The latest installment in The Commons' “Voices Live!” series, “What's Really Being Done About Opiates in Our Community?” will take place on Monday, April 3, from 5:30-7 p.m., at the Brooks Memorial Library in the newly-renovated main reading room. The event is free.
The Commons and the Community Opioid Response Committee will host a discussion on what is being done and what resources are available to tackle the opioid problem in our community.
The evening's panel includes members of Turning Point of Windham County, the Brattleboro Police Department, the Brattleboro Area Prevention Coalition, Habit Opco, and The AIDS Project of Southern Vermont's Syringe Support Program.
Audience members are encouraged to bring questions and concerns, and participate and engage with the issues.
The Vermont Theatre Company announced the casting of its spring production, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. With music and lyrics by William Finn and book by Rachel Sheinkin, the play is an adult musical that centers on the fictional Putnam County Spelling Bee. Six quirky adolescents compete...
A private equity firm has finalized its acquisition of Sovernet Communications, a Bellows Falls company that maintains a fiber optic network stretching across Vermont and New York. The sale to Oak Hill Capital Partners means that, in the not-too-distant future, the name “Sovernet” will cease to exist. That's because...
As chair of the Windham Selectboard, I was recently vilified in a letter sent to various Vermont news outlets. Besides the peculiar accusation that I am “classless,” the letter criticizes a challenge at this year's Town Meeting to another sitting Selectboard member who was up for re-election. Although the letter suggests that such a challenge was unprecedented, it wasn't: two years ago, as incumbent Selectman, I was challenged unsuccessfully, and nobody thought much of it. But a lot has happened...
Construction on the solar array at the Windham Solid Waste Management District's old landfill should begin in July. But the company in charge of the project, Sky Clean Energy, has bigger plans for the District's facility. They want to build a bio-energy park on Old Ferry Road in partnership with the District, and with Putney-based renewable-energy design and operations firm, Dynamic Organics. Frank Ruffolo, Sky Clean Energy's executive vice president, rolled out the project's details at the District's March 9...
Listen up, men! No, not to me. Listen to everyone around you who is not male. Look, it is far too easy to run on the assumption that everyone's experiences are like our own. When we take a second to think about it, we know this isn't true, but still we often relate to people under the idea that their lives have essentially been like ours. If we speak up in a meeting and get listened to, then surely that...
WKVT to host live forum on civic engagement BRATTLEBORO - WKVT Radio will present a live broadcast of a public forum on the topics of civics and civics education from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday, March 30, in the Meeting Room at the Brooks Memorial Library. Panelists will include Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos, former Chair of the Vermont State Board of Education Stephan Morse, and Brattleboro Area Middle School Social Studies teacher Anne Koplinka-Loehr. Members of...
College news • William Bourque of East Dover graduated Magna Cum Laude from Western New England University in Springfield, Mass., with a B.A. in economics on Feb. 15. • Michelle Sigiel of Newfane recently earned an M.S. in archives management from Simmons College in Boston. • Zebulon Shippee of West Dover, a member of the class of 2018 majoring in mechanical engineering at Worcester (Mass.) Polytechnic Institute, was a member of a student team that recently completed an intense, hands-on...
A key state agency has signed off on the sale of 13 hydroelectric stations to a Boston company. The Vermont Department of Public Service - which represents the public interest in energy matters - has approved a deal pledging to support Great River Hydro's proposed purchase of TransCanada's dams on the Connecticut and Deerfield rivers. Jim Porter, director of the department's Public Advocacy Division, said the agreement came after a thorough review of the sale and after negotiation with Great...
Some educators say they don't just teach their students, they learn from them. Wayne Kermenski, Marlboro Elementary School's soon-to-be new principal, has already begun. “At the all-school dance last week, I learned some really good moves” from students, Kermenski said. Although his position at the school doesn't officially begin until July 1, Kermenski has spent a few days at the school, getting to know the kids, adults, and their traditions - such as the regular morning all-school dance. “Parents come...
When Bellows Falls football coach Bob Lockerby was named head coach of the Vermont team for this year's Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl, it was a foregone conclusion that BF and Brattleboro's seniors would be well represented on his squad. But don't think that favoritism is why Lockerby and the Shrine's screening committee selected Brattleboro's Conor Hiner and Kolton Ravenna and BF's Jahyde Bullard, Brady Illingworth, and DJ Snide to the Vermont team. These five made it on merit as the...
Each February at the six Y-ASPIRE programs run by Meeting Waters YMCA up and down the Valley, the program's theme is “Our Community.” Throughout the month, participants study different aspects of their community, with particular focus on “community helpers” - people and organizations who make their community a better place to live, work, learn, and play. This year, participants in Y-ASPIRE at Rockingham Central Elementary School chose Parks Place to be the beneficiary of a service-learning project. Paige Martin, Resource...
A special edition of the Climate Change Café will screen the film 1984 on Tuesday, April 4, at 6 p.m. at Marlboro Grad Center, Room 2 East, 28 Vernon Street, Brattleboro. As always, the event is free, and light refreshments will be available. Due to limited seating, reservations are strongly encouraged. A conversation will follow the film to discuss the parallels seen in 1984 with the present time, and what can be done about them. On April 4, 1984, the...
