Acclaimed violinist Michelle Ross presents all-Bach solo recital to benefit Guilford Free Library

The Guilford Free Library presents Michelle Ross performing an all-Bach solo violin recital on Saturday, May 14, at 7:30 p.m., at the Guilford Center Meeting House on Guilford Center Road, next to the Library.

Ross will play Partita No. 2 in D Minor and Partita No. 3 in E Major.

Ross is a violinist and composer who loves Southern Vermont and enthusiastically agreed to play a recital in the area to benefit the Guilford Free Library. An acclaimed violinist, she was the recipient of the 2012 Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund for the Performing and Visual Arts.

Ross participated in the Marlboro Music Festival from 2011 to 2014 and has performed often with the related Musicians from Marlboro touring program. She performed with Maestro Harry Bicket in Zankel Hall and with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris as soloist and conductor in Cite de La Musique in Paris.

Read More

Engel leads bird walk in Grafton

Everyone loves listening to the love songs of our returning bird friends in spring. Yet, every year, most folks ask themselves, “Who is that avian songster?” The Nature Museum is ready to help with a fun, educational experience. On Saturday, May 21, Bob Engel, Nature Museum educator, will lead...

Read More

Groundworks thanks musicians who volunteered for fundraiser

On behalf of the staff, board, residents, and clients of Groundworks Collaborative, I extend our abundant thanks to the members of House Blend, Singcrony Trio, and Big Woods Voices - three local a cappella groups who generously donated their time and talents to benefit our work. On April 16,

Read More

More

What do they want from decommissioning?

What is it that the states and localities want? Decommissioning is an engineering and construction process. Doing this work in a radioactive environment requires qualified health physics staff? Will the states and localities provide that? Or is it their old game of “We decide, you pay?” Or do they want daily or hourly reports on progress and radiation surveys and exposure? Will someone please tell me?

Read More

Not so fast

Although clearly a step in the right direction, none of the publicity discloses the fact that the Vermonter can only accommodate three bikes. This limit greatly diminishes the utility of this service for the bike trips that I organize periodically to Northampton and Essex Junction.

Read More

Board continues to grapple with disputes related to dog attacks

At a specially noticed public meeting of the Selectboard May 9, officials returned to the question of Shilo, a dog who has bitten two people this year and whose fate has been the subject of intense debate. In a shift in the town's position on the matter, town counsel Bob Fisher suggested the town work to come to an agreement with the dog's owner, Katie Bak - who strongly opposes killing Shilo and has proposed fencing him in instead -

Read More

Rotary scholarships deadline is Friday

The Brattleboro Sunrise Rotary will offer college scholarships again this year to graduates from Brattleboro, Leland & Gray, and Hinsdale, N.H., high schools. A combination of financial need, academic achievement, and community service are the criteria for selecting the recipients. The scholarships will be presented during the senior awards ceremonies at each of the three schools in June. In addition, the inaugural John Penfield Memorial Scholarship, created in memory of the club's first president, will be awarded to a qualified...

Read More

On legalizing marijuana, message from the Legislature is loud and clear

We have just witnessed the display of the dictionary definition of paranoia: a classic example of how fear can disrupt clear and rational thinking. Our Vermont legislature has voted that cannabis users are criminals, somehow not worthy of citizenship and to be disenfranchised from society. The message has been heard - loud and clear. The pro-cannabis people say that sunshine is the best disinfectant: Bring marijuana out in the open, and treat it like alcohol. The anti-cannabis people push back,

Read More

A Unified Basketball team was born, and it was fantastic

As proud parents of one of the team members on the new Brattleboro Unified Basketball team, we send out a hearty list of thank yous: Thank you for the great collaboration of the Vermont Principals' Association and Special Olympics, taking up the baton of inclusion and acceptance of high-school students with disabilities' participation in statewide athletics programs. Vermont's first Interscholastic Unified Sports Basketball League is an amazing accomplishment! The message that these students are valued and worthwhile members of our...

