Here in southeastern Vermont, the health of our rivers and streams affects all of us.
Since 2003, a small, nonprofit organization has been monitoring these waters. That organization has also brought problematic issues to the attention of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources for corrective action.
That organization is the Southeastern Vermont Watershed Alliance (SeVWA), also known as the West River Watershed Alliance (WRWA).
Join us on April 13 for the “River Resources Rendezvous: SeVWA Celebrates a Decade of Service,” at the Williamsville Hall, 35 Dover Road in Williamsville. The rendezvous is from 6 to 8:30 p.m. and looks to be an exciting evening.
Town Meeting members passed the $14.6 million municipal budget and the $14.8 million town school district budget at the Representative Town Meeting on March 24. Members also approved funds for the town's share of repairs from Tropical Storm Irene and discussed issues ranging from a 1-percent option tax to...
RE: “Our nuclear spring” [Editorial, March 14]. Once again, The Commons hits the nail on the head! What a great bunch of news people you are.
Dear Putney youth: Your generosity in helping the Putney Foodshelf provide healthy food for area people in need is truly incredible. Every school in Putney is included in this effort. At Putney Central School, the middle school student council ran a six-week, school-wide food drive, donating more than 71 crates of canned goods to the Foodshelf. At The Grammar School, a team of girls from came in weekly to sort, organize, and shelve the PCS food drive cans. The Grammar...
Amherst College professor of Latin Culture Ilan Stavans will read the work of influential Latino poets in a talk at Brooks Memorial Library on April 4. His talk, “An Evening of Latin American Poetry,” is part of the Vermont Humanities Council's First Wednesdays series and takes place at 7 p.m. Stavans, a professor of Latin American and Latino culture at Amherst College, will read and discuss work by Rubén Darío, Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriela Mistral, Pablo Neruda, Octavio Paz, and...
With the early start to “mud season,” the Green Mountain Club urges hikers to stay off muddy and high-elevation trails unless they still have snow or ice cover. Rain and melting snow at higher elevations cause wet and muddy conditions on many of Vermont's hiking trails. When hikers tramp on saturated soils, they cause irreversible erosion and damage to the trail and surrounding vegetation. While there is speculation that an early start to mud season means an early end to...
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. • Sandra “Sandy” Johnson, 71, of West Dover. Died March 22 at home following a courageous battle with cancer. Wife of the late Charles Johnson for nearly 50 years. Mother of Randall Johnson and his wife, Robin, of West Dover; Monica Crawford of Wilmington; Bradley Johnson and his wife, Beth, of Hopkinton, Mass; and the...
Rummage sale benefits Dummerston Community Center WEST DUMMERSTON - A rummage sale takes place on Saturday, March 31, from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Dummerston Community Center on West Street, with clothing, books, toys, kitchenware, puzzles, and much more. Coffee and doughnuts will be served. Proceeds will benefit the center's operating and maintenance costs. For more information, call Jean Momaney at 802-254-9212 or 254-2415. 'Strength of the Storm' to be shown on April 1 BRATTLEBORO - On Sunday, April 1...
An open letter to Peter Gould, director of Robin Hood at the New England Youth Theater: It was with such delight that I watched Robin Hood several weekends ago. My family, friends, and I left talking about the play's unique format and how fun it was to watch our young friends and neighbors shine. The kids did a fabulous job, no doubt! In this particular letter, however, I want to thank you. I could see that you had made numerous...
The Brattleboro Community Justice Center (BCJC) will hold a restorative justice training session on April 23 and 24, from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Attendance at both sessions required. In this training, participants will learn about the principles of Restorative Justice and the practice of it, as delivered by the panels. Participants will also practice communication skills, review a case study and role play reparative panel sessions. Members of reparative panels work with individuals who have been referred by the court and who...
We are all responsible for the massacre in Afghanistan. We permit this war to continue, so the Army and the Marines are forced to rely on enlisted personnel who are sent back, again and again, into combat duty. As a combat veteran with the 100th Infantry Division in Europe during World War II, my experience has shown that people have limits before they crack - limits that no one can predict, since each person is different. If we are to...
