In celebration of Brattleboro Union High School's appreciation of the arts and those who create it, an Art Recognition Event will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 16, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in the multi-purpose room.
This event will be an occasion for the BUHS art community to come together and enjoy a festive evening of creativity and view one another's art. It will provide an opportunity to acknowledge BUHS artists, past and present, and their mentors. It will also provide artists with an opportunity to sell their art.
Current students, alumni, employees, and family members are encouraged to submit art (one piece per person) by Nov. 4.
Art should be clearly labeled with the artist's name and telephone number, title and medium of art, and cost, if it is for sale. Submissions should be brought to Kathleen Sweeney's art room (room 124).
RE: “Considering the cycle of nuclear fuel” [Viewpoint, Oct. 26]. Wow, biased much? Bill Pearson seems to have forgotten that nuclear power, as dangerous as he makes it seem, is one of the safest power sources we have. Coal, oil, natural gas - these are all hundreds of times...
On Oct. 8, the hard-working staff and dedicated board members from Morningside Shelter organized and held the first annual Hike for the Homeless event at the base of Mount Wantastiquet. The weather was a gift: sunshine and warmth. If you've ever been homeless, you would know when weather is...
On Nov. 5, 2001, Ned Phoenix held a meeting at First Baptist Church to talk about preserving the legacy of the Estey Organ Company, and asked if anyone was interested in starting a museum. Exactly 10 years later, on Saturday, Nov. 5, at 2 p.m., the Estey Organ Museum will present a concert by organist and carillonneur George Matthew Jr. to celebrate the museum's first decade. Matthew will perform what organizers describe as “an exciting, unique concert of works” on...
Project COW moves to winter hours BRATTLEBORO - The Project COW (Community Organic Waste) compost container located by the recycling drop-off containers on Fairground Road will not be open on Wednesdays for the duration of the winter. Moss Kahler, one of Brattleboro's recycling coordinators, said the site will be closed on Wednesdays from now until March, when Daylight Savings Time resumes. The container will continue to be open Saturdays from 9 a.m.-noon. Project COW accepts more than what goes into...
At a time when affordable housing is in short supply, it is outrageous that the Brattleboro Housing Authority (BHA) has been ordered by town officials to stop repairs to 26 apartments at Melrose Terrace which were badly damaged by Tropical Storm Irene. Those 26 elderly and disabled residents, whose lives have been uprooted for more than two months by a massive disaster, are now being told they can't come home. Those 26 elderly and disabled residents, who lost virtually everything...
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. • Louise Brissette, 100, formerly of Wilmington. Died Oct. 2o at Port Orange (Fla.) Hospice Care. Wife of the late Albert Brissette. Mother of Alberta, Caroline, Anne, Samuel, Lawrence, and James. Born in Burlington, she and her husband owned North Star Bowling Lanes in Wilmington. She taught school in Halifax and Wilmington until her retirement...
Strolling of the Heifers will present a free mini film festival, featuring two acclaimed farm-related films, on Sunday, Nov. 6, beginning at 4 p.m. at the Latchis Theatre on Main Street. Along with the film showing, many area CSAs (community-support agriculture operations), will offer samples and preview their 2012 season. CSAs typically offer a share of their produce (or meat and dairy products, in some cases) to consumers who sign up in advance to subscribe to a season-long stream of...
November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short), and the Rockingham Free Public Library will be hold programs for teens and adults who are trying to meet the program's goal: writing an entire novel (50,000 words) in one month, starting Nov. 1. More than 250,000 people around the world are setting out to become novelists this month during the international event, which launched in 1999 in San Francisco with 21 participants. Although NaNoWriMo emphasizes creativity and adventure over creating...
Sometimes, if you live long enough, you just might see action on important issues you tried raising long ago. One of those issues for me, coming from my past life as a health educator, is the need to address the devastating impact of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases in low- and middle-income countries. As a women's health advocate, I was particularly keen to see NCDs tackled, because they cause more than half...
