With NCAA win, Patrick Caldwell carries on family’s nordic ski legacy
The Caldwell family of Putney has had a huge impact on nordic skiing in the United States.
John H. Caldwell was a Winter Olympics competitor in 1952 and coached the U.S. nordic team in five Olympics. The longtime coach of The Putney School's nordic program, he trained some of the greatest skiers in U.S. history and literally wrote the book - The Cross-Country Ski Book, to be precise - on the sport.
Windham County's population continues to decline
Overall population growth in Vermont was virtually non-existent between July 2013 and July 2014, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. And Windham County was one of nine Vermont counties to see a decrease in population during that period. According to Census Bureau annual population estimates, Windham County's...
Clayworks offers Bowlerama to support Empty Bowls effort
Brattleboro Clayworks is preparing for the 11th annual Empty Bowls Dinner, a benefit for the Brattleboro Drop In Center, with a Bowlerama on Saturday, April 11. Bowlerama offers an opportunity for those who have little or no experience in clay to create a bowl to donate to the dinner.
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Bratteboro Music Center receives grant from the Dunham-Mason Fund to support Music In The Schools program
The Brattleboro Music Center recently received a $500 grant from the Dunham-Mason Fund at the Vermont Community Foundation (VCF), which supports endeavors that contribute to the betterment and vitality of the Brattleboro area. The grant will help further the Brattleboro Music Center's mission of fostering the joy and understanding of music by giving hundreds of school-age children vocal and instrumental instruction. The funding will be used to provide rental instruments and music books to the young players in the programs.
Around the Towns
BEEC seeks salamander guides DUMMERSTON - The Dummerston Conservation Commission will sponsor an illustrated program by naturalist Patti Smith on our local land-dwelling amphibians Thursday, April 2, at 7 p.m., at The Learning Collaborative, 471 Route 5, Dummerston. In late March and early April, darkness and rain inspire many of them to head for the water to create a next generation. These migrations provide a rare opportunity to see the spotted salamanders, Jefferson salamanders, and wood frogs that breed in...
‘Off The Beaten Path’ film series returns to Latchis
The Latchis Theatre announces the return of its Off the Beaten Path film series, which showcases recent films that may have slipped under the radar but are worth seeing. The series, presented in collaboration with the Brattleboro Film Festival, starts this weekend with the award-winning animated film Song of the Sea, on Saturday and Sunday, April 4 and 5, at 4 p.m.. at the Latchis, 50 Main St. Off the Beaten Path offerings continue Saturdays and Sundays in April at...
Blanche Moyse Chorale presents The Mass in the 20th Century
In mid-April, the Blanche Moyse Chorale will perform settings of the Latin Mass by the Russian/American composer Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) and by the Swiss composer Frank Martin (1890-1974). The concert will be performed twice: at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 10, at Immanuel Episcopal Church in Bellows Falls, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 12, at Centre Congregational Church in Brattleboro. To characterize the musical revolution of the early 20th century, Chorale director Mary Westbrook-Geha has chosen two choral...
Landmark College president honored at conference
On March 28, Dr. Peter Eden, president of Landmark College in Putney, received an award from Education Update at its fourth annual conference in New York City. For 19 years, Education Update has produced and published news articles about advances in education for students who learn differently. The newspaper has 100,000 readers and 4 million web viewers. Education Update publisher Dr. Pola Rosen is also a former trustee of Landmark College. In a news release, Rosen said that the awards...
Milestones
Births • In Brattleboro (Memorial Hospital), March 16, 2015, a daughter, Snoh Leigh Gaboriault, to Ashley Buffum and Justin Gaboriault of Bellows Falls; granddaughter to Tammy Page, Jerald Buffum, Tammy Buffum, Richard Gaboriault, Lori Royea, Larry Royer, Lucie Gaboriault. • In Lebanon, N.H., (Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center), March 10, 2015, a daughter, Lacey Leigh Kissell to Christina Aguiar and Daniel Kissell Jr. of Bellows Falls; granddaughter to Alana and Lenny Derby of Westminster, and Deborah and Daniel Kissell Sr. of...
