Bellows Falls-based Great Falls Community Media will present three concerts with the What Doth Life music cooperative from Windsor. The concerts begin on Saturday, July 21, and continue on Aug. 18 and Sept. 15.
Great Falls Community Media is the nonprofit parent organization of community radio station WOOL 100.1 FM, and of What's Up In the Valley magazine, a monthly events periodical for the mid-river valley.
What Doth Life (WDL) is a consortium of musicians who have banded together to promote and produce music in a wide variety of styles. WDL is neither a label nor traditional distributor and has built a wide audience through the association of like-minded artists.
“We're wildly excited to be building a bridge to Windsor in this way,” said Gary Smith, president of Great Falls Community Media.
Our career-politician gubernatorial candidates are looking to reduce the stress of fees for health insurance for Vermonters while supporting a for-profit medical industry incentivized for illness? I say that we have a bigger paradigm shift to handle. Our dear funny governor, bless his soul, hasn't described his concern that...
My husband is forever wondering what happened to someone. “Whatever happened to that guy from M*A*S*H who pretended to be a transvestite to get out of the army?” he'll ask. “What happened to your friend from Pittsburgh?” “Whatever happened to that actor...” Once, we both wondered what would have...
The “By the People: Brattleboro Goes Fourth” citizens committee thanks everyone involved in the success of the town's 39th annual Independence Day celebration. The all-volunteer group, working with the town Recreation & Parks Department, was able to present its parade downtown and free concerts and fireworks at Living Memorial Park only because of the generosity of countless individuals and companies that donated their time, money and talent, including: - Grand Marshal Deirdre Baker, who has demonstrated not only how to...
Corporate energy giant TransCanada is appealing the property value assessment of their Bellows Falls hydroelectric dam, seeking to reduce the property's value by $22 million, from about $108 million to $86 million. TransCanada first filed a grievance notice on June 7 with Rockingham town's Board of Listers for their Bellows Fall station at 20 Mill St. The notice details TransCanada's analysis of the property's value, which argues that falling energy prices among other factors make the dam less valuable. Camilla...
Obituaries • James A. “Alan” Bower, 77, of Windham. Died July 7 at home following an illness. Husband of Dawn (Hartkopf) Bower for 56 years. Father of Keith A. Bower of Windham; Scott R. Bower and his wife, Danna, of Youngsville, N.C.; Jill S. Reilly and her husband, John, of Midlothian, Va.; and the late Dale D. Bower. Brother of the late Lois Bower. Born in Jersey City, N.J., the son of the late John and Ella (Price) Bower, he...
The building of the Interstate Highway System in Vermont was an event that changed the state forever. It was the largest public works program in Vermont history - 321 miles of highway built between 1957 and 1978 stretching from Guilford to Derby Line through the Connecticut River Valley, and from White River Junction to Highgate Springs through the Green Mountains and the Champlain Valley. It was also a well documented construction project, as state photographers took more than 36,000 photos...
The problematic “statistics” that Phil Innes quotes from dogsbite.org [“The pit bull quandary,” Viewpoint, June 13] are compiled from newspaper and media reports by a group of random citizens with no scientific credentials whatsoever. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), these “dog bite statistics are not really statistics, and they do not give an accurate picture of the dogs that bite.” Why isn't data from media reports complete or accurate? Here are a few reasons: • Not all...
The national debate regarding health care rages on. The Affordable Care Act - “Obamacare” - is a small step in the direction of providing affordable health care for all of us. It is by no means “socialized medicine” or single-payer health care. Yet, despite the recent Supreme Court ruling, many people and most Republicans act as though this legislation is the end of the world as we know it. On the other hand, people ignore that fact that there is...
Over the past decade, I've agreed countless times to give LGBTQ 101 presentations at colleges and universities. These sessions usually boil down to, “No, bisexuality is not a phase. Yes, you have gay students at your faith-based institution. And this is what the 'T' stands for.” Last week, when asked to present at a small, Midwestern liberal-arts college, I tried out a new response: “No.” Out loud, I begged off, hiding behind a schedule that was simply too full. In...
