The Vermont State Police investigated 381 cases in Guilford in 2016, according to a report issued by Lt. Anthony French, commander of the Westminster Barracks. The state police are contracted to serve the town's law-enforcement needs.
“Directed patrols” - requests from town officials to monitor certain parts of town, typically for speeding - topped the list at 72 cases.
Calls for “suspicious” activity came in next, with 45 cases.
State troopers wrote 46 traffic tickets and 20 written warnings last year, numbers that don't include traffic stops on the interstate.
Four nonprofit organizations in Windham County received a total of $7,400 in “Small and Inspiring” grants from the Vermont Community Foundation for local projects last fall. One of a number of competitive grant rounds at the Community Foundation, the “Small and Inspiring” grants program funds work that helps connect...
Union Institute & University is expanding its Veterans in Union living allowance stipend opportunity nationwide to Vermont veterans. “This stipend opportunity assists veterans in the completion of their undergraduate, master's or Ph.D. degrees,” said Kimbrea Browning, Vice President for Enrollment Management, in a news release. Designed for “those who...
Before Leland & Gray took the court on March 8 for a first round game in Townshend in the Division III girls' basketball playoffs, the team got its trophy for winning the Marble Valley League C Division championship. An MVL title is nice, but the Rebels want something a little bigger and shinier for the school's trophy case. For the first time in 25 years, the Rebels are heading to the Barre Auditorium to play in the state semifinals, after...
As he walked the chilly, empty halls of this town's former high school on a recent morning, Steve Goldfarb talked more about the building's potential than its current condition. If advocates can't find resources to repurpose the structure into a community center, “we could lose all of this,” said Goldfarb, chairman of the Old School Enrichment Council. Goldfarb isn't alone in his enthusiasm: The community center project was named one of Windham County's 14 most “vital projects” on a list...
Main reading room at Brooks Library to be closed for renovations BRATTLEBORO - The main reading room on the first floor and the mezzanine at the Brooks Memorial Library will be closed for renovations March 19–25. The Children's Room and Teen Room on the second floor will remain open during that time. Materials may be requested via email and picked up in the Children's Room when their arrival has been confirmed. To learn how to use Brooks' digital library services,
The state Department for Children and Families has been awarded a three-year, $8.9 million grant to develop a job readiness and training pilot program for people getting benefits. The state program, “Jobs for Independence,” began accepting applications at the end of February from Vermonters who get 3SquaresVT benefits. The program helps participants “ develop skills, overcome barriers to work, and find and keep good jobs,” Department for Children and Families Commissioner Ken Schatz said in a news release. Jobs for...
The nonprofit Community Collaborative for Guilford recently got one step closer to building a community center in Algiers to house a pre-school, social service offices, and meeting and office space for local groups. The town, in partnership with the Collaborative, was awarded a $30,000 Vermont Community Development Program Planning Grant in February. This funding will allow the Collaborative, also known as CC4G, to “examine the physical and financial feasibility and sustainability of creating a social services center,” the Early Learning...
College news • Katia Brock of Brattleboro and Sophie Rodenbush of Putney were both named to the Dean's List for the fall 2016 semester at Binghamton (N.Y.) University. • Paige Fenn of Brattleboro has been named to the Dean's List for the fall 2016 semester at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. • Hannah Aleshnick of Guilford has been accepted to the nursing program at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Her career goals are to provide midwifery services...
“Bluegrass on the King's Highway,” featuring the Feinberg Brothers and Kelley John Gibson, comes to the Westminster Institute on Route 5 on Saturday, March 18, at 6 p.m. Presented by Jenny Brook Bluegrass, the concert brings together some of the top young roots musicians in the Northeastern U.S., and a very special local light, for an unforgettable night of great picking and pure harmonies. Based in Long Island, N.Y., the Feinberg Brothers are led by siblings Rourke (fiddle) and Patrick...
On March 18, at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., Sandglass's beloved Winter Sunshine series begins with Double Image Theater Lab. I Laid an Egg is an original piece inspired by a dream the co-creator Margot had as a child. Margot goes on an adventure with her imaginary pal, Egg, in a world made of shadows and household items. A nonverbal, interactive show filled with many unexpected surprises and discoveries, I Laid an Egg bears elements of Shadow Theater, Object Theater,
Mariel Vandersteel and Joe Walsh say they are excited to be coming back to the Brattleboro area. After strong performances by Vandersteel last winter at the Northern Roots Festival and by Walsh recently with Darol Anger at Next Stage, they are joining forces with guitarist Eli West to carve out a unique sound on their New England Spring Tour. Drawing from their strong individual musical voices, the trio will collaborate on traditional American songs and tunes, Norwegian fiddle tunes (using...
