Issue #400
Deep cuts to federal budget loom large
On the first day of spring, Windham County's state legislators took their breakfast with a big cup of worry.
At the Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce's legislative breakfast March 20, local lawmakers offered a variety of updates from the 2017 session. But they also spent a lot of time fretting about the deep federal budget cuts proposed by President Donald Trump.
Still the sweetest season
Open House Weekend celebrates Vermont’s maple sugar makers
The Vermont Maple Syrup Maker's Association - which has served as the official voice for Vermont sugar makers since 1893 - will hold its 16th annual Open House Weekend March 25 and 26 to celebrate sugaring season. This year, Vermont sugarhouses are participating, along with breweries, distilleries, and bed-and-breakfasts,
Remember those who served in Vietnam
March 29 is Vietnam Veterans Day. It marks the day in 1973 that the last U.S. combat troops were withdrawn from Vietnam and the last prisoners of war held in North Vietnam arrived on U.S. soil. It commemorates the sacrifices of Vietnam veterans and their families and is part...
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Are there alternatives to shoot-from-the-hip WSWMD plans?
There has been a lot of news about the Windham Solid Waste Management District lately. Closing the Materials Recovery Facility seems to have been a foregone conclusion. Now, let's hold on for a minute: The vote to close the MRF was a close one. I think it's not fair to encourage Brattleboro to use its voting power to settle the issue. WSWMD Executive Director Bob Spencer should have made sure all member towns were treated fairly. Simply put, Brattleboro should...
Game wardens’ wage gap is shocking and shameful
The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department writes that game wardens “enforce fish and wildlife, boat, snowmobile, ATV, and general criminal laws.” Game wardens also “provide an important law enforcement support role during critical incidents and emergencies. They also have extensive knowledge of Vermont's remote areas and utilize this knowledge and special training for search and rescue operations.” This is a state with many natural riches, and residents feel that the conservation and preservation of these gifts is vital. It is...
Grant supports hiring, training of medical assistants and medical scribes
The Vermont Department of Economic Development recently awarded Brattleboro Memorial Hospital a $74,000 Workforce Development Grant to hire, train, and employ medical assistants and scribes for the hospital's medical practices. The grant is funded through the Vermont Training Program, an initiative from the state Agency of Commerce and Community Development. Medical assistants support clinicians by preparing patients for their exams, performing basic laboratory tests, and taking the patient's medical history, among other clinical responsibilities. “Our practices faced a lack of...
Business briefs
Employers sought for Employment Fair SPRINGFIELD - Employers looking to fill out their workforce are encouraged to register for the sixth annual River Valley Employment Fair at Riverside Middle School in Springfield. The Employment Fair will be held on Wednesday, April 26, from 2 to 5 p.m.. There will be an educational hour from 1 to 2 p.m. where area high school and middle school students will come through the fair to gain early exposure to the workforce. Engaging young...
Red Cross needs donors of blood, platelets following winter storm
The American Red Cross is urging all eligible donors to give blood or platelets following the recent winter storm, which forced 27 area blood drives to cancel, causing about 900 donations to go uncollected. There is a critical need for platelet and type O-negative donors. “The need for blood and platelets is constant despite the weather,” Mary Brant, external communications manager, Northern New England Red Cross Blood Services Region, said in a news release. “Platelet donors and blood donors of...
Around the Towns
Senior Meals sponsors 'Lunch with Beethoven' at the Latchis BRATTLEBORO - Brattleboro Senior Meals will host a fundraiser, “Lunch with Beethoven,” with the Windham Orchestra on Thursday, March 23. The orchestra will perform Beethoven's Symphony No. 4, and Jayna Leach, winner of the Windham Orchestra Concerto Competition, will perform the first movement of Sibelius's Violin Concerto in D minor. The doors open at noon and the concert starts at 12:30 p.m. General admission is $20 for lunch/concert. Seniors admission is...
