Stories by Robert F. Smith
Issue of Mar 22, 2023 (#707)
- At Windham Northeast, a fresh approach to school meals: Food service director Harley Sterling has a simple philosophy — buy local, make it fresh, and feed everybody
Issue of Mar 8, 2023 (#705)
- For students, a lesson in creative defiance: Negina Azimi, an artist whose work in Afghanistan was destroyed by the Taliban, works with BFUHS ninth graders to create a school mural with a message of freedom and justice
Issue of Mar 1, 2023 (#704)
- Policing paradox: The rural parts of Rockingham have no dedicated police services, and residents are fed up. Can they convince voters to pay $6,000 for nominal coverage when most town residents also live within Bellows Falls, a village that already spends $1 million on its own police department?
Issue of Feb 22, 2023 (#703)
- Bellows Falls to see new life in long-vacant buildings: Boston couple purchases 92-94 Rockingham St., the site of many former restaurants, as salon and art studio space
Issue of Feb 15, 2023 (#702)
- The workplace as classroom: Work-Based Learning program at Bellows Falls Union High School prepares students for a variety of careers
Issue of Feb 1, 2023 (#700)
- Honoring the stage: Stage 33 Live provides a no-frills intimate listening experience for up-and-coming artists — all on stage in a repurposed paper mill that echoes with the history of Bellows Falls
Issue of Jan 25, 2023 (#699)
- A ‘magical hub’ emerges in Rockingham: In a sprawling former inn, a new nonprofit offers artistic education and community, with dance and performance at its heart
Issue of Jan 18, 2023 (#698)
- Help for the helpers: A local program to help first responders recover from trauma on the job did not survive the pandemic, but its focus and mission live on at a new nonprofit in Bellows Falls
Issue of Jan 11, 2023 (#697)
- Honoring a love of music and community: Dar Williams will be the first to perform in the Ray Massucco Concert Series in February
Issue of Jan 4, 2023 (#696)
- A crash course at ‘when-Mom-dies school’: Susan MacNeil’s new memoir is part love letter, part cautionary tale, and part instructional manual
Issue of Dec 21, 2022 (#695)
- A time of transition for AIDS Project of Southern Vermont: After 30 years with the nonprofit, Karen Peterson hands off the leadership job to Samba Diallo
Issue of Dec 7, 2022 (#693)
- A longtime legal practice ends in Bellows Falls: After the sudden death of beloved village icon Ray Massucco, his surviving law partner, Josh Stern, will close the firm
Issue of Nov 30, 2022 (#692)
- Bellows Falls Garage project to add 27 rental units: Construction of new building on a historic footprint is moving along toward occupancy in 2023
Issue of Nov 23, 2022 (#691)
- A stepping stone to help community’s needs: Jennifer Tolaro-Heidbrink becomes executive director of Parks Place, an organization that links Bellows Falls area residents to essential services with warmth and dignity and in the familiarity and comfort of a Victorian home
Issue of Nov 16, 2022 (#690)
- Recycling’s last frontier: The Rich Earth Institute gains big grants and international attention for its efforts to turn human waste into fertilizer as local collection efforts extend to the Bellows Falls region
Issue of Nov 2, 2022 (#688)
- Program meets opioid users where they are: Harm reduction offers clean supplies, help, and health care to people using heroin — a strategy that is saving lives and, ultimately, offering a path to recovery
- Xylazine emerges on the scene: Veterinary tranquilizer deemed a factor in 30% of state overdoses in 2022
Issue of Oct 19, 2022 (#686)
- Historic window awaits the future: Plans are afoot for the town of Rockingham to purchase the Bellows Falls Train Station — the only place big enough to display the one remaining stained-glass window from the 1835 former church which was demolished in 2021
Issue of Oct 12, 2022 (#685)
- Amid soaring opioid use, options for recovery: Two Turning Point peer counselors share their stories about the many paths from substance abuse
Issue of Oct 5, 2022 (#684)
- New Hampshire plans to rebuild Vilas Bridge — by 2028: Engineering and design work for oft-delayed project expected to begin next year, but Bellows Falls residents remain skeptical
- ‘An unparalleled legacy of service and caring’: Due to his unique position as a lawyer and his involvement in so much of local government, Ray Massucco’s knowledge of the goings-on in the village was encyclopedic and fascinating
Issue of Jul 21, 2021 (#622)
- With the vaccine, we could have been done by now. We aren’t.: This virus is going to drag on, killing and injuring people for far too long due to ignorance and distrust of facts and science
Issue of Jan 29, 2020 (#546)
- Crisis of staffing, crisis of confidence: You will not resolve the Brattleboro Retreat’s financial woes until you resolve the staffing problem — and that won’t happen until the hospital becomes a place where more qualified people want to work
