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Brattleboro, Vermont Wednesday, September 29, 2010 • Vol. V, No. 22 • Issue #69

W ind h am C ounty ’ s A W A R D - W I N N I N G , I ndependent S ource for N ews and V iews

News

10 YEARS of Ramping up

bRATTLEbORO

Why did the chicken dance in the parking lot? page 2 DUMMERSTON

Forum looks at ways to prevent child sex abuse

Exner Block anniversary offers

page 3

Bellows Falls

ROCKINGhAM

a chance to

Town manager search begins

take stock of its downtown

page 4

efforts

Voices VIEWPOINT

Blinded by the need for someone special page 6 COLUMN

Sharing our stories page 7

The Arts hAPPY 10Th!

Write Action marks decade with new anthology page 9

Sports bOYS SOCCER

Twin Valley hands Rebels their first loss of season

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page 12

Candidates discuss school choice at Grafton forum

By Olga Peters The Commons

GRAFTON—Local Senate and House candidates discussed their positions and answered questions from members of the public on school choice and charter schools at a forum in Grafton on Sept. 23.

But it did not take long for the discussion at the White Church to shift to the economy and Vermont’s aging population.

Windham County Senate candidates Hilary Cooke, Lynn Corum, Peter Galbraith, and Sen. Jeanette White and House candidates Chris Moore, Rep. Carolyn Partridge, and Rep. Michael Obuchowski had two minutes to state their respective positions on school choice. They responded to questions from the audience.

School choice allows for the

use of public funds for students to attend the school of their choice. Charter schools operate under a charter — an education contract — detailing specialized public school’s goals and academic accountability. They often also operate with fewer restrictions than traditional public schools.

Beating the soapbox

Obuchowski said the state looked at school choice in 1998 and charter schools in 2002.

“It seems if you want to address either issue, go back to the studies, recast and do over,” he said adding the issue was complex and people needed to be careful.

Obuchowski said he is introducing a “minimalist” piece of legislation that would help n see SCHOOL CHOICE, page 3

In Brattleboro, a bridge with no name — for now Selectboard begins to narrow 25 suggestions for the new span

By Olga Peters The Commons

Allison Teague/The Commons

Robert McBride, founding director of the Rockingham Arts and Museum Project (RAMP), stands in front of the Exner Block in Bellows Falls.

By Allison Teague The Commons

B

E L L O W S FALLS—From serendipitous beginnings, the Exner Block has been a collaboration with the local community, other interested individuals and several Vermont organizations such as Vermont Housing and the Rockingham Area Community Land Trust (RACLT).

Robert McBride is the acknowledged visionary behind the Exner Block, at 7 Canal St., which is celebrating 10 successful years there at 3 p.m. on Oct. 7, beginning at the Rockingham Arts and Museum Project (RAMP) offices, followed by a gathering at

4 p.m. in the newly renovated Windham Hotel to listen to guest speaker Emily Wadhams.

“We wanted to recreate the ribbon cutting ceremony, show people around to see what we’ve done, to have some sort of celebration of our success,” McBride said with a grin.

McBride and Development Director Francis “Dutch” Walsh put together Exner’s 10year “celebration of success” and Bellows Falls Downtown Development Alliance’s presentation by Wadhams, the vice president for public policy at the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

“Emily was involved … when she was Vermont State Preservation officer,” McBride said. “It was a perfect fit.”

McBride also chairs the

Northeast Board of Advisors of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, serves as a member-at-large for the Windham Regional Commission and serves on the Connecticut River Byway Council.

A painter, he has an master of fine arts degree from Hunter College. He bought his home in Bellows Falls in 1982.

About 15 years ago, he was founding director of RAMP, whose mission remains “revitalizing the community by developing awareness of the arts, creating vitality in the community with the arts, and demonstrating that the arts favorably impact the local economy.”

“I’m an artist. My head is always full of ideas. I loved this community since I first came n see exner block, page 4

BRATTLEBORO—The newly constructed bridge on Western Avenue next to the Creamery Bridge needs a name.

The Selectboard intends to choose one from a list of 25 at its Oct. 5 meeting. Residents submitted name suggestions over the course of a month. The suggestion process has since closed.

The Selectboard planned to choose a name at its Sept. 21 meeting but decided to table the issue until absent member Martha O’Connor returned.

“I’ve received as many emails about this [bridge naming] as any other issue in town,” said Selectboard member Daryl Pillsbury.

Suggested names had to meet 9-1-1 dispatch criteria for consideration.

Names not making the cut: names that duplicated another place in town like “Living Memorial Park Bridge,” were too long like “Brand New Bridge to My House on Guilford Street/

Sucks to Be You” or names that had alliteration that could prove difficult for dispatchers like “The New Whey,” said Town Manager Barbara Sondag.

“Some people think it should be nameless. It took me aback,” said Selectboard Chair Dick DeGray.

DeGray suggested calling the bridge “Citizens Bridge,” where names of the honored could be added to a plaque on the bridge over time.

“I like the opportunity of giving the bridge multiple names of people who are here or in the future. We have a lot of people in town who are heroes in their own right,” said DeGray.

Selectboard Vice-Chair Dora Bouboulis said she’s a little “leery” of naming the bridge after a person, because a lot of people get left out of the decision.

Approximately seven family and friends attended the Sept.

22 Selectboard meeting to show support for naming the bridge after Army Capt. Frederick J. Giroux, a Brattleboro resident n see bridge name, page 2

Dover to celebrate its bicentennial Celebration kicks off Oct. 1

By Olga Peters The Commons

D

OVER—Break out the birthday cakes and history. The town of Dover celebrates its bicentennial on Oct. 1–3.

“This celebration is not only a way for the community to come together and share everything that has taken place prior to now, but to get an understanding of where we’ve come from, where we are today and where we can go in the future,” says Mary Lou Raymo, chair of the Dover Bicentennial Committee.

Festivities will include a parade, art show, musical performance, a square dance, a play presented by Dover Elementary School students, and the rededication of the town war memorial.

As part of the celebration, the

Bicentennial Committee took entries for the giant birthday cake contest. Entries closed on Sept. 24.

Residents, businesses and schoolchildren have built nonperishable birthday cakes out of a multitude of materials. Some cakes already grace the front lawns of Dover businesses.

Cash prizes will be awarded at Saturday’s parade and maps provided so people can see the cakes.

On Sunday, the town will hold a rededication ceremony of its war memorial, says Raymo.

The current memorial is dedicated to veterans of World War I and II and was dedicated by then-Gov. Ernest Gibson Jr. Two gray granite stones will be added.

One stone commemorates the 27 Dover residents who served in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. The other will be for the

Jeff Potter/Commons file photo

Jeff Brown and his daughter Jodie ride on a tractor pulling the Dover Bicentennial parade float during this year’s Strolling of the Heifers in Brattleboro. names of soldiers currently serving in the Middle East.

“Would be nice if that’s all we ever had to add,” says Raymo.

The town’s early years were spent as a part of the South

District of Wardsboro as decided by the Vermont Republic Grant in Nov. 7, 1780.

According to Raymo, Wardsboro and what became Dover were separated by an

“inconvenient” mountain and thus operated as two sovereign towns with own governments from the start.

Dover residents petitioned the n see BICENTENNIAL, page 8

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NEWS

2 139 Main St. #604, P.O. Box 1212 Brattleboro, VT 05302 (802) 246-6397 fax (802) 246-1319 www.commonsnews.org Office hours by appointment 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Monday–Friday Jeff Potter, Editor

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• Randolph T. Holhut, News Editor Olga Peters, Staff Reporter • David Shaw, Photographer • Nancy Gauthier, Advertising Manager Nancy Roberts, Advertising Sales Adrian Newkirk, Ad Composition • Cal Glover-Wessel, Distribution Deadline for the Oct. 6 issue Friday, Oct. 1 About The newspaper

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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Special thanks to: Distribution coordinator: Barry Aleshnick Editorial support: Joyce Marcel, David Shaw Special projects development: Allison Teague, Olga Peters Operations support: Simi Berman, Chris Wesolowski, Diana Bingham, Jim Maxwell, Bill Pearson, Andi Waisman, Doug Grob, Dan DeWalt, Tim Chock, Barbara Walsh, Menda Waters, Mamadou Cisse

T h e C ommons

BR AT TLEBORO

• Wednesday, September 29, 2010

n Bridge name

who died as a prisoner of war in April 1951.

Giroux, said supporters, served as an infantry officer in the Third Army during World War II. He received numerous combat decorations, including a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star and the Distinguished Service Cross — a award second only to the Medal of Honor for valor in battle.

That medal was presented for Giroux’s action in battle in August 1944 in Amanvillers, France. According to Army records, Giroux fearlessly exposed himself to intense enemy small arms, machine gun, mortar and artillery fire to rescue a number of wounded men. It was personally presented to Giroux by Gen. George S. Patton.

Giroux returned to Brattleboro and his family after the war. When the Korean Conflict broke out in 1950, he re-enlisted. Giroux was seriously Jeff Potter/The Commons wounded and captured in Korea A “flash mob” performs the chicken dance in the parking lot of the Brattleboro in November 1950, after his infantry company was overrun by Food Co-op on Saturday.

Chinese troops. He was tortured and later died in a North Korean prisoner of war camp.

Sam Haskins, of VFW Post 1034, said he noticed that most of the names on the approved list were former paid town employees.

“I hope they did their jobs above and beyond as public employees. The captain [Giroux] put his life on the line in World War II, and then volunteered to

By Jeff Potter go back to Korea,” he said The Commons DeGray said he appreciated the people advocating for BRATTLEBORO—At 5 p.m.

Giroux adding the bridge namSaturday, people mill around ing shouldn’t be a contest. He the Brattleboro Food Co-op encouraged people to contact parking lot looking warily for the Selectboard and say if they information. wanted the bridge named for a Selectboard member Daryl person, “Citizens Bridge” or not Pillsbury moves to the edge of named at all. the hill overlooking the parking “[The names] have different area, unfurling a microphone meanings to different people,” for Brattleboro Community facebook.com said DeGray.

Television.

The chicken dance was instigated on Facebook by Pillsbury corrals the small the user posting as “Brattleboro, Vermont.” crowd that warily and steadily gathers over the next few min- Cloaked (clucked?) invited questions other than utes. WKVT News Director in mystery his identity. He identified himGorty Baldwin cranks up his In many ways, it’s just an- self as a male, a lifelong resi- League of Women car radio. other day in Brattleboro when a dent of town, and a graduate of At 5:15 sharp, the oom-pahs group of people do the chicken Brattleboro Union High School. Voters hosts of “Dance Little Bird” come dance amid puzzled shoppers “Very few” people know his candidates forum over the car radio, and for sev- and construction debris. true identity, he wrote. He also eral minutes, the 50-or-so men, But this group assembled due maintains a separate Facebook BRATTLEBORO — The women and children, flanked by to the efforts of a person they account under his real name.

League of Women Voters, puzzled bystanders and excited don’t even know.

Brattleboro, Vermont said that Southeastern Unit, will again spectators alike, perform the The idea was the brainchild he “sent out a few requests to sponsor a candidates forum, chicken dance. of the person who has assumed random people at first” to build in partnership with BCTV, at And then, after a somewhat the pseudonymous identity of up an audience. From there, which at least four candidates for disjointed flurry of beak-ing, “Brattleboro, Vermont” on friends came easily, wittingly or the Vermont Senate will present wing-ing, tail-ing, clapping and Facebook since April 2009. unwittingly. their views. the steps, the flash mob disImpersonating an entire town “But once I started posting The Conversation with bands as quickly as its partici- on a social networking site has its stuff about flash mob I had a Candidates is scheduled for pants arrives. challenges. Birthday? December hard time keeping up with friend Thursday, Sept. 30, from 6 -7 The concept of a flash mob — 27, 1723. Relationship? It’s com- requests,” he wrote. p.m., in the Hannah Cosman defined by the Oxford English plicated. Earlier this month, the On Saturday afternoon, he Room in the Municipal Center Dictionary as “a public gathering conversation on Brattleboro, wrote that he would be there, on Main Street, with League of complete strangers, organized Vermont’s “wall” strongly im- watching. member Janet Cramer as modvia the Internet or mobile phone, plied a tryst with the town of He said the flash mob idea erator. It will be broadcast live, who perform a pointless act and Vernon. Brattleboro, Vermont came as a result of a “local boy” and the public is invited. Those then disperse again”— originated also Likes Townshend, Vermont. who suggested it. “[He] asked who have agreed to participate in the 2003 as an experiment orWhile the social networking if he thought I could get a flash include Sen. Jeanette White, ganized by Bill Wasik, a senior site’s terms of service require real mob going around Brattleboro,” Peter Galbraith, Lynn Corum editor of Harper’s. names, Brattleboro, Vermont he wrote. “So I proposed the idea and Hilary Cooke.

According to a story published has fallen under the radar, creat- and strangely enough I received To conform with the time conin Time that year, Wasik, inter- ing an identity that has attracted over 100 messages in 24 hours.” straints of a live telecast, quesested in “the social reasons peo- 4,999 friends as of Monday. tions from the audience will be ple go to see performing arts,” In the electronic trail of cor- Worth the risk accepted at the conclusion of the wondered what would happen respondence on the account’s According to Peter Case, the broadcast. The moderator will “if the performance were taken wall, some friends are clearly program director of WKVT who continue to ensure the candiout of the equation.” confused, thinking it is some- himself writes a column for the dates will have equal and full opFlash mobs have organized how a town-sanctioned presence Reformer and broadcasts under portunities to respond. General 200 people to freeze in place on on Facebook. Others use it as a the name “Fish,” the radio sta- areas sure to be covered during cue in Grand Central Station, means of publicizing local events tion agreed to broadcast several the broadcast include Vermont ride on the subway with no pants to an audience of thousands. minutes of the tune, even though Yankee, health care in Vermont, and do a Ghostbusters routine in Occasionally, Brattleboro, it hardly qualifies as a classic hit. the state budget/Challenges for theDOWNTOWN New York Public Library.

Vermont will post a question or Case said he read the first mes- Change and transportation in statement, many cryptic and a sage that Brattleboro, Vermont Vermont.

SELF STORAGE few pointed. posted about the idea on Sept. 17 The League is non-partisan, In a private Facebook mes- and messaged him via Facebook. but encourages the public to sage, Brattleboro, Vermont “I didn’t know what a flash participate actively in the party mob was,” said Case, adding that or campaign of their choice. It he tried to get the mysterious so- encourages all local residents to cial networker to appear on his register to vote now, and to vote show, “but he didn’t want to, in the upcoming elections Nov. Downtown Brattleboro’s 157 Main St., Brattleboro, VT one-of-a kind venue. 3,000 sq.ft.

R.G. Winchester Auto because he said he’s fairly well 2. For more information, contact of open space beckoning to known in town.”

Judith Myrick, 802-257-4616.

Indoor, lighted, heated, secure be filled with your imaginaton, 30 Years Licensed “Well, I just assume it’s a floor-to-ceiling windows, a glass Many sizes from $50–$250 him,” Case said. “He could very Workshop in Marlboro cathedral ceiling soaring above unk ard well be a female.” you, and an outdoor patio with a Callof802-257-4886 ext. 1and is paying $150-$300 for view the Connecticut River Observing the fragility of par- teaches nonviolent Mr. Wantastiquet. ticipating in an event organized communication Junk Cars & Trucks Suitable for any type of event! by a person masquerading as Also buying batteries a town, Case said on Saturday MARLBORO — A “Heart of Prompt, courteous service Call for more info. morning that it would be worth Communication” workshop will Stephanie Petkanas, Manager 802.254.4322 the gamble. be held in Marlboro on Oct. 2.

Building a Better Brattleboro “It’ll be a fun thing if it hapDrawing on the process and 802.258.0478 802-257-4886 Ext. 1 pens,” he said. “If it’s a hoax, Accepting calls 24/7 stephanie@brattleborovt.org we’ll play 2½ minutes of bad www.brattleborovt.org Pickup & Delivery prices vary polka and get back to the real thing.”

