement, as well as a movement against male circumcision.) This film left me in...