After two tough road defeats to the top two teams in Division I - a 58-49 loss to Burlington on Jan. 11, and a 82-62 loss to St. Johnsbury on Jan. 14 - the Brattleboro Colonels boys' basketball team needed some home cooking to get back on track.
In their first home game of the new year, the Colonels rolled to a 58-40 win over the Essex Hornets last Friday.
The Colonels took a 23-13 lead after one period as Chris McAuliffe scored 10 of his game-high 18 points. Issac Roach - who scored 22 in the St. Johnsbury game - had the hot hand in the second quarter with seven points as the Colonels outscored the Hornets 20-6 and took a 43-19 lead at the half.
“We've been focusing on the offense over the last couple of weeks, and it's starting to pay off,” said Brattleboro coach Joe Rivers. “They're making good decisions and getting to the right spots on the floor.”...
Vermont democracy is less than we believe: Crafty candidates can hijack our right to elect whom we choose. Vermont law is silent about one candidate running for, winning, and holding two or more seats on the same school board or Selectboard. Elected to more than one seat, a winner...
Brattleboro Sunrise Rotary to host poker tournament BRATTLEBORO - The Brattleboro Sunrise Rotary Club will host a seven-card-stud poker tournament on Saturday, Jan. 25, at American Legion Post 5 on Linden Street. There is an entry fee of $100 per player. All net proceeds from this event will benefit...
College news • The following local students were named to the Dean's List for the fall 2013 semester at Lyndon State College: Denise Kingsbury of Bellows Falls, Matthew Leblanc of Brattleboro, Laura Pluff of Newfane, Michelle Sawyers of West Dover, Sarah Choquette of Westminster Station, and Anne Wright of Halifax. Meghan Hopkins of Brattleboro and Stephanie Walton of Dummerston were named to Lyndon State's President's List. • Nicholas Massucco of Bellows Falls and Wendy Toney of Brattleboro were named to...
Last year, filmmaker Jay Craven caught a performance of Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal (BJM) on tour in a small town in Canada and was “blown away” by what he saw. “There is lots of energy onstage,” he says. “It is fun with great mass appeal. The stage is filled with a lot of color, light and sound. I think there will be something here for everyone to enjoy, no matter if he or she is the most seasoned aficionado...
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Windham County is making a special effort to recruit new volunteers, especially males, during January's National Mentoring Month. “Most, though not all, of the 30 children on our waiting list are boys,” explained Kristy Smith, program director of Big Brothers Big Sisters in Windham County. Smith added she isn't surprised: she'd been a case manager for a year before being promoted to director of the program, and knew fewer men volunteer their time, and that...
In November, Freedom & Unity: The Vermont Movie, films about Vermont made by Vermonters, came to Brattleboro. Vermont's unique contribution to direct democracy, our Annual Town Meetings, was one of the themes. The segment on energy, “People's Power,” included scenes with citizens in Town Meetings debating shutting down Vermont Yankee. In 2009 and 2010, 51 towns in Vermont passed resolutions that advised the Legislature not to grant a license extension to VY, and to hold Entergy responsible to fully fund...
I'm hoping to see more opportunities to explore and find ways to fine tune how we carry out the fire and police project. We all know that it is underway, but I hear more people who continue to think a correction is needed - that the cost is too high, and that we should be smarter than to stay handcuffed to such a harmful project. The way the project stands is directly affecting my desire to buy a house in...
The people of New Hampshire - its transportation department, elected representatives, and the citizens who put them in office - are demolishing the Vilas Bridge between Bellows Falls and Walpole by neglect as surely as if they actually were using explosives and wrecking balls. And they are doing it in clear violation of a federal agreement that New Hampshire signed in 1994 pledging to maintain the Vilas, the most significant historic bridge anywhere on the Connecticut River between New Hampshire...
It may be January, but the people who run the various agencies dealing with hunger in Windham County are already thinking about summer. At the Hunger Council of Windham County's monthly meeting on Jan. 15 at the Marlboro College Graduate Center, plans were afoot to find more ways to get food to children who rely on summer food programs. Last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) served 43,061 meals from mid-June through August at sites...
Photographer Brett Simison took some time away from his busy career as a commercial photographer to study the works of Robert Frost and to make a series of photos of the cabin and surrounding landscape where the New England poet lived during the summers while teaching at the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference in Ripton. “I've tried to create a portfolio of photographs that conveys the natural beauty of the farm and the surrounding lands that the famous poet explored and...
Vermont tobacco users have a new resource to help them quit. 802Quits was launched on New Year's Day by the Vermont Department of Health. It provides advice, tips, tools, and information in order to help Vermonters quit smoking and using other harmful tobacco products. Previously known as the Vermont Quit Network, 802Quits was developed to provide support and motivation in a useful and meaningful way to tobacco users statewide throughout their quitting journey. 802Quits offers Vermont tobacco users four ways...
Councilor Sandra Levine did a fine job of doing what she is paid to do: spread discontent and misinformation. She got everything wrong, either intentionally or through carelessness. Date: Dec. 23 is two days before Christmas. Lack of Certificate of Public Good: Entergy is operating under the old one while the court case finishes, because the Legislature acted illegally - says the federal courts. Decommissioning: SAFSTOR ends after 60 years; it does not start then. Decommissioning fund: Entergy added money...
