A former U.S. ambassador and two-time state senator for Windham County, Peter Galbraith, entered the Vermont gubernatorial race today.
Galbraith, a Democrat, says his campaign will focus in part on improving economic justice in Vermont.
Like economic justice and income inequality, there are issues critical to the state that the other candidates aren't talking about, he said.
Voters shouldn't expect him to make grand campaign promises, Galbraith warned.
It's time to mark the dates on the calendar for the 17th annual Roots on the River Music Festival, to be held Friday, June 3, through Sunday, June 5. Headliners Dave Alvin, Mary Gauthier, and The Steel Wheels will highlight the three-day Americana musical fiesta. The schedule has been...
New Hampshire comedian Bucky Lewis will appear in a benefit performance on Saturday, March 26, at The Eagles, 54 Checkering Drive. Showtime is 8 p.m., doors open at 6 p.m. For more than 25 years, the Bucky Lewis Show has been entertaining audiences, using many forms of comedic styles...
Brattleboro Area Hospice announces a new retail and auction experience in Brattleboro: Pop-Up @77 Flat. On Gallery Walk Fridays, beginning in May, and each month to follow through December, a new pop-up auction window will be unveiled at Experienced Goods, the Brattleboro Area Hospice Thrift Shop at 77 Flat Street. Each window will be unique and will feature an assortment of curios. The items in the window will be available for online bidding from midnight of that evening throughout the...
Act 46, the state's 2015 overhaul of education funding, spending, and governance, has spurred conversations - some deep, some curious, some frantic. But Act 46 is one piece of education-related legislation in a long line of legislation. What does the future of education look like in Windham County? And what does the Windham County community want for the future of its children's education? The Center for Creative Solutions hopes to help the community answer these questions for itself. Its conference,
Workshop focuses on spring trees and spring signs DUMMERSTON - Join Lynn Levine for a workshop sponsored by the Vermont Woodlands Association on (VWA) Saturday, March 26, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., in Dummerston. In March, it can be difficult to “name” trees. Using a key that Levine created, particpants will explore the ways one can identify trees before the leaves are out. She will be telling stories about this dearly loved plant form. In March, signs of mammal...
Board sets conflict-of-interest policyGUILFORD - At the Feb. 22 Selectboard meeting, the board reviewed and approved a conflict-of-interest policy. Board member Dick Clark shared information he learned at a training on open meeting policy, bias, and other related topics. He suggested the board create a set of guidelines for board members to follow. Gabrielle Ciufredda, who also serves on the board, drafted the policy and an accompanying questionnaire, which asks board members to list their potential conflicts. She said it...
Obituaries • Lori C. Amidon, 57, of Brookline. Died March 19 at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital following a courageous five-year battle with cancer. Wife of Donald A. “Sam” Amidon. Born in Brattleboro Aug. 26, 1958, the daughter of Ronald and Doris (Wagner) Clark. Following her 1976 graduation from Brattleboro Union High School, she joined Hoffman & Clay Insurance Agency. She worked as an assistant supervisor at the Richards Group Insurance for more than 35 years. “Lori had a deep love for...
Let's take a moment to talk about freedom. We live in a country where we are told we have the freedom to live our lives the way we want. But how much freedom do you and I really have, as members of the 99 percent of our economy, to live the American Dream? To hope that our children get a really good education and go on to school beyond high school, to become productive members of our American community? How...
Brattleboro's Emma Rueter and Evan Perkins were selected to play in the 32nd annual Vermont All-Star Rotary Classic hockey games, which were played last Saturday at the Essex Skating Facility. The top seniors in Vermont were showcased in this game, which is a benefit for several charitable programs run by the Essex Rotary. Both Rueter and Perkins were co-captains of their respective Colonel teams. Perkins, a defenseman, and Rueter, a forward, were both steady and reliable on the ice for...
Marlboro Music, the unique Vermont summer community which The New Yorker described as “the classical world's most coveted retreat” will share the discoveries of its 80 resident artists on five concert weekends from July 16 through Aug. 14. Performances are on Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m., with two special Friday concerts on Aug. 5 and 12 at 8 p.m., on the campus of Marlboro College. Programs are selected by the musicians themselves, a week in advance,
Although one would assume most Windham County residents are well-versed in the intricacies of flood plains after Tropical Storm Irene, nearly five years later residents and town officials are still in need of some catching up. And, with flooding on many people's minds - especially when they seek to sell or insure a home assigned within a flood plain - questions frequently abound in Selectboard meetings, often with no clear answer until someone reaches out to an outside expert. As...