Photographer Michael Poster discusses his work with Twelve Tribes community at BMAC
Photographer Michael Poster spent three years documenting the daily lives of the people of Basin Farm, a Twelve Tribes community in Bellows Falls. The result of Poster's work is an exhibit, on view at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) through May 3, entitled “Love, Labor, Worship: The People of Basin Farm.” Poster will give a talk about the exhibit and his experience working with the people of Basin Farm at BMAC on Thursday, April 2, at 7 p.m.
Samson and Delilah comes to the Latchis to benefit Brattleboro Concert Choir
On Saturday April 11, the Brattleboro Concert Choir, directed for 25 years by Susan Dedell, will present the Academy Award-winning film Samson and Delilah, starring Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr at the Latchis Theatre at 4 p.m. The Bible story of Samson and Delilah has passion, intrigue, super-human strength, tribal loyalties, and vengeance. Producer-director Cecil B. DeMille released Samson and Delilah in 1949 and it became the top moneymaker that year, raking in $11 million, to make it the third...
Putney Public Library exhibits the work of Maggie Lake
In honor of the life and work of Maggie Lake (1954-2015), the Putney Public Library, in April and May, will be the venue for a show of her botanical artwork. Some pieces in the show are enlarged giclée prints and others are her original compositions from preserved plant specimens. Lake loved the natural world and lived in it as long as she could with energy, humor, and warmth. She brought to the public's eye (and walls) her vision of the...
A legacy of vision, outreach, and kindness to all
This time of year, many high school seniors are not only thinking about college, but also about how to pay for it. As a result, they often seek information about scholarships. For Brattleboro Union High School students, the Blomgren Scholarship, established in memory of Gary Blomgren, former BUHS art department head, is one such opportunity. The award is meant to support a student's dream of being an artist. The Blomgren family wanted the scholarship to reflect “Gary's qualities: his artistic...
WCHS takes care of animals seized in Townshend cruelty case
Six dogs are now being cared for at the Windham County Humane Society (WCHS) after they were seized from a property in Townshend last month. Vermont State Police said the dogs were taken from a home on Simpson Brook Road on Feb. 18, after a trooper responded to a report of suspected animal abuse. State police said found the dogs, as well as one sheep, in an outdoor pen exposed to the elements. They also saw signs that the animals...
Putney municipal briefs
Resident distressed over dog license fiasco PUTNEY- A resident expressed dismay to Selectboard members at their March 25 meeting at a letter from the town telling him he needed to license his dogs for the year. Wayne Wagenbach said his disappointment stems from the recent audit report which found Putney's treasurer, Anita M. Coomes, failed to deposit more than $10,000 in dog license fees, spanning the last three years [“Audit finds three years of dog license payments,” Town & Village,
Quality of decisions at Town Meeting
Kudos to Leo Schiff in his Reformer letter for not only pointing out the pain of sitting through Brattleboro's Representative Town Meeting but also for coming up with creative ideas for lightening it up. I couldn't agree more with his critique or his ideas. Additionally, I find myself making less well thought out, less logical decisions as the meeting drags on, or even tuning out entirely. Toward the end, I sometimes vote neither “yea” nor “nay,” as my mind can't...
Text alert system in place for I-91 bridge project
A new text alert system for the Brattleboro Bridge Replacement Project makes it possible to receive text notifications of Interstate 91 ramp closings, closings of I-91, closings of Route 30 (but not single lane closings of Route 30), and any other situations regarding time-sensitive, project-related traffic issues. Drivers can sign up for this service by texting 313131 with the keyword “I91Brat”, or by using the signup widget on the project website www.i91brattleborobridge.com. In other bridge news, monthly trail talks continue...
Selectboard seeks to control animals — with an officer, or otherwise
Town Manager Cynthia Stoddard has urged the Selectboard to appoint an animal control officer as soon as possible, or find some other way to fill the town's needs for someone to respond to complaints about animals. At the board's March 25 meeting, Stoddard reported receiving scant response to the letters she sent to members sitting on boards and committees. She noted that Henry Farnum, who until recently served as animal control officer, has yet to be replaced. Animal control was...
Brattleboro Fire Department names new firefighter and lieutenant
As Lt. Martin Rancourt stepped down from his position with the department after more than three decades of service, the fire department lineup has shifted. The department has promoted Shawn Hammond to the rank of lieutenant and hired George Allen of Putney as firefighter. Both men assume their new roles on April 6. According to Fire Chief Michael Bucossi, 17 candidates from across New England submitted applications for the firefighter position. Candidates were required to take a written exam. Those...
