Issue #661
Brattleboro/Rescue split’s aftershocks ripple through state
Regional and state leaders are voicing concern about Brattleboro's surprise last-minute severing of ties with Windham County's largest emergency medical services provider, Rescue Inc. [“Brattleboro breaks ties with Rescue,” News, April 20].
“I think it's a given that there will be some bumps in the road,” Putney Fire Chief Tom Goddard, newly elected chair of the state's southeastern EMS district board, told his peers at a meeting after the action. “This is a pretty significant, huge change.”...
Next Stage Arts kicks off Bandwagon Summer Series with Big Lazy and Mamie Minch
Next Stage Arts announces the opening performance of its Bandwagon Summer Series, featuring two underground bands from the Brooklyn Barbés scene, on Saturday, May 7, at 5 p.m, at Cooper Field, 41 Sand Hill Rd. This concert was rescheduled from Feb. 5. Big Lazy has flourished for more than...
Milestones
Obituaries • Robert J. “Rob” Comley, 73, of West Brattleboro. Died at home on April 11, 2022, after a brief illness. Rob was born on Dec. 16, 1948, in Orange, N.J., the second son of James and Gertrude Comley of Essex Fells, N.J. He grew up in Essex Fells,
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From the Archives, #35403
Swap Shop re-opens at WSWMD BRATTLEBORO - The volunteer-run Swap Shop has re-opened for the season at the Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD) headquarters on Old Ferry Road. Again this year, the Swap Shop is open some Saturdays for donations only, and other Saturdays for shopping only. The Swap Shop is the place to find a new home for that household item that is still wonderful, but is no longer needed in your life. Bring it on a donation...
BMC presents Jake Charkey and the Hindustani Cello
The Brattleboro Music Center presents “Jake Charkey, the Hindustani Cello,” Friday, May 6, in a concert that includes the world premiere of a commissioned work. Charkey, an acclaimed cellist with a strong background in both Western classical music and Hindustani music, will perform North Indian Classical music with tabla accompaniment and contemporary music for solo cello that draws from the Indian Classical tradition, including a world premiere of a commissioned work by Akshaya Avril Tucker and music by Reena Esmail.
Poems Around Town wraps up with Zoom reading
As part of the Poems Around Town project, all are invited for a virtual reading by participating poets on Saturday, April 30, at 7 p.m. To receive the link for the reading, email [email protected] or click on the link at bmorrison.com/events. A joint project by three local writing organizations to celebrate National Poetry Month - Write Action, the Brattleboro Literary Festival, and Time to Write - Poems Around Town placed poems by area poets in downtown shop and restaurant windows...
Free film screening takes stand against cyberbullying
Health Care and Rehabilitation Services (HCRS), southeastern Vermont's nonprofit community mental-health agency, will be hosting a special online screening of the documentary, The Upstanders. The free showing of the 56-minute film will take place on Wednesday, May 4, at noon. According to a news release, The Upstanders “is unsettling and uplifting, causing us all to examine our behavior, inspiring us to do better, and stand up against victimization and cyberbullying.” After the film, there will be an informative panel discussion...
Guilford set to reconsider library vote
Prior to the revote regarding the Guilford Free Library renovation project, the Selectboard will host a public informational meeting as required by law on Monday, May 16, at 6:30 p.m. Polls will be open at the Town Office on May 24 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The question will be handled via Australian ballot. At this point, the informational meeting will be held virtually via Zoom, as was the meeting prior to the first vote on March 1. Chair...
Vermonters need to plan for equitable access to clean water
In the face of climate change, Vermont needs a comprehensive, equitable way to ensure access to surface water users for decades to come. We at the Connecticut River Conservancy believe that a bill under consideration in the Vermont Legislature creates that pathway. If enacted, it will require data collection to understand current surface water usage, provide the state Agency of Natural Resources oversight of any transfers of water between large watersheds, and provide a public process after 2026 to create...
Who’s our daddy?
At last it comes out: Phil Scott, Daddy. Of course we kind of knew it, since he was just like most daddies: While the family would argue and plan what to do, Phil/Daddy would sit in the living room reading a newspaper and think about being off to the races. Then, after his family came to him with the proposals, he would rear up and be the “adult” in the room and, like many daddies, say “No, no, no. I...
Weston Theater creates new price structure for 2022
Weston Theater Company has announced their 86th season and subscriptions are available for purchase in a new format. “Our suggested subscription price is $165, which means you are paying $55 per ticket, per show,” executive artistic director Susanna Gellert said in a news release. “While this is a significant savings on our single ticket price, we know that it may be affordable for some and prohibitive for others. “If you need to pay less, please choose that option, we sincerely...
What are the terms for being allowed to participate in a political debate?
