BRATTLEBORO-When your own government begins to shoot its own citizens, this isn’t leadership, this is murder. It’s no different from the citizen on the street shooting into a crowd.
Enough! This president needs to be held responsible for his unlawful actions. This president needs to be impeached.
And those Republicans who don’t rise and say, “No more,” are complicit and equally responsible.
I’m 90 years old, and it breaks my heart to see what this man is doing to the country I love.
BRATTLEBORO-This year, Brattleboro has the opportunity to change the way we vote on important matters which often impact the budget, and by extension, our property taxes. “Representative” Town Meeting clearly had an agenda and not my interests (or the interest of many other tax-paying property owners) in their sights.
NORTH WESTMINSTER-This spring, voters in Westminster will be asked once again to help decide the fate of one of the town’s most interesting public buildings. Article 20 states: “Shall the voters of the Town of Westminster allow the Selectboard to offer for public sale, the property known as the...
BRATTLEBORO-Juno Orchestra and its music director, Zon Eastes, present a program for string orchestra titled “This World” Sunday, Feb. 8, at 2:30 p.m. at the Brattleboro Music Center (BMC), 72 Blanche Moyse Way. The concert premieres a new work by Vermont composer Erik Nielsen, “In the Midst of It All,” which Eastes says aligns with the program’s overall focus on recurrence. “It opens with four downward-stepping notes resting atop somber chords. The four-note cell reappears throughout the work and seems...
BRATTLEBORO-On the heels of the film, One Battle After Another, nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture, Latchis Arts presents a series about its director, entitled “The Modern Master: A Paul Thomas Anderson Retrospective.” This weekly series will feature a selection of films spanning Anderson’s 30-plus year career, curated by Ian Moran and Teddy Martin. The series opens on Saturday, Feb. 7, at 4 p.m., and then continues on four Sundays at 4 p.m. Anderson’s filmography “is especially notable for...
BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Literary Festival, an annual three-day festival founded in 2002, will host Ada Calhoun and Jessica Anthony Thursday, Feb. 12, for a virtual cocktail hour at 5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Festival organizers say they are very excited to host Anthony and welcome back Calhoun, New York Times bestselling author of Crush: A Novel, which, according to promotional materials has been hailed on NBC’s Today show as the month’s Best Romance, praised by...
‘Taking Solace’ series continues BRATTLEBORO — On Wednesday, February 4, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Brooks Memorial Library, Center for Solace will present the film Holding Our Own with a discussion to follow. This one-hour film includes the work of local artist Deidre Scherer and the music of Center for Solace chorus Hallowell. The film will be followed by a community dialogue about the unique power of the arts to help offer solace in difficult times. This event is...
PUTNEY-Get ready to hit the dance floor at Next Stage Arts, 15 Kimball Hill, for a high-energy “Dance Party “with DJ Bob Thies, spinning hits from the ’80s and ’90s Saturday, Feb. 7 (rescheduled from Jan. 17 due to inclement weather). This event is for those 21 and over, with doors opening at 6:45 p.m. and the show starting at 7:30 p.m. Thies “will bring the ultimate throwback experience, featuring classic pop anthems, dance tracks, and all the irresistible grooves...
PUTNEY-Next Stage Arts and Twilight Music proudly present an evening of Nordic folk music with Frigg, joined by special guests Teho, on Thursday, Feb. 5, at Next Stage, 15 Kimball Hill. Doors open at 6:15 p.m., with the show beginning at 7 p.m. Hailing from Finland, Frigg is an ensemble performing contemporary folk music. This Nordic sextet is made up of “true masters of the Finnish folk tradition,” organizers wrote in a news release, “delivering heart-bursting, life-affirming tunes with astonishing...