An open letter to Secretary of State Jim Condos: Vermont needs a digital open meeting law. During recent statewide and regional discussions about applying the Internet to local government, participants have asked ourselves whether the current open meeting law allows all that has become possible. The Secretary of State and interested citizens, journalists, legislators, and officials should meet at a statewide conference to discuss updating Vermont's open meeting law to allow online transparency of government and prevent online collusion.
There's a baby boom this month at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital's birthing center. According to Debbie Partrick, the director of women's and surgical services at BMH, 48 babies were scheduled for delivery in July. Of those 48, nine were delivered in June before their scheduled birth date. As of July 10, 10 babies - four boys and six girls - had been delivered at BMH, with 29 to go. Partrick said that 25 or 30 births is the usual normal number...
A sudden summer storm. We have come to expect the unexpected - abrupt changes in weather. Wind and clouds and rain and snow are no longer predictable. One can almost feel the earth rumbling beneath us, pits of fire and sudden sinkholes in which creatures that have never seen daylight drift slowly through black seaweed and wavering reeds. I lean out the window streaked with rain and stare at the battened-down buds of the daylilies as heavy rain slashes across...
RE: “Stepping in: Why are people willing to see any dog suffer in a hot car?” [Viewpoint, June 13]: I recently witnessed a similar situation. A dog was in distress in a parked car outside a fitness center. I asked the receptionist at the fitness center to inquire if anyone inside had a dog in a vehicle outside. She abjectly refused to “disturb” the clients! I had to call the police. I really don't know what to make of this...
Independence Day was Theresa Vesper's lucky day. During the festivities leading up to the July 4 fireworks at Living Memorial Park, Vesper's name was drawn as the winner of Rescue Inc.'s “Raffle for Rescue.” As a result, the Vernon resident will be driving a new 2012 Subaru Impreza 5-door hatchback. Rescue employees, board members and volunteers, along with a half dozen retail locations, sold more than $41,000 worth of raffle tickets in a successful fund-raising campaign that was launched in...
In the August issue of Consumer Reports (CR), the magazine conducted its first-ever ratings of hospitals across the United States. Brattleboro Memorial Hospital was one of the 1,159 hospitals in 44 states that were evaluated, and BMH got relatively high marks for patient safety. CR rated hospitals in six categories: infection avoidance, re-admissions after initial treatment, patient/staff communication, CT scanning accuracy, patient complications, and mortality. On a zero to 100 scale - zero being the worst and 100 being the...
Vermont Yankee gave a detailed presentation on July 9 of safety and emergency changes in response to Japan's 2011 Fukushima disaster, in a quiet public hearing at the Statehouse attended by about a dozen people. Unlike last year's more crowded Vermont State Nuclear Advisory Panel (VSNAP) hearings, only three members of the public testified. Representing Vermont Yankee, Entergy's state liaison engineer Bernard Buteau gave a 45 minute presentation on how the plant and the nuclear industry is addressing concerns raised...
Brooks Memorial Library offers computer coaching BRATTLEBORO - Brooks Memorial Library and VTel will present one-on-one computer coaching sessions on Thursdays, from 1-5 p.m., through Aug. 9 in the library's meeting room. Do you have a computer and want to know more about how it works? Are you thinking about getting a computer and want to know more about what you can do with it? Do you want to blog, Facebook, Twitter and are not sure where to begin? Get...
All dog owners and other interested parties are invited to join D.O.G. (Dog Owners Group). We meet once a month to discuss issues relating to dogs, and other animals, in a manner that benefits everyone and all dogs. This is a non-judgmental group. We want to communicate, learn, and identify those problems that need to be worked on with the town authorities and owners. If you are concerned about the safety and well-being of your best friend, and yourself or...
Fresh from a nation-wide tour to celebrate folk legend Woody Guthrie's 100th birthday, Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion will kick off an all-acoustic “Summer Sunday Social” series at the Rockingham Meeting House on Sunday, July 22. The series at the 200-year-old landmark Meeting House will be presented by Vermont Festivals LLC in association with Flying Under Radar and Kicking & Screaming. Guthrie, granddaughter of the late Woody Guthrie, and her husband, Johnny Irion, have toured nationally with the extended...
