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Your support powers every story we tell. We're committed to producing high-quality, fact-based news and information that gives you the facts in this community we call home. If our work has helped you stay informed, take action, or feel more connected to Windham County – please give now to help us reach our goal of raising $150,000 by December 31st.
Advocates for the rights of migrant farmworkers and other immigrants - documented and undocumented alike - have applauded the Brattleboro Police Department's revisions to its Fair and Impartial Policing Policy (FIPP), which now prohibit officers from communicating or collaborating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“We applaud the towns and counties that have strengthened their policies to better protect immigrant rights,” says staff member Will Lambek of Migrant Justice, a Burlington nonprofit that suggested the local policy change.
“This is a signal to the state of Vermont that communities want a statewide policy that will provide these protections,” Lambek says.
Brattleboro Town Manager Peter Elwell says the revisions have not substantially changed the initial policy and that the town and department agreed from the start of talks about what Migrant Justice was trying to achieve in its suggested revisions.
The word “dulcimer” means “sweet music,” and on Saturday, Aug. 14, at Memorial Hall, concertgoers will savor the joyful sounds of the instrument as part of the 30th annual August Dulcimer Daze Festival. Nationally acclaimed musicians Don Pedi and Carol Walker are the featured performers. Born into a musical...
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) will present a free online talk by artist Delita Martin about her installation “Between Worlds,” on view in the large window bays extending across the front of BMAC's Union Station building. The talk will take place on Wednesday, Aug. 18, at 7:30...
The St. Michael's Episcopal Church's tag sale team reports that their July 17 “Un-Tag Sale” raised $7,363 for Loaves and Fishes, a food outreach program based at Centre Congregational Church and managed by St. Michael's parishioner Ruth Tilghman. “The original goal for the fundraiser was $3,000,” sale coordinator Elizabeth Vick said in a news release. Donations at the clothing and linens event were $2,708; additional donations brought the grand total to far beyond that. The funds will help cover costs...
The Selectboard is looking for citizens to participate on a new committee to explore possible uses for the town-owned former elementary school, and to study what would be needed to convert the building into a suitable community facility. One use of immediate interest, the board said in a news release, is for the town to use the facility “to shelter domestic pets during a catastrophic weather event, as well as serve as a cooling shelter for Athenians in need during...
Obituaries • Richard Aaron “Rich” Aldrich, 49, of Brattleboro. Died suddenly and unexpectedly from natural causes at home on July 31, 2021. Rich was born on Feb. 27, 1972 in Brattleboro, the son of Mary Lunge “Cook” and Robert Aldrich. Rich, although born in Brattleboro, grew up and lived most of his teenage life in Hinsdale, N.H. Rich attended Bellows Falls High School for a time before deciding to get his GED. He was also thoroughly trained in auto mechanics.
WIC expands fruit, vegetable benefits MONTPELIER - The WIC (Women, Infants and Children) food program has expanded the fruit and vegetable benefit through September to include $35 per month per participant. WIC offers nutritious foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, and referrals to other community resources. If you are pregnant or a family with a child under 5, you may be eligible for WIC and the increased fruit and vegetable benefit this summer. If you have Medicaid/Dr. Dynasaur or 3SquaresVT, you...
The Brattleboro Music Center and Retreat Farm Music Under the Stars summer concert series continues Saturday, Aug. 14, with a performance by Becky Tracy and Keith Murphy. The free concert will be held at Retreat Farm, 45 Farmhouse Square. Gates open at 5:30 p.m.; the concert begins at 6:30 p.m. All are welcome to bring lawn chairs and a picnic. Food from Dosa Kitchen and Jamaican Jewelz will be available, as will maple creemees and craft beers. Tracy and Murphy,
Carson Rhodes is 3, and lives in Wilmington with his parents, Jacob and Jacqualin. Since birth, he has been dealing with a condition known as non-ketotic hyperglycinemia (NKH). This weekend, Carson's 2nd Annual Tournament For a Cure, a benefit softball tournament, is being held Aug. 14 and 15, on the Upper Field at Living Memorial Park and West River Park in Brattleboro to raise money to help fund research to find new treatments for NKH. According to the National Organization...
Forty years ago, no emergency medical services were available here. When an emergency did occur, residents had to call an ambulance company in Bellows Falls and hope it could respond in time. In 1981, a group of residents formed a local EMS response group: the First Aid Stabilization Team, or FAST, Squad. Initially, this group had no vehicle and little in the way of equipment, “usually carrying what they needed in paper bags using their personal vehicles,” according to a...
Several Windham County arts venues are sharing in more than $18 million in federal aid to ease the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. They received funding from the U.S. Small Business Administration's Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG), a program created by legislation authored by U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., with full support from U.S. Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in their respective roles as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and chair of the Senate Budget...