Read More

Camp for a Common Cause returns for a fourth year

Groundworks Collaborative presents the fourth annual Camp for a Common Cause on Friday, May 20, on the Brattleboro Common. For the past three years, this event has been a joint fundraiser for Morningside Shelter and the Brattleboro Area Drop In Center. The two organizations merged last June, creating Groundworks Collaborative. The family-friendly one-night campout continues to successfully raise awareness around homelessness in the greater Brattleboro area. Groove Prophet, a local rock and R&B cover band, returns to provide live music...

Read More

Brattleboro Concert Choir to perform Rachmaninoff’s ‘All Night Vigil’

Considered by many to be the greatest piece of unaccompanied choral music ever written, the “All Night Vigil” of Rachmaninoff will be performed by the Brattleboro Concert Choir, under the direction of artistic director Susan Dedell, on Saturday, May 14, at 7:30 p.m., and on Sunday afternoon, May 15, at 4 p.m. While closer to an hour than to “all night,” the Concert Choir nevertheless invites audiences to experience the power of Rachmaninoff's incredible music. In the 26 years Susan...

Read More

Confronting violent extremism in Africa is topic of WWAC

On Friday, May 13, the Windham World Affairs Council will host Dr. John Hagen, who will speak on the topic of “American Engagement with Niger: A Case Study on Confronting Violent Extremism in Africa.” The talk, followed by a question-and-answer period, takes place at 7:30 p.m., at The School for International Training, Room IC-101 of the International Center, 1 Kipling Rd. Coffee, tea, and conversation will precede the talk at 7 p.m. A predominantly Muslim nation facing the threat of...

Read More

Chilling words through the ages

It's been a while since blatant misogyny on the scale we see today reared its ugly head so overtly in political circles. But thanks to Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and others on the far right, we are reminded of just how base male attitudes toward women can be. Trump appears to be the frontrunner in this regard. He once told a female contestant on The Apprentice, “I bet you make a great wife.” He has also said of women, “You...

Read More

Around the Towns

WBA meeting to discuss potential re-use of current West B Fire Station WEST BRATTLEBORO - The regular monthly meeting of the West Brattleboro Association (WBA) will be held on Thursday, May 12, at 6 p.m., at the New England House, 254 Marlboro Rd. After a review of the treasury report, spring plantings, the last BizUp meeting, and other issues, the WBA will discuss details of the Chicken BBQ coming up on Saturday, May 28. A feature every year of the...

Read More

Marlboro College to hold commencement ceremonies May 15

Two leaders in global citizenship and service will address the graduating class at Marlboro College on Sunday, May 15. Robert Gard, Jr., chair of the board at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, and Nadinne Cruz, an advocate and practitioner of service learning and experiential education in colleges and universities, will each speak at the first combined commencement for Marlboro College undergraduates and graduates at Persons Auditorium at 10 a.m. “We are so honored to include these two inspiring...

Read More

Milestones

College news • Kayla Wood of East Dummerston, a junior at Castleton University, was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District I team for her work on the softball field and in the classroom. Wood is a two-time North Atlantic Conference (NAC) First-Team All-Conference selection who ranked among the best in the NAC in six major pitching categories, including league-leading marks in shutouts (3), saves (2), ERA (0.81) and batting average against (.160). Her six...

Read More

Town Schools Theatre set to perform at NEYT

For the third time, participants in the Town Schools Theatre will take to the stage on May 13, 14, and 15 to perform “An Acrobat, A Bus Driver, and an Intergalactic Overlord.” “An Acrobat, A Bus Driver, and an Intergalactic Overlord” is written and directed by New England Youth Theater's Education Director Jonny Flood with assistance from Jessa Rowan and James Gelter, according to a news release. “A long time ago,” the release says, “in a galaxy far, far away,

Read More

Business briefs

Wilson passes license exam BRATTLEBORO - Sperry Wilson of The Richards Group recently passed the state Property & Casualty License Exam, and she is now dually licensed to sell employee benefits and commercial/personal insurance in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Wilson joined The Richards Group in September 2008 and works out of the Norwich office. Starting as an Account Manager for the Employee Benefits Group, Wilson is an advisor to midsize businesses with expertise in health care reform and both...