Why did the chicken dance in the parking lot?

Flash mob swarms (flies?) into downtown to perform the chicken dance at urging of mysterious Facebooker

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from page 1

The names BRATTLEBORO— Here is the list of approved names under consideration by the Selectboard: Broken Jaw Bridge; Tess (Teresa S.) Brungardt Bridge; Buttermilk Bridge; Centerville Bridge; Frank Dearborn Bridge (or Dearborn Bridge, or Frank H. Dearborn Memorial Bridge); Dora Ferrante Bridge; Fireman’s Bridge; Gibson Bridge (honoring Ernest W. Gibson Sr., Ernest W. Gibson Jr., Robert Gibson and David Gibson); David A. Gibson Memorial Bridge; Capt.

Frederick J. (Joseph) Giroux Bridge; Alfred Hughes Jr. Bridge; Lolatte’s Bridge; T. Howard Mattison Honorary Bridge; Milkery Bridge; Non-Dairy Bridge; Timothy J. O’Connor Jr. Bridge; R2-C2 (Rural 2-Creamery 2); Renewal Bridge; Gary Rosen Bridge; Henry David Thoreau Bridge; (The) Uncovered Bridge; Wheyward Crossing; Jody Williams Peace Bridge These are the “thanks but no thanks” names: Austine’s Bridge; (The) Brand New Bridge to My House on Guilford Street/Sucks to Be You; Bush-Cheney-RovePalin Memorial Bridge to Somewhere; Creamery 2 (or Creamery Two) Bridge; Creamery Crossing; Creamery Connection; East Creamery Bridge; Gardener Path Bridge; Living Memorial Bridge; Living Memorial Park Bridge; Memorial Bridge; Memorial Park Bridge; (The) New Bridge; New Creamery Bridge; (The) New Whey; Park Bridge; South Creamery Bridge; Whetstone Bridge; Whetstone Brook Bridge. practice of nonviolent communication, this workshop introduces fundamental skills to build relationships based on compassion, respect and understanding, starting with ourselves and working outwards.

Participants will learn how to transform anger and fear, resolve conflicts, stop the power struggles and discover the power of empathy. The cost of the workshop is a sliding scale contribution of $50 -$75, with no one turned away for lack of funds.

Contact Wendy Webber at 802-257-5833 or wendywebber1947@yahoo.com for details or registration.

Flu shot clinics at Grace Cottage TOWNSHEND — Flu shot clinics for members of the public age 18 and older will be held at Grace Cottage Family Health, Route 35, on Thursday Sept. 30, from 5-7 p.m. and on Saturday, Oct. 16, from 9 a.m. to noon.

The flu shot cannot be given to anyone with an allergy to eggs.

No advance appointment is needed. The cost of the shot, if not covered by health insurance, is $42.25. For more information, call 802-365-4331.

For more information on flu shots, visit the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website (www.cdc. gov), the Vermont Department of Health website (www.healthvermont.gov) or call the Vermont helpline at 2-1-1.

CORRECTION NEWFANE—In the Sept. 22 story “Zoning foes file petition in Newfane,” quotes by Newfane resident Frank Suponski were attributed instead to E.W. Morse.

Morse was not interviewed for the story, although attempts were made to contact him since he was one of 87 residents who signed the petition.

T h e C ommons

NEWS

• Wednesday, September 29, 2010

3

county & region

‘A difficult subject to talk about’ Forum examines child sex abuse, ways to prevent it

By Allison Teague The Commons

DUMMERSTON—For all the importance of the subject of child sex abuse, only about 20 people showed up a Sept. 23 forum organized by Greg Brown, a member of the Windham Community Advisory Board to the State Police, and Lt. Kraig LaPorte of the Vermont State Police in Brattleboro.

Working in close association with the Putney and Dummerston school boards, Brown said the Dummerston forum followed on the heels of a similar forum in Jamaica late last year, as well as a 2009 public hearing in Vernon that raised interest and concern with regard the to the sex offender registry in Vermont.

The Dummerston forum in the school gymnasium covered the topics of prevention and education of children about sex abuse, what to do if a child reports inappropriate touching or behavior from an adult, who are the biggest offenders of sexually abusing children, signals and signs to take note of in a child that might indicate abuse, and

what resources are available for victims and their families.

As Baxter noted, “It’s a difficult subject to talk about. People don’t even want to admit it happens, let alone educate themselves and their families about it.”

“Kraig really put this together.

He knew who to include [in the panel] and where everyone was,” Brown said.

Panelists included Windham State’s Attorney David W. Gartenstein; Phil Damone, program supervisor of probation and parole for the Vermont Department of Corrections in Brattleboro; Connie Baxter, Executive Director for Windham County Safeplace Child Advocacy Center/Southeastern Unit for Special Investigations; state police Lt. Dee Barbic from Bennington County; Southeastern Vermont Special Investigations Unit Detective Tyler Burgess and LaPorte.

While the forum had nothing to do with the Act I mandate for sex education of staff and students in the schools, it was attended by several members of the school board and the Dummerston Principal Jo

Carol Ratti.

“Our students are well educated,” Ratti said. “We tell them to notice anything that ‘makes the hair on the back of their neck stand up’– and believe me, we hear about it. They’re really good about talking to us. The issue that remains [most difficult to deal with] is [sexual] abuse within families.”

Ratti noted Dummerston’s teachers regularly attend classes and education workshops on such concerns as child abuse, whether it is physical or sexual, and that the Dummerston health curriculum delivers developmentally appropriate education about safety and reporting of anything that makes a child feel uncomfortable.

LaPorte stressed that sexual abuse is a “relationship based” crime; people who commit sexual abuse on a child are likely to be a father or stepfather, a grandfather or step-grandfather, or a boyfriend or ex-boyfriend of the mother of the child; someone the child knows well.

For an offender, LaPorte said that “trust between the sex abuser and the child victim is key to success. It’s how the offender

n School choice Vermont get a portion of $3.45 billion in stimulus funds for education.

He cautioned people might not want school choice for various reasons like the conflict of using public funds for private use and needing to be “careful of what you do because you have to pay for it.”

Partridge, who is also the chair of the Windham School Board, said she is “really passionate about education. Education is one of the best investments we can make.” She said children deserve the best in education and if a public school isn’t working, parents should become involved with the school.

“Vermont needs younger people and a younger population,” said Moore.

Moore favors school choice and charter schools, but said he perceives that the decreasing numbers of young families, and jobs to support them, as the bigger issue.

Corum, a member of the Brattleboro Union High School Board, said if people are to be honest about charter schools, they needed to consider them for K-12 and not simply high school.

“It strikes me, in education, that we try and go for equality,” she said.

But, she said, people needed to define quality, which gives a better range than equality because when schools strove for equality they usually ended up lowering the standards to the lowest common denominator.

Galbraith said Vermont has some of the best schools in the U.S. and he wanted to preserve the state’s current choice options.

“What made this country great is its commitment to public education,” said Galbraith.

He also cautioned school choice and charter schools could “impoverish” existing small community schools if a number of students fled at once.

“I’m favorably disposed to the notion of school choice,” said Cooke, a former Newfane school board member.

He said school choice was about creating ownership for families.

“There are many sides to this issue,” said White, who voted against Act 153 — passed by the Legislature last spring, which supports the voluntary merging of school districts — because she felt it added a whole new level of bureaucracy to school administration.

White said she couldn’t weigh in on a future bill about school choice without first seeing it, but felt everyone needed to strengthen public schools by thinking outside the box.

Question and answer time

Questions from the audience started with school choice before veering into declining numbers of children statewide, the state’s economic health and the burden of property taxes socking both young families and retirees.

“We need more children to keep schools open,” said Moore, referencing the recent closing of the Athens Elementary School.

from page 1

Partridge said Windham sends more in taxes to the state than it gets back for education.

An audience member and Grafton resident said if property taxes keep increasing in her town, people will soon see “for sale” signs up and down Main Street.

“The teachers union is the elephant in the room. Shame on us that we let a union with self interest get in the way of our students doing the best possible,” said Corum.

Cooke described educationrelated Acts 60, 68 and 153 as examples of “thinking inside the box.”

A mother in the audience said her family has moved once within Vermont, to Grafton, which tuitions its seventh- and eighth-graders, so her daughter could attend The Compass School in Westiminster.

But soon her daughter will no longer qualify for Grafton town tuition and they are faced with the same decision, where to move so her daughter could attend the school best for her?

Galbraith said Vermonters could do high paying jobs from home in the 21st century, but first the state needs 21st century access in the form of broadband and cell service.

Understanding positions

“Vermont is one of only 10 states in the country that has no charter school law,” said Anna Vesely Pilette, co-organizer of the forum. She expressed concern over Act 153.

She said one-third of towns in Vermont use school choice tuitioning, like Grafton.

Some parents choose to send their children to the Compass School, but are confronted with the problem of what to do when

their children reach ninth grade and the town will no longer pay Compass’ tuition.

If Grafton chooses to merge with another district under Act 153, parents could lose their choice completely.

In Vesely Pilette’s ideal world, state money would follow children to the schools they want to attend. She feels this would create a healthy learning environment for students and teachers who suffer under a tough system.

If schools thrived because they attracted more students, it would be a win-win for everyone, she said.

Molly Leuschel, who co-organized the event, thought the evening went well and she had a better understanding of where candidates stand on the school choice issue.

“But I also think they were not well informed,” she said, because she felt there were a number of blanket statements.

Leuschel’s Grafton house is for sale and the family rents in Manchester so her daughter can go to school there. She blinked back tears.

“I don’t see what the resistance [to school choice] is in Vermont. A lot of it is protecting the system,” she said.

controls the child, keeps it secret and continues the abuse.”

Because of the stigma of guilt and shame, sexual abuse committed by a family member or close friend of the abused goes unreported for long after the event, if ever. Childhood sex abuse causes mental and physical illness in the victim, as well as social integration issues. Successful treatment can only happen with disclosure.

“The social stigma, not wanting the guilt associated with their family, or even retribution after disclosure, are all reasons people do not make reports,” LaPorte said. “Worse, the child is not believed, or whoever the child talked to didn’t want to believe it.”

Burgess said the keys to disclosure and prosecution of an offender for sexual abuse crimes are “to make sure there is good communication between you and your children, that they feel safe and know they will be believed if they report something to you.”

“Once the child starts talking, don’t interrupt them. Just let them talk,” Burgess stressed.

“The success of our investigations for prosecution depend on the statement of the child being unsullied by outside ideas or interpretations of events.”

He said the most important step is reporting the child abuse to the Department of Children and Families to make the offender accountable and stop the abuse.

“Most often, a report is never made,” Burgess said, “and the abuse continues.”

The sex offender registry available online through www. dps.state.vt.us is accurate to the extend that the convicted sex offenders comply, and in the case of offenders who move in from out of state, to the extent that their offenses are relative to Vermont sex offender laws.

Vermont protects the rights of sex offenders to live anywhere without restriction unless mandated otherwise by the court upon their release, and provided they are in compliance with registering, their release provisions, and they do not re-offend.

Damone said in the case of high risk offenders — there are three in Windham County — the town clerk or Selectboard might be notified of the offender in their community.

Otherwise, the sex offender registry will tell you who is in your town, but not their address.

Offenders are not restricted as to where they live, again, unless the court mandates specific avoidance of risky locations like schools or day care centers.

Gartenstein described Vermont and the Attorney General’s office as extremely aggressive on violations of sex offender registration and compliance.

“We will prosecute,” he said.

“If someone moved and didn’t tell us and we find out, we prosecute. If anyone violates conditions of their release, goes where they shouldn’t go, doesn’t show up when they are supposed to, we prosecute.”

Damone said that compliance checks are carried out in proportion to the level of the sex crime.

The higher risk offenders might be checked for compliance three to four times a week; the less risky offenders, once a month.

“We stay on top of them,” Damone said.

Damone also stated that child sex abuse crimes are on the decline in the state. He attributed this to more openness, communication and reporting over the past two decades.

“Most of the offenders have been reported on,” he said.

“They’re either in custody or are out [and in the registry].”

Convicted offenders must register for 10 years following their release.

Sex offenders commit further offenses at a rate relative to the time they spent incarcerated, when sex offenders begin treatment immediately. Offenders in jail for five years or less have about an 8 percent repeat rate, while those who are in for 15 years or less, have a 24 percent recidivism rate. “Age plays into it too,” Damone said. “The older they are [50 and over], the less likely they are to offend.”

Treatment is based on the sex offender’s self-awareness of risk factors and why he or she engages in that behavior.

Offenders learn to monitor their own behavior.

Child sex abuse is on the steepest rise on the Internet.

All the panelists noted ongoing investigations — three just that week — of adult males luring underage Vermont girls someplace to have sex. Online child pornography is also on the rise.

LaPorte stressed that kids just are not aware of the risks involved with putting nude pictures of themselves on the web via their cell phones.

“That picture can be shared and then it’s out there and anyone can see it,” he said.

In the case of ‘sexting’ (using sexually explicit language), he said, “You don’t actually know who you are talking to online. They might say they are a 14-year-old girl, but they could be just posing as one, a sexual predator.”

“It happens more than you’d like to think,” LaPorte added.

“They’re teenagers. They just don’t know.”

Reporting child sex abuse is the key to keeping children safe and accountability. The number to call to report child sex abuse in Vermont is 800-649-5285.

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NEWS

4

T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, September 29, 2010

BELLOWS FALLS n Exner Block up here for a dinner party in the early 1980s,” McBride said. Of his house overlooking the canal and train yard, he says, “I just love the view,” and “now I go to New York to relax.”

McBride’s presence at a Selectboard meeting in 1998 garnered a serendipitous introduction to Andrew Broderick of Housing Vermont, a notfor-profit company that “creates rental housing intended to be permanent and affordable for Vermonters through partnerships with local organizations, public agencies and the private sector,” as mandated by state law.

“I usually just do my thing and leave,” McBride said. “I was at the Selectboard meeting giving an update on RAMP [and I was] on the agenda before Housing Vermont who was asking [for] support [for] their proposal to purchase the Exner [building]… [and to] follow up grant applications to create affordable housing there.”

“When Andy heard what I was doing [with RAMP], he asked if I wanted to partner with them on the Exner project. It was a natural fit,” said McBride. “Since there is a limited backyard and it fronts right on the street, it wasn’t really suitable for families, but it was perfect for artists.”

“It was the first major investment [in downtown Bellows Falls] in a long time,” he added.

“There’s less of a risk factor when housing is involved.”

But McBride said the vision also meant “rolling up our sleeves and doing some hard work.”

Mixing art, history

“Culture” and “heritage” are two words never far from McBride’s lips. He talks animatedly about what he considers the cultural heritage of a town like Bellows Falls.

“Industry grew up along the Connecticut River, and I am fascinated with the history that Bellows Falls is front and center of,” McBride said. “I love the Square, and especially that bell

from page 1

tower,” he said, grinning. “I call it ‘Vermont’s Venice,’ because of the canal.”

In 2003, as a founding member of the Vermont Council on Culture and Innovation, McBride envisioned Bellows Falls’ historically blue-collar community combining with a community where the arts contribute to the economic and social quality of life. He wanted to see a place where culture and heritage play deeply in an area that still shows the beginnings of transportation and industrial history of Vermont and the Connecticut River byway.

The partnership with Vermont Housing and RACLT and the support of businesses and community members brought to town affordable housing for artists in the renovated and refurbished Exner Building. Its original pressed-tin ceilings, ornate façade and much of the original wood flooring remain, and it sits just above the historic canal.

Providing affordable living with a preference toward artists and a place for several galleries along the storefront is McBride’s dream manifest.

“We’ve got a full house,” he said.

opera house and theater, a bell tower, and restaurants,” he pointed out. “You can park in the Square or down here on Canal Street, and walk to many different kinds of businesses.”

“It has the compact feeling, especially with the bell tower over the Square, of an Italian hill town,” McBride mused.