The Windham World Affairs Council (WWAC) will host the former U.S. Ambassador to Belarus and Georgia, Kenneth S. Yalowitz, who will speak on Friday, Nov. 4 in Rotch Hall on the World Learning/SIT campus. The focus of Yalowitz's presentation will be on the effects of WikiLeaks on the current conduct of U.S. diplomacy. He will cover what has been leaked and the positive and negative effects of those releases. He will provide his conclusions on the impact of WikiLeaks on...
I teach college courses in journalism, and one of the points I try to get across early on is that mainstream journalism is constrained by principles that are essential to the validity and reliability of the press, but that also mean that wrong ideas and misinformation are sometimes allowed to promulgate far beyond reasonable boundaries. The principle of objectivity and fairness requires that the press report both sides of a given story, and that it treat the statements of important...
On Aug. 27, 25 of my neighbors and I were evacuated from our homes because of Irene's imminent flood worries. Brattleboro was hit surprisingly hard and in some unexpected ways. I live in Melrose Terrace, a subsidized housing development for the elderly and disabled. I had waited two years for an apartment there and had moved out of the Brooks House two weeks before it burned down. Melrose Terrace is my home. I can wheel outside, I have a ramp,
Justin and May Lillie have taken over running Lillie Brook Farm and are learning the hard way the challenges and joys of running a 178 acre working small farm in Vermont, as four generations before them have done. Nearby, aptly named Hardscrabble Corner gives a hint of what others have experienced. Yet Justin, 33, and May, 36, are committed to raising two healthy children. Their challenges began immediately. Justin was not raised a farmer in spite of the farm having...
I was moving in with my boyfriend, and we needed more space for my office and two children. His dark, dusty attic was piled high with old baby cribs, moth-eaten blankets, outdated law books, and squirrel-infested tchotchkes. The attic was a dirty, scary mess. But it was space. I decided to renovate it, and I called a waste disposal company to arrange for a Dumpster to be brought in. It would cost more than $1,000, they told me before they...
The pottery wheel has been whirring this fall as the students in Mary Hepburn's pottery class at Vermont Academy turn lumps of clay into bowls they will donate to the Empty Bowl dinner and auction to benefit Our Place Drop-in Center in Bellows Falls. The event on Sunday, Nov. 6 features bowls made by some of the finest potters in Vermont, plus the work of novices like Hepburn's students. But all share the same heartfelt desire to help those who...
Dramatic finishes and the playoff season go together like peanut butter and jelly, but you'll be hard-pressed to find a game with a more emotional, more dramatic finish than the Division III girls' soccer playdown between the sixth-seeded Bellows Falls Terriers and the 11th-seeded Williamstown Blue Devils last Wednesday. The bare facts say that Bellows Falls won the game, 1-0, in double overtime. The back story and context behind that result is where the drama lies. Last year, the Terriers...
The Steel Wheels are an electrifying American band, taking the traditional, reinventing it, and making it new. The group's debut show in Vermont, in Bellows Falls one year ago, was a standing-room-only affair, and the anticipation for their return on Sunday, Nov. 6, at Main Street Arts is already building. The Steel Wheels are rooted in the territory between blues and bluegrass, old-time sing-alongs, and foot-stomping fiddle melodies. They are subtle innovators who respect the past but whistle their own...
The town's year-long celebration of its 250th anniversary moves into its eleventh month with a program by T. Namaya at Broad Brook Grange on Saturday, Nov. 5, at 7 p.m. Namaya, a storyteller, poet, and humorist, has been on tour with his show - “Vermont My Home: A Celebration!” - this fall, with performances throughout Vermont. The show takes its name from Namaya's recently released CD, Vermont My Home, based on his collection of stories, music, and poems celebrating the...
In August, I e-mailed the Dummerston selectboard about the “reverse 911” system whereby all residents are supposed to get a phone call with a recorded message to let them know if Vermont Yankee melts down. I asked why I never got a test call from this system, even though my phone number and my address in Dummerston have been listed for years in the Verizon/FairPoint phone books. The town clerk said she gave my email to the selectboard, but I...