Town explores Prospect Hill Pasture access
Most of the Dummerston Selectboard's first meeting with its newest member, Jerilyn Wilson, on March 18 was spent convened as trustees to a 37-acre parcel of town land called the Prospect Hill Pasture. After three minutes of the meeting, the Selectboard reconvened as Prospect Hill Trustees to discuss several matters relating to this land located just north of Dummerston Center. Mary Lou Schmidt, a long-time trustee of Prospect Hill, brought to the meeting several matters requiring the board's attention, the...
Prouty Center steps up outreach to families of newborns
The Winston Prouty Center for Child Development estimates that its nurses, through BMH. have been involved with 75 percent of the families who have given birth for the first time, assisting with breastfeeding and other services in the home. According to Winston Prouty Executive Director Chloe Learey, this is an important resource which helps build the strong foundation young children need to be successful. “The benefits of breastfeeding are well known, but there are other pieces of the development puzzle...
Dummerston man appointed to Fish and Wildlife Board
Gov. Peter Shumlin has appointed a Dummerston man to the state Fish and Wildlife Board. Dennis Mewes of Dummerston was appointed by Shumlin to fill the Windham County seat on the 14-member board, which consists of Vermont citizens appointed from every county to enact the state's fish and wildlife regulations. Members serve for six-year terms. Mewes was born and raised in Windham County and has worked for 27 years as a self-employed finish carpenter. He is an avid hunter, angler...
Give us a break
I used to feel at odds with my home state of New Hampshire, especially after having relocated to Vermont. The politics in the Green Mountain State are more in line with my own, for the most part, and I have a deeper sense of belonging somewhere for the first time in a long time. I joined in with the fairly good-natured ribbing that people give New Hampshire. I'd grouse about the “Live Free or Die” state motto with the best...
Town moves closer to razing abandoned building
Following a public complaint, the town will begin taking steps to dismantle an abandoned building at 15 Gassets Rd. The property is owned by the estate of Carl Bayard, who died in 2005. Town Manager Cynthia Stoddard has received a complaint from a resident about the building, and she asked the Selectboard at the March 28 meeting to decide what to do about it. Stoddard suggested demolishing the building and putting a lien on the property. Although she reported at...
Sanderson to retire from Kurn Hattin
Kurn Hattin Homes for Children's Executive Director Connie Sanderson will retire after nearly three decades of service to the 120-year-old nonprofit children's services agency. Sanderson plans to step down later this year. She will remain on staff until a new leader is in place and assist in the transition. She will then continue to work part-time as a “key fundraiser,” according to a news release from the organization. Sanderson's passion for the Kurn Hattin mission was ignited in the 1980s...
They are human. They were kids.
I have been lucky to be able to keep a safe enough distance from heroin, but many people I grew up with were not so fortunate. Most of my friends got hooked on dope when they were 15, 16, and 17 years old. If you believe these people started out as thieves, junkies, and liars, then you simply have no heart. They were kids. I am writing these words on behalf of all my dead friends, the ones who are...
‘Josie and the Fourth Grade Bike Brigade’ short-listed for Green Earth Book Award
Green Writers Press of Brattleboro has announced that Josie and the Fourth Grade Bike Brigade, which it published in September 2014, has been short-listed for the Green Earth Book Award in the category of children's fiction. The annual award is given for books that raise awareness of the beauty of the natural world and the responsibility we have to protect it. The Green Earth Book Award recognizes books in five categories - Picture Book, Children's Fiction, Children's Nonfiction, Young Adult...
Badly worded
I agree the wording on the ballot seemed biased. The issue is the amendments were poor options for the most part, regardless of how they were presented.
Memorial Day service marks 150th anniversary Civil War's end
This year, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the end of the American Civil War, American Legion Post 5 will host lectures on the Civil War at various sites in downtown Brattleboro on Sunday, May 24, and a banquet that Sunday evening at 6 p.m. at the American Legion Home located at 32 Linden St. Tickets for the banquet are $15. Vermont historian Howard Coffin, author of Full Duty: Vermonters in the Civil War and other works, will give a...
