The Selectboard declined to go so far as to endorse his presence, but they welcomed him to town.
Tad Montgomery, principal of Home Energy Advocates, appeared before the Selectboard Aug. 18 to sell the board on backing Solarize Windham, an intiative committed to rolling out bulk purchasing on solar panels and their installation to homes and businesses.
Solarize Windham aims to install a megawatt of solar in homes across Windham County before federal solar tax rebates expire at the end of 2016 - that's enough to support hundreds of average-sized homes, Montgomery said.
Home Energy Advocates is partnering with Real Good Solar (RGS Energy) to offer Solarize in Windham County. RGS said it has unique national experience delivering successful solar installations.
Roger Allbee, a lifelong “liberal Republican,” is reported to have changed to the Democratic party because the Republican party “no longer has room” for people like him. Allbee did not elaborate on why Vermont Republicans have suddenly become so un-liberal. Nor did he mention what he meant by “liberal”
As primary season approaches, so does the age-old question: who to support for Assistant Judge in Windham County? And I know that area residents are doubtless awaiting guidance from us artistic types, as we are so good at practical matters. Seriously, however: this year, northern Windham County is well-represented...
During my four years in the Vermont Senate, I was struck by how many times the special interest trumped the broader public interest. I believe one reason for this is Vermont's system of campaign finance, which allows corporations to contribute directly to candidates as well as for individuals to evade limits by contributing both individually and through their companies. I was therefore struck by the differing responses the candidates for the Vermont Senate gave to my question at the first...
Brattleboro Area Hospice offers its popular “Death and Dying for Beginners” class on four consecutive Tuesday evenings, from 6 to 8:30, Sept. 16 through Oct. 7 at Parks Place, 44 School St. The class will help individuals explore their awareness, attitudes, and feelings about death and dying. Participants will learn how to provide emotional and practical support to individuals and families who are facing or grieving a death. The class is structured around readings, discussion, and personal reflection. The series...
The Vermont Department of Labor (VDOL) announces the start of valuable fall semester plumbing and electrical apprenticeship classes. VDOL provides a grant to Vermont Technical College to assist with classroom instruction, test preparation, and other program activities. “Apprenticeship programs, with structured on-the-job training and related instruction, allow apprentices to learn while earning a competitive salary in jobs that are in high demand,” said Annie Noonan, Vermont's labor commissioner. This program offers Vermonters interested in the electrical and plumbing trades the...
Obituaries • Dorothy G. Creager, 93, of Lake Luzerne, N.Y. Died Aug. 13 at the Home of the Good Shepherd in Glens Falls, N.Y. Wife of the late Herbert Creager. Mother of Renee O'Brien and her husband, Tom; Arthur Creager and his wife, Mary Jean; and Wendy Creager. Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., during World War II, she worked at Grumman Aircraft as a riveter. Later, she lived in Valley Stream, N.Y., with her devoted husband and three children.
More Than Wheels (MTW) has been helping northern New Englanders qualify for and buy new or gently used vehicles for 13 years. More than 2,000 individuals and families have saved thousands of dollars and transformed their financial lives in the process. That's according to a press release that explains that, thanks to a generous grant from the Canaday Family Charitable Trust, more Vermonters can learn about the non-profit agency's unique combination of online financial education, one-on-one coaching, and car-buying services.
I worked with Sen. Jeanette White for three years on many issues while I was in the Statehouse, and I found her to be very responsive to legislators and constituents. She always jumped into an issue with both feet. Jeanette is a great listener, and that also means she will act on what she hears, to the benefit of Vermonters. She is easy to approach and talk to and spends much of her free time here in Windham County working...
Main Street Arts is holding auditions for its winter production of Les Misérables on Sunday, Aug. 24, from 4 to 6 p.m.; Friday, Aug 29, from 7 to 9 p.m.; and Saturday, Sept. 6, from 10 a.m. to noon. David Stern directs the musical. Walt Sayre is music director, and Mary Hepburn is producer. Performances are March 6-8 and 12-15, 2015. Actors trying out for a lead role are asked to bring a prepared piece representing the role for which...
