Brattleboro Utilities Division crews will start fall flushing of the town water mains on Thursday, Sept. 21, at 10 p.m. and continue through Saturday, Oct. 7.
Some daytime flushing will continue throughout the weeks of Oct. 9 and 16. Water-main flushing will occur night and day.
Customers are asked to check the flushing schedule closely, as flushing causes water discoloration, low water pressure, and, in some areas, periods of no water.
Night flushing will take place from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Day flushing will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
A significant project to improve the Gibson-Aiken Center and Harris parking lots has begun. The scope of the project includes replacing all pavement, new sidewalks and curbing, improved drainage, and fresh pavement markings. The public should expect these lots to be closed for public parking throughout the majority of...
The Brattleboro Citizen Police Communications Committee (CPCC) exists to enhance communication between town citizens and the Brattleboro Police Department (BPD). The committee in its present form was established in 2009. Toward that end, CPCC encourages folks to write to BPD with compliments, informational questions, and complaints. Such communication may...
I can no longer be silent about the current political climate in this country. Where is the Republican leadership in dealing with this president? How long are they going to let this guy trash the Constitution? Silence implies agreement, and now is the time for us to speak loudly and often before the president is allowed to bring this country further into the abyss. Since the Republicans are the party in power, it is their responsibility to protect all citizens.
The United Way of Windham County is seeking local heroes from area towns, companies, schools, and civic organizations to participate in volunteer service projects across Windham County on Saturday, Sept. 23, from 9 a.m. to noon, for its eighth annual Day of Caring. Day of Caring volunteers choose from a variety of projects addressing the needs of local organizations and public partners. Last year, more than 400 hours of volunteer time was logged in one day. The day will begin...
Registration is open for the Connecticut River Conservancy's (formerly Connecticut River Watershed Council) Source to Sea Cleanup. This annual event, now in its 21st year, has grown into New England's largest river cleanup. CRC invites volunteers to continue the tradition of getting dirty for cleaner rivers on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 22 and 23. There are three ways for volunteers to get involved in the Source to Sea Cleanup this year: Report a trash site in need of cleaning; find...
Brattleboro Area Jewish Community: Congregation Shir He-harim will once again host Los Angeles musician, Grammy-nominated percussionist, and frame drum specialist Marla Goldstein. She will lead a frame drum workshop titled “Rhythm & Songs of the Tof Miriam Drum.” The tof miriam is an important instrument in Judaism, symbolizing freedom, joy, and celebration. The workshop is on Sunday, Oct. 15, from 6:30 to 9 p.m., at the synagogue on 151 Greenleaf St. in West Brattleboro. The workshop is designed for participants...
Citing a lack of interest from prospective buyers, Entergy has taken its former Brattleboro headquarters off the real estate market. The three parcels include more than 66,000 square feet of building space located near Exit 3 of Interstate 91, and local officials had expressed hope that the site would attract new jobs. But Entergy is no longer actively marketing the property, though administrators also say they're not interested in maintaining long-term ownership. “If we had a use for those as...
Terrace St. closing for repairs BRATTLEBORO - Terrace Street was closed to through traffic on Sept. 12, and will continue to be closed intermittently for the next two weeks, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., to prepare for paving. Brattleboro Public Works is upgrading the drainage and also making sidewalk repairs in this area. Vehicular access to residences and businesses will be maintained throughout the project. If you have any questions, contact Hannah Tyler, Highway and Utilities Superintendent, at 802-254-4255...
BASIC (Brattleboro Area Skatepark Is Coming) sends a sincere thank you to members of the VTStance group for their generous contribution toward Brattleboro's skateboard project. VTStance members worked extremely hard to organize and run the 2017 Down 'n Out III Car Show with the needs of their community at heart. The event took place at the Brattleboro Union High School and drew car enthusiasts from around New England. On display were cars from the 1950s to high-performance models just released.
The Actors Theatre Playhouse closes its 2017 season with a Main Stage production of one of Anton Chekhov's masterpieces, Uncle Vanya. The play is a comic and dramatic cautionary tale about the courage it takes to overcome the invisible suffering of ordinary people, the futility of service to others, and the fragility of beauty and illusions. The story revolves around a retired professor who, returning to his estate to live with his young wife, Yelena, mindlessly manages to trip over...
Southeastern Vermont Watershed Alliance is hosting a special river cleanup event to remove trash from the West River and its tributaries. To volunteer, show up at the Dummerston Covered Bridge parking lot on Saturday, Sept. 23, by 9 a.m., to register and receive supplies and instructions. The West River rises in the Green Mountains in the town of Mount Holly in southeastern Rutland County and flows southward through southwestern Windsor County into Windham County, where it turns southeast. Along its...
