The Commons/Issue 71/Oct. 13, 2010

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Brattleboro, Vermont Wednesday, October 13, 2010 • Vol. V, No. 24 • Issue #71

News ELECTION 2010

Should 17-year-olds get the vote? page 3 bRATTLEbORO

Bridge gets a name, but few are happy about it page 2

Voices VIEWPOINT

A dance for a complex new world page 6

Seeing through the lens of gender page 7

Life and Work PUTNEY

Doctor quits his practice to pursue his artistic muse page 9

The Arts MUSIC

Richie Havens plays benefit show for Stroll Page 11

Sports GIRLS SOCCER

Twin Valley wins thriller

More tritium found in unused well Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons

Oleg Bodrov, chair of NGO Green World, was part of a Russian and Norwegian delegation that toured Vermont last week. He spoke at Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro on Saturday.

mission Russian nuclear power officials visit Vermont for ideas, expertise in decommissioning process

By Randolph T. Holhut The Commons

B

RATTLEBORO—A delegation of Russians and Norwegians spent the past week in Vermont to study the decommissioning of nuclear plants in New England.

The issue has grown in importance in Russia, which has 31 civil nuclear reactors that produce 16 percent of that nation’s electricity, as well as 13 reactors that are being operated beyond their original projected 40-year lifespan.

Oleg Bodrov, an engineer and physicist, spoke about nuclear energy issues in Russia, and the differences between the decommissioning process there and in the process in the United States, in a talk at Brooks Memorial Library on Oct. 9.

“There is no open, public debate on decommissioning [in Russia],” said Bodrov, who is one of the founders and current chair of the Green World Council, a St. Petersburg-based environmental group. “There are no independent experts. There is no money for decommissioning. There is no infrastructure for decommissioning. And there is no safe storage technology.

This is as much a social problem as it is a financial problem.”

That’s why, he said, there have been delegations from Russia and Norway coming to the United States over the past 16 years — to find out about the decommissioning process as it is done here and build bridges between various sectors of society in Russia and the United States.

With the possibility of Vermont Yankee being closed after its operating license expires in 2012, the scientists who visited our area last week sought ideas from their American counterparts to apply to their countries’ nuclear programs.

nuclear waste.

The biggest reprocessing facility, Mayak, is located in the Ural mountains. It was the site of an massive explosion in 1957 that spread highly radioactive contaminants over 500,000 people.

It was second only to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in size and scope.

Mayak, still one of the biggest nuclear facilities in Russia, reprocesses about 200 tons of spent fuel annually, said Bodrov. An extraction process called PUREX (plutonium and uranium recovery by extraction) is used to separate those two elements from spent fuel.

But the process, Bodrov said, creates 22,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste for every cubic meter of spent fuel.

A combination of past nuclear accidents and the accumulation of wastes from more than six decades of nuclear activities at the site have made the area surrounding Mayak one of the most contaminated in the world, with significant concentrations of strontium, cesium and n see RUSSIANS, page 2

Spent fuel woes

The biggest issue regarding nuclear power, Bodrov said, is the reprocessing of spent fuel from nuclear reactors, something that has been prohibited in the United States since the late 1970s.

Bodrov said Russia is not only reprocessing its own spent fuel, but is accepting other nations’s

Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons

Natalia Mironova, head of the Movement for Nuclear Safety, was part of a Russian and Norwegian delegation that toured Vermont last week.

An old story, or a new sign of environmental woes?

By Olga Peters The Commons

VERNON—The news on Oct. 8 that routine testing revealed tritium in a former drinking water well, known as the COB well, at Vermont Yankee has sparked a new round of debates about the safety the 38-year-old power plant.

The company says the findings of tritium in the well water reflects nothing other than the effects of last winter’s leak — since repaired. Opponents say the fact that the tritium is moving through the ground also shows the potential for other, more dangerous, radioactive isotopes to contaminate groundwater.

According to plant spokesman Larry Smith, Louisianabased Entergy decided to close the COB (Construction Office Building) well in February as an

“abundance of precaution” because the well sat in the “tritium plume” of the underground pipes found leaking the radioactive substance earlier this year near the Advanced Off Gas (AOG) Building.

This is the first time during VY’s weekly testing regimen that tritium has been found in the 220-feet deep COB well. It ties into an aquifer in the vicinity, says Smith.

“It’s in the aquifer,” said Smith, adding that “this water sample test result does not indicate any new leak of tritium from Vermont Yankee.”

What the test results do confirm, according to Smith, is “the migration of tritiated water that was previously released from the leak in the advanced off gas system pipe tunnel that was sealed and repaired earlier this year.” n see tritium, page 3

Overnight shelter finds new location Bellows Falls respite begins its second year

By Allison Teague The Commons

BELLOWS FALLS—For the second straight year, men, women and children who have no place else to go on cold nights in winter will have at least a floor to sleep on and warm shelter overnight in Bellows Falls.

The village’s overnight shelter will open on Nov. 15, if all goes according to plan, according to Louise Luring of Our Place Drop-In Center and who also serves on the shelter steering committee.

Alpha G Corporation is renting space for the overnight shelter beneath the Athens Pizza on Rockingham Street, accessible through a door in the back southwest corner of the building, down a flight of stairs into the large, well lit basement.

At an open house on Oct. 7 to answer the community’s questions, Luring introduced the steering committee, then pointed out sign-up sheets where volunteers could sign up for help with overnight staffing, meals, shelter

clean-up and maintenance, and fundraising for the shelter. Many of the attendees were there to do just that.

Past volunteers gave an overview of their experiences last year, what to expect in terms of volume, the kind of people who used the facility, and what hours seemed to work best for coverage. One of the biggest gaps of concern were the days and hours that the Our Place Drop-In center is not open, time that could be crucial to survival for some.

“We’re aware of these issues and are trying to address them,” said Susan Ternes of Parks Place, who is also on the shelter steering committee.

“We are staffed by volunteers and it behooves us not to burn them out or make their lives difficult,” she said, referring to the 7 a.m. shelter closing that put people back on the street before alternative warm space is available.

“The police station lobby isn’t as bad as you’d think,” she said.

“It’s clean. There’s a bathroom, chairs, a table if there isn’t any n see SHELTER, page 4

Going to bat

State, federal fish and wildlife agencies investigate fungus that has killed three quarters of state’s bat population

By Olga Peters The Commons

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MARLBORO—Bats are dropping like flies.

With three-quarters of the bat population dead, scientists fear some species, such as Vermont’s Little Brown Bat, could be headed for extinction.

Hibernating bats are succumbing to a condition called White Nose

Syndrome (WNS) caused by a newly introduced cold-loving fungus. The fungus looks like a gentle dusting of snow. In reality, it burrows deep into the bats’ skin, according to Scott Darling, a wildlife biologist with the state’s Agency of Natural Resources.

More than a million hibernating bats have died from WNS since 2006.

Symptoms of WNS include weight loss and flying during winter in daylight.

“They’re sitting ducks.

They’re uniquely vulnerable to diseases [during hibernation],” said Jeremy Coleman, the national White Nose Syndrome coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Darling estimates Vermont has lost 75

percent of its bat population — or about 500,000 bats — so far, including about 50 percent of the endangered Indiana Bat population. If the rate of death continues, Vermont’s common Little Brown Bat will be extinct within 16 years.

Coleman said scientists are still trying to “define Marvin Moriarty/USFWS the disease” and will need A little brown bat with white-nose n see bats, page 5

syndrome in Greeley Mine, Vt., in 2009.

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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

Betsy Jaffe, Manager

• 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. 20 issue Friday, Oct. 15 About The newspaper

The Commons is a nonprofit community newspaper published since 2006

by Vermont Independent Media, Inc., a nonprofit corporation under section 501(c)3 of the federal tax code. We now publish weekly.

The newspaper is free, but it is supported by readers like you through tax-deductible donations, through advertising support, and through support of charitable foundations.

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We welcome story ideas and news tips. Please contact the newsroom at news@commonsnews.org or at (802) 246-6397.

Most press releases and announcements of upcoming events appear on www.commonsnews.org, where they can be made available sooner.

VOICES

The Commons presents a broad range of essays, memoirs, and other subjective material in Voices, our editorial and commentary section. We want the paper to provide an unpredictable variety of food for thought from all points on the political spectrum.

We especially invite responses to material that we’ve printed in the paper.

We do not publish unsigned or anonymous letters, and we only very rarely withhold names for other pieces.

When space is an issue, our priority is to run contributions that have not yet appeared in other publications.

Please check with the editor before writing essays or other original submissions of substance.

Editorials represent the collective voice of The Commons and are written by the editors or by members of the Vermont Independent Media Board of Directors.

The views expressed in our Voices section are those of individual contributors. Bylined commentaries by members of the Vermont Independent Media board of directors represent their individual opinions; as an organization, we are committed to providing a forum for the entire community. As a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, Vermont Independent Media is legally prohibited from endorsing political candidates.

BR AT TLEBORO Name for new span over the Whetstone leaves some unhappy

By Olga Peters The Commons

BRATTLEBORO—After passionate discourse between residents and officials, the Selectboard voted 3-2 in favor of naming the new bridge linking Western Avenue to Guilford Street and Living Memorial Park, Citizens Bridge.

Selectboard Chair Dick DeGray suggested Citizens Bridge at the previous board meeting as a way to honor numerous town residents into the future. He says names will be added to a plaque on the bridge as a sign of respect.

Selectboard Clerk Jesse Corum, who later voted against the name, expressed concern.

He felt the Selectboard had asked the public to submit names and “the board didn’t say we’d come up with our own.” Corum also asked questions about who would set the criteria for adding names. Would the criteria change with new Selectboards, he asked, and what kind of process would the Selectboard find itself in five or 10 years from now?

“I’m really stumped by this one,” Selectboard Vice-Chair Dora Bouboulis, who agreed with Corum’s concerns regarding criteria.

“I wish Brattleboro would care for its veterans as much as they care for Brattleboro,” said Richard Hodgdon, former Commandant of Marine Corps League Detachment 798 in Brattleboro.

Hodge and fellow veterans urged the board to name the bridge after Army Capt.

Frederick J. (Joseph) Giroux, a Brattleboro resident who died in a North Korean POW camp in 1951. He was captured after his infantry unit was overrun by Chinese troops during the early months of the Korean Conflict.

Giroux also served as an infantry officer in World War II, where he received numerous medals including a Purple Heart

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and Distinguished Service Cross – second only to the Medal of Honor for valor in combat — personally awarded by Gen. George S. Patton.

Two residents also spoke in favor of naming the bridge after former Recreation & Parks Director Frank Dearborn who was instrumental in the creation of Living Memorial Park.

The discussion devolved at times exposing the bone of participants’ raw conviction for their chosen honorees.

Resident Mark Gouger, who spearheaded the letter writing campaign to the Brattleboro Reformer in favor of Capt. Giroux, addressed the Selectboard holding a petition with “200 signatures” showing support.

He said the group felt strongly that Capt. Giroux’s heroism merited the new bridge receive his name.

Gouger then referred to a previous comment by the Selectboard that Citizens Bridge would be a good place to add the names of fallen firefighters and police officers. This comment had angered many uniformed officers, he said.