Six regional high school groups take the stage on Friday, Jan. 31, to give their own concert in anticipation of the next day's 11th annual Collegiate A Cappella Concert. The High School A Cappella Warm-up Concert again rocks the main gallery at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center downtown. Proceeds support the In-Sight Photography Project's scholarship fund. According to In-Sight Executive Director Teta Hilsdon, approximately 90 percent of the project's students rely on the scholarship fund. In-Sight offers a 100...
On Jan. 27, Open Music Collective will be starting its spring semester with Vocal Classes and Jazz Ensembles. The Jazz Vocal Repertoire Class will be held Monday Evenings at 5:00 pm. Compositions of study include music of Duke Ellington, Chick Corea, Earl Zindars, Rodgers and Hart, Hoagy Carmichael, Horace Silver and more. Learning songs, writing charts, working with rhythm sections, counting off tunes and improvising will be covered in all classes. Class has limited room for six people and vocalists...
A free showing will take place of the film The Hungry Heart, which provides an intimate look at the often hidden world of prescription drug addiction. The film brings the audience into and takes them through the world of St. Albans pediatrician Fred Holmes, who works with patients struggling with this disease and prescribes Suboxen as part of their treatment. In addition to students and parents/guardians involved in co-curricular activities, the film is open to all students, staff, and community...
Southeastern Vermont's Northern Roots Traditional Music Festival will take place on Saturday, Jan. 25, in Brattleboro. Now in its seventh year, the Brattleboro Music Center's annual festival brings together local and regional musicians representing the best of various northern musical traditions. This year's festival features more than 20 musicians and the rich traditions of Ireland, Scotland, England, Scandinavia, New England, and French Canada. The annual Northern Roots Festival is a celebrated opportunity for Brattleboro's vibrant community of traditional musicians to...
As he visited downtown businesses on a frigid Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., heard the importance of “leveling the playing field” for brick-and-mortar businesses. After hearing from some two dozen community members at a noontime “Congress in Your Community” public forum at the Robert H. Gibson River Garden, Welch made the rounds on Main Street on Jan. 21, escorted by Kate O'Connor, Selectboard vice-chair, who was on duty in her role as Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce executive director.
Rainer Maria Rilke wrote: “You are nearing the land that is life; you will recognize it by its seriousness.” The land I have chosen is South Africa. Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) had become his most serious and daring, forming the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1995 to heal both victims and perpetrators of Apartheid, to take each one on the journey into remorse, deep enough to bring life back into balance. Yes, that deep. Counseling agencies and clinical psychologists worked under...
I'm here watching the snow come down, wondering if this storm will impact my electric bill next year. In case you haven't heard, four days before it went into effect, Green Mountain Power announced a $1.50-a-month surcharge for all of its customers to pay for last year's storm damage. You already pay about $14 a month for this. Green Mountain Power suits couldn't do this alone, I hope. So what state official or public service overseer, attorney general, or governor...
The Brattleboro Selectboard unanimously approved $36,147 for the Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategy (SeVEDS) at its Jan. 21 meeting. SeVEDS is part of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, which is focused on improving economic conditions in Windham County, which has experienced lower wages and slower economic growth over the past two decades compared to neighboring counties. According to Selectboard Chair David Gartenstein, the money would come from the interest generated by the town's grant program. SeVEDS representatives Laura Sibilia and...
A civil complaint has been filed in Windham Superior Court against the Rockingham Free Public Library (RFPL) trustees by former library director Célina Houlné. Houlné, who was terminated as library director on Aug. 29, 2013, seeks reinstatement, compensation for lost income and benefits, and payment for attorneys' fees. She also seeks unspecified damages as a result of a “hostile work environment” caused by Chair Janice Mitchell-Love and Vice-Chair Deborah Wright, the only two trustees of the nine-member board who were...
The town of Winhall lost two of its plow trucks and had two road graders heavily damaged following a two-alarm fire on Jan. 20 that destroyed the town garage on Old Town Road. According to Keene Mutual Aid, the first alarm was called in at about 10 p.m., and a second alarm was struck shortly after. WCAX News reported that, according to Winhall Police Chief Jeffrey Whitesell, the fire may have started in a dump truck before spreading to the...
Vermont has taken many steps on the road to health care reform, including the passage of Act 48 two years ago that laid the foundation for the state's health care system called Green Mountain Care. For many of its citizens, however, questions and concerns remain. The Vermont Workers' Center held the fifth of six planned health care forums at St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Brattleboro on Jan. 20. The center's top question that night for the three panelists: How might...
The Brattleboro Selectboard has placed the 1 percent local option tax on two ballots. At the board's Jan. 21 meeting, the members approved placing the tax question to a town-wide vote on the March 4 Australian ballot. This non-binding advisory vote would essentially serve as a straw poll. The local option tax monies would help defray property taxes and fund renovations to the police and fire stations. The board also approved placing the option tax on an Australian ballot before...
Capt. Billy Johnson, surrounded by file cabinets and practice fire alarms, sits in the training room on the second floor of Central Fire Station. He's speaking, but a call from dispatch blares over the emergency scanner, and he pauses mid-sentence. He stands, listening intently. “I may have to go,” he warns. But no, this call won't require the fire department's response. Johnson takes his seat again and continues fielding questions about his long career, his imminent retirement, and his firefighting...
The Brattleboro Selectboard decided against putting before Representative Town Meeting in March a proposal to lower the voting age from 18 to 16. The board heard the proposal, which would require an amendment to the Town Charter, at its Jan. 7 meeting, and has since sought additional legal information, said Selectboard Chair David Gartenstein at the board's Jan. 21 meeting. Gartenstein said the board decided not to include the proposal in this year's Representative Town Meeting agenda because amending the...