The media outlet VTDigger recently hosted a debate with three candidates for Congress. I wonder, and have asked explicitly: How did they choose who to include and who to exclude from the debate? They haven't responded. So what? When the organization announced the debate, I immediately responded, informing that I am also a candidate and would like to participate. Well, who the hell am I? My name is Liam Madden. I am a Marine Corps sergeant who became the leader...
Brattleboro gasoline: market pricing or price gouging?
Another local news outlet notified us that gasoline prices in Vermont have dropped below $4 a gallon. I guess that either Brattleboro seceded from Vermont, or we were invaded and surrendered to New Hampshire. As of April 21, pump prices in Brattleboro remained above $4 a gallon except for one station on Canal Street. Is this a matter of market pricing or price gouging? I travel around the region and the state of Vermont and find that virtually everywhere in...
When we support early childhood education, everyone benefits
April is the Month of the Young Child in Windham County. It is a wonderful opportunity to both celebrate early childhood and to honor the tireless efforts of child care providers who dedicate their lives to educating the next generation. Broader awareness about the importance of the experiences a child has in their early years has led to successful initiatives to support public investment in services for young children and their families, including early education. There is also much greater...
Volunteers to make bowls for Empty Bowls dinner
Almost every spring for 18 years, Brattleboro Clayworks has invited the community to help make bowls to feed the hungry. This year's Bowlerama will be held on Saturday, May 14, 2022. Volunteers will make bowls to donate to the annual Brattleboro Empty Bowls dinner. They won't need any experience or special skills since artist/teachers Bonnie Stearns, Judith Thomas, Andi Matthews, and Alan Steinberg will provide basic instruction and gentle support to help shepherd their creations from start to finish. Space...
Brattleboro needs to revisit the Rescue Inc. decision
It seems to me that a new town manager should at least experience one year of what has been going on for over 50 years and try to understand what a decision to change such a longstanding performance means to the town. When the Brattleboro Fire Department has to take over the operation with two new ambulances, at a cost of around $400,000 each, hire and train the new staff, and cover medical and other benefits, it will find out...
Prop. 5: vital to protecting access to reproductive health
About half of the United States may soon ban or greatly restrict women's right to choose whether to carry a pregnancy to term. For far too long, politicians across the country have been restricting reproductive rights, and now they are gaining ground. Right now, Vermonters' safeguards for reproductive freedom are dependent on the politicians in office. These rights are essential to women and need greater protection. With the fate of Roe v. Wade hanging in the balance, state-level protections are...
Welch is ‘selling access and connections, pure and simple’
U.S. Rep. Peter Welch tries to talk a good game about serving the people. But his performative puffery, like bragging about not taking PAC contributions while still raking it in from trade associations that are nothing but PACs with another name, shows that he is as at the heart of the problem that the U.S. Congress has become. Welch is very popular in Vermont. His Republican opponent faces an extreme uphill battle to get traction in the race, and any...
The consequences of careerism
A new town manager in Brattleboro whose career-average job tenure is two years and one month has to make his mark quickly before getting back to job shopping and hopping. (A LinkedIn public profile shows 10 jobs from 2003 to 2022.) A temporary town manager in town destroying our regional ambulance system to boost Brattleboro Fire Department's revenues (and expenses) makes résumé sense. A new town manager in Vermont who is from urban New Jersey, the most densely populated state,
WSESD board to include student members
Members of the Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) plan to include two students for one-year terms each on the school board going forward. Brattleboro representative Lana Dever said at the April 12 meeting that the process to develop a proposal to do so was “very collaborative” among all board members and school administrators. “We look forward to working with the [Brattleboro Union High School] administration as we implement this initiative,” Dever said. “This is something that is long coming and...
Town administrator fights cancer
Town Administrator Peder Rude, absent from recent Selectboard meetings, is battling “a very strenuous form of cancer,” said Selectboard Chair Zon Eastes this week. Rude is expected to “be working from home for the next long term,” Eastes said. He is up to working now almost half-time, but the town office needs help to handle the workload, which Eastes said is the biggest in many years. While former board member Sheila Morse is volunteering to serve as acting assistant town...
For adoptees, path to healing begins with rejecting secrecy
Abby Jacobson wants other adoptees to have what she never did. That's why she has started her consulting practice to offer adoptees a safe and supportive place to explore questions of identity. “My vision is to offer guidance to other adoptees, ages 16-plus, in order to prevent continued issues of low self-esteem, low self-worth, and an overall sense of loss of connection with others,” she said. Jacobson worked for over 20 years as a licensed substance abuse clinician and psychotherapist.
BMAC presents online talks on spaceships, artificial intelligence, and NFT
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) will present two free online talks in connection with the NFT art exhibit “Anne Spalter: The Wonder of It All,” which features AI-generated digital videos of fantastical, morphing spaceships. Register at brattleboromuseum.org. “Spaceships and Art: A Match Made in the Imagination” is a Zoom presentation by Ron Miller on the history of spaceships in art, on Thursday, April 28, at 7 p.m. The author of Spaceships: An Illustrated History of the Real and...