“Waiting for someone to die is morbid,” said Gouger.

Selectboard member Daryl Pillsbury, the originator of that comment, leaned forward in his chair and pointed at Gouger, saying the comment was “If someone died.”

“I’m not sitting there waiting. That’s ridiculous,” said Pillsbury.

Veteran and resident Sam Haskins said, “I think Citizens Bridge is a cop-out for the board.”

Charlie Larosa, resident, who supported the bridge being named after Dearborn said, “All [the suggested names] deserving of some kind of lasting memorial.”

But Larosa urged the Selectboard to consider the “appropriateness” of the site. He felt “Dearborn” was appropriate for the bridge because it is the “gateway to Memorial Park” which he was instrumental in creating.

“This is a very difficult decision for everybody. Sometimes you don’t make friends,” said DeGray.

After the vote, a few of the veterans saluted the board as they left.

Enchanted Halloween will charm families, raise funds BRATTLEBORO — The Neighborhood Schoolhouse will host Enchanted Halloween from 3 to 7 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 17, at the school on 231 Western Ave. Enchanted Halloween, which benefits the scholarship fund and other programs at the school, is an old-fashioned family carnival featuring non-scary activities to delight even the youngest children as well as creepier fun for older kids and adults.

The school is located behind Solar Hill Yoga, and borders the 400-acre Retreat Woods.

Families may catch sight of dancing fairies in the Mystical Pumpkin Patch, a non-scary garden maze, or venture into the Magical Labyrinth in the woods, where a wizard will perform feats of wonder.

Professional tarot reader Stacy Salpietro-Babb will tell fortunes, and the Haunted Mansion should satisfy anyone’s craving for being scared out of their wits. Garrin Benfield will provide freestyle acoustic rock. A bouncy house, apple bobbing, pumpkin painting and scarecrow making will round out the activities. Homemade soup, bread and baked treats will be available for purchase. Costumes are encouraged, and face painting will be available.

One admission price covers

all activities. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for children, with a maximum family price of $25. They can be purchased at Everyone’s Books or from Neighborhood Schoolhouse families. Some tickets may be available at the door. A special “double donation” program allows individuals who cannot attend to purchase tickets for families who would not otherwise be able to participate.

Donations made in this manner are tax-deductible.

For more information, visit www.neighborhoodschoolhouse.com.

Senior meal served in Halifax HALIFAX — The monthly Halifax Senior Meal will be served Friday, Oct. 15, at noon at the West Halifax Community Hall at the junction of Branch and Brook roads.

On the menu is meatball stroganoff, veggies, rolls, dessert and beverages. All seniors are welcome. A donation of $3 for those over 60 and $4 for under-60 diners is appreciated. For reservations, call Joan at 802-368-7733.

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n Russians

A bridge called Citizens

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plutonium found within a 100-kilometer — or 60-mile — radius of the facility.

Bodrov said that there are about 500,000 cancer victims living in that zone, and the childhood cancer rate around Mayak is 14.1 per 100,000, as of 2007-08, substantially higher than in other parts of Russia.

In addition to handling its own wastes, Russia is taking in radioactive material from Britain, France and Germany, which is turning into a profit center for the Russian government.

Natalia Mironova is a former engineer who is the head of the Movement for Nuclear Safety, an environmental group in Russia formed by a group of women concerned about radioactive waste. She said that Russia is positioning itself to be “the superpower of energy.”

Russia already substantial natural gas reserves and an equally substantial uranium mining industry, she said.

Reprocessing the world’s nuclear fuel fits into that strategy.

Aging plants, no easy fixes

Of the 13 Russian reactors that got authorization from Rosatom, the Russian Federal Nuclear Agency, to extend their operation, Bodrov said 11 are of the same design as the Chernobyl reactor. An accident at these reactors, many of which are located in more populated areas, would have even worse environmental consequences than the Mayak or Chernobyl disasters.

Russia and the United States, as the first nuclear nations, have the oldest nuclear reactors that require

Survey gauges extent of Elliot St. problems

By Olga Peters The Commons

BRATTLEBORO—A recent survey prepared by Erin Ruitenberg, an AmeriCorps/ VISTA volunteer for the Brattleboro Community Justice Center, and numerous volunteers revealed people frequenting Elliot Street perceive not youth, but adults, as the source of most of the area’s unwanted behavior.

The survey, conducted on Elliot and Flat streets on Sept.

17 and 19, sought to gauge perceptions of visitors, residents, workers and business owners regarding youth “problem” behavior.

Ruitenberg said the broad question the survey asked was, “do most people see youth as a problem and if so in what way are they the problem?”

A total of 226 people completed the survey. The largest age group was 20-29-year-olds, or about 33 percent of people responding. Of the 226 respondents, 126 were men, and 97 women. Three respondents did not indicate their gender.

The survey revealed that

BRATTLEBORO— September ended with Mother Nature drenching Brattleboro in seven inches of rain.

One casualty was an electric pole on Putney Road near Landmark Hill.

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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

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problem.

A driver who didn’t wait for emergency services to clear the pole and associated lines, drove around the downed pole, dislocating the fire alarm cable.

That knocked out fire alarms along most of the north end of Putney Road and up Black Mountain Road to World Learning, explained Town Manager Barbara Sondag.

Fire departments from Brattleboro and Greenfield, Mass., worked in the pouring rain to repairing the fire alarm cable in a few hours.

Still, said Sondag, for hours, many businesses and World Learning, which houses students in addition to offices, were without fire alarms and a way to automatically call the fire department in an emergency.

The cost of repairing the cable will cost a lot of money, she said.

Sondag thanked the fire departments adding, “There’s a reason why, when wires go down, you should wait.”

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although respondents perceived some negative behavior perpetuated by youth, respondents perceived adults as more the source of unwanted behavior and an impact on people’s feeling of safety.

Selectboard Clerk Jesse Corum said the survey was informative but wondered if conducting a second one in July or August would yield different results?

Dora Bouboulis, Selectboard Vice-Chair who said she took the survey, asked if the number of people avoiding Elliot Street would change if surveys had been handed out on Main Street? She also wondered about respondents’ cultural experiences, like a more rural person observing an urban setting, could impact perceptions.

Dan Yates, representing Building a Better Brattleboro, said the survey was “tremendous” and hoped youth would be encouraged to help solve the perceived problems on Elliot Street. But, he added, problems still existed.

“The issue is still there. We have to keep it in our minds,” he said.

Town urges caution around downed power lines

P ainting & RestoRation

VIM’S MISSION

decommissioning and cleanup. This raises significant environmental and safety issues in both nations.

What’s the solution? Bodrov said setting up a well-funded decommissioning process is the first step, with the management infrastructure to do the job.

In Russia, he said stronger laws and regulations are needed to protect the public and regional councils — similar to the regional planning commissions in Vermont — should be formed to serve an advisory role and represent the public in any deliberations.

Finally, he wants to see host cities of nuclear facilities get sufficient funding to make the transition to economically and ecologically sustainable development.

Bodrov acknowledged that the United Stares is much further along in this process than Russia, but there is one common factor between the two nations. “One region gets the ‘clean’ power and another region gets the waste,” he said.

Among the other delegates that made the trip to Vermont were Olga Tsepilova, deputy chairman of the Green Russia political party; Andrey Ivanov, head of the Murmansk Regional Parliament Committee on Environment and Agriculture; Sergy Pavlov, a legislator and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia; Julia Korshunova, an coordinator for the decommissioning project of NGO GAIA in the Russia city of Appatity; and Pavel Tishakov, an advisor for the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority.

The tour was sponsored by the New England Coalition.

It’s not just youth

Southern Vermont

Despite our similar name, The Com­ mons is not affiliated with Ver­mont Commons, a statewide journal that is strongly linked with a movement advocating Vermont’s secession from the United States.

from page 1

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• Wednesday, October 13, 2010

NEWS

3

COUNT Y & REGION

Should 17-year-olds get the vote?

Referendum on November ballot sparks some controversy

By Randolph T. Holhut The Commons

BRATTLEBORO—When Vermont voters go to the polls on Nov. 2, they will be asked to amend the state’s Constitution to allow 17-year-olds to vote in primaries if they turn 18 by Election Day. Windham County Sen. Jeanette White is the sponsor of the measure, which was put on the 2010 ballot after the Legislature voted for it in the 2009 and 2010 sessions as required by the Vermont Constitution.

White, a Democrat from Putney, said the inspiration for the measure came from a group of interns in her office who were part of the Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountain’s “Girls Rock The Capital” program. The program, which brings together young women and female lawmakers, gives participants training in public speaking, civics, advocacy and leadership.

“It was 2008 and the seniors that were in my office said they wished they had the chance to vote in the primary,” said White.

“They did a little research and found out that 10 other states allow 17-year-olds to vote in primaries.”

In those states, White said there is no defined age for voting. The Vermont Constitution, however, is quite specific about what’s required.

It states: “Every person of the full age of eighteen years who is a citizen of the United States, having resided in this State for the period established by the General Assembly and who is of a quiet and peaceable behavior, and will take the following oath or affirmation, shall be entitled to all the privileges of a voter of this state: You solemnly swear (or affirm) that whenever you give your vote or suffrage, touching any matter that concerns the State of Vermont, you will do it so as in your conscience you shall judge will most conduce to the best good of the same, as established

by the Constitution, without fear or favor of any person.”

The oath, once known as the Freeman’s Oath, is now known as the Voter’s Oath and is unique to Vermont. But the logistics of 17-year-olds taking that oath is at the heart of some of the questions being raised by town clerks around the state about the amendment.

Town clerks wary

Alison Kaiser, a town clerk in Stowe and head of the Vermont Municipal Clerks’ & Treasurers’ Association, wrote recently that her group’s membership has “concerns with the language as drafted and the process that has yet to be determined. The Vermont Constitution should not be amended with ambiguous language.”

Part of the ambiguity has to with what Kaiser believes is an inconsistency between the amendment and current law.

“Prior to registering to vote in Vermont, applicants are required to take the Voter’s Oath,” wrote

n Tritium Smith said Entergy informed the state and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) of the findings as a courtesy.

Tests measured 1,040 picocuries per liter in a “fracture zone” in the well about 200 to 220 feet down.

“This amount of tritium is significantly below the [NRC’s] required level to report tritium findings and significantly below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s standard for permissible levels of tritium in drinking water,” Smith said.

The NRC’s reporting threshold is 30,000 picocuries per liter. The EPA’s level for tritium is lower, at 20,000 picocuries per liter.

According to the hydrology of the area, said Smith, the movement and flow of any water in the well is upwards toward the Connecticut River, rather than down toward the aquifer or other drinking wells.

“There is no tritium in the drinking water on- or off-site.

There’s absolutely no threat to health or public safety,” said Smith.

Smith said after Entergy closed the COB well, it became part of the 23 to 25 testing wells Entergy implemented as part of an “industry-leading program to protect groundwater at this site” to stop, prevent and monitor tritium in the groundwater. Most of the other testing wells are around 70 feet deep.

He said the program focuses on “inspecting, monitoring and selectively replacing plant piping and other components to prevent leaks” as well as installing additional monitoring wells.

