Issue #653

Veterans group seeks applicants for nursing scholarships

The local chapter of The Forty and Eight, a national veterans organization, is offering scholarships to qualified undergraduate students enrolled in academic programs of study leading to either an associate's or bachelor's degree in nursing.

Although military experience is not required, these scholarships can help veterans in related military occupations prepare for civilian careers in the nursing profession.

The deadline to submit applications is May 14 for scholarships that will be awarded for the fall 2022 academic semester. Awards to successful applicants will be made by July 1. At least one stipend of no more than $1,000 will be available.

A national program to help alleviate the shortage of skilled nurses is a special interest of La Societé des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevaux, the veterans organization founded in 1920 after World War I, also known as “The Forty and Eight.”...

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Milestones

College news • Gavin Thomas Sweeter of Whitingham received a B.S. in civil engineering, with minor in environmental engineering, from Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y., on December 2021. • Kiera Noble of Guilford was named to the Dean's List for the fall 2021 semester at Adelphi University in Garden...

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Around the Towns

BMH returns to normal operation and ends testing, vaccine clinicsBRATTLEBORO - Brattleboro Memorial Hospital has returned to normal operations. In an email, BMH president and CEO Steve Gordon wrote that “many of our staff members who were temporarily reassigned during January's Omicron surge have started to return to their...

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From the Archives, #35157

A lot has been discussed about the effects of the Covid pandemic on our society, but one story I haven't heard talked about much is the effect it has had on our local 12-step recovery community. A major part of the 12-step recovery process is the attendance at meetings with others in recovery. There, issues and problems relating to alcoholism and addiction are discussed and members help one another to stave off the often-fatal obsession with substance abuse. Using the...

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International stars to perform at NECCA’s 12th annual Circus Spectacular

New England Center for Circus Arts' (NECCA) 12th Annual Circus Spectacular on Saturday, March 5, and Sunday, March 6, will feature professional performers from around the world donating their talents to raise money for NECCA's scholarships, outreach, and programming. This is a unique opportunity to see some of today's most acclaimed high-flying aerialists, acrobats, and jugglers, say event organizers. Both performances will occur in person on the Latchis Theatre stage, or via livestream for the March 5 show only, if...

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Pure-hearted presence

Ezra Francis Marder made his life an enduring gift to the world. He was a dazzling, kind-hearted spirit, a sidewalk cartwheel spinner, a poet, an actor, an artist, a musician, a writer, and a lover of family, friends, dancing, and food. A tender friend to many, and a treasured grandson, cousin, and nephew, he died on Nov. 27, 2021, in Lake Charles, La., after a long illness. Born Nov. 22, 2004, in Brooklyn, N.Y., the beloved son of Liza Cassidy...

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In Stile Moderno presents Lute Songs at BMC

In Stile Moderno returns to the Brattleboro Music Center Friday, March 11, presenting “Stay, Time: Lute Songs of John Dowland.” The 7:30 p.m. concert features vocalists Agnes Coakley Cox, Sophie Michaux, Corey Dalton Hart, and Adam Simon, with Nathaniel Cox on the lute. “Stay, time, awhile thy flying,” writes John Dowland in A Pilgrimes Solace. “It's a wish we can all relate to - as children grow, parents age, or milestones slip by - if only we could pause time...

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A cogent critique of capitalism

What should one make of a recent commentary in the Reformer, “War is the answer”? Here are a couple of possible reactions: It's either a monumental Machiavellian act of cynicism or a ploy by a newspaper owner to gin up sales. Either way, it presents a cogent critique of capitalism.

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‘Scandalous’ allegations in news story

I was very disappointed in the article written about the Feb. 17 meet-and-greet for the new Guilford Selectboard candidates. To include the content of an email from Skye Morse, who alluded to Jason Herron, one of the candidates, as being linked to a white supremacist movement, was scandalous. What evidence do you have of the truth of that label? Absolutely none! You owe Jason an apology.

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‘This publication takes the low ground’

While I was not surprised at the headline on this piece by Randy Holhut, I was surprised by its content. Why is it this writer cannot be open-minded enough to appreciate citizens of different political backgrounds getting involved in their community? It has always been painfully obvious this publication has pushed liberal ideals and has been very kind to any Democrat or progressive candidates seeking public office. But to try to somehow paint these new candidates as part of a...

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Towns decide budgets, cannabis sales

For the second straight year, the “meeting” part of Town Meeting Day was hard to find in Windham County, as only Athens and Stratton opted to have in-person meetings. Every other town either conducted business by Australian ballot on March 1 or postponed the meeting until warmer weather returns later this spring. There were several contested races of interest around the county. In Newfane, incumbent Katy Johnson-Aplin and newcomer Jeffrey Chevalier were the winners for the two, one-year seats on...

