Selectboard members agreed May 5 to apply for a grant to kick off the next phase of work to improve drainage on Grafton Road near Acton Hill.
According to Highway Foreman Kurt Bostrom, funds for an engineering study were raised in this year's budget. A motion was needed to request $194,568 in new state grant money for structural work, with Townshend responsible for an in-kind match of 10 percent, or $19,457.
The work will be completed next fiscal year, perhaps by October “or whenever the state requires,” officials said.
Bostrom also said the money would cover $250 for software for updating the town's inventory of road surfaces.
Join the Rockingham Arts and Museum Project (RAMP), Vermont Life staff, the state Office of the Creative Economy, and creatives around the Bellows Falls area for a dynamic story pitch event designed to draw out some of the best examples of creativity and innovation happening in Vermont today. The...
Rockingham Town Clerk Doreen Aldrich explains that clerks record all deeds, including cemetery deeds. They also issue marriage licenses and record births, marriages, and deaths. They keep school records. Many towns in Windham County maintain records dating to the 1700s. State statute also requires clerks record their town's annual...
Stephan Morse of Newfane has stepped up as interim executive director of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corp. Morse is no stranger to tall orders as chair of the Southeast Vermont Economic Development Strategy task force on post-Vermont Yankee and as former Vermont speaker of the house. Morse started at the BDCC on May 12. He fills the executive director role vacated by Pat Moulton, who left to serve as Gov. Peter Shumlin's secretary of commerce and community development. Moulton started...
WKVT Radio presents “A Call to Action” on Thursday, May 15 - a community forum on the increasing problems of heroin use and related criminal activity in our area. The program will be broadcast live from Brooks Memorial Library and air during the “Live and Local” show's regular slot, 9 a.m. to noon, on 100.3 FM and 1490 AM. “A Call to Action” gathers policymakers, law enforcement, treatment providers, and drug-awareness and -prevention specialists for a discussion about what every...
Vernon voters approved a trimmed-down $4.35 million fiscal year 2015 school budget by just 28 votes. The 158 to 130 vote in favor of a smaller school budget took place by special Australian ballot on Tuesday. The revised budget required a second vote after residents rejected the budget during the Annual Town Meeting in March. School Board members told a small audience at an informational meeting last month that they had reduced the budget by $50,732. The town school budget...
After many meetings and deferred decisions, the Selectboard approved almost $600,000 in budget reductions during a special board meeting before a full audience on Tuesday night. Most of the cuts came from salary reductions and a 1-percent reduction in some departments' operating expenses. Department heads cut some equipment funds, warning that should computers or other equipment break down or wear out, money to repair or replace them might not be available. The board agreed with chair David Gartenstein that cutting...
Award-winning author Rebecca Coffey of Putney has written a researched, but heavily fictionalized, novel of the life of the pioneering child psychoanalyst Anna Freud. Pending in June from She Writes Press, Hysterical: Anna Freud's Story already is getting rave reviews from Booklist and the Lambda Literary Foundation, a LGBT literary organization. “I'm also told that Oprah's magazine [O, The Oprah Magazine] will recommend it in either May or June's issue,” says Coffey. The multi-faceted Coffey is a documentary filmmaker, radio...
After more than six months battling with the courts over the federally financed, state-constructed and -maintained park and ride in Putney, we have received word from the court that Superior Court Judge Thomas Walsh of the court's environmental division has determined that our appeal over the final issue - lighting - is without merit. The court has denied the appeal based on insufficient evidence that the lighting is above the maximum. The case was not successful in many ways, notably...
When the eighth annual Way to Go! Commuter Challenge kicked off on Monday, May 12, the Brattleboro Smart Commute team was ready. Members of the Brattleboro Transportation Roundtable are participating with businesses, communities, and schools statewide to reduce commuting costs, pollution, and traffic. Roundtable members include Windham Southeast Supervisory Union, Brattleboro Retreat, Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, Vermont Department of Health, Grace Cottage Hospital, Landmark College, Omega Optical Co., World Learning, Brattleboro Food Co-op, and Marlboro College Graduate Center. Way to Go!
