Colonels, Terriers tune up for state cross-country meet
The Bellows Falls and Brattleboro cross-county teams went up to Thetford on Oct. 7 for the 27th annual Woods Trail Run. This event attracts runners from all over New England, but for the Vermont runners, it is a dress rehearsal for the state meet on the Thetford Academy course on Oct. 28.
Brattleboro's Isaac Freitas-Eagan finished 10th, covering the 5-kilometer course in 17 minutes, 23.37 seconds. Together with teammates Colin Costa-Walsh (42nd, 18:16.84), Trevor Kipp (110th, 19:06.59), Bram Tabachnik (143rd, 19:31.80), and Evan Koch (175th, 19:47.30), the Brattleboro boys' came in 12th out of 50 schools.
Around the Towns
Brattleboro Lit Fest is this weekend BRATTLEBORO - Join fellow book lovers at the 16th annual Brattleboro Literary Festival Oct. 12-15 and explore books from bestselling and award-winning authors and poets. Scheduled to attend the festival are Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Richard Russo, Ron Powers, and Charles Simic; New York...
Voters to decide on fate of School Forest
The Putney Central School's forest may soon become town property in order to keep it under local control. On Nov. 2, Putney voters will decide whether the school board should sell the 164-acre School Forest to the town for a sum of $10. During two recent special Selectboard meetings,
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Youth musicians are sought for Battle of the Bands Nov. 3
Youth Services is holding its third Battle of the Bands as part of its 45th Anniversary celebrations this year. Area youth bands can launch their musical careers by competing at Youth Services' Battle of the Bands: The Snaz and Nomad vs Settler are past winners. The competition will take place at the River Garden on Friday, Nov. 3, during Gallery Walk Night, from 7 to 10 p.m. Bands will be judged on crowd appeal, musical technicality, stage performance, and originality,
Guilford briefs
Architect is hired for Town Office renovations GUILFORD - The Selectboard voted to hire Greenberg & Associates Architects to oversee the Town Office renovation project. At the Sept. 11 regular Selectboard meeting, Chairperson Sheila Morse outlined the process the Board took in selecting the architect. “We have read proposals, we have listened to presentations, we have discussed, we have had a workshop to look into this pretty deeply, we have sought legal counsel, and I think we've really covered our...
Milestones
College news • Madelynn Marie Rollins, of Dummerston recently earned an undergraduate degree in kinesiology from Longwood University in Farmville, Va. • Elkanah Linder of Townshend, a doctor of pharmacy student in Philadelphia College of Pharmacy at University of the Sciences, received a white coat at a ceremony on Sept. 23. The white coat ceremony is an annual rite of passage for students in their first professional year (third year) of USciences' six-year pharmacy program, and symbolizes their dedication to...
Why are good builders hard to find?
Who will do the work and do it well? “I have hired an architect who can create plans and construction details for what I want to execute,” says one homeowner, who is trying to remediate ice dams on his roof. “What I have not been able to find is a builder who understands these issues and presents realistic solutions.” It's raising eyebrows around the country because this homeowner touches on an issue that is both prevalent and part of a...
Dave Keller Band, Mo’ Sax Horns will perform in Bellows Falls
Dave Keller, one of the finest soul and blues men of his generation, returns to the Stone Church Arts concert series on Saturday, Oct. 14, at 7:30 p.m. He will be joined by his band - Ira Friedman on Hammond B3 organ and piano, Gary Lotspeich on bass, and Brett Hoffman on drums. And, this time, The Mo' Sax Horns will also be there: Jessica Friedman on baritone and alto sax and Joe Moore on tenor sax. This extravaganza of...
Investing in energy efficiency makes good sense for hospital
As a major health-care provider in Windham County, we'd like to share a recent success story that demonstrates how investing in energy efficiency has helped us provide better care to our community by reducing our operating costs while providing better comfort to our patients and staff. At Grace Cottage Family Health & Hospital, our vision is to provide excellent patient-centered care and to preserve and prolong the well-being of the whole community. In order to do this, we need to...
Banner continues to send a loving message
The “We Celebrate Democracy/Civil Rights For All” banner is flying over Main Street in Brattleboro for one week beginning on Oct. 8, just in time for Indigenous People's Day, a good time to fly the banner in their honor and in recognition of their suffering. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which works for racial and social justice, says: “Every act of hatred should be met with an act of love and unity.” Raising the banner over Main Street and standing...