The Capitol Steps, a Washington, D.C.-based comedy troupe, will perform to benefit the Windham & Windsor Housing Trust at the Bellows Falls Opera House on Friday, Sept. 29, at 8 p.m. Before The Daily Show, Full Frontal, and The Colbert Report, the comedy troupe made audiences laugh with their bipartisan lampooning. The Capitol Steps began in 1981 as a group of Senate staffers who set out to satirize their employers, according to a news release. The troupe is coming to...
Hearings for Brattleboro/Hinsdale bridge BRATTLEBORO- Although the Selectboard has taken no action on the plans to replace the bridge linking the town to Hinsdale, N.H. - because there is no action to take right now - a series of public hearings on the project were held last week. On Sept. 13, the New Hampshire Department of Transportation and Vermont Agency of Transportation held a public informational meeting at the Hinsdale Town Hall on project #12210C to construct a new bridge...
Once again, St. Mary's in the Mountains is offering a musical dessert to conclude the Deerfield Valley annual Wine & Harvest Festival's “Wine & Soup Stroll” on Friday, Sept. 22, with music starting at 7:30 p.m. After strolling the village sampling wines and foods from area restaurants, visitors and neighbors are invited to come to the historic main hall of St. Mary's in Wilmington to enjoy desserts and a concert of classical works performed by a group of talented musicians.
The Root Social Justice Center invites the community to celebrate the The Root's fourth birthday on Saturday, Sept. 23. At 3 p.m., participants will gather at The Root at 28 Williams St. to make signs and learn songs for a 4 p.m. parade through Brattleboro that will highlight racial justice. At 5 p.m., everyone will meet back at The Root for a potluck dinner and a short program where the center's new logo will be unveiled. Dancing will begin at...
In honor of the Kingston Black, the “one apple to rule them all,” five cider-makers from four states will come together at Scott Farm Orchard on Sunday, Sept. 24, from noon to 4 p.m., to showcase their hard ciders made with this highly-prized heirloom apple that is sparsely grown in the U.S. Hard cider enthusiasts have the opportunity to meet Scott Farm orchardist Ezekiel Goodband, cider-makers from Eden Specialty Ciders of Newport, Farnum Hill Ciders of Lebanon, N.H., Slyboro Ciderhouse...
Repeat after me: “suicide.” I intentionally write the word in capital letters, and place it in quotes, because so many of us find the word extremely difficult to see and to say. And yet, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified suicide as an epidemic in the U.S., with rates having reached a 30-year peak since they began to climb in 1999. Why are we so afraid to talk about suicide? It's not as if the media...
I hope you saw the banner flying over Main Street in Brattleboro last week. On Sept. 3, the Brattleboro Fire Department raised the “We Celebrate Democracy/Civil Rights For All” banner over Main Street for the third time this year. Making the banner and paying the hanging fees to the town has been funded for the most part by small local donations from individuals and businesses in the area. I am pleased to say that the banner raising was attended by...
In-Sight Photography Project has selected Chasing Ice as the first 2017 feature in its “Great Pictures” film series. The highly acclaimed film tells of a team of photographers that captured the first visual evidence of climate change through time-lapse photography of disappearing glaciers. The film screens at the Latchis Theatre on Sunday, Sept. 24, at 4 p.m. as a benefit for In-Sight. All proceeds support scholarships for participants in the nonprofit photography organization's programs, which for 25 years have been...
On Sept. 15, a southern Vermont weather-alert transmission station, WXM68, went silent. Federal officials say the removal of the Ames Hill transmitter in Marlboro will lead to “an extended service outage” for some residents who use radio receivers to hear National Weather Service alerts. Officials are working to finalize a replacement transmission site, and other towers in the region will broadcast weather alert information. But some places likely won't have a signal for at least 30 days, said Stephen DiRienzo,
Mitchell-Giddings Fine Arts, 183 Main St., will feature “Mapping the Unknown,” an exhibition of monotypes, oil paintings, and collages by Susan Osgood. The exhibit showcases work featured in the book, A Ghost of Water: Poems by GennaRose Nethercott Inspired by the Art of Susan Osgood. An opening reception is set to take place Thursday, Sept. 21, from 5 to 7 p.m., with an Artist Talk scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 28, at 5 p.m. A special reading of A Ghost of...
