Athens Brick Meetinghouse celebrates its bicentennial
The Athens Brick Meetinghouse turns 200 this year and, to celebrate this bicentennial, the Athens Historic Preservation Society will host a birthday party on Saturday, Sept. 23, starting at 1 p.m. Everyone is invited.
Friends, neighbors, and history enthusiasts will gather on the Meetinghouse Common starting at 1 p.m. After some music and light refreshments, there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony followed by speakers and presentations. More music, a barbecue, birthday cake and ice cream, and plenty of fun and games will follow outside on the Common.
Strolling of the Heifers hosts Live Local, Live Healthy Wellness Fair
The Live Local, Live Healthy Wellness Fair is taking place on Friday, Sept. 15, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the River Garden at 157 Main St. “A Wellness Fair fits perfectly with Strolling of the Heifers' mission,” Strolling of the Heifers' Executive Director Orly Munzing said in...
Milestones
College news • The following area students have enrolled at Castleton University for the fall 2017 semester: Sabrina Arend-Denko of Bellows Falls, Greer Bills of Wardsboro, Skyler Boyd of Whitingham, Gabrielle Carpenter of Vernon, Abby Chapman of Brattleboro, Cody Cutler of Newfane, Morgan Derosia of Vernon, Courtney Fernot-Noyd of...
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Cheryl Wheeler returns to Next Stage on Sept. 9
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present contemporary folk singer/songwriter and comedienne extraordinaire Cheryl Wheeler, plus Americana duo Willa Mamet and Paul Miller, at Next Stage on Saturday, Sept. 9, at 7:30 p.m. According to a news release, “it has always seemed as if there were two Cheryl Wheelers, with fans of the New England songwriter relishing watching the two tussle for control of the microphone.” Wheeler writes “some of the prettiest, most alluring and intelligent ballads on the...
Retreat seeks financial stability
When talk turns to finances at the Brattleboro Retreat, the current buzzword is “stability.” Administrators say they are implementing a two-pronged plan to improve the mental health and addiction hospital's short- and long-term financial outlook. The changes include a major overhaul in medical billing and an in-depth performance review of the Retreat's programs. Retreat President and CEO Louis Josephson said the changes aren't driven by a dire financial crisis. Rather, Josephson said he's trying to build some breathing room into...
Low Lily fan-funds full-length album
Two years ago, the Brattleboro-based acoustic folk and roots band Low Lily successfully funded their first record (a self-titled EP) using crowdfunding. Now they are headed back into the studio to record a second album - this time a full-length CD of original and traditional songs, instrumentals, and songs by Mark Knopfler and Gillian Welch (two of their favorites). The new album, entitled 10,000 Days Like These, features music that hits close to home for the band, according to a...
Alper headlines comedy night in Jamaica
Rabbi and stand-up comedian Bob Alper, a daily presence on Sirius/XM satellite radio, will headline the historic Jamaica Town Hall on Thursday, Sept. 7. He will be preceded by Michael Kingsbury from Rutland, who has pursued his comedy at the local homegrown comedy scene as well as the Vermont Comedy Club in Burlington and Word X in Pittsfield, Mass. The evening begins at 6 p.m. for families, and then Alper will entertain those 11 and older starting at 7:30 p.m.
Work winds down on new Center firehouse
The West Dummerston Fire Department will soon get new safety equipment, including a truck to fight forest fires. Some of the updated apparatus will live in the new Center Fire Station, which is a few weeks away from completion. In early August, the Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded the department $116,096 as part of the agency's Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program. The department will use this money to replace an aging brush truck and to purchase three new thermal imaging...
F.E.E.T. starts pole painting project
There's a new art project to view in Brattleboro. The Frost Elm Elliot Triangle neighbors have started a pole painting project that starts at the Restless Rooster on Elliot Street and continues to the corner of Elm and Elliot. Organizers says the F.E.E.T. pole painting project was designed to bring neighbors together. “This is a community-based art project that promotes our neighborhood and helps to create connection,” Kate Richardson, one of the painters and a resident on Elliot Street, said...
River Singers begin 26th year of making music
The River Singers Community Choir is embarking on its 26th year of multigenerational and multicultural community singing. Led by Mary Cay Brass, this 90-voice group sings a dynamic cornucopia of soulful, thrilling songs of joy, hope, peace, and courage from many cultures. This fall's lineup will include songs from Bosnia, South Africa, Rwanda, the Republic of Georgia, Bulgaria, and American Appalachian, civil rights, and gospel traditions. The River Singers meet on Tuesdays, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., starting Sept. 19...
Around the Towns
Newfane Garden Club to meet NEWFANE - The September meeting of the Newfane Garden Club will take place on Thursday, Sept. 7. Meet at the Newfane Congregational church at 9:30 a.m. to carpool to the charming village of Shelburne Falls, Mass., to admire the plantings on the famous Bridge of Flowers. Bring your own bag lunch or enjoy lunch at one of the many small cafes and restaurants in town. Healing Walk at Manitou WILLIAMSVILLE - The Manitou Project will...
