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...
BRATTLEBORO-What happens when you work in social services for 30 years, then retire and start your own social services agency, only to be met by the Trump Administration's attempt to cut Social Security off at the knees? Just ask Brattleboro's Leo Schiff. Schiff, 64, a licensed clinical social worker and drug and alcohol counselor, holds a master's degree in social work from the University of Vermont. He worked for the former Morningside Shelter (which became part of Groundworks Collaborative) for...
The small state of Vermont has, believe it or not, 187 libraries. "From my perspective, libraries are as American as apple pie," Catherine Delneo, the Vermont state librarian and commissioner of libraries, told The Commons. She described the state's libraries as "a vital piece of our of our community, because they're providing access to information and free access to information and free speech and the right to use the library and do research and to read" - all "really fundamental...
