According to the Vermont Department of Health, rabies is a fatal viral disease found mainly in wildlife - especially raccoons, foxes, bats, skunks and woodchucks - but can infect domestic animals and humans.
The health department says there have been hundreds of cases of animal rabies have been reported throughout Vermont in the past 20 years.
Rabies is mainly transmitted by an animal bite, the health department says, but rare non-bite exposures can occur if wet infectious saliva or nerve tissue contacts a fresh open wound or the eyes, nose or mouth.
If one is bitten by an animal, the department says the wound should be washed immediately and medical help should be sought as soon as possible.
Jeff Ford, 17, is working with the Youth Agriculture Project (YAP). When asked what he likes best, he says, “I like everything.” “I applied because I wanted a job outside,” Annelise Kloster, 19, says. “I also like the idea of working with people my own age.” Both are part...
Of all the pieces of advice I've been able to pass along to my young son, few are as practical as this one: If your mouth involuntarily opens whenever you perform a manual task (as his often does), don't become a plumber. I learned this after my wife tried...
I live in the village of Williamsville, three miles south of Newfane's center. At the turn of the nineteenth century, when the Rock River turned wheels to generate power, Williamsville was the hub of local industry. It was also a farming community. My house, built 20 years ago, is situated in the corner of a 60-acre parcel that was once a combination of pasture and hayfield. There are still lots of barns in Williamsville, some open fields, and a couple...
Any notion of art will will do - the elegant rhythm of a dance, the balance of form, articulated by light and shadow and color of a painting. Both reveal a story asking to be told. However brief that story, however abstract, however ancient - from a child's bedtime tale told its hundredth time to the grace of a stone wall - a story waits to be told, in collaboration with the person hearing or seeing the story. The word...
When Marlboro Music opens its 60th season on Friday, July 16, at 8:30 p.m., its first performance will be an admission-free concert offered to Marlboro and area neighbors as a “thank you” from musicians and staff for the warm welcome extended to them for six decades. After a program including the Mozart Quintet in E flat for Horn and Strings, K.407, the Dohnanyi Sextet in C, Opus 37 for piano, winds and strings, and the Dvorak Piano Quartet in D...
The Rockingham Selectboard and the Bellows Falls Village Trustees recently met with Rockingham's Lister Chair Camilla Roberts to review the Listers' rationale behind accepting an appraisal of the Bellows Falls Dam that reduced its value by about $18 million. The appraisal by George Sancoucy PE, LLC, commissioned by the state, was completed in June. The dam and its associated facilities were appraised at $108 million, or about $18 million less than was expected. “Your questions are legitimate and you have...
As Compass School enters its 12th year, founding director Dr. Rick Gordon returns to the leadership role. Gordon will succeed Nelson Richter who served as executive director this past year and is retiring due to health reasons. Gordon's arrival signals a recommitment to the school's founding principles of rigorous learning, belief in the success of every child, active student involvement in the leadership of the school, and strong learning connections with the community. Since leaving Compass six years ago, Gordon...
Film • The Elephant Project comes to Brattleboro: Join multimedia artist and award-winning filmmaker Miranda Loud on her Work in Progress Tour and screening of The Elephant Project on Wednesday, July 21, at 7 p.m., at the Brooks Memorial Library meeting room. Loud will show 6 of her planned 20 films. The Elephant Project will interest a wide range of people curious not only about elephants, but how artists are making a difference in connecting people with nature. At the...
Obituaries Editor's note: The Commons will publish brief biographical information for citizens of Windham County and others, on request, as community news, free of charge. Traditional full obituaries will eventually be published as news on www.commonsnews.org as we receive them. As community support for the newspaper increases, we will surely reconsider publishing more traditionally complete obituaries in the print newspaper. • Anthony Joseph “Tony” Blanchette, 90, of Brattleboro. Died July 8 at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. Husband of the late Amelia...
How much public input is enough when it comes to a construction project? That question has been asked by a small group of Brattleboro residents scrutinizing current plans to install mast arm traffic lights on Main Street as part of the state's long-awaited reconstruction of Route 5 between Brattleboro and Putney. Multiple public meetings took place between 1996 and 2009 as part of that construction planning process. The town Traffic Safety and Control Committee had several meetings on the subject.
This summer, education outreach coordinators from the Brattleboro Food Co-op are involved with a variety of programs that have grown from Farm to School initiatives. These collaborative projects are providing learning opportunities on gardening and healthy food for youth in our community. The Co-op provides free nutrition education programs like these as a part of their community outreach effort. At the Brattleboro Centre for Children in downtown Brattleboro, education outreach coordinators Heather Sperling and Meredith Wade visit the preschoolers to...