WCHS takes in dogs and cats from shelters affected by Hurricanes Irma, Harvey
The Windham County Humane Society is hosting animals from Florida and Texas in an effort to help the communities affected by hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Working with their long-term transport partner, St. Hubert's Animal Welfare Center in New Jersey, the facility is taking in dogs and cats from Florida and Texas shelters. As of mid-September, WCHS had taken in 101 cats and 252 dogs from southern shelters where they faced euthanasia due to a lack of space. Now the focus...
Jerron ‘Blind Boy’ Paxton brings the blues to Next Stage
Bluesman Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton will appear at Next Stage on Friday, Oct. 13, at 7:30 p.m. Paxton is an American musician from Los Angeles who now lives in Queens, N.Y. A vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Paxton's style draws from blues and jazz music before World War II and was influenced by Fats Waller and “Blind” Lemon Jefferson. “Blind Boy Paxton is six-foot-two, but he only stands to get bigger,” The Village Voice wrote about Paxton, a young man who plays...
Our thriving, kindred community is no longer in Vermont
I'm here in my kitchen baking gluten-free goodies for this week's farmers' market. I use homegrown garden squash, eggs from our neighbors, and raw milk from a goat we co-own with the market manager - a sweet little Nigerian named Molasses (the goat, not the manager. The manager is a sweet little Floridian named Donica.) WRSI keeps me company while I cook. Joan Holliday flirts with Storm Team Meteorologist Brian Lapis. It's just another day. Based on these activities, one...
The larger issues of Hefner’s legacy
I've been thinking about Hugh Hefner, the Playboy empire, and their impact on our society since his death in September. For many of us, Playboy made its way into our curious hands, because either our parents - or our friends' parents - hid copies of the magazine under bathroom sinks or within the privacy of their bedrooms. For some, it was the unfolding of masturbatory fantasies for both girls and boys coming of age. Some may also argue that it...
SIT Graduate Institute launches degree program in youth leadership
SIT Graduate Institute is now accepting applications for a new M.Ed. in Global Youth Development and Leadership, starting in spring 2018. This one-year degree is designed for youth program staff, teachers, coaches, camp and school counselors, after-school providers, volunteer program managers, and anyone who wants to work with young people around the world. It comes at a time when half the world's population is under age 27. “Eighty-five percent of the world's youth live in developing countries and many are...
Scott: Act 46 merger could offer ‘civic engagement’
As he presided over the creation of Windham County's newest school district, Gov. Phil Scott saw an opportunity for a lesson in “civic engagement.” Speaking on Sept. 22 to an audience of students, teachers, and parents from the merging Dover and Wardsboro school districts, Scott decried the “political rhetoric and engagement we see on the national level today.” He also called for less contentious policy discussions in Vermont - with an implicit acknowledgement that Act 46, the state law that...
Putney Town Clerk treated insensitively
The article about Putney Town Clerk Denise Germon is so one sided I cannot believe what I am reading. You do not know all the facts, which seems to be irrelevant to you. Denise Germon has been advised by counsel not to discuss the reasons for her leave of absence. This article paints a picture that Denise disappeared with no communication to the Selectboard. You are wrong. I will submit to you that you did not ask the correct questions...
VY land deserves to be more than a used industrial site
Some environmentalists, in reference to the current practices of factory farming, overfishing, and methods for energy extraction such as fracking, have called the Western industrialized view of the environment a war against nature. This view applies to the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in Vernon as well. Over its 42-year history, tons of radioactive waste have been stored on the land there and the Connecticut River has been used as a repository for VY's heat and waste. In terms of environmental...
Main Street Arts offers drawing classes
Main Street Arts is offering two drawing classes this fall. Participants in David Stern's Drawing class will explore the basic aspects of drawing, including line, texture, movement, composition, and color, working from still life, landscapes, and the human figure. Attendees will learn technique, while respecting each person's unique style. The class meets Tuesdays from 4 to 5 p.m. The reduced fee of $30 is supported by the MSA Art for Everyone Scholarship Fund. All levels are welcome. Stern also will...
