• Send donations to Brattleboro Community Thanksgiving Dinner, in care of Katherine Barratt, Treasurer, P.O. Box 2384, West Brattleboro, VT 05303.
• People interested in cooking a turkey or donating produce or other foods should contact either Ray Branagan (802-579-4649 or ray.branagan@yahoo.com) or Mark Schultz (603-336-0008 or mas_1954@comcast.net).
• Dessert makers or musicians should contact Lindsay Cobb (802-376-3792 or lindsayc@sover.net).
• People interested in volunteering on Wednesday, Nov. 21, from 2 to 8 p.m. to prep vegetables and apples should call Ian Bigelow (802-579-7903, ianbigelowvt@gmail.com).
The second-seeded Bellows Falls Terriers will be playing for the Division II football championship at South Burlington High School this Saturday at 11 a.m. after defeating the third-seeded Milton Yellowjackets, 35-0, at Hadley Field last Saturday. BF will be facing undefeated (10-0) and top-seeded Rice, which took care of...
Last summer, my trusty, old Motobecane touring/commuting bicycle had a bit of a seizure in the form of a cracked head tube. I did not begrudge it; he'd been a trusty friend who carried me many, many thousands of miles without complaint. I had dubbed him Morgan early in...
Obituaries • Lawrence Clifford Bloch, 59, of Brattleboro. Died Oct. 28 at home of pancreatic cancer. Husband of Falana Lisa (Clarke) Bloch. Former husband of Laura Bloch Bourque. Father of Aaron Michael Bloch of New York City. Brother of Michele B. Bloch and her husband, John Cuseo, of Westport, Conn. Born in Philadelphia, the son of Miriam (David) and Ephraim F. Bloch, the founder and CEO of Perfect Fit Industries in New York City, he was raised in Manhattan and...
Newfane to hold Special Town meeting on Nov. 8 NEWFANE - The rescheduled Special Town Meeting will be held on Thursday, Nov. 8, at 6 p.m., at the NewBrook Fire House on Route 30. On the warrant is an article to authorize the Newfane Selectboard to negotiate purchase of the property served by the Lynch Bridge. If the town purchases the property, this would eliminate the need for the bridge, but the town would still be eligible for 90 percent...
After spending two seasons as an assistant to head coach Phil Davis, Andy Nystrom will be taking the reins of Leland & Gray's boys' basketball program this season. Nystrom, who lives in Newfane, owns the Wardsboro Store and Snow Mountain Market, and is also a postal carrier in Wardsboro. He played basketball for Leland & Gray in the 1990s along side two 1,000-point scorers, Kevin Cobb and Matt Moore. After college, he returned to Leland & Gray to assist head...
The Leland & Gray Players will present Arthur Miller's gripping drama, The Crucible, on Thursday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m.; Friday, Nov. 9, at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday, Nov. 10, at 3 and 7:30 p.m. at Dutton Gymnasium. Often seen as an allegory for the proceedings of Sen. Joseph McCarthy's mid-20th century House Un-American Activities Committee, Miller's play follows the origins and devastating outcomes of the Salem witch trials of the late 1600s. Miller's impulse to tell the story of...
The last piece of the Brattleboro Food Co-op project has finally been completed. A crew from Rand Stoneworks of Scarborough, Maine, was hard at work on the evening of Nov. 2 preparing drainage layers that go under the paved surface that will be the parking lot serving the new store at the bottom of Main Street. The work was being done at night, according to one crew member, at the request of Co-op staff. The new parking area is where...
It's been more than 40 years since I lost my friend and roommate, Harvey Ross, in Vietnam. Harvey, along with Vyrl Leichliter, Bob Adams, Donald Osborn, Ron Kolb, Bill Jurich, and Al Simpson, all classmates of mine, died in Vietnam. Over the years, I have kept some contact with other classmates. Distance has separated us by many miles, so I call on days like Christmas, birthdays, and Veterans Day. Besides friends of my own generation, from time to time I've...
Marlboro College Graduate School will offer a free workshop on managing organizational change on Tuesday, Nov. 13, from noon to 1:30 p.m. The event will be held at the Graduate School, 28 Vernon St. Two organizational leaders, Connie Snow and Ann Fielder, will talk about managing change and transitions in organizations. They will give some practical advice and a retrospective look at what works well in times of change. Snow orchestrated the consolidation of Windham Housing Trust with the Rockingham...
