The Vermont Health Department last week alerted health care providers in Windham County about a rise in the number of people with confirmed cases of whooping cough.
Eleven cases were confirmed in June. Ten of those were among children 3 to 17, and one was an adult. Cases occurred as schools were closing or after they had closed for the summer.
Authorities say that, as of last week, there are five more suspected cases. All but one of the confirmed and suspected cases are from Brattleboro.
Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is a highly contagious disease caused by a bacterial infection of the lungs. Although fully immunized children can get whooping cough if it takes hold in a community, vaccination is the safest and most effective way to prevent serious illness.
FairPoint Communications has announced that it will expand its broadband coverage to 270 homes and businesses in Newfane, Townshend, Whitingham, and Wilmington. The company's new fiber-based, high-capacity network will reach customers along all or part of the following roads in Newfane: Cushing Flats Road, Eddy Road, Forrest Lane, French...
Vermonters' love for the outdoors and passion for local brews have come together in a unique collaboration. Vermont State Parks and Whetstone Station Pub & Brewery in Brattleboro have brewed up a partnership that features two state park named beers, Fort Dummer Summer and Molly Stark Dark, brewed with...
At the south end of Brattleboro's charming center is the tangle known locally as Malfunction Junction. This intersection of five roads, one the Co-op access, with a nearby train crossing, is notoriously complicated and frustrating. A few years ago - after much traffic study, planning, and, I am sure, money - a traffic light system was installed which, I am told, raised the “quality of service” (a graceful technical term) from F to D. And that is that - the...
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present The Stray Birds and Mike and Ruthy at Next Stage on Thursday, July 24, at 7:30 p.m. The Stray Birds are a Pennsylvania-based acoustic folk trio. Mike and Ruthy are Mike Merenda and Ruth Ungar Merenda, the indie roots husband and wife team formerly of the acoustic stringband The Mammals. The Stray Birds were born of a compelling collaboration between unique writers and vocalists: the pure, luxurious voice of Maya de Vitry...
The Putney School announces its annual Studio Arts & Writing Week for adults, Aug. 10 to 16. Join artists and teachers for week-long studio intensives. Adults of all ages and levels of experience enjoy the guidance of accomplished faculty in dedicated studio spaces on the campus of The Putney School. Workshops offered by local artists include weaving and fiber arts by Melissa Johnson; metal jewelry by Jeanne Wulsin-Bennett; blacksmithing by Roger Ballou; creative writing by Brian Mooney; glass arts by...
On Thursday, July 24, The Devil Makes Three plays a benefit concert for the Putney Mountain Association's acquisition of 144 acres on Holland Hill. This alt-roots acoustic string band, with deep ties to the hills of Putney, has just come off a tour with Willie Nelson and Alison Krauss, and is playing to packed venues in Europe. They'll return from the European tour and perform the benefit concert in Putney before they depart to a sold-out performance at the Newport...
The more than 90,000 Vermonters who receive 3SquaresVT food benefits can now spend them at many area farmers' markets, where they'll double their money with Harvest Health coupons toward the purchase of fresh food from local farmers. As a bonus for shopping at the market, 3SquaresVT recipients will also be given fuchsia Harvest Health coupons to match their EBT purchases, up to $10 per market day. According to the Northeastern Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT), the program is a...
Organizers of the third annual Wellness in Windham Health Festival are accepting exhibitor registrations for this popular community health event through Friday, Aug. 15. Area health and wellness-oriented not-for-profit and service organizations are encouraged to take part in this free, family friendly event, which runs Saturday, Sept. 20, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the front lawn of the Brattleboro Retreat, 1 Anna Marsh Lane. The Wellness in Windham Health Festival has drawn more than 400 visitors and offers...
Tax payment dates set BRATTLEBORO- Real estate and personal property taxes assessed upon the Grand List of 2014 are now due and payable to the town treasurer at the treasurer's office in four equal installments: first installment due Aug. 15; second installment, Nov. 17; third installment, Feb. 17, 2015, and the fourth installment, May 15, 2015. Real estate and personal property tax will be charged interest at 1 percent per month on any overdue payment, in addition to any other...
Artistic Director Mitsuko Uchida and one-third of the 75 artists in residence at the Marlboro Music School and Festival will be heard in opening concerts of Marlboro's 64th season on Saturday, July 19, at 8:30 p.m., and Sunday, July 20, at 2:30 p.m. Both concerts centered on Vermont's famed musical retreat are at Persons Auditorium, Marlboro College. Marlboro programs reflect the variety of repertoire suggested by participating artists; the weeks, not days, spent exploring each work in depth; and the...
