Nuclear engineer-turned-environmentalist Pradeep Indulkar will be in Brattleboro to show his film “High Power” on Wednesday, Feb. 5, at 7 p.m., at the Brattleboro Food Co-op Community Room.
“High Power,” a 27-minute documentary about the health issues faced by residents of Tarapur, a town in Maharashtra, and home to the 50-year-old Tarapur nuclear power plant, recently won the “Yellow Oscar” in the short film category in the Rio de Janeiro leg of the Uranium Film Festival (www.uraniumfilmfestival.org).
“The government was showing a very rosy picture of Tarapur on TV, so a few of us thought of going there and interviewing the people,” says Indulkar. “That material was very strong; people were talking from their heart, and instead of showing it on a news channel, I thought it could be made into a documentary.”
After the film, Indulkar will describe the passionate anti-nuclear movement in India and the movement's request for support from the global anti-nuclear movement, particularly from those countries whose nuclear industries are building plants in India.
Post Oil Solutions announces it has received an $8,000 Community Petroleum Resistance and Habitat Protection grant from clothing company Patagonia. Post Oil said in a press release that the funds will support its continuing efforts to build a regional grassroots “resistance movement” of a piece with efforts taking shape...
Thanks to a recent large donation, the Windham County Heat Fund has met more than half of its $8,000 goal as part of a Thomas Thompson Trust matching grant. The Brattleboro Ford-Subaru dealerships recently presented Heat Fund founders Richard Davis and Daryl Pillsbury with checks totaling $4,300 from the...
Pets are an important part of many families, and a new Red Cross Pet First Aid app puts lifesaving information right in the hands of dog and cat owners so they can provide emergency care until veterinary assistance is available. The 99-cent Pet First Aid app gives iPhone and Android mobile device users instant access to expert information so they learn how to maintain their pets' health and what to do during emergencies. “Pet owners learn how to recognize health...
Toastmasters Speech-a-thon set for Thursday, Jan. 30, at Marlboro Grad Center BRATTLEBORO - BrattleMasters, the Brattleboro-based chapter of Toastmasters International, is packing an extra meeting, a Speech-a-thon, into January. This is members' chance to work an extra speech into the calendar, earn more credit toward their educational goals, and have even more fun connecting with audiences. This meeting is lean and mean: no “ah” counter, grammarian, or table topics. The meeting is Thursday, Jan. 30, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.,
Births • In Lewiston, Maine (Central Maine Medical Center), Dec. 18, 2013, a daughter, Harper Destiny Wise, to Scott and Melissa Wise of Lewiston; granddaughter to Bob and Sue Stomski of Jamaica, Marianne Wise of Lewiston, and Mike Wise of Kissimmee, Fla.; great-granddaughter to Raymond and Joyce Ballantine of Jamaica, Helen and Bob Keeler of Mechanicsburg, Pa., and Miriam Jean of Auburn, Maine. College news • Tanya Brown of Brattleboro was one of 12 recipients statewide of the Community College...
It's been a difficult season for the Bellows Falls Terriers. Entering their Jan. 24 home game against Woodstock, the BF boys had lost six straight games and claimed only one victory in their previous nine games. But Jan. 24, BF changed the script. With good defense and lots of three-pointers from an unexpected source, the Terriers pulled out a 63-55 win over the Wasps. Sophomore guard Zac Streeter was the hero, with six threes for a career-high 20 points. “He's...
The In-Sight Photography Project has received funding from the Thomas Thompson Trust allowing for the purchase of eight new Apple laptop computers for student use in digital photography classes. According to In-Sight's Executive Director Teta Hilsdon in a press statement, these computers replace six older models, and allow more students to take classes. Hilsdon said students will begin using the new computers in many of In-Sight's spring classes, which launch the week of Feb. 10. The new gear will also...
“Everything we do is improvisation that is made up on the spot,” says Karin Hammerberg, one of four members of the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB), arguably America's best-known improv troupe, who will make their way to Marlboro College for a performance this weekend. “UCB's touring company is composed of a pool of around 20 individuals, from which four will perform at any given gig,” she says. Hammerberg was introduced to improv after a performer from Second City demonstrated the art...
Combining text and visual art is the subject of a class to be led by Christina Anderson at Main Street Arts beginning Sunday, Feb. 2 from 10 a.m. to noon. The four-session “Text Into Image” is a multimedia class focused on bringing text into visual art that creates another layer to use in the art-making process to engage and inform viewers. Anderson has been teaching children and adults for almost 10 years. She earned her degree in fine arts from...