He noted that the renovated Howard Block, which sits across the Square from the Windham Hotel, houses several different businesses.

Both the Waypoint Center and the Exner Block have created a momentum for the revitalization of the downtown area of Bellows Falls. The two buildings have benefitted from investments of millions of dollars in the last 1015 years, he said.

“We’ve got a strong second generation of investors and people willing to do the work to make it,” McBride said. “Sure, the economy has a slowing effect on how fast things get done. But we’ve got the old Sam’s building that was just bought with a new business going in, and we’ve got the Windham Hotel opening back up. It’s a very organic process.”

Vermont’s industrial town main streets predicated his involvement in establishing the Connecticut River byway, with particular focus on a 2006 project, “From Mills to Main Streets.”

“We don’t have to change anything,” he said. “We just have to be who we are. And who we are is a former industrial town that sits above a canal and the Connecticut River, with a significant American industrial history, and a main street.”

McBride notes the gradual disappearance of main streets across America, which have given way to malls and sprawling urban development.

Not so in Bellows Falls.

“Here, we have a hardware store, a bank, a bookstore, an

A community’s main street needs to fit with the population of the community, according to McBride.

“Some communities want to recreate [Main Street] based on nostalgia — what it was when they grew up,” he said. “But that’s not going to happen.”

Needs aren’t the same. The old J.J. Newbury’s store is now the home of Vermont Pretzel.

The old Aubuchon Hardware space in the Howard Block now serves several storefront businesses.

The creative economy that thrives in Vermont so well supports more specialized “new idea” businesses, but McBride feels a diversified Main Street is an authentic one in today’s economy.

Changing Industrial heritage times, changing H i s f a s c i n a t i o n w i t h main street

The Howard Block in Bellows Falls.

“There need to be many reasons for a person to visit the Square, Canal Street and the Waypoint Center,” he said, “and there needs to be housing so people can live on Main Street.”

McBride adamantly wants Bellows Falls to avoid the fate of many other communities that attracted artists.

In many places, artists have moved to a town in disrepair, attracted by affordable rents, and have made improvements. But that hard work and effort often results in gentrification — the social and economic changes that occur when wealthy people buy and renovate areas in disrepair.

These changes too often result in higher property values and higher rents, driving out the very people who adopted a community and made it attractive to others.

“Gentrification is not a model for success,” he said. Instead, McBride said he wants a more inclusive community.

“I want Friday nights when all the stores are open until 9 and the community can come into town and do shopping,” McBride said. “With Lisai’s opening their new store on Atkinson Street, you can go grocery shopping, go to the hardware store, get something to eat, go see a show, and browse art galleries.”

McBride stresses the importance of a creative approach to

business and development in downtown Bellows Falls today, as well as a companionable vision with the community that exists here.

“We don’t want to shove it down people’s throats,” he said, “but work within the spectrum [of diversity] that exists.”

An organic process

While McBride comes from a background in the arts, he’s not promoting art classes or art on every corner.

“We’re providing the context,” he said.

He would consider his vision a success if “a skateboarder stopped and got off to read a poster in a window,” saying it’s just that “they have access to it” referring to the cultural heritage of Bellows Falls as well as the art and artists that live and work there.

He sees Vermont as unique with its access to people and ideas, as well as its regional connections along the Connecticut.

He doesn’t see Bellows Falls as isolated but as a part of a larger region that includes Walpole, Charlestown and Claremont on the New Hampshire side and Chester, Springfield and Windsor on the Vermont side.

Pointing to the community participation in two public art projects, McBride sees historic preservation as an investment that resonates within the

Allison Teague/The Commons

community.

“People were worried about graffiti,” McBride remembered, speaking of the two mural projects on the building coming into the Square on Rockingham Street facing south, and the murals, silhouettes, on the buildings leading down to and on the Grist Mill near the rail tunnel under the Square.

“But I said, well, if it happens we’ll just paint over it. But we’ve never had a problem with graffiti,” he recalled.

“Community development is an organic process and this community is still organically growing,” McBride said.

“There’s creativity in all those pursuits,” McBride said. “If you apply creativity to what you have, then you have a creative community. Anyone can contribute just by sweeping the sidewalk in front of their business, mowing their lawn, or by the simple act of opening the door for someone at the post office.”

The business of creativity

McBride notes those like Charlie Hunter (Flying Under Radar) and Ray Massucco (Roots on the River) have integrated their passions into the community with their vibrant undertakings.

“Artists have a responsibility to their community to be good business partners.”

For that to happen, artists need to hone their business skills, a need that RAMP tries to accommodate. “We host business classes several times a year for artists,” he added.

Perhaps not ironically, McBride would consider any nonprofit a success if it were absorbed by the community and put out of business.

“The need it was created to fill goes away,” McBride said, speaking of RAMP. Creative economies are vital and important for the future of Vermont communities, McBride said.

“We don’t need to change who we are. We just need to be more ourselves” to be a success, McBride said. “We have it all within our community.

Involvement is just a matter of backing up your creative idea with the hard work needed to make it reality.”

“I’ve seen more creative plumbers than the least creative of artists,” he noted. “When you apply creativity to all pursuits, you have a vital, creative community.”

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T h e C ommons

NEWS

• Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Saxtons River joins sewage talks

By Allison Teague The Commons

SAXTONS RIVER—Saxtons River Trustees finally got to the table in August for wastewater treatment talks that began last year.

They met with representatives from the Bellows Falls Trustees as well as interim Town Manager Francis “Dutch” Walsh, to discuss their counter proposal for a possible wastewater connection pipe from the Saxtons River pump station to the Bellows Falls wastewater facility.

The delay was a matter of overcoming conflicting schedules.

Saxtons River Trustees Chair Louise Luring explained, “The reason we are talking to Bellows Falls about accepting our sewage via a pipeline through North Westminster is because our plant is up for its 20-year inspection in a while.”

In September 2009, Saxtons River Trustee Ben Wallace explained to the Bellows Falls Trustees that the only options

are to either repair the Saxtons River facility, or consolidate the waste at the Bellows Falls facility.

“We are looking at all the options open to us since we believe we will be required to upgrade.

Funding would be through the issuance of a bond,” Luring said.

Getting permission to go through North Westminster with the pipe has hit a snag.

“This past spring, Louise Luring and I attended the annual meeting of Fire District 5 [the municipality that owns the sewer line running through North Westminster],” said Wallace.

“During the public meeting we expressed our interest in potentially connecting through their sewer line en route to the Bellows Falls Treatment Plant.”

In order to connect to the Bellows Falls Wastewater facility via a pipe from Saxtons River, the pipe must go through North Westminster.

The Saxtons River board has considered several options including upgrading and installing their own wastewater facility, bringing Westminster on

Search begins for new town manager

By Allison Teague The Commons

ROCKINGHAM—The Bellows Falls Trustees and Rockingham Selectboard have progressed in the search for a town manager to oversee all departments and employees, as well as do budgetary reports, negotiate contracts and report to both boards.

A five-member committee of two members from each board, and Interim Town Manager and Development Director Francis “Dutch” Walsh, have met to lay out a battle plan, and hope to have a town manager in place

by Jan. 1, 2011.

Ann DiBernardo and Matt Trieber from the Selectboard, and Paul Obuchowski and Leslie White from the Trustees, are working together with Walsh in creating and placing the ad — set to be posted in the coming week — and creating a timeline for interviews and recommendations, and subsequent hiring.

“Whoever we hire is going to have to know about budgets as we usually want to start reviewing town and village budget reports around the first of the year,” DiBernardo said.

“We want to do something different this time,” DiBernardo said, explaining that they want suggestions from employees and residents this time, on what they need and want in a town manager.

“A suggestion box is going up on the town site,” she said.

“People will be able to access it

and communicate their ideas to us in writing.”

DiBernardo said that the committee has a budget of $5,000 for advertising, and they don’t want to spend it all in one place.

One paper, she said, “charges $950 for one ad.” Instead, the committee will concentrate its efforts on online job websites, and at graduate schools around New England.

DiBernardo clarified, however, that they are probably not looking for someone fresh out of college.

“We want someone with a few years experience under their belt,” she said. “We’re looking for someone with fresh ideas and some vision for the community, who has the requirements we need.

“We think being a resident, or at least able to get to Town Hall inside 20 minutes, will be necessary,” DiBernardo continued.

“We want someone who will feel the pain along with the rest of us, if taxes are raised sort of thing.

I think [knowing] the culture of our community, life on the river, is important.”

“An energetic, proactive, community oriented leader” is what the committee says it is looking for, along with professional requirements to be posted in the next week on various websites online.

The suggestion box should be available in the next few weeks as well, DiBernardo said. “Matt [Trieber] is working on that with Dutch,” she said.

Vilas Bridge on pace for repairs in 2015

By Allison Teague The Commons

ROCKINGHAM—The Selectboard has learned from a consultant’s report that parts of the Vilas Bridge remain reparable, and that the state of New Hampshire, which owns almost all of the historic span, plans its repairs in 2015.

Interim Municipal Manager Francis “Dutch” Walsh reported to the board at its Sept.

7 meeting that the analysis from the consultant hired by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation to look into the condition of the Vilas Bridge is done.

Walsh will be scheduling meetings with the Walpole Selectboard and area legislative representatives.

Mark Richardson, DOT bridge design administrator, reported that the inspection of the bridge and testing of the concrete has been completed and DOT is reviewing the consultant’s draft report.

“This information confirms our previous expectations that the concrete in the arches, spandrels (vertical elements above the arches), pier, and abutments is in good enough condition so that those elements can be retained and rehabilitated,” said Richardson.

At the same time, Richardson said that “corrosion has not progressed too far, and chlorides have not infiltrated, to the point where the bridge would have to be replaced. However, the concrete beams comprising the floor system and the concrete bridge deck are in very poor condition and will be replaced. The abutments and pier do have areas of deterioration that will

require more extensive rehabilitation than other portions of the structure.”

Repairs are expected to cost about $3.476 million.

Richardson said the funding will be a combination of state and federal funds provided by both New Hampshire and Vermont.

New Hampshire owns 93 percent of the Vilas Bridge, while Vermont owns the remaining 7 percent.

“If utilities, such as water or sewer, are affected, then project funding will include costs to maintain that service,” Richardson added. “If there is a need or desire to upgrade those facilities, then the costs for that upgrade would be borne by the utility company. However, the work could be included with the bridge contract to help lower the overall cost to the utility company and thereby to the community as a whole.”

Richardson said that DOT is “working toward having this bridge rehabilitation project advertise for bids in 2015.

Preliminary design will [begin] as soon as staff is available, with the goal of developing all contract plans and documents before 2015 so that the project would be ready to move forward earlier, if sufficient funds are found or become available to complete this project.”

He added a note of caution, saying, “it is prudent to note that if funds do not become available, there is still the possibility, although perhaps unlikely, that the project could be delayed until funds are found.”

Richardson’s report on the bridge came as good news to Selectboard member Ann DiBernardo, who said it shows “that it can be saved.”

board as well. But Westminster isn’t ready to consider this yet, Wallace reported to the board last week.

“Westminster formed Fire District 5 to manage their sewer system,” Luring said, and “…is awaiting an engineering study that will tell them what the capability of their line is…whether it can handle our flow.”

Wallace attended last month’s meeting with the Bellows Falls Trustees and Walsh, along with Louise Luring and Matt Brennan.

“I was impressed with the new board[s] and amazed at the civility,” Wallace said.

Wallace brought a counter proposal from the Saxtons River’s Trustees to the Bellows Falls’ meeting and presented it to the board. He said “they are open to [it].”

Walsh said he will have the draft proposal ready to present to the two boards to review this week.

[

5

Greater Falls Warming Shelter prepares for upcoming winter season BELLOWS FALLS—The Greater Falls Warming Shelter will host a community meeting at its new location at 83 Westminster St. on Thursday, Oct. 7 from 5 to 7 p.m.

The public is invited to tour the shelter, ask questions and learn about volunteer opportunities. Pizza and beverages will be served.

The GFWS steering committee hopes to open for its second winter season Nov. 15 in its new location in the basement of the Athens Pizza building. Volunteers are needed overnight in two or three shifts, but are also needed to bring in meals and food, help with outreach to the community, work on fundraising and assist in building needs such as cleaning and making necessary changes to the space. Volunteer training is provided.

“We want to get the word

out to the community that we are a resource that needs their help to make the center run,” said Louise Luring, chair of the warming shelter committee. “There are lots of way folks can help, and not just with volunteering overnight, although that is our greatest need and the most direct way to help.”

The shelter is also accepting applications for the parttime, temporary positions of site manager and coordinator of volunteers.

In its first year, the center served 44 individuals for 371 bed nights during the 93 nights it was open. More than 75 volunteers stayed overnight at the shelter or provided some kind of support such as laundering, cleaning, donating furniture, providing supplies or helping with the fundraising concert. Monetary contributions to the shelter may

be sent to the shelter’s fiscal agent, Southeastern Vermont Community Action (SEVCA), at 91 Buck Dr., Westminster, VT 05158.

Anyone who would like to volunteer in any capacity and is unable to attend the meeting is asked to contact the steering committee at bfwarmingshelter@yahoo.com.

Members of the steering committee and their affiliations are Pat Burke and Susan Howes, SEVCA; Maggie Kelly, Chroma Technology; Bianca Fernandez Barry, Youth Services; Luring, Our Place Drop-in Center; Ann DiBernardo, Town of Rockingham; Darlene Kelly, Rockingham Area Community Land Trust; Barbara Ternes, Parks Place; and the Rev. Telos Whitfield, Walpole (N.H.) Unitarian Church and First Universalist Parish, Chester.

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Only you can decide whether you can afford this expense. The last thing we want to do is take food out of your mouth or gas from your car.

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VOICES

T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, September 29, 2010

OPINION • COMMENTARY • LETTERS Join the discussion: voices@commonsnews.org

VIEWPOINT

me again. He just couldn’t lose, I guess.

He asked me why I was so mad. He did not have a clue.

I guess he had done this as his living for so long it just came second nature to him. Why would I not still be his friend?

His friend? I was trying to report him, to turn him in.

Unfortunately, there is no way to do that, with no agreement between the U.S. and Africa about scammers. Thus they are free to steal from whoever is vulnerable enough to send them money.

There is no law against doing that in Ghana, Africa, and many other countries. There, the victim is the guilty party.

We victims should have known better.

Blinded by the need for someone special An older single woman in search of companionship falls for a scammer and pays for her mistake Editor’s note: We do not, as a rule, publish pieces in the Voices section without attribution. That policy is ironclad in this age of screen names and noxious and hurtful message-board drive-by commentary, where anonymity damages positive and productive public discourse. In this section, which features subjective, first-person opinion, commentary, analysis, and memoirs, the identity of the writer almost always is critical to the context of the piece.

But, as Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” Once every couple of years we come across unusual circumstances that compel us to make an exception.

In this case, the writer of this piece offered it to us on the condition that her name not be used. “I am a real woman, a senior citizen with friends and family who do not know this happened to me,” she writes.

“It is not me who is important, but the story I have told,” our writer says. “I think, in fact, that my name only makes it gossip.”

In that spirit, and in the interest of offering her ordeal as a cautionary note to other readers, we withhold her name.

“A lot of people are not aware of what goes on at these sites,” she writes. “It is easy for them to judge. Loneliness has no boundaries. If anything, this has taught me a newfound awareness, and I have done days and days of research on the subject. I am on a different site now and am very quick to delete potential bad situations.

“If maybe I can help some other person in this area, then I would be thankful for that. I am sure others, who have never come forward or told anyone, harbor my Internet secret.”

W

Newfane recesses of my mind. He did not call me. datehookup.com.

