• Dorothy Sexton Christie, 99, of Halifax. Died in her home on Dec. 11, 2022. She was well and active and in full possession of her own mind until just a few days before she passed gracefully. Born Dorothy Leicester Sexton in New Haven, Connecticut in 1923, she earned a master's degree in English Literature from Yale University and married John Aldrich Christie, another Yale graduate student, in 1946. The couple lived and taught at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, and in Marlboro and, later, Halifax, during the summer. They raised three sons together, David, John, and Rod Christie, who grew up living at Vassar during the school year and in Halifax each summer. Since 1975, Dorothy has lived full-time at the family homestead in Halifax, often with her sons' families and six grandchildren in residence. Dorothy loved exploring, first on the Connecticut seashore where she grew up and later in the Vermont countryside on her beloved Morgan horse. She taught her children and grandchildren to love exploring too. Memorial information: A memorial service will be held on Saturday, July 8, at 11 a.m., at the Halifax Union Society, 44 Stowe Mountain Rd., in Halifax Center.
• Dorothy K. Druke, 84, of Newfane. Died peacefully at her home on June 14, 2023, following a lengthy illness. Dorothy was born on December 25, 1938 in Lex, West Virginia, to the late Noah McKinley Addair and Bessie Ruth Hughes Addair. Dorothy graduated from the Woodrow Wilson Business School in Fisherville, Virginia in 1958. While attending, she met and later married Joseph Druke of Williamsville. They settled in Williamsville, where she was the postmaster for 27 years, retiring in January 1998. In addition to her parents, Dorothy was predeceased by four siblings, Mary Phillips, Jack Addair, Danny Addair, and Roger Addair.
Lawmakers on Tuesday suspended their rules to pass, in a matter of mere hours, an eleventh-hour deal that will keep roughly 2,000 unhoused Vermonters sheltered in motels until April 1, 2024, unless state officials can find alternate placements. Gov. Phil Scott is planning to give the measure his stamp...
As predicted, lawmakers on Tuesday easily overrode Gov. Phil Scott's veto of H.217, a bill set to invest well over $120 million annually into Vermont's ailing child care sector, enacting the measure into law. The only surprise, at the end of the day, was how quickly it all happened.
Pikes Falls Chamber Music Festival (PFCM) is returning to celebrate the 2023 summer season with an admission-free concert series. Concerts begin on Tuesday, Aug. 8, in Jamaica and run through Saturday, Aug.12. In the summer of 2012, Susanna Loewy founded a summer festival emphasizing music and visual art. In the foothills of the Green Mountains, Pikes Falls Chamber Music Festival was born. Since then, PFCM has performed 59 concerts in Southern Vermont, commissioned 13 world premieres, and has shown 13...
Landmark College will present a free public talk by Jennifer Cook, bestselling author and cast member of the Netflix series Love on the Spectrum on Monday, June 26, at 2 p.m. in the Brooks M. O'Brien auditorium, located in the Lewis Academic Building. The presentation, entitled “Love on the Human Spectrum,” draws on Cook's experience as an autistic woman with three children, who are also autistic, to bring audiences a unique insider perspective on the beauty of differently-wired brains. Cook...
What started out as a few random events celebrating LGBTQ Pride month in June has snowballed into a cohesive program of more than a dozen events that have included movies, concerts, a drag show, dances, picnics, an Amtrak whistle stop, displays, a photo exhibit, and more. “It all just fell into place,” said Susan MacNeil, a member of Keene Pride and a founding member of the Pride Planning Committee. “We began by thinking it would be nice to book four...
The current language for the General Assistance Emergency Housing Amendment to H.171 - designed to address the humanitarian crisis caused by the state sponsored unsheltering of already nearly 1,000 people - has serious problems. This legislation, passed on June 20, lacks evidence-based language, rules, and solutions, and it will create additional hurdles to the population experiencing homelessness, including those that are currently in the program. The amendment falls significantly short of that goal and of repairing or preventing enough harm...
The Estey Pipers will perform at Brooks Memorial Library, 224 Main St., for a Tin Pan Alley sing-along concert on Saturday, June 24, at 1 p.m. in the main area of the library. Accompanying the 16 Estey Pipers will be the Green Mountain Strummers Ukulele Band, featuring Cal Heile, Deb Noe, Susan Rosano, and Karen Shapiro on ukuleles; Dennis Waring on clarinet; and Dan DeWalt playing the library's Estey organ. A Creative Aging Grant from the Vermont Arts Council was...