If the members of Centre Congregational Church vote to relinquish its apparent ownership of the town common, the town is going to attempt to kick out the Occupy Brattleboro encampment. On the surface, it will be construed as an attack on First Amendment rights if the town does so. However, I think the larger issue, and one that will likely go largely unspoken among town officials, is the discrimination (both legal and otherwise) against the homeless. When I was visiting...
Vermonters have the chance this fall to join a national movement working to stop a 1,700-mile pipeline that threatens our nation's health and safety. The TransCanada corporation wants to build the Keystone XL pipeline from the province of Alberta - home of the world's second-largest reservoir of petroleum - through the heartland of the United States to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico. At first glance, this sounds like good news: a huge oil supply owned by a friendly neighbor.
If the town of Brattleboro had paid for its town common, it would have recorded the deed. If it wants to claim ownership under “adverse possession,” it must first prevail in court to obtain the deed. The issue of First Amendment rights only comes into play where the town is attempting to curtail protected speech on public land. The people, and Selectboard, of Brattleboro are required to accept the “claim” that the common belongs to the Centre Congregational Church for...
The Leland & Gray Players - kick off their 16th season with The Drowsy Chaperone on Nov. 10-13 in the Dutton Gymnasium on the Leland & Gray campus on Route 30. With book by Bob Martin and Don McKeller and music by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison, The Drowsy Chaperone opened on Broadway in May 2006 to critical acclaim. Paula Jessop, in a review for Splash Magazine, described the play as “a farcical romp through the mad-capped world of musical...
When a water pipe burst on Dec. 13, 2010, just above the Local History Room at the Rockingham Free Public Library, a greater disaster would have ensued were it not for the quick thinking of one librarian. Historical and reference librarian Emily Zervas had only the previous spring attended a workshop in Montpelier. The title? Emergency Response and Recovery of Wet Materials. The Vermont Emergency Team for Cultural Institutions workshop was held at the Vermont Historical Society in Montpelier. Zervas...
In a year like no other in recent history, Brattleboro has often been at the epicenter of local disasters. Having just completed their second sizeable fund drive of the past six months, New Chapter has shown tremendous support for their Brattleboro neighbors and the state the company calls home. Windham County was devastated by Tropical Storm Irene. The owners and employees of New Chapter, a Brattleboro-based producer and distributor of organic, probiotic whole-food vitamins and herbal supplements, identified the Red...
Many people suffer from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and a local author has written a cookbook with a lifestyle section that gives hope to sufferers of this condition and supports the localvore food movement at the same time. On Thursday, Nov. 10, from 5:30-6:30 p.m., author Dede Cummings will sign books at the Elliot Street Café, 134 Elliot St., in an event co-hosted by Dr. Rebecca Jones and Everyone's Books with a percentage of the sales going to the Vermont...
Painter and musical impresario Charlie Hunter continues the fourth annual Taste of the Arts series at Main Street Arts Thursday, Nov. 10 at 6 p.m. Taste of the Arts features local personalities with interesting stories to tell over a catered meal in an informal setting. Hunter will share pieces of his creative philosophy that have given life to a vibrant musical and artistic scene in Bellows Falls and southeastern Vermont. He is creator of the Flying Under Radar performance series...
AARP invites military personnel to take a driver safety class, free of charge, this November. In the region, classes will take place in Brattleboro, Bennington, Springfield, and Ludlow, and in Keene, N.H. In honor of Veterans Day and in recognition of their dedication and commitment to service, the AARP Driver Safety Program (DSP) is waiving entrance fees to its classroom courses for veterans in Vermont and across the country in November. All military personnel, active duty or retired, are eligible...
The statewide education property tax could go up by 2 cents next year, according to preliminary estimates from the Joint Fiscal Office. The projected increase would push the residential rate to 89 cents, and the nonresidential rate to $1.38 for every $100 in property value. The cost-driver for the increase is school spending. The Department of Education estimates that education expenditures could rise 1.7 percent this year. The figures from the Joint Fiscal Office are preliminary and subject to change.
