Steven K-Brooks, now retired from active real estate brokerage, writes on his website, Blog88.org. Contact him at [email protected].
Questioned at a Congressional hearing, the president of the University of Pennsylvania would not say that calling for the genocide of Jews violates the university's anti-bullying or harassment code of conduct.
She said such speech is "context-dependent" and only violates University rules if it "turns into conduct." The presidents of Harvard and MIT gave similar testimony at the Dec. 5 hearing.
The Windham Southeast Supervisory Union (WSESU) has identified 90 school-aged children and youth in the district who are experiencing homelessness. This is 10 more than were identified last year and includes about seven "unaccompanied youth" - older teenagers who are separated from a parent or guardian. Tricia Hill is...
On Dec. 2, a cluster of townspeople and arts followers gathered for a public meet-the-artists evening to hear plans for a new community arts project - a mosaic mural for Pliny Park at the corner of Main and High streets. The work will be mounted on the south side...
As local leaders here tell it, residents who see people asking for spare change along downtown streets, parking lots, and traffic medians are expressing both sides of the coin. "A highly sympathetic view might hold that panhandling is essential to a poor person's survival and should not be restricted or discouraged in any way," Town Manager John Potter wrote in a recent memorandum to the Selectboard. "A less sympathetic view might see the behavior as contributing to chaos, community disorder...
Carolyn North, a Putney resident for a little over a year, regularly writes on her website a brief piece, "like a prose poem, about the state of the world through the lens of her daily life," she says. "My purpose has been to help reassure folks that we can get through these hard times if we remember to do it together." Autumn has come and gone here in Vermont, red and yellow leaves raining into the air, covering the brown...
Nearly a year to the day after fire destroyed McNeill's Brewery and took the life of its iconic owner, Reagin "Ray" McNeill, the Selectboard voted on Dec. 5 to authorize Town Manager John Potter to sign a purchase and sale contract to pass the property to the town, pending an environmental inspection. In return, the town will release its current claim against the estate to recoup expenses post-fire. Selectboard Chair Ian Goodnow explained the town had been responsible for putting...
Robin Rieske arrived to town with five overdose emergency kits. The red metal boxes with a glass front resembled a square version of a small fire extinguisher cabinet. But rather than putting out flames, the tools inside could reverse an opioid overdose. Two hours later, Rieske had distributed the day's supply - a fraction of the 175 boxes she and colleagues have helped hand out in recent years to businesses and community groups across southeastern Vermont. Her work is part...
This is no country for old people. And that's a problem, because there are lots and lots of them, with more coming. One person who is looking at the consequences of these demographics is Roger Allbee, the former Vermont Secretary of Agriculture and former chief executive officer of Grace Cottage Hospital in Townshend. He is one of the founders of Windham Aging, a collaboration of people concerned with the challenges of aging in Windham County. Windham Aging was begun in...
Canal Street Art Gallery (CSAG), 23 Canal St., presents "Truth Telling: Finding Reconciliation Through Art." Opening Friday, Jan. 19, and on view through March 2, the Truth Telling exhibit supports community well-being and resiliency by providing a safe and accepting space to use art as a way to interact with difficult subject matter. To include all artists, Truth Telling is curated through an open call for entry, and firstly reaches out to Abenaki, Pennacook, and Wabanaki Peoples. Upon announcing the...
The Brattleboro Bears girls' basketball got their season off to a great start with wins over the Burr & Burton Bulldogs and Arlington Eagles in the Leland & Gray Tip-Off Tournament on Dec. 8 and 9 in Townshend. The hosts were not as fortunate, as the Rebels started their season with a 30-23 loss to Arlington and a 42-28 loss to Burr & Burton in the tournament. • The opening night of the tournament saw the Bears grind out a...
Candidate petitions for Brattleboro town officers, Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) board members, and Town Meeting members are now available at the Town Clerk's office. Town elections will be Tuesday, March 5 at American Legion Post 5, 32 Linden St. The 2024 Annual Representative Town Meeting will begin on Saturday, March 23, at 8:30 a.m., in the gymnasium of Brattleboro Union High School at 131 Fairground Rd. All petitions must be filed with the Town Clerk's office no later than...
In the public discourse of the Israeli-Gaza conflict, I am struck by how few comments I have heard that represent both-and thinking - not only in local news and opinion outlets, but everywhere. Is it not possible to hold both the sorrow for the merciless attacks on Israeli civilians and the rampant killing of Palestinians? Except for those in the most extreme camps of this bloody debate, I cannot imagine that people who speak for one side or the other...
The affordable housing article presents developers, past Selectboard members, and other town employees as progressive and compassionately concerned about the homeless and low-income residents, and those of us questioning the project as troublemakers who look down on the poor and needy. But it's a farce to call an $11.7 million project affordable and progressive! That construction fee breaks down to $468,000 per apartment, which is outrageous. Not only that, but residents at the three already-existing Windham & Windsor Housing Trust...
Dan DeWalt, there's something wrong with your analysis. I would suggest you read more history, specifically 1930s German. Maybe Isaac Babel. How about The Protocols of the Elders of Zion? The Turner Diaries? When an organization such as Hamas says its goal is to kill Jews, builds a war machine to do it, then does it - pillages and rapes like the Cossacks - how is that not a genocidal act? Where is your sympathy for those victims? How is...