Smith compared the latest

Kaiser. “No determination has been made as to whether it is legal for someone under the age of 18 to take the Voter’s Oath.

It is examples like this that need to be answered before asking the Clerks to implement a significant change to the eligibility of voter registration.”

White said the Voter’s Oath is no longer an issue, because the law was changed in 2007 to allow new voters to self-administer the oath, rather than have it administered by a town clerk or notary public.

“There are different things that that one can attest to that can be done by someone under age 18, such as courtroom testimony,” said White. “If we really and truly had a uniform age of majority — 18, and you’re an adult — this would be an issue.

But we don’t. And our election laws are very detailed — so detailed that if we passed a law allowing 17-year-old to vote in primaries, it would be unconstitutional. So we have to change the constitution, before we can

from page 1

tritium test results to a self-illuminated red “exit” sign, which contains about 6 trillion picocuries of tritium — far more than the latest test results.

Entergy also tests drinking water wells at the Hinsdale Water Facility, Vernon Elementary School, and at the plant. As of Friday, none contained tritium.

Smith says Entergy will continue to test and monitor its wells.

Other isotopes, according to Smith, like Strontium-90 and Cesium-137, have not been found in any of the groundwater samples taken at VY, only in the soils surrounding the original leak.

Entergy removed this soil and is storing it in shipping containers on-site, awaiting “disposal at a licensed off-site waste facility.”

“Empirical data gathered to date supports the conclusion that Strontium-90 and Cesium-137 and other radionuclides, unlike tritium, which is very similar in molecular structure to water, are not transported across the site by groundwater,” said Smith.

Other views

But not everyone shared Smith’s assessment that there is no threat to public health.

“That’s really bad news. I was hoping it was going to be contained and that the shallowground water would flush itself and that we would be done with it,” state Rep. David Deen — who is also a river steward with the Connecticut River Watershed Council — told The Associated Press on Friday.

“What it means is that it has gotten through that rock layer that was protecting the drinking

water aquifer.”

Bob Bady of Safe & Green Campaign wrote in an e-mail, “As a member of Safe and Green, and simply as a resident of this area, this latest information about deep well tritium contamination raises my level of anxiety.”

Bady called the event “remarkably similar to last January’s tritium leak story.”

In both instances, “Entergy and the NRC release the information on a Friday along with statements from both the NRC and the Vermont Department of Health downplaying any negative consequences from the discoveries,” he said.

“Last winter, we learned that this initial approach had much to do with public relations and little to do with the reality of the situation,” Bady added. “I suspect that little has changed in this regard.”

‘About the plume’

“It’s not about the 1,000 picocures. It’s about the radioactive plume that is migrating downward [to the aquifer],” says Arnie Gundersen, energy advisor and chief engineer with Fairewinds Associates, a consulting firm he runs with his wife, Margaret Gundersen, who serves as its president.

Gundersen, who has described himself as pro-nuclear but has emerged as a frequent critic of VY, said he was more concerned about the Strontium-90 and Cesium-137 in the soils, other radioactive isotopes that can stick around for 300 or 400 years.

“It doesn’t portend well for the future,” he said.

Gundersen, who served on

the state’sVermont Yankee Oversight Panel, said in a Fairewinds report presented to the Vermont Legislature in August that it is “critical” for Entergy to continue operating the extraction wells around the initial leak site to minimize future movement of radioisotopes down into the aquifer.

Gundersen said Entergy is due to shut off the extraction wells in a couple of weeks.

Smith confirmed Entergy would evaluate the extraction process once 300,000 gallons of water had been removed. As of Monday, Entergy has removed 267,000 gallons, according to Smith.

Gundersen said Entergy knows Strontium-90 moves with water. The company is having the same issue with leaks at its Indian Point plant in Buchanan, N.Y. “It’s the opposite of what they’re saying,” Gundersen said.

According to Gundersen, it takes a long time for water to work its way through the soil, and the “wedge” of tritium and other isotopes has been on the move since the leak started.

“This train left the station three years ago. We shouldn’t be surprised at all,” said Gundersen.

Entergy continues to seek from the NRC a 20-year extension to its operating license that’s set to expire in March 2012.

The Vermont Senate voted in February to prohibit the Public Service Board from issuing the firm a Certificate of Public Good for the plant, required by state law even if it receives a federal license extension.

change the law.”

Kaiser questions the intentions of those who support the age change.

“Proponents of this amendment, while good intentioned, wish to capitalize on the enthusiasm of young voters to participate in local, state and national elections,” she wrote. “Voting enthusiasm exists because of issues, candidates and current circumstances, not by expanding the age of voting.”

White rejects that argument.

“It should be easy to vote, and anything we can do to get young people to vote should be done.

There is plenty of evidence that the first time someone votes sets a pattern for the rest of their lives. If they have a good experience, they will keep on voting and stay involved.”

Condos, Gibbs clash

The referendum has also become an issue in this year’s contest for Secretary of State.

Democrat Jim Condos supports the measure. “The foundation of our democracy begins with our voting,” Condos recently told Vermont Public Radio. ”This is about helping to educate our youth, and getting them involved at an early age.”

If elected, Condos said he would work to implement the new voting law.

Republican candidate Jason Gibbs disagrees. He said he believes the Legislature did a poor job drafting the measure and has done a poor job explaining its significance to voters.

“This is the last stop in the process,” Gibbs told VPR. “The people of Vermont are going to

be asked to say, ‘Yea,’ or, ‘Nay.’ And I don’t think that we’ve adequately lived up to the expectation — in the Constitution — for a significant discussion about amendments of this type.

I frankly don’t think it’s significant enough to justify amending our state’s most important governing document.”

White said she is pleased that Condos supports the measure, and isn’t surprised that Gibbs opposes it.

“He’s also opposed to sameday registration and doesn’t like early voting,” White said. “He’s not trying to break down the barriers to voting, he’s trying to put them back up.”

In the end, White said, only a couple of hundred Vermont 17-year-olds would be affected by the change each election year.

“But if there are kids in Vermont who want to vote, we should DOWNTOWN catch them now.”

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4

T h e C ommons

BELLOWS FALLS

westminster

n Shelter other place to go.”

But the steering committee is trying to close those gaps. Most of the volunteers at the shelter have jobs, families or animals they need to get to. Even 7 a.m. is too late for some people to go home, shower and change and get to work.

“We’re aware and we’re working on that,” Ternes iterated.

“We know it’s a concern.”

Following a comment by a woman who found herself homeless in Washington state “quite a few years ago” saying she was interviewed and given goals to achieve to get back on her feet

from page 1

that helped her, SEVCA’s Pat Burke said, “Thanks for bringing that up, because I am aware that this is an area we need to work on.”

Susan Howes, also of SEVCA, noted that in her experience, setting up appointments for people with different agencies was not necessarily appropriate for shelter users.

“The reality is that most people who would use the overnight shelter may not be ready for that kind of help,” she said.

The shelter is not handicapped accessible either, but Luring pointed out that at least the

shelter is available to the rest of the people who might need it, saying that eventually, they hope to get to the point where anyone can get to shelter.

It was notable that at least one volunteer that The Commons spoke with had been homeless themselves at one point.

Larry Barrows is going to volunteer in some capacity; he is not sure what yet. He was homeless for six months, now works parttime and has a place to live.

“I think it’s a good idea,” he said, speaking of the overnight shelter. Of his volunteering, “It’s a way to help.”

Richie Senerchia, owner of Athens Pizza and agent for the group Alpha G who owns the building where the shelter is to be housed said, “We have to help each other.”

Senerchia said that he has been in business in Bellows Falls for 31 years, and loves the community. He noted that every year, he donates and helps youth sports teams, community action groups, and now feels it’s the right thing to rent space for the overnight shelter.

“It’s a good idea,” he said.

“This is who we are – we do stuff for our community.”

Sharing stories of homelessness Empty Bowls fundraiser Nov. 7 to benefit shelter

By Allison Teague The Commons

BELLOWS FALLS—Over a lunchtime conversation at Our Place Drop-In center, chef Matt and volunteer Kenny both acknowledge their homelessness at one point in their lives, saying that is at least part of why they work and volunteer at Our Place — they know and understand the need people have for such a place.

Our Place Drop-In Center is on 4 Island St., and provides two meals four days a week. It also has a food shelf, a shower and a telephone. Their annual benefit, Empty Bowls, a soup supper and auction of ceramic bowls by local artisans, as well as other items and serviced donated by local businesses and citizens, will be held at Alyson’s Orchard in Walpole N.H., on Nov. 7, starting at 5 p.m.

“If you haven’t been there yourself, you probably shouldn’t be working in a place like this,” said Kenny, who lost both his son and fiancee when his alcoholism and drug problem became more important, and he found himself sleeping beneath bridges, in doorways, and under cardboard more times than he cares to count.

“I’ve been clean and sober for 19 years next month,” he said. “I come here for the fellowship.”

Kenny lives just outside of Bellows Falls now, and has a menagerie of birds, snakes and dogs that he “just loves to take care of” and that take up to four hours to feed.

Sara was sitting alone at the next table but volunteered her story as well.

“This place was very important for me and my husband a few years ago,” she said.

“My husband couldn’t find work and when we had to sell our vehicle to pay our rent — that was it. He couldn’t get anymore work, and I was laid off too,” Sara, describing the downward spiral to homelessness.

“Susan Shea [former Our Place Director] really helped us out. She put us in touch with all the right people,” Sara said, her eyes serious having seen too much.

Sara didn’t think it could happen to her, but a series of circumstances out of her control, put her and her husband on the street with no place to stay. They eventually found a trailer to stay in that was “OK through the middle of November,” but too cold after that.

“There was some funding for a few weeks at a sleazy motel that was just awful, so depressing; then we were able to stay in another motel while we tried to get things together.”

Sara described one situation

• Wednesday, October 13, 2010

that happened to her during this time she feels is typical of people who are homeless. “I went to a job interview and had the job, but when they found out I would have to rely on the public transportation system here because I didn’t have a car, they told me they couldn’t hire me.”

The local bus system is limited in its service.

Sara said it is nearly impossible for someone who is homeless to land a job for a lot of reasons.

“You’re usually tired from all the stress you’re under, and can’t afford clothes needed for most jobs, let alone keeping them clean. Plus your person is probably not as clean as you’d like to be,” Sara said flicking her fingers at the table, remembering the humiliation.

“I told [the employer] that if she would just hire me for a couple of weeks, I could afford a vehicle and then would work anytime, any hours she wanted me too.” But the employer did not hire her because, Sara said, she didn’t have a car.

“There’s a stigma that is very difficult to get past,” she said.

The phone and shower as well as food Our Place provides is an attempt to make it easier to find work and be presentable, just to take those first steps to get back on one’s feet.

Sara said that with the help of Springfield Housing Authority and their experimental goal-setting program, she and her husband have found a place, and her

husband is working part-time.

She, however, has had health issues so they are still surviving only on her husband’s income.

Both Sara and Kenny said that one should not look at person and make judgments about whether they are a good or bad person based on their circumstances.

“There’s good and bad in everybody,” Kenny said, “I don’t care who you are.”

Sara said that judgment of another person can mean the difference between having a roof over one’s head, and finding oneself out on the street without one, or finding work.