Wellness Fair presented in WilmingtonWILMINGTON - Voices of Hope and Senior Solutions invite the community to attend an Open House and a Health & Wellness Fair, at The Old Firehouse, 18 Beaver St., on Wednesday, June 21, from 4 to 7 p.m. Gather with friends (new and old), neighbors, and visitors to the area to meet the folks who are offering a variety of support and advocacy for health and wellness. They will be free barbeque, with desserts and more.
At sundown on Friday, June 30, the Backlot Cinema at Epsilon Spires will present the fabled combination of Pink Floyd's album Dark Side of the Moon played at the same time as the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz - producing unexpected synchronicities that have spurred decades of conspiracy theories about whether Pink Floyd intentionally created their album as a soundtrack to the film. To enhance the experience even further, the version of The Wizard of Oz that will be...
Parks Place Community Resource Center recently received a $30,000 grant from The Thomas Thompson Trust toward facility improvements. According to a news release, this grant will be used “to mitigate a water issue in the basement and install new flooring in the lobby, as well as sand and stain the floors in the entryway, meeting room, and living room. These critical improvements will keep Parks Place thriving for many years to come.” The Thomas Thompson Trust makes grants to not-for-profit...
The Colonial Performing Arts Center, a nonprofit leader in both arts education and outreach, announced the 2023–24 season of their organization's main stage. The Colonial Theatre, with recent major renovations to its lobby, concessions area, stage, and backstage, will be celebrating its 100th birthday in January 2024 and will be offering special birthday events all season. Enhancements to the stage house structure and riggings at the Colonial accommodate nationally touring aerial acts that have not previously performed in the Monadnock...
A comment about cockroaches scattering when the lights go on has put Hill Street Security owner John Raffensberger out of the running for his company to contract with the town. At the June 6 Selectboard meeting, when the issue of hiring unarmed, private security to help ease public safety concerns was raised, Raffensberger's firm was one of two hired. He spoke, saying he believed a private security presence will have an immediate effect. “It's like cockroaches running away when you...
The Windham County Genealogy Interest Group will hold its next meeting online on Saturday, June 24, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. To participate, register at bit.ly/WCGIGJUNE24. A Zoom link will be sent to you before the meeting. Many useful genealogical gems can be found in probate records. Probate is the legal process of settling the estate of a deceased person. The records may include wills, inventories of property, guardianships, and other documents related to the settlement of an estate.
A former Windham County assistant judge who is on probation for stealing public funds is now facing related administrative charges. On June 12, the Vermont Judicial Conduct Board lodged a complaint against former judge Patricia Duff, alleging she violated the state's code of judicial conduct by collecting payment based on falsified work hours and by pocketing money intended for judicial training. Since Duff, 61, of Newfane had already resigned from her judicial position last June, the sanctions she faces appear...
The Windham Southeast Supervisory Union (WSESU), in cooperation with Fresh Picks Café, is providing free summer meals to children and teens in Brattleboro, Guilford, and Putney. Summer meals will start on Monday, June 26, and end on Friday, Aug. 11 (no meals on Tuesday, July 4). Meals are limited to one meal type per child per day. Parents/guardians can pick up on behalf of children. Sign-ups are not required, but are encouraged. Here are the Open Summer Meals sites and...
The Windham Regional Commission (WRC) has been awarded $500,000 for brownfields assessment work and $2 million for cleanup from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “This funding is critical to support the work of the Windham Regional Brownfields Reuse Initiative (WRBRI),” the WRC said in a news release. “Assessment funding is used to determine if there is contamination by hazardous materials or petroleum products and the extent of that contamination. Once the contamination issues are clearly identified, a cleanup plan is...
The Brattleboro Music Center and Retreat Farm kick off their “Music Under the Stars” summer concert series Saturday, June 24, with a performance by the PESO Pan Evolution Steel Orchestra. Admission is free. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. at Retreat Farm, with the concert at 6:30 p.m. The rain date is Sunday, June 25. All are welcome to bring lawn chairs and a picnic, and to enjoy food truck fare and craft beers at The Thirsty Goat bar, and cool...