The Historical Society of Windham County's third annual Soup Fest and Silent Auction fund raiser will be held Sunday, March 26, at the NewBrook Fire Station on Route 30. Doors open at 4 p.m., with a $5 admission. The event will help raise funds for the Historical Society's restoration of the 1880 Newfane Railroad Station as a Museum of the West River Railroad and annex to the Windham County Museum in Newfane. You won't have to ride the West River...
The Latchis Theatre's Off the Beaten Path film series, which showcases recent films which “might have slipped under the radar but shouldn't have,” returns with four weekends of movies, starting March 18 and 19. Off the Beaten Path started two years ago as a way to provide alternatives for film fans who want something other than the latest Hollywood blockbusters, according to a news release. Audience support has been strong. The Mud Season Edition of Off the Beaten Path opens...
On Thursday, March 16, at 4 p.m. at the Latchis Theatre, Sen. Bernie Sanders will make an important announcement regarding funding for Strolling of the Heifers' small-business development program, Windham Grows, from the U.S. Economic Development Administration and the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Everyone is welcome to attend this free event - the formal kick-off for the Windham Grows project. Other speakers will include representatives of the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture,
We are very concerned about the Windham Solid Waste Management District. We question how the district's net liquid assets of $486,000 have been whittled away since June 30, 2012 to the extent that the district (including us, the member towns) is now $100,000 in debt? It seems clear that gross mismanagement is the answer. The complete lack of fiscal responsibility shown by the district is outrageous. We feel the lack of foresight in how to deal with the ever-changing commodities...
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present contemporary folk singer/songwriter John Gorka at Next Stage on Sunday, March 19, at 7:30 p.m. Gorka is perhaps the quintessential iconic singer/songwriter of the 1980s folk scene. Hailing from New Jersey, he honed his craft and persona as a shy, wry, and insightful singer/songwriter in the Greenwich Village “Fast Folk” and Boston music scenes. Gorka got his start at Godfrey Daniels, a neighborhood coffeehouse in eastern Pennsylvania that is one of the...
Members of the Inclusion Center, a Brattleboro-based organization for people with disabilities, have been talking lately about what it's like for people with disabilities to go grocery shopping. Inclusion Center Director Julie Tamler summed it up in one word: “Difficult.” Tamler wants those without disabilities to understand “how difficult it is to even think about going shopping.” While navigating through a cramped boutique in a wheelchair might seem like a scary idea, even shopping in a supermarket with wide aisles...
In early January, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott appointed Guilford resident Katie Buckley as the Commissioner of the Department of Housing and Community Development. This was a natural progression for Buckley, Guilford's former town administrator and a native of Plymouth, Mass. “A lot of the work I did with Guilford brought me” to the state-level position, Buckley said. The Commons met Buckley for her interview at the Guilford Country Store. Although the location was chosen for convenience, it also was relevant.
On Saturday, March 18, at 8 p.m., the Vermont Jazz Center will present NEA Jazz Master Sheila Jordan in a performance with pianist Alan Broadbent and bassist Harvie S. The three have spent years together using the Great American Songbook as their canvas. Even when they are presenting an arrangement they have played hundreds of times, they view each performance as an opportunity to create something completely different, according to a news release. Jordan felt that a show at the...
Six new exhibits open at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center on Saturday, March 18. They include glass sculptures inspired by kids' drawings, original artwork by one of America's most beloved cartoonists, an artist's renderings of every item in his home, an immersive installation inspired by Islamic architecture, and more. An opening reception for museum members and the exhibiting artists will take place at 11 a.m. The exhibits open to the public at 1 p.m. They will remain on view...
In December, a group of local activists, organizers, and concerned citizens decided to form the Windham County Action Network (WeCAN), a centralized resource to find out about upcoming events and volunteer opportunities among Windham County's social and environmental justice organizations. They have since created a Facebook group, a website, a weekly mailing list and, on Sunday, March 19, from noon to 4 p.m., they will host an action fair at the Winston Prouty Center campus. The event, WeCAN: Spring Into...
I am disappointed in the head of our Selectboard here in Windham and with the anti-wind group Friends of Windham. They continue to demonize and wage a smear campaign against any citizen of town whom they deem to be not stepping in line with their interests. The most recent example is the classless reaction by Frank Seawright, the head of our Selectboard, to the victory of the incumbent member of the board, Kord Scott, whom the FOW ran a candidate...