Miguel Zenón is much more than a superb alto jazz saxophonist. He is a jazz innovator who forges new musical ground with his own quartet and through his creative contributions as a founding member of the renowned SFJAZZ Collective. He is a dedicated educator who has traveled to far reaches abroad with his quartet, teaching, performing and sharing his extensive knowledge of the genre. And Zenón is increasingly an ambassador of jazz, particularly of the flavors originating in his homeland...
After the German surrender, Robert Miller was among the first U.S. soliders to return home from World War II. “I came home in June 1945, with the first 100,000 soldiers who were discharged,” he said. “There was talk we were going to get sent to the Pacific, but I knew I had enough points to get out.” The Adjusted Service Rating (ASR) created what was more commonly known as the “the points system” for determining which soldiers would get discharged...
A Facebook campaign has designated Nov. 5 as “Bank Transfer Day,” where customers of big banks are being encouraged to close their accounts and move their money to credit unions. And it seems to have already had an effect. Bank of America announced on Tuesday that it was backing down on a policy that would have charged customers $5 per month to use their debit cards. Vermont is unique in that there are no Bank of America branches. The big...
The members of a board of directors of a nonprofit organization have a fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interest of that organization and not in their personal self-interest. Both the decision by the board of the Gathering Place to terminate Lynn Bedell, as well as the manner in which it was done, are blatant violations of that fiduciary responsibility. The Windham County community needs to demand a transparent investigation. If the current board of directors responsible for this...
Gov. Peter Shumlin announced on Monday that the cost of repairing the damage to transportation infrastructure caused by Tropical Storm Irene will be about half what state officials originally estimated. Two weeks ago, Neale Lunderville, the Irene recovery czar, said preliminary “worst case” scenario estimates for transportation infrastructure repairs came in at about $600 million. At a press conference on Monday, the Shumlin administration pegged those estimates at “an order of magnitude lower” - between $175 million to $250 million.
In spite of inclusion in the Rockingham Town Plan, and a long association with both boards in the town of Rockingham and village of Bellows Falls, the Bellows Falls Historical Society (BFHS) has found itself in the position of having to defend one of two ongoing projects currently in varying phases of completion. BFHS members say they are baffled as to the boards' sudden interest in the Wyman-Flint building, part of a group of historic structures associated with the beginning...
The concerned family and friends of Marble Arvidson are presenting a benefit concert this Saturday at the Stone Church in Brattleboro to help raise funds and public awareness in the search for the missing teenager. As indicated by the whimsical name for the event - Marble Palooza - they have put the emphasis on hope and fun, presenting a line-up of talented female a cappella singers, some singer-songwriters, blues musicians, and some rock. The concert begins at 6 p.m. As...
“It was surreal,” says Melrose Terrace resident Laura Austan. Austan and her fellow residents evacuated the Brattleboro Housing Authority's Melrose apartments the day before Tropical Storm Irene swept through Vermont nine weeks ago. “We had a couple of hours to get ready,” Austan wrote in an email. “So, I got some things together to take, and picked some things up from the floor.” The 17-building affordable housing complex geared toward low-income seniors and people with disabilities sustained flood damage when...
Three new exhibits open at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center on Friday, Nov. 4, during Brattleboro's monthly Gallery Walk, which runs from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. In the Museum's Wolf Kahn & Emily Mason Gallery, the recently renovated former lobby of Brattleboro's historic Union Station building, features an exhibit entitled “Four Eyes: Art From Potash Hill,” which showcases the work of painter Cathy Osman, sculptor Tim Segar, ceramicist Martina Lantin, and photographer John Willis. “The connection among these four...
As a disabled World War II combat veteran, Robert Miller knows intimately what those who have served their country in wartime have gone through. But there is one thing that he has never had to experience, and that is coming back from a war without a home or a job. “The welcome I had when I returned could not have been better,” he said. “Homelessness and unemployment is a problem that I don't have personal insight with, because of the...
Neither a surprise nor'easter nor downed trees nor a bracing wind could keep anti-nuke protesters from the gates of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power station on Sunday. Approximately 150 people from all corners of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New York gathered to remind the people at VY and its parent company Entergy Corp., based in Louisiana, that the plant's state-issued Certificate of Public Good (CPG) expires in 141 days. VY is not generating power, as the company refuels the...