The new Rockingham Planning Commission, tasked with overhauling and re-writing the Town Plan, has launched a town-wide survey asking residents, young and old, what they like and don't like about Rockingham and what they want for the future of Rockingham.
According to a news release from the Planning Commission, there is a survey for adults, and a special survey specifically geared to students. Parents are urged to encourage their children to respond to that survey.
The survey is a series of 32 simple questions such as “How satisfied are you with the condition of your street? How satisfied are you with the quality of the natural environment in Rockingham? How satisfied are you with activities for youth in Rockingham?”
Completing it may take 10 to 15 minutes. The survey is completely anonymous and respondents can ignore any questions they don't care to answer.
Children need truth. In a perfect world, they will be able to begin to experience truth in a safe school environment where facts are fairly presented in historical context. In her letter addressing attention to a problematic presentation by a Palestinian speaker at the Academy School and the Brattleboro...
The Women's Community Club of Grafton, celebrating its centennial this year, recently announced the seven winners of its annual scholarships to benefit Grafton students. The scholarship awards are based on scholastic achievement, financial need, community involvement and extracurricular activities/work commitments at school. The WCC will award a total of...
Medical research indicates that early trauma, whether physical or emotional, can lead to hypersensitization of the central nervous system - the brain and spinal cord - in later years. Central sensitization conditions such as fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and/or migraine cause misery. Early trauma, whether physical or emotional, can also lead to post-traumatic stress syndrome, anxiety attacks, and a multitude of other health ailments that affect not only the children but also our health resources. How are we impacting these...
Strolling of the Heifers and Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation are accepting applications from entrepreneurs for the 2018 FreshTracks Road Pitch, which will take place at the River Garden on Wednesday, Aug. 1, at 3 p.m. According to a news release, the Road Pitch, a gang of motorcycling business investors and advisors, is stopping in Brattleboro to hear funding pitches from local businesses that are ready to scale up. Brattleboro-area entrepreneurs interested in pitching to the motorcyclists should apply at www.strollingoftheheifers.com/roadpitch.
Early detection of invasive species in ponds, rivers, and wetlands, by both professionals and volunteers, is an important strategy to minimize the detrimental effects of invasive species on our native species and habitats. Invasive water chestnut (Trapa natans) was first observed at a site on the Connecticut River in the Hinsdale, N.H., and Vernon area in 2012. Each year since 2013, a manual harvesting project has been actively removing water chestnut plants from the site. Water chestnut infestations are a...
Starting this week, about $143,000 in coupons will be available to help eligible Vermonters buy locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables at participating farmers' markets. Coupons are issued through the Farm to Family program on a first come, first served basis and may be used at any of the 52 markets enrolled in the program this summer. Who is eligible? • Families enrolled in the Vermont Department of Health's WIC Program. Apply at special Farm to Family sessions held in...
Carly Fox, a teacher at Vermont Academy, has been named the 2018 Vermont History Teacher of the Year, an award presented annually by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the nation's leading organization dedicated to K-12 American history education. According to a news release, the History Teacher of the Year Award was inaugurated in 2004 to highlight the crucial importance of history education by honoring exceptional American history teachers from elementary school through high school. The award honors one...
With the hiring of Burlington-based planning consultants, the SE Group, Vernon moves closer to establishing what local officials describe as a “21st century New England village." The town, with acres of farmland, a town forest, a shuttered nuclear power plant, and 2,206 residents (as of the 2010 census), has no central business and residential district. “A lot of places have historic downtown villages,” said Martin Langeveld, member of the Vernon Planning and Economic Development Commission, “but it's not common to...
At 1:30 and 7:30 p.m., on Saturday, July 28, internationally-known concert organist Joyce Jones will offer two concerts - the first for children and the second for adults - on the three-manual Estey Opus 300 pipe organ at First Baptist Church, 190 Main Street in Brattleboro. Children of all ages are welcome at the 1:30 matinee. According to a news release, Jones has dedicated her extraordinary professional life to making friends for her instrument and sharing her Christian faith through...
The Rich Earth Institute (REI) and the Windham Regional Commission (WRC) recently announced the regions that will participate in a new wastewater study. In a slight plot twist, two neighborhoods - West Dummerston and Westminster West - were selected for the Village Sanitation Pilot Study, instead of one community, as originally planned. REI and the WRC announced the pilot project earlier this year. The two entities contacted selectboards and planning commissioners in area towns to announce the study and to...