There is a scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail set in the days of the Black Plague. Eric Idle moves through a village calling, “Bring out your dead!” John Cleese appears, a body slung over his shoulder. As he negotiates offloading the corpse to Idle, the body interrupts: “I'm not dead!” Cleese replies, “Well, he will be soon.” We're used to people declaring our rural economies dead or dying. They tell us that manufacturing is gone. That young...
The Brattleboro Food Co-op is looking for participants in two focus groups this month to offer feedback and generate ideas for two endeavors currently underway: The Co-op's Bulk department is being updated, and a new website is being designed. The Bulk department focus group will take place on Wednesday, March 22, from 5 to 6 p.m., and the website group on Thursday, March 30, from 4:30-5:30 p.m. “We care deeply about our customers and our community; as a consumer-owned cooperative,
Four months after announcing an agreement to buy 13 hydroelectric stations on the Connecticut and Deerfield rivers, a Boston company is close to sealing the deal. Great River Hydro already has received Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval to buy TransCanada's hydro dams. Now, a state Public Service Board review appears to be in its final stages. And, as part of that process, Great River has finalized a power-allotment agreement with the owner of a historic property in Bellows Falls. If...
Voters reconvened at Vernon Elementary School on March 8 to act on the agenda items they didn't get to during the first night of Town Meeting on March 6. Townspeople elected Julie Ball to the Vernon Free Library Board of Trustees. Ball was appointed by the Selectboard partway through the three-year term. This election allows her to finish the unexpired term, which ends next March. Voters had four choices for the three-year Trustee seat. Newcomer Melissa Ferris beat incumbent Ruth...
Good day to you, my friends. I hope everyone dug out safely after our major nor'easter blew through the region yesterday. Luckily for lovers of spring, we should be reaching above freezing this weekend, though some snow still remains in the forecast for Saturday and possibly Sunday, too. For Wednesday, we could still see periods of light accumulating snows throughout the day and evening in parts of the county, especially in western sections. The surface low that blew through on...
Santa Fe, N.M., where I live, had our city council proposing to close our branch library, one of two in this city. The people rose up and said, “No way.” The city council listened, and our library still serves so many. I know of the Vernon library, as my daughter Bridget lives across the street. I think it is a beautiful, well-stocked jewel. Please, keep it alive, as it is.
With officials in some towns scrambling to figure out what to do with their residents' recyclables after June 30, there's a movement to keep the Windham Solid Waste Management District's Materials Recovery Facility open. During the District's Dec. 9 Board of Supervisors meeting, members voted to close the MRF at the end of Fiscal Year 2017. The MRF is the facility where recyclables are collected, sorted, and stored while awaiting shipping to the materials market. Board members cited the high...
Olivia Howe of Brattleboro, a junior at Brattleboro Union High School, has won a prestigious Gold Medal in the 2017 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for her novel, Murder at the Mash. According to Brattleboro Museum & Art Center executive director Danny Lichtenfeld, Howe is one of only seven students nationwide to receive a Gold Medal in the Novel Writing category. Lichenfeld said seven other Vermonters will also receive national medals in this year's Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. They...
Driving up a steep dirt road in Putney, past Chuck Ginnever's sculptures, I finally land at David Rohn's house and studio. On this snowy windy day, it's a bit of a harrowing trip. But Rohn is a gracious host and, before I'm even settled in for our interview, he has set out a hot cup of tea for me. I am here to speak with this artist who is a sought-after teacher and longtime pillar of southern Vermont's visual arts...
Singer and songwriter Damaris Bernhard doesn't want to call her upcoming show on March 25 at the Hooker Dunham Theater in Brattleboro a farewell concert, even though that is exactly what it is. “You see I have done so many farewell concerts that people will be saying, 'There she goes again,'” Bernhard confesses, going on to admit that this isn't the first time she has proclaimed she was moving: “In the past, I never stayed away for good.” Even if...
My pre-teen daughters didn't want to go to Washington, D.C., and I didn't push it, not wanting to force them into any activity against their will, be it cross-country skiing, hugging, or political protest. To be honest, I was relieved to have space for my own experience, to travel solo to the nation's capital to the Women's March on Jan. 21 with my two high-school best friends, Stacey and Sarah, the same gals who'd coined our senior-year slogan: My Body...