College news • Thad Engstrom Keep of Guilford, Shannon Moore of Whitingham, Liz Keefe of Putney, Abby Bray of Brattleboro, and Brittany Priggen of Londonderry all graduated in December as part of Vermont State University’s Class of 2025. • The following local students at Vermont State University were honored for academic excellence during the fall 2025 semester. Named to the President’s List were Vic Augusta-Summers of West Halifax, Angela Dornburgh of Whitingham, Abigail Joslyn of Bellows Falls, Thad Engstrom Keep...
BRATTLEBORO-In recognition of the four-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kerry Secrest, Honorary Consul of Lithuania to Vermont, and the Windham World Affairs Council are co-hosting a talk: “Reflections at the Four-Year Mark of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine,” by Gediminas Varvuolis, Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania to the United States, Thursday, Feb. 5, from 5 to 6 p.m., at Saxtons River Distillery, 155 Chickening Drive. The event is free, and monetary donations toward care packages containing essential...
BRATTLEBORO-Arts Council of Windham County (ACWC) has opened the application period for the 2026 Brattleboro Town Arts Fund (TAF). In this, its sixth, year the TAF program will offer grants between $1,000 and $3,000 for community-focused creative projects in Brattleboro. Applications are due by March 1, 2026, for projects taking place between May 2026 and April 2027. The program overview and application guidelines can be found at artswindhamcounty.org/taf. The Town Arts Fund is a program that has been fueled by...
BRATTLEBORO-As member of Representative Town Meeting more than several years ago, I found the old boys’ club of the RTM to be very active and likewise very effective at blocking certain people and certain ideas from discussion and or consideration. A recent advocate for RTM admitted very clearly that part of the dynamic of the RTM has included flooding the meeting with friends to vote with the clique (my word). I found this to be quite true and very frustrating...
-The Southern Vermont League (SVL) Nordic championships, a four-meet event, began on Jan. 23 with a 5-kilometer freestyle race at the Marlboro Nordic Ski Club. Brattleboro, the host team for the Jan. 23 race, did not fare well collectively, but had some strong individual performances. In the girls’ race, junior Maayan Coleman finished third in 16 minutes, 45 seconds, while fellow junior Xela Nestel was ninth in 18:43. They are Brattleboro’s only two girls’ varsity skiers. Woodstock’s Kasia Sluska was...
BRATTLEBORO-Current Selectboard Chair Elizabeth McLoughlin is being challenged for a three-year seat by newcomer Ken Fay and current board member Amanda Ellis-Thurber in the March 3 town election. Ellis-Thurber, who won her one-year seat in 2025, opted to challenge McLoughlin rather than run for another one-year term. McLoughlin served a one-year term in 2019 and was subsequently elected to two three-year terms. In a second race for two one-year seats on the Selectboard, incumbent board member Isaac Evans-Frantz, who is...
BRATTLEBORO-“Today in Brattleboro, Vermont, the groundhog took a look outside and predicted six more weeks of the winter of our discontent, followed by an effervescent Peoples’ Spring.” So declared Dan DeWalt of Newfane, one of the organizers of a series of protests at the Brattleboro branch of Citizens Bank at 894 Putney Rd. The protests, which began on Jan. 26, are meant to call attention to the Rhode Island-based bank’s relationship with two major operators of private prisons in the...
In light of the violent and sometimes homicidal attacks in Minnesota and Maine on immigrants, protestors, and American civil liberties, Vermont is gearing up for if — or when — the same ugly things happen here. In Vermont, respected and welcomed immigrants are working on our farms as well as in our cities and factories, taking care of our elderly, repairing our decks, painting murals on our walls, and being warmly welcomed into our communities. To keep Vermont’s immigrant population...
Robert A. Oeser represents District 9 as a member of Brattleboro’s Representative Town Meeting. BRATTLEBORO-Recently, I stumbled upon some inadvertent endorsements for a town meeting–style of governance I thought I would share. In the video “I Drove To The Worst Place In Vermont. This Is What I Saw” (spoiler alert: It’s not that bad), the host raises the question about the values unique to Vermont. While acknowledging the rise in polarization in the country generally, a guest from Vermont zeroes...