Here is a marriage proposal of a different sort: a new Vermont law requiring that individuals be in a state of compliance with existing family-court orders prior to being entitled to enter into the legal state of marriage. It is a fact that the Vermont Superior Court's Family Division and the Vermont Office of Child Support are overwhelmed with enforcement actions against individuals who choose not to pay their court-ordered obligations. Most of these defendants claim they are without the...
Aquatic invasive species are spreading rapidly around the Northeast and seriously undermining the quality of lakes, ponds, and rivers for fisher-folk and swimmers. Indeed, according to the Vermont Water Resource Board, Somerset Reservoir, where the boat ramp is remote and unattended, “is a major problem waiting to happen.” According to the state, Vermont's fastest-spreading invasive is the Eurasian water milfoil, which forms thick stands of tangled stems underwater and vast mats of vegetation on the water's surface, both of which...
College news • The following local students were among the 1,091 students who are candidates for graduation this month from Keene State College with associate's, bachelor's, or master's degrees: MacKenzie Prasch of South Londonderry (B.A., B.S., Cum Laude); Melanie Murphy of Dummerston (B.A.), Brandon Chabot of West Dover (B.A.); Aaron Providence of Guilford (B.S.); Heidi Henkel of Putney (B.S.); and Jaclyn Toney of Brattleboro (B.S.). Obituaries • Alice Elizabeth Mitchell Chapman, 85, of Brattleboro. Died May 3. Former wife of...
Seat belt enforcement checkpoints planned NEWFANE - The Windham County Sheriff''s Department has announced that it will be hosting multiple seatbelt checkpoints in Windham County in the coming weeks. The checkpoints are targeted at increasing occupant protection and the usage of seat belts by all people in a vehicle, and are being held as part of the Click It or Ticket Task Force initiative in collaboration with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, the Vermont Governor's Highway Safety Program and...
This essay reaffirms my faith in Vermont as home to some of the most progressive people in the country. I was disappointed to see the elected government officials so easily manipulated by hysteria. The authors completely captured the misleading rhetoric so often promoted by the labeling campaigns. I will save this essay as a rejoinder to the abundance of misinformation being foisted upon people in many other parts of the country as well.
I was delighted to read that the rerouted lower section of the West River Trail is now open. I was surprised to read that dogs are supposed to be kept on a leash and that owners are expected to clean up after their pets. I frequently use the trail, and I have rarely seen a dog on a leash. I have never seen an owner clean up after pets. In fact, my impression has been that owners regard the trail...
It's the day the music died for one-trick marketers. Facebook - the publicly traded company with a net worth greater than McDonald's and several other multinational corporations combined - has switched up its sharing algorithm, much to the chagrin of the self-appointed marketers of the status quo. Facebook went pay-to-play for brands, and to some, that equates to selling out. Facebook isn't cool anymore. They had a good run - marketers reliant on a one-dimensional marketing strategy, that is. For...
The Windham County Natural Resources Conservation District (NRCD) has received another round of funding for a program called Trees for Streams (TFS) to assist landowners with planting vegetated buffers along rivers, streams, and brooks in Windham County - particularly those affected by Tropical Storm Irene. The TFS program aims to improve water quality and restore aquatic habitat by preventing erosion and providing shade along damaged water bodies. Through the program, 80 percent of the costs of establishing a vegetated buffer...
Spring has been slow to start this year. The name “spring” suggests quick movement - a springing into action. But this year, it hasn't been following its own prompt. On the other hand, my personal prompt seems to be “slow,” and I'm following it exactly. “Slow” is the way I feel most comfortable, and that's a nice way to feel, even in this quickening season. “Slow” seems like more of a winter word, but I'm not in a big rush...
Dummerston's Lydia Taft Pratt Library, one of the oldest libraries in Vermont, celebrates its 100th anniversary on Saturday, May 17. The festivities begin at 10 a.m. with a book sale in the Dummerston Community Center in West Dummerston, and a silent auction at the library, 150 West St. At 11 a parade of vintage cars, a fire truck, and the Dummerston Elementary School Marching Band makes its way up West Street to the Community Center and the library, where speakers...