After nearly two years of searching and energetic fundraising, The Future Collective has finally found a permanent community arts space. The Future Collective, an arts organization comprised of four enthusiastic individuals, Willie Gussin, Tess Lindsay, Jonas Fricke, and Hannah Cummins, with Wyatt Andrews preparing to join the fray. The members of this steering committee are dedicated to improving the artistic and community life of Brattleboro, will use the two-room studio at 17 Elliot St., which they are calling “The Future,”
I've noticed a few things of late. Two things, actually. First, most public men's rooms have one urinal, which probably requires very little water to flush, and maybe one or two toilets, each of which requires considerably more water to flush than the urinal. Second, most men are wicked impatient when it comes to wringing the dew from the lily. In they confidently stroll, see that the urinal's occupied, and spring into a stall as though the fate of the...
When Windham Regional Commission executive director Chris Campany walked into the NewBrook Firehouse on Jan. 22 for a public forum on broadband and cell phone access in the region, he saw something rare and unusual for Newfane. He saw Vermont Telecommunications Authority executive director Christopher Campbell talking on a cell phone. “When I saw him, I thought he was just messing with me,” said Campany. But it wasn't a prank. In the middle of one of the notorious dead zones...
The Rockingham Free Public Library offers “Light in Winter: Creative Writing Grounded in Memory,” a creative writing workshop with author Elayne Clift, on Saturday, Feb. 1, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. During the dark days of winter, when some might find it difficult to be outdoors, why not let a little light shine in through creative writing grounded in memory? Using the inspirational words of other writers, and working from triggers, this creative non-fiction workshop asks participants to look...
Conductor and pianist Ignat Solzhenitsyn will discuss the writing of his father, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and their family's life in Cavendish in the 1980s in a talk at Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro on Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. His talk, “Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: Writing the Red Wheel in Vermont,” part of the Vermont Humanities Council's First Wednesdays lecture series, is free and open to the public. The next Brattleboro talk is “Rumi, A Soul on Fire” with Dartmouth professor Nancy Jay...
“Books and More: What Does Your Local Library Do?” is the topic of a conversation with Rockingham Free Public Library staff, Friends, patrons, and audience members on Thursday, Feb. 6, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., at the library. Library Development Consultant Amy Howlett, RFPL librarians Emily Zervas and Sam Maskell, and others will be on hand to talk about the role of the library in the community and about the library's programs and services. In conversation with the audience, the...
I remember seeing my friend David crossing a busy intersection with Oliver, my 2-year-old son, in his arms. I watched as Oliver relaxed, eased into the embrace, and lay his head on David's shoulder - I watched as pure joy spread across David's face and enlivened his step. This was a month or so before the Academy Awards, 2006. David and I dressed up for the awards, he in a tux, me in black and glitter. We drank red wine...
AARP Tax-Aide offers free tax counseling to assist taxpayers with the preparation of basic federal and state income tax returns. Available to middle and low income taxpayers, AARP Tax-Aide offers assistance with AARP/IRS trained and certified counselors at various sites throughout Windham County. Call each site to make an appointment. Calendar listings will appear in February. The sites are: • Brattleboro Senior Center, 207 Main St., Mondays 1-4 p.m.; Wednesdays 9 a.m.-noon. Call 802-257-7570 between 9 a.m. and noon. •
It's flu season again. That means public health officials are encouraging everyone over six months of age to get a flu shot. Even if you don't have a primary health care provider, you can stop by your local drugstore to get one. Some businesses even provide on-site flu clinics, and some hospitals require mandatory flu shots for their staff. By 2020, U.S. health leaders would like to see 80 percent of the population get annual shots. This is great news...
Please urge Richard Gage and his “experts” to demonstrate for you on video with audio how explosives or incendiaries secretly cut the 4.91-in. flanges, 3.07-in. webs, and 215-sq.-in. cross sections of W14 x 730 columns like the 11 of 24 in WTC 7's core, and like the four corner columns in each tower's core. If they ever had to do so, this “debate” would be over.