College news • Halie Lange, an environmental studies major from Brattleboro, recently graduated from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Transitions • Laura Chapman has joined the Board of Directors of the Putney Foodshelf. She is a community organizer, activist, and blogger for Teach Peace VT, who, with her husband and two sons, has made her home in Putney since 2013. When she is not wrangling children, writing, or working to engage people in the political process, she can likely be...
From Sept. 25 to 27, The Collings Foundation's Wings of Freedom Tour will bring some rare World War II aircraft to a local living history display at Dillant-Hopkins Airport. Aircraft will be located at Monadnock Aviation, 80 Airport Drive. Participating in the Collings Foundation's Wings of Flight are three bombers - a B-17 Flying Fortress, “Nine O Nine”; a B-24J Liberator, “Witchcraft”; and a B-25 Mitchell, “Tondelayo.” They will be joined by a P-51 Mustang fighter, “Toulouse Nuts.” This is...
Many studies over the years have focused on law enforcement and public safety in Vermont. A few of the recommendations have been implemented, but the more controversial aspects of each study have gone untouched because many would be unpopular with various segments of both the population and law-enforcement agencies. However, we are at a point where we must face these issues head on. During the 2017 legislative session, the Senate Government Operations Committee took testimony from and met individually with...
The calendar read Sept. 15, but the race time conditions for the annual Russ Pickering Invitational cross-country race at Bellows Falls Union High School was more like July - mostly sunny, 85 degrees, and high humidity. Despite unseasonably hot weather, the Brattleboro Colonels didn't wilt, taking first place overall in the girls' race, and second in the boys' race. In the boys' race, Stratton Mountain School's Ben Ogden and Brattleboro's Issac Freitas-Eagan dueled on the 3.1 mile course, and it...
The new Interstate 91 bridge carries about 20,000 vehicles a day, and it's expected to do so for at least the next 100 years. But at a dedication held Sept. 12 for the $60 million structure, the emphasis was less on the bridge's function and more on its form. After initial controversy about the structure's design, a compromise plan crafted with community input has resulted in an award-winning, 1,036-foot-long crossing that's meant to blend with the surrounding hills while also...
Finding a solution for the seasonal overflow shelter for the upcoming winter season is a relief for many in the community. The overflow shelter primarily provides a warm place for those who have nowhere to go during the coldest months. In our community, we do not let our fellow citizens face exposure and possible death because they do not have a home. While the potential dangers of exposure are increased during the winter months, the risks of homelessness are occurring...
As part of National Recovery Month celebrations, Turning Point Recovery Center of Springfield is announcing new recovery services for Bellows Falls. The organization is teaming up with Greater Falls Connections to host two events during the month of September. At each event, details of a new grant to fund peer-based recovery coaching services in Bellows Falls will be discussed. One event is the monthly coalition meeting on Sept. 22 at Parks Place, and the other is the barbecue on Sept.
The Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) has awarded more than $300,000 in tax credits to four projects in southeastern Vermont. The Downtown and Village Center Tax Credits program “sparks revitalization by supporting building and code improvements, and is one of the primary benefits of downtown and village center designation,” says the ACCD's website. Between 2011 and 2016, the ACCD presented 156 projects with $12.5 million in tax credits. “While not cash or a grant, tax credits essentially...
Will explosives be used to demolish radioactive structures at Vermont Yankee? It depends on whom you ask. State officials have filed testimony claiming NorthStar Group Services, which wants to buy and decommission the idled nuclear plant, plans to use explosives on “at least one” contaminated building. The department is raising concerns about the spread of radioactivity. But NorthStar's chief executive officer says his company has no such plans. And no public documents have emerged to back up the state's contention.
When NorthStar's plan to decommission Vermont Yankee receives inaccurate attacks, I feel the need to address the inaccuracies because I care about the local economy. NorthStar's plan has come under fire twice within the past few weeks: for supposedly not displaying enough financial strength to finish the job [“Environmental Group seeks added financial protections,” Vermont Public Radio, Aug. 31], and for withholding from the general public certain documents that could result in losing hard-won competitive advantages over industry competitors [“Vermont...
Vermont Theatre Company announces its first production of the 2017-18 season, The Receptionist, a dark comedy by Adam Bock, directed by William Wieliczka. Performances are Sept. 29 and 30, and Oct. 6 and 7, at 7:30 p.m., and Oct. 1 and 8 at 3 p.m., at the Hooker-Dunham Theater, 139 Main St. The Receptionist begins in a typical office at the start of a typical day as Beverly, the receptionist, effortlessly handles incoming calls and the usual office drama and...
