When Deirdre Baker was named grand marshal of this town's Fourth of July parade in 2012, she didn't let that morning's storm clouds dampen her spirits. She already had weathered too much for that. The year before, Baker was planning a free public Christmas breakfast when, set to celebrate her 50th birthday, she was unable to shake a stuffy nose. Doctors said it wasn't a cold or allergies, but instead sinus cancer. To reach and remove it, they'd have to...
People experiencing homelessness live in a range of conditions. Some live in motels, like the more than 93 Brattleboro households participating in the state's General Assistance Emergency Housing Program. Others, largely uncounted, live in tents in the woods, in friends' barns and sheds, in cars, garages, and campers - all situations that do not meet all the human needs for comfort and security. In Putney, approximately 40 people live outside and in campers, according to Fire Chief Tom Goddard, who...
After the position has been vacant for 18 months, the town has hired Louis Bordeaux as its new town manager, effective last week. A resident of Bernardston, Massachusetts, Bordeaux has worked in local government for just over a decade. Prior to that, he had a long career in mid- and upper-level retail management. Bordeaux said that he got into politics at the urging of a friend in 2012, when a three-year seat on the Bernardston Selectboard opened up. He ran...
The public is invited to attend a Media Mentoring panel discussion on Thursday, Nov. 30, at 7 p.m. on Zoom about a different approach to media that seeks to uncover and report on how people are trying to solve problems - not just the bad news, but what's working and why - offering communities with information they need to participate in a healthy democracy. Leading this global shift in journalism is MMP guest David Bornstein, CEO and co-founder of the...
Community House has added a high school at 80 Linden St. to its Community School House programs and Oak Street campus holdings. With the acquisition and renovation of the historic, newly renovated Deacon John Holbrook House, day students in grades 9-12 in the program now, for the first time, have a dedicated high school building. According to the organization's website, it provides a short-term residential stabilization and assessment program for children 6–12 years of age, an independent and general special-education...
As it approaches a quarter century since it was originally painted, the large mural on the Flatiron Building greeting northbound travelers as they enter the Bellows Falls Square is undergoing repairs and stabilization efforts. Based on original design sketches and paintings by local artist Ezra Veitch, the 32-foot-by-40-foot mural, created in 1999, depicts The Square as it would have looked a hundred years earlier. The town's trolley tracks, now long gone, are visible in the painting. Some of the town's...