Local fire departments share in $1.6M in federal grants
Four Windham County fire departments have received federal grant money, according to a joint news release on Oct. 6 by Vermont's congressional delegation. A total of $1,635,648 was awarded in 15 federal grants. The awards are part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Assistance to Firefighters Grant program, which helps fire departments purchase critically needed equipment to better protect the public and first responders. This year's Assistance to Firefighters grants will help buy a range of equipment, including turnout gear,
Sine-wave weather
Good day to you southern Vermonters! Aside from a fairly warm weekend on the way, this week's weather won't be all that remarkable. In general, we'll see a weak storm move through Wednesday with some light rains into the night, followed by high pressure bringing sunny and cool conditions through late week. This high pressure system will move east and (in concert with a low pressure system off to our northwest) will produce a southerly flow that warms us up...
Rotary seeks artists to help literacy project
Brattleboro Rotary Club is looking for local artists to paint 10 “Little Free Libraries” for sale to benefit Brooks Memorial Library. “Members of the Brattleboro Rotary Club wanted to undertake a local service project that would encompass one of Rotary's five focus areas - in this case, literacy - and provide a lasting legacy to the community we all love and serve,” Joe Little, chair of the Little Free Library Project for Brattleboro Rotary Club, said in a news release.
Zentzes bring folk music to Moore Free Library
Bob Zentz and Jeanne McDougall Zentz return to Moore Free Library for a concert of folk music and “edu-tainment” on Friday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m. Zentz is a singer of songs about people, places, and times gone by, a teller of the tales behind the songs he sings and a scholar of the evolution of homemade music. From traditional Celtic ballads and sea shanties to science fiction songs and poetry set to music, the evening's selections will be chosen...
Making connections, salvaging lives
James Arana has a simple way to describe his client base: “People who are dancing with the law, and not by choice.” As pretrial coordinator at Youth Services, Arana manages pretrial services, a voluntary program for people involved in the criminal court system. The program recognizes that many people entering the criminal justice system have underlying factors that lead to the criminal misconduct. It screens participants for substance-abuse or mental-health issues “to inform the criminal-justice system about whether alternative paths...
Looking for company
Brattleboro AARP Chapter 763 has a unique distinction. It is the only active chapter in Vermont of the organization once known as the American Association of Retired Persons. The chapter meets on the third Tuesday of each month, except for January and July, at the Brattleboro Senior Center at the Gibson-Aiken Center on Main Street. For those who think of AARP as a distant organization that sends you a membership card at age 50 and pitches health insurance and discounts...
Main Street Arts String Band welcomes musicians
The musicians of the Main Street Arts String Band are looking for a few good - or just enthusiastic - musicians to join their weekly sessions. The group meets each Wednesday, from 5 to 6:15 p.m., to play traditional square dance and fiddle tunes from around the world under the leadership of fiddler Jill Newton. “We have a good time together in a friendly, informal way,” Newton said in a news release. “We welcome any level of musicianship and any...
Pedestrian safety at crosswalks paramount
On Oct. 4, a woman was hit by a truck while she was walking across Putney Road in Brattleboro between Hannaford and Martin's Fireside True Value hardware store. She was taken to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. There is no crosswalk at this intersection, though it is frequently used by pedestrians. On a per-capita basis, Brattleboro has the nation's highest pedestrian-death-by-vehicle rate, according to www.LocalMotion.org. Please contact our state senators - Jeanette White (phone 802-387-4379 or jwhite@leg.state.vt.us) and Becca Balint (802-257-4162 or...
Selectboard roundup
Police station in full operation; Central Fire Station close to done BRATTLEBORO - Town Manager Peter B. Elwell told the Selectboard on Oct. 3 that the Brattleboro Police Department is “fully operational at 62 Black Mountain Road,” the site of their new facility. Selectboard Chair Kate O'Connor asked Elwell if any issues have come up at the new police station. None, other than adjusting to a new building, Elwell said, and added, “it's a first-class facility and it's working out...
Alternative Governance Structure would help preserve local control of our schools
Residents of Brattleboro, Guilford, Putney, and Dummerston should be on the alert. A vote coming up on Tuesday, Nov. 7 concerns merging all of our schools under the supervision of a nine-member board and the administration. All of the present school districts will lose their locally elected school boards, the opportunity to present and discuss their separate budgets at local town meetings, control over teachers and where they teach, and - most of all - ownership of their school buildings...
Lucky keeper
Out the window, the day is damp and gray, but inside this safe, sweet home the light is warm. It's morning. In the kitchen space, just several feet from the makeshift couch on which I lie, James, my youngest son, makes porridge for himself and Emily, his wife. This morning, there'll be some for me, too, and a wholesome smoothie with everything but the chicken coop tossed in. Up the steps to the loft, Emily goes to finish dressing for...