On Sunday, July 8, at a joint meeting of the Socialist Party Local and Liberty Union, the following resolution was agreed upon: “In accordance with a policy of keeping Vermont green, we support a skateboard park in the former Home Depot building [in Brattleboro] and the preservation of the Crowell lot as it currently exists. We urge our candidates to make this a primary issue of their candidacies.” The candidates for the Socialist Party/Liberty Union are: Owen M. Diamondstone-Kohout, state...
Playwright Theresa Rebeck said, when her play Mauritius opened on Broadway in 2007, that her dramas “were about betrayal, treason, and poor behavior - a lot of poor behavior.” And Mauritius, which opens at the Actors Theater Playhouse on Thursday, July 26, has all that and more. Rebeck, has been a Pulitzer finalist and the recipient of an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writer's Guild. She knows a lot about writing about bad behavior as a producer and writer for...
Town moderator Michael McLaine said the crowd in the Windham Elementary School auditorium on July 11 numbered more than at Town Meeting. People stood against the walls and doorways while a few neighbors stood outside and watched through open windows. Mosquitos and deer flies, never ones to miss an opportunity, buzzed the crowd. The topic to draw more people than the town budget? Wind. Meadowsend Timberlands Limited and Atlantic Wind, a subsidiary of Iberdrola Renewables, presented a proposal to site...
For the 20th year, the Rock River Artists, a collaborative of 18 professional artists living along the Rock River basin in South Newfane and Williamsville, will open their creative spaces to passersby and collectors in search of high quality art from a range of disciplines. On Saturday, July 21, and Sunday, July 22, the Rock River Artists present their annual free, self-guided tour of the studios, galleries, and workshops along the Rock River. Visitors can start at the historic Old...
Jamaica's 2012 Summer Music Series continues on July 21 with West Townshend's Hungrytown, the musical and married duo of Ken Anderson and Rebecca Hall. The show begins at 7 p.m.; admission is $10. Ken and Rebecca have been making music full time since swapping their midtown Manhattan cubicles for the hills of New England in 2004. Since then, the couple has been touring extensively, and has released two CDs, the self-titled Hungrytown (2008) and Any Forgotten Thing (2011), both of...
In a trial run for what could turn into a full-fledged dance festival next year, downtown Brattleboro will be alive with the sounds of music and the sight of many styles of dance throughout this weekend (July 20-22). Headlined “Take a Chance and Dance,” the live performances are part of a full week of downtown promotions which also include traditional weekend summer sidewalk sales and an all-week free raffle for shoppers with a $1,000 shopping spree as grand prize. The...
Look up at the Brooks House at the corner of Main and High Streets and you'll see a sign of hope: large red and white banners stretch across the empty structure's brick walls left battered by fire last year read, “Now Leasing.” The investment partners behind the Brooks House rebuild, Mesabi, LLC, say they have received commitments for about 80 percent of the $18 million project. Mesabi consists of Bob Stevens, PE, of Stevens & Associates; Craig Miskovich of Downs...
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music will present veteran folk/rock icon Jonathan Edwards plus singer/songwriter Lisa McCormick and the newgrass trio, The Stockwell Brothers, at Next Stage on Friday, July 20, at 7:30 p.m. In addition to opening the concert with sets of their own, McCormick and The Stockwell Brothers, who have each toured with Edwards in the past, will join him on stage again for part of the concert. Since 1971, Edwards has released 15 albums, collaborated with...
The women who are members of the Sew Whats celebrated their 1,000-quilt milestone and their fifth anniversary of participating in Project Linus at their monthly meeting on July 17 at the Newfane Congregational Church. Project Linus, named for the security blanket-carrying character in the Peanuts comic strip, is a national nonprofit that has given countless blankets - their term - to hospitals all over the country. As stated on their website, Project Linus works to provide love and a sense...