The new contract with Hydro-Québec for 220 megawatts through 2038 is a great deal for Vermonters. As March 2012 draws closer and with it the conclusion of Vermont Yankee's current contract, it was encouraging to see utilities, government officials, and a big company work together and finalize a new agreement that includes a significant amount of clean and well-priced electricity for Vermont ratepayers.
The same can, and should be, said of the long-discussed power deal with Vermont Yankee. A new contract is likely to be even cheaper for ratepayers than Hydro-Québec, and the carbon footprints for the two power sources are almost identically low. Both deliver electricity with exceptional reliability.
In other words, Hydro-Québec and Vermont Yankee are great deals economically and environmentally, which is more than can be said of the third alternative open to Vermont utilities, purchasing power from the New England grid, dominated by a hodgepodge of southern New England fossil-fuel plants.
And Vermont Yankee offers what no one else does, and what all of our politicians say they are so keen to produce: hundreds of jobs, and millions and millions of dollars in revenue for essential government programs. Recent reports issued by state and federal overseers show that Vermont Yankee's well-publicized problems of trust and reliability have been resolved satisfactorily enough for relicensing to proceed.
Grace Cottage Hospital will present the sixth Annual Tour de Grace bicycle rally on Saturday morning, Sept. 11, sponsored by Stratton Corporation, Solstice at Stratton, BB's Landscaping, D&K's Jamaica Grocery, Equipe Sport, Howard Printing, the Stratton Village Square Shops, and the Three Mountain Inn. The 19-mile, mostly downhill Tour...
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Since 1988, Brattleboro's bus depot has been inside a small white trailer behind a gas station off Putney Road near Exit 3 of Interstate 91. Since 1998, Sam and Pat Clement of Brattleboro have worked as the station agents in that trailer. But come Sept. 1, the Clements will leave, and the future of Brattleboro's bus service may change. Sam Clement said he and his wife, as independent contractors, are dissolving their relationships with Greyhound, the station's owner. He said...
Last Thursday, a stunning artifact turned up on one of the shaker screens filtering soil from the main excavation area of the archaeological dig site in Jamaica State Park. Two research supervisors of the project, Jess Robinson and Geoff Mandel, said workers had found a stone object - just over an inch in length and an inch wide, in a vague projectile-point shape and clearly marked by shallow fluting - that may be 9,500 years old, or from the Early...
It's the 45th year for Friends of Music at Guilford's annual Labor Day Weekend Music Festival, with a pair of concerts at the Organ Barn in its picturesque rural setting. As always for this community event, admission is by donation. On Saturday, Sept. 4 at 7:30 p.m., James Wallace appears as guest artist at the Guilford Tracker Organ for “An Organ Odyssey.” Wallace, music director of the Putney School, earned a Masters of Music degree at Westminster Choir College. He...
Margaret Miller Silvia, who maybe didn't always know what she really wanted to spend her life doing, appears to have figured it out at the age of 52. But not before graduating from high school in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and then from Hobart and William Smith colleges in upstate New York; working odd jobs around Boston; running five women's shelters in three states; and joining her carpenter husband Mark Silvia, 55, who had taken up residence as an assistant to a...
After months of campaigning, fundraising and dozens of candidate forums from one end of the state to the other, the Democrats finally have their nominee for governor. Maybe. As of noontime Wednesday, it appears that Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin narrowly defeated Chittenden County Sen. Doug Racine by less than 200 votes. A recount could still happen. Some have said that having a five-way contest in the Democratic primary was a bad idea. We disagree. We think party primaries...
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. • Susan Marie Herrick Bills, 47, of Brattleboro. Died Aug. 18 at Thompson House in Brattleboro. Daughter of Leonard and Linda (Grant) Herrick of Brattleboro. Former wife of Denny Bills. Mother of Denny Bills, Jr. of Hinsdale, N.H., currently serving in the U.S. Navy; Jessica Bills of Charlestown, N.H.; and JoAnne Bills of Brattleboro. Sister...
The Interactive Arts Collective, in collaboration with the Windham Arts Council, hosts the 7th Annual Abene African Dance Festival with master dancer and drummer Caro Diallo, a Senegalese choreographer and lead dancer of the West African dance troupe Black Soofa at the Stone Church at the corner of Main and Grove streets. The word “Abene” means “place where good will be encountered” and is the name of a village in southern Senegal, West Africa, where Diallo hosts an annual dance...
Vermont State Parks, a division of the state Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, paid the archaeology team from the University of Vermont Consulting Archaeology Program $57,779 to conduct a full scale dig on a small plot of land in the parking lot of Jamaica State Park, according to Frank Spaulding, parks project coordinator for Vermont State Parks. The dig began after a mandated historic site environmental investigation revealed ancient artifacts buried in the very same site the park was...
