As a resident of West Brattleboro, I have been reading with interest the comments made related to the truck traffic on Route 9.
A brief comment was made about the noise associated with this traffic. I am amazed at how loud the trucks can be coming down off of Hogback Mountain - it's the engine brakes (Jake brakes). These devices aid in maintaining speed control coming down a hill. Do they have to be as loud as they are?
Apparently not. I just got back from Colorado and Oregon, and in both states there are signs on federal highways (I-70, I-5) stating “Engine brakes must be muffled.” The sign on I-70 was posted where the highway comes down out of the Rockies into Denver, one of the longest and steepest hills in the country.
Vermont should regulate that noise as well.
A screening of Van Jones' newest CNN original series, The Redemption Project, will be shown at the Rockingham Free Public Library on Wednesday, Nov. 20, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. The event will include an appearance by #cut50 National Organizer Louis L. Reed, who is traveling to more than...
Property tax, utility bills due Nov. 15 BRATTLEBORO - The second installment of the 2019 Real Estate and Personal Property Taxes will be due on Friday, Nov. 15, by 5 p.m. Payments made after Nov. 15 will have an additional 1 percent interest added to the unpaid balance. The...
The 2020 U.S. Census is upon us, and the U.S. Census Bureau is hiring. Beginning in 1790, and every 10 years since, Americans have participated in a process called the Decennial Census. The data gathered is used to help determine how federal funding will be distributed for roads, schools, hospitals, and more. The Census Bureau is accepting online applications for Enumerators (Census Takers) at www.2020census.gov/jobs. This is flexible, part-time, temporary employment from April to July 2020 paying $16.50 per hour,
The Brattleboro Town Arts Fund is accepting proposals for art projects. In January, TAF will award $500 to $5,000 to winning projects that, in their words,“enable the development and presentation of creative projects that contribute positively to the greater community and to the vibrancy and diversity of Brattleboro arts and cultural landscape.” In March 2019, at Brattleboro's Representative Town Meeting, voters approved a resolution to allocate $15,000 to create a Town Arts Fund. Over five months, a working group collected...
U.S. sanctions have blocked the Venezuelan people from obtaining food and medicine. These sanctions resulted in at least 40,000 deaths between mid-2017 and the end of 2018, according to a study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research - and that was prior to the most severe sanctions, announced in January 2019. What exactly is happening in Venezuela? What can be done? Those questions will be addressed during the Vermont premiere of a new documentary film, Venezuelans Under Siege,
Can a person be too qualified to serve on the Brattleboro Food Co-op board? The BFC board thinks so. I really, really appreciate the board's service. Its members work tirelessly, and part of their job is to evaluate the job performance of the general manager. The board says that a senior staff person who reports to the GM would have “too great” a conflict of interest to serve in this capacity. A proposed bylaw change would exclude those people from...
One of the latest catch phrases commonly used to describe various systems in our country is “data-driven decision making.” This term is meant to represent a positive approach to how various organizations and systems go about making decisions and setting standards and goals. The intent is to eliminate subjective determinations and make everything fact-based, without emotion. We see this approach in how workers' performance is measured, how we design our school systems, how Amazon and Google run their businesses, and...
The Vermont Agency of Transportation will hold a public information meeting on Thursday, Nov. 14, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., at the Putney Fire Station, 21 Carl Snyder Drive. According to a VTrans news release, the hearing will discuss a project that will replace the deck of the U.S. Route 5 bridge in Putney Center at the intersection of Kimball Hill Road. Construction will start in Spring 2020. The existing bridge is a single span cast-in-place deck on rolled...
On Monday, Nov. 18, at 9:30 a.m., the Townshend Community Food Shelf will host the seventh annual Turkey Drop. Each $5 donation is tied to a 1-square-foot “deed” on the side of the Townshend Church. A “stuffed turkey” will be dropped from the high windows of the Townshend Church while spectators gather to see where it lands. The person “owning” the square where the turkey drops, wins! You may buy as many tickets as you wish and need not be...
Three area volunteer fire departments shared in more than $2 million in federal grants announced last week by Vermont's congressional delegation. According to a news release, the Vermont Fire Academy and 15 fire departments throughout the state have received awards as part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Assistance to Firefighters Grant program. The AFG program helps fire departments, fire academies, and EMS agencies obtain critical equipment and training. This year's AFG grants will help departments purchase air packs, vehicle...
Need a cure for your post-spooky-season blues? The Ax Wound Film Festival - now in its fifth year - is ushering in more scares deep into the fall 2019 season. Spend Friday night, Nov. 15, and all-day Saturday, Nov. 16, at the Hooker-Dunham Theater & Gallery (www.hookerdunham.org) in downtown Brattleboro with some of the most riveting and intense shorts directed by women. “Many films are darkly funny and more likely to utilize experimental storytelling over the traditional narratives,” festival director...