Congress complicit in gun violence
After the shooting in Las Vegas, I'd like to put forth this modest proposal. Since Congress refuses to pass gun-control legislation, it is incumbent upon Congress to pass a government-run universal health-care plan to cover the cost of caring for those who have been wounded and for the rehabilitation that in many cases will be necessary, possibly requiring life-long care. I am not politicizing this horrible shooting incident. Congress, in its refusal to pass common-sense gun-control legislation, has the blood...
Towns to face new road rules
Citing water quality concerns, Vermont officials are proposing a host of new standards aimed at significantly reducing road erosion. But those standards may come with a steep cost in some towns. The state Department of Environmental Conservation is taking public comment on a draft permit that will require all municipalities to inventory their roads by the end of 2020 and then, over the next 16 years, bring those roads into compliance with new stormwater-runoff standards. State officials say the long...
For its message on guns, NRA should be ashamed
Someone has to say it. In light of the horrifying slaughter in Las Vegas, I hope that the National Rifle Association hangs its head in shame for its clenched-fist-of-truth advertising. A video that promotes on a mass level the concept of righteousness being leveled upon the masses in the form of justice by a gun group. A message that so easily could be taken to heart by a person who is deeply suffering like the rest of us over the...
Welch bill calls for feds to compensate nuke fuel towns
Regardless of how quickly Vermont Yankee is decommissioned, Vernon will be stuck with the plant's spent nuclear fuel for the foreseeable future. U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., thinks that hardship should be worth some money - potentially millions of dollars per year. Welch has teamed with a Connecticut congressman to introduce a bill requiring the federal government to send annual compensation to communities that are forced to host radioactive waste due to the lack of a national repository for that...
In with the new
After proving what it was capable of with a series of outstanding productions of familiar American pieces of theater, a fledgling theatrical company in Williamsville is trying something new. From Wednesday, Oct. 11, through Saturday, Oct. 14, at 7:30 p.m., in the Williamsville Hall on Dover Road in Williamsville, Vermont, The Rock River Players will present an original drama, I Used to Have a Cat, written and directed by award-winning filmmaker Robert Fritz. I Used to Have a Cat features...
West River Railroad Museum plans grand opening on Oct. 14
The Historical Society of Windham County will host a grand opening of the West River Railroad Museum on Saturday, Oct. 14. Three years ago, the Historical Society of Windham County purchased the former Newfane railroad station to save a historic landmark and to preserve a piece of Vermont history that would otherwise be lost forever. Since that time, the society has been restoring the station, which includes the old Depot Building and its associated Water Tank House, both of which...
New building of note
It was a slightly unconventional grand opening for a slightly unconventional institution, but when you have fulfilled a dream that was 40 years in the making, you can celebrate any way you want. And that's how Johann Sebastian Bach rode into the Brattleboro Music Center's new concert hall on the back of a Harley. After four decades of trying to come up with a replacement for their “temporary” home on Walnut Street, BMC celebrated the move into a spacious and...
Big Woods Voices plans benefit concert
The Nature Museum will present a benefit concert showcasing Big Woods Voices on Sunday, Oct. 22, at 4 p.m., at the White Church, 55 Main Street, in the heart of Grafton. The Voices are a purely a cappella vocal ensemble composed of: Alan Blood, long-time member of countless area groups including the Blanche Moyse Chorale, I Cantori, Blue Moon, and House Blend; Will Danforth, singer-songwriter and traditional acoustic artist; Becky Graber, leader of the Brattleboro Women's Chorus and Animaterra Women's...
Love through music
On Saturday, Oct. 14, at 8 p.m., the Vermont Jazz Center will welcome legendary trumpeter Tom Harrell to the stage. He will be touring with pianist Danny Grissett, bassist Ugonna Okegwo, and drummer Joe Dyson in support of their new release, Moving Picture. Although Harrell has recorded 30 discs as a leader, this is the first that features him as the sole horn in a quartet setting. Like Miles Davis before him, Harrell can most often be found in a...
Exploring literacy, education, and culture through the words of our past
In January, I became part of a committee that worked to create a project for a National Endowment for the Humanities “Creating Humanities Communities,” a matching grant whose goals are “to ensure that Americans around the country have the opportunity to engage with our shared cultural heritage” and to “demonstrate the power of the humanities to build connections, stimulate discovery, and contribute to vibrant communities.” The People, Places, and History of Words in Brattleboro, Vermont project is a wide collaboration...