He wrote me an He told me he was a time-mail saying how ber dealer. I told him what I much he liked my profile and knew of timber, which almost my picture. He was flattering seemed more than he did. from the word go. How could This should have been a I not resist the opportunity to warning sign. Scammers often know him better? use this ploy, although at the The next thing I knew, he time I did not know that. was messaging me within the He impressed me with picsite but soon asked for my tures of his beautiful house in Yahoo instant message name Waldorf, Md. One thing I did so we could chat. I thought think odd was that he did not that would be neat. spell Waldorf right on his proWe chatted a lot, and I file page. I even looked to see learned that he was divorced if there was a city in Maryland and he had a grown son, now spelled “Woldorf.” There was attending Oxford. none.

He then asked for my phone He sent me four pictures number. I gave it to him. I of himself, although two did asked for his. He would not not seem to be the same man. give it to me. I thought nothHe was pleasingly heavyset, ing of that — although that not the strikingly handsome was an early sign I was a tarmale model pictures that some get for a scam — but still there scammers use. His head was was some doubt in the inner shaved, a look I find attractive. e “met” on

romancescam.com

A snapshot of Nigerian scammers listed on Romancescam.com, which lists 8,743 known profiles of dating-site con artists from Nigeria and Russia. The site notes: “The people portrayed on these photos are innocent men and women, not involved in scamming in any way and have nothing to do with scammers!

The scammers are using their images without their knowledge and permission to deceive their victims and scam them out of money.”

Then there were the pics of the Mediterranean-style house and pool he said were his.

This guy liked to throw figures at me. He said the pool cost half a million; he also said it cost him $100,000 a month to keep his son at Oxford. I did think that a strange figure. He sent me a pic of his son.

He also described himself as a pianist, and told me that when we are together and he has money, he and I will make an album together. I will produce it. He sent me awesome mp3 files of his playing. I am so impressed.

I found out later the music was stolen from a pianist whose works sell on iTunes. He even copied the album cover with one fatal flaw that I found later.

The name of the artist he only half blocked to add his name.

So much to be said for someone with poor graphic skills.

I was voicing suspicions when he told me about the music. I have produced music before, and music is my first love, so he was clever and picked up on that.

I think I ignored it all because of loneliness, the need for someone special in my life, someone who would notice me and pay attention to me. I really believed we would meet; from the beginning he cemented this in words. Over and over.

So why should an unsuspecting, flattered woman think different? I did not want to think of a scam.

So I just ignored these signs, even though deep down I had grave suspicions. I know it’s dumb, but I, like thousands more, fell for it.

He was back online in no time, having said he made both trips and had settled in Ghana.

Over the next few days, he told me of his meetings and how his paperwork to claim the gold looked good. He said he had seen the the actual gold in the actual underground vault.

How exciting for him! I think.

He started calling me from Ghana, and I called him. I was still puzzled by the sound of his African voice, and I questioned him this time. He thought I was silly. He is Australian, not African, he said.

I agree with that: I should have known better. Scammers steal millions of dollars a year from unsuspecting and vulnerable men and woman like me.

Since this happened to me, I have found pictures of large rooms in Ghana with many men sitting at PCs. This is big business for them. For these men, the con is their job, their only livelihood. And they are good at it too.

Many outsource their phones through a city in the United States, paying for calls to be routed through from Africa so it looks like someone is calling from Texas or Missouri or some other U.S. state. Sure, it costs big money, but in Ghana or the U.K., this is big business, and they are making big money. I read where these men work for one “employer” who in turn pays them commission on their scams.

Most all online romance sites are loaded with scammers — even the big ones. So if you are there, beware.

Advice I have since heeded?

• Know whom you are talking to: Stay away from men or The next day, as he instant- women in other countries or messaged me, he started to even more than a few states tell me of a great problem he away from you. If you are too had the night before. Someone far away to meet in person, came into his room, beat him then perhaps you should not up, and stole $100,000 in cash get that familiar longing for in a suitcase. this man or woman in the first After about a week of I was astounded not by this place. chatting, he told me he had ex- story, but by the fact that a perYour same state or a few citing news. He said he was of son would stay in a Ghana ho- hours’ drive to meet is far Along the way, I did noAustralian descent. He told me tel room with that much cash. enough — and even then, use tice things, but his flattery alhis late father left him a fortune I questioned that over and caution. ways outweighed my suspicion. in gold in Ghana, Africa, and over.

• Do not add people to your He had started the “I love you” he must claim it.

He said the police would Yahoo instant message (or stuff early on.

He said his lawyer here had never find the robbers, and he other IM service) after someWhenever I started to notice proclaimed his paperwork gen- is thankful that he is okay. He one’s first e-mail to you. That and ask or mention inconsisuine. He would visit his ailsays he told the robbers, “Do will let scammers make their tencies in his story, he would ing mother in Australia and get not hurt me.” He did not even first move into your life. just make another flattering other paperwork his father left. seem bothered by this great • Watch for another warnstatement.

He gave me the detail of his loss of all his money. ing sign: Scammers will “sugmother’s rectal cancer.

Once again, dumb me did gest” you remove yourself from After getting the papers, not pick up on the scam. the dating site you are on. They he said he would need to visit will proclaim that you are now EDITORIAL Ghana, where the ministry Now he needed my help. exclusively for one another. would inspect his papers, and He said he had no money Then they will also delete their he would follow through the for a safe hotel room in a betprofile. elaborate steps to claim the ter hotel. I told him I had no Don’t fall for this ploy. $5.5 million in gold due to money to give him. He argued Scammers want you not to him. with me about caring, love — meet anyone else because they t shouldn’t take a approved switching the the Brattleboro Selectboard I wondered why his mother all the right words a woman of now know you are their next court order to get town’s trash disposal system rebuffed Daims. In January was not the beneficiary. But I conscience needs to hear. victim. Also, when they dewas blind to this con man, and We wrote back and forth for lete their profiles, you can no the Brattleboro to pay-as-you-throw, town 2009, the Selectboard voted his charms, so I went along a long time, and finally I reluc- longer report them to the site Selectboard to follow residents Moss Kahler and 4-1 to keep off the town with his story, although it did tantly agreed to send him $400 itself. These dating sites do the law and allow citizen ref- Leo Barile circulated a peti- meeting warrant a petition not add up. via Western Union. I went to want you to report potential erendums on the ballot. tion around town called for article calling for the indictHannaford’s and sent him the scammers.

However, this year, the a public vote on whether the ment and trial of former My phone rang one day money.

Sometimes the means to Windham Superior Court town should change the way President George W. Bush at 2 a.m. It was him! I heard He instant-messaged me achieve the love we seek is not has twice had to remind the it pays for garbage disposal. for war crimes and for viono Australian accent. In fact, later, finally asking if I sent the worth the price we really pay board that the town charThey gathered nearly 550 lating the U.S. Constitution. he sounded more African. money. I resisted saying I had — a price measured not just in ter clearly states that when signatures, twice as many as Then-Selectboard memAwakened from a sound sleep, for a long time. When I did, he dollars but in trust and emo5 percent of the voters of needed, in a matter of days. ber Rich Garant, the only I did not question it. disappeared. Offline. Boom. tional stability. Behind that We talked for a very short Gone! To collect the money, I handsome or beautiful façade Brattleboro sign a petiAgain, DeGray, Corum one who voted in favor, said time, as he was attending a tim- was sure. lurks a predator of a new and tion to put an article on the and O’Connor voted in the he felt that if enough town ber conference in Missouri. He different breed. n town meeting warning, the majority to reject the peresidents sign a resolution, it said he would be in touch with The next day, he needed Selectboard does not have tition. Kahler and Barille is the board’s duty to allow me soon. more money. He thought I was the discretion to refuse it. took the town to court, and town meeting representaThe next day, a call disan easy target now.

And, in both instances, they too won and eventutives to vote on it. played on my caller ID from Slowly, though, I had it was the same three ally got a special election “Does this board feel it CORRECTIONS the same number. I excitbeen reading and watching Selectboard members — that led to the rejection of wants to be a gatekeeper for edly called it back, only to get YouTube videos about online Dick DeGray, Jesse Corum pay-as-you-throw. public sentiment?” he asked. a voice mail. I left a happy romance scammers. That is he editorial and Martha O’Connor — “The charter is clear and “We are the gatekeeper, message. where I spotted the same photo “Taxation in Much later, he came online of the person he identified as Vermont: The who decided they didn’t the language in our petition whether we want to be or and told me I must never call his “son.” Seems it is a stannumbers don’t need to follow the charter. is clear,” Kahler said at the not,” O’Connor replied. that number. He said he was dard stolen picture. lie” in the print edition of In January, the time. “They are in agreeTaken together, these using the phone of “a man at He asked for $50,000. I The Commons on Sept. 22 Selectboard rejected a non- ment with each other. The incidents show a disthe timber conference” there in laughed and confronted him. contained two errors. binding referendum quessole purpose of the Town dain for democracy by the Missouri and said the man did He lowered his request to a First, the unofficial estion submitted by resident Charter’s section on referSelectboard and a disdain not like it. mere $23,000. By now, I knew timated loss of revenue Kurt Daims that sought endums is to give the votfor the right of the people to He did not call again. He he was a scammer, so I led him from tax cuts proposed voter opinion on whether ers a vehicle by which they bring matters before Town told me he had tried, but the along but did not agree to send

by Republican guberna“to urge the state legislature can reverse a Town Meeting Meeting. phone he was using does not him the money. I stopped calltorial candidate Brian to initiate a feasibility study decision.”

Five people should not accept blocked numbers. He ing him, e-mailing, him, and Dubie that was made by then said he has asked the instant messaging him. He the Legislative Joint Fiscal on taking [the Vermont And in Daims’ case, the be able trump the will of phone’s owner to unblock it, knew why.

Office is $200 million.

Yankee] plant by eminent Town Charter is equally hundreds of people. The but he did not. I told him I had He called me, and I finally Also, the Public domain” on the ballot in clear. It states that “the vot- town charter is clear on that. unblocked mine, to no avail. talked to and confronted him: Assets Institute, based in March. Daims sued and ers of the town shall have And, if there are a suffiIn an online message, he said About being African. About Montpelier, offered data won, and now the measure the power to petition for in- cient number of voters who he was leaving for Australia to being a scammer. About the on how much Vermonters will be voted on the town clusion in the warning of an want to change the proceget his papers and said I would music he has stolen, the stolen earning more than ballot in the Nov. 2 statearticle to reflect public sen- dure for getting resolutions hear from him once he arpictures, the other lies. I gave $200,000 annually rewide election. timent and to be advisory on the warrant, then change rived in Ghana. I checked time it to him good. Then I hung up ceived from the Bush tax In March, after Town only.” the town charter. frames for traveling between on him. cuts between 2003 and Meeting representatives This wasn’t the first time Australia and Ghana.

2007.

Two days later, he called

Follow the charter

I

T

T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, September 29, 2010

VOICES

LETTERS FROM READERS

A birthday present for a good cause

A

s most of you know, over the past 13 years, my wife Nancy has put her heart and soul into building the Girls on the Run program throughout Vermont with the goal of having a positive impact on the lives of our elementary and middle-school girls.

Thanks to Nancy’s devotion to the program, more than 13,000 Vermont girls have experienced the thrill of completing a 5K race.

While training for that event, these girls have learned about good nutrition, physical fitness, the dangers of alcohol and tobacco, and what it means to be a positive friend and schoolmate. They have completed countless community service projects and raised money to

provide money for program scholarships for other girls around the state, even girls they might not ever meet.

I have had the pleasure of coordinating the 5K events for the past decade, and I’ve seen the smiles on the girls’ faces as they cross the finish line, hand-in-hand with their mothers, fathers, coaches, or friends.

Some of these girls had never run a step when they started the program 10 weeks earlier, but no matter how they got there, each one is so proud of her accomplishment. It’s amazing to see.

And Nancy is always there at the finish, cheering just as loudly for the last girl as she did for the first.

What better way to honor

Nancy on her 50th birthday than to raise money for the program that she has given so much of her time and efforts to over the last 13 years? My goal is to raise $5,000 that will go directly to help more young girls around Vermont enjoy the benefits of Girls on the Run. Please join me by making a donation in Nancy’s honor on Active.com or by mailing your kind donation to GOTR VT, 311 Laurel Ledges, Vernon VT 05354.

Tom Heydinger Vernon The writer serves as a member of the Girls on the Run board of directors, director of the 5K event, and, he writes, as “a proud husband.”

Marching for peace • We should have brought the soldiers home

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et me see if I got this straight.

I thought the USA was the country that protected the little guy. I thought we were the ones that protected one country from another’s aggression.

Yet in the case of Iraq, we became the aggressor. We invaded and annihilated another country, killed thousands of civilians, dislocated millions, and destroyed a culture and a country’s infrastructure.

We did so based on the belief that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and was planning to launch them against us, and that the country was also implicated in the attacks of 9/11. Both of these claims turned out to be false.

This conflict, according to The Washington Post on Sept.

5, has cost Americans directly or indirectly more than $3 trillion. It has led us to the brink of economic collapse and cost thousands of lives and untold suffering to both Iraqi civilians and U.S. soldiers.

At home, in this post 9/11 era, most of us have seen our basic freedoms and constitutional protections disappear. Wiretapping, computer tapping, search and seizures without a warrant and habeas corpus are gone. Media control

and a managed public opinion have become more obvious. Homeland security is fast turning this country into a police state. Patriot Acts I and II, plus a corporately controlled government and Congress, have brought the full impact of “shock and awe” right to our doorsteps.

Now, as our economy is but a heartbeat away from a total collapse, our government is committing thousands more soldiers and billions more in military expenditures to a war effort in Afghanistan.

Come on! The Taliban controlled the government of Afghanistan from 1999 until its overthrow in 2001. It has since regrouped and is fighting a guerilla war, an insurgency against the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

This is not an international terrorist organization bent on killing Americans. It is an extremely fundamental and ruthless regime, perhaps best known for its brutal treatment of women. They are a nasty group of warring, ignorant thugs; however, they are a regional phenomenon, primarily made up of members from the Pashtun tribes. They pose no direct threat to America.

Al-Qaida was founded by

Osama bin Laden and it operates an international network of sleeper cells and radical militants who are calling for a global jihad. Although there is much controversy over the definition of jihad, the western interpretation is death to Americans. This group is characterized by suicide bobmers, and it is considered to be a terrorist organization.

Consider this. If you are so full of hate that you can strap on a vest of bombs and explode yourself, there is precious little anyone can do to stop you. Additionally, if you want to plant a secret bomb on a ship, or a plane, or a subway, or poison our water, or explode a dirty bomb, killing Taliban and al-Qaida soldiers in Afghanistan is not likely to prevent these things from occurring.

Remember: When it comes to one’s last breath, there should be no debate about why we are there.

Join us for a peace march on Saturday, Oct. 2 at 10 a.m. starting at the New England Youth Theatre on Flat Street in Brattleboro. Our poor soldiers ... we should have brought them home years ago.

Chris Pratt Brattleboro

• A voice against a $60 billion tragic misuse

P

eaceful ways to influence other nations and people certainly include conversation, public rhetoric, trade agreements (and taxation and sanctions), moral suasion, peace treaties, human mingling, simple aid and assistance, and mutual respect.

Shouting matches, espionage, munitions sales, and hostile skirmishes, on the other hand, contravene peaceful approaches and reflect our dark side.

Nuclear nonproliferation is a huge task, but arming Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and other

Middle Eastern states is an expensive, inflammatory, and insulting approach. Humankind has better ways to get along.

The $60 billion Bush-era arms proposal wending its way to Congress is a tragic misuse of American manufacturing knowhow and capacity. We do need jobs, but we don’t have money to waste. We do need renewable energy and restored infrastructure, and what we don’t need is further military/ industrial renaissance.

Vietnam was wrong. Iraq was wrong. Afghanistan is failing. We have better ways to help the world than to be its

everlasting military policeman, especially to protect the free flow of oil.

Saturday’s peace march and rally start at 10 a.m. on Flat Street in Brattleboro. All are welcome to walk or watch.

Here is a chance to push nonmilitary solutions to the world’s challenges and to urge our leaders to get on them pronto.