Read More

Sam Baker to perform in BF on May 14

“Life is a gift,” Sam Baker says. “Gratitude for what remains is more helpful than resentment for what was lost. Ultimately, I came to understand that these days are wicked short and terribly beautiful. All I've got is this one breath, and if I'm lucky, I get another.” Four albums into a career that was ignited by a tragic event in a foreign land, it is life and its precious value that carries Baker's songs and art, according to a...

Read More

Eileen Fisher donates to scholarship fund for Green Mountain Camp

Green Mountain Camp for Girls (GMC) recently received a donation from the Eileen Fisher Company Store in Manchester, Vt. The contribution of $3,202 will support GMC's scholarship fund, which ensures girls who wouldn't otherwise be able to go to camp the chance to enjoy one week of fun. In 2015, GMC gave $17,000 in scholarships to 71 deserving girls and didn't turn away a single camper. Green Mountain Camp for Girls was founded in 1917 by Sarah Bradley and her...

Read More

Online registration begins for BrattRock

Youth musicians and bands are invited to register for the first-ever Brattleboro Youth Rock Festival (BrattRock). Participation is open to solo performers or bands with all members under 20 years of age. The festival will be held Oct. 1, and will feature hands-on music workshops and clinics for youth, offered by local adult music professionals. The main event will be a concert with performances by youth musicians and bands from Southern Vermont and the surrounding region. This event at 118...

Read More

LGBTQ community to celebrate ‘Earth Gay’ at Circle Mountain Farm

On Sunday, May 22, more than 40 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) volunteers will have fun getting dirty for the local environment at the second annual “Earth Gay” Vermont. Earth Gay Vermont's 2016 host is queer-owned Circle Mountain Farm, which also hosted last year's event. It is co-presented by Green Mountain Crossroads (GMC), a Brattleboro nonprofit connecting rural LGBTQ people to build community, visibility, knowledge, and power, and OUT for Sustainability, a Seattle-based nonprofit mobilizing the LGBTQ community...

Read More

Stroll seeks volunteers, vendors

Strolling of the Heifers is seeking volunteers to help make Stroll Weekend a success and still has room for a few more vendors at its Expo. Strolling of the Heifers Weekend is June 3-5, with the agriculturally-themed downtown parade scheduled for Saturday, June 4, at 10 a.m. The Stroll is always looking for volunteers to help out in a multitude of ways at all events, including the Friday evening Street Festival (June 3), the Parade and Expo (June 4) and...

Read More

Entergy won't face fine for federal violation

Entergy violated federal regulations last year by withdrawing $282,000 from Vermont Yankee's trust fund months before the company was authorized to do so, a new inspection report says. But the company won't face any penalties. That's because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is admitting that the federal rule in question is confusing and likely should be changed. “We acknowledge that there were some issues associated with the clarity of NRC regulatory guidance in this area,” commission spokesman Neil Sheehan said. “We...

Read More

Solar savings to benefit BDCC

While some worry about solar panels consuming prime agricultural acreage in Vermont, a Windham County economic development agency has found a different kind of home for photovoltaic power generation. The state has approved two new, 500-kilowatt solar arrays in Guilford, one of which will be built at Exit One Industrial Park. Brattleboro Development Credit Corp. (BDCC) owns that land and will take advantage of utility credits associated with the net-metered project. While pointing out the project's financial and environmental benefits,

Read More

Every road, every bridge is important to someone

With another legislative session adjourned, we lawmakers finally have the breathing room to look back - and look ahead. Trying to squeeze a year of work into four months, your part-time citizen legislature has moved ahead with decisions that support protecting children, the elderly, and the environment: • A top priority is how much we value our children in Vermont, and because of the opioid problem, more children need our protection from unfortunate, dangerous circumstances. We addressed both that situation...

