Keeping your community covered. We're committed to producing high-quality, fact-based news and information that gives you the facts in this community we call home. If our work has helped you stay informed, take action, or feel more connected to Windham County – please give now to help us reach our goal of raising $150,000 by December 31st.
Keeping your community covered. We're committed to producing high-quality, fact-based news and information that gives you the facts in this community we call home. If our work has helped you stay informed, take action, or feel more connected to Windham County – please give now to help us reach our goal of raising $150,000 by December 31st.
In August, I e-mailed the Dummerston selectboard about the “reverse 911” system whereby all residents are supposed to get a phone call with a recorded message to let them know if Vermont Yankee melts down.
I asked why I never got a test call from this system, even though my phone number and my address in Dummerston have been listed for years in the Verizon/FairPoint phone books.
The town clerk said she gave my email to the selectboard, but I have yet to get a response from the board, and still haven't gotten a test call from this system.
This issue is important because many people don't have Vermont Yankee radios, and some who do don't keep fresh batteries in them; a meltdown would almost certainly be accompanied by a power outage. Many people who do have the radio leave them off because of the annoying thunderstorm alarms that awaken people at 3 a.m.
I wonder how many of the pro-nuclear letters that have been appearing in The Commons and in he Reformer lately were written by people who work for Entergy, or who otherwise have a financial stake in keeping Vermont Yankee open. Al Blakley writes in his letter in the Sept.
In his letter in the June 29 issue of The Reformer, Tom Kauffman of the Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington, D.C. (which is fully funded by Entergy and other nuclear power companies) wrote: “The NRC commissioners are nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed by the...
Cars cause air pollution, which causes lung cancer, which kills thousands of people every year. Cars also cause global warming. People who are too young, too old, or too poor to own a car are often stuck at home. These are among the reasons why the Dummerston selectboard should ask the company that the town of Brattleboro hires to operate the BeeLine bus how much it would cost to run the bus through Dummerston. The BeeLine now goes from downtown...
I was disgusted by the decision to run a giant free press release for Entergy on the cover of the inside section of the April 27 issue of The Commons. Let Entergy buy an ad if it wants to. If this happens again, I will cancel my subscription.
Last week, the pedestrian crossing button for the Malfunction Junction traffic light that's closest to the Riverview Cafe was visibly falling apart and didn't work. Today, I saw that someone had tried to fix it with tape, but it still didn't work. Seeing as the state bought this button just a few months ago, hopefully the state can get the company that made the button to fix it for free.
Last year, the people of Vermont used the democratic process to prevail upon Entergy Corporation of Louisiana to close its Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in March 2012. Instead of obeying the will of the people, Entergy is now spending vast sums of money on lobbying, TV advertising, and lawyers to try to keep its dangerous, polluting nuke running until at least 2032. Along with at least four other people, I am planning to risk arrest for non-violent civil disobedience...
Free access to information is critical to a democracy. That's why it is upsetting to see the hours of the Brooks Memorial Library, the public library in Brattleboro, reduced due to budget cuts, and why it's a problem that residents of smaller towns like Guilford and Dummerston have free access only to tiny libraries with very limited hours. Most U.S. states allow any resident to check out books from any library in their state. I encourage everyone to contact their...