For more than six months, members of Putney Cares and Putney Family Services boards have been meeting to explore merging the organizations to coordinate and increase services to Putney community members. On June 11, a new combined board met for the first time and began to enact details of the merger. According to a news release, the first decision was agreeing to the new name, Putney Community Cares, and the new logo, a combination of the Putney Family Services sunburst...
College news • Gabriel Susca-Lopata of Brattleboro received an M.S. in environmental science and engineering from Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y. • Alexa and Sabin Litchfield, both of Jamaica, were named to the Dean's List for the spring 2018 semester at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass. • Emily Perry, an environmental conservation and sustainability major from Bellows Falls, was named to the University of New Hampshire's Dean's List for the spring 2018 semester, earning High Honors. • The local chapter...
I've read over and over again the letters and opinions concerning the separation of children from their parents on the border, and it made me think about separating children from parents of U.S. citizens. Departments of children/youth/families go by different names in each state, and we often read of tragic cases where children were left in homes they should not have been and were abused or even killed as a result. But when these agencies go after people for the...
Melania Trump's wearing a jacket on a hot day with a very clear message painted on the back is probably the most - and perhaps only - truthful statement to come from the White House since she and her husband entered it. Meanwhile, by quoting the Bible out of context, and thereby changing its meaning, Jeff Sessions displayed his desperation to disguise his guilty conscience for kidnapping children of immigrant asylum seekers. As Americans, do we need more evidence of...
I am impressed by Emilie Kornheiser's experience and preparation for public service. She has engaged in a wide variety of work settings - local and international, policy- making and service-oriented. In Vermont, she has engaged with both the Snelling Center for Government and Emerge America to be ready to fully participate in Vermont's policy life. She has thought carefully about the best way to use her multiple talents, and I am pleased that she demonstrates knowledge and sensitivity about the...
Has anyone in Trumpworld read The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon? Message to Trumpsters: your man is a Russian plant. If you don't believe it, watch how Putin tools on our feckless, malignant, narcissistic neo-Nazi, and you'll see what I mean. The Trump has not been so much brainwashed as blackmailed, but the result is the same: a fifth column, as it were, groomed and dispatched to wreck our country. Step back and look at Putin, a mafia don and...
We are shocked by the news report that writing a message that translates to “kill the Jews” in large letters on a town sidewalk is not considered a crime and does not merit bringing criminal charges. The Brattleboro Police Department is protecting free speech? This is on a par with Trump's comment about Nazi sympathizers' rally in Virginia that both sides are responsible and the members of the Nazi group were “nice people.” It is insensitive to dismiss this act...
Brattleboro taxes due by Aug. 15 BRATTLEBORO - Real estate and personal property taxes assessed upon the Grand List of 2018 are now due and payable to the Town Treasurer at the Treasurer's Office in the Municipal Center, 230 Main St., Suite 111, in four equal installments as follows: first installment due Aug. 15, second installment due Nov. 15, third installment due Feb. 15, 2019, and fourth installment due May 15, 2019. Real estate and personal property tax will be...
In the latest installment of its “Hidden in the Hills” series, the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center offers a guided tour of Wingate Studio in Hinsdale, N.H., on Saturday, July 21, at 4 p.m. The event is free but open to Museum members only. To register or to become a member of the museum, visit www.brattleboromuseum.org or call 802-257-0124, ext. 101. Founded in 1985 by master printer Peter Pettengill, Wingate Studio produces and publishes printed editions, books, and special projects...
A staged reading of Lillian Hellman's classic American drama, The Little Foxes, will be presented at the Actors Theatre Playhouse on Saturdays July 21 and 28 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $8 for all seats, and reservations can be made through their toll-free box office line at 877-666-1855. The Little Foxes brings us into the post-Civil War South where nothing is more important to the Hubbard clan than money and power. The ruthless, wealthy brothers and sister live in, and...
The third week of Yellow Barn's 49th anniversary season brings concerts to the Big Barn on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, July 21, 22, and 23, plus a lunch and open house on Yellow Barn's campus at the Greenwood School on Saturday, as well as an evening discussion at the Putney Public Library. Saturday night opens with a joyous call - Christopher Rouse's virtuosic Compline for flute, clarinet, harp, and string quartet (the same instrumentation as Ravel's Introduction and Allegro...
A music-therapy workshop and concert will be presented on Saturday, July 21, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., at the Brattleboro Music Center. According to a news release, this workshop explores the relationship of sound, music, and vibration to the body, mind, and spirit. The approach centers on the belief that the connection between music, art, and healing creates positive change in the individual and in the broader community. Music therapist Ayla Varol Clark, Ph.D., and her colleagues will use the...
