BMAC elects new trustees and officers

The membership of the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) elected seven individuals to the museum's Board of Trustees at the annual meeting of the museum's members on June 16.

Nominated by the museum's governance committee, the seven new trustees include nonprofit administrators, educators, artists, a curator, a jewelry designer, and an economic and community development expert. All seven are full- or part-time residents of southern Vermont. They join nine returning trustees at the helm of one of the region's premier cultural institutions.

The first act of the newly constituted Board of Trustees was to elect four officers to one-year terms.

Of the seven new trustees, BMAC Director Danny Lichtenfeld said, “This is such an impressive group. They bring to the table a range of personal and professional expertise and experience that will prove invaluable as BMAC continues to grow in the years ahead.”...

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Old fire hoses help fund new ones

What do you do with the fire hose when it wears out? That was the dilemma of the Saxtons River Volunteer Fire Department, which recently learned it will need to replace 6,000 feet of fire hose that is no longer serviceable, at a cost of $10 per foot. To...

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Local author, area booksellers team up to revive the serial novel

Local author Michael J. Daley and several area booksellers have teamed up to revive an older form of storytelling - the serialized novel. Daley's Racing the Blue Monarch, a solar-powered NASCAR racing thriller, will be delivered to reader's emails in six parts, one per week, beginning July 1. Though...

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Forum to discuss future of diversified farming in Vermont

The town's legislative delegation - Sen. Jeanette White and Reps. David Deen and Mike Mrowicki, will will host a public forum at the Putney Firehouse on Route 5 on Thursday, July 2, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., entitled “Where is the Place for Diversified Agriculture in Vermont's Future?" Since humans have inhabited Vermont, agriculture has been at the heart of life in the Green Mountain State. As a rural state with small population, agriculture remains an integral part of our...

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Around the Towns

Route 30 closure planned in early July BRATTLEBORO - Route 30 will be closed next week so that the project team can erect “traveler form” equipment that will be used to construct the new Interstate 91 bridge over the West River in Brattleboro. Traveler forms are forms used to construct segmental cast-in-place concrete bridges. A short section of Route 30 (where it crosses beneath I-91 in Brattleboro) will be closed for, at most, eight hours from 3 to 11 a.m.,

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Milestones

Births • In Amberg, Germany, June 8, 2015, a daughter, Heather Marie, to Rachel (Darling) and Eli Ketchum of Eschenbach, Germany; granddaughter to Judi Ketchum of Brattleboro, and Roy and Sarah Darling of Greenfield, Mass.; great-granddaughter to Phil and Dottie Turner of Brattleboro, Peg and Charlie Ketchum of Melbourne, Fla., and Virgil and Clarabelle Hawes of Hadley, Mass. College news • The following local students recently graduated from Castleton State College: Allyson Davis of Cambridgeport, with a B.S. in biology;

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Putney briefs

Dog licenses still dog town PUTNEY - The town is making progress in resolving Treasurer Anita Coomes's failure to deposit nearly $10,000 in dog license fees paid by residents over the span of three years. [“Audit finds three years of dog license payments,” Town & Village, Jan. 28]. At the June 17 Selectboard meeting, Town Manager Cynthia Stoddard gave the Board the financial details. A total of $9,940 was to be collected for dog license fees. After Coomes performed two...

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Work begins on Next Stage renovations

Work has begun to transform Next Stage, 13 Kimball Hill, into a modern, accessible performance space, while retaining the building's historic features and great acoustics. The space will be closed this summer and fall while work begins on installing an elevator, restoring the historic ceiling, roof, and facade of the building, and making major upgrades to the performance space, including new seating, air handling, lighting/sound, as well as the addition of a green room, a renovated kitchen, and a restored...

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Jamaica library presents Vermont Made Film Festival

A free movie series beings July 1 at Jamaica Town Hall. Co-sponsored by Jamaica Memorial Library and Jamaica Historical Foundation, eight films and a special presentation will take place Wednesdays at 7 p.m. through Aug. 26. The library is bringing back the popular Freedom & Unity: The Vermont Movie and adding two Eric Schaeffer films partially filmed in Jamaica and featuring some local talent. All six segments of The Vermont Movie will feature guest speakers. A special presentation by independent...