On Saturday, April 8, Youth Services will hold its annual Gala and Silent Auction in Dummerston Center from 5 to 10 p.m. New to the much anticipated event is a murder-mystery twist, compliments of Vermont Theatre Company. Tickets are $85 per person ($55 of which is tax deductible) at www.youthservicesinc.org/gala. The festive evening of food and drink by Hardy Foard Catering will start with a wedding and a whodunit at Dummerston Congregrational Church. The play has six characters, a “law...
For the first time in several years, Town Meeting Members had no controversial items on the agenda. Representative Town Meeting wrapped after approximately seven hours on March 25. The gathering ended on a note of gratitude for the service of retired Town Clerk Annette Cappy, outgoing Superintendent of Schools Ron Stahley, and School and Town board members who decided to step down: Mark Truhan, Todd Roach, Dick DeGray, and David Gartenstein. Meeting Members approved all 22 warned articles. The $14.5...
At the March 25 Annual Representative Town Meeting, Kurt Daims brought up a motion to have the Selectboard sit with the representatives during the meeting rather than on the stage. Mr. Daims cited when that change should have been made, and read from the Town Charter. I did not approach the microphone to support him. And that is a shame, because he was quite correct. The Selectboard does not preside over RTM. The moderator does. The elevation of Selectboard members...
Southeastern Vermont Community Action, the anti-poverty agency serving Windham and Windsor counties, will hold a public election during the week of April 3 to elect a Client Representative to its board from the Brattleboro area. SEVCA needs representatives of low-income residents in its service area to ensure that there are Board members who can speak on their behalf about what people need to cope with financial hardship and become self-reliant. According to a news release, this is a unique opportunity...
In response to money woes and an anticipated increase in recycling bin traffic after the fiscal year ends, the Windham Solid Waste Management District Board of Supervisors recently announced a new fee structure and a change in access for its recycling bins. The District has a deficit and needs to rework its fees to help offset that deficit, District Executive Director Bob Spencer told the Board of Supervisors at their March 9 meeting. “There's a sense of urgency,” he said.
Grace Cottage Hospital, in cooperation with AARP Vermont's Fraud Watch Network, will host a presentation, “The Weapons of Fraud,” on Tuesday, April 4, at 1 p.m. According to a news release, Americans are constantly being barraged by con artists and scammers: In 2016, over 21 million Americans were victim to fraud; more than $19 billion fell into the hands of con artists. The presentation, by Elliott Greenblott, Vermont Fraud Watch Network Coordinator, has been seen by hundreds of Vermonters during...
Spring will be welcomed in Williamsville this year with the annual Newfane-Williamsville Talent Show on Saturday, April 1, at 7 p.m., in Williamsville Hall on Dover Road. A decades-old tradition in the small village off Route 30, a dozen miles northwest of Brattleboro, the show features an array of area performers. Among the acts this year, according to a news release, will be Timson Hill School pre-schoolers; Bruce Rosow on classical guitar and David Roberts and Rob Hamm, vocalists, with...
Unless Vernon Community News publisher and co-editor Bronna Zlochiver can get someone to take over, there will be no more Vernon Community News. When she sent out the March edition, Zlochiver included an announcement under the banner. “Folks, this will be the last issue ... under my leadership as editor and publisher.” She invited those interested in taking over to email her at news4vernon@gmail.com - but they should hurry up, because there are no plans for an April issue. “I...
Stone Church Arts is bringing an R&B band (renaissance and bluegrass, that is) to Bellows Falls. The Foggy Mountain Consort performs both early music of the renaissance and North American bluegrass, along with other traditional music from America and the British Isles, with original tunes thrown in as well. This unusual concert event will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 1, at Immanuel Episcopal Church, the stone church on the hill, at 20 Church St. The Foggy Mountain...
Latchis Arts' popular new program Exhibition on Screen, featuring compelling documentary films about artists and their work, continues Saturday and Sunday, April 1 and 2, at 4 p.m., at the Latchis Theatre, with The Artist's Garden: American Impressionism. Working with the top international museums and galleries, Exhibition on Screen films intertwine exclusive behind-the-scenes footage with artist biographies to offer a cinematic immersion in the world's best-loved art. The Artist's Garden tells the intertwining stories of American Impressionism and The Garden...
The New England Center for Circus Arts has announced that Jeffrey M. Lewis has donated a collection of 20 framed black-and-white photographs of the Center's graduates and students in action. The photos will be for sale at an exhibit from April 7 through June 6 at Vermont Artisan Designs on Main Street. Proceeds will benefit the Center's new building fund. This year NECCA will move into its own “trapezium building” in Brattleboro. The Center plans to be in the new...
The Vermont House of Representatives is considering legislation that would allow the state to take a critical next step in correcting the historic wrong of marijuana prohibition and mitigating the damage that has been done - especially in Vermont's most marginalized communities - under that policy. The bill, H. 170, removes all penalties for possession of an ounce or less of marijuana and two mature (and four immature) plants; the legislation reduces penalties for possession above the legal limits. As...