Read More

VY cuts staff again

On May 5, 16 months after power production ended at Vermont Yankee, the nuclear plant shed about 40 percent of its remaining workforce. Spokesman Marty Cohn said 93 staffers were “processed for leaving” Vermont Yankee. A majority of those workers departed the plant immediately, though a handful will stay on for a short period of time. The cuts leave 136 people employed at the Vernon facility. Vermont Yankee had employed 625 in the summer of 2013, when Entergy Corp. announced...

Read More

Windham County weather facts

At the Skywarn spotter training, a citizens' severe-weather seminar held in April at Grace Cottage Hospital, National Weather Service (NWS) Meterologist-In-Charge Raymond O'Keefe offered some stories and statistics about local weather and told attendees which types of storms are most common during warm-weather months. The NWS Weather Spotter's Field Guide says, “The U.S. is the most severe-weather-prone country in the world.” The guide says that each year, “people in this country cope with an average of 10,000 thunderstorms, 5,000 floods,

Read More

Entries sought for inaugural Kipling Young Writers Award

The Landmark Trust USA announced the first-ever Rudyard Kipling Young Writers Award in celebration of its 25th anniversary. Tristam Johnson, interim executive director of Landmark Trust USA, said in a news release: “As owners of five historic homes that have been painstakingly restored and open for guests, including Rudyard Kipling's home, Naulakha, where he wrote the “Just So Stories,” “The Jungle Book,” and “Captains Courageous,” we wanted to celebrate his legacy along with our own anniversary. We believe this competition...

Read More

Marlboro College announces expansion of Socially Responsible Management programs

Marlboro College plans to expand its MBA and MS in Management programs to include new concentrations in conscious business, collaborative leadership, social innovation, and sustainable food systems, while continuing its popular concentrations in mission-driven management and project management, according to a news release. The redesigned curriculum “builds from the school's strong history in socially-responsible management, while anticipating important industry trends,” the release says. The new business concentrations will be available to current and future students beginning in September 2016. “Our...

Read More

Act 46 is all about money, not kids

The voters' choice is always ours, at least for now. Simple math: Dummerston, Putney, Guilford, and Vernon have 100-percent direct voter participation in their schools, done by electing school board members and/or casting a ballot at Town Meeting. Changing school governance to a super board under Act 46 gives each of these towns one member per outlying town (Brattleboro has more) to a board of eight or so. The outlying towns would then have less than a 15-percent say in...

Read More

Windham Central to launch preschool support program

Windham Central Supervisory Union is starting a program for families with preschoolers in the West River Valley towns of Jamaica, Wardsboro, and Townshend. The Preschool Support Program is funded by a state/federal Preschool Expansion Grant. Through this program, families with preschool-age children can get help with a variety of needs, according to a news release. The preschool support worker can help families receive beneficial screenings for their child (hearing, vision, dental, health, and developmental), connect to community resources for help...

Read More

Infrastucture costs, merger to dominate meetings

With the end of the fiscal year, and the annual Village Meeting of the Bellows Falls Village Corporation next week, Trustee Sandy Martin and president Nancy McAuliffe say goodbye, having signed off on the fiscal year 2017 budget. The budget boasts a 0.535-cent decrease in the Village General Fund tax, whose revenues fund village administration, fire, police, and parks. The last decrease, Town Manager Willis “Chip” Stearns wrote, “was in 2007, when the last town appraisal went into effect.” With...

Read More

‘Brattleboro Goes Fourth’ seeks money for fireworks

Organizers of the town's Independence Day celebration are launching several public fundraising efforts to help pay for the 43rd annual free family event. The “By the People: Brattleboro Goes Fourth” citizens' committee will mark July 4 with a morning parade downtown and an afternoon and evening of sports, concerts, and fireworks at Living Memorial Park. Brattleboro's Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, known for leading the annual march with its giant U.S. flag, is kicking off the fundraising by contributing...

Read More

Residents, officials hear options for town office

The voters of Newfane have three choices for what to do about the Town Office building: put an addition onto the existing structure, sell it and construct a new one next door, or continue to pour money into a leaky, drafty building. But something must be done. This was the message conveyed to the 30 or so attendees at the first public hearing on what to do about the Town Offices. Members of the Selectboard, town officials, and David Cotton...