Alan O. Dann Marlboro The writer serves on the board of directors of Vermont Independent Media, publisher of The Commons.

The company I work for

L

et me tell you about the company I work for, and the problems we are solving.

The world and national news is full of oil spills, natural gas plant explosions, global warming and air pollution. Every day, I and my company make low-carbon, emissions-free electricity, which is a partial solution to all four of those pressing problems.

Here in Vermont, the news is full of stagnant unemployment and a state government that doesn’t have enough money to protect its many vulnerable people. Every day, I and my company — and the lowcost electricity we make — help Vermont businesses keep their overhead low and their lights and computers on.

About 600 of us get a good paycheck while doing so, and hundreds more contractors earn their living supporting us. This provides more than $12 million annually in muchneeded revenue that state government can direct at the pressing needs in our schools, roads and at-risk communities.

Here in Windham County, I and my fellow employees contribute about $400,000 annually in money, goods, and services to local organizations.

The local fire companies alone would face severe staffing challenges if my company went out of business.

My company, as you have probably guessed by now, is Vermont Yankee.

As you also know if you have been reading the news, we have

had problems here, too. They will ever speak of us in an obhappen in any manufacturing jective, thoughtful manner. facility – and here at Vermont We are heartened, howYankee, we tell the press and ever, by the perceptible imgovernment about the probprovement in public opinion. lems, and then work hard to It seems that the public is recsolve them. The tritium leak ognizing both the plant’s rewas a good example. Many liable, 24/7 performance this Vermont Yankee employees year — in fact, we operated for worked around the clock, 24/7 531 days consecutively from this winter to fix the problem. planned outage to planned outWhen we determined who age — and the obvious lack made mistakes regarding the of clean, affordable electricity leak and related communicaalternatives. tions, disciplinary action was Vermont Yankee, too, is taken. good for the global climate, Far from being “the probgood for the environment, lem,” we are problem solvers, and good to its employees not only as engineering profes- and neighbors. I and my felby at Market Survey America sionals working a manufaclow of workers hope enough turing facility, but as members will recJUST LISTED. SixVermont room, four policymakers bedroom, one bath, raised of an enterprise that offers Ranch. Over halfognize an acrethis, level and yard that spacethe for next garden real solutions to pressing lo- One carfew months a power and Play. garage, paved will drive,see partially finished Basement, and nice location.and EXCLUSIVE MLS cal, state, and world problems. contract a move$165,000 towards Most of us have long #2829061 ago given relicensing. up hope that anti-nuke activists Manu Sivaraman NEW LISTING. Contemporary cape! All the curb appeal of our New and their favorite politicians Brattleboro England Capes with an even better layout. Large, open rooms,

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7

Our literary campfire Festival, Vermont Reads program offer ways to view our lives, our histories, our world

A

Williamsville

People in Lewiston spoke out both in favor of the new shop where I was refugees and against them. teaching educators Members of the Lewiston how to facilitate litclergy, leaders of the Somali erature-based book discuscommunity, and citizens of DEBORAH sions, my colleague tossed a the town created a “Many LEE LUSKIN copy of the book we’d been and One Coalition” and talking about into the middle planned a rally to demonof our circle. frightening, and difficult. The strate their support of the We all stared at it, a litfamily finds safety in the refu- town’s long multicultural tle perplexed, until she exgee camps, but there’s no life history generally, and their plained: “It’s like a campfire,” for them there. support of the Somalis in she said. “We’re all sitting They apply to come to particular. around a fire, drawn together America, and they land in The national press picked by the same story.”

Vermont. up the story, and white suShe’s absolutely right.

Here, the parents find premacist groups (both local Stories bring us together. work, the children return to and distant) planned a counStories have probably been school, and the family tries ter rally. In January 2003, bringing people together even to adapt to the culture of this the rallies took place simulbefore we discovered fire; cer- new country while still retaneously — and peacefully tainly, sitting around the fire taining the customs and faith — although the city had to enhanced our appreciation of their old one. They suffer foot the bill for assembling for them. prejudice, and they become the largest police force in the At first, stories probably agents of change. state’s history to ensure the imparted important informaMembers of the peace. tion, like where to find water Brattleboro community can and food, and how to avoid pick up a copy of the book at Would this happen in predators and hazards. We Brooks Memorial Library and Brattleboro if a large influx know that people also told attend our discussion of the of refugees came? I hope not. stories to explain the unstory on Sept. 29, also at the But I’m not sure. known: how the earth began, Library, at 7:30.

Not too long ago, we saw how fire arrived, what hapthe dark underbelly of racial pens to us after we die.

All of us who are not prejudice surface at the high Different societies told dif- Abenaki — and that’s most of school. And prejudice is not ferent versions, and many us — come from families who exclusively a matter of race; included stories about suonce came to Vermont for people can find any number pernatural deities whose bethe first time; all of us have of excuses for social cruelty, havior explained weather, stories to tell of immigration, including (but not limited to) bounty, famine, war, peace, stories about cultural dissoethnicity, religion, and even and love. nance and acceptance. socioeconomic status.

Stories still hold our atWe often understand our This latter — prejudice tention, although we tend to identities — our religions, against the impoverished read contemporary stories in customs, and world views — — is the story behind Mary books rather than listen to by telling and retelling these Childers’ memoir, Welfare them around fires. family stories of migration, Brat.

Instead, we gather to talk stories that help us underChilders, who used educaabout the stories we’ve read stand our place in the world. tion to climb out of poverty, in common. The common These stories of migration are now works as an independent text becomes the flame that the cornerstone of our modconsultant who assists organiholds our attention, and our ern nation, beginning with zations in developing diverse, discussions of those texts en- Jamestown in 1607 and the inclusive, high-performing, large our understanding of Puritans in 1620. and stable work environour world and our place in it.

Stories of migration, also ments. She will be speakin the national spotlight at the ing on Sunday at the Centre Our community will moment, have become a poCongregational Church from have a chance to participate litical touchstone — again.

2 to 3 p.m. as part of the in Vermont Reads, our own Newly established immiBrattleboro Literary Festival statewide campfire of sorts, grants to America have rewith another author, Nick where communities through- peatedly attempted to shut Flynn. out the state read the same the door on the next wave of The Brattleboro Literary book, then come together to immigrants hoping to start Festival offers a feast of stotalk about it. over in a country famed for ries from Sept. 30 through This year, the Vermont freedom and opportunity.

Oct. 3. The festival provides Reads book is Katherine While we in the Northeast a chance not just to hear stoPatterson’s The Day of the sit smugly aloof from the ries, but also to meet the Pelican, the story of the heated debate about illegal storytellers — the writers — Lleshis, an Albanian famimmigration from Central whose work we read for enily forced to flee their home and South America, we are tertainment and information. in Kosovo in the midnot immune from it. New Katherine Ann Paterson 1990s. Their journey is long, England has seen a great deal will be in town for the discusof new arrivals, both docusion of The Day of the Pelican mented immigrants and unon Sept. 29. Writers — both documented workers. local and from away — will About 10 years ago, be in town for the weekend.

Somalis seeking asylum As the New England from their country’s turmoil weather turns cold, we can settled in Lewiston, Maine. circle around the warmth of In 2002, the mayor pubstories. n lished a letter asking the immigrants to please stop Columnist Deborah Lee Luskin coming, stating that the in- will read from her novel, Into flux of refugees was strain- the Wilderness, at 3 p.m. ing the municipal budget. Saturday in the River Garden, Whether or not there 153 Main St., Brattleboro. On was a budgetary impact Sunday, she’ll join the panel caused by the refugees the discussion of New Trends was never fully debated, in Publishing at the Brooks because the mayor’s letMemorial Library at 11 a.m. ter, published in the loFor more information and a cal paper, started a near full festival schedule, check out race riot. brattleboroliteraryfestival.org. t a recent work-

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NEWS

8 Births, deaths, and news of people from Windham County

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.

• D o n a l d M . A u s t i n , 7 8 , of Springfield. Died Sept. 21st at McGirr Nursing Home in Bellows Falls, Husband of the late Mary Ann Ploof. Long time companion of Jacquelyn Haskell. Father of Jim Austin of Rockingham; Joe Austin of Westminster; and Christine Austin of Australia. Brother of Kenneth Austin of Connecticut and Martha Guthrie of Brattleboro. Predeceased by a brother, Lloyd Austin. Served in the Marine Corps during the Korean Conflict.

Was a farmer and worked as a bus driver for Chester and Rockingham for many years. He also worked for Montney & Montney, Springfield Fuels and Cota & Cota as a burner man. He was a member of the VFW. M emorial information : A memorial service will be held at a later date.

• Ernest Sanford Chabot, 92, of West Dover. Died Sept. 5. Husband of the late Elizabeth Grace Chabot.

Father of Guy Chabot and his wife, Patsy, of La Quinta, Calif.; Jeffrey Chabot and his wife, Debbie, of St John, USVI; Paul Chabot of West Dover; and Allyn Chabot of West Dover. Born in Meriden, Conn. Served in the Army as a forward observer during World War II. Worked for International Silver Co. in Meriden, Conn. for more than 35 years. Moved to Vermont in 1968, where he and his family owned and operated the Weathervane Lodge in West Dover until the late 1990s. Loved spending his time running the lodge and cooking up breakfast for the many guests who came to enjoy the Deerfield Valley. M emorial information: A memorial service will be held on Oct. 9 at 1:30 p.m. at West Dover Congregational Church, with a reception to follow at Allyn’s house at the junction of Dover Hill and Dorr Fitch roads, just 300 yards east from the Weathervane Lodge in West Dover.

• Er ma T. Getchell, 73, of

Hinsdale, N.H. Died Sept. 22 at DartmouthHitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H. Wife of the Rev. Ronald S. Getchell, former pastor of the North Hinsdale Community Church, for 52 years. Mother of Carolynne Getchell of Brattleboro and the Rev. Stephen Getchell and wife Sophia of Houston, Pa. Born in Mars Hill, Maine. Raised and educated in Mars Hill and went on to attend Zion Bible College.

Assisted her husband in pastoring seven churches throughout the tri-state area, including New Brunswick, serving in the capacity of Sunday school administrator and music director.

Memorial information: A memorial service was held on Sept. 25 at North Hinsdale Community Church with burial in Oaklawn Cemetery in North Hinsdale. Donations to the National MPS Society, P.O. Box 14686, Durham, NC 27709-4686 or to the North Hinsdale Community Church Missions Fund, P.O. Box 46, 205 Meetinghouse Road, Hinsdale, NH 03451. Condolences may be sent to the family via Atamaniuk Funeral Home at www.atamaniuk.com.

• William S. “Bill” Holbrook, 78, of Brattleboro. Died Sept. 25

at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital.

Husband of Joanne Manch for 54 years. Father of Lisa Daniell of Brattleboro, Lori Brunelle and husband John of Dummerston; Lynn Galanes and husband Matthew of Keene; and twin sons, Robert Holbrook of Keene, N.H., and William Holbrook of Brattleboro. Sister of Marjorie O’Neil and husband Chip of Keene. Born in Keene, and graduate of Keene High School, Class of 1950. Served in the Navy on the U.S.S. Tidewater during the Korean Conflict.

Worked at various printing companies in the region, including Elliot

Kimball and Markem in Keene, and the Book Press and American Stratford in Brattleboro. Coached baseball for several greater Brattleboro youth leagues and enjoyed coaching his two twin sons in baseball. Also played softball in the Brattleboro Men’s League for Emerson’s. Was a member of the American Legion Brattleboro Post 5 and the B.P.O. Elks, Brattleboro Lodge #1499. Memorial information : A funeral Mass was held on Sept. 28 on St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Brattleboro with burial with full military honors in St. Michael’s Parish Cemetery. Donations to Rescue Inc., P.O. Box 593, Brattleboro, VT. 05302. Condolences may be sent to the family via Atamaniuk Funeral Home at www.atamaniuk.com.

• Ethel Mar y (Benjamin) Martel, 88, of Brattleboro. Died

Sept. 25 at her home. Wife of Ernest R. Martel for 68 years. Mother of Annette M. Mondeau and her husband William of Brattleboro; and the Rev. Michael Martel and his wife Maria of New Ipswich, N.H. Sister of Hubert Benjamin of Waterbury, Conn.; Clayton Benjamin of Hinsdale, N.H.; David Benjamin of Westfield, Mass.; Eugene Benjamin of Putney; Gerald Benjamin of Brattleboro; Celia Crapo of Windsor Locks, Conn.; and Nancy B. Campbell and Marie Wright, both of Brattleboro. Predecased by siblings Mary, Joseph, Everett, Genevieve, Lawrence and Andrew. Born in Forest, N.Y., the second child of 15 children.

Attended schools in Ellenburg, N.Y., before moving to Brattleboro in 1939 with her family at the age of 17. Shortly after moving to Brattleboro, she met her husband, Ernest and were married on his 19th birthday on July 25, 1942, just before he departed to fight in the Pacific during World War II. Worked at various places, including American Optical and The Book Press, before retiring in 1985. Was an outstanding cook and an avid Red Sox fan, and was watching the Sox beat the Yankees on the afternoon of her death. Memorial information: A funeral Mass will be held on Oct. 1 at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Brattleboro with burial in St. Michael’s Parish Cemetery. Donations to Rescue Inc., P.O. Box 593, Brattleboro, VT. 05302. Condolences may be sent to the family via Atamaniuk Funeral Home at www.atamaniuk.com.

• Daniel S. Moody Sr., 56, of Westminster. Died Sept. 22 at home.

Son of Helen and the late Frank Moody. Companion on Christine Brosius for 27 years. Father of Denise Brosius and husband, Joe Ripchick of Hopwell, Va.; Steven Brosius of Chester, Va.; Daniel Moody Jr. and Christopher Moody, both of Bellows Falls; Heidi Moody and Misty Moody.

Attended schools in Bellows Falls and worked as a self-employed handy man.

Memorial information: A private service will be held at the convenience of the family.

• Virginia D. Moore, 76, of North Walpole, N.H. Died Sept. 22 at Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, N.H. Wife of the late John J. Moore, Jr. Mother of John Moore III and wife Vickie of Hillsboro, N.H.; and Matthew Moore and his companion Judy Paton of North Springfield.

Predeceased by siblings Evelyn Fratto, Janet Forehand and Harold Dowlin Jr. Graduate of Bellows Falls High School, Class of 1952, and Castleton Teachers College, Class of 1956. Was an educator in the Fall Mountain School District from 1967 to 1997, working in Walpole and North Walpole. Was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary Post 37 in Bellows Falls and was a Walpole Library Trustee.

Memorial information: A funeral Mass was held on Sept. 27 at at St. Peters Church in North Walpole, with burial in St. Peters Cemetery.

Donations to the Bridge Memorial Library, 48 Main Street, Walpole, NH 03608.

• Wednesday, September 29, 2010

DOVER

MILESTONES

Obituaries

T h e C ommons

a youth and spent many days plying the waters of New York harbor.

Joined the Navy during World War II, serving as a bosun’s mate on the Liberty ship USS Syrma (AK-134) in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. After the war, he found a job as a deckhand and eventually obtained his captain’s license to pilot tugboats around New York harbor. The Muzozs moved to West Brattleboro in 1966, and Capt. Munoz commuted between Ames Hill and New York for the next two decades before retiring in 1987. Was a member of the VFW, the American Legion and the Eagles. Memorial information : A memorial service was held on Sept. 28 at Atamaniuk Funeral Home in Brattleboro, with burial in St. Michael’s Parish Cemetery in Brattleboro. Donations to Brattleboro Memorial Hospital’s “Grateful Patient Fund,” 19 Belmont Ave., Brattleboro, VT 05301. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.atamaniuk.com.

• Jerua F. (Gallup) Prouty, 95,

of Brattleboro. Died Sept. 19. Wife of the late Lewis W. Prouty. Mother of the late Lewis “Pete” Prouty.