Brattleboro Music Center presents “Composers in Our Midst,” a unique opportunity to hear art songs written by composers in our region, featuring Kristen Carmichael-Bowers and friends, on Saturday, March 31 at 7 p.m., at All Souls Church. Soprano Kristen Carmichael-Bowers, along with pianist Clifton J. Noble, guitarist Richard Ullman, and harpist Carol Wood, will bring to life works by Noble and Wood, as well as those by composers David Kidwell, Ronald Perera, and John Duke. “Of all compositional forms, art...
Forest Moon: Celebrating Survivorship, a non-denominational non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the emotional recovery of cancer survivors and their families and friends throughout rural New England, is pleased to announce their annual Couples' Weekend Renewal Retreat for individuals with cancer and their partners/spouses. The Couples' Weekend Renewal Retreat will take place from 5 p.m. on Fri., April 20 to 1 p.m. on Sun., April 22 at The Mellos Retreat Center in Jacksonville. During the retreat, participants will be introduced to...
Rescue Inc. has placed into service a brand-new, state-of-the-art ambulance that will deliver improved safety for responders while operating more efficiently, and with less pollution, than older units in the organization's fleet. Rescue invested $132,132 to acquire the new vehicle, which is a 2011 Osage Super Warrior model built on a General Motors 3500 chassis. It was purchased from Cromwell Emergency Vehicles of Clifton Park, N.Y., and manufactured by Osage Ambulances of Linn, Mo. Funding came from a $25,000 challenge...
On Monday, March 12, the Post-Vermont Yankee Task Force, made up of business leaders in Windham County, announced it will ask the state to come to the county's financial rescue when Vermont Yankee closes, with a bailout of $2 million annually. This amount was determined by a study that cites job losses and decline in local revenue and, in general, it paints a pretty grim picture if a huge property-tax payer and the employer of 600 full-time workers is forced...
With respect to the issue of pedestrian safety, I agree with one point that the town administration and Selectboard has made with respect to this issue: the positive role that education can play in improving the safety in town for pedestrians. However, I believe that the education most needed is in that of the town leadership responsible for finding meaningful solutions. Since moving to Brattleboro nine years ago, I have repeatedly seen an outdated perspective regarding the balance between motor...
Next Stage Arts Project announces a series of three films to be screened on Fridays during the month of April. The series, “Shhh! Friday Night at the (Silent) Movies!” celebrates the genre of the silent film and will culminate in a performance by Circus Smirkus Founder Rob Mermin, who will present his one-man, multimedia show, “Silents are Golden” on Friday, April 20. “Given the surge of interest in silent films, evidenced by The Artist taking best picture at the Oscars,
The spring high school sports season begins this week and, thanks to a mild winter and a warm March, the ballfields around the county are in pretty good shape. Before the baseball, softball, lacrosse, track and field, and tennis seasons begin, let's look back at some of the all-star honors that local athletes received in the winter sports season just past. • Brattleboro's Graham Glennon was a first-team selection for the Division I boys on the Vermont high school Nordic...
As protestors gather in Brattleboro to make a statement about Vermont Yankee at the corporate headquarters of Entergy, the nuclear plant's owner, a group has been arrested on March 22 for trespass at the company's corporate headquarters in New Orleans. According to a press relase from the Safe and Green Energy (SAGE) Alliance, Nancy Braus, of Putney, and seven other antinuclear activists “taped off a corporate 'crime scene' at the downtown Entergy building, demanding an audience with Entergy, CEO, J.
It was two weeks before the opening of the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center's new show, “Bridging Earth and Sky.” Most of the walls were still stark naked and there was a feeling of excitement about being backstage, so to speak. After all, putting on a museum show is much like opening a show on Broadway. After a great deal of research, writing, thinking, talking, collecting, painting, nail-banging, fabric-hanging, and scene shifting, opening day comes and the bare space comes...
