Wilmington and Whitingham never won a state boys' basketball title when they were separate high schools.
It's been about a decade since the two schools merged as Twin Valley, but a state title in Division IV boys' hoops continued to elude them.
This was the season when it looked like the Wildcats' fortunes would change. Many of the players who keyed an undefeated state championship team in soccer were playing basketball. They lost only one game in the regular season and advanced to the state finals for the first time in four tries.
Heartbreak continued on Saturday at Barre Municipal Auditorium as the top-seeded Wildcats lost to the second-seeded Danville Indians, 50-43, in the Division IV championship game.
The owners of RadioShack franchise stores in Brattleboro and Greenfield, Mass., say they are not affected by the company's recently announced decision to shutter 1,100 of its stores around the United States. Ira and Shelly Brezinsky, owners of FutureLink Corp. and parent company BRW Electronics, said last week in...
Selectmen on March 5, fresh from the previous day's Representative Town Meeting, promptly reorganized the board, agreed to maintain its rules of procedure, and voted to let ride its every-other-week-at-6 p.m. meeting schedule. They also heard an update on the town's direction toward working with a solar energy provider,
Change was the theme of the first post-election meeting of the Rockingham Free Public Library Board of Trustees on Tuesday night. With four newly elected members on the board, the six members who were present unanimously voted to oust Chair Jan Mitchell-Love and select a new leadership slate. The board named incoming Trustee David Gould as chair. Trustees also elected Carolyn Frisa vice-chair and Doreen Aldrich, secretary. Pat Fowler was re-elected as treasurer. All votes were unanimous. Tuesday's meeting was...
The Brattleboro Fire Department has announced it's promoted two department members and hired a new full-time firefighter. Lt. Mark Geno was promoted to captain; firefighter Daniel “Dan” Hiner was promoted to lieutenant; Andrew “Andy” Blazej came on board as a full-time firefighter from a field of 47 candidates. The staffing changes follow the retirement of Capt. Billy Johnson at the end of January after his nearly 28 years of service. Applicants participated in a lengthy hiring process that included a...
There is a wealth of information, evidential or otherwise, that - based on the destruction of the World Trade Center towers alone - demands that the Office of the Independent Counsel be empowered to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate all government and non-government forensic crime data related to Towers 1, 2, and 7. The focus of such an investigation should be targeted to the intra and extra crime field analysis around those towers. What happened to the towers on...
College news • Benjamin Dandrea of Brattleboro was named to the honor roll for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for the fall 2013 semester at the University of Kansas. • McKenzie Bover, Erin Leblanc, David Mahoney, and Soren Pelz-Walsh, all of Brattleboro, recently joined the Castleton State College Mentoring Program, which matches Castleton undergraduates with local fourth and fifth grade students from the Castleton Village School. During weekly informal meetings throughout the academic year, the college student role...
Several weeks ago, I boarded a plane to my current home. As I watched the frozen Northeastern ground grow smaller and a flight attendant glance around before surreptitiously sniffing a perfume sample in the SkyMall magazine, I thought of my destination, and how it differs from where I've been. Moving to a new place has given me a chance to observe some qualities that I possess, qualities so ingrained in Vermont culture I have never given them a second thought.
I respectfully disagree with Paul Capcara's conclusion that Vermont should expedite the process for forcibly medicating psychiatric patients. I watched my grandmother strapped down and injected with these drugs while she pleaded for nurses to stop. The drugs made it easier for the nurses to manage my grandmother. But to her, blurry vision, chronic dry mouth, anxiety, and intolerable restlessness were just a few of the long-lasting side effects she associated with her daily toxic regimen. As a health-care worker...
Recently, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and the joint chiefs of staff announced a plan to reduce the size of the U.S. Army and to eliminate all Air Force A-10 attack aircraft. This proposal would shave the 2015 military budget to just a bit under half a trillion dollars, still more than the rest of the world's defense spending combined. The A-10s were there to destroy Soviet tanks in case Western Europe was invaded, presumably in the 1950s. The Army had...