Read More

Mobilizing to combat global climate change must start with us

The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris was encouraging. But not encouraging enough. The world is still not aroused. From day to day we and our leaders have things higher on our agenda - if climate is there at all. We get up in the morning with enough other tasks and concerns to occupy us. And tomorrow is the same. In fact, nothing has seriously mobilized our country and the world for 75 years. When World War II...

Read More

Approving proposed Rockingham/BF merger would be like volunteering to get cancer

The proposed merger of Bellows Falls and the town of Rockingham soon comes to a vote. At Bellows Falls' first merger hearing, a lone booster for the proposal suggested that the town of Rockingham could be likened to God. I was relieved to learn Scripture doesn't support that notion. We don't need a merger. The local government isn't broken. The town and the village are not adversaries. The current governing boards do a good job overseeing the community's interests from...

Read More

Local brewers take center stage as beer festival season begins

The Brattleboro Brewers Festival will open the spigots on the beer festival season this Saturday at the VABEC fields off Old Guilford Road, beginning at noon and running until 4 p.m. And on the following Saturday, May 21, in Pownal at the Green Mountain Race Track, the Green Mountain Brewfest will debut, also from noon to 4 p.m. The Brattleboro Festival will include 27 producers of beer, five of hard cider, and one hard seltzer maker, Truly Spiked & Sparkling.

Read More

Danger of Brattleboro neighborhoods is all about perspective

My response was born out of the desire to keep perspective: I live near, work near, and go to all of the businesses on Elliot Street at all times of the day and night. Have you seen families having dinner at Hazel? Couples at TJ Buckley's? People attending 118 Elliot Street for events? The New England Youth Theatre? How many crimes have been committed against these people? Are people too afraid to venture out on Gallery Walk? Regarding my lack...

Read More

MAU snaps Colonels’ softball win streak

It was a cold, damp, and raw late afternoon for softball at Sawyer Field on May 4, more like March than May. It was the type of afternoon where you would have understood if the Brattleboro Colonels had postponed their game with the Mount Anthony Patriots. But in a spring that has seen too many rainouts, this was a game that was going to get played, unless there was a downpour that flooded the field just before the scheduled first...

Read More

Home work

Alex Wilson's version of a “This Old House” episode might include net-metered solar panels, cork insulation, and high-tech quadruple-glazed windows. He also might hire a construction crane to set the house aside during foundation work. Wilson, a pioneer and prominent advocate in the green-building movement, brought all of that and more to the recent renovation of a historic farmhouse in Dummerston. The result is a home that's producing more electricity than it uses, with enough surplus energy to power his...

Read More

New goat-cheese facility opens in Westminster

AlpineGlo Farm in North Westminster will be hosting a grand-opening celebration for its new USDA-certified cheese-making facility on Saturday, May 14, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. AlpineGloFarm cheeses are handcrafted in small batches and produced on-site with their own goats' milk. The cheese lineup includes fresh chèvre - plain or cranberry-walnut; their Neufchâtel cheese spread - plain or garlic-dill; and marinated Feta. Cheese will be available for sampling as well as for purchase. According to a news release, visitors...

Read More

Intergenerational Chorus to present free concert at Brooks House Atrium

Students from Oak Grove School in grades 4-6 will join their voices in song with adult volunteers to perform a free 30-minute concert at noon on Wednesday, May 18, at the Brooks House Atrium on Main Street. The Oak Grove Intergenerational Chorus, directed by Oak Grove School vocal music teacher Andy Davis, has been performing every spring since 2004 in area nursing homes and schools. The group was formed when two area teachers, Irene Bergman and Andy Davis, recognized the...