Sara said her life changed because of people like Susan Shea who genuinely cared. Sara said she knows how important the overnight shelter can be in some people’s lives.

“I’m so glad they did it.

Nobody should be outside freezing. It’s a great thing putting people in that basement.”

Our Place Drop-In Center is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Friday for two meals a day, with a food shelf available.

Tickets for the Empty Bowl fundraiser are $30 and will be available at Village Square Booksellers in Bellows Falls, Real to Reel Video in Walpole or by calling Our Place at 802-463-2217.

A celebration of squash in Westminister West WESTMINSTER WEST — The Westminster West Public Library will hosting a festival of squashes on Saturday, Oct. 16, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Everyone is invited to celebrate humble but beautiful squashes and help support the services provided by the library.

Why squash? Library Trustee Tatiana Schreiber said: “Because they’re so beautiful, for one thing: winter squashes and pumpkins come in all shapes, colors and sizes; they’re also delicious, and they’ll be at peak flavor and sweetness by mid-October; and the library recognizes and values the agricultural enterprises that are so important to making our community a beautiful and vibrant place to live.”

The squash festival is the annual summer/fall fundraiser for the two-room public library that provides a range of services for the Westminster community from Internet access to book groups for adults and afterschool programs for children.

“We operate this library on a minuscule annual budget and depend on fundraising to bring in the largest portion of that budget,” Schreiber said.

At this time, the library is putting out the call for vendors who would like to participate.

Vendors can have a table set up in front of the library (or in the Westminster West Town Hall in case of rain.) Vendors are asked to provide a contribution to the library in an amount they choose, or, in lieu of a contribution, donations of squash are welcome

TOWNSHEND — The 26th annual Pumpkin Festival will be held on Saturday, Oct. 16, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., on the Common.

The day features a craft show, a pumpkin decorating contest, free pony rides and a Halloween costume parade for

“How can we help you ?”

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Hello, my name is Hattie! I lost my way and ended up at the shelter to find a new home. I am very loving and easy going.

I enjoy exploring and am outdoor savvy. I also just love curling up on your lap for a nice cuddle. I would be a wonderful companion in any home!

Hi, Everyone my name’s Mccloud! I was given up to the shelter to find a new home. I may be a more mature kitty but I am still playful and love lots of attention. I really enjoy a nice long brushing and would love a quiet home to spend my days lounging in the sun. I would make a wonderful companion in an adult household.

My name is Nakita (Nik) for short and I am a female Shep/Greyhound mix.I am looking for a calm, mellow and structured place to call home. I am a shy girl and I came to the shelter with some fear issues with strangers that I am working through. Because of this I need a special home where people can understand and support my progress to be a more confident girl. When I get to know you I am sweet and silly and a big cuddle bug!

I do well with some dogs, but no children or cats. If you are looking to put a bit more work into your new dog for a big payoff- I might be the gal for you!

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It’s Gerty, the sweetest lil’ Beagle gal you’ve ever met! I am great with people, kids (I do like them on the mellow side) and other dogs and cats.

The best thing in the world for me is to cuddle up with people. I would be a great companion for somebody who is on the mellow side too. If I sound like your kind of dog, please stop in and visit me!

This space is graciously sponsored by:

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WESTMINSTER — On Saturday, Oct. 16, there will be an all-you-can-eat breakfast from 8 to 10 a.m. at the First Congregational Church on Route 5.

The menu will include scrambled eggs, french toast, fried potatoes, bacon, sausage, orange juice and coffee. Prices are $7 for adults; $3 for children. All are welcome.

26th annual Pumpkin Festival on Oct. 16

Independent and Locally Owned

FROM OUR OWN

All-you-caneat breakfast in Westminster

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Brattleboro Pharmacy

Make a friend for life

to be used for the Squash Café, “play-table,” and “best-dressed squash” kids’ activities. Vendors who cannot be present themselves may also have library volunteers sell their products, for a 40 percent commission.

The library is also seeking volunteers to help with the event.

Volunteers can help by preparing food for the café, serving and/ or cleaning up from the café, hosting vendors’ tables, helping out with the kids’ activities, or in any other way you can think of! Cooks for the café are asked to prepare a soup, main dish or desert. The library will provide donated squash if needed.

To volunteer, call the library at 802-387-4682, and leave a message. If you are interested in being a vendor, contact Schreiber at 802-387-2781 or tatianas@sover.net, or Carlene Raper at 802-387-8505 or carlene@colorquilts.com.

149 Emerald St Keene, NH

603.352.9200

area youngsters. A scarecrow decorating contest for all ages is also a favorite attraction and has produced some really wild scarecrows. A free pumpkin is given to each youngster to decorate and prize-ribbons are given for all the contests.

In past years, the local Giant Pumpkin contest has spurred fierce competition to see who can come up with the largest locally grown pumpkin. A few entrants have produced 600 and 700 pound giants, which is really quite a large pumpkin. Besides seeing who has grown the largest pumpkin, there has been a “weight guessing” contest to guess the weigh of the largest pumpkin each year.

One of the projects of the Townshend Business Association at the Pumpkin Festival is the baking and selling pumpkin pies on the big day.

TBA members are persuaded in baking their share of the 120 pies usually sold. The preparation of the ingredients, getting the bakers and making sure we have boxes to package 120 pies can be quite a project. Pies are sold by-the-piece with whipped cream, or you can buy a whole pumpkin pie.

The Pumpkin Festival is sponsored by the Townshend Business Association and is supported by donations from more than 60 local businesses.

First Methodist hosts rummage sale BRATTLEBORO — The United Methodist Women of the First United Methodist Church will hold their annual fall rummage sale on Saturday, Oct. 16, from 9 a.m. to noon.

New and used clothing will be featured as well as a small-item white elephant table. Prices are not marked, just take what you need and pay what you can. All proceeds go to support both local and Methodist Mission needs.

Craft fair has vendor openings BRATTLEBORO — Nile Court #94 Ladies Oriental Shrine of North America still has openings for its Christmas Craft Fair on Nov. 13 at the Shrine Hall on Green Street.

Spaces with tables are $25 and a space is $20. Home made corn chowder, sandwiches and desserts will be served at lunch time. The Ladies Shrine will have a special table available for children to shop at. To request an application, contact Sandi Merz at 802-384-2638.

T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, October 13, 2010

NEWS

n Bats

5 from page 1

to better understand how the within the second and third fungus spreads and kills before years. they will have effective means Many healthy bats, he said, to combat it. eventually abandoned many At this early stage, scientists of their long-time hibernation believe WNS spreads through locations like Aeolus Cave in bat-to-bat contact and environ- Manchester, once the hibernamental contact. They are still tion home of 300,000 bats. unsure if it spreads during warm weather.

On the move What scientists do know, said Darling and Coleman, is that hiberTo learn more, visit: nating bat colonies in• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: fected with the fungus www.fws.gov/whitenosesyndrome Geomyces destructans show • Vermont’s Fish & a 90-to-100-percent morWildlife Department: tality rate. www.vtfishandwildlife.com Coleman said bats’ • Agency of Natural Resources: own hibernation may www.anr.state.vt.us fuel their susceptibility to • Southern Vermont the fungus’s destruction.

Natural History Museum: According to Coleman, www.vermontmuseum.org bats enter a state of torpor during hibernation, midApril to November, where their Darling and Coleman said heartbeats drop from one or two scientists are watching the fungus beats per minute and their meta- as it moves south into warmer bolic processes slow. Their body climates as the bats’ migrate. temperatures drop to match the “As it’s moving, we don’t ambient winter temperature of know what to expect. We’re hopthe caves or mines where many ing we won’t see the same reacbats choose to hibernate. tion,” Coleman said.

Their immune response also Scientists still don’t know if slows during torpor, allowing the the fungus infects bats in the fungus undisputed access to the summer. Also, bats experience bats’ bodies. a shorter hibernation period in warmer climates that could give ‘From fear to fascinating’ the fungus less time to take hold It’s challenging to convince and more time for the bats’ impeople of bats’ importance be- mune systems to fight. cause so many are afraid of Despite some earlier, but them, Darling told an audi- limited, success with an insecence last month as part of an ticide, a cure for WNS is still ongoing lecture series at the out of reach, said Darling and Southern Vermont Natural Coleman.

History Museum in Marlboro.

According to Coleman, fungi Vermont has nine species of can prove tough to kill and the bats. The most common state bat available insecticides require in 2007, the Little Brown Bat, multiple applications. weights 7 grams or roughly three Darling said handling bats in pennies. It will also enter houses their delicate torpor state during as will the Big Brown Bat, the past applications may have killed only bat to winter over in attics. just as many as it saved.

The Tri-Colored Bat, The other issue with insectiNorthern Long-Eared Bat and cides is their potential to harm endangered Indiana Bat prefer the natural and unique ecodense woods and dead trees. systems within caves that have The Small-Footed Bat, having evolved over millions of years. the dubious honor of being on Coleman feels the ideal soluthe state’s threatened list, likes tion would be to find a “biologiroosting in south- and west-fac- cal control agent” like an enzyme ing cliffs. or bacterium naturally occurring Three bats migrate from in the bats.

Vermont to points south: the The best option right now at Red Bat, Hoary Bat, and Silver- the feds’ disposal, said Coleman, Haired Bat. is controlling the fungus’s spread.

The Silver-Haired, said But, he adds, humans can’t Darling, was once considered control the movements of bats. common but has only one re- The Fish & Wildlife Service is corded sighting in the past 10 asking people modify their beyears. havior and stay out of caves and The Hoary Bat, Vermont’s mines and thoroughly deconlargest at 25 grams, migrates as taminate any gear or equipment. far as the Caribbean and Mexico.

These warnings hold true for Bats evolved from lemurs 53 recreational cavers and scienmillion years ago. The bones in tists alike, said Coleman. The their wings are hand bones. They National Wildlife Refuge System live about 20 to 30 years, and has already closed a number of females give birth to about one caves to try and slow the spread. pup per year.

He adds this request has met with resistance from people feelEmpty caves ing the government is dictating According to the U.S. Fish whether people get to explore & Wildlife Service’s website, the caves or mines — or not. first suspected cases of WNS “If we can prevent [the showed up in a 2006 photograph spread], even for a year or two, of hibernating bats covered in a we can gain time,” said Coleman. white substance snapped by a caver in the Howe Cave in Howe, Origins of a fungus?

N.Y. The following winter, bats Although research is in the with white noses, bats leaving early stages, it seems North the hibernation colonies in the American bats can look to their middle of winter, and “a few cousins in Europe for the funhundred dead bats in several gus’s source, said Darling. caves” caught the attention of The current hypothesis, acthe New York Department of cording to Coleman, is that Environmental Conservation, the fungus has been present in which documented the first cases Europe in one form for 30 years in January 2007. without the mass deaths.

By 2008, biologists had conColeman also said scientists firmed WNS sites in Vermont, think the fungus was introduced New Hampshire, New York, to the Northeast through Howe Massachusetts, and other states Caverns, a 10-million-year-old as far south as Virginia. This show cave just west of Albany, year, new confirmed sites have N.Y., that’s open to visitors cropped up in Ontario and year-round.