Laying groundwork for eventual job creation is hopeful speculation: “If we build it, they will come.” Creating jobs is entrepreneurial innovation: They are here; we are building it. The Windham County Revolving Loan Fund proposed by the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development should utilize the entire $10 million ($2 million remitted annually during five years) made available through the memorandum of understanding between the state of Vermont and Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, since administrative infrastructure and staff would...
I read an interesting quote recently, which went something like this: “I always hoped someone would do something about that. Then I realized I am a someone.” This a copy of a letter I recently sent to the Vermont Public Service Department. If you feel the same way about the need for an emergency planning zone, I encourage you to also send a letter. If you are unclear on your position on this issue, I highly encourage you to research...
My love affair with New England started as a child. I was born and raised in Connecticut and spent a great deal of my time exploring the forested areas. I played in the woods whenever possible, walked in the reservoirs, and took drives in the hills with my father. I loved each and every season and always tried to find a way to be outdoors. I watched clouds. I looked for reflections on the surface of water and loved to...
Clark-Mortenson Insurance & Financial Services' Facebook Task Force struck on the idea of turning “likes” on their Facebook page into scholarship funds for Meeting Waters YMCA's Reach Out to Youth Fund. Naturally, their next question was, “Why not invite some of our friends to join us?” On July 1, Clark-Mortenson, Savings Bank of Walpole, Claremont Savings Bank, and Brattleboro Savings & Loan launched campaigns through which they'll turn each new “like” on their pages into $1 donations to the regional...
Entrepreneurs, businesses, nonprofits, and municipalities interested in applying to the Windham County Economic Development Program (WCEDP) will have 60 days to submit applications. According to Patricia Moulton, secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, the agency plans to release application materials within two weeks. Moulton said during presentations on the program last week that the funding priorities for projects receiving WCEDP money include projects that create high-paying jobs, leverage other funding sources, link to objectives listed in the...
For our county's sake, I am glad the deadline for the Windham County Revolving Loan Fund was extended, even by just a week. Clearly, the state wants the county to get the biggest local bang for the buck. With $2 million per year for five years ($10 million total) ready to be unleashed, the bang could - and should - be pretty big. It is clear from comments made by Vernon and Brattleboro residents at a June 3 public hearing...
Randolph Holhut writes about sports with remarkable precision and imagination. We also appreciate the balanced tone of his Sports Roundup columns, which are never biased toward a particular team.
It seems to me that the reason this money has been provided for the Windham County Revolving Loan Fund is to lead to immediate job creation. With this goal, it is important to have a good portion, or at least most of the fund, available as grants, not loans, especially to new or growing businesses that actually create new jobs. Focusing on the people and towns most affected makes sense, too. Dot-com businesses such as mine have actually created good...
As the social, economic, and political impacts of addiction in Vermont have emerged as a high-profile public issue over the past few months, the state has changed its approach to treatment. Jackie Corbally, chief of treatment services for the Vermont Department of Health's Division of Alcohol & Drug Abuse Programs, told The Commons that the state's Hub and Spoke initiative began phasing into operation in July 2013, with the last center in the Northeast Kingdom beginning to offer services in...
East meets West in a shadow world where forbidden love and poetry collide. “A Chance Shadow” is a poetic play inspired by the Chinese poet Xu Zhimo (1897~1931) and the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca (1898~1936) who changed society with their passion for literature, social reform and true love. Two poets who had never met living on opposite sides of the earth, during the same time, come together in this imaginative piece. By using the elements of pop-up art, Shadow...
Zeke Hecker not only has written the music, words, and book for his latest musical creation, “Now and Then,” which will be performed at the Actors Theatre Playhouse (ATP) this month. He will also be making his directorial debut with this production. Nonetheless, Hecker insists that “Now and Then” is a collaborative enterprise. “I want to emphasize that it is not just my show,” he told The Commons. “The longer I have worked for the theater, the more convinced am...
If it's July, it's time for Brattleboro and Bennington to slug it out for Little League Baseball supremacy. The Brattleboro 11-12-year-old All-Stars came up short in the District 2 playoffs, 19-7, on Saturday at South Main Street Field, losing the best-of-seven series, 4-1. The turning point of the series was Game 4 in Bennington last Thursday. After Brattleboro took a 3-0 lead after two innings, Bennington erupted for nine runs in the bottom of the second inning and held on...
The Southern Vermont Dance Festival debuted last year, and ended up as a successful addition to the summer arts calendar. Now Brenda Lynn Siegel, the festival's executive artistic director, is ready for the challenge of building upon last year's success. “I'm really excited about this year,” Siegel said at a preview event at the River Garden on July 9. “We've got more than 100 different classes over four days, with every dance genre you can think of.” A full schedule...
