The Selectboard has discussed the necessity of hiring a lawyer to negotiate with the Public Service Board should a company contemplating a wind farm project decide to pursue it.
The Iberdrola Renewables will soon erect meteorological (MET) towers for its Stiles Brook Project, which could cause the town to incur legal expenses, board members said.
The board will seek $15,000 in the next year's budget for “funds for any legal liability coming down the road.”
Treasurer Cynthia W. Gibbs, asking why the board would consider such an increase, wondered if the board was planning to defend the windmills against potential challenges.
Today, I picked up a pen. The kind you get 10 for a dollar. And a pad, just like the pad we all used in school. The pad cost $1.49. Then I wrote a letter. If you are very young, you might never have written or held a letter...
Kayla Boyd is a true example of an extraordinary young woman. At 17, she has just been selected to compete against other Boys & Girls Club members for the Vermont Youth of the Year title and a $1,000 scholarship from the Tupperware Foundation. As the Youth of the Year...
Citing legal concerns, the Select Board rejected a petition signed by 40 Grafton residents and submitted by Friends of Grafton's Heritage founder, Liisa Kissel, an hour before the Jan. 24 deadline, requesting that an article, “Shall the town prohibit large-scale industrial wind installations in Grafton,” be added to the warrant for the Annual Town Meeting. Select Board members sought the advice of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, which said that “the Vermont Legislature has not conferred upon voters...
The Vermont Public Service Board kicked off two weeks of technical proceedings on Monday to determine whether Louisiana-based Entergy Corp., the owner of the 40-year-old Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, should receive a license to continue operating the facility for 20 more years. On one side, Entergy is arguing for the plant's continued operation. On the other side, the Vermont Public Service Department, charged with representing the public interest in energy, telecommunications, water, and wastewater utility matters, is...
Obituaries • Mathilda Apsit, 94, of Wrentham, Mass. Died Feb. 3 at Pond Home in Wrentham. Wife of the late Albert Apsit for 65 years. Mother of William Apsit and his wife, Grace, of Guelph, Ontario; Elizabeth Angell of Natick, Mass.; Barbara Lantery of Mashpee, Mass.; and Liza “Linda” King and her partner, Rick Neumann, of Brattleboro. Sister of the late John Lekas, Adela Pinkul, and Palmira (Polly) Seaburg. Born at home in South Boston to Lithuanian immigrants Eva (Zaldokas)
West Brattleboro Association to meet Feb. 14 WEST BRATTLEBORO - On Thursday, Feb. 14, from 8-9:30 a.m., the West Brattleboro Association (WBA) will hold its next monthly meeting. It will take place in the community room at Hayes Court on Garfield Drive, the first road on the right after the West Brattleboro Post Office and Richards Building. The meeting agenda will cover updates on traffic safety along Western Avenue, the Town Plan as it affects West Brattleboro, and information about...
Brattleboro Union High School's music department presents the celebrated musical “Gypsy” on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Feb. 14, 15, and 16, in the BUHS auditorium. Tickets range from $6 to $10. “Gypsy” opened at New York's Broadway Theatre on May 21, 1959, and ran for 702 performances. That production was directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins and starred Ethel Merman as Rose, mother of famous striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee. The show follows arch stage mother Rose as she struggles...
A casual reader of your coverage of the visit of the governor and the secretary of education to Academy School [“Academy School gets back to education,” Feb. 6] might think they were here because of recent security concerns. In fact, they came to recognize and draw attention to the terrific learning communities our elementary schools have developed. The staff and administrators of the Brattleboro town schools have spent nine years adjusting to the changes demanded of them by federal policy...
Guitarist José Manuel Lezcano and harpist Franziska Huhn join forces for “Bards and Troubadors: Mostly Mediterranean Music,” The show, a presentation of Stone Church Arts, is at Immanuel Episcopal Church, 20 Church St., on Saturday, Feb. 16. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the concert starts at 7:30. Lezcano, a Cuban-born guitarist, composer, educator, and folklorist, has captivated audiences on four continents. Described by Fanfare Magazine in 2012 as an excellent guitarist as well as an imaginative composer, Lezcano has...
There's nothing like a good old-fashioned snowstorm to prime folks for a weekend of ski jumping on Harris Hill. Friday's big storm was the icing on the cake for organizers of this weekend's Harris Hill ski jump competition. The 90-meter ski jump is just about ready to go, and Brattleboro once again welcomes some of the world's best jumpers to the big hill on Cedar Street. This is the second year that Harris Hill is serving as the venue for...
I wonder what I don't see now. Columbus, Miss., was my universe in those days before World War II. A small town of maybe 13,000, it was pretty much evenly split between black and white. Columbus was home to the Pilgrimage, a tour of antebellum houses held early each April, when the place was alive with azaleas in bloom. Girls and women, dressed in hoop skirts for this occasion, displayed themselves on green lawns and shady porches. Our Friendship Cemetery,
Although Tropical Storm Irene might seem like a long ago event, some homeowners in Windham County still struggle to recover. Following the storm, nearly 1,500 Windham County households registered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Southeastern Vermont Long Term Recovery Committee (SEVT LTRC), one of nine committees created by Gov. Peter Shumlin to assist survivors, found 300 households with unmet needs such as interior/exterior home repairs, drainage, well and septic issues, mold mitigation, and driveway repairs. So far, more...