When I was just a young man, an older gent from the West Brattleboro area by the name of Edgar Lawton told it the way he believed was right and said it from his heart. He loved town meetings and Selectboard meetings. I now think of him quite often because of the way the town is being run: • I can't believe this town is going through a third round of Town Manager search when Patrick Moreland has been managing...
West Brattleboro Association offers free movie night WEST BRATTLEBORO - The West Brattleboro Association presents “The Triplets of Belleville” (2003; animated; kid friendly) as the main feature of its first free movie night, Thursday, Aug. 21. The film will be screened outdoors at dusk next to the West Brattleboro Fire Station. Shorts begin at 7:30 p.m. The main feature starts at 8. Arrive early for bike-powered smoothies from the Bellows Falls Community Bike Project, on sale at 7, and music,
This time it is different! The future of Vermont is at a tipping point, and Vermonters are begging to replace the old party rhetoric, partisanship, and tired platitudes with leadership, cooperation, and a sense of community that excites citizens to pull together for the common good. And Windham County needs a legislative representative with vision, commitment, and integrity. Windham County needs Roger Allbee, a friend and colleague for more than 30 years who offers experience in management of the new...
Lamont Barnett is running for re-election as an assistant judge for Windham County. He deserves your support and your vote in the Aug. 26 Democratic primary election. Judge Barnett has been involved in public service for about 40 years, from his six years in the U.S. Navy to his numerous terms on the Rockingham Selectboard as a board member (eight years as chair). In addition, he has served on many other organizations, boards and committees, often as the president or...
The Aug. 26 Vermont primary election is quickly approaching. Windham County is fortunate to have four Democratic State Senate candidates vying for the two open seats, offering an opportunity to explore in greater depth the issues facing our state. Over the next two years, our legislature will need to grapple with complex policy issues including: constructing and paying for single-payer health care, advancing rapid clean-energy development, improving our early-childhood system, increasing access to affordable food and housing, and fostering economic...
With the Senate primary only days away, I'm reminded of a topic that's important to Vermonters, a topic that doesn't always make the headlines: animal welfare. Let's not forget to ask our candidates before the Aug. 26 primary what their views are on improving our animal welfare laws. Vermont has the largest per-capita rate of pet ownership in the country, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. One of the Windham County candidates vying for a seat is Senator Jeanette...
The final State Senate candidate forum, hosted by the Windham County Democratic Committee, is Thursday, Aug. 21, at the American Legion Hall in Brattleboro, at 6:30 p.m. The forum, to be televised by Brattleboro Community Television, will be moderated by Windham County Democratic Committee Treasurer and Brattleboro Democratic Committee Chair James Valente, partner at the Brattleboro law firm Costello, Valente & Gentry, P.C. Light refreshments will be served. The four candidates running in the Democratic Primary for State Senate in...
The Agency of Transportation (AOT) plans a series of public meetings to discuss the possible addition of centerline rumble stripes/strips on sections of U.S. Route 5 between Putney and Westminster and sections of Vermont Route 103 between Rockingham and Mount Holly. Any such installation would fit within the AOT's fall 2014 paving schedule. The meetings, open to all, are held: • Thursday, Aug. 21, 6 p.m. Westminster Town Office, Route 5; • Thursday, Aug. 28, 6 p.m. Town of Rockingham/Village...
The Brattleboro Literary Festival and Marlboro College present three writing workshops to kick off the 2014 festival. The workshops, covering fiction and nonfiction, are Friday, Oct. 3, from 1 to 4:45 p.m. at Marlboro College Graduate Center, 28 Vernon St. Leaders are authors Leslie Jamison, Julia Fierro, and Pamela Painter. The fee for each session is $75. Space in each class is limited to 12. Participants “will submit relevant, original works for discussion and revision,” the event announcement explains. •
Colleagues, friends, and family will gather to celebrate the 66 graduates of the Marlboro College Graduate and Professional Studies programs on Saturday, Aug. 23, at 10 a.m. Commencement, at Centre Congregational Church on Main Street, features speaker Rha Goddess. A reception follows at Marlboro College Graduate Center, 28 Vernon St. Marlboro's commencement recognizes each student for the new expertise and commitment they have brought to address pressing needs in their respective communities, he adds. Three student speakers, chosen by their...