Read More

Mixed-media, textile artists discuss their work at MGFA

Mitchell-Giddings Fine Arts will host two artist talks this weekend at their gallery on 183 Main St. As part of “Color & Construct,” an exhibit featuring the mixed-media assemblages of Lauren Pollaro, Pollaro will talk about her work on Saturday, May 14, at 5 p.m. Working as a jewelry artist for over 20 years, Pollaro honed technical skills and fulfilled interests in new techniques through courses, workshops, and studio experiments. According to a news release, her mixed-media wall sculpture has...

Read More

A jump into the magazine world

Dede Cummings, the publisher of Green Writers Press, has started a new literary magazine, The Hopper. “Here is a cultural space, both online and in print, that allows literature, art, poetry, and interviews to come together toward an invigorated understanding of nature's place in human life,” Cummings says. Like everything that Green Writers Press publishes, Cummings says that “The Hopper believes that in order to refashion our lives to accommodate the knowledge we have of our environmental crisis, we have...

Read More

Schools end pursuit of ‘accelerated’ merger

Residents in five Windham County towns won't be voting on formation of a new, consolidated school district next month. Officials on Tuesday cited unanswered legal questions as a key reason why they are stopping work on an Act 46 “accelerated” merger of all school districts in Windham Southeast Supervisory Union. Such a merger would have required a vote in each town by June 30. Merger talks will continue in some form in Windham Southeast, given Act 46's push for larger...

Read More

Bassist Ben Williams brings his group Sound Effect to Vermont Jazz Center

The Vermont Jazz Center will welcome bassist Ben Williams and his group Sound Effect to the stage on Saturday, May 14, at 8 p.m. Joining Williams are Marcus Strickland, saxophones; Alex Wintz, guitar; Willerm Delisfort on piano and Rhodes piano; and John Davis on drums. Williams is the winner of the 2009 Thelonious Monk Competition on bass. He is also the recipient of a Grammy Award for his work with Pat Metheny's Unity Band and was voted top overall rising...

Read More

A turnip gets its day in the sun

It's fair to say the Gilfeather turnip has achieved fame uncommon for a root vegetable: There's a popular annual festival that bears its name, along with a recipe book, a song, and even a movie. Now, the Wardsboro-born turnip has another claim to fame as Vermont lawmakers have designated it the official state vegetable as of July 1. The honorary title is the culmination of years of work by Gilfeather advocates, including a dedicated group of Wardsboro Elementary School students...

Read More

Cloudsourcing

Weather buffs and amateur radio operators - who are sometimes the same people - received a treat in early April: training in how to see severe weather coming, and how to report it, from National Weather Service (NWS) Meteorologist-In-Charge Raymond O'Keefe. Every spring and fall, the Albany office of the NWS conducts Skywarn spotter trainings throughout their service region to engage citizens in helping report severe weather events. Windham County's seminar was held at the Grace Cottage Hospital. During his...

Read More

It worked

Vermont prides itself on having citizen legislators, as opposed to professional politicians, while the lobbying in Montpelier for special interests is done by well-funded professional lobbyists. For the past eight years, our legislators and regulators have been bombarded by renewable-energy lobbyists. The message has been that Vermont must do “everything” and we must “do it now” to save the planet from climate change. The urgency of the pitch has made it seem as if Vermont alone is responsible for the...

Read More

Victims of our waste stream

It doesn't take long into a typical Green Up Day excursion to notice a few things that reveal a lot about yourself doing the trash pickup and about those whom I'll refer to hereafter as “trashers.” (I much prefer this term to the conventional euphemistic term “litterers,” as “litter” is much too polite a term for the garbage that trashers feel free to dump at will.) Not too long after filling our second or third bag of disgusting refuse from...

Read More

Did Retreat have ‘a duty to warn?’

A sharply divided Vermont Supreme Court has opened the door for Brattleboro Retreat to face negligence claims in connection with a 2011 assault committed by a former patient. A majority of justices ruled that the family of the assault victim, Michael J. Kuligoski of St. Johnsbury, can pursue claims that the Retreat and Northeast Kingdom Human Services failed to warn of the dangers posed by assailant Evan Rapoza, who had been under the care of both facilities for mental illness.

Read More