According to The Listers' Handbook, there are 12 considerations that Listers adhere to in determining the highest and best use: • Anticipation: This relates to the future benefits associated with property. It is closely related to the principle of change. • Balance: The maximum return is realized when the four agents of production (land, labor, capitol and management) are balanced. • Change: Because of the principle of change, an appraisal is only applicable on the day it is made. •
With the announcement that it is to receive a $25,000 Rural Business Enterprise Grant (RBEG) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Great Falls Food Hub is now prepared to move forward on one of its major goals for 2010, the hiring of a project coordinator. Interviews of prospective candidates are currently being held, with the anticipation that the hiring of the coordinator will be made later this summer. Together with the $30,000 received in grant funding earlier this year...
Representatives for the Vermont Agency of Transportation, in an attempt to allay residents' concerns regarding the Route 5 repaving and signalization project, updated the Selectboard about the construction at the board's July 6 meeting. “I'm so glad that you came down today. I'm very impressed with everyone and what they did,” Selectboard member Daryl Pillsbury told AOT representatives after the update. The AOT appeared in response to citizens' alarm over the design of mast arm traffic lights slated for installation...
The Brattleboro Area Prevention Coalition (BAPC) acknowledges the businesses who participated in the responsible beverage service trainings held in June, which are co-sponsored by the Vermont Department of Liquor Control. Sixty-six employees of retailers and establishments that serve or sell alcohol and/or tobacco attended the trainings, required for liquor and tobacco licensees every two years. The next training for retailers is Sept. 8, from 3-6 p.m., and for establishments on Sept. 9, from 1-4 p.m. Both trainings will be held...
Sexual abuse of minors in Vermont has become a serious issue, and the state is hoping that protection in the form of prevention will provide a framework for educators and early-child-care providers to help safeguard pupils from pre-kindergarden through secondary school. Act 1, passed by the Vermont Legislature last year, places emphasis on education, requiring schools and licensed day care centers to teach about sexual abuse to children with an age-appropriate health curriculum beginning in preschool. But the act has...
Both the 9-10-year-old and 11-12-year-old Brattleboro Little League All-Star teams have begun their respective District 2 tournaments. In the 11-12 tourney opener, the defending state champs lost to Connecticut Valley South, 6-5. Marcus Shapiro was the starting pitcher for Brattleboro, but was removed when he hit the league-maximum of 85 pitches before he could finish the sixth inning. Shapiro gave up four hits, two walks and six runs, while striking out seven. Blake Bashaw faced the game's final two batters...
At a Public Service Board hearing July 8, area residents overwhelmingly opposed the continued operation of Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee in light of a recent tritium leak found at the plant. “Not all things get better with age,” said Nate Hausman, adding that if the plant - which opened in 1972 - were a car, it would be considered an antique. “As a Vermont power consumer, I don't want to be complacent in the risks,” Hausman said, calling the plant...
Youth at the Moore Court housing complex are helping to answer a question often heard at farmers' markets: “What can I make with this vegetable?” With guidance from AmeriCorps volunteer Dane Kingsley and Meredith Wade, an education/outreach coordinator at the Brattleboro Food Co-op, a core group of youth prepare samples using ingredients from that week's farm share to hand out at the Elliot Street Market Basket every Tuesday. The youth come from Moore Court, a public-housing development of 28 two-,
Open letter to James Volz, David Coen, and John Burke of the Vermont Public Service Board: Gentlemen, let me suggest a different perspective on the leaks and lies of Entergy Vermont Yankee. Please imagine that Entergy is coming to Vermont for the first time to ask the Vermont Public Service Board for a Certificate of Public Good (CPG) to set up shop in Vernon. Here's what they propose: • Using a 1960s-designed nuclear reactor running at 120 percent of its...
Interim Town Manager Francis “Dutch” Walsh is negotiating a contract with wireless communications company New Cellular Wireless PCS, LLC, d.b.a. AT&T Mobility, for 100 Pond Rd., a site located above the Minard's Pond reservoir on a hill to the east and across the Connecticut River from the Fall Mountain cellular and radio tower. Walsh said the Village of Bellows Falls Corporation, whom he represents, has been in negotiations with AT&T for about four or five months to rent the site.
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A skunk that attacked a pre-schooler in Brattleboro last week remains at large. Efforts to find the animal by Brattleboro animal control officer Cathy Barrows and the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department have been unsuccessful. According to Dr. Bob Johnson, the public health veterinarian for the Vermont Department of Health, there has not been confirmation that the skunk was rabid, although the behavior of the animal was consistent with rabies. Johnson said that rabies is a virus that attacks the...