The Selectboard approved the Fiscal Year 2019 contract for the Windham County Sheriff's Department. The town will pay the department $70,000 for coverage. The Board first discussed the proposed contract at the June 6 regular Selectboard meeting. They tabled the decision to allow new Board member Laura Chapman more time to review the document. At the June 20 regular meeting, the Board approved the contract. According to Town Manager Karen Astley, the Sheriff's Department made “minimal changes” to the FY19...
We're fortunate in Dummerston, Putney, and Westminster to have Mike Mrowicki seeking his seventh term in the Legislature. Mike has his priorities right on issues facing the state and is experienced at getting things done, especially but not only in human-service issues of childhood abuse and trauma, sexual harassment, and a host of other topics before the House's Human Services Committee. More broadly, he was an advocate for the gun-safety bills passed by the Legislature this year. He backed bills...
I urge voters to re-elect Michael Mrowicki to represent the Windham-4 district in the Vermont House of Representatives. I've had the privilege of knowing Mike since before he first ran for office. Before moving to Vermont, I spent some time working with the legislature in another state. I saw that campaigning for office and working for constituents after someone has been elected are two different jobs. I can say without reservation that I have seen Mike work hard at the...
We are writing to express our dismay at the hateful and threatening message scrawled on the sidewalk in Brattleboro. The death threat, written in German, was a direct and clear connection to Nazism and the Holocaust. While the police hopes it was just a sick joke, it certainly coincides with a rise in anti-Semitic language and explicitly threatening actions across the United States in the past year - notably in Charlottesville and, as we see now, even here. This is...
The Grafton Community Church is proud to continue its summer concert series “Friday Night Musicales” on July 20 with “A Celebration of Chamber Music” featuring the Hilltop String Quartet. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. and there is a suggested donation of $20. The Hilltop String Quartet includes regional musicians Vicki Citron, Linda Hecker, Sonya Lawson, and Nancy Rich. Each is a member of various regional orchestras: The Windham Orchestra, Sage City Orchestra, Pioneer Valley Symphony, Springfield Symphony, Commonwealth...
I am writing to express my support for Emilie Kornheiser's candidacy for state representative. I've lived in Vermont for 27 years and in Brattleboro for 21 years. I have been a teacher in this town's public schools for 20 years, and I've been teaching for over 30 years. I first met Emilie while she was leading a large contingent of townspeople in her role as the Green Street Promise Community Coordinator. I was drawn to her insightful leadership, and I...
Last year, Protect Our Wildlife (POW) launched a statewide Living With Wildlife campaign to help towns pursue nonlethal methods to address human/wildlife conflicts. In Vermont, countless wild animals, including beavers, foxes, raccoons, and others, are killed under a dangerously vague statute that allows landowners and municipalities to kill wildlife that's merely suspected to cause damage to property. No reporting is required, so our state's own Fish and Wildlife Department has little to no data on how many animals are killed.
As a member of the House Human Services Committee, I have worked on issues regarding public health, human services, social and economic security. I have seen firsthand how many Vermonters struggle to make ends meet every day. I know how important it is that we have experienced, passionate, and capable lawmakers to assist Vermont citizens. State Representative Valerie Stuart is one of them. I have served in the statehouse with Valerie for three years and have been impressed by how...
I strongly support Emilie Kornheiser's candidacy and election to the office of state representative. I had the pleasure of serving with Emilie on the Brattleboro Food Co-op's board of directors and found her to be a clear and thoughtful thinker, very good listener, and team player, able to help build consensus and direction. I appreciate her leadership style, and believe that she'll be a great representative at the state level.
What does the Secretary of Education mean when she says our overwhelming votes against school merger don't matter? The last time I looked, we were still a democracy, both in our country and especially in Vermont, where freedom and democracy have always mattered. But now, the secretary of education and the Agency of Education's lawyers are telling us, and telling many other school districts across the state, that their community votes don't matter. If this is the case, why would...
For decades, musicians and audiences have been trying to figure out what makes the concerts at Vermont's Marlboro Music Festival so special. Is it the isolation, the beauty of nature, the sense of family, the rare opportunity of unlimited rehearsal time, or the chance for exceptional young professionals to play side-by-side with some of music's most distinguished artists? A look at Marlboro Music's second weekend of concerts on Saturday, July 21, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, July 22, at 2:30...