We are very concerned that here in Brattleboro in the past few weeks there have been four crashes involving motorists and pedestrians or bicyclists. Because so many of us rely on cars for transportation, it is easy to forget how powerful and dangerous one can be. A great number of our friends and neighbors here walk and bicycle to get to work, get exercise, and do daily errands. Please be aware of bicyclists and pedestrians by actively looking for them...
Obituaries • Dennis Wayne Covey, 71, of West Brattleboro. Died unexpectedly on Nov. 1, 2019 at his home. He was born in Brattleboro on Jan. 14, 1948, the son of Raymond and Alice (Larmie) Covey. He was raised and educated in Brattleboro, graduating from Brattleboro Union High School with the Class of 1966. He had been employed at G.S. Precision as a machine operator, which he retired from in 2016 following over 30 years of faithful service with the company.
Canal Street Art Gallery, 23 Canal St., presents its 'Art For All' seasonal group show, sharing the gifts from the many artists of the region and marking the Gallery's third year. The show opens Nov. 15, with an opening reception with the artists on Bellows Falls 3rd Friday Gallery Night from 5 to 8 p.m. The Gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and will be open on Sundays in December. Art For All is...
Boston-based early music ensemble In Stile Moderno returns to Brattleboro on Friday, Nov. 15, at 7:30 p.m., for the first concert of its 2019–20 season. “Come Again: Lute Songs of John Dowland and his Contemporaries,” is a concert of songs for lute and four voices from early 17th-century England. The concert will be held at the Brattleboro Music Center, 72 Blanche Moyse Way. Tickets are $20 and $10 and are available at instilemoderno.com or at the door. Motivated by a...
The Greater Falls Warming Shelter has come home to Vermont from its former location in North Walpole, N.H., and is now located on Route 5 in Westminster. The shelter opens Friday, Nov. 15, for five months to provide a warm, safe overnight space for those who find themselves without another option. “We are so grateful to Dave Gorham for offering us this space,” Board President Louise Luring said in a news release. “We have been looking for years for a...
On Oct. 27, Broad Brook Community Center welcomed a festive crowd of apple pie enthusiasts to its third Apple Pie Social at the former grange hall in Guilford Center. Each social encourages the community to visit with neighbors, share great pie, and hear the news. While celebrating a full year of operating under the first phase of renovations, board members say they have been hard at work raising funds for Phase 2 to complete the project in 2020. According to...
I can understand why people are are confused as to what they are being asked to vote on for the school district on Nov. 19. When our school districts were merged by the state, we were given default articles of agreement, the rules by which the new district is supposed to operate. Some of these articles can be changed by the electorate, and others can not. The new district board has been working to amend four of the articles that...
The long-awaited replacement for the aging bridges between Brattleboro and Hinsdale, N.H., got an important funding boost last week. Three Democratic members of New Hampshire's congressional delegation - U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, and U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster - announced on Nov. 6 that that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) awarded that state's Department of Transportation (NHDOT) $12 million through the Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant program (known formerly as the TIGER grant program).
On Friday, Nov. 15, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., at Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main St., the Nagme Quartet will combine Turkish music and healing therapy in concert. This concert is a benefit concert for the elderly and is open to the public by donation. The music is a contemporary expression of the beauty of modality from Turkey and from the various East Mediterranean traditions. Dr. Ayla Clark is music psychotherapist, musician, educator, composer, singer, and founder of Southern Vermont...
The Vermont Theatre Company announces that auditions for its winter show, Almost, Maine, by John Cariani, will be held Thursday, Nov. 21, at 5:30 p.m., in the Brattleboro Union High School auditorium. The show will be directed by Brenda L. Seitz with producers Michelle Page and Krista Coughlin-Galbraith. Almost, Maine is a series of nine amiably absurdist vignettes about love and relationships. Actors between their late 20s and 40 are invited to audition. The cast can be as small as...
Last weekend marked the 81st anniversary of Kristallnacht, or the “Night of Broken Glass.” On Nov. 9 and 10, 1938, Nazi leaders unleashed a series of pogroms against the Jewish population in Germany and its annexed territories. This event came to be called Kristallnacht because of the shattered glass that littered the streets after the vandalism and destruction of thousands of Jewish-owned businesses, synagogues, and homes. Closer to home, our nation recently commemorated the first anniversary of Pittsburgh's Tree of...
As you may know, in 2018 Putney Family Services and Putney Cares merged to create Putney Community Cares. Before the merger, each organization asked for funding to support the services and programs it provided and the two part-time employees who worked to administer them, and we hoped that when we merged we would be able to maintain at least that level of funding. However, since the merger, while our programs and services have grown, contributions to Putney Community Cares have...
Hello and good day to you, residents of lovely Windham County, Vermont! I hope things are well with you. After what was, for some, the first accumulating snowfall of the year, we have a blast of Arctic air with which to contend Wednesday into Thursday morning. Temperatures will then moderate through late week before one more cold shot in this trio of Arctic exhalations blows through on Saturday and Saturday night. Thereafter, we will begin a trend of milder and...