March Climate Change Café screens ‘We the People 2.0’
“We don't live in a democracy, ” says Thomas Linzey of Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. “And if you live in a corporate state the only thing left is to dismantle it and build something new." That is the guiding theme behind the film, We the People 2.0, which will be screened by the Climate Change Café on Tuesday, March 28, at 6 p.m., at Brooks Memorial Library in Bratteboro, according to a news release. As always, the event is...
NEYT presents ‘The Hot l Baltimore’
New England Youth Theater presents The Hot l Baltimore, directed by Hallie Flower, April 7-9 and 14-15 at NEYT, 100 Flat St. The Hotel Baltimore used to be the swankiest place in town but now it has a date with the wrecking ball, and its residents - a rag-tag collection of down-and-outers living on the fringes of society - have just received their eviction notices. So begins the story of The Hot l Baltimore, Lanford Wilson's highly-acclaimed play about the...
Milestones
Obituaries • Wayne Carhart, 75, of Brattleboro. Died March 8 at Thompson House in Brattleboro from Parkinson's disease. A retired health administrator and local historian, he moved from Manhattan to Brattleboro in 1997. As an adolescent, he spent summers in Westminster West, helping his parents' Long Island neighbors, the Schwan family, build their summer home. He pursued his lifelong interest in history by becoming president of the Brattleboro Historical Society in 1998, a position he held until 2004. During his...
Groups collaborate on grant to document Brattleboro’s history of publishing
Write Action has joined the Friends of Brooks Memorial Library and the Brattleboro Historical Society to research and promote Brattleboro's heritage and present status as a “book town.” The collaboration focuses on both the history of, and identifying and presenting today's publishing and printing businesses as an important and vibrant part of our community. The Brattleboro publishing and printing collaborative launched its initiative in 2015 with a public meeting that generated ideas about ways to promote the town's book history...
Going to the source
In a collaboration with Tribeca Film Festival former director Nancy Schafer, Next Stage Arts Project in Putney presents [framed], a brand new series of feature length documentary films. Beginning on March 30, at 7:30 p.m., at Next Stage at 15 Kimball Hill, [framed] will run for six consecutive Thursdays. Each movie will be presented by the filmmaker with a Q&A after the screening. A documentary film, according to the OED, may be simply a nonfictional motion picture intended to document...
Bellows Falls Union High School presents 'Beauty and the Beast'
The Bellows Falls Union High School drama club presents their spring musical, Beauty and the Beast on Friday, March 24, at 7 p.m., and on Saturday, March 25, at 2 and 7 p.m., at the high school's auditorium. Beauty and the Beast tells the story of a cold-hearted prince who has been magically transformed into an unsightly creature as punishment for his selfish ways. To revert back into his true human form, the Beast must earn the love of a...
Our post-election stress disorder
When we first met, she was a college student in an Eastern European country that, ironically, brought down a dictator. When she arrived in the United States on a student visa, she became my “adopted” daughter. Here, illegally for several years, she ultimately earned a college degree, launched a career, and married a man who also grew up under a dictatorship. He was illegally in the U.S., too, until she obtained citizenship. America has been good to both of them.
Shoot the Moon Theater Co. presents staged reading of ‘The Designated Mourner’
Shoot the Moon Theater Company presents a reading of Wallace Shawn's The Designated Mourner at the Hooker-Dunham Theater on Saturday, April 1, at 7:30 p.m. Described as an unconventional political drama by Artistic Director Joshua Moyse, The Designated Mourner focuses on Jack (played by Colin Grube), his wife, Judy (Jennifer Moyse) and her father, Howard (Jon Mack) as they recount their country's slide into a fascist oligarchy. The New York Times noted that the 1996 play's “appalling power is its...
Local artists offer up-cycling workshop to benefit Groundworks Food Shelf
With an up-cycled twist on basket weaving, a three-part workshop - taught by local artists Jackie Abrams, Jen Wiechers, and Janette Smuts - will benefit the Groundworks Food Shelf. The workshop, which takes place on three Thursday evenings (March 30, April 6, and April 20) at the River Gallery School's Main Street Studio in Brattleboro, will cover the art of making 'yarn' from used plastic bags to crochet strong, colorful, and multi-purpose tote bags, according to a news release. “I...
