March 11, 2018 was the seventh anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan that started the terrible meltdowns of the nuclear reactors at Fukushima, in northern Japan. The consequences of this disaster have been many: tens of thousands of citizens have been forced to leave their ancestral homes, some forever.
After seven years, the reactors are still highly radioactive, and at this time, the technology does not exist to clean up this site. The owners have tried to create specialized robots to enter the most radioactive areas of the reactor core, and each time these devices have failed because of the high level of radiation.
There have been numerous attempts to build an “ice wall” to stop leakage of toxic water from the Pacific Ocean, and none of those efforts have worked.
Tragically, the food and economy of this part of Japan have always relied heavily on the sea. We are fortunate that Vermont Yankee was shut down without a nuclear catastrophe, but the people of Japan have not been so lucky.
The town now has a town clerk and treasurer. The Selectboard has named Jonathan Johnson and R. Scott Henry to the two respective offices following Annual Town Meeting approval to change the positions from elected to appointed. Former Town Clerk and Treasurer Denise Germon, who was elected last March,
After reading Tom Finnell's history lesson on gun control, I was rather surprised at his statement, “If you can't down a deer with five rounds, you don't belong in the woods.” It is true that federal regulation requires a shotgun must not be able to hold more than three...
According to Bob DePino, people are best saved from gun violence by adding more people with guns to the general population. By adding more people with guns (and presumably more guns) into Vermont's communities, we will all be able to rest more easily. It is very hard to see the logic in this argument. He seems certain that “killers,” as he refers to them, will avoid heavily armed places and - rather than committing mass murder - will decide, instead,
The governor's solemn pledge “to protect our most vulnerable citizens” convinced many Vermonters that Phil Scott had our backs. We Vermonters care deeply about our neighbors, and these words connected with people all across the state. But when the governor turned the tables on his own pledge and took aim at the very services that support our most vulnerable - as well as many other Vermonters - folks sat up and took notice. In just the past few weeks, Scott...
I was very proud of how our kids at Brattleboro Union High School conducted themselves at the recent walkout to protest gun violence. I also appreciate adults from our community who joined in. Unfortunately, someone among the non-student group chose to display the U.S. flag upside down. I can understand the feeling that the leaders of our country are failing our youth by their inaction regarding sensible gun control. But this inaction is not a reflection of our entire country.
Frank Wadelton - also known as “Frank the Welder” - will soon move his Granger Street bicycle fabrication shop a few yards to the south. These plans are in response to a business need - he needs more manufacturing space, a showroom, and an office - and what Wadelton deems an economic and cultural need: an “adventure center” for electric-assist bicycle rentals and guides to local trails. Wadelton wants to make Bellows Falls an electric-bicycle destination. in 2006, Frank the...
February was pretty brutal for many of southern Vermont's ski areas, as rain and record warmth knocked down the snow cover on many slopes. But March has been a totally different story. Three major snowstorms in 11 days left up to five feet of new snow at Mount Snow in West Dover, Stratton in Winhall, Magic Mountain in Londonderry, and Bromley in Peru. March is normally a great month for skiing. The days are longer, the temperatures are tolerable, and...
The fourth annual Soup Fest and Silent Auction fund raiser will be held on Sunday, March 25, at the NewBrook Fire Station on Route 30. The event will help raise funds for the final restoration phase of the Historical Society of Windham County's 1880 Newfane Railroad Station and West River Railroad Museum. You won't have to ride the “36 Miles of Trouble” to sample homemade soups from Brattleboro to South Londonderry. These restaurants all the way “up the gauge” of...
At last year's Annual Town Meeting, through a proposal by “Woody” Eugen Bernhard and language amended by the town, Marlboro voted that “we, the voters of the Town of Marlboro, Vermont, proudly support the civil rights of all people without regard to their race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, disability, age, or education level.” This year, Woody was at it again on Town Meeting Day. Aided by his spouse, Susan Kunhardt, and fellow Marlboro residents Joe Mazue,
Child care available at Representative Town Meeting BRATTLEBORO - Town Meeting representatives, Windham Southeast officials, and town officials will offer free child care at Representative Annual Town Meeting on Saturday, March 24. This year's service - considered a “trial run” for potentially providing this service for future meetings - will take place at Brattleboro Area Middle School near the Multi-Purpose Room where the meeting takes place from 8 a.m. until the end of the meeting (except during the lunch break).