Write Action names contest winners
Winners of the 2017 Write Action Poetry and Prose Contest were announced at this year's annual picnic by judges Joe Mazur (prose) and James Kate (poetry). For prose, Elayne Clift took first prize for “Navigating the Unknown.” Steve Lloyd won second place for “Like Any Boy,” and Andy Reichsman was third for “Winter.” Beneth Goldschmidt-Sauer won first prize in poetry for “Dream” (for HFC, 1959-1977). There was a tie for second place between Lynn Valente for “The Wind,” and Melinda...
September is Suicide Prevention Month
The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Vermont (NAMI-VT) calls attention to Sept. 10 as World Suicide Prevention Day, “a day to reach out to those affected by suicide, raise awareness, and connect individuals with suicidal ideation to appropriate treatment and services,” the organization writes in a press release. “It is also important to ensure that individuals, friends, and families have access to the resources they need to address suicide prevention.” According to NAMI-VT, suicidal thoughts can affect anyone regardless...
Report claims there’s no new pollution at VY
A recent environmental assessment found no evidence of “new or different” nonradiological contamination at Vermont Yankee. That's good news for Entergy, which is trying to sell the idled Vernon nuclear plant to a New York-based decommissioning company. But officials at the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources aren't impressed. They say Entergy hasn't yet looked hard enough for contaminants like PCBs and oil that may be present at a plant that operated for 42 years before its 2014 shutdown. Without a...
Why are you flying the confederate flag?
I am writing to bring attention to the local business in Townshend whose owner chooses to hang the confederate flag outside his store in such a provocative manner. I wonder what his reasoning is. Is he trying to drum up business? Is he trying to drum up another war? Does he have something to say to the black people who live in the area? Is he pro-slavery? Please let us all know, sir. My 9-year-old son will be asking me...
‘Prayers for Peace in Paper, Paint & Paper’ exhibit opens at All Souls
The gallery spaces in All Souls Church Unitarian Universalist in West Brattleboro are hosting Stu Copans' annual exhibit of paper cuttings and other artwork with a peace theme through the end of October. Images in this show, as in previous years, include paper cuttings containing the word “peace,” in English, Arabic, or Hebrew. The cuttings have been inspired by a range of sources, including Copans' work with children at Peace Camps; brass lanterns in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre...
Guilford briefs
Selectboard approves lower property tax rate GUILFORD - Some property owners' tax bills will shrink this year. The Selectboard approved the 2017 municipal tax rate at their Aug. 14 regular meeting, and it's lower than last year's. The homestead rate is $2.4256 per $1,000 value, down by about 22 cents. The nonresidential rate went down by about 21 cents, for a rate of $2.2704 per $1,000 value. “Our total expenses for the upcoming fiscal year are $2,099,286,” to be raised...
Where is the vision for a better future?
Ever worry about this? “What if we gave a party and no one came?” Right now, I'm worried that many of us are invited to support a party that we don't really want to be part of and don't feel good about voting for - and the disturbing thing is the problem is of that party's own making. When Democratic leaders like Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and others blathered about “A Better Deal” recently, I, and I'm sure...
Youth Rock Festival announces lineup
Eighteen youth rock bands and solo musical artists from around New England will take the stage at 118 Elliot on Saturday, Sept. 23, for BrattRock 2017, the second annual Brattleboro Youth Rock Festival. Performances will take place on two stages, one indoor and one outdoor, between 4:30 and 11 p.m. Gates open to the public at 4 p.m. In addition to six continuous hours of live music, the festival will feature food vendors, arts and crafts activities, and games. All...
Julian Gerstin Sextet hosts CD release party
Drums from Martinique and Cuba mingle with rhythms of Turkey and Bulgaria in the jazz world of percussionist/composer Julian Gerstin. His sextet has just recorded its first CD, The One Who Makes You Happy, and celebrates with a CD release party on Friday, Sept. 8, at The Lounge (at Duo Restaurant at the corner of Main and High streets) from 7 to 10 p.m. Living in Martinique for two years, Gerstin studied the unusual tanbou drum, played with both hands...
Author presents ‘The Evil of Banality’ at Brooks library
Author and commentator Elizabeth Minnich will be in Brattleboro on Saturday, Sept. 8, from 4 to 6 p.m., in the Meeting Room at Brooks Memorial Library to introduce and discuss her new book, The Evil of Banality: The Life and Death Importance of Thinking (Rowman & Littlefield. 2017). Minnich will be supported for the event with music provided by local musicians Scott Ainslie, Peter Amidon, and a group of singers, according to a news release. A moral philosopher, Minnich began...
A fall treat for the rest of the year
It is the moment you've waited for all year. Your garden and local farmstands offer an overflow of tomatoes, squashes, peppers, corn, onions, carrots, and greens. For a short time, it seems every fruit and vegetable is there at your fingertips. You know it is fleeting, but what can you do with all this bounty before it disappears? Images of our grandmothers canning over hot stoves for hours don't often translate into the modern home cook's life, but you can...