Two downtown businesses are closing soon, but for different reasons. For Alison Macrae, the owner of Verde for Garden and Home on 133 Main St., it's a chance to retire after 13 years of operation. “I want to spend more time with my family, here in Vermont, in Brooklyn, in Portland, Maine, and in the UK,” Macrae wrote in a letter to her customers in her shop window. “Especially in Bushwick, the newly trendy part of Brooklyn when my one-year-old...
On a recent bright and unseasonably cool July day, seven families gathered in the parking lot in front of Brattleboro Union High School. These were this summer's local hosts for The Fresh Air Fund Volunteer Host Family Program. Started in 1877, this program was designed to shuttle children from New York City to waiting homes in rural locations to give them a taste of life outside the boroughs. These families, like many before them, said they were excited to welcome...
July 3 marked the close of a chapter in the life of a caregiver here whose work continues to touch the lives of so many. Jane Katz Field, a pediatrician at Just So Pediatrics for the past decade, has retired after nearly 40 years in medicine. She is leaving, she said, to get a better look at public health in the big picture. As she does, she took some time recently to sit down with The Commons to discuss her...
As the state puts finishing touches on the Windham County Economic Development Program, state agencies held a public meeting to take feedback on a new revolving loan fund to help new and existing businesses in the county. Feedback at the July 10 hearing held in the Selectboard Meeting Room of the Municipal Center ranged from inquiries for specific projects to making a case for seed funding to words of caution. “We're going to have $3 million in applications and $2...
Pipes protruding through waves of green grass like periscopes are the only sign that a capped landfill sleeps beneath the soil. Soon, the Windham Solid Waste Management District's old 25-acre landfill may hold a sea of solar panels. Inside the WSWMD's headquarters on Old Ferry Road, machines spin and clank, separating cardboard from paper and plastics from aluminum. The district sells recyclables to keep assessment costs down for its 19 member towns. In the conference room, part-time Executive Director Robert...
Diane Bassett points to a picture gracing the dining room of the Brattleboro Country Club. Taken in 1952, the picture shows a quartet of women golfers - Bunny Gibson, Agnes Huestis, Lowell Perry, and Bassett's mother, Peg Allen. With the subjects standing in their summer dresses and each holding a golf club, the photo offers a glimpse into a time when women weren't allowed on the course before 1 p.m. Bassett, who grew up in Brattleboro, moved from the area...
Putney Trails Project has released its new map, “Places to Walk, Hike, Bike, and X-C Ski in Putney.” The map is available at the Putney General Store, the Putney Food Co-op, and the Town Hall. It is also available at low and high resolution at www.putneyvt.org/map.php. Here you'll find 24 sites around Putney to bike and hike in the summer, and cross-country ski in the winter. Sites range from old town roads to village walking loops to trail networks at...
Gov. Peter Shumlin worked the packed American Legion banquet room on Linden Street July 9, shaking hands with a few of the more than 200 people gathered there for lunch. The group of businesspeople, lawmakers, planners, and media-types awaited news on the latest application process for the $10 million in economic development funds from Entergy for Windham County. The scene, replete with twinkling disco ball overhead, prompted one observer to remark, “Welcome to Studio 10 million.” The Agency of Commerce...
Just a few weeks ago, Governor Peter Shumlin invited people to a forum on opiate addiction that drew together people affected by the impact of the regional crisis. This first-ever statewide forum on opiate addiction on June 16 provided an opportunity for people from law enforcement and justice, treatment, prevention and recovery centers, as well as chamber members, business and property owners to learn from one another what is working around the state. Collectively, Shumlin said, “We can figure out...
When I first moved up to Bonnyvale Road about 15 years ago, my then-8-year-old son, Joey, and our Fresh Air Fund camper, Punna, went down to the neighboring horse farm to meet the horses and ask if they could “do some work.” A few minutes later, the boys came running back up to the house telling me that a neighbor girl named Molly had stuffed grass down Punna's shirt. And there he was, dragging his suitcase across the lawn, telling...
There are two views from the seventh floor of the Hooker-Dunham Building. Looking from the windows overlooking Brattleboro's Main Street, a scene unfolds of people on their lunch break visiting local restaurants, and of shoppers and tourists pausing to watch the restoration of the historic Brooks House. From the window behind Luke Q. Stafford and Meryl Robinson's desks: a hazy summer landscape filled by the Connecticut River and Mount Wantastiquet. Kayakers paddle the river. Birds dip and swoop from the...