BRATTLEBORO-U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes slept in one of its bedrooms in 1877. Writer Rudyard Kipling drank lager in its basement bar and played poker in its penthouse suite from 1892 to 1896. Broadcaster Lowell Thomas presented his NBC radio newscast live from its ballroom in 1946. And if current owners have their way, someone new will buy this town's cornerstone Brooks House and soon make their own history. The five-story Main Street landmark - built in 1871, ravaged by...
BELLOWS FALLS-Longtime area educator Kate Kane has been named the new principal of Central Elementary School (CES). On April 11, the Rockingham School Board appointed her to the K–4 school on the recommendation of Superintendent Andy Haas, effective July 1. Kane grew up in Cambridgeport, graduating from Bellows Falls Union High School in 1984. She was an English and classics major at Tufts University and got her teaching certificate when she decided that she was interested in a career in...
BRATTLEBORO-"Our culture has a way to go in talking about death," said Shari May, the advance care planning coordinator at Brattleboro Area Hospice (BAH). Death and end-of-life care remain subjects that many don't want to talk about. BAH's Advance Care Planning program has done a lot to get people thinking about how they can take the burden off the shoulders of their family and friends and have control over what kind of death they would like to have. The program...
-Despite a cold and rainy Saturday, thousands of Vermonters poured into the streets to protest the Trump administration and its policies at "Hands Off!" rallies in Brattleboro, Bellows Falls, Chester, and Wilmington on April 5. More than 150 activist groups were involved in organizing 1,200 such marches and rallies across all 50 states, and southern Vermont turned out in force. Organizers estimated that more than 1,500 people showed up in Brattleboro, more than 500 turned out in Chester, and a...
BRATTLEBORO-Jay Symonds has taken on the job of Brattleboro Fire Department chief after being sworn in April 1. "I know we're facing some challenges, but its my intent to be part of the solution to these challenges," the new chief said by phone on Monday, his first day on the ground. The former lieutenant of the Manlius Fire Department in upstate New York said he found out about the job through Town Clerk Hilary Francis, his sister-in-law, but he has...
BRATTLEBORO-During their April 1 meeting, Selectboard members heard passionate appeals from the public regarding downtown crime and public safety issues, which accounted for more than $675,000 in unbudgeted expenses in the last fiscal year. "Excuse my French, but people are shitting on my basement floor and breaking into our building," said Daniel Systo of Brattleboro. "I've found hypodermic needles, fentanyl, and heroin. I've cleaned up multiple times out back on Arch Street," he told Selectboard members. Expressing urgency for quick...