Gemma Seymour is a District 8 member of Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting, as well as a member of the town Planning Commission. BRATTLEBORO-It’s been said that “people get the government they deserve” (Joseph de Maistre, French writer, diplomat, and lawyer). “Democracy,” it has also been said, “is two wolves and a lamb voting on what’s for dinner” (Shelby Foote, historian). You can be sure that lamb will be on the menu. Still again, it has been said that “the strain...
BRATTLEBORO-Around 12,000 people live in Brattleboro. Only about 140 Town Meeting representatives decide the budget of $25 million. This year, we can finally change this! On Tuesday, March 3, we can vote to eliminate Representative Town Meeting and replace it with a secret (Australian) ballot, so everyone can vote privately. Everyone should be able to vote on how we spend our collective taxes. One person. One vote. Jill Stahl Tyler Brattleboro This letter to the editor was submitted to The...
BRATTLEBORO-The first of two public hearings about citizens' petitions addressing changes to the town charter related to Representative Town Meeting (RTM) and using the Australian ballot method of voting was held Jan. 27. Both sides of the issue stood their ground. The first petition was filed with the Town Clerk Aug. 4, 2025 and requests the town consider discontinuing RTM and conducting certain town business - electing town officers, approving general fund budget, approving major borrowing, and all "public questions"
BRATTLEBORO-I ask that the Selectboard not go forward with the proposed 8% cut to the Brooks Memorial Library budget. The library is a unique institution in the town that serves all social classes, all income and education strata. It is effectively the living room of Brattleboro. And it serves many human and humane service needs of the community — heat, cooling, bathrooms, community, kindness, resources, information, culture, and education, all free to the patrons. Cutting the budget means either fewer...
Rev. Dr. Scott Couper, minister and teacher at Centre Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, who writes in his private capacity, not speaking for the church he serves. BRATTLEBORO-Over the years, I have served on the Compassionate Brattleboro board, I have attended many Selectboard meetings, and I currently serve on the town’s Community Homelessness Strategy Team. I have also participated in Beloved Shelter Support Team meetings and visited the former 69A site. For these reasons, I read Laura Chapman’s Viewpoint...
The Windham Southeast School District board has approved a $69,874,600 - a 2.6% increase this year - for FY27. Board member Tim Maciel was the sole 'no' vote. Maciel said he couldn't vote for the budget due to insufficient transparency, board oversight in determining senior administrative pay, and prioritizing capital expenses for athletic facilities and bathroom refurbishment over direct academy and student support services. He also noted understaffed student support roles and the board's rejection of his proposal earlier in...
BRATTLEBORO-Australian ballot is about inclusion. Open Town Meeting and Representative Town Meeting are not. They automatically exclude large portions of our community — not because people don’t care, but because they simply can’t be there. I want to tell you about my aging neighbor. She watches every Selectboard meeting on Brattleboro Community Television. She is informed. She is engaged. She cares deeply about this town. But she doesn’t have transportation, and she doesn’t have the physical stamina to sit through...
PUTNEY-Live and lovely events — like Putney’s Sandglass Theater’s 19th Winter Sunshine Series, which launches this Saturday — may be more essential now than ever before. As described in a press release, this annual tradition, “a warm beacon during Vermont’s coldest months,” is “rooted in joy, creativity, and community” and brings folks of all ages together “for cozy, homemade fun through the timeless art of live puppetry.” The Commons spoke recently with Jana Zeller, who has been working with Sandglass...
Emily Carris Duncan (they/she) represents the Windham-6 district (Wilmington, Whitingham, and Halifax) in the Vermont House of Representatives, where she serves on the Commerce and Economic Development Committee, the Joint Carbon Emissions Reduction Commission, and the County and Regional Governance Committee. Contact her via her website ecarrisduncan.com or Instagram (@ecarrisduncan). WHITINGHAM-As we sit on the precipice of our 250th anniversary in this country, the American people’s social contract is faltering. The federal government is withholding our critical funds for the...