Strolling of the Heifers appreciates the help of a very energetic crew of Green Mountain RSVP volunteers, some from the Samuel Elliot Apartments and some from Melrose Terrace, who gathered on Oct. 25 to help fold, stuff, address, and stamp almost 4,000 mailing pieces for our annual mailings to individuals and businesses to ask for their support of the 2013 Stroll. Our helpers included Rosemary Eldridge, Ann Wright-Parsons, Sandy Licea, Linda King, Judy Ressler, Trudy Crites, Bill Murray, Vicki Friedman,
New England Youth Theatre's Theatre Adventure Program (TAP) will present a Theatre Adventure Fashion Show: Putting on our Finery on Friday, Nov. 9, at the West Village Meeting House in West Brattleboro from 7 to 9 p.m. The evening will include “fabulous fashions, live music, delectable desserts, and wild surprises,” according to the theater's website. Audience members are invited to attend in their “own splashy finery and to be part of a fashionable, cheering, and rambunctious event.” Ticket prices are...
The ballroom of the Brooks House stands naked, its walls of joists and brick stripped of their grandeur by fire and time. A pigeon flaps from one side of the room to the other. Underfoot, a 100-year-old sub-floor punctuated by rows of rusty nails is exposed to the dull grey November light struggling through tall, grungy windows. Gov. Peter Shumlin hands Greg Miskovich, one of five investors in the Mesabi Group, LLC, a plaque. Applause erupts from the sizable group...
Henry Homeyer will read from his children's book Wobar and the Quest for the Magic Calumet at Main Street Arts Saturday, Nov. 10, at 4 p.m. Accompanying him for the reading and signing will be the book's illustrator, Josh Yunger. Best known for his weekly gardening column, Homeyer is a writer, storyteller, and grandfather who taught third and fourth grade long ago. Wobar and the Quest for the Magic Calumet is a tale he told one summer while running a...
The Blanche Moyse Chorale, an affiliate of the Brattleboro Music Center, is now holding auditions for experienced choral singers in all vocal sections. The Chorale, founded in 1978, is a chamber chorus of about 30 voices who strive to attain the high level of musical artistry exemplified by its original director, Blanche Moyse. Although based in the Brattleboro area, the Chorale includes singers from the wider tri-state region and beyond. Weekly rehearsals are held on Sunday evenings at The Putney...
RE: “College spurns sanctuary's offer to adopt oxen destined for slaughter” [Letters, Oct. 31]: The statement about students at Green Mountain College being bullied or pressured is categorically false. As a community, we have been very open about opposing dialogues (if individual actions of students have caused others to feel silenced, I am not aware of it), and as an institution we have actively sought the voices of opposing students to include in the media. Of course, some people disagree...
Stone Church Arts takes great pride in Immanuel Episcopal Church's 9-foot Steinway grand concert piano. So from time to time, organizers invite world class concert pianists to come and perform. James D'León jumped at the invitation and will perform a concert on Saturday, Nov. 10, at 7:30 p.m. at the Stone Church at 20 Church St. He will perform works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Toru Takemitsu, and Franz Liszt. He will also perform two works with a Halloween theme: Ghost...
The growth over the past three years of Home at Last, a nonprofit that provides permanent housing to homeless veterans, is a mixed blessing. It now owns five mobile homes in the Brattleboro area, providing housing for seven occupants. It is close to obtaining a sixth. But for Home at Last founder Bob Miller of West Brattleboro, that growth has meant that the problem of homelessness among veterans is just getting bigger. “It's not even a drop in the bucket,”
It would be too facile to say that Hurricane Sandy was Mother Nature's revenge for the silence of both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama on climate change during the presidential debates. But the death and destruction that this massive storm brought to New York City, New Jersey, and the mid-Atlantic states has put climate change front and center. Opinion polling shows that 70 percent of Americans now believe that the earth's climate is changing, that human activity is to blame,
When I was 13, the family took a trip to Norfolk, Va. That same week, some Navy unit had just come home from its deployment. There must've been at least 400 sailors, all in their dress whites. I looked at my mother, and I told her: “When I'm old enough, I'm going to join the Navy and defend our country.” For years, I couldn't stop thinking about that one sentence. I didn't exactly know what I meant at the time,
In a culture as car-centric as Vermont, Dave Cohen may seem like he is swimming against the tide when he advocates for bicycles as a way to reduce pollution, improve public health, and save people money. But the Brattleboro psychotherapist has been at this a long time. When he lived in the San Francisco area, he created specially-designed cargo bicycles that could haul up to 1,000 pounds of cargo, and started up a human-powered delivery service called Pedal Express. “We...