The Vermont Legislature's Climate Solutions Caucus is hosting a series of forums around the state to outline its priorities for the 2020 legislative session and seek input from Vermonters on the solutions they'd like to see advanced. State Reps. Emilie Kornheiser and Mollie Burke will lead the Windham County delegation for one of the events in this series on Tuesday, Nov. 19, at 7 p.m., at St. Michael's Episcopal Church on Putney Road. “Everyone - including every state and nation...
Hey, folks! There is a school district election coming up on Tuesday, Nov. 19, and if you haven't been closely following the progress of our new multi-town school board you may be wondering what that is all about. There are no candidates being elected at this time - the voting is purely to allow residents of Brattleboro, Putney, Guilford, and Dummerston more input into how the school district operates. Please go and vote - this is our chance to form...
Led by acclaimed fiddler and luthier Bob Childs, Childsplay is heading on tour one last time and will make a special stop at the Latchis Theatre, 50 Main St., on Sunday, Nov. 17, at 7:30 p.m. The farewell tour will feature music from the group's seven albums and will include surprise guests who have been part of Childsplay during their 32-year run. Tickets are on sale at www.childsplay.org. In more than 30 years of performing, Childsplay has introduced thousands to...
The Vermont All-State boys' soccer teams have been announced and several local players have made the roster. In Division I, Brattleboro has two representatives on the All-State team, senior defensive back Gus Williams and senior midfielder Luke Williams. Leland & Gray got two players on the Division III squad, junior midfielders Riley Barton and Matthew Emerson. The Division IV champs, Twin Valley, had four players make the All-State team - senior defensive back Eric Bolognani, senior midfielder Owen Grinold, senior...
Former Ambassador Peter Galbraith has had a longstanding and close relationship with the Kurdish people in Syria and Iraq. So when President Donald J. Trump made the decision on Oct. 6 to withdraw U.S. forces from Kurdish-held northeast Syria and gave the OK to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoǧan to invade, the Townshend resident took it personally. The title of Galbraith's annual talk to the Windham World Affairs Council, “The Betrayal of the Kurds,” which took place Nov. 9, left...
The Brattleboro Women's Chorus will present their 24th annual fall concert titled “Love Changes Everything” on Saturday, Nov. 23, at 3 and 7:30 p.m., at the newly named Epsilon Spires, formerly the First Baptist Church, on Main Street. Director Becky Graber and the 100-plus member chorus will be joined by guest musicians Lisa McCormick with her ukulele orchestra and Cathy Martin on piano. The theme of the concert music is love in its many forms. Many of the songs are...
The Colonels are state football champions. That is a sentence that has not been uttered in this town since 1973. But now, there is no more “wait until next year.” The Colonels are the Division II champs, and they did it like they've done it all year - with overwhelming force. Their 46-7 victory over the Bellows Falls Terriers in the title game on Nov. 9 at Rutland's Alumni Field was the exclamation point on a dream season. Considering that...
Part Two of Brattleboro's “Theremin Experience” takes place on Nov. 16 and 17 at Epsilon Spires, 190 Main St. Berlin-born Carolina Eyck dazzled the audience Nov. 1 with her grace and virtuosity on the theremin, an electronic musical instrument invented by Russian physicist and amateur cellist Leon Theremin in 1919. As Eyck tells it, Theremin decided there had to be an easier way to make music, so he invented a touchless instrument, using electronic fields. It may be easier on...
For people ready to seek treatment for substance-use disorder, timing is everything. The more quickly someone receives support, the more likely they are to enter a recovery program, said Kurt White, director of ambulatory services at the Brattleboro Retreat as he and a number of colleagues introduced the Rapid Access to Medication Assisted Therapy (MAT) program. The program, a collaboration among the Retreat, Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, and Turning Point of Windham County, will provide another pathway to recovery. “I have...
I'm disheartened that the politicking for president takes up so much bandwidth, while interest, concern, and planning for Town Meeting takes up so little, especially when what we decide at Town Meeting can have more direct effect on how we live, both individually and in community. I'm not saying that national politics aren't important; they are. But while people in Washington are grandstanding at best - and grinding our democracy into the ground at worst - we can accomplish important...
Last week, Emerson College President M. Lee Pelton announced that the Boston-based college was exploring an alliance with Marlboro College. If the plan comes to pass, Marlboro College's campus will close next year, its programs and willing faculty and students absorbed into the college of approximately 3,800 undergraduate and 633 graduate students. While trustees for the two schools have yet to agree to a merger, Pelton shared early details. Emerson would inherit Marlboro's $30 million endowment and its real-estate holdings,
Six Windham County artists are among the 27 participating in a multimedia exhibition designed to explore what it means to be a Vermont artist. I AM . . . at the Vermont Arts Council's Spotlight Gallery at 136 State St., co-curated by West Brattleboro artist Shanta Lee Gander and Arts Council Communications Director Kira Bacon, will display two-dimensional art and offer a digital compilation of music and sound, spoken word, poetry, dance, and movement - all of which, according to...