Berkley & Veller Greenwood Country agents were recognized at their annual awards breakfast held recently at Peter Havens Restaurant. At the breakfast, Jack Berkley, founder and president of Berkley & Veller Greenwood Country Realtors, thanked and commended managers, agents, and support staff, all of whom, he said, helped the firm close out 2013 with more than $56 million in sales volume. Berkley singled out Robert Doyle, with more than $9.33 million in property value sold, as the company's leading real...
Integrated Solar Application Corp. (ISA) announced that it has selected regional ambulance service Rescue Inc. as its recipient of a gift of a $24,000 solar photovoltaic system. This 6-kilowatt system, to be installed on the roof of the Rescue Inc. building at 541 Canal St., will yield roughly 7,500 kilowatt-hours of energy per year, which is 18 percent of Rescue Inc.'s annual facilities' energy consumption. Rescue is a nonprofit, independent service with ambulances and emergency medical technicians responding to calls...
The recent revelations of genocide and the all-too-familiar accompanying atrocities in North Korea are obviously extremely disturbing, though not totally shocking given what we know about the leadership of that unfortunate state. If history is an indicator, it is unlikely that the United States or other Western powers will intervene in a meaningful way, particularly with North Korea in possession of a nuclear arsenal. The century's first genocide occurred in 1915 and was committed by Turkey against its Armenian minority,
The Bellows Falls Union High School Drama Club presents “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” at the school auditorium Friday, March 14 at 7 p.m., and at a matinee Saturday, March 15 at 2 p.m. and that night at 7. This musical was inspired by the farces of the ancient Roman playwright Plautus, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart. The story follows a slave, Pseudolus, as he...
Brattleboro Union High School's music department presents a late-winter concert on Tuesday, March 18, at 7 p.m. in the BUHS auditorium. This free show features the school's chorus, band, jazz band, jazz workshop and Madrigals. The concert band will perform Morton Gould's “American Salute,” John Philip Sousa's “Washington Post,” John Mackey's “Sheltering Sky,” and Thomas Duffy's “Michigan's Motors.” The chorus will sing Rosephanye Powell's setting of the Nigerian folk song “E Oru O,” Gustav Holst's “I Love My Love,” Morten...
Three speeches, evaluations set for Thursday Toastmasters BRATTLEBORO - BrattleMasters, the Brattleboro-based chapter of Toastmasters International, meets the second and fourth Thursday of the month from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on the second floor of Marlboro College Graduate Center, 28 Vernon St., Brattleboro. The club's next meeting is Thursday, March 13, at the same time and location. Three speeches are planned, as is the ever-popular one- to two-minute “table topics” challenge. Guests are welcome, and refreshments are provided. There is...
Employers sought for annual River Valley Employment Fair on April 23 SPRINGFIELD - The River Valley Workforce Investment Board announced that it will host the third annual Employment Fair on Wednesday, April 23, from 3 to 6 p.m., at the Nolin Murray Meeting Center, 40 Summer St. Fair organizers are actively are looking for local employers with job opportunities, especially those who gear up in the spring and summer. The fair is a joint effort between the River Valley Workforce...
Brian Tyler of A.L. Tyler & Sons in Brattleboro recently built and donated a portable wiring trainer for Windham Regional Career Center's electricity program. The trainer allows for multiple student use in the instruction of residential and commercial wiring. According to WRCC electricity instructor David Hotin, the trainer “is very well built and is a real improvement over our current system” and will serve as an excellent model for future mock-ups. Tyler, who serves on Hotin's advisory committee, said he...
Soprano Kristen Carmichael-Bowers is a woman with a mission. “I want to show the people in Windham County what a wonderful array of great composers are now living and working in our area,” Carmichael-Bowers says. “I do not think the average person living in southern Vermont realizes what an incredible wealth of talent we have around here, all in less than an hour's drive.” To celebrate this array of talent, she once again has been working with the Brattleboro Music...