A public discussion will address an Area Wide Plan for the Bellows Falls Island and Under the Hill districts on Thursday, Aug. 12, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., at the Waypoint Center, 17 Depot St., on the Bellows Falls Island. According to a news release, the town “is exploring alternative development scenarios that would make this part of town a better place to live, work, and visit. The industrial heritage of the area complicates new development; however, there are funding...
The New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA) was recently awarded a $3,500 grant to support the LGBTQ+ community in Vermont. The award by the Vermont Community Foundation's Samara Fund marks the second year in a row that the community-directed fund has helped ensure that LGBTQ+ Vermonters are connected, healthy, appreciated, safe, and empowered at the circus arts nonprofit. After receiving a first grant from the fund in 2020, NECCA launched a scholarship program that grew out of an understanding...
A fun afternoon of live music on the Townshend Common is planned for Saturday, Aug. 21, from 3 to 6 p.m., to benefit Valley Cares. Bring blankets and chairs and sit back - or cut loose your dancing feet - and enjoy three local bands. On the bill is the New Orleans jazz of the Celebration Brass Band of Vermont, bluegrass and old-time favorites from the Alan Bills Family Band, and the classic jazz and improvisation of the Vermont Jazz...
The Vermont Theatre Company presents Coming Back, Moving On, a Broadway musical revue staged at the Evening Star Grange, 1008 East-West Rd., on Friday to Sunday, Aug. 20 to 22. The ensemble cast includes five local actors: Hillary Ballantine, Ayla Cordell, Krista Coughlin-Galbraith, Henry O'Connell, and Katy Peterson. According to a news release, Coming Back, Moving On “will explore, through songs of Broadway and beyond, some of the things we've gained in isolation throughout the last year and will now...
In an effort to provide overnight shelter for a number of individuals living outdoors in the area, Groundworks Collaborative plans to extend the hours of its new facility for 24-hour shelter, seven days a week, starting Monday, Aug. 16. The organization, which opened the brand-new Drop-In Center at 54 South Main St. on June 28 for daytime services, says it is prepared to host up to 34 people per night. The 24-Hour Shelter at Groundworks Drop-In Center will provide food,
When I was a student at Brattleboro Union High School in the 1980s, Robert (Zeke) Hecker did not sexually abuse me. I have come to feel fortunate. On several occasions between 1985 and 2018, local agencies and organizations investigated complaints that Hecker engaged in sexual contact with his underage students. None of the investigations were publicized, and I was unaware of the extent of the accusations until the fall of 2018. I have reviewed the police records, and will share...
Juggling a dog, a 1-year-old, and a brand-new show, New York–based Josh Aviner, 30, and his wife, Lyndsay Magid Aviner, 32, will bring their Hideaway Circus to town with performances of “Stars Above” as part of a Northeast tour. They will perform at the New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA) at 10 Town Crier Dr. on Friday, Aug. 13 and Saturday, Aug. 14. According to the Aviners - 2020 Drama Desk Award nominees in the Unique Theatrical Experience category...
A cautious sense of optimism pervades downtown Brattleboro. I know. I asked. This is my report. Optimism is good news, because during the pandemic, as Windham County residents faithfully quarantined, downtown took some heavy hits. Most of its restaurants closed. The Strolling of the Heifers parade vaporized, as did its offices, leaving the River Garden, in the center of town, empty. Important retail stores also disappeared, leaving other empty storefronts - and empty storefronts are a harbinger of downtown decay.
Forty years after they perished in the Star Hotel fire, firefighters Terry Brown and Dana Fuller are being remembered and honored as an ongoing drive seeks to finish the Brown-Fuller Memorial Park. Currently, two benches donated by the Lions' Club mark the site of the tragedy. “The two benches are a great start to a wonderful memorial; however, they do not tell the full story of that tragic night,” reads a fire department Facebook post. In early 2019, Chuck Wise...
Sharing Housing, Inc., a Vermont-based nonprofit whose mission is to develop shared housing in communities through education and advocacy, has announced two online courses to encourage shared housing as an answer to the twin crises of affordable housing and social isolation. “Five Key Benefits of Shared Housing,” a free course, will introduce you to the world of shared housing and “show you how living together can improve your physical, emotional, and spiritual health.” This course covers housing cost burdens and...
It would have been easy - so, so easy - to find any rationale or excuse to avoid publishing Mindy Haskins Rogers' piece, which shines light on the behavior of Robert (Zeke) Hecker, a longtime English teacher at Brattleboro Union High School, a playwright, and a musician. I don't want to ruffle feathers. I don't want to upset the arts community. I don't want to disrupt lives in a small town. I don't want the obvious collateral damage - this...