Québec in Canada, as well as Howe Caverns connect to northern New Hampshire and Howe Caves, where the fungus Tennessee. Suspected sites was first spotted. can be found as far west as “The best scientific informaOklahoma. tion we have suggests people are According to a map on the spreading this [as much as the Fish & Wildlife Service’s web- bats are],” he said. site, the fungus in Vermont was first confirmed in Bennington, Easier protecting Rutland and Orange coun- pandas ties in 2007–08, then spread to A decline in bat population Windham and Windsor counties may be music to the ears to the in 2008-09. tennis-racket-and-broom-weldColeman said few bats die the ing members of society to whom first year the fungus is discovered bats are known as “dirty rats with in a cave or mine. wings.” But, said Darling and “Mass death” tends to occur Coleman, consider their place

Windham Housing Trust is offering Homebuyer Education Workshops Saturday, October 15th

in the ecosystem.

Bats are the primary predator of nighttime flying insects like moths and mosquitoes. A single bat consumes half or sometimes up to its full body weight every night.

In human terms, said Darling, that’s about 175 quarter-pound hamburgers.

Coleman said the service doesn’t know the long-term ecological impact if bats become extinct but the potential exists for populations of tent caterpillars, disease-carrying mosquitoes and agricultural pests like corn moths to run unchecked.

“Bats do have value,” said Coleman.

Coleman finds interesting the academics of tracking the fungus and learning about bats’

[

responses.

“The reality is horrifying,” he said.

Darling said the Agency of Natural Resources continues to monitor bat populations, provide outreach opportunities for people to learn more, and work with landowners with hibernation colonies.

On Oct. 6, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced six grant awards totaling $1.6 million for research into the cause of WNS in bats and to identify ways to manage it. The Preventing Extinction program and a congressional appropriation for WNS work provided the funding.

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Saturday, November 13th 8am-5pm To register call 802-246-2102 68 Birge Street Brattleboro, VT www.windhamhousingtrust.org

to plan and implement purposeful, exciting activities for students in grades 7-12 is an essential step in attracting 21C funding and establishing a successful program. 21C funds a range of activities, from career exploration and artistsin-residence to wellness and tutoring. Visit www.education.vermont.gov/new/html/ pgm_federal/21st_CCLC.html for more information.

All are invited to join in planning activities customized to Leland & Gray’s secondary school students and unique community. The school will host two meetings in the library on Monday, Oct. 18 at 4:30-6 p.m. or Tuesday, Oct. 26 at 6-7:30 p.m.

Look at what we’ve been able to do since we began publishing weekly in June. We’ve published this paper with your support — as readers, as advertisers, and as members of Vermont Independent Media. We are grateful to the hundreds who have joined — and we would love to have you as a member, too.

State_____ Zip ___________ Phone ________________

Workshop sponsored by Citizen’s Bank

TOWNSHEND — Leland & Gray Middle and High School will apply for a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant from the Vermont Department of Education.

A 21C grant supports innovative learning for students that takes place outside of school time, such as evenings, weekends, after school, vacations, and summers. The school intends to apply as part of a Windham Central Supervisory Uniob consortium and coordinate activities, transportation, and management with several elementary schools.

Collaborating with community members and supporters

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6

VOICES

T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, October 13, 2010

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

E S S AY

form of movement.”

She said butoh frequently attracts actors and others who want to dance but lack the formal training necessary to accomplish ballet, modern, and other forms.

At the rehearsal, a year-old baby tentatively ambled and fell, ambled and fell upon the smooth dark floor, her pink skin glowing in the spotlights.

All around her, the butoh dancers writhed on the floor.

“Now your skin is gone,” Martinelli directs, “It’s just nerves, muscle, veins, nothing’s holding it in.”

The whole cycle of life played out in this improvised spectacle before me, second floor of the Cotton Mill, and it somehow all made sense.

Call the pain the cure Coming to understand an increasingly popular Japanese dance — one that embraces the contradictions in our complex world

O

Brattleboro LIssa Weinmann, when not learning about dance, works as a senior fellow at the Oct. 17, a perWorld Policy Institute in New formance/ritual York. will occur at the Stone Church in Brattleboro unlike anything you, or most people, have ever seen, unless current to my soul. Dancers, you’ve seen butoh before. often nude or barely covered, I had never heard of butoh spines protruding through skin, before my husband, experiwere often painted a white that mental musician John Loggia, simultaneously reminded me told me he would be playghosts and the waxy varnax ing for a performance here in covering newborns. town. A butoh dancer, Angela The dancers moved exMartinelli, had recently arrived cruciatingly slowly, then — from Seattle and was eager to shockingly — suddenly sprang bring the form to Brattleboro, out like birds in flight. They where apparently it has not seemed animated by eerie been performed before. sounds and music that felt like “What’s butoh?” I asked, an outside force beyond their “And who is this woman?” control.

In researching the answers Extreme facial expressions to these two questions, I’ve be- and physical contortions crecome increasingly intrigued by ated an isometric tension bethis unique art form which, al- tween darkness and light, pain though little known here, has a and freedom, birth and death significant history and is expe- played out before me like living riencing a global renaissance. yin and yang. n Sunday,

A quick search of the web shows butoh festivals springing up everywhere, and enough old and new videos to hold me transfixed for hours.

The music and movement of these pieces ran like an electric

Last year, I was living through a very difficult time.

My mother was dying. I felt the physical and emotional pressures and pulls between my child, my mother, and the many other forces demanding

my attention and care.

I realized I was caught in a sort of eternal wheel of generations: my daughter coming up, my mother going down, and me suspended in the middle.

I had the opportunity to express these feelings on stage as part of the yearly “Gathering in Gratitude” at the HookerDunham Theater.

The whole process of trying to embody and portray my pain was ultimately very healing, but I wish I had been able to access the extreme expressionism of butoh at the time.

I realized it would have been the perfect form for what I had been trying to express: being propelled by forces larger than myself, feeling anguish about betraying my own creativity in order to serve the people around me, a sense of growth and hope (the child) versus decay and despair (the dying mother).

I think my efforts would have been that much more profound and therapeutic, for this is what butoh does.

Butoh was born in Japan post–World War II. Like tortured green shoots reaching up from the rubble, butoh was an

EDITORIAL

An honest mistake that raises deeper questions

A

nyone can make a mistake.

We all should value and support the efforts of anyone who wants to create community news — particularly volunteers working for a good cause. Those hours are long and often thankless, but the benefit to the community is incalculable.

But questions about the two pages in the October issue of The Vernon Newspaper have sparked a controversy in the Windham-1 House race between Richard Davis of Guilford and Mike Hebert of Vernon.

Davis contends that the monthly newsletter, published by the town of Vernon and mailed free to all Vernon households, ran a two-page ad for Hebert’s campaign but did not identify the material as a paid political announcement. He charges that this violates state campaign and financial disclosure laws.

The two pages were not identified as paid advertising. The material was not boxed and was formatted in such a way that caused legitimate confusion as to whether the ad was intended as editorial copy.

When Davis came by the Commons office last week, neither he nor three members of the newspaper’s editorial staff could figure out conclusively if those two pages were intended as news copy or if they were campaign advertising.

And Davis said he couldn’t get a straight answer from the editor, Christiane Howe, who, according to his account, hung up on him without telling him that it was a matter that he should take up with Hebert’s campaign, not the newsletter.

Howe later confirmed that Hebert indeed paid for the ad. All politics aside, it comes as a huge relief that these two pages do not represent a town-sanctioned

unsigned editorial in a municipally produced newsletter mailed to all households in town.

But even so, the ad raises interesting issues, both about the legalities and about the responsibilities, the process, and the nature of such small-town publications.

While Hebert admitted the information was inadvertently left off the ad, he downplayed the mistake. “I think the people in Guilford and Vernon want to hear the issues, not that somebody inadvertently left a disclaimer off a piece of paper,” he told the Brattleboro Reformer last week.

But that is an issue, at least on some level.

Secretary of State Deb Markowitz told The Commons that it’s not unusual for candidates to forget to include that information in their advertising.

“That being said, the law requires that a candidate must do so, mostly to protect those who are running for office from anonymous attacks,” she added.

According to state statute, “All electioneering communications shall contain the name and address of the person, political committee, or campaign who or which paid for the communication. The communication shall clearly designate the name of the candidate, party, or political committee by or on whose behalf the same is published or broadcast.” The penalty for not following this statute is a fine of no more than $150.

Davis said he has sent a letter to the Attorney General’s office, who enforces the election statutes. “The damage that this may have done to my campaign cannot be measured or undone, but if your office makes it clear that a campaign disclosure law was violated, that will clarify the issue for potential voters,” he wrote.

He has a point. The ad

listed the qualifications of both candidates and where they stood on the issues. As is only natural in a political ad, the list of qualifications contained very little about Davis, and quite a bit about Hebert. It leaves the impression to the casual reader that Davis is less qualified.

A correction, or the opportunity for Davis and his campaign to buy space to run their own ad, would do little good, since the next issue of the newspaper would come out too late to make a difference. And an apology rings hollow, for the damage has been done to Davis’ campaign. While Hebert is correct — this absolutely should not distract from larger issues — the burst of public dialogue can only be good in helping citizens identify the two pages in question as advertising and consider the source — positively or negatively — with the full context in mind.

The ad also raises bigger questions — not just for The Vernon Newspaper, but also for other small, municipal or charitable volunteer newsletters.

Small newsletters — often casually written and as subjective as their writers wish — begin to go down a slippery slope when their content, whether news or advertising, veers into politics, particularly at a time when even small campaigns, even in Vermont, veer into polarizing language.

Unless those volunteer newsletters have the staff with the professional expertise to ensure that they and their advertisers are complying with laws — not just for political ads, but other advertising like rentals and employment — political advertising should be left out of the mix, if for no other reason than to avoid dragging volunteers into political dustups like last week’s.

And that hardly creates the community cohesion and spirit volunteers work so hard to create.

My husband, John, sat observing the dancers, preparing to direct a group of five musicians who will provide live sound for the performance.

Chehalis Hegner/Special to The Commons The soundtrack for butoh is Angela Martinelli performing a butoh dance in often improvised and experiBrattleboro in September. mental, focusing on building artistic response to the apocJapan where it remains to this tension, culminating in release. alyptic horror of the atomic day a fringe phenomenon.

“The music makes tangible bombs the U.S. dropped on The tangible growth of buboth the oppressive nature of the densely populated cities of toh around the world today the world we live in and the poHiroshima and Nagasaki. may be a reaction to the state tential liberation from its conSome characterize Butoh of the planet today, a reflection fines,” he said. “The sound as a reaction against Western of our sense of inner conflict, animates the performers and domination, a reassertion of a frustration, despair, impoaims to physically impact the battered Japanese identity that, tence and, at the bottom of this audience, opening them up to while drawing from the highly Pandora’s box, the hope and the feelings being expressed by stylized, traditional Japanese healing we need to face the the dancers.” forms of Kabuki and Noh the- challenges of our times.

