About 10 years ago, I joined a group of neighbors fighting to protect farmland from development in our rural part of Massachusetts, an area that has escaped much of the development Boston has enjoyed. There are still large tracts of land free of structures, and much of it is still farmed.
With the resurgence of the local-food movement, the fertile soil here is helping to keep farming a viable option for land use. One such tract straddles the towns of Hatfield and Northampton, and a big-box store had shown interest in building there.
When my Hatfield group formed, Northampton had already had several town meetings to consider what restrictions to place on the size and look of the big-box store. Its citizens had considered whether to require a pitched roof, for instance, to make the building look less enormous, or to demand that certain colors be used on the building. They thought they should try to limit the overall size of the structure - a big store, but perhaps not a megastore.
There are a lot of misconceptions about stores like Walmart and Lowe's. Their size and popularity give the appearance that they will bring jobs and taxes to a town, but this is actually an illusion.
The Weston Playhouse Theatre Company's $10 million capital campaign has reached another milestone: conditional approval by the town of Weston Zoning Board of Adjustment and the Planning Commission of the company's plan to build a new studio theatre on the former Walker dairy farm in Weston Village. Located on...
The Friends of the Rockingham Library's annual holiday open house on Dec. 7 was well attended and offered a chance to see the nearly completed renovations of the library building. The group thanks all who attended for their interest and support, specifically staff members Emily Zervas, Samantha Maskell, Ellen...
The Food Security Collaborative, formerly the Greater Falls Community Garden Collaborative, announces its winter 2014 series of workshops on everything locally delicious, nutritious, and sustainable. Many workshops are free, with others requiring only a modest materials fee. As space is limited, pre-registration is required: call Tim Stevenson at 802-869-2141. The series begins with a workshop on cooking and freezing local food. That's 1 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 12, at Immanuel Episcopal Church in Bellows Falls. Featuring carrots and broccoli, Westminster...
The first time I bought a stove was when my husband and I moved into the 20'x20' shack that was on the land we had bought. We figured we'd be able to live in that tarpapered room constructed on a foundation of nail kegs filled with cement while we built our own home. It had a wood cookstove already, but I wanted gas, so we shopped around at used appliance stores and other inexpensive places, finally getting a line on...
Both Twin Valley basketball teams made it into their respective championship games at the Green Mountain Holiday Tournament in Chester last Friday, but only one would take home a trophy. The Twin Valley boys needed some last-minute heroics from Dal Nesbitt to pull out a 49-46 victory over the Twinfield Trojans to win their side of the tourney, while the Twin Valley girls got clobbered by the Mount St. Joseph Mounties, 56-31. Twin Valley beat Green Mountain, 59-40, on Dec.
After four fatal pedestrian accidents in Brattleboro, enough is enough. While, according to the Dec. 11 Reformer, the Windham Regional Commission has been “trying to address Brattleboro's pedestrian and bicycle safety issues” and the Department of Public Works has been painting crosswalks, this strategy is obviously not working. As we green up our town and our lives by walking and biking more, and as we socialize with neighbors and build community, we need the support of a safe and accessible...
The 2014 Winter Sunshine series of family performances at Sandglass Theater kicks off on Jan. 4 with “Dreamtime: Tales From Down Under,” presented by Winter Sunshine favorites Barefoot Puppets of Richmond, Va. Experience the magic of the land down under in this performance inspired by Aboriginal folktales. Learn more about some truly unusual animals as a mother platypus tries to get her young one to sleep by sharing three stories from the Australian Dreamtime. In these “how and why” tales,
Outside the small village of Andahuaylillas, in the even-smaller community of Q'ewar, situated high in the Andes Mountains of southern Peru, indigenous women in the area can find a way out of the cycle of poverty by employing therapeutic art skills. Begun by sculptor Julio Herrera and Lucy Terrazas in 2000, the project, “El Proyecto Social Q'ewar,” now employs 47 women south of the capital of the region, near Cuzco, Peru and has captured the imagination of one southern Vermont...