Town Hall's anti-pedestrian attitude has grown to attributing the pedestrians deaths to the pedestrian while leaving the driver blameless. This notion is shamefully reinforced by this article, and reality needs to bite hard on the backside of those who can make a difference. Alice Charkes wants “pedestrians ... to not be hit by [motorists] [and] bicyclists not hit [pedestrians].” Too bad she doesn't see to care about motorists hitting pedestrians. Here's a few rules of thumb for motorists that were...
Town Meeting voters on March 4 approved a $60,000 contract with the Windham County Sheriff's Department to provide 40 hours of comprehensive patrol coverage per week. According to the Sheriff's Department, the coverage will be similar to that which is provided to the towns of Putney and Westminster. Stratton today depends on the state police for regular patrols. An increase in break-ins and burglaries - mostly at second homes, officials have said - spurred the town to seek additional protection.
On Sunday, March 23, Brattleboro Music Center's Chamber Music Series presents the Escher String Quartet, widely acclaimed for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. Championed by the Emerson String Quartet, the Escher has toured extensively throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, and the United States. In its hometown of New York City, the ensemble serves as Artists of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, where last season it presented a critically acclaimed three-concert series featuring the quartets of Benjamin...
It may more inconvenient and expensive to hold Town Meeting inside a pair of historic buildings. However, voters in Newfane said at Town Meeting on March 4 that tradition trumps certain savings. By a voice vote, those voters overwhelmingly rejected an article calling for the town to use the Newbrook Elementary School for future Town Meetings, beginning in 2015. Voters shot down a similar measure in 2011. The town usually alternates between Union Hall in Newfane Village and Williamsville Hall...
You might be a freelance writer working in Brattleboro. Or build websites. Or - well, pick any sort of profession that serves that sometimes-awkward area where the creative meets the commercial. Or you might be a graphic designer, as I was for 15 or so years before I got back into the world of newspapers. At some point, you're going to wrestle with and maybe even agonize over whether you should raise your rates. That's exactly the situation that my...
Direct bus service between Brattleboro and Boston is back, with help from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). MassDOT's BusPlus program, a public/private partnership with other transportation agencies in New England and New York and private bus operators, is behind the return of direct bus service between southern Vermont and Boston. It is being funded through a one-time, $18.4 million federal grant. The program has bought 31 new buses for regional for-profit operators, including Greyhound Lines Inc., which is the...
In 1995, Jodi Clark took a theater trip to London as a student at Marlboro College, and there she saw a performance of Tom Stoppard's intellectual comedy of manners, Arcadia. “I loved it,” Clark says, recalling that what struck her about the show “was the way the play could cover many complex intellectual thoughts and family issues in a simple, clear fashion. I always wanted to see what I could bring to this drama of ideas.” Clark finally gets her...
The Arts Council of Windham County will present a program entitled “Selling Art in Windham County!?” on Thursday, March 27, from 7 to 9 p.m., at The Works Café, 118 Main St. Windham County is a great place for artists and craftsmen to live and work, but often a frustrating place to sell. Why is this, and what can artists do about it? What models work, and which ones don't? By one estimate, successful area artists make 80 percent of...
I was quoted as questioning whether having a fire station in West Brattleboro would be prudent. That is inaccurate. We definitely need a fire station at this end of the town! I asked whether it was good fiscal sense to build a whole new firehouse. The architectural firm tells us we are going to save $200,000 by building new, but I am sure that in building or renovating three complexes at once (the police/municipal center and two firehouses) we will...
Although New England is experiencing an old-fashioned, snow-filled winter, spring is gathering to burst into bloom at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) on Saturday, March 15. That's when “Flora: A Celebration of Flowers in Contemporary Art” fills four of the museum's six galleries with vibrant work by 13 artists. Opening alongside “Flora” are “Out of the Shadows: Paintings by Jim Giddings” and “Water Studies, Brattleboro,” a site-specific installation by Jennifer Stock. The three new exhibits open to BMAC...