“I think Butoh can change ater, turned these forms on the world,” Angela says. “It altheir heads. Instead of beauty “Butoh reflects the prilows people the freedom to feel and harmony, butoh depicted mal, the animalistic in peowhat’s happening. There is sufdecay and despair. ple and facilitates through fering happening all around us, Butoh was a new way of ex- ritual our connection to each the devastation of the planet, pressing the pain people felt. other, “ Butoh dancer Angela a hungry neighbor down the It helped them cope with the Martinelli explained one street. We tend to try to ignore impotence they felt confrontWednesday morning after her the suffering, to numb ouring a devastating reality beyond weekly butoh class at Luminz selves to it. Butoh says ‘you are comprehension.

Studio. I came to meet her and going to feel this pain, you are In Japanese, butoh was a seven other dancers preparing going to bleed the body and somewhat archaic term literfor the Stone Church event in come back stronger.’” ally meaning “dance step.” town.

In the East, butoh is often The originators of the form “Butoh is more correctly done as a therapeutic, individthat came to be called Ankoku termed a ritual because, when ual practice, much as we think Butoh (dance of darkness) were performed, it is not normally of yoga or Tai Chi. People pertwo male dancers — Kazuo conceived of as a ‘show’ in a form butoh in the woods alone.

Ohno and Tatsumi Hijikata. traditional theater with a traWhen performed as a comThe latter is generally attrib- ditional audience, but rather a munity ritual, as it will be in uted with creating the first bu- communion of sorts in an alter- the upcoming Brattleboro pertoh piece, Kinjiki (Forbidden native space with those drawn formance, it can be cathartic Colours) at a dance festival in to attend,” she said. and therapeutic, and not with1959. Based on a novel of the Martinelli, who has studout humor. same name, it explored taboos ied dance for 25 years and has John pointed out that butoh of homosexuality and pedophe- also traveled the world studyspelled backwards is “hot tub.” lia and established butoh’s sub- ing various forms of dance While not as immediately versive origins and inclinations. rituals, added, “Butoh is not enticing as a hot soak, butoh Butoh performers collaboabout highlighting one’s techdefinitely submerges you into rated with German expression- nical ability as a dancer, though an altered awareness, a shift in ists and surreal artists of the many dancers like me arrive at reality where healing can sometime. It ultimately grew beyond butoh as a sort of an ultimate times occur. n the confines of its home in form of expression, the rawest LETTERS FROM READERS

More questions than answers about World Trade Center demolition theories

I

just read Vidda Crochetta’s Viewpoint [“What lf?,” The Commons, Sept. 15] about the possibility that the World Trade Center attacks were an internal demolition job.

It was the first in-depth article I had read on this topic and I found it fascinating. I am aware that this belief is shared by some individuals. Various people with whom I have spoken have expressed this opinion when the World Trade Center tragedy has come up in conversation.

However, the article raises more questions than it answers for me. I find myself both intrigued and horrified by the idea.

My first thought was, can this be proved, or are we just spinning our wheels again?

And who would be willing to take on the momentous task of proving it? This would far exceed the complexity of the conspiracy theories surrounding President Kennedy‘s assassination — and we are still not any closer to the truth of that than we were 47 years ago.

Has there been any public television coverage of this theory which I may have missed? I wouldn’t necessarily expect to see it on commercial television, but if the theory has any validity at all, I would have expected a show with the integrity of Frontline to have explored this idea.

Is this a theory that is just too frightening to consider and nobody wants to touch it? If there is such overwhelming evidence for collusion by corporations and government, why isn’t someone exposing it in the public media? Why isn’t it a cover story on Time

or Newsweek? This would be great material for a Hollywood movie.

Maybe the answers to these questions should be obvious but I feel that there has to be some type of mainstream coverage of this idea, or people will just not buy it.

But the primary concern I have, one that is not addressed in the article, is this: if the author’s demolition theory is true, then the attacks on the buildings by the planes would have to have been orchestrated as a diversion to cover up the fact that the World Trade Center was actually imploding from the inside from explosives. Was it just a tragic coincidence that the planes were attacking the buildings at the same time? I don’t think so.

It seems that the author is suggesting that, at the very high levels of government, the U.S. was in collusion with alQaida. Although I am sure it would not take much for us to have convinced al-Qaida to destroy the World Trade Center, it really is a huge stretch of the imagination (for me anyway) to believe that our government and corporations would seek out this cooperation to arrange such an attack, all for the purposes of destroying government records, corporate greed, and God knows what else. It just seems highly improbable.

And how would the simultaneous attacks on the Pentagon and the jetliner in Pennsylvania be explained? Why weren’t the attacks just limited to the World Trade Center? Was this again just part of a massive diversion to lead people away from any possible conspiracy theory?

Finally, I would like to see what the public reaction would be if this theory was advanced by more political moderates.

I don’t know how much credence people will give to the author’s opinions because, as he already stated, his theory will be considered to be that of another of those left-wing kooks.

Has anyone ever done a research survey concerning what percentage of the American public actually believes the WTC collapse was a conspiracy?

If so, I’d really like to see the results of such a survey. Why do we hardly ever hear anything at all about this? Is it because the whole concept is just too ridiculous, or would it be too painful for relatives of the survivors to handle?

My final thought — if it was a collusion, it will probably never be provable. And I would need a lot more convincing to believe it.

If we still have doubts about what really happened to President Kennedy, how would we ever get to the bottom of this? So should we waste our time and energy debating this idea or instead devote our efforts towards issues where we can make a difference?

As we’ve seen from the Wall Street debacle, the obscene activities of corporations and our government are way beyond the control of the average citizen or voter. Would an investigation (even if proven to be correct) really change anything?

Jeanne Turner Hinsdale, N.H.

T h e C ommons

VOICES

• Wednesday, October 13, 2010

7 E S S AY

E S S AY

On being a redneck Rural identity as a badge of honor

W

Townshend Gary Grinnell contributes frequently to these are you?” pages. the woman from the census asked me years ago.

She reeled off a long list of build motorcycles, construct choices from Asian to Zulu. homes, and do many other “I’m a redneck.” I said af- things that require a lot of ter considering the options skill. carefully.

When I did a job in New “Yeah, I like that.” she York City, people would said, scribbling fast. ask me where I was from.

Long a term of derision, Their responses were identithe word redneck has uncal. “Vermont — yeah, lots dergone a subtle transforof rednecks up there,” they mation. Many people have would say, a dismissive tone reclaimed it with a sense of in their voice. pride.

I wondered how many of In the past, rednecks have them could hang Sheetrock, been given a bad reputation hunt, or drive in the snow. for being backward, uneduIn an era where many peocated, and poor. ple go to great lengths to be This ignores the virtues politically correct, it is still of redneck culture. Where acceptable to look down on would we be without the ex- rural people. citement of Nascar or the Now we’ve gone through poetry of country music? another census. I wonRednecks are commonly der how many Vermonters dismissed as being stupassed over Polynesian pid, yet many who idenor Pygmy and wrote in tify themselves as rednecks “Redneck”? n hat race

We all need to see the world through the lens of gender

R

Saxtons River

ecently, at a

“Global Affairs Conference on Empowering Women for Health,” I was stunned: Not only did “gender” never arise as a reason for disparities in access to health care in poor countries, all the data presented was based on males!

When I was called on in the question-and-answer session to address these obvious problems, I asked how many in the audience had noticed that five men were allowed to speak before I was invited to offer an observation.

“That’s what happens when you look at the world through the lens of gender,” I said, adding, “Wouldn’t it be interesting to revisit the slides and presentation from that perspective?”

Several women jumped out of their seats in agreement.

E L AY N E C L I F T

emerge that don’t always garner the attention they deserve.

For example, the new Census Bureau report reveals that one in seven Americans is living in poverty, but where is the discussion of how this extraordinarily high number affects women differently from men?

Such sex-disaggregated data is deeply important in understanding how variables like wage disparities and employment opportunities affect women — often heads of household — in unique ways.

Or, we might ask, what percentage of the 51 million Americans reported to have no health insurance were women, When you look through the and what does that mean for gender lens at what’s happentheir children’s well-being, or ing economically, politically, for their own health status? and socially, all kinds of issues As one woman told The

arl Rove Is Back,” the New York Times headline reads — and, he’s directing campaign strategy all over the country, the story goes on to report.

Here in Vermont, we see gubernatorial candidate Dubie hobnobbing with former President Bush. Then, he comes home to these green hills with a campaign strategy of dirt and deception, the likes of which we haven’t seen before in this state.

Could Karl Rove’s fingerprints be all over this campaign?

“Mutton dressed as lamb” is an old country adage that seems to ring true as I see what the Dubie campaign tries to foist off on us for policy.

The Dubie campaign espouses a return to the Bush-era policies of tax giveaways to the most wealthy, slamming the middle class with property tax increases and deregulation to let the markets run amok.

Yes, the same old tired policies that got us in this mess in the first place. Mutton dressed as lamb, indeed.

Candidate Bush portrayed himself as a moderate until he got elected, when his true colors were revealed.

Candidate Dubie seems

One of the reasons that women are poor, beyond unemployment and underemployment, is that the gender wage gap still prevails.

According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Studies, the median annual earnings for employed women last year was $36,278 compared with $47,127 for men, representing an earnings ratio of 77 percent.

That means there was a gender wage gap of 23 percent.

For women of color, the numbers are even bleaker.

While white women earned about 75 cents for each dollar earned by white men, AfricanAmerican women made only 62 cents for every dollar earned by white men. Latina women earned only 53 cents.

With families more dependent than ever on women’s earnings, especially in communities of color, closing the gender wage gap is vitally important.

interviewed.

Nor is the need for decent child care or the ever-growing crisis in education or the increase in violence against women (often related to economic frustration).

Where are women’s concerns in the debates and discussions around public policy relating to national security and international conflict resolution? Why does the issue of gender equality so seldom arise when foreign policy is the topic du jour?

And, for that matter, why hasn’t the United States ratified the U.N. Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination against Women or passed an Equal Rights Amendment?

Of course, the fact that a growing number of women, and men, are analyzing important issues through the gender lens at the tables of decisionmaking, here as well as in other countries, is a sign of continuing progress.

While not always of the same party or persuasion, and even though women are far from LETTERS FROM READERS reaching parity in most parliaments worldwide, the fact that increasing numbers of savvy women are entering the public arena suggests slow but certain change in social and economic likewise portraying himself as a Peter Shumlin for governor. by conservation, efficiency, and policy. moderate.

He has a record of working to- non-toxic renewables.

But we cannot grow complaClues to what we can expect gether to get things done. He I’m voting for that vision for cent, for there is still so much are showing clearly in the Karl has shown the courage to face Vermont, which will move us to be done and so many gains Rove–kind of campaign he’s the tough issues in tough times forward into a brighter future, to be retained. running. Look no farther than and balance social and ecotoward a legacy to be proud of In the run-up to November We must understand that Dubie’s Freudian slip about nomic justice to provide a vi— for our children and for gen- elections, the focus is largely on women’s concerns, and their targeting the vulnerable in bud- sion for the kind of Vermont he erations to come. the economy. Raising or cutways of looking at the world, get cuts, and we see what to sees ahead.

Mike Mrowicki ting taxes takes center stage not only matters but is critiexpect.

I share that vision for Putney in ads, debates, and Sunday cal to making life on this planet In true Karl Rove spinVermont: a vision that respects morning talk shows. sustainable.