The Windham Southeast Supervisory Union (WSESU) has identified 90 school-aged children and youth in the district who are experiencing homelessness. This is 10 more than were identified last year and includes about seven "unaccompanied youth" - older teenagers who are separated from a parent or guardian. Tricia Hill is the district's McKinney-Vento liaison (named for the federal legislation that funds the position), required at every school district that receives Title I funds. In this position, Hill identifies homeless youth and...
Guilford welcomes the return of a special holiday tradition, with the 60th anniversary of the Green River Carol Sing on Sunday, Dec. 17, at 5 p.m., at Green River Community Church. It's the first time in four years the Green River Village Preservation Trust (GRVPT) has been able to host the community event after the pandemic forced multiple years of cancellations. This community event started in the early 1960s to raise funds to restore, rebuild, and maintain the 185-year-old Green...
The first-ever Liberty Food Fest is set for Thursday through Saturday, Dec. 14–16, in Bellows Falls and Walpole, New Hampshire. It will feature local farmers, restaurateurs, and environmentalists presenting on local food systems. "Lunatic Farmer" Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley and Ojibwe Leader Winona LaDuke of White Earth Farms in Minnesota headline this three-day fest, which kicks off Thursday evening with Salatin at The Hungry Diner restaurant in Walpole. Hungry Diner owners Caitlin and Chris Caserta...
On Sunday, Dec. 17, TubaChristmas brings together local players of valved low brass instruments, including the tuba and euphonium (also known as a baritone horn), to rehearse and perform Christmas carols specially arranged in four parts. The public is invited to a culminating concert and sing-along in the church sanctuary of the First Congregational Church, 880 Western Ave. at 3 p.m. TubaChristmas events take place in over 300 cities throughout the United States and in several foreign countries. Retired Brattleboro...
Next Stage Arts, 15 Kimball Hill, hosts Vermont Suitcase Company's first-ever winter tour, featuring (Good) King Wenceslaus, on Thursday, Dec. 14, at 7 p.m. (Good) King Wenceslaus invites audiences to follow King Wenceslaus and his Page, Edith, as they embark on a comedic and enchanting journey through the deep and crisp and even snow of Medieval Europe. Set against the backdrop of a traditional Christmas carol, the play "weaves a delightful narrative," exploring themes of meaning and goodness with "a...
Karla Bonoff and Livingston Taylor come "Home for the Holidays" with what Ray's the Roof Productions calls a "seasonally spiced concert" at the Bellows Falls Opera House on Saturday, Dec. 16. Ray's the Roof is partnering with Next Stage Arts, KOOL-FM, and Falcetti Pianos to bring this show to Bellows Falls. "These are quintessential performers," said Ezra Veitch of Ray's the Roof Productions in a news release. "Both are superb songwriters, and both really know how to connect with audiences.
Dummerston DMV office to reopen on Jan. 2 BARRE - The Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) office in Dummerston, which was closed following flooding in July and has remain closed since then due to staffing issues, is scheduled to reopen on Jan. 2. Amy Tatko, DMV's director of communications and outreach, confirmed the reopening date in an email to The Commons on Dec. 12. Windham County lawmakers made reopening the Dummerston office a priority. Its closure has meant that...
Obituaries • Dorothy M. Boudrieau, 73, was born Dec. 31, 1949 in Plattsburg, New York, daughter of Maurice and Marie (Golden) Monette. She attended schools in the Bellows Falls area and married Anson Boudrieau Sr. on Aug. 20, 1966 at St. Charles Church in Bellows Falls. Dorothy worked at Maplewood Nursing Home in Westmoreland, New Hampshire since 1983 as an LNA, activity aide, and unit assistant before retiring in 2014. She loved her grandchildren very much and enjoyed taking them...
Fingerstyle guitarist Hiroya Tsukamoto will lead a comfortable, informal masterclass for players of all levels of ability and accomplishment on Sunday, Dec. 17, at 11 a.m., at Stage 33 Live, 33 Bridge St., in advance of his 2 p.m. concert. Wisdom on scales, thumb placement, tunings, improvisation, and more will be presented "with kindness and patience and easy laughter by one of the best fingerstyle players in the world," say organizers. Tsukamoto will demonstrate fingerstyle techniques, including chords and basic...
Latchis Arts presents two holiday screenings of the film Elma and the Top, an original musical by Newfane composer, filmmaker, and writer Robert Fritz, on Saturday and Sunday, December 16 and 17, at 4:00 p.m. With songs by Fritz and Denis Smith, Elma and the Top tells the story of Elma, the smallest elf in the North Pole, who tries and tries to be of use but just can't find where and how she fits in. It is also the...
Now that I'm no longer a regular reporter at this newspaper, it's probably OK for me to admit this in public: One of my favorite assignments was interviewing Lester Dunklee. Oh, but I sure was intimidated. (Not that that stopped me, of course.) I moved to Brattleboro in 1994. About a year later, I got a job slinging coffee at Mocha Joe's. One afternoon, I was working with former owner Ellen Tucker-Capy, and she said she had to run an...
