Windham & Windsor Housing Trust recently announced that they will be adding a $2,500 grant to all Green Mountain Home Repair loans. These are low-cost loans with flexible guidelines to help income-eligible people make necessary home repairs.
According to a news release, this feature was added because of a growing need among the loan program participants whose repair projects were more extensive than they anticipated.
“So many times a small repair job can turn into a large, costly project.” said Housing Trust Repair Specialist Jerry Freeman. “This can be really difficult when folks are on a tight budget.”
Freeman explained that a small leak can eventually lead to mold damage if left unattended. Replacement of a hot water heater could lead to electrical rewiring.
The Brattleboro Selectboard adopted the 2015 All Hazard Mitigation Plan on Dec. 15, 2015; it was formally approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Feb. 2, 2016. It will expire on Feb. 1, 2021. According to a news release from the Planning Services Department, the plan is revised...
Community College of Vermont student Sandy Sherman received a $2,500 medical assisting scholarship from the Brattleboro Rotary Club Gateway Foundation at a Feb. 7 award ceremony at CCV's Brattleboro academic center. Sherman is the fifth recipient of the Jesse M. Corum IV Scholarship. The Brattleboro Rotary Club Gateway Foundation...
If the reader does not know what 5G is, a visit to the website of the Prove-it Initiative will be informative. Entities responsible for the planned launch of more than 20,000 satellites to saturate the entire Earth in high-frequency microwaves seem to count on our silence while extreme harm is undertaken. On poles everywhere, you can see the extra transformers needed for the extra energy required and 5G hardware associated with this damaging technology. What follows are a series of...
Vermont teens passionate about learning are invited to apply now for the Governor's Institutes of Vermont, 11 fun, intensive, residential summer opportunities on college campuses statewide. At GIV, rising 10th- through 12th-graders spend one to two weeks diving deep into academics or the arts, making new friends and gaining new skills and confidence while having the time of their lives. Students choose their own focus area from a broad range including arts (visual, performing and technical), astronomy, environmental science and...
The Windham Orchestra will play two grounded and deeply expressive works, Mendelssohn's Third Symphony, and Hindemith's Suite Nobilissima Visione, depicting episodes from the life of St. Francis of Assisi, on Sunday, April 7, at 3 p.m. at the Latchis Theatre. “This is a rich musical and spiritual treat not to be missed,” Musical Director Hugh Keelan said in a news release. “Mendelssohn shows us the swirling dances, landscapes, gloomy ruins, and other evocative locations from his tour of Scotland; in...
The Brattleboro Music Center hosts its annual fundraiser, “A Taste of the BMC,” on Saturday, April 6. Silent auction items will include a two-day recording session at Guilford Sound, live Celtic music by the band Gowan Brae for a private house party, voice lessons from Margery McCrum, yoga classes with Scott Willis, an Alsatian Sauerkraut dinner for eight, served at the buyer's home, and various works of art by Mark Shaw, Brian Cohen, Gordon Jones, Gay Morris, and other artists.
College news • The following local students completed their degree requirements at Northern Vermont University in the summer or fall 2018 semester: Madison O. Garfield of Brattleboro, B.A., psychology; Jake W. Harnish of Brattleboro, B.F.A., studio art; Trevor Lohr of Brattleboro, B.A., professional studies; Christian Max Ruse of Brattleboro, B.A., anthropology/sociology; Evan B. Daigneault of Newfane, A.A., general studies; Ellen D. Boles of Wilmington, B.A., music; and Ian M. Murdock of Wilmington, B.S., business administration. Ceremonies were held in December...
Marlboro College welcomes writer and alumnus Mark Roessler, author of A Panoramic Tour of the Northampton State Hospital, for a reading and discussion of his work. The reading will take place on Monday, April 8, at 6:30 p.m., in Marlboro's Snyder Center for the Visual Arts, and is free and open to the public. Through more than 50 panoramic images taken around and inside the now-vacant Northampton (Mass.) State Hospital, Roessler's new book offers a unique opportunity to explore this...
BMAC hosts family dance show and party BRATTLEBORO - The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center hosts “Adventures with Super Bee,” with a free evening of live dance performances, storytelling, and interactive creative play for the whole family on Friday, April 5, starting at 5:30 p.m., as part of Gallery Walk. Super Bee plays host and protagonist as she guides the audience on an adventurous evening at the museum. Visitors will also enjoy original dance pieces by Flip & Fly Dance...