As a parent of two Leland & Gray students, David McCormack is concerned about recent tests showing elevated radon levels at the middle and high school. But he's more concerned by the fact that administrators knew about the problem eight years ago and didn't follow up. The Newfane resident was among a group of parents who used words like “alarming,” “disturbing,” and “unbelievable” to describe the situation at a March 22 meeting. “I don't think there's anywhere near a reasonable...
The Newfane Selectboard is not happy with the Vermont Agency of Transportation. Because of “recent budgeting activities,” the AOT is delaying the plans for replacing the Arch Bridge by a year, according to a Jan. 6 letter that AOT Structures Program Manager Wayne B. Symonds sent to the Selectboard. Construction is now set to begin in the spring of 2021. At the February 20 regular Selectboard meeting, then-Chair Todd Lawley - who also serves as the town's road foreman -
Vermont officials say they're missing some critical environmental information needed to evaluate the proposed sale of Vermont Yankee. At a March 23 meeting in Brattleboro, representatives from the state Agency of Natural Resources and Entergy clashed over whether there has been sufficient investigation of nonradiological contaminants at the shut-down Vernon nuclear plant. Peter Walke, the agency's deputy secretary, said it is difficult to determine whether a New York company's plans to buy and decommission the plant are viable without more...
I would like to offer some fact-checking and editing assistance to the folks who created the “Hate does not grow well in the rocky soil of Vermont” banner displayed at the recent WeCAN event in Brattleboro. First, the fact-checking: I think the statement, as currently phrased, is demonstrably untrue. Hatred is long- and well-established among our glacial boulders. Ask the Abenaki. Ask the victims of eugenics. Ask migrant workers on our dairy farms. Ask Vermonters of color, who deal with...
As a longtime Windham County resident, I concur that southern Vermont has the residents and resources to revitalize a thriving community. He brings up a real challenge that has plagued the area before, and now especially after, Vermont Yankee's closure: a shortage of good jobs. Without well-paying jobs, we are at risk of losing our young people to opportunities outside of the region. We need a magnet that can draw good jobs into our communities and new, young workers with...
An auto parts maker denies that its staffers lost millions of dollars in what federal regulators have called a “fundamentally flawed” transition to employee ownership six years ago. Sonnax Industries - along with two administrators and a financial adviser - filed responses on March 24 to a December U.S. Department of Labor suit that alleges violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The defendants want a judge to dismiss the government's complaint. And they are issuing near-blanket denials of...
Hello, southern Vermonters! After an icy period to start the week, we've got some sunny and milder days to savor before the chance for more wintry weather this coming Friday and Saturday. This quick reminder of the departing season could at least bring light accumulating snows to the higher elevations of Windham County before we bring back some milder conditions with fair weather by early next week. We could have a few more cool shots into early to mid-April, but...
Hermit Thrush Brewery is getting a new home. But fans of their tasting room need not worry. The High Street location is staying put. In December, the brewery signed a lease-purchase agreement for the former Leader Beverage building on U.S. Route 5, just over the Dummerston line. Although the building still has the Pepsi logo over its entrance, it will soon have a pine-paneled facade and Hermit Thrush's insignia. Hermit Thrush, which produces Belgian-inspired sour ales using historical processes, oak...
It began with tunnel vision. Then headaches. Then a doctor's diagnosis of a brain tumor. As Neil Taylor struggled to recuperate from hours of surgery, followed by weeks of unconsciousness and sedation and months of physical therapy to relearn how to function head to toe, the 20-something's mind bounced between two thoughts. The first: “I can't see.” The second: “I should be writing about this.” His mother, Alison Taylor, understood. Reeling from the trauma of witnessing her son confront cancer...
Before Robert W. Backus M.D., who recently retired from family practice after nearly four decades at Grace Cottage Family Health in Townshend, rode off into the sunset, he had plenty to say about the state of the U.S. health-care system. Backus was revered by the residents of the West River Valley as one of the last of the old-time country doctors. His involvement in the lives of his patients and his community was the stuff of legends. Unfortunately, that era...
“Are you ready to withdraw loyalty [to your country]...” were some of the initial words spoken by the Honorable Colleen A. Brown, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge, just before she administered an Oath of Allegiance to twenty new U.S. citizens. The group of newly established Vermonters had assembled on stage at The Grammar School in Putney for their Naturalization Ceremony. They represented 15 countries - Bhutan, Bosnia, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, France, Moldova, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal, Sweden, the U.K., Vietnam, and Yemen...
It is great to be back in Brattleboro. Thank you all very much for what you do as one of the most progressive communities, not only in our state, but in the United States of America. Thank you. Things like Strolling of the Heifers and Windham Grows, do not happen by accident. They happen because Orly Munzing, the organization's founder and executive director, is a very, very aggressive person - you all know that. She may be short, but she...
When author Tim Weed was young, books were a way to escape from the difficulties of being introverted and moving around so much. As he wrote at his website www.timweed.net, he learned “the same thing all bookish kids do: that books, and especially novels, have the power to strike an almost musical chord of emotion that is capable of transporting the reader into an entirely new world.” On April 7, at 7 p.m., at Next Stage in Putney, Weed will...