The Brattleboro Colonels softball team is struggling to find its groove after an up-and-down week. On May 6, the Colonels shut out Springfield, 9-0. Pitcher Hannah Wilson scattered six hits to earn the win, with three strikeouts and two walks. McKinlie Carpenter led the Colonels' offense with a 4-for-4 day; three singles and a double. Maddy Derosia went 2-for-3, Siera Butler had a solo home run and three RBIs, and Wilson, Casey Manning, Devin Millerick, and Daisy Giroux all had...
I'll say first that it's frustrating to be reduced to “our young friends,” which insinuates that we are naïve and inexperienced, and devalues the extensive time, effort, and research we put into our Viewpoint [“Peace of mind?,” April 30]. (My co-author Joëlle Montagnino and I are 26 and 28, respectively.) So what does dismissing the examples we give by saying “Bad science? I don't think so,” really mean? This statement fails to address the scientific concerns we presented in a...
Good music and good food go far in support of a great cause at the May 17 coffee house at Putney Friends Meeting House. Music starts at 7 p.m. Admission is by donation of a non-perishable food item. For this edition of the coffee house, musical localvores can enjoy local musical produce courtesy of Leon Cooper and Vermont Timbre (Amelia Struthers and Mike Mrowicki). Leon Cooper has delighted local audiences for years with his melodic, toe-tapping original offerings. He'll be...
A lot of the genetically modified organism (GMO) push comes from other private interests. Agriculture isn't the easiest business, given profit margins, weather, and other factors. Companies want to differentiate their product however they can, and that can mean vilifying their competition. It's similar to saying “Honey Nut Toasted Grain Circles, 100% uranium free!” It's true, but meaningless. Statements like this can give the impression a product is somehow different from, or better than, the others. This actually happens: “Antibiotic-free...
I recently received some good news regarding my health insurance - except it turned out to be not so good after all. I am a low-income Vermont resident. I qualify for Vermont Medicaid. I used to qualify for VHAP (Vermont Health Access Program), which turned into Green Mountain Care. Neither of those plans covered adult dental care - even basic care - unless, as a friend who was also on VHAP, put it, “You're bleeding severely from the mouth.” When...
Doreen Aldrich lifts an unassuming red book from the top of a towering steel grey storage shelf. The Town Clerk of Rockingham descends the rolling safety ladder past shelves lined with leather-bound book, the titles and dates stamped on their neat - and sometimes crumpled - spines. The town vault that houses the municipal records for the Town of Rockingham and the Village of Bellows Falls compresses nearly 300 years of history into a timeline that can be measured by...
The Arts Council of Windham County (ACWC) is planning a member show for June and July that will highlight the rich, diverse arts of the Windham County region. The show will be on display at the ACWC's new gallery space, The Hub, at 57 Harmony Place. According to Curator Susan Rosano, “With the late spring we all look forward to celebrating summer in Vermont. All our artists, even black-and-white photographers, work with colors and light, and summer in Vermont is...
Gabriel Weiss, a self-employed gardener in his 20s, moved from Maine to Brattleboro in September of 2013 knowing no one here and connected to no group. He made it work. In short order on arrival, Weiss became one of 85 new members to join Brattleboro Time Trade (BTT), a not-for-profit organization that facilitates an exchange of services among its members who do business by “time credits,” the time trade's self-described “alternate currency” worth an hour per credit. Those credits add...
Last week, Gov. Peter Shumlin and Public Service Department Commissioner Christopher Recchia announced the receipt of $5.3 million from Entergy Vermont Yankee for the development of clean energy. Half of the money that Entergy deposited into the Public Service Department's Clean Energy Development Fund (CEDF) will be earmarked for Windham County projects. How will that money be used? That will be the subject of a public hearing that will be held on May 14, at 5:30 p.m., in the multipurpose...
In many town and villages around Vermont, getting people to run for public office has become a struggle. Not so in Bellows Falls. With three seats up for grabs on the Village Trustees - two two-year seats and a one-year president's seat - seven residents have thrown their hats in the ring, and only two are incumbents. Village President Roger Riccio decided not to run for reelection. Andrew Smith will be completing his first stint as a village trustee and...
Windham County is widely regarded as a great place for artists and craftsmen to live and work, but this work is often done in relative isolation. A forum slated for May 22 aims to help area creatives connect and thrive. “Artists Working Together!” is a project of The Arts Council of Windham County in partnership with Brattleboro-West Arts and The Works Bakery Café to help working artists and craftsmen with everything from inspiration to marketing. The event is Thursday, May...