That 55 Depot St.understandBrattleboro, VT speak, he now dismisses this the environment and meets The writer serves as one of the But what about the myriad ing remains(802) vital to254-5755 our comSince 1946 55and Depot VT as “mis-speaking.” How many our responsibilities to our eltwo Windham 5 district reppolitical social St. issuesBrattleboro, we mon future.

VT times did we hear that phrase ders and children — and creresentatives, 55 servingDepot Putney, St. Brattleboro, should be talking about if we A gendered on Sinc e perspective (802) 254-5755 Cut energy costs Depot St.your Brattleboro, VT this year…

1946perils provides during the Bush era? ates an economic engine fueled Dummerston, and Westminster. view the world through55 that modern life’s S in ce (802) 254-5755 Since installing more I look around Vermont and gender lens? anby opportunity forsomething both men 254-5755 19costs 46 (802) 1946 Cut your energy this year… finally see some positive action.

For instance, the fact that and women to prosper.

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Call Merrill Depot Brattleboro, I see our roads and bridges fiso55 many of the St. far-right cannoVT one can deny wanting to Cutsomething your energy costs this year… by installing Simore nceof that win-win sce(802) 254-5755 nally being attended to with didates — including women be part 19something 46 byare installing more Obama infrastructure invest— who’ve won primaries nario. n efficient.

Call Merrill Gas! Direct Vent ments, after eight years of neagainst abortion evencosts in the Cut your energy this year… efficient.

Call Merrill Gas! glect, a sensible plan to restore itizens Bridge” would not corporate sponsorship. The case of rape or incest is rarely Elayne Clift (www.elayneclift.com Convection Heater ) by installing something more our infrastructure necessary for have been my first choice senseless lack of an apostromentioned when those canwrites about women, politics, and Vent safety and economic growth. of name for the new strucphe is part of Citizens Bank’s didates areDirect discussed or social issues. efficient.

Call Merrill Gas! Direct Vent Candidate Dubie, though, ture, but it is a creative solubranding, and I do think it’s Convection Heater Buderus calls this “reckless spending.” tion to rising contention over important to distinguish our Convection Heater Sounds more and more like the name. town’s new structure from that Boiler Winter is coming - areWall-Hung you ready??

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Wall-Hung Boiler didate Dubie wants to take us The proper way to punctuGiven the number of travelers Buderus back to the Bush-league poliate the new bridge name is who flock here year-round for Direct Vent Direct Direct Vent Vent cies that got us into this eco“Citizens’ Bridge.” cultural events, including the Wall-Hung Boiler Heater Wall-Hung Tankless Water Tankless Water Heater Freedom 90 nomic mess, Democrats are Aside from being correct, recent literary festival, proper Tankless ready to move forward toward that little mark should also punctuation isWall-Hung a wise choice. Boiler Direct Vent Gas Water Heater a brighter future for all. help dispel confusion about Paula Melton Furnaces That’s why I’ll be voting for whether the new bridge enjoys West Brattleboro Tankless Water Heater Direct Vent Visit usTake at Freedom 90 Freedom 90www.merrillgas.com 1 Advantage of Gas theGas 30% Tax Credits Furnaces Furnaces Freedom 90 up to $ Gas state regulators, according to campaign workers that the dis- last Thursday, proposed a Visit us at www.merrillgas.com 1357567 Visit us at www.merrillgas.com Furnaces an Associated Press report of play of this sign went far bemore honest discussion with Call for 1357567 details. their Oct. 5 debate. yond the publicly articulated his Republican rival. Moving In Brattleboro, Republican Republican position. away from positions toward inVisit us at www.merrillgas.com Freedom 90Us Today Contact 1357567 campaign headquarters reTo my mind, this type of po- terests, he proposed that all of Gas cently opened. Prominently sitioning and “branding” is in- us might agree that we have an displayed in the window was sincere and a waste of time. interest in jobs and affordable Furnaces the green-on-white licenseA Windham County energy. plate logo with the phrase Democratic senatorial hopeA frank discussion of how “VY-4-VT.” I remarked to ful, Peter Galbraith, in a debate we might get there, given that Visitplant, us at www.merrillgas.com 1357567 VY is an aged-out would be more productive than displaying subliminal license-plate Since logos.

LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED 1946 Robert A. Oeser 55 Depot St. Brattleboro, VT Although it’s obvious that to the environment.

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Vermont Yankee closes.

Trista DesLauriers Besides, onsite containment Guilford of spent fuel is not hazardous Wall-Hung Boiler

Rove-style politics in Vermont?

K

Washington Post when the Census Bureau report went public, “I’ve worked since I was 15 and now, for the first time, I don’t have a job and I can’t feed my family.”

That, in a nutshell, is “the feminization of poverty,” a phrase coined in recognition of the fact that here, just like in other countries, women are the poorest of the poor and therefore have a deeply vested interest in economic analysis and policy.

Cut your energy costs this year…

An apostrophe — please! by installing something more efficient. Call Merrill Gas! C Convection Heater

Buderus

Boiler

Tankless Water Heater VY signs go far beyond Republican platform

P

eter Shumlin, the Democratic candidate for governor, said the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant should close as scheduled in 2012, while the Republican candidate, Brian Dubie, said the plant’s go-ahead for continued operation should be based on science and the review of

Gas Furnaces

1500

Tired of ridiculous, false arguments

S

ome opponents of Vermont Yankee are quoted in newspaper letters and articles questioning the number of jobs at risk if Vermont Yankee closes and other benefits of the plant.

A study commissioned by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and written by prominent state economist Richard Heaps found that 1,288 Vermont jobs (equivalent to approximately half the population of Vernon) would be lost if the plant is closed.

But instead of arguing numbers, why don’t we look at it like this: we’d be losing professional and union jobs in a state with very few career opportunities as it is. End of story.

Cut your energy costs this year… by installing something more efficient. Call Merrill Gas!

Convection Heater

Buderus

A guy who sacrifices for others

I

have known Richard Davis for 25 years. We have worked together on many projects over the years. The reason we have been able to accomplish so much, including raising over $125,000 for the Windham County Heat Fund, is because Richard get things done. He is a doer.

I was very happy when Richard told me he was running to replace Patty O’Donnell in the Vermont

House. Our political beliefs are similar, especially when it comes to health care. When I served in the House I relied heavily on him for advice about health care issues. I found that other legislators counted on Richard for accurate and expert advice.

Unfortunately, I can’t vote for Richard. But I would urge those of you who live in Guilford or Vernon to vote for him because he is guy who

sacrifices for others for no gain.

And that means a lot for me.

Hopefully, it does for you too.

I don’t know a guy who could advocate better for the people of Guilford and Vernon than Richard. Vote Nov. 2.

Daryl Pillsbury Brattleboro The writer serves as a Brattleboro Selectboard member and co-chairman with Davis of the Windham County Heat Fund.

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• Olive Mahilda McDonald, 87,

of Brattleboro.

Died Oct. 8 at Pine Heights Nursing Home in Brattleboro. Wife of the late John B. McDonald for 58 years. Mother of Brenda Shuey of Vernon, Carol LaFlam of Guilford, and John McDonald of Brattleboro.

Predeceased by a daughter, Marleen Thurber, and siblings Leon Piette, Jean Pike Marsh and Lorretta Skorb.

Worked as a nurse’s aide at the former Linden Lodge for 25 years. Previously worked at the former Arnoldware Co. on Cotton Mill Hill, American Optical, Margolin’s Pocketbook Shop and Estey Organ Co. Memorial information : A graveside committal service will be held on Oct. 14 at 11 a.m. at Meetinghouse Hill Cemetery. Donations to Rescue, Inc., P.O. Box 593, Brattleboro, VT 05302.

Condolences may be sent to the family through the Atamaniuk Funeral Home at www.atamaniuk.com.

• Judith Ann Rogers, 70, of Bellows Falls. Died Oct. 9 at Mount Ascutney Hospital in Windsor. Wife of Donald Rogers for 48 years. Mother of Michael and wife Meloney of Vine Grove. Ky.; Carol and husband Robert Aslin of Bellows Falls; Scott and wife Lisa of North Walpole, N.H.; and Gail and husband Jeffrey Emery of Bellows Falls. predeceased by her parents, Melvin and Isabel (Spinelli) Bushway, and a sister, Isabel Lund. Graduate of Bellows Falls High School, Class of 1958. Was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary Post 37 and the Bellows Falls Senior Center, and loved spending time with family and friends, playing scrabble, cards, reading and doing crossword puzzles. Memorial information: A graveside funeral service was held Oct. 12 at Oak Hill Cemetery in Bellows Falls. Donations to the American Cancer Society, 55 Day Land, Williston, VT 05495.

• Peter P. Shaw, 72, of Brattleboro.

Died Oct. 3 at Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, N.H. Husband of Beverly Bates Shaw for 51 years. Sole child of the late Woodrow and Irma Porter Shaw, former owners of the Shaw Dairy. Father of Debra Anthony and husband Curt of Brookline; Christopher Shaw and wife Jo Anne of Middleton, N.H.; Gregory Shaw and wife Suzanne of Hooksett, N.H.; and Matthew Shaw of Brattleboro. Predeceased by a daughter, Lori Shaw. Born in Brattleboro and graduated from St. Michael’s High School, Class of 1956, and the New Hampshire Technical School in 1959.

Served in the New Hampshire Air National Guard. Worked as a welder at various companies, including O’Brien Construction and Brattleboro Roofing & Sheet Metal before starting his own welding and sheet metal manufacturing business known as Peter Shaw Custom Welding. While in business for himself, he was the primary contractor used by the Brattleboro Water Department to thaw frozen water pipes and welded a new base for ‘The Spirit of Life” statue by Daniel Chester French, now housed at the Brooks Memorial Library. Donated his time to make a snow grooming roller as well as some snow making parts for the Harris Hill Ski Jump back in the early 1980s.

Following the sale of his business,

Courtesy photo

On Oct. 7, the Brattleboro Rotary Club welcomed nine local high school students to this year’s Student Rotarian Program. They are, from left, Melissa Soule (Leland & Gray), Moses Jaenson (Brattleboro), Kasey Kidder (Brattleboro), Mykayla Pronovost (Windham Regional Career Center), Autumn Denyou (Hinsdale), Nathan Sanderson (Hinsdale) and Aaron Meihak (Leland & Gray). Missing from the photo are Jake Gadreault and Bryer McDoughal of the Austine School. Offered to area high school juniors and seniors as part of Rotary’s commitment to youth service, the Brattleboro Rotary Club’s Student Rotarian Program is designed to give high school students the opportunity to experience Rotary firsthand, and to give Rotarians the opportunity to relate to high school students at a peer level. It’s the 15th year the Brattleboro Rotary Club has offered the program. he worked for Tri State Automotive and G.S. Precision. Was a former member of the Brattleboro Volunteer Fire Department, the Knights of Columbus, the Eagles and the Elks.

M emorial information : A funeral Mass was held Oct. 7 at St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church in Brattleboro, with burial in St. Michael’s Cemetery. Donations to St. Michael’s School, 48 Walnut St., Brattleboro, VT 05301, attn: Elaine Beam, Principal; or the Brattleboro Fire Department Career Staff. Condolences may be sent to the family through the Atamaniuk Funeral Home at www.atamaniuk.com.