Sister of the late John and Richard Gallup. Grandmother of Mark Prouty of Hinsdale, N.H.; Beth Haddock of Gilford, N.H., Lynn Walker of Loudon, N.H. and Dawn Kenny of Guilford. She was a receptionist for Dr. Hopkins and Dr. Gillespie. She was a nature lover, and was especially knowledgeable on birds. She was a member of the First Congregational Church for over 75 years, a lifetime member of the Brattleboro Stamp Club, a member of RSVP for over 25 years and gave many volunteer hours at Linden Lodge, Holton Home and Hilltop House. Memorial information: A private memorial service will be held at the convenience of the family. Donations to the Windham County Humane Society.

• Shirley R. (Lynch) Rayno, 81,

of Brattleboro. Died Sept. 16 at Pine Heights in Brattleboro. Wife of the late John W. Lynch. Mother of Jerome Lynch and his wife Diane of Vernon; Drena Deslauriers and her husband Gary of Vernon; Morgan Lynch and his wife Amy of Key Largo, Fla.; and Troy Lynch and his wife Dianna of Pittston, Maine. Sister of Wayland Fargo and his wife Barbara of Turners Falls, Mass. Graduate of Greenfield (Mass.) High School. Did secretarial work at the Farm Bureau and the Council on Aging in Brattleboro. Was an accomplished musician with both piano and accordian, and was a church pianist for many years. In later years, she pursued her interests in history and geneology. She was also an active member of the Breast Cancer Survivors group at the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital and found great support and friendships there. Memorial information : A memorial service will be held at Plainview Cemetery in Leverett, Mass., on Saturday, Oct. 2, at 2 p.m. Donations to Windham County Humane Society, in honor of the many cats she rescued throughout her lifetime.

• Marjor ie F. War yas, 82, of Bellows Falls. Died Sept. 24 at the Maplewood Nursing Home, Westmoreland, N.H. Wife of Walter Waryas for 58 years. Mother of William Waryas and Helen Lindsay, both of California; Mary Graves of Walpole, N.H.. Sister of Richard Stevens of Bellows Falls. Graduate of Charlestown (N.H.) High School. Was a life member of the Polish American Club and a former member of the American Legion Auxiliary in Bellows Falls. Loved to attend weekend Polka dances with her husband, and traveled to Poland and Ireland and made frequent trips to California. Memorial information: A funeral Mass was • Capt. Robert L. “Tug” Munoz, held Sept. 29 at St. Charles Church 85, of West Brattleboro. Died Sept. in Bellows Falls, with burial in Sacred 21 at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. Heart Cemetery in Westminster.

Husband of the late Joan Van • Richard William Westcott, Benthusen. Father of Laurie Munoz 82, of Townshend. Died Sept. 22 at and her husband Sam of Dummerston. his home. Husband of the late Isabelle Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Capt. Muzoz became very interested in tugboats as

n Bicentennial legislature to create a new town called Palmyra in 1788.

Twenty-two years later, the General Assembly granted their wish, foregoing the name Palmyra for Dover.

Raymo does not know where the name Palmyra came from but has two stories about the origins of “Dover.”

A resident, Amos Hayward, suggested at the time that they name the town after his dog, Dover.

That’s the legend, but Raymo thinks the town was named Dover because the town’s minister in 1810 hailed from Dover, N.H., and in those days, a town’s tax money went to the minister.

For a long time, Dover people “lived off the land,” Raymo says, with farms and a few mills.

Like many Vermont towns, it lost many families to the West in the decades before and after the Civil War. “The land is hard to farm here in the hill country, and they went West,” she says.

Sixty years ago, the Mount Snow ski resort opened.

Wescott. Father of Linda Leavitt and her husband Butch of Townshend; Sandy Westcott of Townshend; Julie Westcott and her companion Michael Ayers of Charlotte, N.C.; and Richard S. Westcott and his wife Lorraine of Newfane. Born in Windham, he was employed for many years at the Joe Danielski mill, and later worked at Cersosimo Lumber Co. until he retired in 1999. Memorial information: A private memorial service will be held at the convenience of the family. Donations to the Grace Cottage Foundation, Townshend, VT 05353.

Condolences may be sent to the family via Ker, Westerland and White Funeral Home at www.kerwesterland.com.

• R u t h Y. Worden, 98, of

Brattleboro. Died Sept. 20 at Vernon Green Nursing Home. Wife of the late Walter W. Worden. Mother of Elinor Farrington and husband, Robert of Greenfield, Mass., and Marjorie Guthrie and her husband, Richard, and Dorothy Farnum and her husband, David, all of Brattleboro. Also survived by 10 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and two great -great-granddaughters.

Graduate of Brattleboro High School, Class of 1930, and Bay Path College in Springfield, Mass., where she graduated from with a degree in education.

Started her teaching career in Bristol, Vt., and in her earlier years, worked in the offices at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. Later was secretary to the superintendant for Windham Southeast Supervisory Union, where she retired from in 1989. She also taught part-time at Brattleboro Union High School. Memorial information : A memorial service was held on Sept. 23 at Atamaniuk Funeral Home in Brattleboro, with burial in Meetinghouse Hill Cemetery.

Donations to Rescue Inc. P.O. Box 593, Brattleboro, VT 05302.

Births • In Brattleboro (Memorial Hospital), on Sept. 18, 2010, a daughter, Sophia Maria Hall, to Nicole Lee and Adam Hall of Brookline; granddaughter to Tracy Brooks of Brookline, Carlena Lee of Brookline, and Donald and Michelle Hall of Wardsboro; great-granddaughter to

from page 1

“Mount Snow is a big part of our history,” says Raymo.

The eight-person Dover Bicentennial Committee, comprised of Raymo and a core committee members Leonard Hall, Patsy Bemis, Kandi St. James, Linda Holland, Judith Jones, James Dassatti and Elizabeth Brown, have spent two years preparing for the three-day celebration to mark the town’s incorporation on Oct. 30, 1810.

The bicentennial celebrations will also, in a way, be making up for lost time.

The residents didn’t celebrate their centennial.

“It’s something to celebrate and to bring history alive,” says Raymo.

Raymo, who served as town clerk and treasurer for 31 years — and a grandmother — are descended from original Dover families.

She remembers when a trip to Brattleboro was a big deal – most of the roads were dirt and the cars ran only 20 to 30 mph.

She says one of the reasons she wanted to work on the

Bicentennial Committee was to help her fellow townspeople celebrate their town.

At town meeting last year, Raymo says she saw “all these new faces who had no idea what the town is about.”

Dover’s population at times has broken down into two groups, people who have lived in the town for generations and newly-moved-ins.

But, she says, Dover has a lot of community spirit and she hopes the bicentennial will help all to remember that “this is their home.”

“Dover is rich in community,” she says. “If somebody is down and out, people are willing to help. Of course, like in any community, there are differences of opinion. But in the end, people pull together.”

“As a committee, we believe that Dover has a bright future economically and socially and will continue to grow as an affordable place to live. It has everything a lot of people want for a good quality of life. Our celebration will highlight that.”

Schedule of events Festivities launch with music and fireworks on Friday night. Saturday features “Our Heritage, Our County Today” community parade, craft fair, concerts, food vendors, and artisans. The Matterhorn Inn and Celebrate the Valley host the Living History Association’s 24th Annual International Walk through the Centuries performed by re-enactors, and don’t forget the Saturday evening square dance.

Friday

• 6:30 p.m., The play, History of Dover, written by music teacher Andy Davis, will be presented at Dover Elementary School, along with Birthday Cake contest prizes to schoolchildren.

• 8 p.m, fireworks at Mount Snow and lighting of the Birthday Cakes.

ceremony, living history presentation at the Matterhorn.

• 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., parade, band concerts.

Following the parade, there will be an antique and classic car show, Morris dancers, Tony Barrand, presentation of the songs and poems of Fred Atwood written over 100 years ago about Dover and its people and the West Dover Church Bell Choir.

The Historical Society will be open.

• 7 p.m., square dance at Dover Town Hall.

Sunday

• church service at the historic Town Hall that was built by three churches in 1805.

• 11 a.m.-1 p.m., harvest brunch courtesy of the Dover Athletic Group (Little League and school age soccer and basketball.)

• 1:15 p.m., war memorial Saturday dedication, and a presentation • 9 a.m., craft fair along about the history of Dover.

Route 100.

• 10:15 a.m., opening

Mary Lee of Brattleboro and Nancy Brooks of Newfane; great-greatgranddaughter to Esther Robinson of Newfane.

• In Brattleboro (Memorial Hospital), on Sept. 18, 2010, a son, Dylan Zachary Hazelton , to Katie and Drew Hazelton of Rawsonville; grandson to Ralph and Kathy Coleman and Vicki Dowley.

• On Sept. 14, 2010, a daughter, Marley Jade Foster , to Amanda Foster, granddaughter of Denisha and David Lawrence, and James and Michelle Foster.

Awards and honors • The Brattleboro Lodge of Masons recently initiated two new Master Masons, Jeffrey Scott Anderson and David Ellis. Anderson is active in the local area and is on staff at the 99 Restaurant on Putney Road. Ellis is owner of Northeast VOIP Networks, a computer service company. He was appointed chaplain of the lodge this past summer.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Doing

WRITE

by their

COMMUNITY Write Action celebrates its tenth year of supporting southern Vermont writers with new anthology

By Jeff Potter

B

The Commons

second collection, The Best of Write Action No. 2: The Tenth Anniversary Anthology, will feature poetry and prose, fiction and essays, from 70 writers associated with the group.

Distler and fellow board member Toni Ortner co-edited the book, a labor of love months in the making.

Despite a process that Ortner says included some one-step-forward-two-steps-back moments, by both writers’ accounts, the collaboration worked beautifully, sometimes with laptops open over microbrews at the Flat Street Brew Pub. “Arlene and I are almost like sisters,” says Ortner, a contemporary poet and author, and an editor of literature textbooks geared to the needs of students of color. “We have an easy kind of relationship. We can give each other constructive criticism, but it flows very smoothly.”

The 198-page paperback, which will sell for $18, was produced with the help of Brattleboro book designer Dede Cummings. The copies are due from the manufacturer in Maryland on Friday.

The books will arrive just in time for a party to celebrate its publication during the Brattleboro Literary Festival this Saturday, Oct. 2, from 3 to 4:45 p.m., at the River Garden at 153 Main St., featuring readings by a number of the local writers in its pages.

RATTLEBORO—The cover of Write Action’s new anthology features a picnic motif — a birthday cake on a checkered tablecloth, a ghosted photograph of writers milling about on a sunny summer afternoon.

A picnic?

It’s an important symbol of the organization, says Arlene Distler, a writer who cofounded the organization with other area writers, including her late partner, journalist and writer Marty Jezer.

The annual meeting and picnic, like other Write Action events, offers those attending “a chance to mix it up and mix it up with fellow writers,” says Distler.

“Writing is a solitary activity.”

The loose consortium of mostly-southern-Vermont writers exists primarily as “noncompetitive peer support,” says Distler, who still serves as secretary on Write Action’s board of directors.

Writers who have had their respective works published within the previous year have the opportunity to participate in a reading at the picnic — a perfect venue, Distler says, with the laid-back ease and supportive audience of others who know the beauty and compulsion of working with the written word.

Now, between the picnic imagery on those covers, readers will find an abundant selection One newsletter, of work from local authors pre- hundreds of readers sented in the same spirit.

Ten years after incorporating Distler says the group began as a nonprofit, Write Action’s by accident in late 1999 when a

Courtesy of Arlene Distler

Some of the board members of Write Action, a nonprofit group of, by and for writers that celebrates a decade of incorporation this month with the publication of its second anthology (pictured above). From left: Toni Ortner, Arlene Distler, Mary Mathias and Charlene Wakefield. Not pictured: Edmund Brelsford and Tom Ragle.

Putney writer found her computer stolen and without insurance or the funds to replace the essential tool.

Distler, Jezer and several other writers “formed an ad-hoc committee and came together to raise the money,” she says. They organized a benefit reading and invited area writers to come and read, and everyone to come, listen, enjoy and help their friend in need.

“Thirty-five people showed

up to read — there were more people in the audience than readers,” Distler says with a smile, still visibly astonished.

“Everybody donated.”

“People came up to us later and said, ‘This is so great,’’’ she adds.

And so Distler, Jezer, and the other writers soon found themselves with an unintentional organization — one of writers connected by community and their receipt of a

more-or-less-weekly e-mail newsletter, Literary Matters.

The newsletter, from the beginning, has been produced by Eric Blomquist, Write Action’s communications director.

Blomquist, a self-employed writer, editor and publishing consultant, works on scientific journals.

Somewhere between 300 and 400 people — professional and would-be writers and those who admire their work — receive the

mailing of literary events and work opportunities. This list of subscribers is the closest Write Action comes to a formal membership roster.

Distler estimates that approximately half the recipients are writers.

Blomquist, who does “a really great job,” Distler says, works as a volunteer, like everyone else involved with Write Action.

The group was loosely and

theater’s programming.

Joining the mentors on stage will be members of Luminz Studio, Brattleboro School of Dance, Brattleboro Music Center, New England Center for Circus Arts, and a few NEYT Alumni. Tickets are $10 at the door. For more information about New England Youth Theatre, go to www.neyt.org.

for later broadcast. Every Queen City Radio show is different, with an emphasis on comic sketches that jump from the headlines and life in the North Country.

The Oct. 9 edition will include actors Abby Paige and Lucien Dodge, storyteller Willem Lange, and Marlboro’s own Heather Reed (’11) and Amber Schaefer (’10), with Gahlord Dewald (’98) on sound effects. Music headliner is jazz singer Samirah Evans, performing with a special jazz ensemble, Charlie Schneeweis and Friends.

All-new Queen City sketches will include the Slender Pickens Rural Dating and Mating Service, In-Laws Holiday Travel Bureau, State Legislator Rivets’ Fireside Apologies, and The Only Vermont

n see write action, page 10

ARTS CALENDAR the Performing Arts, with a reception immediately following. The Drury Gallery is open from 1 to 5 • Photo exhibit looks at p.m., Sunday through Friday while small town life: Marlboro the college is in session. For more College and the Vermont Folklife information, call 802-257-4333.

Center will present A Deep Look at • Gay and bisexual men’s a Small Town: Marlboro, VT, a pho- art show: The Men’s Program tography and oral history exhibit of the AIDS Project of Southern

by Forrest Holzapfel in the Drury Vermont will host a gay and bisexual men’s art show on Friday, Oct. Gallery, Oct. 1-22.

From 1999-2002, photogra- 1, during Gallery Walk in downpher and oral historian Forrest town Brattleboro.

Holzapfel photographed the peoThe show will be at the AIDS ple of Marlboro, outside their Project offices at 15 Grove St., and homes and — with the support will feature photography, watercolof the Vermont Folklife Center ors, oils, mixed media, and stained — conducted 18 interviews with glass. Local members of the men’s residents of the town. community will display their work H o l z a p f e l i s a n a t i v e o f from 5:30–8:30 p.m. This oneMarlboro. An artist talk will take night show is free and open to the place at 4 p.m, on Thursday, Oct. public. Light refreshments will 14 in Ragle Hall, Serkin Center for be served, and a number of the

Visual arts

artists will be present throughout the evening.

Artists displaying include Anthony Anguiano, Rob Diercks, Wayne Gelineau, Len Gerwick, Michael Gigante, Joey LaValle-Mackay, Steve Lloyd, Don McIntyre, Howie Peterson, Alexander Potter, and Jeff Sak. The artists cover a wide variety of styles and subject matter, and represent Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.

The Men’s Program is an HIV prevention program for gay and bisexual men, providing prevention services in the context of a strong, healthy gay community. For more information on the Art Show, the Men’s Program, or the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont, contact Alex Potter at 802-254-4444.

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Theater • C o m mu n i t y C a b a r e t at NEYT: New England Youth

Theatre opens the doors to its green room to artists from all over the Brattleboro community.

Various performing artists from around town will be joining the NEYT mentors to put on a wildly collaged performance of music, dance, comedy, drama, and mayhem on the evening of October’s Gallery Walk on Friday, Oct. 1, at 7:30 p.m.