The Select Board has approved the 20 articles, including two that will address the Stiles Brook commercial wind project, for the Annual Town Meeting, which will take place March 5 at Town School District Offices at 10 a.m. Polls by Australian ballot will open at 9 a.m. and stay open through 7 p.m. The potentially most contentious part of the warning was dealt with on Jan. 24, in a meeting called promptly at the 4 p.m. deadline for all articles.
Post Oil Solutions and the West River Community Project (WRCP) have announced that, beginning this year, the Townshend Common Farmers' Market will be hosted by the WRCP at its location at the West Townshend Country Store on Route 30. The market will be moved to the back garden of the Country Store and be held Fridays throughout summer. Post Oil Solutions founded this community-based market, specializing in locally grown food, in 2008. It had been located on the Townshend Common.
Bring your sweetie and enjoy dinner and a Valentine's Day evening of a cappella love songs with House Blend on Thursday, Feb. 14, at 6 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for children accompanied by an adult. This is the final event in Main Street Arts' fifth annual “Taste of the Arts, Tales from a Community” fundraising series. House Blend, formed in 2006, is an assembly of 23 veteran singers from Vermont and New Hampshire, “devoted to the...
Advocates at the Women's Freedom Center have been talking about the intersection of violence against women and Valentine's Day. We are not out at local stores, misty-eyed, poring over the Hallmark selection. Nor are we fingering the lacy heart shaped boxes of Whitman's Chocolates. Instead, we recognize the unavoidable pit in mid-stomach, when a woman is at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital or Grace Cottage Hospital waiting for the SANE (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) to swab for forensic evidence that a rape...
It was thought provoking to learn from a recent Associated Press report that a “state task force with representatives from the meat processing industry is looking for ways to expand capacity for meat processing in Vermont.” As more and more evidence confirms the environmental effects of meat production as well as the health effects of meat consumption, it seems that Vermont - which seeks to lead the nation by improving public health and by being proactive on climate change -
Windham County residents woke up last Saturday morning to the sight of 12 to 18 inches of snow covering the landscape. Snowfall amounts reported to the National Weather Service in Albany, N.Y., included 11.5 inches at Ball Mountain Dam in Townshend, 12.5 inches in East Dummerston, 13.5 inches in Guilford, and 17.3 inches in Marlboro. But what was just a good-sized winter storm for Southern Vermont was a major emergency for Southern New England. The nor'easter, a collision of two...
The professional workforce has been quick to adopt new technology tools. We readily accept that tablets, smart phones, teleconferencing, and social media are now essential fixtures of the workplace for millions across the globe. Yet we've been slow in extending these advances to our schools, and in particular our K-12 schools. While many children's home lives are abuzz with the same platforms and devices as the 21st-century workplace, school just hasn't kept pace, and in many classrooms pedagogies are barely...
U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell recently made the following statement regarding industrialized hemp and its impact on Kentucky: “I am convinced that allowing its production will be a positive development for Kentucky's farm families and economy,” he said. “[Commissioner of Agriculture John Comer] has assured me that his office is committed to pursuing industrialized hemp production in a way that does not compromise Kentucky law enforcement's marijuana eradication efforts or in any way promote illegal drug use. “The utilization...
What happens when a classical chamber ensemble performs music inspired by Brazilian popular song and dance in a jazz center? Partake of this multicultural stew on Sunday, Feb. 24, when the Wistaria Chamber Music Society presents “Café Buenos Aires,” an evening of tango at the Vermont Jazz Center (VJC) in Brattleboro. An hour-long tango class/demonstration for mixed levels, led by instructor Stephen Voorhees, starts at 2:30 p.m. The performance that follows at 3:30 showcases the talents of several of the...
Emily Post, author of Etiquette: The Blue Book of Social Usage, once said, “Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.” Post's book educated the common people of America in how to behave during the country's transition during the Industrial Revolution, a time where country farmers were moving into cities and unaware of the differing customs and standards of behavior. Ninety years later,
Since its inception 13 years ago, West River Habitat for Humanity (WRHH) has built four houses and is almost fully funded to build a fifth in our area, which runs north/south along the spine of south-central Vermont and encompasses 13 towns, from Jamaica and Londonderry to Whitingham and Wilmington. The first four houses have been built in Wilmington, Whitingham, and West Wardsboro. It is time to branch out and serve more of our designated area. To do so, we need...