If big news is delivered late in the afternoon just before a holiday, you know someone has something to hide. The 2013 Christmas gift from Entergy and the state of Vermont was their “settlement agreement.” Only the most diehard followers of nuclear news would be reading legal documents over the holidays. Count me among the diehards. Having read the settlement agreement and the memorandum of understanding to the Public Service Board, there is a big gap between what the documents...
The Rockingham Free Public Library offers a “modified fines amnesty” for the month of January. It's a great way to make good on late fees by doing good for those most in need. Here's how it works: All month, the library will accept non-perishable food items in lieu of fines for overdue books. Each non-perishable item knocks up to $2 off of library fines. Those of us with a stack of books due know that adds up fast. Food will...
Births• In Brattleboro (Memorial Hospital), Dec. 17, 2013, a son, Carson Michel Gundry, to Samantha Loomis and Adam Gundry; grandson to Darren Loomis Sr. and Lisa Loomis, and Rose and Les Gundry. • In Brattleboro (Memorial Hospital), Dec. 13, 2013, a daughter, Olivia Elyse Nutting, to Jodi Fletcher and Matthew Nutting of Brattleboro; granddaughter to Donald and Wendy Fletcher, Stuart and Colleen Nutting, and Chad and Mary Pierson. • In Brattleboro (Memorial Hospital), Dec. 12, 2013, a daughter, Hailey Susan...
New Year's Day closures in Brattleboro BRATTLEBORO - In observance of New Year's Day, all Brattleboro Town offices will be closed on Wednesday, Jan. 1, with the exception of emergency services. Offices will reopen for regular hours on Thursday, Jan. 2. Parking is free at all metered spaces and in the pay-and-display lots on Jan. 1. All other violations, including extended parking, will be enforced. Brooks Memorial Library will close at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2013, and will...
The Gas Light Tinkers will perform on Saturday, Jan. 11, at the Stone Church in Brattleboro to raise money and awareness for local homeless programs. Their Contra-Slam mix creates a powerfully danceable sound to elevate traditional New England, old time and Celtic fiddle music, merging boundless rhythmic energy with melody and song. Barely a year in existence, the band has lit up New England from clubs and live radio to major festivals and barn dances. This event is the second...
Some of the best undergraduate singing groups in the nation will perform at the Latchis Theatre on Saturday, Feb. 1, at 7:30 p.m., in Brattleboro's 11th Annual Collegiate A Cappella Concert. A benefit for the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) sponsored by Brattleboro Savings & Loan, the concert features the Dartmouth Aires, Tufts Beelzebubs, Amherst College Zumbyes, University of Vermont Cat's Meow, Clark Bars, and one other group to be announced. The all-male Dartmouth Aires and Tufts Beelzebubs are...
Labor historian Annelise Orleck will recount the struggle for welfare rights by Las Vegas women in the 1970s in a talk at Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro on Jan. 8 at 7 p.m. Her talk, “What if Poor Women Ran the World?” is part of the Vermont Humanities Council's First Wednesdays lecture series, and is free and open to the public. Orleck will tell the story of nine African-American union maids in Las Vegas who challenged welfare cuts and built...
The Main Street Arts “Taste of the Arts, Tales from a Community” continues Thursday, Jan. 9, at 6 p.m., with a presentation by ukulele artist Ben Carr. Carr is a Saxtons River-based musician focused on performance and education of drum set, percussion, and ukulele. He fronts his own band, the Ben Carr Music Project, and also performs solo. He also appears with many regional bands, including R&B/jazz artist Patty Carpenter, blues guitarist Sunny Lowdown, and the original Vermont reggae outfit...
In my opinion, it is not a good idea to turn the Vermont Yankee site into a so-called “green field,” whatever that means. The site is much too valuable as an electricity generating center or hub. All of the essential infrastructure and components are already in place, most going back to 1972 and before. These include the transmission switchyard, substation, big transformers, cooling water intake and discharge structures, aquatic and terrestrial environmental assessments, geologic and seismic assessments, groundwater studies -
Turning Point of Windham County has new downtown digs. Sellers accepted the nonprofit addiction recovery center's offer on property at 39 Elm St. Plans call for announcing reconstruction project news - and a grand reopening - in the spring. Turning Point was a fixture on Elm Street for its first five years, but left in August 2011, citing high rents and heating bills. As it happened, it moved out the day before Tropical Storm Irene crashed through town. Its pending...