The Hungry Lion Bike Tour, presented by the Whitingham-Halifax Lions Club, has given cyclists an opportunity to take on some of Southern Vermont's most challenging rides the past two years running. Now the ride returns to Town Hill to do it again. The event, Saturday, Sept. 27, promises riders beautiful back roads and fall foliage, all for a good cause: helping raise funds to combat food insecurity in the Valley. The Hungry Lion cycles four great routes: a 33-mile elevator...
The Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro (BGCB) is expanding its supper program starting on Wednesday, Aug. 27, thanks to a grant from the Vermont Children's Trust Foundation. The Flat Street clubhouse will serve dinner at 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. These free meals are available to youth members as well as any young people and families with dependent children who struggle with food insecurity. No registration or paperwork is required; participants simply need to check in at the club's...
Law enforcement agencies statewide are participating in an intensive cooperative enforcement effort to reduce impaired driving through the close of Labor Day weekend. These efforts, supported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), are part of a national “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign. In addition to patrols by municipal agencies, sheriff's departments, constables, and the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, the Vermont State Police Combined Accident Reduction Effort (C.A.R.E.) program is in gear to save lives. Organizers...
Town Clerk Annette Cappy has tinkered the logistics of voting in Brattleboro into a well-oiled machine. For at least 20 years, Cappy and her brigade of town employees, members of the Board of Civil Authority, volunteers, and a moving company have operated primaries and elections from Brattleboro Union High School's gymnasium. Not this year. This year, Cappy and crew will load the Municipal Center's elevator. They will trundle polling booths, ballots, and electronic vote-counting machines to the Selectboard Meeting Room...
I am seeking the position of governor to enable the work of our nonprofits around the state, from whom I will be staffing my administration. My work with Vermonters for New Economy and the Vermont Public Banking Group will help us circulate money in the state in a more far-reaching manner, so that there will be enough money for our people to engage in our economy. I urge people to write in my name in the Aug. 26 primary election...
It has been a tremendous honor to serve Windham County for the past two years as an assistant judge. Public service has been a major part of my life for much of the last 40 years. After serving an enlistment in the Navy, I came home to work in the machine tool industry, but soon realized that it was in decline and would not be a long-term career. In 1989, I helped start a retail business in downtown Bellows Falls,
From my porch on South Main Street, I have a great view of the diversity we have here in Windham County: longtime Vermonters whose families have lived here for generations; young families building new lives here; industry's rumbling trucks; and boisterous conversations among diverse groups of teenagers as they walk downtown from our neighborhood. I love this place, although I didn't always feel this way. My spouse, Elizabeth, and I bought our house in this bustling, but rough-around-the-edges, neighborhood because...
In the Democratic primary next Tuesday, please vote for Becca Balint and Jeanette White for Senate! Becca Balint is extraordinarily savvy and dedicated. She will put people first and bring the Senate new spark and vision. Jeanette White has proven a tireless worker for right causes and brings invaluable experience as chair of the Government Operations Committee. And please write in Dean Corren, the Progressive candidate for lieutenant governor. (And blacken the bubble!) With the governor's endorsement, he is seeking...
We in Canaan have not taken our website down but do agree with all of Rick Hege's points. I certainly hope that the Legislature gets to read your article and see the common sense (which our fearless leaders obviously are lacking) to all that he writes. It was the state that encouraged all of us to create town websites (with grant monies to boot). Do you suppose this policy was in the back of officials' minds from the beginning? I...
I'm pleased to endorse and support Paul Kane for Windham County assistant judge and encourage Windham County residents to cast their votes for him on Primary Day. A longtime resident, he was born in Bellows Falls and has served Windham County and the state for many years in the Vermont Department of Corrections. He has served as a parole officer and a supervisor; he has also served as a Department for Children and Families social worker in the Brattleboro, St.