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More troubles for town treasurer

As Putney finally works toward resolving its dog license issue [“Audit finds three years of dog license payments,” Town & Village, Jan. 28], the Treasurer, Anita Coomes, finds herself in the spotlight again. Coomes's department is delinquent in filing some of its state and federal tax forms, and the town could face hefty penalties as a result. At the June 17 regular Selectboard meeting, Town Manager Cynthia Stoddard reported she was recently in Coomes's office on unrelated business and “found...

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Vernon briefs

Open Meeting Law reminder VERNON - At the June 15 Selectboard meeting, the board and its Secretary, Catrina Lawley, reminded the town's committees that their minutes, agendas, and meeting warnings must comply with Vermont's Open Meetings Law. Board Chair Christiane Howe told the board each committee is responsible for warning their meetings, and posting agendas. Lawley said the Town Clerk will post minutes, but it is up to the committees themselves to send meeting minutes to her. Board member Steve...

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Saxtons River celebrates Fourth of July, centennial of its elementary school

With a theme of “School Days,” Saxtons River will kick off its annual Independence Day celebration Saturday, July 4, with a 5K Firecracker road race at 8:30 a.m., followed by a parade at 9:30 a.m. In addition to the race sponsored by Pleasant Valley Brew Pub, the day's activities include a street fair highlighted by the firefighters' water polo, a hula hoop contest and music on the bandstand. Miniature golf, an egg toss, a pie contest, face painting, and food...

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Bellows Falls to take inventory of its trees

Trees on public sites and public streets will be inventoried in Bellows Falls in July, according to Ellen Howard, Chair of the Rockingham Tree Committee. Staff from the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation will conduct the inventory. Howard said that Forest Division staff will be out on the streets and municipal properties with tablets checking on the trees between the sidewalks and roads, and also at public properties such as the playgrounds, the Fire-Police Facility and parking lots.

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River Gallery School offers outdoor landscape painting class

Love to work outside in the summer? Join a small group of artists to paint in the plein air tradition - in the open air. In the spectacular summer beauty of the Vermont countryside, River Gallery School welcomes any and all levels of artists to join them at the Hilltop Montessori campus in the hills of Brattleboro for “Plein Air Landscape: Painting with Pastels Oils” with Helen Schmidt. Amidst Hilltop's quaint pond, rolling hills, fields, budding wildflowers, and buildings, artists...

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Town clerk, zoning administrator retire

Two key positions in town government are being vacated come July. Town Clerk Doreen Aldrich announced she was retiring as of Wednesday, and Zoning Administrator Ellen Howard is also stepping down, as of July 11. Together, the two public officials will take 60-odd years of knowledge of the town's innermost workings with them. Adrich's long career began in 1988, when she was hired as an assistant to then-Town Clerk Rita Bruce. In 1995, Aldrich was appointed town clerk. As town...

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Post 5 off to fast start as Legion season begins

The American Legion Baseball season has begun and Brattleboro Post 5 and Bellows Falls Post 37 should be in the thick of the race for the top four playoff spots in the Southern Division. • Post 5 is off to a fast start. In their league opener against Lakes Region at Castleton State College on June 22, they got a 5-2 win. Danny Richardson pitched 6 1/3 innings to pick up the victory, with George Atkins getting the last two...

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A newspaperman who instilled love and fear

It is no exaggeration to say that I owe a lot to the late Norman Runnion, the managing editor of the Brattleboro Reformer who brought me to this town in 1989. Norm gave me my first full-time newspaper job and salvaged my career. Norm gave me my life in southern Vermont, a place I love dearly. And most of all, Norm gave me the chance to meet Joyce Marcel, then a fellow reporter at the Reformer, so I could have...

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The reappeared

Isabel Williams grew up knowing she was adopted. She remembers the day she met JoAnn Williams, the woman who raised her and her sister, Ana, and moved them to town when they were children. What Isabel did not find out until later in life: That the circumstances surrounding her and Ana's adoption more closely resembled a kidnapping. Now the Williams sisters are in contact with their birth mother. And they want their story known. From 1979 to 1992, El Salvador...

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A watershed Supreme Court ruling

Frederic Noyes: Hooray! It's about time we settled this and moved on to other social and environmental justice issues. Jennifer Carroll Cahill: Let's call it “marriage” now, and leave off the “gay.” We are all one. Yippee! Fran Lynggaard Hansen: I live in China where I've seen people rejected and discriminated against based on their sexual orientation. In August I am moving to Cairo, where one can be stoned to death or hung if one is gay. My hope is...

