BRATTLEBORO-Come New Year's Day, the town will have a new trash contract. Following a lengthy negotiation with Casella Waste Systems - the sole bidder for a new town trash disposal contract - Selectboard members have authorized Town Manager John Potter to pen and sign a $1.3 million, five-year contract with the company. Assistant Town Manager Patrick Moreland explained that after about a half year in negotiations, the new contract will include curbside collection for downtown public trash and recycling cans...
BRATTLEBORO-"It's not about ordinance or no ordinance," said Mel Motel, co-director of Restorative Justice Programs at Interaction: Youth Services and Restorative Justice. "It's about a third way. What can we build instead?" Motel was one of five panelists who proposed alternatives to the town's recently adopted Acceptable Community Conduct ordinance at a Nov. 18 public information meeting at Brooks Memorial Library. Opponents of the ordinance have obtained signatures from the 5% of registered voters necessary to trigger a Special Representative...
WESTMINSTER-There was good news for Bellows Falls Union High School last week: Several major projects are completed or nearing completion, and air quality testing done for PCBs last week produced some very encouraging results. The School Action Level (SAL) of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) for high schools is 100 ng/m³, and some parts of the school had tested as high as 850 ng/m³ over the past two years. However, in testing at the school last week, the results ranged from 43...
NEWFANE-Many in the West River Valley remember the inn at the center of Newfane village, right across from the general store, for its old-world-y ambience, the local-color charm of owners Eric and Gundela "Gundi" Weindl, and the exquisite meals served in dining room on the southwest side. The inn had figured prominently in the life of Lori Damato, whose family has had a home in Brookline since the 1960s. Originally from Norwalk and, later, Trumbull, Connecticut, Damato started coming to...
BRATTLEBORO-Byron Stookey, who died earlier this year, was the spearheading founder of Brattleboro Area Affordable Housing (BAAH) - a nonprofit organization made up of volunteers who work to create, maintain, and support affordable housing in this community. The BAAH Board of Directors has made it its mission to carry out Stookey's vision. The nine-person board maintains a variety of programs. The Apartments in Homes program assists people who have spare room in their homes to create affordable apartments. The Housing...
BRATTLEBORO-An achievement that has been decades in the making is about to finally happen with the announcement that the new General John Stark Memorial Bridge linking Brattleboro and Hinsdale, New Hampshire, will be open to motor vehicle traffic by the end of the day Thursday, Dec. 5. According to the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans), a new traffic pattern is scheduled to be in place in Brattleboro on that date. Barricades will be set up on Bridge Street to encourage...