The Vermont Center for Photography presents “Daydreamers & Night Wanderers,” a two-woman exhibition of photographs by Kirsten Hoving and Emma Powell, who also happen to be mother and daughter. The exhibition features work from a series by each artist: Powell's large-scale, toned cyanotypes from her series, “The Shadow Catcher's Daughter,” and Hoving's archival digital prints from her series, “Night Wanderers.” The exhibition runs through Feb. 24 on Fridays and Saturdays from 1 to 6 p.m., and on Sundays from 11...
Part-time Dummerston resident Jessica Baylis Bousfield, who lived between 1891 and 1996, was a devotee of the theater. And an assiduous collector. The five volumes of her scrapbooks and diaries, containing rare playbills and reviews of plays she attended between 1912 and 1933, are on display this month at Brooks Memorial Library, 224 Main St. Bousfield and her husband, Harold, bought approximately 100 acres of land in Dummerston in 1939 and lived there part-time until Harold's death in 1970. They...
Ray Vega and his Latin Jazz Quintet are set to perform at the Vermont Jazz Center in Brattleboro on Saturday, Feb. 16, at 8 p.m. Vega, one of the world's foremost Latin-jazz trumpeters, is an alumnus of the legendary Ramón “Mongo” Santamaría, Mario Bauzá, Ray Barretto, and Tito Puente ensembles, and is a three-time Grammy Award winner. Appearing with Vega at the VJC are Zaccai Curtis on piano, Andy Eulau on bass, Diego López on drums, and Chembo Corniel on...
The Roots on the River Music Festival is going strong, but it's bidding a heartfelt farewell to headliner and festival co-founder Fred Eaglesmith, who has decided to make way for younger blood. The festival, now in its 14th season, is June 6-9 and will be held at numerous venues around town. According to Vermont Festivals producer Ray Massucco, who announced Eaglesmith's departure last week, the change, effective next year, means ROTR is simply changing with the times, as all successful...
The Estey Organ Museum presents Cheryl Duerr and Edwin Lawrence in a program for organ and flute on Saturday, Feb. 16, at 7 p.m., at First Baptist Church, 190 Main St.. Duerr and Lawrence will be performing works by by Saint-Saens, Langlais, Franck, Rachmaninoff, and Howells. There is a $15 suggested donation at the door to support the work of the museum. Duerr currently serves as Region I Councillor for the American Guild of Organists (AGO). Previously, she has served...
The town of Brattleboro wants all of us to stay safe on the streets and sidewalks, and is handing out free reflective leg bands to get the job done. According to Barb Sondag, Brattleboro town manager, the goal is to save lives. “Last winter's multiple fatalities were a huge tragedy, and an avoidable one. Our goal this winter is zero crashes involving bicyclists and pedestrians,” Sondag said, adding that motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians all have a part to play in...
On Thursday, Feb. 14, at 12:40 p.m., members of the Leland & Gray Union Middle and High School community will join with activists around the world for One Billion Rising, the largest day of action in the history of V-Day, the global activist movement to end violence against women and girls. The word billion refers to the one billion women worldwide the group estimates are survivors of abuse. On Feb. 14, V-Day's 15th anniversary, many from Leland & Gray are...
The budget that Building a Better Brattleboro has submitted to the Selectboard “assumes” that BaBB will “divest” itself of the Robert Gibson River Garden by the summer of 2013. While it is reportedly stipulated that the budget fairly passed a membership vote, the decision to “divest” the River Garden was made by a much smaller number of Board members. This point is important because the $36,000 left “floating in the budget” will now be “reallocated” into lines that were presumably...
Broad Brook Grange will hold its annual pre-Town Meeting event on Thursday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. at the Grange Hall. This is the only opportunity for voters to hear details of the articles to be presented at the town and school district meetings and to meet with the Select and School boards in advance of Town Meeting. In addition, candidates for town and school board offices are urged to attend to introduce themselves to the voters. State law prevents...
Ian Kiehle earned 1,400 votes the first time he ran for Selectboard five years ago. He didn't win. Yet he calls the number and the vote of confidence from fellow Brattleboroians gratifying. According to Kiehle, days before the Jan. 28 petition deadline, his wife, Katherine Innis, said he should run. Over the Jan. 25 weekend, a friend said he should run. Kiehle walked into Town Clerk Annette Cappy's office the morning of Jan. 28 and returned within a few hours...
John Allen, general contractor and a former Selectboard member, stands in the kitchen of a newly constructed house on Maple Street, wiping dust from a green granite countertop with a repurposed T-shirt. He laughs when asked why he's running for a seat on the board. “I should have my head examined,” he said. He smiles again thinking of his first tour of service in 2008 and 2009. “I enjoyed it,” he admits. Allen is one of six candidates running for...
As Vermont races toward creating its own affordable-health-care system, while dodging hurdles constructed of federal red tape, is the state creating a less affordable system for low- and middle-income Vermonters? Consumer advocate Peter Sterling, executive director of the Vermont Campaign for Health Care Security (VCHCS), says upcoming federally mandated changes to Vermont's state-run health insurance plans could result in more uninsured people living in the state. That's unless Gov. Peter Shumlin agrees to find additional revenue to subsidize premiums and...