Winter struggles to remain, while spring starts to surge
Good day, denizens of Windham County! While we still have a couple of bouts of wintry weather to work through over the next seven days, Spring is most definitely beginning to surge with time. Speaking of which, Happy Spring to you all! For the upcoming week, we've got an Arctic blast to contend with, a warm up, and then an unsettled Friday through Monday period that, at this point, could become a period with all precipitation types possible. As I've...
Solar project at WSWMD is poised to start construction
If all goes as planned, construction on the net-metered photovoltaic solar array on the Windham Solid Waste Management District's old landfill on Old Ferry Road could begin this July. Frank Ruffolo, executive vice president with Sky Clean Energy, presented an update on the Sky Solar/Encore Renewable Energy project at the March 9 Windham Solid Waste Management District Board of Supervisors meeting. Local interest in the solar array has been robust. The array has 18 net-metering subscribers, including the District, which...
Money for health care must come from someone, somewhere
Allyson Wendt makes the common mistake of singling out one political party over the other to blame for the entire health-care system debacle. She forgets that politicians are politicians, regardless of the letter that follows their name. While the Republican plan is far from perfect, let's take a look at what the Democrats did to health care. First of all, we were told we could keep our health-care plans if we liked them; then, the Democrats took it upon themselves...
Divesting to change where my money works
Some have suggested that taking one's money out of a local bank whose investment strategies run counter to your values is unfair to the employees of that particular bank. I could not disagree more. I recently closed our small-business account at Toronto Dominion (TD) Bank in Brattleboro because of the heavy investments this bank makes in petroleum pipelines. Moving the money was truly a hassle. I had to change a number of electronic connections that that we use in the...
NorthStar makes its case for buying VY
In its quest to purchase Vermont Yankee, NorthStar Group Services has filed reams of paper with state and federal regulators. But for many who aren't directly involved in those reviews, the New York-based company's plans - and its motivations for buying a shut-down nuclear plant - have remained obscure since the proposed sale was announced in November. NorthStar Chief Executive Officer Scott State has set out to change that. State spent March 13 in the Brattleboro area, meeting with a...
Dumbfounded at resistance to educational equality
There has been considerable debate relative to private schools and their supporters' reluctance toward the state Board of Education's proposed 2200-series rules on nondiscrimination: As parents of two children enrolled in public school, we are concerned about a clear lack of equity in education. We are also dumbfounded by the lack of ethics and mores of those who seek to protect private schools and the status quo at the cost of, and causing harm to, people who are poor, disadvantaged,
Nomad vs. Settler performs at Next Stage
Next Stage Arts Project presents the young band Nomad vs. Settler at Next Stage, 15 Kimball Hill, on Saturday, March 25, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets will be $10 at the door. Nomad vs. Settler came together in the summer of 2014 when Putney School freshman Archer Parks (lead guitar) and Brattleboro Area Middle School eighth-grader Rei Kimura (vocals, rhythm guitar) began collaborating to see what kind of music they could create. The duo soon added bassist/guitarist Owen James (seventh grade,
Budget battle
Vermont Democrats are working hard to keep the chaos in Washington, D.C. from seeping into the state's political landscape. The unbalanced budget that Governor Phil Scott has tried to foist on Vermonters, which would also raise property taxes by 7 cents per $100 in valuation, is making it harder to discern differences among the various Trump proposals raining chaos on our nation and our state. In the campaign, candidate Scott offered a moderate theme and spoke of being able to...
Another big bridge project will start on I-91
As crews put finishing touches on a $60 million bridge replacement in Brattleboro, state officials are embarking on another major project just a short drive up Interstate 91. The $44.3 million replacement of two bridges near Exit 6 in Rockingham will start soon, though much of the preliminary work planned for the week of March 20 was delayed due to recent snowfall. The new bridges will replace two steel spans that are in “poor condition,” according to the state Agency...