Bread & Puppet Theater returns to Next Stage in Putney, Saturday, March 24, with a new play, The Basic Bye-bye Show, which it calls a poem on transformation inspired by Dürer's apocalyptic woodcuts, Brahms' 4 Serious Songs, and the daily news. In The Basic Bye-bye Show, a series of “quiet object fantasies” unfolds in black, white, and grey inside a small fabric stage printed with elementary words - “Resist,” “Bread,” “Yes,” “Sky,” “Riot,” “Byebye.” Outside, an orchestra of nonsense instruments...
College news • Casey Greenleaf of Brattleboro, a Northeastern University student majoring in English and anthropology, was named to the University's Dean's List for the fall 2017 semester. • The following local students received academic honors from Clark University in Worcester, Mass., for the fall 2017 semester: Meyru C. Bhanti of Brattleboro earned first honors, while Molly M. Gurney of Brattleboro earned second honors. • Christiana M. Strysko of Wilmington has been named to the fall 2017 President's List for...
Vermont Performance Lab and Windham Regional Commission have teamed up to launch The Confluence Project, a collaborative effort bringing arts, youth, community groups, and educational institutions to the table to help create a deeper engagement around water and watersheds. The Confluence Project links Vermont Performance Lab's artist residency program with the community development work of the Windham Regional Commission. Through public programs and integrated art-science residencies, The Confluence Project is helping local schools build an understanding of local watersheds and...
Local filmmaker Teresa Savel, in collaboration with the Westminster West Library, will host a screening of Palomita (Little Dove), a documentary about an indigenous women's doll-making collective high in the Andes Mountains of Peru, at the library, located at 3409 Westminster West Rd., on Friday, April 6. The event begins at 6:30 p.m., with Peruvian “humitas” (little tamales), followed by the film at 6:45 p.m. This 54-minute documentary, filled with vibrant cinematography and original Peruvian music, takes us from Southern...
“It's time to stop rehearsing our deaths and start screaming.” Those words, written by a Virginia pre-K teacher, Launa Hall, in 2014 and read by Brattleboro Union High School senior Cassandra Dunn, summed up the feelings of the more than 250 students - about one-third of the student body, according to BUHS Principal Steve Perrin - who walked out of classes on March 14 for a rally in front of the school. It was part of a nationwide event, as...
In the wake of the recent well-publicized walkouts at schools around the country, I made the mistake of reading comments on the social-media links to stories covering the events. Not surprisingly, this was not the path to personal internal peace. I read comments about how disrespectful and uninformed “kids today” are. Ironically, most of those comments were made in incredibly inflammatory language, with dismissive tones, and with a real lack of actual information about the viewpoints and knowledge bases of...
“What's the buzz?” ask Jesus' apostles as they wake from sleep in the Garden of Gethsemane to find him being hauled off by Roman soldiers. According to a news release, theatergoers are asking the same question as excitement revs up before the curtain rises on the Main Street Arts production of the rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar at the Bellows Falls Opera House Thursday, March 29, for the beginning of a two-weekend run. With music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and...
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center recently added to its real estate holdings with the purchase of the building on Main Street located between Bridge and Arch streets. The museum now owns a contiguous triangle of properties, starting with its headquarters at the former Union Station. In late 2015, it bought 11 Arch Street, the 19th-century brick structure that formerly housed a machine shop and electric substation. “We have dreamt up big, exciting plans that involve the redevelopment of that...
On Friday, April 6, at 7 p.m., Vermont Academy will present the New England premiere of a short film, Off the Street, that was filmed on the school's campus during a summer arts camp 50 years prior. The event is free and open to the public, according to a news release. The evening will include a question-and-answer session with one of the art students featured in the film, Bernard Stanley Hoyes, now an internationally known artist. In 1968, Jere Michael...