Brattleboro Museum & Art Center will hold its Spring Gala and Benefit Auction on Friday, April 12, at 6 p.m., at Alyson's Orchard in Walpole, N.H. All proceeds support BMAC's youth and education programs. The night will include appetizers, dinner, and dessert by Hardy Foard Catering, accompanied by a special selection of beer and wine chosen by wine expert David Howell, a former BMAC trustee and retired geologist who for many years has consulted for wineries in northern California. Howell...
The fire department has spent the last few weeks preparing for an audit from the Insurance Services Office (ISO), and property owners will save on their insurance premiums if the department improves its status. Fire Chief Michael Bucossi called the ISO visit “a big deal” - and a source of a little anxiety and a lot of excitement. The ISO - a subsidiary of Verisk Analytics - provides statistical and actuarial information to clients, mostly insurance companies. The company's Public...
During the past decade, distracted driving has become one of the leading causes of vehicle crashes on our nation's roads. The Windham County Highway Safety Task Force says it is encouraging drivers to put down the phone and remember this new slogan: “U Drive. U Text. U Pay.” In support of April's National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, the Windham County Highway Safety Task Force will partner with the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for a national,
The Vermont Arts Council and Latchis Arts will present the Mud Season Blues Benefit Concert featuring Bob Stannard & Those Dangerous Bluesmen at the Latchis Theatre, 50 Main St., on Friday, April 12, at 7:30 p.m. Stannard and his band play straight-up blues from the likes of Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson II, James Cotton, Little Walter, and Paul Butterfield. “We are excited that the Dangerous Bluesmen are coming together to put on a great show and support the arts,”
If you're over 50 (as I am) and a citizen (me, too), would you consider admitting that we have failed our children? We've failed them on preventing, or at least curbing, gun violence. We've failed them by loading them with crushing debt - just add college expenses and the most recent Republican tax cut. And finally, we've failed them by inaction in the face of the overwhelming scientific evidence of climate change. Before you jump out the nearest window, pause...
Brattleboro got off to a tough start in Unified basketball with road losses to Hartford and Burr & Burton to open the season. Turns out all the Colonels needed was a little home cooking to set them right. A large and enthusiastic crowd in the BUHS gym saw the Colonels beat the Otter Valley Otters, 41-38, on March 28. Colonels coach Todd Bell says he has 10 new players, all of them ninth-graders, so there definitely is a learning curve...
This nation is in a painful and necessary self-evaluation of its political system brought on by the ascendency of the regime of Donald Trump. In her recent column “Trump is just another garden-variety demagogue” [Brattleboro Reformer, March 21], Vermont Senator Becca Balint argues in part that Trump is basically no different from previous demagogues in our history. While her columns are consistently thoughtful, this most recent piece deserves a challenge and a reconsideration from a more historical perspective. She states...
There is, practically speaking, an infinite number of interesting stories buried in the pages of our region's old newspapers. There is a myth, repeated in the book Life Along the Connecticut River (published in Brattleboro in 1939), that when the first Europeans came to the river, the water was so thick with shad that a person could walk across the water on the fish's backs. The feeling of great abundance is akin to how I feel when I am reading...
Mud season never ceases to amaze. Or inspire. I live on a dirt road with two ways out, and this year the ruts leading both north on MacArthur and south on Fox are two feet deep, leaving my car landlocked for five days straight. We do have a second car for just this reason, a rusty, low-slung four-wheel-drive Subaru, but this week, my husband Ty has needed that car to get to and from work. Which leaves Avah and me,
The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department says warm spring weather and melting snows are causing bears to come out of their winter dens in search of food. The department recommends taking down bird feeders in early April to avoid attracting bears. “Many bears went into their winter dens in poorer than normal condition due to a shortage of acorns, beechnuts, and apples last fall,” Forrest Hammond, Vermont's bear biologist, said in a news release. “Some bears will be coming out...
Good day to you, residents of the windy hamlets in southeastern Vermont! After some mixed rain and snow Wednesday morning, our departing coastal storm will pull in strong westerly winds during the afternoon and evening that may gust over 40 mph at times. A cool but fair Thursday will be followed by rainy Friday afternoon and evening with some snow possibly mixed in at times as a storm moves through the region. Saturday looks mostly cloudy and Sunday looks partly...
The same weather combination of frigid nights and sunny days that signals sugar maples to release their sap also leads to a less-pleasant part of Vermont's spring: mud season. As the warm days cause the frost deep in dirt roads to thaw, the extra water turns the roads into the soupy bane of a car's exhaust system. Throughout mud season, Director of Public Works Steve Barrett sends a member of the DPW to drive all 30 miles of Brattleboro's dirt...