The Mentors, a group of dedicated youth volunteers at NEYT, are producing this event, hoping to raise funds for the “Angels in the Wings” scholarship fund, which helps students who have special financial needs participate in the

• Marlboro College hosts Queen City Radio Hour on Oct. 9: Kingdom County Presents

will stage the all-original Queen City Radio Hour on Saturday, Oct. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Whittemore Theater at Marlboro College.

The Queen City Radio Hour promises an evening of sly comedy and world-class music while giving audiences of all ages a peek behind the scenes of an actual radio variety show being recorded

n see ARTS CALENDAR, page 10

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THE ARTS

10

n Write Action democratically controlled by design, Distler says.

“The democratic piece has always been very, very important, and that’s because of Marty Jezer,” Distler says of her partner, who died in 2005. “His politics and his person were all about that.”

New projects, new challenges

The group organized a number of open readings in its early years, much like the original event, Distler says, pointing out that writers’ names would be put in a hat and the order of reading determined at random.

This method ensured that friends and family attending the readings would most likely come and support the group as a whole.

Over time, however, Write Action’s organization of such readings diminished as coffeehouses and libraries began to organize similar events. Now, its only regular reading takes place at the annual picnic.

But that’s an example of the normal evolution in the group.

As new writers join the six-member board of directors, they each choose a project to spearhead,

from page 1

one that they can fully call their own.

A project “always depends on whether somebody on the board is willing to take it and run with it,” Distler says.

One example: the annual student writing contests for Brattleboro Union High School students — one for creative writing and the other, named in memory of Jezer, for journalism.

BUHS faculty determine which graduating seniors receive the $100 scholarships.

In 2 007 , a not he r p roj ect, “Words & Images: A Collaboration Between Writers and Artists,” paired 14 writers with visual artists.

For four months, each duo worked together to create complementary words and pictures.

The results were displayed at the Windham Art Gallery, then on Main Street.

Last fall, as part of a large coordinated effort to draw people to town to take workshops in artists’ studios, Write Action organized a “Contemplative Poetry Workshop” with Jacqueline Gens, then a Write Action board member, who studied under beat poet Allen Ginsberg.

And Ortner’s current board project is the Write Action Radio Hour, a monthly

program broadcast on WVEW, Brattleboro Community Radio.

The Radio Hour broadcasts writers with local connections, from acclaimed local poets like Chard deNiord of Putney (“very shy and reticent to give readings,” Ortner says) to student writers at public and independent schools in Windham County.

“How much it means for me to live in a place like Brattleboro where I can contribute,” says Ortner, who also hopes one day to help Write Action launch an annual literary journal.

Despite the evolving list of projects and interests, Distler says, the group hasn’t lost sight of how writers rallied to help a fellow writer in need.

Write Action also distributes emergency funds — up to $300 presented by board consensus — to writers in dire need. One writer, for example, received a check after a house fire; another, funds for a plane ticket to visit a direly ill family member on the West Coast.

The fund was established in memory of Lin Harris-Seares, a writer, journalist and cofounder of Write Action who came to Brattleboro in 1997. She died in 2000.

T h e C ommons

Raising writing’s profile

Another overarching mission of the organization is simple, Distler says: Helping writers be included in local efforts to raise the profile of the arts.

When Write Action came together, “nobody realized how many writers there were,” Distler says. “We realized that — wow!

— we’re a force!”

Consequently, she tries to make sure the community is aware of that force. Despite more than 10 years of the group’s projects and the general appreciation of the arts in town, “It seems to be hard for writers to be considered part of the arts community,” she says.

Through Write Action, writers can be present and visible to other arts groups looking to collaborate. Or these groups can simply have a means of communicating en masse to the hundreds of far-flung, subscribers to the newsletter e-mail, broadening the visibility of the writing community and the opportunities for individual writers at the same time.

Something like that happened in 2002, shortly after Write Action’s formation, when several bookstore owners got together and planned what would become the Brattleboro Literary Festival.

Distler says Dick Burns, owner

• Wednesday, September 29, 2010

of Collected Works, a bookstore in the High Street storefront now occupied by the Blue Moose, “came to me and said, ‘We want you guys on board if we’re going to be doing this.’”

“We’re involved — not as instigators, but we’ve been part of it from the beginning,” Distler says.

“We’re a big source of volunteers,” she says, adding that the group helps choose authors to invite to the annual literary event, which takes place this Thursday through Sunday and draws thousands of people to town.

Ordinarily, Write Action organizes a session of local writers, which this year is replaced by its anniversary celebration.

Distler describes Write Action and the Literary Festival as having “a mutually beneficial relationship,” one where Windham County poets and writers can hold their own at an event that routinely draws A-list world-recognized authors.

Like Write Action itself, the organization has worked to make the Literary Festival inclusive and to create an atmosphere where all are embraced as peers.

“It’s so important to local writers to feel invested,” she says. “You can’t ignore the local scene.”

VERMONT CHEDDAR

By Silvio Graci

Coming to

MARLBORO COLLEGE Music for a Sunday Afternoon honors retiring faculty member

Luis Batlle �

October 10 Cynthia Raim, piano works by Chopin, Bach & Schubert • October 24 Merfeld, Keyes, Glenn & Falk works by Dvořák • 3:00 pm Ragle Hall Serkin Center

Reservations & Information 802-451-7151 Marlboro College Marlboro, Vermont www.marlboro.edu

n Arts calendar Gubernatorial Debate to Include the Word “Giblet.” Lange will also lead listeners on an unforgettable 100th anniversary hike along the Long Trail, where everything that could possibly go wrong — does.

The Queen City Radio Hour is presented by Kingdom County Productions, working in association with Marlboro College.

Admission to the show is free and all are welcome.

Music • VSO returns to Bellows Falls: On Friday, Oct. 1, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra will return to the Bellows Falls Opera House for the third year in a row with a Made In Vermont Music Festival concert.

The program includes Handel’s Concerto for Harp in Bb Major, Op. 4 No. 6, Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise, CPE Bach’s Flute Concerto in D minor, the world premiere of Don Jamison’s It Is Time, and Mozart’s Symphony No. 29 in A Major, K. 201.

In addition to Jamison’s premiere, the featured VSO artists include include Albert Brouwer in a virtuosic flute concerto by CPE Bach, and principal French horn Shelagh Abate soloing in Rachmaninoff’s luscious Vocalise.

In a Made in Vermont “first,” we

from page 1

feature harpist Heidi Soons playing Handel’s spirited Concerto. Once again, Walpole N.H.’s Anthony Princiotti will conduct.

Doors open at 7 p.m., and the concert begins at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $24 for adults; $20 for seniors (60 and over) and juniors (18 and under) and are available at Village Square Booksellers and Fat Franks in Bellows Falls, Misty Valley Books in Chester, and Brattleboro Books, or online at www.brattleborotix.com.

• Mike and Ruthy, Round Mountain at HookerDunham: Twilight Music pres-

ents an evening of classic and original folk, roots and pop music by Mike and Ruthy (Michael Merenda and Ruth Ungar Merenda) and Round Mountain at Hooker-Dunham Theater & Gallery on Friday, Oct. 1 at 8 p.m.

Mike and Ruthy, the husbandand-wife songwriting duo formerly of the folk/rock string band The Mammals, sing old-timey twang, topical folk and just plain love songs, accompanying themselves on guitar, fiddle, banjo and ukulele, and the occasional harmonica or glockenspiel. They are touring in support of their new CD, Million to One, their third album together.

Round Mountain’s Char and Robby Rothschild’s background ranges from Balkan and

West African styles to traditional Appalachian music, from classical to funk. Expect many extremes — beautiful acoustic numbers, wild bagpipes, trumpet and accordion played by one person at the same time, Bulgarian zydeco, klezmer and Malian rhythms, to name a few.

Hooker-Dunham Theater & Gallery is located at 139 Main Street in downtown Brattleboro.

Tickets for the show are $15 general/$13 students and seniors. For ticket reservations and information, call 802-2549276. For more information, visit www.mikeandruthy.com,www.roundmountain.com and www.hookerdunham.org.

• Teddy Bear Picnic in Townshend: Leland & Gray’s

Global Travelers will host a Teddy Bear’s Picnic with Bill Shontz on Saturday, Oct. 2 on the Leland & Gray soccer field. The event begins at 11:30 a.m. with games and activities, lunch, snacks and fun. A costume parade is slated for 1:30 p.m. and the concert with Shontz and his bears begins at 2 p.m.

Shontz and his Teddy Bear Band sing songs from his award-winning release, Teddy Bear’s Greatest Hits. Picnickers will hear original songs such as Miranda the Panda and Teddy Rockin’, as well as classic RosenShontz hits such as Rock ‘n’ Roll Teddy Bear, One Shoe Bear,

Meet Archer Mayor

Christopher Robin, Bare Necessities and the ever-popular Teddy Bear’s Picnic.

Audiences can also look forward to dancing Teddy Bears plus the famous Teddy Bear Toss, when all the picnickers throw their teddy bears in the air at the same time.

Come early and B.Y.O. Bears and B.Y.O. Picnic. Teddy bears, dolls and other stuffed animals always get in free.

Admission to the event is $5; concessions and games are modestly priced. In case of rain, the event will be in the activity room and main gym of Leland & Gray Union Middle and High School on Route 30 in Townshend.

All proceeds benefit Leland & Gray’s February trip to London, Stonehenge, Bath and Paris.

For more information, e-mail verbatim@svcable.net.

• Fo l i a g e c o n c e r t i n Grafton: On Sunday, Oct. 3 at

2:30 p.m., the Grafton Cornet Band hosts its annual Foliage Concert on the Common on Main Street (Route 121) in Grafton (or in the White Church in case rain).

The concert features an hourlong mix of familiar and upbeat music for the whole family in beautiful surroundings. The concert is free, but donations are welcome. Bring chairs or a blanket and maybe a picnic. More information: www.graftonband.org or 802-387-4145.

• Artist residencies at the Yellow Barn: Yellow Barn

launches its 2010-2011 artist residencies with the birth of a new ensemble, Checkpoint KBK. Checkpoint KBK brings Friday, October 8 at 7 p.m. together the unique talents of world-renowned clarinetist David Krakauer, visionary violinist/vocalCatch the latest installment in the continuing ist Iva Bittova, and acclaimed consaga of Joe Gunther with Red Herring. cert accordionist Merima Kljuco.

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of Claremont, N.H., will present a talk with slides entitled “Before Estey — Vermont’s NineteenthCentury Pipe Organs” for the annual Estey Day celebration at the Estey Organ Museum in Brattleboro on Saturday, Oct. 2, at 2:30 p.m.

Boadway will provide a slide tour of extant old Vermont organs, including photos of a few that have been destroyed, some early 20th century instruments, and a few Esteys. Ed notes that “a little sound might be added.”

Estey Day 2010 marks the 196th anniversary of Jacob Estey’s birth on September 30, 1814, in Hinsdale, N.H. The Estey Organ Museum holds an annual celebration to pay tribute to one of Brattleboro’s most famous industries and to encourage visitors to explore the museum and factory buildings. There is a $10 suggested donation for the program that will benefit the museum’s ongoing work.

A church organist for 62 years, Boadway is currently music director at the United Church in Ludlow. He is a founder and past-president of the Organ Historical Society and has extensively researched Vermont’s organ history for 55 years. There will be refreshments after the program, and this will be followed by the EOM annual membership business meeting. Find out more about the museum at www.esteyorganmuseum.org.

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Artist Residencies. To reserve tickets, contact Willow Cohen, Development and Marketing Manager at 802-387-6637 or willow@yellowbarn.org.

Upcoming residencies include The Fadoul/Lawler Duo in October 2010, Eight Songs for a Mad King in November 2010, and the Jupiter Quartet in April and May 2011. For a full schedule of residency events for 2010-2011, visit www.yellowbarn.org.

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Falls Opera House on Oct. 8 and 9.

The Logger’s original ever evolving one-man comedy tour de force has played to hundreds of thousands of fans throughout Vermont, Northern New York (state, not city), and around New England since The Logger first took the stage in 1998.

The comedy features the Stowe native playing a host of offbeat, rural characters (plus a few white platers from down country).

DeWees is working on a follow-up book to his first, Scrawlins, and has recently played a series of shows in

Maine, along with benefits and sold-out holiday shows. He speaks at high schools on careers and a substance-free lifestyle, and writes a weekly newspaper column.

The actor has appeared nationally on TV shows including “Law and Order” and “Saturday Night Live,” and films such as “Black Dog,” with the late Patrick Swayze, and “Pieces of April,” with Katie Holmes.

He’s worked with well-known Vermont filmmaker Jay Craven on “A Stranger in the Kingdom” and “Disappearances,” starring Kris Kristofferson.

Tickets are available at brattleborotix.com and Village Sqaure Booksellers in Bellows Falls. Both shows start at 8 p.m.; all tickets are $20.

T h e C ommons

NEWS

• Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Grace Cottage Auxiliary to meet on Oct. 14

Union Institute hosts Brattleboro Area Education Fair

Low-acid canning workshop offered in Putney

BRATTLEBORO – Union Institute & University, a private, non-profit university, will host the first Brattleboro Area Higher Education Fair on Thursday, Sept. 30, from 5-7 p.m. at VABEC on Old Guilford Road.

The event is co-sponsored by the Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce as part of their September Swing into Fall series and will feature representatives from a number of Brattleboroarea colleges and universities including: Community College of Vermont, Marlboro College, SIT Graduate Institute, Greenfield Community College, Union Institute & University, Keene State College and Landmark College.

Michele Delhaye from VSAC will also be present to answer questions about financing education.

The education fair is for students and parents, as well as faculty and staff from local colleges who want to learn more about the number of higher education institutions located in the Brattleboro area. Representatives will be on hand to answer questions about a number of important topics including: graduate education; low-residency and online degree programs; study abroad; and choosing between a two-year specialized or community college.

The event will feature door prizes and light refreshments.

For more information contact brattleborocenter@myunion. edu, or 802-257-9411.

PUTNEY — On Sunday, Oct. 3, from 2-3:30 p.m., Transition Putney will offer a reskilling workshop on low-acid canning using a pressure cooker.

Bonnie North will lead the workshop which will take place at United Church of Putney on Kimball Hill.

High acid foods, such as tomatoes and pickled items, can be safely preserved in a hot water bath. Other foods which have a naturally low-acid content, such as apples, pears, green beans, etc. require greater heat and must be done in a pressure canner.

North will cover the differences between these two processes, the food pathogens that one must eradicate in order to safely preserve different foods and why it is so important to use a pressure canner for low-acid foods. The various components of a modern pressure cooker and their importance and function will be outlined.

The workshop will go through the entire process from how to pack the canning jars properly, load the canner, managing the pressure and heat, cooling down and unloading. This will be a demonstration workshop.

A suggested donation of $5 covers the cost of space rental.

Information at paull@sover.net or 802-387-4102.

Grace Cottage Hospital offers Friday Yoga TOWNSHEND — Grace Cottage Hospital has openings in its Friday yoga class.

The next six-week session starts Oct. 1, from 3:30-5:00 p.m., in the hospital’s Community Wellness Center, 133 Grafton Road (Route 35).

The class is taught by Crystal Mansfield, who is Grace Cottage Hospital’s Rehabilitation Services and Wellness Director and a certified yoga instructor.

The cost for the yoga class is $25 for six weeks, or $5/week drop-in fee. To register, call 802-365-3649.

‘Souper Gigantic Book Sale’ in Newfane this weekend NEWFANE — A “Souper Gigantic Book Sale” will be held at the Newfane Union Hall on Oct. 2 and 3 to benefit the Moore Free Library.

The Friends of the Moore Free Library, the sponsors of the event, are also making homemade soup to go as part of the sale. Doors open at 10 a.m. both days and close at 4 p.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Call Librarian Meris Morrison at 802-365-7948 for further information.

