CHESTER - The Chester-Andover Family Center (CADC), 908 VT Route 103 South, will areopen Friday, June 19.
The CAFC board recently adopted protocols to administer the organization's food shelf, financial assistance, and thrift shop programs. All new protocols are consistent with federal and state guidelines and are intended for the safety of customers, recipients, and volunteers.
The food shelf will continue to operate with a drive-up, take-out system. Recipients will continue to receive their food boxes outside.
Volunteers and recipients who might need to be in the CAFC are required to wear masks, use hand sanitizer when they enter, and respect social distancing.
On May 31, Centre Congregational Church participated in a rally against police brutality, in solidarity with people of color in our country - people who, after 400 years, still struggle with systematic racism. As I was setting-up the outdoor seating, someone drove by and, seeing the sign in front...
Seth Andrew is adept at using words that evoke the democratic ideals of our country. However, it is by no means clear that he delivers on these lofty ideals. As reported in the article, there have been questions raised about Seth Andrew's organization. The email quoted in the article...
The Recreation & Parks Department has announced that the Living Memorial Park Pool/Rotary Water Playground will be opening for the season on Saturday, June 20, at 1 p.m. Priority will be given to town residents, with non-residents allowed to use the pool as space allows. Due to COVID-19, the pool schedule, fees, and procedures have been updated. • Pool reservations will be taken daily beginning at 10 a.m., only at the swimming pool by calling 802-254-6700. Only 25 people at...
College news • The following local students were awarded degrees during the University of Vermont's 220th commencement ceremonies on May 28: Anya Alden of Putney, Ema Baldauf of Brattleboro, Aubrey Brimmer of Vernon, Ginger Brown of Jamaica, Sheldon Burnell of Marlboro, Kira Cincotta of Wilmington, Baxter Cragin of Putney, Bridget Dews of East Dummerston, Emily Fryer of West Dover, Calvin Gooley of Brattleboro, Elijah Kapral of Dummerston, Lukas Ladner of Guilford, Quinn Lambert of Bellows Falls, Christopher McAuliffe of Brattleboro,
In late May, the Marlboro College Board of Trustees announced the sale of the campus in Marlboro to Democracy Builders, a charter school incubator. This transaction may be finalized in mid-June unless Attorney General T. J. Donovan intervenes; the sale of the campus is necessary to complete the closure of this small Vermont college. All assets, archives, and its valuable collections will be dispersed despite alumni opposition and donor intent. Faculty emeriti, alumni, neighbors, and supporters of the college immediately...
Three drivers followed the line of orange construction cones to the pop-up tent in the parking lot of the NewBrook Volunteer Fire and Rescue Station on Route 30 on June 10. Selectboard member Shelly Huber checked off the driver's name on the voter checklist.She then handed the driver a ballot. On the opposite side of the tent, Town Clerk Carol Hesselbach dropped a completed ballot into the red wooden ballot box, and checked the driver's name off a second voter...
Like so many of you, I have been trying to understand the policing issues and actions that have been highlighted across the nation for the past three weeks. As the sheriff of Windham County, I lead a department that strives to build relationships on a foundation of respect and on trust, so that we can serve our communities in a fair and impartial manner. I can speak for all members of the Windham County Sheriff's Office in saying we condemn...
If there is one thing that has become clear during the COVID-19 crisis over the last few months, it's that here in Vermont we have a lot to be grateful for in terms of community responses across different populations and situations. I want to specifically thank, and draw people's attention to the wonderful job the Thompson House Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Brattleboro is doing in the face of this extremely difficult and stressful situation. We have all been painfully...
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) hosts “Grit and Grace: The Empowerment of Women at Work in Global Communities,” a free, online talk with National Geographic photojournalist Alison Wright via Zoom on Thursday, June 25, at 7:30 p.m. The talk is presented in connection with the exhibit “Alison Wright: Grit and Grace, Women at Work,” on view at BMAC through Oct. 12. It will be livestreamed simultaneously on BMAC's Facebook and YouTube pages. Wright is a documentary photographer, a...
If you haven't seen it, there is a good flick opening at the Latchis Theatre this weekend - The Wizard of Oz. You know, the one where Dorothy tells her dog Toto that they aren't in Kansas anymore. The reopening of the downtown movie theater in a limited capacity on Friday, June 19 with that revered classic marks an important milestone in the region's cautious return to normalcy in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although Gov. Phil Scott recently...
As cities and towns across the United States grapple with a new awareness for the need to have a responsive and responsible local police force, Brattleboro residents should remember some of the good work we've already done in our town toward these ends. When Michael Fitzgerald, born and raised in town, became our police chief in 2014, he began to methodically and systematically transform the institution from one that resembled a typical police department into one that more properly reflects...
Due to several factors regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, Westminster Cares has cancelled its annual Westminster Garden Tour fundraiser planned for Aug. 1 and 2. Westminster Cares has been closely following the recommendations issued by Gov. Phil Scott and public health authorities. With restrictions on gathering size and the potential for exposure to the coronavirus, organizers said in a news release the virus and the restrictions “presented unprecedented circumstances, which left us no option but to cancel the tour.” The Westminster...
Ask which Vermont teacher was most plugged into technology before the COVID-19 pandemic, and colleagues point to Bill Holiday, one of the seemingly few adults who can singlehandedly juggle Google Classroom, Skype, Facebook, and Twitter without help from a student. “I've been paperless for more than a decade,” the Brattleboro Union High School educator says. “I deliver resources now the same way I have for many, many years.” But Holiday, 70, isn't some upstart showoff. Instead, he is believed to...
Voters in the five-town West River Modified Union Education District will need to continue the process of building a budget for fiscal year 2021 after narrowly defeating a proposed $12 million budget on June 10. “While disappointing, it is nice to see a very close vote during a financially insecure time,” Windham Central Supervisory Union Superintendent William Anton wrote in an email. With a combined vote of 218–221, voters in Brookline, Jamaica, Newfane, Townshend, and Windham defeated the budget for...
Right-handed pitcher Leif Bigelow will be starting his junior year of college this fall at a new address. The 6-foot-2 Bigelow, the only current Division I college baseball player from Windham County, has spent two years at the University of Connecticut and, with four years of athletic eligibility remaining, he is transferring to the University of Maine in Orono for the 2020-21 school year in the hope of getting his college baseball career off the ground. Bigelow has loved baseball...
My high school in Miami was comprised of two-thirds white kids and a third black, with a few Hispanics. It was the late 1960s, the era of school busing, with plenty of racial tension, and a good bit of turbulence on the streets and in the schools. At such a time, our school was noteworthy for its almost total absence of overt hostility. We prided ourselves on the appearance of good will and respect among ourselves. Well ... we white...