Sanders rocks the Latchis
“I would like to say one or two things about other things happening in our country.” With those words, U.S. Senator and 2016 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., launched into a critique of the Trump administration and the Republican majority delivered to a packed house at the Latchis Theatre on March 16. It's been nearly two years since Bernie Sanders has last visited Brattleboro, and it was clear he is as popular as ever. Sanders was there to announce $300,000...
Cool heat
I will never forget the night I went with my friend Deb to a huge old warehouse in Boston to see Chuck Berry work his magic. He was just indescribably and amazingly testosterone, serpent, fox, and daisies. Spry for an old guy of 41 back in 1967. Chuck arrived a bit late on that Saturday night. The local bands that opened for him had a little more time to hope to land the girls who languished at the rim of...
The Works in progress
The Works Bakery and Café has undergone some major structural renovations and changes to its menu, with more menu items still to come. Richard French, a founder of the company in 1988 who now serves as president, sees all the changes as not just a renovation, but also a transformation - spurred by the sociocultural roots of the Vermont town. “I lived and went to high school and college in Vermont,” French said. “In the mid-seventies, my dad lived right...
Proud to be a ‘nasty woman’
It's unbelievable that even though she's been dead for over 50 years, Margaret Sanger is still under attack. Sanger, who was born in 1879, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States and created the institutions that became Planned Parenthood. Her goal? Giving women some control over their bodies. The patriarchy objected. Vehemently. During her lifetime, Sanger was often beaten, chased, arrested, and persecuted. She died in 1966, but the battle rages on. Ever since President Donald J.
A conversation with John McLeod, owner, Vermont Bowl Company
On the January Saturday morning of my interview with John McLeod, I was running late. Having careened my way over the hills from Brattleboro, the 25-mph speed limit into and out of downtown Wilmington was as frustrating as ever, until that stretch of five or six buildings on the north side that signal the last of Wilmington for a while -- and the go-ahead for a heavier foot. Truth be told, I've sped through the west end of that town...
Rebels fall to Thetford in Division III semifinal
The drive for a state title ended March 16 for the Leland & Gray girls' basketball team, as the third-seeded Rebels lost to second-seeded Thetford, 43-37, in a Division III semifinal at the Barre Auditorium. This was a rough-and-tumble game dominated by defense. The first half had almost as many fouls by both teams (20) as there were points (27). Senior forward Rachel Borgesen again was a force under the basket for the Rebels as she scored eight of the...
Tito’s Taqueria trucks on
While there may not be a taco truck on every corner, much to some residents' dismay, Tito Garza is working to at least get one taco truck in downtown Brattleboro. And amid a string of setbacks, Garza shows no signs of quitting. Last summer, Garza set up his makeshift shop on the side of Western Avenue, at the turnaround just west of the Creamery Bridge. He brought three coolers filled with 30 homemade breakfast tacos. The first day didn't go...
Will Brattleboro reinvest in infrastructure?
The pre-Town Meeting Informational Meeting started on a positive note. Many new residents had joined the ranks of Representative Town Meeting Members last week, with only a handful of seats left vacant. Members gathered at Academy School on March 15 to hear the Selectboard's budget overview in preparation for annual Representative Town Meeting. The theme for the fiscal year 2018 budget: reinvestment in town infrastructure. “One of the real traits of this year's budget is a renewed commitment to capital...
Making tracks
Cellist Jennifer Morsches came up with the program for the upcoming concert by Sarasa Chamber Music Ensemble, “Trainspotting,” by listening, as odd as it might seem, to the music of the Baroque composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber. “The bass line of Biber's Sonata No. 3 for violin and basso continuo sounded to me like a train,” says Morsches. “I was so impressed that I wanted to put together an evening of music around the image and sound of trains.”
Our automotive culture, our disconnection with place
I had a conversation with my son recently. “So, what projects are you doing today at school?” I asked him. “What?” he responded. “Projects at school,” I repeated. “What at school?” “Projects!” Finally, frustrated, he blurted, “I can't hear!” “Pro-jects!” I screamed. “Oh - projects,” my son said. That conversation occurred as we biked to school along Western Avenue through one of those gorgeous wintery-mix mornings. My son doesn't have a hearing problem (except when we ask him to clean...