The Department of Public Works will replace approximately 300 feet of water main between 133 Main St. and the intersection of High Street. The repairs are in response to a mini flood that happened on Main Street after a sprinkler line valve into the Paramount Building on 167 Main St. broke on Feb. 5. DPW Director Steve Barrett said upgrading the water main is a proactive step towards repairing the town's older infrastructure. The project schedule is “aggressive,” said Barrett,
CX Silver Gallery presents “Putney School Dynamic,” a group show celebrating the creativity of Putney School faculty and staff on display at the gallery through May 12. According to a news release, the paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, and videos “are from contemplation, the joy of doing and learning, the documenting of inner and outer observations, connecting with the archetypal and the elemental, [and] windows into the unique trajectories of [the artists.]” Featured artists are Sue Brearey, Brian Cohen, Gordon Jones,
Next Stage Arts Project presents jazz musical artist Greg Piccolo as part of the Shades of Blue series on Friday, April 5, at 7:30 p.m. Greg Piccolo first made a name for himself as a founding member of the multi-Grammy Award nominated group Roomful Of Blues, which also included guitarist Duke Robillard. For more than 24 years, he toured the world with the group. Piccolo has since been a major contributor to the blues, jazz, and R&B music scene for...
In the mountains and along the coasts of Georgia, the ancient country that straddles the Caucasus Mountains, songs have echoed for centuries. Villages and regions developed their own distinctive approaches to melody and harmony, to style and timbre. Iberi, a men's choir from Georgia in Eurasia, will share their distinctive choral traditions at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, April 6, at Immanuel Episcopal Church, 20 Church St. The six-person vocal and instrumental ensemble channels Georgia's multitude of sounds, exploring the emotional potential...
Nothing says spring to me more than the beginning of trout fishing season in Vermont, and we're almost there: April 13, to be exact. Once the ice melts and everything loosens up, it's time to get your license, clean the poles, and plot your next expedition, even if that expedition is only to the fish market. As a child, my brothers and I roamed the streams that meandered through the forests surrounding our home in Spofford, fishing poles in hand,
Thomas Nelson: Went over Putney Mountain in a 1996 VW Golf - but that was more fun than a nightmare. * * * Tom Buchanan: Mud season isn't all bad. It's part of the awakening of the land, and of the people, and of everything else. * * * Beth Baldwin Pollock: When I lived in Wells, Vt., the mud would swallow cars. We would have to park and walk in. * * * Vivi Mannuzza: For my drive up...
The Turner Hill Wildlife Management Area has seen its share of human activity, most notably from Alec and Sally Turner, who farmed the land in the 19th century, and their daughter, Daisy, a storyteller and civil rights activist. Now, the land that straddles the towns of Athens and Grafton is mostly devoid of human inhabitants, and beavers hold sway over the 1,052 acres. The state now intends to manage the area to support plant and wildlife as well as limited...
Take a deep breath. Most of the oxygen filling your lungs and energizing your body is produced by microorganisms - cyanobacteria - in Earth's oceans. The same nourishing air forms a protective membrane around the planet, shielding Earth from the cold vacuum of space. Have some food. Broken down into fats and sugars, these nutrients are not used by our distinctly human cells. They are ingested by non-human units within our cells called mitochondria. Ancestors of these mitochondria, formerly free-living...
Every year, Eastern Phoebes nest in our front porch. When we first moved into this house in 1995, the phoebes weren't very successful. They built nests on unsustainable perches: in a hanging basket buffeted by the wind one year, drowned by water coming off the eaves another. One year, they attached their nest on top of the porch light, and their babies fell out. A blind, dead, featherless chick is a sad, sad way to be greeted at the front...
The news came on April Fools' Day, but it was not a joke: Windham County Sheriff Keith Clark announced his retirement, effective June 30. Clark, first elected in 2006, was starting his fourth term. In his April 1 public retirement letter, he said the decision “follows much discussion with family, colleagues, and friends.” Clark said his wife of 35 years, Bonnie, has been working in North Carolina the past 18 months “and we are both looking forward to again sharing...
Given the number of discussions about Vermont's aging population, one would not expect an issue to be a shortage of child care for children from birth to age 5. Yet advocates for policy change say that half of Vermont's infants and toddlers lack places - “slots,” in policy argot - in regulated child-care programs. The problem doesn't stop with lack of slots, say experts. Overall, Vermont's child-care system is too expensive for many families and does not pay livable wages...
Of the counties in the state, Windham County may be bearing the brunt of the opioid crisis, which is getting new attention at the state level with a second lawsuit filed in recent days against the manufacturer of pharmaceutical opiates. According to statistics released in January by the Vermont State Department of Health, 24 individuals in the county died last year because of opioid-related overdoses, more than 20 percent of all deaths from that cause in the state. That's a...