Champion cheesemakers abound in Vermont
Vermont cheesemakers took home a big stack of ribbons from the 2017 American Cheese Society competition, held in Denver at the end of July. According to a news release from the Vermont Cheese Council, 13 of the state's cheesemakers and dairy companies won 41 awards at the 34th annual event. The state's cheesemakers sweeping the competition is nothing new. For the fifth year in a row, Vermont cheeses have placed in the Best of Show category, either as the top...
Grazing in the grass
Not all farms sell vegetables. Rebop Farm is all about animals. On a steep incline about 3 miles up Sunset Lake Road from Route 9, Ashlyn Bristle and Abraham McClurg raise Jersey/Guernsey dairy cows, Katahdin sheep, rabbits, heritage turkeys, ducks, chickens, and pigs on the new farm. Bristle and McClurg bought the property last summer, but they farmed together for three years before that, most recently on rented land in Newfane. Bristle has been a farmer for about seven years,
Lion of the left
Liberty Union Party co-founder Peter Diamondstone ran in every one of Vermont's two dozen general elections since the party's start in 1970 through 2016. Even when a variety of health ailments began to slow him down, Diamondstone told The Commons in 2012 that as long as there were elections, he would run for public office. “Doris [Lake, his wife of 60 years] says it's hopeless, but I never had hope anyway,” he said. “I have to do what I have...
Getting a handle on tap handles
Steam was coming out of his ears the first time I saw Shaun Hill of Hill Farmstead Brewery fame. It was toward the close of the first Brattleboro Brewers Festival in 2010, his first year of operation. Hill was in angry pursuit and capture of two wobbly festival-goers who had purloined tap handles from the Hill Farmstead booth for what they thought would be nifty souvenirs. Hill left the perpetrators with a tongue-lashing that surely helped them remember the day,
Republicans, become active in town GOP committees
Everyone who lives in Windham County can join other like-minded voters and help the Republican Party organize your town's GOP committee. Help bring balance back to the legislature in Montpelier. What are your hot issues: Unconscionable waste? Burdensome taxes? Guns rights? A non-representative legislature wasting time and money? Respect for life at any stage of development? Religious liberty? The process begins with organizing town committees this Wednesday, Sept. 13. Did you know that as few as three registered voters in...
Rain, heavy at times, into Friday
Good day to you! While all eyes remain firmly on Hurricane Irma for impacts to the East Coast of the United States, we have some rainy weather to slog through before we break out into a nicer weekend and early-next-week period. Speaking of Irma, it's highly unlikely we will have a direct impact here in southern Vermont. However, by the middle of next week or so, some remnant rain and wind is possible up in these parts. For now, it's...
Can we talk about our town?
This all started with a question I posted on social media, a question that came from my thinking for years about the state of Brattleboro. I asked everyone: Is our town going down the tubes due to what seemed to be a degradation of our overall environment (drugs, crime, closing businesses, etc.)? I also challenged myself to think outside of the box about how we resolve what ails us as a community while also questioning my own harmful perceptions of...
Colonels win field hockey opener
Few things make coaches happier than seeing their players play well, play cohesively, and walk off the field as winners. Brattleboro field hockey coaches Sherryl Libardoni and Kelly Markol were two very happy coaches on Sept. 1, after watching their team play a solid game from start to finish in a 2-0 win over the Springfield Cosmos in the season-opener under the lights at Tenney Field. “We didn't play any scrimmages before tonight, so we're very pleased to see them...
Community Fair to be held Sept. 9
The 28th annual Westminster West Community Fair will be held Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017, with a theme of “New Beginnings.” Admission to the fair, held in the heart of the village off Westminster West Road, is free. It starts at 8:30 a.m. and runs until 3 p.m., and includes a fun run for kids and a 5K race for adults; a bake sale; a parade through the village; and a raffle. The “pick your own raffle prize” includes a Tim...
‘There are homeless babies in Brattleboro’
When Christine Linn tells people “we have homeless youth in Brattleboro,” she says, “they don't believe me.” Linn has firsthand knowledge of the situation: A couple of decades ago, she was a homeless young person in Brattleboro. In April, Linn was appointed as director of youth development at Youth Services. In this position, she works directly with homeless youth and oversees others who assist them. She is in charge of local host homes that provide respite for runaway teens, and...
What will we do when the mega-storm hits?
In its Aug. 28 issue, The New York Times emphasized that with mega-storms such as Harvey, there is a link that has been well-established by scientists between rising temperatures (especially ocean temperatures), evaporation, and extreme rainfall. While acknowledging that the connection between Harvey and climate change is not conclusive, the Times goes on to note that “it is clear that rising global temperatures warm the oceans, which causes more water to evaporate into the atmosphere. The buildup of moisture in...
Balking at biomass
In 2008, Alan Dater and Lisa Merton released their award-winning film Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, which tells the story of the Kenyan activist who started the Green Belt Movement and won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work. Implied in the prize committee's honoring of Maathai is the acknowledgement that environmental issues can have far-reaching effects for societies and the planet. Merton says that experience showed her and Dater that environmental rights, economic justice, human rights, and...