As August slowly starts to fade away, the thoughts of teachers, students, and parents start to transition from summer to a new school year quickly approaching. As a teacher, my batteries are recharged, and I can't wait to get back into the classroom. As I start to get my classroom organized and ready for the students to arrive, I re-evaluate the past school year. How can my students get more out of my classes? How do I reach each and...
Walter Hendricks, once known as the “Johnny Appleseed” of small colleges, had a dream in 1951. That dream was Windham College, a small liberal arts school that began in the basement of his home in Putney and grew to nearly 900 students at its peak. In December 1978, that dream came to an end. Windham College closed its doors after graduating approximately 2,500 students. Many of those students who passed through Windham's doors remained in Vermont. As alumni, friends, faculty,
Sunday morning I'm driving home from an early milk run to the dairy. A shiny black Honda with Jersey plates is parked at the bottom of my lane, tucked neatly out of the way of traffic. The car is unoccupied. Uh-oh. More lost souls from away. Or their car died. It's likely the former. It isn't unusual to find befuddled flatlanders on my doorstep or wandering around my barn, directed here by a GPS. They have ignored the small green-and-white...
Dr. Dolores Barbeau stakes out community fairs, exercise classes, churches, senior lunches and shelters, talking exams. Specifically, breast exams. “I will go to people's homes. I don't care what it takes,” said Barbeau, who recently stood in the doorway to Clark's IGA in Londonderry to catch people walking past. In October, Barbeau, a health educator, joined social worker Gloria Dawson to form Neighborhood Connections Center for Health and Social Services, a preventative health care, health education and social service non-profit...
September is Library Card Sign-up Month, and the Brooks Memorial Library wants to make sure that families in Brattleboro and surrounding communities have the smartest card of all - a library card. Your library card provides access to a wealth of free resources and activities. Besides the ability to checkout resources from the largest public library in Southern Vermont with 75,000 volumes, you get Internet access with 15 computer stations; DVDs; eAudio; more than 25 databases accessible from your home...
Caro! I'd shout in one of the early years of my guest's visits, running into the house from my adjoining office with a message for him from a drummer. I've learned not to do that. Not to shout and barge. Because often - five times a day - he is praying. As I head to his room, I see Caro Diallo, a Muslim from West Africa, standing on his prayer rug, head bowed, looking both humble and majestic in...
The Selectboard voted to approve the homestead and non-residential tax rates last week. According to Town Appraiser Albert Jerard, overall the municipal rate rose 1.2 percent, largely due to maintaining the current trash system. The overall homestead rate, however, went down 2.5 percent. That's the overall numbers. As this is a reappraisal year, homeowners whose property reassessment was over 2.5 percent will see a jump in their homestead tax rate, said Jerard. The total homestead rate, which applies to homeowners,
Only a handful of votes separate Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin and Chittenden County Sen. Doug Racine in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. The Vermont Secretary of State's office announced on Friday afternoon that Shumlin held a 197 vote lead over Racine. Secretary of State Deb Markowitz remained in third, former Windsor County Sen. Matt Dunne trailed in fourth place most of the evening and Lamoille County Sen. Susan Bartlett was never a factor. According to the Secretary of State's office,
Several months after Linda Marcille's artwork disappeared from the Latchis Theatre, the artist has no idea where her painting, “Headed to Town,” is, or what would motivate someone to steal an easily identified piece of original art. Whether it was a misguided act of art appreciation, or a theft by someone who has a thing for vintage Volkswagens, or an act of sheer economic desperation, the theft represents as much a violation of trust as it does the loss of...
Folk-pop icon Jonathan Edwards and his quartet will be joined by legendary blues man James Montgomery at the Latchis Theatre on Friday, Sept. 24. Headlining will be the Jonathan Edwards Quartet with Montgomery as celebrity sit-in guest. Opening the night will be James Montgomery/Bruce Marshall Duo, with special guest Lydia Warren. Marshall will start the evening off in a duo with Montgomery. Marshall and his band have been wowing crowds all over New England, and his guitar playing has landed...
“Almost all breast cancers grow slowly and with earlier detection and improved treatment options, many are able to live strong and healthy lives even after cancer is diagnosed,” writes Dr. Barbeau in a flier for the breast cancer-screening program. Here are the answers to the most common asked questions she hears: Q: What is a breast cancer screening? A: “Screening” refers to testing otherwise healthy women for breast cancer, in an attempt to arrive at an earlier diagnosis and a...