The Brattleboro branch of the American Association of University Women has bestowed its Woman of Distinction award on Norma Redstone Shakun in recognition of her many contributions to education, international relations, the Brattleboro community, and AAUW. Branch president Mary Hawkes presented the award at the branch's 41st annual dinner meeting held recently at Dalem's Chalet. The organization told The Commons that Shakun has served many years on the AAUW Scholarship Committee where she has shared her wisdom on cultural understanding...
Named for the historic building that offers a panoramic view on downtown, Flat Iron Exchange has opened at 51 The Square, which will host its grand opening on Friday, May 16. Jana Bryan and her husband, Mark Kenney, formerly of Chester, purchased the Flat Iron Building last August and last month opened the coffee house, which they hope will function both as a source of caffeine and as a “third place” for the community, with a high proportion of couches...
The Leland & Gray Players close their 18th season with Shakespeare's rollicking romantic comedy “A Midsummer Night's Dream” May 15-17 at Leland & Gray Union Middle and High School's Dutton Gymnasium. The Arden Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream describes the play as featuring three plots connected by a celebration of the wedding of Theseus of Athens and the Amazon queen Hippolyta, set simultaneously in the woodland and in the realm of Fairyland under the light of the moon. The production...
Next Stage Arts Project presents The Wiyos on Saturday, May 17, at 7:30 p.m., and a family show Sunday, May 18, at 2 p.m. Both performances are at Next Stage, 15 Kimball Hill. The Wiyos were among the first “old-timey” bands to take to the national scene more than a decade ago as acoustic bands first ran with the renewed popularity of early swing jazz, rural folk, old-time blues, and Appalachian music. Catch their videos and more at www.thewiyos.com.
Brattleboro Memorial Hospital and Brattleboro Area Hospice co-sponsor a workshop on May 19, “How to Talk About the End of Life.” The public is invited to this free event, scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. in BMH's Brew Barry Conference Room 2. Organizers said in their event announcement that talking about one's dying is not something most people feel comfortable doing: “We would rather put it off until we absolutely have to. Even healthcare providers avoid it. This interactive, how-to...
The Brattleboro Union High School Music Department presents a Pops concert on Thursday, May 22, at 7 p.m. in the school auditorium. This final music department concert of the 2013-14 school year has as its theme “Night at the Movies!” Admission is free and the public - particularly BUHS music alumni and their families - are warmly invited to attend. Perfoming in the concert are the BUHS Jazz Workshop under the direction of Jamie MacDonald. On the program: Stevie Wonder's...
Following “a year from hell,” as one library staffer phrased it - a year that included bankruptcy filings by a former contractor in the middle of library renovations, the logistics of the renovations themselves, and the removal of the library director by the Board of Trustees, all within months - the Rockingham Free Public Library had dual cause to celebrate last week. The renovations were finally complete, so the new board elected to celebrate with a grand reopening on May...
Grace Cottage Hospital is working to meet Medicare requirements after the hospital learned from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in March that it had failed to maintain compliance. The hospital announced this week that CMS made its determination after a patient's complaint in late February led to an inspection by the Vermont Department of Licensing and Protection. Several deficiencies were identified during the inspection, and Grace Cottage Hospital staff immediately developed a Plan of Correction; the state...
The Selectboard will suggest a few tweaks, but it apparently likes what it sees in tentative plans from AT&T to erect a cell tower on the hill behind the library. At their May 5 meeting, Selectboard members noted that the telecommunications giant was scheduled to conduct a tethered balloon test this week to gauge visibility of its hypothetical tower at 140 feet. The proposal is available at town offices in hard copy and on CD-ROM, and public comments will be...
The town is sitting on tens of thousands of new dollars in its miscellaneous revenue account, and officials seemed less giddy than the average homeowner might in deciding what to do with it. But they have some ideas. At their May 5 meeting, Selectboard members learned that the town has raised roughly $43,000 in timber sales since 2013, with final payments just coming in. No confetti fell from the rafters. Instead, officials dryly pondered, “how we're gonna allocate that general...