Latchis Arts' Exhibition on Screen series continues with Cézanne: Portraits of a Life, to be presented at the Latchis Theatre on Saturday and Sunday, March 24 and 25, at 4 p.m. The Exhibition on Screen series is dedicated to bringing world class art and artists to cinemas. Cézanne: Portraits of a Life is based on an exhibition of Cézanne portraits at the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington,
Town Meeting Members quizzed the Selectboard and town staff on the municipality's big budget items on March 14 at the Academy School. The members will vote on a total of 30 articles - school and municipal - at the annual Representative Town Meeting on March 24 in the multipurpose room at Brattleboro Area Middle School. Board members have presented a $17.5 million municipal budget for fiscal year 2019. If passed as is, the fiscal year 2019 budget carries a 3.6...
Good day to you, southeastern denizens of the Green Mountain State! We've got the potential for more snow on the way, but this is nothing like what we saw earlier this month. In fact, so much dry air will be in place before the storm on Wednesday evening, as well as being actively pulled into it, that some areas may see nothing, or just a few flurries or scattered snow showers. Beyond Wednesday night, we can look forward to more...
Is there one root cause of health and human services needs like special education, corrections, generational poverty and homelessness, addiction, chronic health care needs, and early death? The members of the Adverse Childhood Experiences legislative working group think so. According to a report they issued in January, the unacknowledged leading cause of these challenges is childhood toxic stress and trauma. The joint, bipartisan working group was formed in July, when Act 43, passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor...
April showers bring May flowers, the proverb reminds us; for those who hanker for instant gratification, however, there is something else that April showers bring - amphibians. Once the showers begin, we don't need to wait until May, we only need to wait until dark. On those April nights when it's raining and temperatures get above 40 degrees, the spotted salamanders, Jefferson's salamanders, and wood frogs emerge from subterranean dormancy. Terrestrial and solitary most of their lives, these spring rains...
Six new exhibits reflecting a wide range of artistic styles, mediums, and concerns opened at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center on Saturday, March 17. From hand-cranked kinetic sculptures made of household objects to elegant black-and-white watercolor landscapes, the new exhibits affirm BMAC's commitment to exhibiting contemporary art in all its forms. “Best of 'Springs, Sprockets & Pulleys'” marks the return to Brattleboro of artist Steve Gerberich's zany, interactive sculptures. BMAC exhibited “Gerb's Gadgetry” in 2011. According to Director Danny...
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present an evening of acoustic/electric Americana music from Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., by The Slambovian Circus of Dreams (aka The Grand Slambovians) at Next Stage on Friday, March 23, at 7:30 p.m. The music of The Slambovian Circus of Dreams has been described as “hillbilly-Floyd,” “folk-pop,” “alt-country, roots-rock” and “surreal Americana.” A rootsy psychedelica that Maverick magazine calls “mightily impressive and hugely original rock from the cool end of Americana,” the quartet's melodic avant-folk...
My older sister is retired now after 36 years of teaching high-school English. When we were young, I looked up to her. I thought I might even become a teacher, but I realized my heart wan't in it. After college, she went to Middlebury's Bread Loaf School of English, and she began teaching right away. The students loved her. She let them read The Great Gatsby and do creative interpretations, like composing music, instead of writing in prose about the...
On March 22, I will be showing up for another meeting on Vermont Yankee. We will hear presentations about the latest ownership deal with Vermont Yankee: the sale from Entergy to NorthStar, for decommissioning. Here is what I will say. * * * Thank you for working together on this settlement. I especially appreciate that 10 parties were involved in the negotiations to reach this deal. Forgive me if I am skeptical that this agreement will stick throughout decommissioning. For...
The Brattleboro School of Dance has a new owner, and she spent her first days there as a toddler. “I started dance classes at the school when I was two or three years old,” said Bridget Struthers, who assumed ownership in mid-January. “I grew up dancing there, so it feels somewhat natural,” Struthers said. “But when I think about it, it's a big deal!” Struthers, who is in her early 30s, noted one or two of her childhood dance teachers...
Since 2007, the Chesterfield Historical Society has had its eye on the Stone House Tavern - a historic building that stands at junction of Routes 9 and 63 that was built in 1831. With fortunate timing within a fluctuating economy, CHS is en route to purchasing the Tavern, but it needs community support - and quickly, by March 31. “Our big crunch is right now because we really only have days remaining to meet our first [financial] milestone in order...