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Governor vetoes Brattleboro charter change

Gov. Phil Scott vetoed a charter change on Feb. 28 that would have granted 16- and 17-year-olds in Brattleboro the right to vote and run for office in municipal elections. On Tuesday, Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, who cosponsored the bill with the town's two other representatives, Mollie Burke and Tristan Toleno, said that the delegation hopes to begin the process of attempting to override the governor's veto. This is the Republican governor's third veto of the legislative session. In a letter...

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Crowell Gallery hosts exhibit by printmaker Kay Curtis

The Crowell Art Gallery, located at the Moore Free Library on 23 West St., is hosting “Motifs: Again & Again 50 Years.” This “fun and fanciful exhibit,” organizers say, “celebrates over 50 years of whimsical expression” by artist Kay Curtis. The show runs through the end of March. An artist reception will be held Saturday, March 5, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The exhibit includes more than 50 images Curtis has created using gouache, India ink, and linoleum block...

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During lambing season, action in the barn

Feb. 9: At 4:30 a.m., I swear I hear a pounding on the door. There must be a lamb coming or a ewe stuck in labor. I run down the stairs, expecting to see April, our farmhand, but no one is at the door. OK, so I imagined all that? Well, I might as well go to the barn. I gear up for a pretty mild night. I'm at the stage where gearing up for a nighttime visit to the...

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Sheriff's Office to move after nearly 200 years in Newfane

After nearly two centuries here, the Windham County Sheriff's Office will move to Brattleboro. Windham County has bought the former Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee Joint Information Center at 185 Old Ferry Rd., which was once the world headquarters of Famolare Shoes, to house the Sheriff's Office and the county courthouse. Assistant Judges Patricia Duff and Lamont Barnett closed the deal for $500,000 on the property, valued by the town at $810,000, on Feb. 14. The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant...

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Colonel girls advance in hockey playoffs

It's rare to have a girls' and boys' ice hockey playoff doubleheader against the same school on the same night, but that's what happened to Brattleboro on Feb. 26. Both Colonels teams made the trip to Stowe Area to play their respective Division II first-round playoff games against the Raiders. At the end of the evening, it was the Colonel girls who moved on with a 4-1 victory while the Colonel boys, the defending state champions, saw their season end...

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The dogs of war have been unleashed

It is impossible to be a student of history without being a student of war, and this is what I have learned so far, after 45 years of studying both. War starts on impulse; the outcome can never be predicted and the aftermath never understood. War is what happens when all diplomatic means are exhausted. War is what happens when the ability to communicate and find common ground is broken apart. War is what happens when equations of power get...

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Putney garage, recovering from fire, bustles again

After four months being closed, it's busy again at Rod's Towing & Repairs. “We've gone from zero to 100 overnight,” said co-owner Julie Winchester of the reopening of her family's business following its destruction in a fire in October. “We're so thankful. It's super busy. It's a little challenging working in a smaller space with uneven floors and in two buildings,” she said. “We haven't finished, so we have no waiting room or front counter,” Winchester continued. “The only thing...

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For the newest Vermonters, a message of welcome

Last week, a group of Afghan refugee women, accompanied by local artist and teacher Terry Sylvester, made signs that say “Welcome” in English as well as Dari and Pashto - the two official languages of Afghanistan - and distributed them to downtown businesses. “[Store owners] were very happy, and they said, 'Welcome' to us,” said Fatima, who participated in the project. ”They accepted our signs and put them in the windows, and they were very kind to us.” Later in...

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Seven new exhibits to open at museum

Seven new solo exhibits will open at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) on Saturday, March 12, featuring work by M. Carmen Lane, Roberto Visani, Yvette Molina, Mildred Beltré Martinez, Sachiko Akiyama, Louisa Chase, and Anne Spalter. The museum will be closed Sunday, March 6 through Friday, March 11 to install the new exhibits. “This group of exhibits showcases a wide range of curatorial and artistic perspectives and a variety of media, from sculpture and installation to painting and...

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A picture of our times

Cara Blue Adams's collection of interwoven short stories, You Never Get It Back, opens like this: “I met loss the other day. I took his measurements. My yellow tape looped around my arm, pins held tight between pursed lips, I circled him. I measured his thin wrists, his frail neck, his elegantly sloped shoulders [...].” This prelude - an allegory, really - zeroes in on “people unwilling to let go of what was gone.” It's beautifully bookended by the collection's...

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