On Thursday, June 22, at 6:30 p.m., at 118 Elliot, the Windham World Affairs Council (WWAC) will host a timely and moving discussion of Antarctica with physicist and photographer Jack Jewell and his partner, Tina Boniface, who will share their observations having recently returned from the Antarctic region. Through breathtaking photographs shown on a big screen, their travelogue will prompt a discussion of evolving geopolitics and the worldwide environmental impact of climate change in Antarctica. The event is free but...
Under the maple trees at the Historic Springs Farm, 49 Carpenter Hill Rd., in Guilford Center, the award-winning duo Larry & Joe play Latin music and bluegrass on Saturday, June 24, at 7 p.m. Concert-goers are invited to bring picnics with friends and family. Larry & Joe is the duo of Joropo maestro Larry Bellorín (Monagas, Venezuela) and Grammy-nominated bluegrass and old-time star Joe Troop (Winston-Salem, North Carolina). These two multi-instrumentalists fuse their respective Venezuelan and Appalachian folk traditions on...
When Steven Locke took his current job, it seemed like a mouthful to say he was chief of the South Burlington Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department. But the 30-year veteran firefighter knows the addition of ambulances brings more than just a longer name. South Burlington reported 74 fires in 2022, according to city records. But its EMS requests totaled 3,154 in the same period - up 16% from the year before. That's a challenge when the resulting $950,000 in...
Barbara and David Linton invite friends “to come through to share their love with them” on their 50th wedding anniversary, their family writes. The family-friendly open house with “music, food, and love” takes place Saturday, June 24 from 2 to 5 p.m. at The Root Social Justice Center, 28 Williams St., a space that is physically accessible. David Linton, a lifelong runner, worked as a bookbinder for over 20 years at the Book Press and retired on its closing in...
Artist Bobby DiTrani opens his second solo show at Gallery in the Woods, 145 Main St., on Friday, July 7, during Gallery Walk. According to the gallery, DiTrani's “masterly oil paintings evoke an atmosphere balanced precariously between serene beauty and cataclysmic chaos.” DiTrani is presenting new and past works the gallery says “combine his skill and talent with figures and faces, smokey forests and far away mountains, and how they might shine in a sunset or the glow of a...
With apologies to W.C. Fields, who once said, “It's a funny old world - a man is lucky if he gets out of it alive,” the stunning indictment, arrest, and arraignment of Donald J. Trump has offered a surreal glimpse into the former president's inner sanctums, where boxes of sensitive documents are commingled with golden fixtures and chandeliers, bathtubs and toilets. If you look closely at the now-ubiquitous photo, you can see some of those boxes piled high behind the...
A major correction is needed on the article about our farm, Lilac Ridge: “Amanda said that, with the help of a grant from NOFA-VT, Miller Farm has developed a soft-serve creemee mix that uses organic maple syrup from Lilac Ridge Farm for flavoring." Miller Milk LLC at Miller Farm makes a base mix of vanilla, and we add our certified organic maple syrup to the mix for the maple creemee at the farm. For creemees, we also sell Miller Milk's...
A major player on Vermont's lively arts scene, the Vermont Jazz Center (VJC) has a story that goes back some 50 years. But the driving force for its excellence, inclusivity, and education for half those years has been Eugene Uman, its artistic and executive director, and Elsa Borrero, graphic designer, lighting technician, and photographer. At a recent private gathering of friends and family honoring the two at the VJC's headquarters at the Cotton Mill, state Reps. Sara Coffey, D-Guilford, and...
The Legislature returns to Montpelier this week to see if it can override Gov. Phil Scott's veto of the budget and take care of a few other pressing concerns. Meanwhile, two of Windham County's legislative leaders are celebrating remarkable victories. In her first year as chair of the House Transportation Committee, Rep. Sara Coffey, D-Guilford, managed to create, negotiate, and pass, in conjunction with the Senate, the $850 million Transportation Bill that the governor signed into law on June 12.
The Southern Vermont League announced its all-star teams last week for high school baseball, softball, boys lacrosse, girls lacrosse, track & field, and Ultimate disc. • In baseball, Brattleboro's Jackson Emery and Sam Bogart were honorable mentions in the A Division, while Jamison Nystrom of Bellows Falls was selected to the B Division first team with teammate Cole Moore earning honorable mention. Green Mountain had three players on the C Division first team - Tanner Swisher, Kaiden McCarthy, and Liam...