When is a bench not merely something you sit on? When is a musical instrument not something you merely listen to? When is a park not merely a space you play in? Such weighty metaphysical questions can be answered in the dream of Gary Jones and Erik Newquist to put the installation of their “Steel, Wood, Melody” musical bench seats into Brattleboro's parks and public spaces. If a musical bench seems hard to wrap your mind around, that might be...
Hi, homophobes. We need to talk. You've been kind of busy lately, and you've had a few victories. But I'm here to tell you something: It. Gets. Worse. * * * I'm in my 40s. When I was growing up, there was one obviously gay kid in my high school, the kid almost everyone mocked and teased. I came out in college, and I received personal threats on a routine basis: nasty phone calls in the middle of the night,
You've all heard the news: Procter and Gamble has purchased New Chapter. That's the story, but our personal story is so much more. We have felt moved to address our community of loyal customers in a more direct way. We appreciate that you might not agree with this purchase and that, indeed, you might be skeptical about it. But we would like you to better understand what brought us to this announcement. * * * New Chapter is our child...
The process for constructing a skateboard park at the Crowell Lot on Western Avenue will continue as planned. For now. After an intense discussion at the first Selectboard meeting after town elections, the board voted last Tuesday against a motion made by board member David Gartenstein to hold two public forums to discuss a skateboard park at the Crowell Lot, discuss possible other locations for the park, and to determine if the Selectboard must take any further votes on the...
Near the end of this story, I will find myself sitting in a small jail cell at the far end of a row of cells, dimensions about 5 feet by 7 feet by 6 feet, with four other male anti-nuclear protesters (no coed cells allowed), grouped around the stainless steel toilet and talking over the 40-year history of the drive to shut down Vermont Yankee. That cell is not the most pleasant the Brattleboro Police have to offer. Its bars...
It's just before 2 o'clock on a cloudy Saturday afternoon, and the first of what ultimately would be around 80 anti-nuclear protesters are taking their positions on the sidewalk on Governor Hunt Road near the front gate of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Waiting for them is Windham County Sheriff Keith Clark. With hat in hand, Clark explains to the early arrivals what constitutes trespassing on the plant's property and where the protesters should stand so they stay out...
The Brattleboro Development Credit Corp. (BDCC) and Strolling of the Heifers are again teaming up to present the 2012 Business Plan Competition for the Windham region, with multiple prizes totaling $60,000. As it did last year, the competition will feature two divisions: one for “general businesses,” excluding agriculture and food, and one specifically for agricultural or food-related enterprises, the Strolling of the Heifers Farm/Food Business Plan Competition. Each division is further divided into two categories, one for existing businesses and...
Montpelier will turn its eyes on Windham County for an unprecedented second time within one year. Last year, the Senate Committee on Economic Development, General & Military Affairs held a hearing in Brattleboro to hear testimony on the potential economic ramifications of Vermont Yankee's eventual departure. Committee members Sens. Vincent Illuzzi, R-Essex-Orleans, and Peter Galbraith, D-Windham, will return for a follow-up hearing at the Vermont Agricultural Business Education Center (VABEC), on Friday, March 30 at 9 a.m. Galbraith described Friday's...
A 21-year-old man is back with his family after being missing for a full day. Adam Bos-Lun was released after evaluation for hypothermia at Springfield Hospital after wandering from the woods 3½ miles from his CCC Road home. According to his mother, Michelle Bos-Lun, her son sought help at the door of a Kurn Hattin Road resident shortly before 8 p.m. on Saturday night, almost 25 hours after he left the family home the previous evening. State police were notified...
More than 1,000 people - approximately 1,500, according to unofficial estimates - converged on Entergy's corporate headquarters at Old Ferry Road last Thursday in protest of the continued operation of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon. In all, 137 protestors were arrested for unlawful trespass on Entergy's property, according to Brattleboro Police Chief Eugene Wrinn. One of the largest anti-nuclear protests in the area since the 1980s, the protestors had the support of Gov. Peter Shumlin, a bitter...