An open letter to Gov. Phil Scott:
We, the undersigned members and friends of All Souls Church (Unitarian Universalist) of Brattleboro and registered Vermont voters, urge your support for the 2020 Plan for Climate Action in Vermont, including:
• The Vermont Global Warming Solutions Act
• A strong, equitable transportation and climate initiative...
An open letter to Governor Phil Scott: On behalf of the citizens of the great state of Vermont, we are asking you to please include Federal Firearms License (FFL) dealers in the list of businesses considered essential during the COVID-19 crisis, as other states have done. As I'm sure...
Several sources of assistance are available for area artists and arts organizations that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic: • The Artist Relief Fund, a $10 million national emergency relief fund for artists and creative workers that will provide $5,000 no-strings-attached grants, was recently created. It is intended...
We are hearing stories of people arriving from out of state to escape large urban areas where there are greater odds of becoming infected with the coronavirus. We can see cars at the seasonal homes of out-of-staters. We'd be sheltering at our vacation home, too, if we were urban dwellers with flexible options. But there seems to be an inherent problem in that it's not clear that these travelers are aware of possibly being virus carriers. Adults and children have...
MacLean Gander says “our highest political priority must be to come together as a nation.” Then he proceeds to attack President Trump. Mac is also offended when Trump calls the foreign virus a “foreign virus.” That is not racism, because the coronavirus is a foreign virus, a Wuhan virus, a Chinese virus. It is what it is. I wrote a letter to this newspaper years ago and said that liberals will panic when Trump is elected . Oh, how they've...
If you're a vacation-home owner, you've probably received a 2020 Census form in the mail at both your Vermont address and your primary address. If you have a computer, it's important to go online and respond to both of them using the 12-digit code in each respective letter. The code is specific to your address. If you're a vacation-home owner who's a legal resident of another state, you still need to visit my2020census.gov and respond using the code you received...
Voters urged to check their personal data ahead of electionsBRATTLEBORO - With the August state primaries and the November general elections just round the corner, Town Clerk Hilary Francis encourages all voters to visit their My Voter Page to update their registration address, including their physical and mailing addresses, and request an absentee ballot to be mailed to them. The My Voter Page is now found at mvp.vermont.gov. If you encounter problems logging in, contact the Town Clerk's office at...
“It's like they say in Havana - if you see a line, stand in it. They probably have something you need,” writes MacLean Gander. When I lived in Manhattan, I operated on the same principle: If there was a line, I figured there was something good on offer. One time, I joined a line, but after about 30 minutes I got bored and asked someone what the line was for. The person told me it was for viewing Monseigneur Somebody...
I'd like to thank the Brattleboro'Food Co-op for the wonderful system they have in place for free curbside pick-up for people at risk who need to avoid going into stores. A big thank you for thinking outside the box about how to keep us all safe. And thank you to all the area food stores for the accommodations they are making for seniors and at-risk people, such as providing early-morning shopping hours on select days. I'm sure I'm speaking on...
Obituaries • Leon Alfred Boyd, 64, of West Dover. Died April 9, 2020 at Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, N.H., from complications of the COVID-19 virus. His death came just six days after his twin brother, Cleon, died of the same virus. They were both born at Putnam Memorial Hospital in Bennington on March 13, 1956, the twin sons of John Boyd and Janice Batchelder. Leon grew up on the family farm and attended schools in Wilmington and Mount Anthony...
The Jewish Passover, the Christian Holy Week, the Muslim time of Ramadan, and the Bahá'í feast of Ridvan all recently celebrated or are still celebrating the best of who we are in times of suffering and darkness. Together, we want to acknowledge the gift of courage and hope currently shining from those in our community, visible and not so visible, who are considered, regardless of their faith and practice, “essential” in the realm of labor and who continue to light...
If you have not completed your U.S. Census form yet, you can complete it without leaving home or coming in contact with another person. Staff at Brooks Memorial Library can assist in accessing the census questionnaire. Call 802-254-5290, ext. 1206, or email info@brookslibraryvt.org for assistance. But if you are doing it yourself, there are three simple ways to complete the federal questionnaire: • Online: Go to 2020census.gov. Can't find your 12-digit code that you received in the mail? No problem.
The Annual Village Meeting, originally scheduled for April 13, is now set for Monday, June 8, with the location to be determined based on the status of the pandemic. Trustees voted at an online meeting April 6. The trustees whose terms would have been up April 13 agreed to stay on until elections can be held. Benjamin Wallace, Celia Bohannon, and Carl Ball hold one-year terms that will expire. Bohannon is not seeking re-election. The terms of trustees Matthew Brennan...
Utilities Division crews from the Department of Public Works will start spring flushing of the town water mains on Thursday, April 23 at 10 p.m. and continue work through Saturday, May 11. Some daytime flushing will continue throughout the weeks of May 13 and 20. Water-main flushing will occur during both 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...
Gov. Phil Scott and the Department of Public Service recently announced a collaboration with several partners that will increase internet access by means of public Wi-Fi hotspots for dozens of rural towns in Vermont. Deployment is already underway with installation of devices through this initiative soon being offered locally at the Wardsboro Town Hall and Library, the Readsboro Town Office and School, and the Athens Town Office. Corporate partners in the project include Microsoft, which funded the hardware and its...