Developers are proposing Windham County's second-largest solar array, and the Vermont Army National Guard appears to be an enthusiastic partner in the project. The state Public Service Board will consider an application filed Feb. 16 for a 1.8 megawatt, net-metered solar project to be situated on more than 16 acres of land in Westminster between Interstate 91 and the Connecticut River. The array would stand on property adjacent to the Guard's armory and shooting range, and documents show that the...
With a solid foundation of 51 summers of camp and over 12,000 area youth served, leaders of Meeting Waters YMCA are excited about some community-responsive changes they're making this year. The regional Y is adding a ninth week of camp, one more than in the past. They'll also be offering before- and after-camp programs for the first time to provide greater supports for working parents. The regional Y offers four different camp experiences. It's Y Day Camp for 6-13 year-olds...
Saturday, March 26, marks the final week for the 10th season of the Post Oil Solutions' Winter Farmers' Market. It is also the ninth annual CSA Fair hosted at the Winter Market. Organizers expect to have nearly a dozen CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farms represented, offering information about farming operations and CSA share options. Farms will be offering weekly CSA shares for vegetables, fruit, flowers, and more. Some offer deliveries to central pick-up locations while many invite shareholders to visit...
It's been a roller-coaster ride for the final open one-year Selectboard seat, but Dick DeGray has won the second recount and will rejoin the board. Challenger Avery Schwenk, who won by one vote in preliminary results on election night, called for a hand recount of local ballots and said he was glad to have the second count. He said he won't take the results to the Superior Court, an option available under Vermont law. Despite losing the election, Schwenk said...
Main Street Arts is offering courses in art, music, acting, Spanish, writing, and plant life, with most classes beginning the first week of April. Life Stories: Memories of Love, Action and Thought, led by Elayne Clift, will meet Saturdays, April 2, 9, and 16, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Greenough Nowakoski's 10-week Spanish in the Morning class begins Tuesday, April 5, from 10 to 11:15 a.m. David Stern's Adult Acting class will meet for 10 weeks on Mondays starting...
In preparation for the replacement of the bridge on Route 5 that runs over the Sacketts Brook, officials with the state's Agency of Transportation (AOT) recently held a public hearing at the Putney Fire Department. Construction of the replacement for the circa-1954 bridge is estimated to begin in 2017, but right-of-way delays could push the project out to 2018. The Feb. 24 hearing, which the AOT called a “regional concerns meeting,” included project managers, engineers, consultants, and planners who are...
In the sometimes-acrimonious debate over the future of Windham Southeast Supervisory Union, there are no easy solutions. So when state Education Secretary Rebecca Holcombe visited the union's Act 46 Study Committee on March 17, she faced pointed questions about consolidation, finances, school choice, and school closures. The most-succinct inquiry might have come from Dummerston resident Ruth Barton. “What happens if this thing don't work? You got an answer for that, young lady?” Holcombe declined to offer a specific roadmap for...
“I love a musical challenge,” says saxophonist Michael Zsoldos. That may explain why Zsoldos has painstakingly transcribed the unpublished string arrangement from Ben Webster's “Music for Loving” and “Music with Feeling.” Ralph Burns, Billy Strayhorn, and Johnny Richards created lush string accompaniments for the legendary jazz tenor saxophonist on two albums that Webster made in the mid-1950s. Michael Zsoldos studied these recordings and transcribed the string-writing as a self-prescribed assignment to learn from the masters he wished to emulate. On...
Ezra Distler's photographic landscapes, including several panoramas of local spots, are on view until March 30 at Mocha Joe's on Main Street. Sometimes using a technique that captures great detail and other times achieving a melancholic or mystical mood, Distler is inspired by his interactions with local terrain - a walk up Mount Wantastiquet, a skate on Kilburn Pond, a stroll across the bridge over the Connecticut River to Hinsdale, N.H. Distler (ezra@distlerphoto.com) recently left his job of 10 years...