The public can keep abreast of official notices at several locations around town, the Selectboard established at its Aug. 6 meeting. Meeting warnings and agendas and the like will be on view at the Town Office, the West Dummerston post office on West Street, and Dummerston Elementary School. At the meeting, Town Clerk Pam McFadden updated the group on the state's newly revised open meeting law, which sets out requirements for posting agendas and meeting minutes digitally and otherwise. Among...
While I cannot vote for Roger Allbee - I live in Addison County - I would if I could! I can attest to his strength of character, knowledge, experience, and bipartisan approach to policy development and some of his many accomplishments. I have known him since he was my ROTC captain at the University of Vermont. I have rubbed elbows with him as he worked as an employee of the Farm Credit system in several capacities and when he worked...
I have enjoyed many great opportunities in my career, but nothing has touched my heart more than the opportunity I have had this year, working as a navigator for Vermont Health Connect. It has involved listening to the struggles and the fears of folks from every corner of Windham County. They often needed help because Vermont Health Insurance Plans (VHAP) and Catamount Health were no longer available; others desperately wanted affordable health insurance. I have met with more than 1,000...
The town is exploring, with many other municipalities, how sharing certain services might trim budgets here and regionally. Speaking at the Aug. 13 Selectboard meeting, Town Manager Cynthia Stoddard reported that she had attended a session hosted by the Windham Regional Commission aimed at sparking ideas on how towns can leverage each other's experience and strength in numbers. “Everything from leasing a street sweeper, roadside mowing, group-purchasing dog tags, IT [information technology] services: a gamut,” she said. Selectboard members at...
You might know that I am running for State Senator from Windham County, and I want to share with you my reason for doing so. While I was born in Brattleboro, I grew up in the small town of Brookline in the West River Valley. Vermont has always been a part of my life, and I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to serve my country (as a Vietnam-era veteran), to serve my state (as secretary of agriculture, food,
I am voting for Roger Allbee on Aug. 26. Roger has served our country in the U.S. Army in special weapons with the rank of captain. He has served our community as the chief executive officer and administrator of Grace Cottage Hospital/Carlos G. Otis Health Care Center in Townshend. And he served our state as secretary of agriculture, food, and markets. He has the background, experience, and commitment to serve us in the State Senate. And, once you meet him...
The past 12 years have been exciting, challenging, frustrating, rewarding, and humbling. I would like to continue to use my experience and relationships to work for Windham County and the state of Vermont. I served on the Senate Health and Welfare Committee as we began working toward a universal, single-payer health-care system. I continue to work toward this goal. Our mental-health system has also been a priority of mine. Serving on the Mental Health Oversight Committee, I have worked hard...
A prospective buyer for a parcel that's languished off the tax rolls for nearly two decades has withdrawn his purchase offer, saying a petition opposing the sale was grossly incorrect but not worth fighting. Brad Boucher told the Selectboard Aug. 18 that he was withdrawing his offer of $2,500 for a two-acre parcel at 67 Higgins Lane, Townshend Acres, and would now be unable to build here and start paying property tax. Townshend bought the land at tax auction in...
Multi-colored balloons tethered to railings dance on the breeze as music blasts from speakers near the door of the Westgate Housing Community's community center in West Brattleboro on a Sunday afternoon. Kids scale the slope behind the Community Center - here a lion, here a butterfly, here a superhero - playing games, climbing the play structure, and having their faces painted. Parents and grandparents chat at the picnic tables. A young girl on a pink tricycle watches a visitor pull...
We must keep our focus on the public good for the citizens of Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire as Vermont Yankee is powering down and working toward closure in December. The emergency planning zone (EPZ) is a critical way to keep that focus sharp. The nuclear industry makes many claims about the safety and security of its plants, including Vermont Yankee. However, we must acknowledge the potential vulnerability of the fuel pools to terrorism and accidents. A National Academy of...
The Connecticut River Valley Baseball League wrapped its season over the weekend and crowned a new champion: the Putney Fossils, who toppled defending champs the Claremont Cardinals in a 9-4 game on Sunday at Hubbard Field in Walpole, N.H. CRVBL is an adult wooden bat league where the caliber of play is decent for a bunch of guys years removed from varsity glory. Position players can be younger than 30; pitchers must be 30 or older. The regular season ended...