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Fritz calls it quits

Citing “marginalization,” Newfane Selectboard member Rosalind Fritz resigned her position on June 5 via a letter to the Board. The Commons previously reported Fritz resigned at the June 1 regular Selectboard meeting. However, after an apology from Selectboard Chair Todd Lawley, and requests from Lawley and Board member Carol Hatcher that she change her mind, Fritz resumed her position. ["Resignation narrowly averted, Fritz decides to stay on Selectboard,” Town & Village, June 10, 2015] She said four days later, after...

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We must not forget that this was a battle

Something I never thought I would see in my lifetime has me glued to the Internet. I can't stop reading and watching, crying and laughing. The United States Supreme Court said yes to gay marriage. Love has prevailed. Despite being raised Catholic, I never caught homophobia. Maybe it's because I grew up surrounded by family friends who wore long dresses (priests and seminarians), and by classical musicians who, in the bubble of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, didn't need to hide...

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State officials vexed with VY process

A theme of frustration with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) emerged during the June 25 meeting of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel. While NRC-inspired angst is common amongst anti-nuclear watchdogs, the most angst-filled comments during the meeting came from state officials. “I'm becoming less and less patient with the NRC's approach to these things,” said Commissioner of the Department of Public Service Christopher Recchia. He said that Entergy followed the NRC's regulations as the owner of a nuclear power...

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Unruh, Harris, Sund win in special election

Josh Unruh and Sandra Harris won their respective Selectboard races on Tuesday in a special election. Unruh won a two-year seat on the board. He received 243 votes. Robert Miller Jr. got 146 votes, and Robert Goodnow got 48 votes. Currently board president of the Recreation Department, Unruh is also a member of the town Emergency Management Committee and chair of the Vernon War Memorial Committee. Harris defeated Bruce Gauld, 260-174, for the three-year seat. It marks a return to...

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Reformer abruptly sheds staff

The parent company of the Brattleboro Reformer has laid off two members of its editorial team, including the longest serving member of its staff. According to sources within the company who spoke on condition of anonymity, New England Newspapers Inc. (NENI), a subsidiary of Digital First Media (DFM), laid off multiple employees on Friday and Monday at the Reformer, at its two other dailies, the Bennington Banner and The Berkshire Eagle, and at the Manchester Journal, a weekly. Let go...

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Suspect sought in Main Street bank robbery

Brattleboro Police are seeking information on a man who allegedly robbed a downtown bank early Monday afternoon. People's United Bank on the corner of Main and Elliot Streets displayed a hasty “closed” sign in stark black and white on 8” X 11” paper. North on Main Street, multiple police vehicles, lights flashing, converged in front of the Stone Church. “All I can tell you is that People's United Bank was robbed,” said Brattleboro Police Capt. Mark Carignan to a couple...

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Butterfly Swing Band performs outdoor concert on Common

The Recreation and Parks Department, as part of the Arts in the Parks Program, presents the Butterfly Swing Band on the Common on Putney Road, on Tuesday, July 7, at 7 p.m. This is the second concert of the Summer Arts in the Park series for 2015. Trumpet player and singer Scott Sizer describes Butterfly Swing as follows: “We're a swing band, specializing in tunes from swing era, with a bit of blues and bebop added. However, we're definitely not...

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African drum, dance classes to be offered this summer

African Dance Vermont presents an exciting line-up of teachers for summer 2015 on Wednesday evenings. All of the classes take place at The Stone Church, 210 Main St. The drum classes are held from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m., and the dance classes are from 7:15 to 8:45 p.m., with different times for the special workshops. The cost of the drum class is $10 and the cost of the dance class is on a sliding scale between $12 to $15, with...

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Following her instincts

American abstract painter Emily Mason believes that her creative energy comes from intuition. “You have to fall back on yourself,” she says. “I never know what a painting will look like when I start a new picture. Every time I face a blank canvas, I have only an inkling where I may go.” She leaves the rest to her natural instincts. “What's the fun of painting if you already know what it looks like?” she asks. “Painting is wonderful when...

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VSO returns to Grafton Ponds for annual Independence Day concert

The annual Vermont Symphony Orchestra Summer Festival Tour will again stop at Grafton Ponds Outdoor Center on Friday, July 3, at 7:30 p.m. The concert, presented with the Windham Foundation and the generous support of an anonymous donor, is a celebration of the long-awaited coming of summer, complete with picnics, pops, and fireworks. “We start getting calls about our Summer Festival Tour around February,” says Marketing Director Amy Caldwell. “This tour has become a Vermont summer tradition, and we love...

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