Down at the depot

Bellows Falls station enjoys new life as intermodal transportation hub

The Green Mountain Railroad Depot on the Island in Bellows Falls sits quietly until a freight train rumbles north on the tracks with loud clacks and clangs just outside the depot's western door.

People start to wander in. At the other side of the building, freight cars await, decorated with less than the usually elaborate graffiti, for a tow to the railyard across the river in Walpole, N.H., for repairs.

Two young visitors to the depot on a recent summer Friday struggle to find space on the world map that hangs on one wall, looking to place a brightly colored pushpin to show Pavia, Italy, their hometown.

The twentysomething Italian couple on a two-week visit to the East Coast, will tour as many railway stations in Vermont as they can.

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What then?

Vermont Yankee, spreading across a half-mile bend in the Connecticut River, has been here for decades, and things have grown in around it. Corn and hayfields stand at its edges, and Vernon Elementary School is a long stone's throw from its gates. The plant has grown in around the...

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Bellows Falls has long history as rail hub

New Englanders have long been known for thrift, but they are also notable for not being afraid to jump on board with new ideas, their economy, energy and creative entrepreneurship the necessary ingredients to making visions come true. In this spirit, the Bellows Falls Island, current home to the...

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Milestones

Obituaries Editor's note: The Commons will publish brief biographical information for citizens of Windham County and others, on request, as community news, free of charge. We compile local information as a public service directly from funeral homes and from data from paid death notices online. • Linda M. Boyd Amidon, 58, of Wilmington. Died Aug. 22 at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. Daughter of Leon and Mildred Houle Boyd. Mother of Edwin C. Amidon, III, and his fiancée, Debbie, of Brattleboro. Partner...

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River Valley Credit Union prepares for move to new Putney branch office

In the nearly 65 years of its existence, the River Valley Credit Union has evolved from a card table with a cigar box for a cash drawer to a $60 million financial institution. The latest step of that evolution came a couple of months ago, when the credit union bought the former Sawmill Country Store building on 52 Main St. at a cost of $300,000. Over the next few months, the building will be renovated and turned into the credit...

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Visiting Vermont Yankee

Altogether, my colleagues and I spent about two weeks in communities with nuclear power plants asking questions, getting opinions and weighing the facts as part of our multimedia journalism project, News21's Powering a Nation. I still didn't know how I felt about nuclear power. The good things seemed really good, and the bad things seemed really bad. In order to gain a better perspective on the nuclear issue, we decided that we needed to see the inner workings of a...

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Feeling hot, hot, hot

We've just finished the hottest three months of the year in Vermont, and it's safe to say that this was a hotter-than-usual summer. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center, the average temperature in Vermont between December 2009 and July 2010 was 45.2°F. The August figures aren't yet available, but considering how warm August was, that average will surely rise. The previous record highs for yearly average temperature were 44.9°F in 1949, 44.5°F in 1953...

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BaBB to conduct market analysis survey of downtown area

A vibrant downtown filled with shoppers, community events and thriving business. This vision guides Building a Better Brattleboro (BaBB) as the organization plans for a market analysis survey in partnership with urban planning firm Arnett Muldrow & Associates. “To be armed with this information can be quite powerful,” said BaBB Executive Director Andrea Livermore. One of Livermore's goals for the survey is to have scientific data detailing what businesses could thrive in Brattleboro so that BaBB can use the data...

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Israeli Film and Food Festival a success

On behalf of the Brattleboro Area Jewish Community (BAJC), I thank all those who participated in the fourth annual Israeli Film and Food Festival on Aug. 21 and 22. More than 150 movie lovers viewed some top-rated Israeli films and sampled Middle Eastern fare while helping BAJC raise much-needed funds. Our fundraiser was successful in a large part because of the support we received from local businesspeople who purchased ads in our program book or donated merchandise to raffle. We...

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Is Middle East peace possible? Anna Baltzer says yes

In 1997, Nelson Mandela said, “The U.N. took a strong stand against apartheid; and over the years, an international consensus was built, which helped to bring an end to this iniquitous system. But we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” If nonviolent tactics and economic sanctions worked in South Africa, why not try them again in Palestine, says Anna Baltzer, 31, the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, an award-winning Jewish author and a...

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Young adults and their faith

I am preparing to celebrate my 34th birthday in September. This year I do so with the growing realization that by this time next year I will not qualify as a “young adult” by anyone's estimation. That is, I won't be a young adult by anyone's estimation except for in organized religion. I sit on the cusp between two generations. Generally, those of us born in 1976 are considered part of the tail end of Generation X. But by some...

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Will VY’s license expiration benefit local economy?

The social, economic and political impact of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant remains a source of bitter debate even when - especially when - people with strong views from either side of the divisive issue forecast what happens when the facility will no longer generate electricity. As part of their argument to shut the substation, several organizations such as the New England Coalition, Safe and Green Vermont and other antinuclear groups point to conflicting studies and presumptions that minimize...

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Is Entergy mulling a sale of Vermont Yankee?

The Energy Daily Network, a subscription-only online newsletter that covers the energy industry, reported last week that Exelon Corp. and NRG Energy Inc., have expressed an interest in buying the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon. In a story written by Energy Daily reporter Jeff Beattie, Entergy Nuclear, the current owner, is “apparently fed up with the troublesome investment - and the difficult political environment it faces in the state” and “has begun shopping its Vermont Yankee nuclear power...

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An anniversary worth noting

Fifty years ago, on May 9, 1960, something happened in the U.S. that changed women's lives forever: the Food and Drug Administration approved a revolutionary contraceptive technology known now simply as “the pill.” For women of my generation, the birth control pill represented nothing less than freedom and autonomy. Not only were the days of sweating out a late period gone, we could also recognize and enjoy our sexuality, and our independence, without fearing that our lives would come to...

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All roads — and tracks — lead to Bellows Falls

Since January, business owners, volunteers and local officials have worked to turn the historic depot into a hub that will tie together all modes of public transportation. In addition to his work as acting stationmaster, Gary Fox works as managing director for Destination Bellows Falls, established in January by a group of concerned citizens responding to their perceived need to establish this intermodal hub. They see this measure as a critical part of economic development in the Village. Destination Bellows...

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Dewey defeats Truman?

Careful readers - or even casual readers - might have raised an eyebrow at our editorial last week, which offered insights into the gubernatorial race to follow. Clearly, the editorial, which went to press with most of the rest of the newspaper before last Tuesday evening, was written in advance of the primary election, and we did so in a way that did not depend on the actual outcome of the election to make its point. But the premise that...

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