International Bluegrass Music Association Banjo Player of the Year Tony Trischka will be bringing his banjo playing to Vermont when Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present an evening of banjo music. On Friday, Aug. 22, at 7:30 p.m. at Next Stage, Trischka will be performing with his band which includes Grant Gordy on guitar, who has played with David Grisman; Mike Barnett on fiddle, recently of the Deadly Gentlemen; and Ethan Jodziewicz on bass, the sought-after session musician...
In November 1966, the new manager of Judson Gallery at the Judson Church in Greenwich Village came to dinner at the home of Bici and Geoff Hendricks. Jon Hendricks, a conscientious objector, and brother of Geoff Hendricks, was revitalizing what had been an important laboratory for avant-garde art in New York a few years earlier. Jim Dine, Claes Oldenburg, Roy Lichtenstein, and others had cut their creative teeth there, then moved on to uptown galleries. The “second wave” at Judson...
Twilight Music concludes its 12th annual Twilight on the Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, rock, jazz, zydeco, Celtic, swing, blues, and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, Aug. 24. That night, from 6 on, catch The Snaz, an original, indie rock band featuring four Vermont teenagers: Dharma Ramirez, 16, lead vocals and guitar; Mavis Eaton, 16, keyboards and backup vocals; Zack James, 14, drums; and Nina Singleton-Spencer, 15, bass. Ask around. They've got fans. They've won battle of the...
Fine art photographer Christine Triebert of South Newfane has recently been awarded a Vermont Arts Endowment Fund grant from the Vermont Community Foundation. The grant is provided in support of her “Geomorph – After the Flood” project, a large-scale installation of photographic images inspired by the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene on her property along the Rock River. Close-up photographs of rock surfaces, patterns in sand, rushing water, and organic and man-made debris are the subject matter in this series.
Based on an historical event that occurred in 1941 in Denmark, Michael Frayn's “Copenhagen” keenly explores moral responsibility and patriotism when two fellow physicists, Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr, who once worked in collaboration, are now placed on opposite sides of World War II. “Copenhagen” opens at Actors Theatre Playhouse in West Chesterfield, N.H., on Aug. 28, for a four-week run. This award-winning drama explores what may have happened at a meeting between Bohr and Heisenberg in the German-occupied city...
Fans of adventurous music and performance, and those curious about what that means, have a reason to venture to downtown Brattleboro on the third Thursday of every month. Fieldwire, which describes itself as “an experiment in emerging media focusing on music, art, events, happenings, locations, travel, and sharing,” has been hosting monthly “sessions” at The Future Collective, the gallery and music space on Elliot Street upstairs from Taylor for Flowers. What can one expect from a Fieldwire session? Each is...
Stunned at the news of Robin Williams' suicide, I drove to teach yoga last week through leafy late-summer mist, half numb with sadness, amazed at my own survival. In 2002 and 2003, I, too, was suicidal, caught in a downward spiral of severe depression, anxiety, and chronic pain that would not relent. I'd struggled with brief cyclical depression since high school, but this was something different. The symptoms were acutely physical, not just ambient melancholy, self-doubt, or negativity. This time,
Acclaimed documentary photographer Rebecca Lepkoff died Sunday morning in Townshend, only a few days after her 98th birthday. The native New Yorker split the last six decades of her life between the city and Southern Vermont, and her camera captured memorable images of both places. “She lived a long and incredible life,” said Jesse Lepkoff, her son. “She was an amazing artist, mother, and person.” She was born on Aug. 4, 1916, in a Hester Street tenement on the Lower...
It's seeming that the Elm Street parking lot is quickly becoming the favorite choice for the location of the Brattleboro skatepark. It's an odd turn of events, considering this location is not supported by BASIC - the committee that has been working on this issue for years - or the larger skateboarding community. It's a little bit confusing because when the new Selectboard pulled the $50,000 designer rug out from under BASIC and roped everyone back to the starting line,