Colonels nip Blackbirds for rare win on diamond
It doesn't happen very often, but it feels great when it does. When Keene, N.H. and Brattleboro meet up on the baseball diamond, Keene usually wins. On April 20 at Alumni Field in Keene, the Colonels ignored the script and came away with an 8-5 win over the Blackbirds. Brattleboro starting pitcher Jolie Glidden pitched five strong innings and left with the score tied 3-3 after giving up seven hits with a walk and two strikeouts. The Colonels broke the...
An iconic market reborn
Back then, it was like watching an old friend die slowly. Painfully and slowly. For decades, the Newfane Flea Market was a deeply woven part of the fabric of my Vermont existence. Every Sunday from spring to fall, I would fall out of bed at dawn and run up Route 30 to the market, getting there when the vendors were still dusting and putting out their wares, and a hardy tribe of buyers like myself were rooting through the merchandise...
Next Stage presents Carsie Blanton and The Knotty G’s
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present New Orleans-based singer/songwriter Carsie Blanton and her trio, plus Asheville, N.C.-based duo The Knotty G's at Next Stage on Saturday, April 30, at 7:30 p.m. “Carsie Blanton writes anthems for a world worth saving,” organizers say. Inspired by artists including Nina Simone and Randy Newman, her songs encompass a wide range of genres, “from sultry pop to punk-tinged Americana.” Whether alone with her electric guitar or fronting her “handsome band,” states a...
‘Rathmines Road’ opens VTC season
The Vermont Theatre Company will present performances of Rathmines Road, by Deirdre Kinahan, from April 29 through May 1 and May 6 though May 8 at the Hooker-Dunham Theater and Gallery at 139 Main St. Rathmines Road is a challenging piece of theater for both actors and audiences, but it is all too relevant, which director Charlene Kennedy says is what drew her to the show. In 2018, she and her partner happened to catch a performance of the world...
For 6 Vermont runners, the Boston Marathon is a journey longer than 26.2 miles
At first glance, the Boston Marathon started on April 18, 26.2 miles west of the city in the daffodil-dappled town of Hopkinton, Mass. But for six Vermont running friends, it began months earlier in a colder, darker place. Lois Sparks of Vernon kicked off her training on snowy local roads in the predawn hours of January, having done so annually since her first race six years ago at age 57. Nancy Johnston of Guilford joined Sparks and their headlamp-wearing peers...
I feel tired, but I resist the idea of burnout
When I sent a short story by email to The New Yorker about a character who had inherited half a million dollars and decided to put it into gold, I was startled to find that on my various news sites and my Facebook pages the ads became all about ways to buy gold. Then I bought some sweaters and winter clothes, and I began seeing ads from places like Gap, Garnet Hill, and L.L. Bean offering good deals on clothes.
For sanctuary with storied past, the future awaits
After just two weeks on the market, the South Newfane Baptist Church at 380 Dover Rd. is seeing interest by potential buyers. Community members have come together to facilitate the next phase for the 180-year-old church in the village center with the Board of Trustees of the South Newfane Baptist Church having transferred its assets, including the historic church, to the South Newfane Community Association (SNCA) in March. The transfer is the result of the dissolution of the South Newfane...
Epsilon Spires celebrates May Day with a free screening of ‘The Wobblies’
On Sunday, May 1, the multimedia arts venue Epsilon Spires will join independent theaters across the country in screening The Wobblies, a 1978 documentary about the Industrial Workers of the World, which has recently been restored by the Museum of Modern Art and re-released in digital 4K. Since the late 19th century, the first day of May has been marked by demonstrations supporting workers' rights, and it is now recognized as a federal holiday in many countries around the world.
Stage 33 hosts Fred Gillen Jr. on May 8
Fred Gillen Jr. will play the Stage 33 Live listening room on Sunday, May 8, at 7 p.m. Carl Beverly opens. Gillen has released 11 acclaimed albums, shared stages with Merle Haggard, Todd Rundgren, and David Bromberg, and performed everywhere from Patan Durbar Square World Heritage Site in Kathmandu and the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City to places like farmers markets and coffeehouses where everyday people gather. His songs have been featured on ABC, NPR, and CMJ's...
What’s lurking in fragrances and flavors?
Do you know what's in the products that you slather on your skin and inhale into your lungs? If you knew all the ingredients, you might be alarmed and look for alternatives. However, many manufacturers have been able to keep their ingredients secret. Even products that list ingredients have rarely provided comprehensive lists. The simple word “fragrance” on a product label is an umbrella term that can hide dozens or hundreds of chemicals from a list of more than 2,000.