This is no country for old people. And that's a problem, because there are lots and lots of them, with more coming. One person who is looking at the consequences of these demographics is Roger Allbee, the former Vermont Secretary of Agriculture and former chief executive officer of Grace Cottage Hospital in Townshend. He is one of the founders of Windham Aging, a collaboration of people concerned with the challenges of aging in Windham County. Windham Aging was begun in...
On Dec. 2, a cluster of townspeople and arts followers gathered for a public meet-the-artists evening to hear plans for a new community arts project - a mosaic mural for Pliny Park at the corner of Main and High streets. The work will be mounted on the south side of the building - owned by the Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce - that frames the park at its north end. In the warmly lit, well-appointed gathering space of Epsilon Spires,
As local leaders here tell it, residents who see people asking for spare change along downtown streets, parking lots, and traffic medians are expressing both sides of the coin. "A highly sympathetic view might hold that panhandling is essential to a poor person's survival and should not be restricted or discouraged in any way," Town Manager John Potter wrote in a recent memorandum to the Selectboard. "A less sympathetic view might see the behavior as contributing to chaos, community disorder...
I was struck by the cognitive dissonance in two side-by-side articles in the Dec. 6 Voices section. Richard Evers writes of the "savage, horrific, racist vengeance" of Israel dropping U.S.-made-2,000-pound bombs on a hospital and other targets in Gaza. Elayne Clift tries to convince us that the 2024 election is about only one issue: whether the U.S. will survive as a democracy. She praises President Joe Biden's commitment to democracy and his achievements domestically and internationally. Whatever happened to Martin...
Nearly a year to the day after fire destroyed McNeill's Brewery and took the life of its iconic owner, Reagin "Ray" McNeill, the Selectboard voted on Dec. 5 to authorize Town Manager John Potter to sign a purchase and sale contract to pass the property to the town, pending an environmental inspection. In return, the town will release its current claim against the estate to recoup expenses post-fire. Selectboard Chair Ian Goodnow explained the town had been responsible for putting...
Autumn has come and gone here in Vermont, red and yellow leaves raining into the air, covering the brown ground with a carpet of color. Oh, it was gorgeous! I was sorry to see the green of summer go, but the process of change is its own magical performance. For me, after so many years in California with its subtle shifting of seasons, I love the Northeast's slam-bang seasonal dramas that change colors and vistas almost overnight, opening long views...
Thank you, Commons and Richard Evers, for publishing this honest piece on the war on Gaza. Too often throughout this sickening attack on Gazans, the majority of whom are children, the reporting has been strongly biased from the Israeli military point of view without questioning the veracity. The same does not hold true when Palestinians are interviewed; their comments are often qualified as in need of verification. During World War II, close to 500,000 Jews were crowded into the Warsaw...
As Bernie Sanders supported the call for a report on Saudi's war crimes against Yemen, now is the time for the senator to call for the same for Israel's war crimes against Palestine. In April, Bernie once again worked for relief for Yemen, as co-sponsor of a resolution under section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act, which requires a State Department report on human rights. He's now spoken of forcing a vote on conditioning aid to Israel, best done via...
As soon as I saw Elayne Clift's column, I knew I had to respond. It is certainly going to be true that from now until the 2024 election that we will be inundated with such messages. After all, the only thing Democrats have to sell is fear. To an extent, the same is true of Republicans as well. It is funny to see Ms. Clift raise the alarm about saving democracy when right in front of our eyes we see...
Robin Rieske arrived to town with five overdose emergency kits. The red metal boxes with a glass front resembled a square version of a small fire extinguisher cabinet. But rather than putting out flames, the tools inside could reverse an opioid overdose. Two hours later, Rieske had distributed the day's supply - a fraction of the 175 boxes she and colleagues have helped hand out in recent years to businesses and community groups across southeastern Vermont. Her work is part...
Town Meeting is a Vermont tradition that allows ordinary citizens to meet annually with their neighbors to create local legislation and oversee their town's affairs. It is democracy in action at its most basic level. Rockingham residents may recall that voters at last year's Annual Town Meeting discussed whether to continue the tradition of an annual in-person Town Meeting or to switch to voting all articles by Australian ballot. Although the decision was made to continue holding in-person Town Meetings,
Reporters write articles for publication; however, it is editors and managing editors who write the headlines and subheads. Calling attention to an additional filing in Superior Court to review WWHT's proposed housing project, Virginia Ray's piece alerts the reader that words do indeed matter. One online dictionary defines a foe as "a person who feels enmity, hatred, or malice toward another"; they are the "enemy." Is that really what is happening here? Growing numbers of Putney residents and beyond feel...
The Brattleboro Bears girls' basketball got their season off to a great start with wins over the Burr & Burton Bulldogs and Arlington Eagles in the Leland & Gray Tip-Off Tournament on Dec. 8 and 9 in Townshend. The hosts were not as fortunate, as the Rebels started their season with a 30-23 loss to Arlington and a 42-28 loss to Burr & Burton in the tournament. • The opening night of the tournament saw the Bears grind out a...