Brattleboro Cheese has organized a drive to collect items New York City and New Jersey victims of Hurricane Sandy need the most. The collection efforts began this week. Donors can drop off the following items: blankets, candles, flashlights, water, food (non-perishable), lights, flashlights, batteries, diapers and wipes, gloves and masks, rubber boots, shovels, cleaning supplies and bleach, trash bags, serving dishes and utensils, anything that produces heat, winter wear (jackets, hats, gloves, warm stuff). Donors are asked to not bring...
RE: “America at a crossroads” [Viewpoint, Oct. 31]: In response to my article concerning the similarities and differences of the two parties that have a headlock on our political process, a number of folks have asked me: “OK, so what do we do about it?” I am very troubled by the problem that arises in a close race when a progressive candidate leeches votes from a moderate, resulting in a win for a reactionary candidate. The problem is that the...
There are two farms in my life: one, whose orchard is managed by my husband, one of the top sustainable farmers in America, and a second farm, our homestead two miles down the road. Growing your own food, even during this past drought season, leads to eating rich during hard, economic times. But we eat at a gourmet level by growing much of our own food: chicken, lamb, pork, turkey for Thanksgiving, and Christmas goose. These humanely raised meats are...
I have just finished steaming a handful of fingerlings, those miniature banana-shaped potatoes that are so golden, tender, and creamy as to need only a smidgeon of olive oil to complete their journey to my table. Spuds. I love 'em, and I'm not alone. We are a nation of potato eaters: baked, boiled, mashed, souffléd, scalloped, transformed into salad, browned and crispy and nestled around our roasted meats, made into chips, pan fried, home fried, and most especially French fried.
One of the saddest sights for a cheesemonger is a person who comes into the shop with friends and declines to share the cheese plate because of “lactose intolerance.” You see it in their eyes: the longing for a bite of blue, a sliver of Piave, a nugget of Ossau-Iraty. They bravely hold back their tears as their friends dig in to a chunk of cheddar. It makes me want to give them a tissue, but since I don't keep...
There might not have been many contested races on the ballot, but Windham County voters still turned out in droves to vote on Tuesday. They helped give Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin and Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott a second term in their respective offices. With about 90 percent of the vote reported at press time, Shumlin defeated Republican challenger Randy Brock by a 58-percent-to-38-percent margin. Emily Peyton, an independent candidate for governor, received 2 percent, as did Marijuana Party candidate...
On Friday, Nov. 9, at 7:30 p.m., Rani Arbo, lead singer and fiddler, and her band, daisy mayhem, will team up with Brattleboro's Hallowell Hospice Choir in a first-ever collaboration at the First Baptist Church, 190 Main St. These two musical forces have a common mission in their approach to the transformative power of music. Both groups are well known in the area. For 12 years now, Rani Arbo, singer, songwriter and instrumentalist, and her band have played a mix...
With Peter, Paul and Mary's 1963 release of their version of “Blowin' in the Wind” playing, an area radio veteran told students at his alma mater how he has seen music help effect social change. As part of the school's twice-a-year Diversity Day, Tim Johnson, a 1974 graduate of Brattleboro Union High School who works as news director of WTSA, was introduced by BUHS social studies teacher Bill Holiday, who projected the lyrics on a screen as Johnson played the...
The Brattleboro Community Thanksgiving Dinner committee issues its annual invitation to, well, everyone. Since its first dinner 41 years ago at the former Common Ground restaurant on Elliot Street, the Community Thanksgiving Dinner has opened its doors and filled the stomachs of diners from Brattleboro, students staying through the holiday break, and even travelers just passing through town - free. According to member Ray Branagan, the Community Thanksgiving Dinner committee fell apart briefly after the Common Ground closed, but the...
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has filed a notice of intent and pre-application document for five hydroelectric projects on the Connecticut River, including ones in Bellows Falls and Vernon, beginning the first phase of a regulatory process that will reach its final conclusions in 2018. The filing will bring to the table a number of regional, state, and federal government agencies, as well as an array of nonprofit conservation, wildlife, and advocacy groups, to weigh in on the process.
Next Stage Arts Project will present two of America's finest contemporary poets, Victoria Redel and Sydney Lea, Poet Laureate of Vermont, on Saturday, Nov. 10, at 7:30 p.m. Following their readings, there will be a question-and-answer period, and both artists will be available to meet and sign copies of their work. Born in New York, Redel is a first generation American of Belgian, Rumanian, Egyptian, and Russian descent. She is the author of three books of poetry and three books...