New England Youth Theatre, 100 Flat St., will present its annual Melodrama Festival on Friday, July 20, at 6 p.m., and Saturday, July 21, at 2 and 6 p.m. NEYT's favorite summer program for 13 years running is the Melodrama Festival. Villains, heroes, robbers, and victims abound in these hilarious tales, written and directed by former NEYT students and performed by current students ages 9-15. Two different plays are performed back-to-back three times over two days to houses packed with...
It all started in 1993 when artists in Williamsville and South Newfane glanced over each others' shoulders to discover vision, accomplishment, and shared commitment to fine art and craft. The Rock River Artists formed, and the Open Studio Tour was soon a cherished event in the region's summer arts lineup. The 2018 Rock River Artists Open Studio Tour is Saturday, July 21, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, July 22, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. A tour...
State Rep. Mike Mrowicki, D-Putney, was first elected to the Windham-4 House district encompassing Dummerston, Putney, and Westminster in 2006. In his five re-election campaigns for the House since then, Mrowicki has always had his district-mate, David Deen of Westminster, to run beside him. This year, however, marks the first campaign that the 63-year-old Mrowicki hasn't had Deen at his side. Deen, 73, decided not to run for re-election after serving 14 terms in the House. “It wasn't until there...
People loved to be fooled. So thinks magician Chris Lengyel, who has made a career of deceiving his audiences. “Magic is the one art where people will pay money to get lied to,” Lengyel says. “Even if they know that what they are seeing in a magic act are just tricks, they still watch entranced. Perhaps they want to figure out how it's done, or else they like to see appearances played around with. People are attracted to thinking that...
In a dramatic restructuring that will allow employee-owned Chroma Technology Corp. to take advantage of rapidly expanding international markets, the company announced on July 16 that former IBM-GlobalFoundries leader Janette Bombardier has accepted the newly created position of Chief Engineering Officer. Bombardier is a dynamic leader and manufacturing expert and licensed professional engineer. According to a news release, she said she is looking forward to helping to drive Chroma's worldwide growth while leading the company's engineering and technical functions. At...
Good day to you, Windham County dwellers! After a veritable deluge yesterday due to our cold front swinging through the region and sweeping humid air seaward, we've got much nicer weather on the way! We can expect sunny and increasingly drier conditions to rule our roost from Wednesday through Saturday. After that point, we will be watching as low pressure looks to swing up the coast in a sort of winter-time pattern that may bring slightly cooler and rainy weather...
Television can be a force for positive change, as can the movies. Recently, at the Latchis Theatre, my son, Hayden, and I saw the new documentary about Fred Rogers - or, as we all know him, Mister Rogers - titled Won't You Be My Neighbor? after the famous song he always sang at the beginning of his renowned PBS television show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. This film is powerful. It's poignant. And it's profound. Mister Rogers was a rarity then, and...
Under an afternoon sun, people sat at long tables arranged along the Whetstone Pathway in the Preston Parking Lot. The visitors chatted while munching on some of the 300 hot dogs and hamburgers grilled by members of the Brattleboro Police Department. Some of the diners attended the community cookout on purpose. Others arrived by accident drawn to the scent of the grill. Brattleboro Police Lt. Adam Petlock and Turning Point Executive Director Suzie Walker estimated 250 people attended the July...
The young members of the band Moxie chose the name “because on a practical level, it's short and easy to remember,” said guitarist Leander Holzapfel. “Also, we feel like it describes our music pretty well.” The band members - Rei Kimura, 14, of Brattleboro; Daniel Snyder, 15, of Guilford; David Cohen, 15, of Westminster Station; and Holzapfel, 16, of Marlboro - first met in January 2017. Since then, the four, who knew one another in various combinations but had never...
Little League roundup • On July 8 at South Main Street Field, the Brattleboro 12-year-old All-Stars rolled to 14-0 win over Rutland in four innings. Tucker Sargent was the big star at the plate, going 3-for-3 with seven RBIs. Sargent set the tone with a three-run homer, and Degan Gundry followed up with a solo home run. Brattleboro also got big hits from Will Hill, Will Miskovich, Charlie Clark, and Ben Berg. On the mound, Brandon Weeks struck out five...
When I sat at the kitchen table where the Brattleboro Area Hospice's Pet Loss Support Group meets, I thought I had come there for a fairly straightforward interview about the group, how it formed, and some attendees' experiences with it. My plan was to first gather the information, then go home and write the article, just as I always do. I didn't realize until partway through the interview that I was actually participating from within, not reporting from afar. That...