The two big-ticket items - municipal and town school budgets - passed with overwhelming majorities on Saturday at the Annual Representative Town Meeting. Months of budget preparation, a special meeting on the Police-Fire Facilities Project, elections of new Town Meeting members, and two informational meetings culminated in one of the shorter Annual Representative Town Meetings in recent history. Town Meeting members voted on 30 articles during the almost-eight-hour meeting. Town budget passes Meeting members approved the $16.2 million municipal budget...
How do you turn a driveway into a road? Normally, you don't. But, sometimes you do. Putney's Fire Chief Tom Goddard recently sent a memo to Town Manager Cynthia Stoddard and members of the Selectboard explaining the unusual circumstances leading to a driveway becoming a named road. The new owners of a piece of property needed an address. In keeping with Vermont's Enhanced 9-1-1 (E-911) regulations, they contacted Goddard. This property was a result of a subdivision from one of...
A “Meet the Farmers” event at Gallery Walk on Friday, April 1, will introduce visitors to several regional farms and food enterprises: Tanglebloom, a flower farm and studio florist in Brookline; Up the Road Farm of Guilford; and Hermit Thrush Brewery. The farmers will offer information and sign-ups for their summer CSA programs, which can be collected weekly at the brewery. “We are a small scale farm in southeastern Vermont, producing sustainably grown vegetables,” farmers Tadj Schreck and Nathanael Matthiesen...
At the very first public forum about the proposed detention center, I asked Sheriff Keith Clark if he would continue with his plans to build it in our town if it was against the wishes of the community. I asked him this question at both the beginning and end of the meeting, and both times he answered that he would not continue without community support. The community has spoken loudly and clearly with a 4–1 vote against the center.
My family owns a small, diversified farm that sells meat, hay, sap, and forest products. Last month, I participated in Rural Vermont's Small Farm Action Day at the Statehouse and had the privilege to share our concerns about Act 64, the new water-quality law, and the draft Required Agricultural Practices. The focus of that event, “Water Quality: Let's Get it Right,” was important because small farms like ours - run by farmers who already hold our environmental impact in highest...
Since late 2014, state officials have awarded more than $3.6 million from an economic development fund set up to ease the pain of Vermont Yankee's closure. Now, for the first time, some of that money will go directly toward an initiative in the nuclear plant's host community. Gov. Peter Shumlin on Monday announced that the two latest Windham County Economic Development Program grants will be split between two organizations. Brattleboro-based Strolling of the Heifers received $90,000 for a new business-accelerator...
With one phone call on Tuesday, Windham County Sheriff Keith Clark's plans to locate programming and detention facilities for inmates entering and leaving the justice system appears to be dead in the water. The decision not to move forward with locating the justice center came after District of Vermont U.S. Marshal Dave DeMag called Clark shortly after noon and told him that the federal agency could not support the Southern Vermont Detention Center for financial reasons. And those financial reasons,
This year, Peter Galbraith seeks to add governor to his long list of job titles. Yes, Galbraith - the former U.S. ambassador to Croatia, former United Nations Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, and former two-term state senator for Windham County - is running for Vermont's highest office. “There are issues I care about that haven't been a part of this campaign,” he said. “And almost nothing about economic justice.” On this Monday evening, Galbraith is anticipating the next day's official...
In recent weeks, the state Senate voted to pass S.241, a bill that would allow legalization and regulation of marijuana. Here are some of the reasons I sponsored and voted for the bill, some of the highlights, and an explanation of what the bill is and what it isn't. For many years, I have felt that our policy of prohibition has not worked - not for youth, not for law enforcement, not for the citizens who have become criminals as...
Even though winter never truly arrived in Putney, residents can still travel to vast expanses of ice and snow by reading about Ernest Shackleton's voyage to the South Pole in this year's Vermont Reads book selections. In 1914, Shackleton launched the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition mission in an attempt to cross Antarctica from sea to sea, via the newly marked South Pole. One of the ships, Endurance, became lodged in the ice and was crushed creating the need for an elaborate...
In her 10th year in the Statehouse, Rep. Ann Manwaring is calling it a day. The Wilmington Democrat won't seek a a new term representing constituents in three Windham County towns, saying she wants more time for personal pursuits. But Manwaring, a House Education Committee member, also is pledging to stay involved in efforts to change Vermont's school-financing system. “I'm a big proponent, and always will be, of public education being the best it can be,” Manwaring said. “That will...