I visited the Bellows Falls Village Forest a couple of weeks ago and followed the marked trail around Minards Pond. This is what I found: • Sparkling ripples under sunny skies • A robin sunning itself • A three-leaf clover, fresh and green • Moss in every shade of green • Stone walls • Rust-colored pine needles • Big rocks • Streams • Trees beyond counting • Canada geese on the pond • Mallard ducks overhead The forest does not...
To say that much has changed recently at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital would be an understatement. The new coronavirus has changed our lives in ways that we could not have imagined a few weeks ago, and as we isolate and practice social distancing, we miss the people who have been important parts of our daily lives in this close community. Entering our very first - and, hopefully, last - Volunteer Week without volunteers gracing our halls, I would like to express...
The physical distancing that has been imposed in Vermont to challenge the spread of COVID-19 has so far had a good effect. Unlike the situation in states like New York and New Jersey, the curve of spread of the novel coronavirus that causes the disease has already begun to flatten. According to recent statistics provided by the Vermont Department of Health, fewer than 900 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19, out of more than 11,000 people tested. In Windham County,
The 50th anniversary of Earth Day is Wednesday, April 22! Although we can't be together physically, 350Brattleboro and allies invite you to join throughout Earth Week in reimagining and recreating a livable planet for all! #PlantInPlace - Celebrate spring and honor the mother of tree planting, Wangari Maathai, who would've turned 80 on April 1. In a collaboration between 350Brattleboro and Extinction Rebellion Southern Vermont (XRSVT), you dig the hole(s), and we'll supply the American hazelnut, black walnut, and Chinese...
My husband and I were checking to see if the wood frogs and the Jefferson and yellow-spotted salamanders had produced eggs at our adopted vernal pool on the East-West Road in Dummerston. With binoculars in hand and visions of the egg masses left behind, we were heading back to the paved road when we first saw flashing lights, then heard honking horns, and then started seeing car after car and truck after truck filled with teachers, parents, and children waving...
WSESU Superintendent Lyle Holiday sees a fundamental challenge to the task of adapting the school system to home environmnents: that families have differing levels of internet connectivity. Some families have access to reliable internet, while others have access only to dialup. Some can't afford the internet, and some live in areas without the internet at any price. And meanwhile, she added, some families don't want the internet in their home - or their children online at all. Gregg Stoller serves...
So you want to do something about climate change, but you are stuck at home? No problem! 350Brattleboro is hosting an online divestment panel discussion Thursday, April 23 at 7 p.m. because now is the perfect time to sit down at your computer and figure out how people can help stop the flow of your money supporting fossil fuel. “Divestment in Place - Cash and Capital” will host banking and investment experts to help people find a checking account or...
According to the University of Michigan, asynchronous learning - also called location independent learning - “is the idea that students learn the same material at different times and locations.” Synchronous learning means students are learning a subject at the same time and in the same location, such attending a lecture. Which model should a school system like the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union embrace? As it turns out, some of each. Tine Biolsi, the district's math coach, said one of her...
The façade of American power, unity, and exceptionalism is crumbling. If you look inside, there is nothing but a cancerous stew of thwarted ideals, highjacked principles, corruption, ineptness, and base subservience. At the federal level, we are a failed nation. The same powers that have always controlled our politics - the wealthy oligarchy - have co-opted the democratic process to the extent that there is no longer any chance that the Congress can actually represent the American people. Vermont Rep.
Windham Southeast Supervisory Union's remote learning isn't happening in a vacuum. It is also surrounded by individual families' circumstances and a global pandemic. “It's all a challenge, and it'll continue to be a challenge,” said Deb Kardane, the district's curriculum coordinator. WSESU Math Tutor Tine Biolsi is riding the learning curve as well. The videoconferencing software Zoom was an unknown platform for her. Now, she teaches other people how to use the program and do things such as create breakout...
When Lissa Harris was hired as executive director for Strolling of the Heifers in January, her biggest concern was handling the logistics for all the Strolling events - the Slow Living Expo, the parade, the Tour de Heifer bicycle competition, and farm tours - that get jammed into the first weekend of June each year. Then came COVID-19, and the nonprofit found itself in a position of watching a year's worth of planning and preparation get cast into the wind.
“Learning curve” took on new meaning for the students, their families, and teachers of the region last month. As schools closed their doors and shifted to the online teaching in response to the coronavirus, teachers and students have needed to navigate remote learning. So far the shift has been successful, but teachers and administrators of the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union agree that online learning won't replace the classroom. Across the district, teachers have shifted their classroom instruction to a combination...
When Gov. Phil Scott issued his emergency orders that shut down most public spaces last month, the Agency of Commerce stated that libraries were among those services “not considered critical to public health and safety or economic and national security.” And amid the global pandemic, 183 Vermont libraries closed their doors. If that sounds like a lot of libraries and a lot of doors, it's helpful to know that the state ranks first in the nation in the number of...