He was born Jerome Solon Felder in Brooklyn in 1925. A son of Jewish immigrants, he contracted polio as a child and was left paralyzed, needing crutches and a wheelchair to get around. He would reinvent himself as a blues singer named Doc Pomus, and then go on to become one of the great pop songwriters of the 1950s and 1960s. You might have seen his name in the small print on the 45s that contained his greatest hits -
I enjoyed Kevin O'Keefe's thoughtful article. I would like to point out, though, that when he speculates about his health-care options, he's mistaken in assuming Christian Scientists are entitled to exemption from the Affordable Care Act insurance mandate on religious grounds. It's a common misperception. As we work together for improved health and health care for all, accurate information is useful to everyone.
Tyson Kinne threads an orange cord through the barrel of a gun. The cord informs fellow officers that the firearm is unloaded, explains the Vermont State Police detective trooper. Kinne, part of an eight-member Vermont State Police's Tactical Support Unit which trains law enforcement statewide, is based in the Brattleboro barracks. He is among 44 members of local law enforcement agencies who are taking part in the empty corridors of Brattleboro Union High School on this day, Dec. 27, to...
Main Street Arts and the Saxtons River Historical Society again join forces for a series of Tuesday hourlong fireside chats highlighting the area's rich history. The series begins Jan. 7, at 5:30 p.m., at the Saxtons River Inn and Restaurant with a screening of the brief video “As the River Flows,” a journey through Rockingham from prehistoric times to the present day. Discussion and sharing follow, with input from local history buffs. The series' second installment, Jan. 14, discusses the...
New England Youth Theatre Alumni Association presents its fourth annual Shakespeare Unrehearsed fundraiser for NEYT's “Angels in the Wings” scholarship fund. This year's offering is Shakespeare's pastoral comedy “As You Like It.” The play tells the story of Rosalind, a young beauty who flees from her treacherous uncle's court with the help of her cousin Celia and their faithful jester. As they journey through the tranquil Forest of Arden, the trio stumble across strange philosophies, hidden strengths, and love. NEYT...
It might be a great contract “that was quickly ratified by the [United Nurses and Allied Professionals] members who work at the Retreat.” So quick I did not have an opportunity to participate. Maybe such a fine contract could be made available to the Rank and File. The UNAP website today provides a copy of a contract that expired over two years ago. Is there enough class in the union that represents us to provide at least a digital copy...
Vermont Performance Lab (VPL) is one of 895 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Art Works grant. VPL says in a press release it was recommended for a $10,000 grant to support research and development residencies and the presentation of new works in 2014 by three nationally and internationally known choreographers: Sara East Johnson of Brooklyn, N.Y., Alex Ketley of San Francisco, and Thierry Thieû Niang of Paris. In May, VPL will partner with...
Windham County could benefit from millions in economic-development and site-restoration funds, according to an agreement reached by the state and Entergy over the fate of its Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) announced last week by Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin included funding for a county bracing for the economic impact of the plant's closing in 2014. The MOU also proposes an end to the litigation between the company and the state. Fulfillment of the MOU is contingent...
If you're like me, movies with battle robots and alien creatures boasting artificial intelligence - an oxymoron if ever there was one - leave you cold. But maybe we should think again. We might learn something about our future by watching Star Trek and Terminator reruns, not to mention newer films that focus on robotic warfare. With Google's recent purchase of Boston Dynamics, the firm that makes battle robots which look like galloping headless horses, people are starting to take...
On Town Meeting Day, March 4, Marlboro voters will elect one Selectboard member to a three-year term; town clerk to a three-year term; one lister to a three-year term; one auditor to a three-year term; one School Board member to a three-year term; a constable to a one-year term; grand juror to a one-year term; and town agent to a one-year term. Many of the incumbents are running again, but current Selectboard member Andrea Livermore is not running again. Also,