Thirty years ago, the AIDS Memorial Quilt project documented the many lives lost to AIDS and raised awareness of the devastations of this disease. This grassroots movement started by a handful of people in San Francisco grew to attract the attention of the entire nation and to raise millions for AIDS service organizations. Perhaps it's time we considered a new quilt project to commemorate in a similar way those lost to substance use disorder. The statistic for deaths due to...
Two Windham County artists, composer Paul Dedell and filmmaker Jesse Kreitzer, have teamed up to create a special musical event in association with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. On Friday, Sept. 22, at 7:30 p.m., as part of its annual Made in Vermont Statewide Tour, the orchestra, conducted by Music Director Jaime Laredo, will perform Breath by Dedell at the Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro. This world-premiere will be accompanied by a video specially made for the occasion by Middlebury New Filmmakers...
For years, the personnel who worked in the police station at the Municipal Center dreamed of the day when they would be able to have a clean and secure space. They imagined a space where suspects and victims of crimes didn't have to cross paths in a public hallway. They imagined having a place to store evidence and case records that wasn't infested with mold and mildew. They imagined having a locker room that wasn't dungeon-like. And they imagined having...
How to make art more visible in Brattleboro? What is already taking place to create this vision? For many, this isn't a new conversation and there have been many attempts to answer these questions in many ways. On Tuesday, Sept. 26, at 5:30 p.m., the Arts Council of Windham County is working with a few other partners to explore this question during a potluck at the River Garden on 157 Main St. The evening will be facilitated by Jon Potter,
The Manitou Project continues its tradition of celebrating the change of season with music and dance in its beautiful woods. The Project invites the public to celebrate the fall equinox on Saturday, Sept. 23, from 3 to 5 p.m., with sacred circle dancing and a healing concert with Vibrant Ensemble. At 3 p.m., a brief stroll leads participants from the parking area to the circle of pines, long a place of shared circle dance called Paneurhythmy. Fall Equinox marks the...
Good day to you, citizens of southeastern Vermont. Lucky for us, what has become Tropical Storm Jose (and what is functionally an extra-tropical mid-latitude cyclone) will only produce a few 20-30 mph wind gusts today (Wednesday) before pulling away to the south and east. We can thank high pressure to our north for causing Jose to curve away from southern New England. We can also thank the cooler sea surface temperatures south of New England, along with proximate wind shear...
The Brattleboro Community Justice Center has a new executive director, Mel Motel, who began leading the organization on Aug. 23. Grant-funded by the Department of Corrections, the BCJC provides Reparative Parole Panels for people who have committed nonviolent offenses, offers prisoner reentry Circles of Support and Accountability, and conducts mediation and training services. “With just three part-time staff, the BCJC relies on nearly 60 trained volunteers to deliver these programs, which have a proven track record of reducing pressure on...
Sometimes, we never get to know the difference we may make to someone. But this past Christmas, it seems that a group of us did make a difference - and we received it right back, multiplied. Our Hallowell Singers - better known for hospice singing for the Brattleboro community - led Christmas singing at the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield, Vt., where we were joined by volunteer organizers. The response among the inmates was enthusiastic and contagious. We rose...
Brattleboro-born poet GennaRose Nethercott is recording an album of original ballads, each performed and co-written by a different acclaimed folk band - and for the month of September, the project is crowdfunding support on Kickstarter to help bring it to life. After months spent studying traditional balladic forms and tropes, Nethercott composed a series of eight new, narrative poems that includes tales of shapeshifting sweethearts, lumberjack legends, carnivals and eclipses and murderous revenge. They are steeped in folklore, yet driven...
Local storytellers will share their life experiences in seven minutes each when Main Street Arts presents “A Night of True Stories,” Saturday, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m. In the spirit of public radio's “The Moth Radio Hour,” friends and neighbors will entertain with tales of pathos, mirth, adventure, loss, fright and all the emotions in between. Stories are told live on stage without scripts, notes, props, or accompaniment. Scheduled storytellers are Celia Bohannon, Ron Bos-Lun, Michelle Bos-Lun, Kathleen Bryar, Rick...
In a collaboration between the In-Sight Photography Project and Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center, The Great Outdoors program for youth ages 11-18 will integrate digital photography into nature exploration and discovery. Students will use the camera as a lens to investigate the natural world as it changes through autumn into winter. The late afternoon program will also enable students to explore nature photography in the early winter darkness. As an introductory photography class, students will also learn basic operation of a...