The writer is grossly ill-informed and practicing the maximum of political spin. 1. Entergy and all other nuclear power plant owners don't control the trust funds for the decommissioning funds. They are independently managed. Her statement that Entergy will be free to play the stock market is not true. Do Commons readers think that Senator Bernie Sanders wouldn't have caught this if it were true? 2. Used fuel can't physically be moved from the spent-fuel pool until it has “cooled”
For at least 12 years, I have been working off and on with other citizens to bring broadband to Marlboro. Currently, there is significant coverage here, though not 99 percent. Just last July I received DSL capability. I question whether there is 99 percent coverage statewide as well. At the Vermont Telecommunications Authority's information session in Newfane on broadband and cell-phone availability in Vermont last week, I overheard one of the VTA staff members say privately that the number likely...
When the state of Vermont holds a major public hearing about Vermont Yankee and almost no one attends, what does it mean? I was asking myself this question as I waited, virtually alone, to testify at a well-announced public hearing Jan. 14 in the Vermont Interactive Television studio in Williston. The subject of Vermont Yankee usually draws a big, passionate crowd, with both supporters and opponents eager to express their views. Yet on this night, most of the state's 13...
A new language school is bringing cutting-edge language teaching methods to Brattleboro. Express Fluency, opening in Brattleboro on Jan. 30, establishes what it says in a press release is the first language school in New England in which students “develop fluency quickly and easily via an engaging method based on the latest brain and language acquisition research.” The school offers a free Spanish class to beginners on Jan. 30 at 5:30 p.m. at the Neighborhood Schoolhouse, 231 Western Ave., and...
Some two dozen residents turned out Jan. 22 for a public hearing on proposed changes to the Zoning Bylaws and Route 5/30 corridors in the Town Plan. The hearing, at the Dummerston Historical Society building, lasted approximately two hours, and was convened as the town wrestles with how to improve economic development while protecting homeowners' options. A one-hour Selectboard meeting followed. Many people addressed themselves to concerns about various aspects of proposals for the corridors, particularly Claudia Teachman; Tammy McNamara,
Rockingham Development Director Francis “Dutch” Walsh testified on Jan. 23 before the New Hampshire House Public Works and Highways Committee on a bill introduced to the New Hampshire Legislature by Rep. John Cloutier, D-Claremont. The bill, HB1205, would put reconstruction of the Vilas Bridge that links Bellows Falls and North Walpole, N.H. back into the New Hampshire 10-year transportation improvement plan. The bill would further require New Hampshire “to pay 50 percent of the cost of such reconstruction or rehabilitation...
Brattleboro's March 4 town election will be run without any contested races. According to Town Clerk Annette Cappy, all the candidates will run unopposed in Brattleboro's town elections this year. Of 13 open seats, she said, only one new person has joined the ranks. The lack of candidates raises the question of whether political representation in Brattleboro reflects the multitude of perspectives, needs, and experiences of its residents. Kim Price is running for a one-year seat on the town School...
With the deadline for petitions for spots on this year's town election ballot passed, it looks like several positions on the School Board will remain empty. In contrast, open Selectboard and Library Trustee positions will be hotly contested. No one is running for the three-year Rockingham school director position previously held by Thomas Brennan, who is not returning. Only one candidate has thrown a hat in the ring for the two-year position: Richard “Rick” Holloway. However, Colin James and Sherri...
A new RSVP Bone Builders class has started in Vernon. The class meets on Mondays and Fridays from 10 to 11 am at Vernon Senior Housing, 82 Huckle Hill Road, Vernon. Bone Builders classes are free, and open to all. Based on research by Tufts University finding that age-appropriate weight training exercises increase bone density and muscle strength, the RSVP Bone Builders Exercise program uses weight training to prevent and reverse the effects of osteoporosis. Key to the classes are...
In his Jan. 15 budget address, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin called on communities to help control the state's perceived high education tax by taking a fine-tooth comb to school budgets on town meeting day. Based on projected school budget increases, Shumlin said that the statewide education property tax will increase 5 to 7 cents. “I urge Vermonters at town meetings across our state this year to carefully scrutinize school budgets that increase per-pupil spending and grow faster than our incomes,”
The Town School Board held a public forum, “Learning in the 21st Century,” to gauge community opinion about the future direction of the town's three elementary schools. The first in a series of community conversations attracted parents, school administration, and school staff members, who participated in the almost-two-hour meeting at Academy School on Jan. 22. According to School Board Vice Chair Mark Truhan, the board approved a fiscal year 2015 budget of over $15 million. This reflects a 0.49-percent increase...