House numbers: safety not just for you but for your neighbors, too
You can appreciate that having house numbers visible from the road, day or night, is extremely important for fire and rescue personnel to respond to your home in the event of an emergency. What you may not appreciate is that it is equally important to your neighbors. Imagine rolling down the back roads of Grafton at 2 a.m. looking for house number 1234. We use the fact that 911 addresses have been laid out so that house number 1000 is...
A three-decade firefighting veteran hangs up his gear
“Fire is like a two-year-old,” Lt. Martin “Marty” Rancourt says: It has a mind of its own. It follows the path of least resistance, but that doesn't make it predictable. Going into a burning building is going into the unknown, he says, remembering some close calls with caved-in ceilings. “You may know a property, but as soon as you fill it full with smoke ... you don't know that building anymore,” he says. Rancourt and fellow firefighter Matt Hubbard sit...
Medicare reimbursement levels for hospitals in limbo
Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, and other rural hospitals around the nation that depend on a Medicare reimbursement program to stay solvent, will have to wait just a bit longer. On March 26, in a rare show of bipartisanship between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, the U.S. House passed The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (H.R. 2) by a vote of 392 to 37. The House vote to repeal permanently an automatic 21 percent payment cut to doctors under...
Pulling threads and hunting down leads
Most of police work is making split-second decisions, says Lt. Robert Kirkpatrick. Officers always hope their decision turns out to be the right one. Kirkpatrick leans back in his chair and watches the activity of the officers on his shift as they respond to events in town. It's a busy morning. The 25-year veteran of the Brattleboro Police Department isn't sure how long he can stop to talk. “This is one of the best training grounds in the state of...
Laughs for cows
“With the economy being so bad, and after such a long winter, now is a good time to get together and laugh,” says Orly Munzing, founder and executive director of Strolling of the Heifers. Munzing's organization hosts the Vermont Comedy Divas, “the only all-female, touring stand-up comedy troupe in the United States,”• for a stand-up comedy show on Saturday, April 4, at the Robert H. Gibson River Garden in downtown Brattleboro. A portion of the evening's proceeds will benefit Strolling...
‘Make our Dad smile’
Wayne Thies' 13 children can pinpoint the moment everything changed: On April 4, 1995, at 5:20 p.m., the song “Danny Boy” played on a piano, the sun broke through the rain clouds, and their 50-year-old father died of cancer in the blink in between. In the two decades since, the late Brattleboro accountant's sons and daughters - from oldest to youngest, Mary, Theresa, Maura, Bob, Jim, Amy, Katie, Tim, Dan, Peggy, Virginia, Stephen, and Brigid - have scattered throughout Windham...
A big to do over poo at the River Garden
Do you know what happens after you flush the toilet? Everyone who poops is invited to attend an interactive presentation, “Rethinking Our Sh*t: Why do we do what we do with our poo?” on Friday, April 10, from 6 to 8 p.m. The free event, sponsored by the Rich Earth Institute, will take place at the River Garden in Brattleboro. The performance features Get on the Bus Productions, a talented trio of women from New York, Seattle, and Oakland, who...
The last hurrah for The Artist’s Loft
The Artist's Loft has overlooked Main Street for almost 25 years. Friday, April 3, will be the last Gallery Walk for William Hays' gallery and studio. Hays opened The Artist's Loft Gallery and studio in June 1990. Although initially the gallery showed the works of a variety of artists, in 1995 the gallery began presenting only Hays' work. In 1995, the first Gallery Walk was launched by Sally Fegley, Greg Worden, Patricia Long, and William Hays. “Gallery Walk became much...
Sharing history
If Naulakha in Dummerston is perhaps the most forgotten attraction in southern Vermont, the reason probably is because the house that Rudyard Kipling built and lived in for four years is not usually open for people to tour. Now lovingly restored by The Landmark Trust USA to replicate how it looked when the Nobel Prize-winning author made it his home, Naulakha is available only for guests through vacation rentals. Once a year, however, Naulakha opens its doors to children and...
Life cycles
The trees around our house once seemed solid and permanent to me, but lately they appear to be in motion. The first to go were the big white pines across the road. There were 50 of them at least, the biggest perhaps 80 or 100 feet tall. They were probably no more than 70 years old, but there was a stillness about them that felt timeless. All my neighbors wanted to do was let in a little light. There must...