On Friday, March 21 at 8 p.m., Open Music Collective presents a “Spring Equinox Meeting of the Trios” quartet with Harvey Diamond on piano, Mitch Seidman on guitar, Claire Arenius on drums, and Jamie MacDonald on bass. A chance meeting eight years ago in Cambridge, Mass., brought these musicians together for a show at Lilypad, a performance space for new and improvisational music. Since then, Seidman has recorded two CDs and performed a number of concerts with MacDonald and Arenius;
The voters of Vernon wrapped a marathon Annual Town Meeting on March 5 after three long nights of debate. The effects of their decisions could ripple for months or years. Voters slashed the police department budget, rejected the $4.4 million school budget, picked apart the $2.2 million municipal budget, and approved funds for transferring the town pension plan to the municipal equivalent of a 401(k) retirement plan. The town will schedule a special town meeting to reconsider the school budget.
Windham Orchestra invites the community to help welcome the first day of spring with a program of lunch and music at the Latchis Theatre on Thursday, March 20. The event, dubbed “A Magic Garden,” a benefit for Brattleboro Senior Meals and Meals on Wheels programs, is directed by Maestro Hugh Keelan, who promises a colorful, diverse collection of musical gems. An extended program will be held March 22 at an evening concert in Chester. The program includes premières of works...
WOOL Radio in Bellows Falls has completed its move to a new spot on the FM dial - and now covers more of the Connecticut River Valley with a stronger signal. The nonprofit, volunteer-run community radio station, owned by the Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company, was off the air in early February while it did some technical work and tested its new equipment. The station, known as “Black Sheep Radio,” broadcasted at 100.1 FM with 6 watts of power since...
And so, at last, it comes to an end. With the election of four new, highly qualified board members to the Rockingham Free Public Library Board of Trustees, a sad chapter in the life of our community draws to a close, making way for fresh perspectives, new energy and, in time, much-needed healing - for individuals and for a town. It is a chapter that will not, and should not, be quickly forgotten. But it offers a new and optimistic...
Kristina Naylor pulls three jars of Sidehill Farm's latest fruit pastes from boxes lining half-empty warehouse shelves at the local jam producer's new facility. In the kitchen, against a checker-board wall of green and white tile that echos the company's signature gingham jar covers, a contractor cuts metal pipes. The expansion will let Kristina Naylor and her husband, Kelt, purchase more ingredients from local farmers - a long-held goal. “It was always the right thing to do,” says Kristina. Sidehill...
On Saturday, March 29, an Empty Bowls dinner will offer patrons hearty soups, delicious desserts, and soul stirring music to help fill the bowls of the hungry in the Deerfield Valley. Soups include Folly Food's delicious Clam Chowder, Dot's Restaurant's famous Tomato and Cheddar, Sandy Wirstrom's heartwarming Lentil Soup, Betty Appel's much sought after Hamburg Soup, and Irma Bartlett's iconic Clam Chowder, and the Matterhorn's amazing Pickle Soup. Soup will be served in unique bowls to take home while supplies...
The annual Women's Film Festival, a benefit for the Women's Freedom Center, continues through this weekend. All films are shown at the New England Youth Theatre, 100 Flat St., Brattleboro. Full film descriptions appear in the Women's Film Festival program, which appeared in last week's Commons, and at womensfreedomcenter.net/newsevents/womens-film-festival. Friday, March 14 6 p.m.: The Sidewalk and A Girl and a Gun. 7:30 p.m.: Ethel. Saturday, March 15 Noon: First Match and Lace Bite. 2 p.m.: My House and The...
On a Sunday afternoon this past January, singer Rachael Price watched a group of young girls perform a Martha and the Vandellas song on a stage inside a large barn in northwestern Massachusetts. The barn was part of the Institute for the Musical Arts, a music school for girls, and Price was in residency for the weekend. When the group finished their song, Price enthusiastically complimented them and then gave them tips on how to improve. She appeared as excited...