Talk at RFPL focuses on Haiti’s recovery from deadly quake BELLOWS FALLS — January’s earthquake in Haiti lasted only 35 seconds, but the recovery continues.

On Wednesday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m., the Rockingham Free Public Library welcomes Dr. Craig Goldberg, D.O., who will be presenting a program on Haiti: the country, the people and the devastating effects of the earthquake and Haiti’s ongoing recovery. The program will include slides, discussion and there will be time for questions.

Dr. Goldberg spent two weeks in Haiti doing emergency medical disaster relief work after the earthquake. He worked with a small team of doctors and nurses setting up facilities and treating victims at refugee camps. They also spent time at an orphanage, and Goldberg says the children there were living in “conditions horrific and unimaginable.”

The team was part of AMURT (Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team), a private international voluntary organization created to meet disaster and development needs all over the world.

Despite the calamity, Goldberg was impressed with the spirit of the Haitians; describing them as peaceful, loving and deeply spiritual. Before the earthquake, Haiti was host to deep poverty, political instability and need for humanitarian aid— after the devastation, all needs increased a thousand-fold.

All ages are welcome.

Refreshments will be served.

The talk is free and open to the public.

Foreign language potlucks at Main Street Arts SAXTONS RIVER — Main Street Arts continues its fall series of foreign language potluck suppers with a potluck for Spanish speakers Sunday, Oct. 3 at 6 p.m.

Potlucks for French and German speakers will be Sunday, Oct. 10 and 17, respectively.

The series continues Nov. 7, 14 and 21.

The potlucks are generally a small group of friendly people with a wide range of proficiency in the language who join in an informal sharing of culture and language practice. Those who want to listen more than join in the conversation are also welcome.

Native speakers are often present to lend encouragement. Previous participants have come from all corners of Windham County and New Hampshire.

There is no fee, and potluck contributions need not be ethnic. A beverage is provided.

Information is available by contacting MSA at 802-869-2960 or msa@sover.net, or visiting www.

MainStreetArts.org.

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Rockingham Recreation Center hosts open house ROCKINGHAM – The Rockingham Recreation Department will host an open house Wednesday, Oct. 6, from 5 to 7 p.m., at the new recreation center building and refurbished pool.

The facility is located at 10 Playground Road at the end of Williams Terrace. Recent changes include construction of a new recreation building to house changing rooms, showers, office space and a large game room.

The swimming pool has undergone a complete rehab with the installation of a new liner, water slide, decking and fencing, plus a zero entry to allow handicapped access.

Community members are invited to tour the facility, meet the staff and learn about future plans. Refreshments will be served.

ATHENS — The Athens Brick Meeting House Common will be the site of a Harvest Fair on Saturday, Oct. 2 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The rain date is Sunday, Oct. 3.

This historic structure, built in 1817, was the site for community worship and Town Meetings as well as many militia training sessions, Old Home Day celebrations and fairs. During this event, the building will be open for tours to enable visitors to learn much more about the fascinating story of this structure along with our current efforts to restore it.

You’ll find pumpkins, pies and games for kids of all ages. In addition to the festivities, there will be a rummage sale to benefit the renovation fund for the building.

Donations to the Renovation Fund for the Athens Brick Meeting House are welcome.

They may be sent to Darlene Wyman, 56 Brookline Road, Athens, VT 05143.

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BRATTLEBORO — Marlboro College Graduate School will offer a free seminar, entitled “The Local Internet” from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 9.

Author Jon Udell will lead the seminar, which will define and teach a core set of principles for Internet usage that help cities, towns or neighborhoods live and work better together. He is an information architect, software developer, and new media innovator. His 1999 book, Practical Internet Groupware, helped lay the foundation for what is now called social software. Udell was formerly a software developer at Lotus, and executive editor of BYTE Magazine. He currently works for Microsoft exploring new media.

Marlboro College Graduate School offers courses in technical fluency and the Internet as part of its Master of Science in Information Technologies (MSIT), as well as other master’s degrees in managing for sustainability, teaching with technology, and health care administration. Classes meet in weekly or monthly formats with an online component to make it convenient for working adults.

For more information, contact Joe Heslin in the Marlboro College Graduate School admissions office, 888-258-5665, x209 or jheslin@marlboro.edu.

❧

Historian to discuss Civil War negotiations BRATTLEBORO— Acclaimed Civil War historian James M. McPherson will discuss how peace negotiations foundered during the war in a talk at Brooks Memorial Library on Oct. 6.

His talk, “No Peace without Victory: The Failure of Peace Negotiations in the Civil War,” is part of the Vermont Humanities Council’s First Wednesdays lecture series and takes place at 7 p.m.

By 1863, the Civil War’s casualties had produced a widespread desire for peace.

But how was it to be attained?

McPherson will examine two major efforts to end the war through negotiations.

Widely considered one of the preeminent Civil War historians living today, McPherson is the author of Battle Cry of Freedom (1988), a book that helped spark a national renewal of interest in the Civil War, and for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. He is a past president of the American Historical Association and is the Henry Davis ’86 Professor Emeritus of U.S. History at Princeton University. His most recent book is Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief.

Upcoming Brattleboro talks include “Dr. Seuss Goes to War” with UMass-Amherst Professor Emeritus Richard Minear on Nov. 3; “The History of Herbal Medicine in America” with author and expert herbalist Rosemary Gladstar on Dec. 1; and “The Impossible Presidency and Obama’s Chance for Greatness” with UVM professor Frank Bryan on Jan. 5.

The Vermont Humanities Council’s First Wednesdays series is held on the first Wednesday of every month from October through May, featuring speakers of national and regional renown. The program is free, accessible to people with disabilities and open to the public.

The Vermont Department of Libraries is the statewide underwriter of First Wednesdays. Brooks Memorial Library is sponsored by Brattleboro Savings & Loan and Friends of Brooks Memorial Library.

For more information, contact Brooks Memorial Library at 802-254-5290 or brattlib@ brooks.lib.vt.us. For all library events, see the library’s calendar at www.brooks.lib.vt.us.

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TOWNSHEND —The Grace Cottage Hospital Auxiliary will hold its annual meeting on Thursday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m., in the hospital Dining/Community Room. Members of the public will be welcomed.

During the meeting, Grace Cottage Hospital Trustee John Nopper and CEO Mick Brant will unveil Grace Cottage’s master plan for the future, which includes a proposal for a new building.

Also, the Auxilian of the Year Award will be given at the meeting and $60,000 will be given to Grace Cottage Hospital for the Medical Imaging Suite expansion and other needed equipment for the hospital. Refreshments will be served during the meeting.

For information about the meeting or about the Auxiliary in general, call Auxiliary President Stan Holt at 802-365-4455.

11

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Stockwell Brothers and Friends Main Street Arts String Band Leon Cooper Fiddlers with Amy Cann PCS Rockshop Children’s Games Free drinks from the Pepsi Truck!

Wonderful Putney Farmers Market at same time down by the Co-op!

12

T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, September 29, 2010

SPORTS & RECREATION Twin Valley hands Leland & Gray boys soccer first loss of the season

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Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons

Twin Valley defenders George Molner (17) and Colin Lozito (2) and goalkeeper Tony Bernard converge as Leland & Gray’s Noah Chapin takes aim at the goal late in the first half Friday in Townshend. Following up the play is Leland & Gray’s Colin Nystrom (2).

NE NLY B R AT T L E B The R Arts and

fourth-best time for a Vermont runner in the meet.

The team of Ellis, Zeke Fitzgerald (19:13), Spencer Olsen (19:24), Allen Unaitis (19:58), Austin Lester (20:37), RANDOLPH T. Sam Colleran (21:01) and Ben Fontaine (23:59) placed 21st HOLHUT in the Large School Division.

Sports Roundup All but Olson ran personal best times.

All the Colonel girls in went for touchdowns as the meet ran personal bests.

Brendan Burrell scored on a Hannah Reichel improved on 38-yard run, Marshall Hastings her time by more than a minran for a 54-yard touchdown ute and finished 71st in the and Steel White scored on a large school race with a time 47-yard run. of 23:06. She was followed by Brattleboro running back Leah Silverman (26:05), Helen Ivan Jackson had 21 carries Manning (26:43) and Kayla for 105 yards, while quarterBailey (30:13). back Nate Forrett went 10-for21 for 136 yards. Now 0-4, the Bruins come to Brattleboro Colonels will host Essex on Oct. 2.

The Boston Bruins decided • The Bellows Falls to spend a couple of days in Terriers didn’t fare any betBrattleboro, but not to check ter last Friday, as the Burr & out the galleries or go pick apBurton Bulldogs rolled to a ples. According to NESN. 35-6 victory in Manchester. com, the NHL team decided Burr & Burton quarterback to spend Sunday and Monday Jake Stalcup threw for four in Brattleboro for two days of touchdowns. Ryan Hayward team-building exercises. scored BF’s only touchdown.

The team spent those two Now 2-2, the Terriers host days at the High 5 Adventure Montpelier on Oct. 2.

Learning Center, which is located on the Austine School Field hockey campus. I attempted to visit • Shelby Yee scored three there on Monday morning, and goals as the undefeated was stopped at the gate by a seHartford Hurricanes blanked curity guard. Apparently, the the Brattleboro Colonels, campus was sealed off to allow 5-0, at Tenney Field last the Bruins some privacy. The Wednesday. guard said that quite a few peoBrattleboro played Burr ple were also attempting to visit & Burton to a 1-1 tie in the school that morning, lookManchester last Monday. ing for autographs.

Tatiana Frizzell scored what According to the High 5 proved to be the tying goal for website, high5adventure.org, the the Colonels at the 15 minute center bills itself as “an inmark in the first half, and good dustry leader in designing dydefense by the Colonels kept namic, professionally-proven the Bulldogs scoreless through team building experiences for the rest of regulation and sports teams, corporate groups Girls soccer overtime. and small businesses. We focus • Springfield’s Sarah Locke Now 1-3-1, the Colonels on increasing team communiscored a pair of goals as the travel to Rutland on Sept. 29. cation and performance, develCosmos upset Brattleboro, 2-0, • Otter Valley shut out oping creative problem-solving at Tenney Field last Thursday. Bellows Falls, 2-0, last skills, and improving conflict Brattleboro played Taconic of Wednesday in Brandon. Shea resolution.”

Pittsfield, Mass., to a 1-1 tie Wilkinson had five saves as the Considering how badly the last Monday night at Tenney Terriers fell to 0-3-1.

2009-10 season ended, with Field. Taylor Kerylow scored the Bruins blowing a 3-0 series the Colonels’ only goal in the Cross country lead to the Philadelphia Flyers second half. The Colonels are • Brattleboro’s Jacob Ellis in the Eastern Conference now 4-2-1. was the top male runner at semifinals, a little team build• Leland & Gray and Twin a six-team Marble Valley ing couldn’t hurt.

Valley struggled to a scoreless League meet in Brattleboro tie last Monday night at Baker last Tuesday. Ellis covered the Men’s basketball league plans for Field in Wilmington. The 5 kilometer course in 17 min2010-11 season Rebels then fell to Arlington, utes, 58 seconds — a course 4-3 last Thursday, and were record. Rutland’s Mary Kate There will be a men’s basshutout by Mount Anthony, Cirelli was the top female run- ketball league organizational 5-0, on Saturday. The Rebels’ ner, also setting a course remeeting on Wednesday, Oct. 6, record is now 2-2-2. cord in 20:20. Mount Anthony at 6 p.m., at the Gibson-AIken • Savannah Nesbitt got won the boys team event, while Center in Brattleboro. A reprethe game winner in the 34th Stratton Mountain School was sentative from each team must minute, as Twin Valley beat the top girls team. attend the meeting.

Windsor 1-0 and improved to Leland & Gray’s Lauren The league is still looking for 2-2-1 overall.

Scott (34th in 27:10) and new board members. call the • Bellows Falls had a pair Trystian Carbanero (64th in Serving Windsor & Windham Counties of 1-0 losses last week. They 33:31) were the Rebels’ top were beaten by Windsor, 1-0, finishers. The Rebels will play in a road loss last Monday. host to an MVL meet on Oct. 5 Operated by Connecticut River Transit Goalkeeper Enny Mustapha in Grafton. made seven saves. Playing • The Colonels also went to For Bus Schedules and Information Visit our Website at at home last Thursday, BF Manchester, N.H., to run in was beaten 1-0 by Green the 35th Annual Manchester Mountain. The Terriers are Invitational Classic in now 0-6.

Derryfield Park on Saturday.

It is the one of the biggest Football cross country meets in New • The Brattleboro Colonels England, with more than 1,800 are still looking for their first runners participating. Ellis We Provide the Ride! win after they got hammered lead the way for the Brattleboro by the Middlebury Tigers, 55- boys, placing sixth in the Large 14, last Friday night. How bad School Division and 25th overwas it? Three of Middlebury’s all with a time of 17:04 for first four plays from scrimmage the 3.1-mile course. It was the

The

ome consider Leland & Gray versus Twin Valley as one of the best boys soccer rivalries in Vermont, and it is hard to argue with that statement. These two teams play tense and hardfought games every time they face each other.

It was no exception last Friday in Townshend, as Twin Valley’s Ian Murdock scored in the 78th minute off a deflection of a corner kick to give the Wildcats a 1-0 victory and hand the Rebels their first loss of the season.

Leland & Gray blitzed Twin Valley, 5-0, in the Wildcats’ home opener on Sept. 14 and ended Twin Valley’s threeyear winning streak against the Rebels at Baker Field.

Afterward, Twin Valley coach Buddy Hayford proclaimed the Rebels as the team to beat in Division III. In last Friday’s game, the Wildcats avenged that loss with improved defense and control of the midfield. Goalkeeper Tony Bernard had 11 saves.

Leland & Gray is now 5-1, while Twin Valley evened its record to 3-3. In action earlier in the week, Twin Valley shut out Windsor, 5-0, at Baker Field last Tuesday. Kody Crosier scored in the final minute of the first half, then Dylan Spiegel, Eli Park, Colin Lozito exploded for three goals in six minutes midway through the second half. Spiegel added one more goal in the 75th minute.

Bernard had five saves for his first shutout win. Leland & Gray defeated Black River, 4-1, last Wednesday in Townshend.

The Rebels got all their goals in the first half as Matt Bizon, Hunter Buffum, Noah Chapin and Tyler Miller all scored.

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Bellows Falls midfielder Kammie Crawford, left, kicks the ball upfield away from Green Mountain’s Gretchen Langsdon during their game last Thursday in Westminster.

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BRATTLEBO satire of the Latchis Thea p.m. on Satu and numbers bring their ti headlines to the entire ho

Brattleboro Recreation & Parks Tuesdays at 6 p.m. beginning Department office at 802-254- on Oct. 5. Teams are formed 5808 for more information. based on age and ability and are divided into four divisions.

Youth bowling The cost is $8 per week or league forms in $6 (2-game bumper division).

Brattleboro Shoe rentals for youth league Brattleboro Bowl on Putney bowlers are free and free bowlRoad is accepting registrations ing clinics are available. Late for a United States Bowling enrollment is accepted until Congress-sanctioned bowling Dec. 1 for those completing league for youths ages 5-19. fall sports. For more informaThere are two leagues to tion, call Brattleboro Bowl at choose from: Saturdays be802-257-1177. ginning Oct. 2 at 9:30 a.m. or

Brattleboro Area

Higher Education FairA free pre-Ca Refreshments and Door Prizes!

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All proceeds and commun Marlboro College • SIT Graduate Institute Housing Tru

Participating Schools Earn your next degree Community College of Vermont • Greenfield Community College right here, Keene State College • Landmark College close to home!

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Sponsored by: For more information: Master of Arts in Psychology & Counseling The Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce brattleborocenter@myunion.edu Licensure & non-licensure tracks · Five weekends or two weeks in class 802.257.9411 VSACDoctor advisor available for of Psychology (Psy.D.) financial aid questions www.myunion.edu Online & face-to-face courses · Social justice focus

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