• Gordon Elmer “Smitty” Smith, 85, of Vernon. Died Oct. 3 at Vernon Green Nursing Home. Husband of Linda Zumbruski. Father of James Smith of Vernon. Predeceased by a brother, James Stetson, and a sister, Mae Whitney. Born in Claremont, N.H., and attended Stevens High School. Interrupted his education to serve in the Army as a medic during World War II in Gen. George S. Patton’s Third Army. Was wounded during the Battle of the Bulge, and receiving two Bronze Stars. Following his honorable discharge from active service, he returned home to complete his schooling. Worked at the Taylor Made Co., a cabinet shop in Ascutney, and the Estey Organ Co. before joining the Brattleboro Police Department on Oct. 1, 1950 as a patrol officer. He was promoted to sergeant in 1953 and ended his career in 1986 with the rank of captain following 35 dedicated years with the department.

Attend the FBI Academy in 1968 and was a graduate of the Kodak School of Criminal/Forensic photography. In his retirement, he was a self-employed woodworker specializing in cabinets and bookcases. Was a member of the Free & Accepted Masons, Brattleboro Lodge #102, the Brattleboro Shrine Club, and Cairo Shrine Temple of Rutland. Held membership in the B.P.O. Elks, Brattleboro Lodge #1499 and American Legion Brattleboro Post 5. Memorial information: A funeral Mass was held Oct. 6 at St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church in Brattleboro, with burial with full military honors in North Cemetery in Vernon. Donations to St. Michael’s School, 48 Walnut St., Brattleboro, VT 05301, attn: Elaine Beam, Principal; or to the Brattleboro Police Department Benevolent Fund, 230 Main St., Brattleboro, VT. 05301. Condolences may be sent to the family through the Atamaniuk Funeral Home at www. atamaniuk.com.

• Alta Mary Wilcox, 78, of South

Charlestown, N.H. Died Sept. 28 in her home. Mother of Theodore Brown Jr., Darlene Barnett Boniface, Lamont Barnett, Britt McLain Sr. and BobbieSue McLain. Sister of Jerald, Donald, and Kevin Wilcox. Predeceased by a daughter, Tessie Mae McLain, and siblings Harry, Leo and Norma. Born in Westminster, and attended school in Charlestown. Lived in Bellows Falls for 34 years before moving to South Charlestown in 1998. She was an independent, strong woman who had a sincere passion for others that could be seen through her kindness of helping those in need, and kept regular attendance at Our Place Drop In Center in Bellows Falls. Before retirement, she had been employed at Readex in Chester, Springfield Hospital and Mary Meyer’s in Bellows Falls. Memorial information: A memorial service was held Oct. 10 at the Moose Lodge in Bellows Falls. Donations to Our Place Drop In Center.

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• In Brattleboro (Memorial Hospital), Sept. 2, 2010, twin daughters, Emma

(Murphy) and Christopher Anthony Day of Brattleboro; granddaughters to Diane (Murphy) Renzi of Dover, N.H., John and Kate Murphy of Brattleboro, Rebecca Day and Graeme King of Brattleboro, Charles Van Gorder and Susan Dunn of New York, N.Y., and Edward and Annette Day of Port St. Lucie, Fla.; great-granddaughters to Helen Day of Chandler, Ariz., Gabrielle Murphy of Alfred, Maine, and Mary Berg of Satellite Beach, Fla. • In Safety Harbor, Fla., (Mease Country Side Hospital), Aug. 29, 2010, a daughter, Bianca Rese Mulvey , to Katrina (Koski) and Shaun Mulvey of Port Richey, Fla.; granddaughter to David and Rebecca Koski of West Dummerston, and Births Maryse and George Mulvey Jr. of New • In Brattleboro (Memorial Port Richey.

Hospital), Sept. 27, 2010, a daugh- • In Brattleboro (Memorial Hospital), ter, Rose Marie Bothwell , to July 17, 2010, a daughter, Gemma Kristy Shippee and John A. Bothwell R o s e D u r o c h e r , to Crystal of Jacksonville; granddaughter to Todd (Horrigan) and Gregory Durocher Howe and Angie Howe, and Terry and of Brookline; granddaughter to Pat Andy Bothwell; great-granddaughter to and Marcia Horrigan, Kyle and Robin Chase, and Richard and Lynn Jeanne Ragan and Judith Tetreault.

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Masons, Brattleboro Lodge #102 and held membership in American Legion Brattleboro Post 5. Memorial information: A funeral service was held on Oct. 9 at Trinity Lutheran Church, with burial with full military honors at Meetinghouse Hill Cemetery. Donations to Trinity Lutheran Church, 161 Western Ave., Brattleboro, VT 05301; Rescue, Inc., P.O. Box 593, Brattleboro, VT 05302, or the Vermont Veterans Home, 325 North St., Bennington, VT 05201.

Condolences may be sent to the family through the Atamaniuk Funeral Home at www.atamaniuk.com.

The

and coach at Mount Snow for the last 20 years. Was an avid road bike rider, and was on his bike when he died.

Editor’s note: The Commons will Was also a builder known for being a publish brief biographical information for hard worker and a master craftsman. citizens of Windham County and others, Was an active member of Jehovah on request, as community news, free of Witnesses for 37 years and helped in the building projects for new Kingdom charge.

•Madelin Belle Halls throughout the Northeast.

Aldrich, 82, of Memorial information: A meVernon. Died Oct. morial service was held Oct. 9 at the 2 at Vernon Green Kingdom Hall of Jehovah Witnesses Nursing Home. in West Brattleboro.

Wife of the late • Elizabeth A. “Tish” Ferguson, Charles Aldrich for 97, of Jamaica. Died Oct. 2 at Equinox 54 years. Mother Terrace in Manchester Center. of Lori Aldrich of Predeceased by her two brothers, Hinsdale, N.H., and Michael Aldrich James F. Ferguson MD and David S. of Halifax. Sister of Alton Cutler Ferguson. Born in New Haven, Conn., and Richard Cutler, both of Vernon; and received her education at Vassar Robert Cutler of Columbus Grove, College, Yale University, and the Ohio; Joyce Dunklee and Barbara Smith College School of Social Work.

Cutler, both of Vernon; Sadie Shippa Taught for many years at Skidmore of Northfield, Mass.; and Shirley College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Cutler of Brattleboro. Predeceased and in 1970, moved to Castleton State by a son, Archie Aldrich, and a sister, College in Vermont to establish a soPhyllis Holmes. Born in Orange, Mass. cial work program there. Retired in Graduate of Brattleboro High School, 1976 and was named Social Worker Class of 1946. Worked for the former of the Year by the Vermont Chapter Vermont National Bank in the bank’s of the National Association of Social operation center, retiring from in 1984. Workers. Served two terms as auditor Also was a bookkeeper at the for- of the town of Jamaica. Memorial mer Margolin’s Pocketbook Shop on information : A memorial serUpper Canal Street. Attended Vernon vice will be held Oct. 23 at 2:30 p.m.

Advent Christian Church and had at Equinox Terrace, Manchester been a member of the Loyal Workers. Center. Donations to Castleton State M emorial information : A College, 62 Alumni Drive, Castleton, memorial service was held Oct. 7 at VT 05735. the Vernon Hall Chapel. Burial will • John Townsend Godfrey, 82, take place at a later date. Donations to of Vernon. Died Oct. 2 at Vernon Vernon Advent Christian Homes, 61 Green Nursing Home. Husband Mary Greenway Drive, Vernon, VT 05354- Wanda Godfrey for 57 years. Father 9474. Condolences may be sent to the of James M. Godfrey and his wife family through the Atamaniuk Funeral Kim of Vernon; and Mary G. Short and her husband Scott of Granville, Home at www.atamaniuk.com.

• Royal Aldolf Mass. Brother of Roland J. Godfrey Bonnette, 81, Jr. Predeceased by a son, John T. o f H i n s d a l e , Godfrey Jr. Born in Wellesley, Mass, N.H. Died Oct. and was a 1946 graduate of Wellesley 7 at Dartmouth- High School. Served in the Navy on Hitchcock Medical the USS Cadmus. Graduated from the Center in Lebanon, University of Kentucky with a B.S. in N.H. Husband of dairy science and from West Virginia Leah Belle Peters University with a Master’s in Science. for 57 years. Father Worked at Cornell University in the of sons Bruce, Steve and Terry, all of Animal Science Department, and Hinsdale; and daughter Diane Butler later at the Squibb Institute of Medical of Fredericksburg, Va. Brother of Research in New Brunswick, N.J. Hilda Mae Bonnette of Sheldon, Vt. Moved to Vermont in 1965 where he Predeceased by siblings Mary Shepard headed the data processing department and Ralph, Frederick and Edward of the Holstein-Friesian Association Bonnette. Born in Montgomery of Brattleboro. Retired in 1990 from Center, Vt. Served in the Army dur- Mass Mutual Life Insurance Co. ing the Korean Conflict. Moved to of Springfield. Was a member of Hinsdale in 1964. Worked at The Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity, Centre Book Press for 28 years and later Congregational Church, Kiwanis, owned and operated a construc- Cairo Temple, and a past president tion business. A gifted athlete, he of the Brattleboro Winter Carnival. played men’s baseball and softball in M emorial information : A Brattleboro and was regarded as one private graveside memorial service of the top pitchers in men’s fast pitch will be held at a later date. Donations softball in New England. Was one of to a charity of one’s choice or to the original founders as well as a gen- the Shriner’s Children’s Hospital in erous supporter of Hinsdale Little Springfield, Mass.

• Richard League Baseball. He coached Hinsdale Otto “Dick” Peewee, Little League and Babe Ruth Johnson, 92, baseball teams and took great joy in of Brattleboro. coaching his own children and grandDied Sept. 30 children. He also coached the Hinsdale at the Vermont High School girl’s varsity softball team Veterans Home and the Brattleboro Post 5 American in Bennington.

Legion Baseball team. Was a member Husband of the of Brattleboro American Legion Post 5, VFW Post 1034 in Brattleboro and late Hilda Elizabeth Pratt for 48 held membership in the Knights of years. Father of Donna Sullivan, and Columbus at St. Joseph’s Church in her husband Jack of Danvers, Mass.; Hinsdale. Memorial informa- and Peter Johnson of Brattleboro. tion: A funeral Mass was held Oct. Predeceased by a brother, Conrad 12 at St. Joseph’s Church in Hinsdale, Johnson. Graduate of Brattleboro High with burial with full military honors in School, Class of 1935. Served in the St. Joseph’s Cemetery. Donations to Army during World War II with the Royal Bonnette Memorial Scholarship 324th Infantry Regiment of the 44th Fund, in care of TD Bank, N.A., Division in Europe. After the war, he Main Street, Keene, N.H. 03431. returned home and joined his father in Condolences may be sent to the family the family painting business, Johnson through the Atamaniuk Funeral Home & Johnson Painting. He later worked at the Brattleboro Post Office, retirat www.atamaniuk.com.

• Joshua Dee, 60, of East Dover. ing as a clerk in 1986 after 30 years Died Oct. 2. Son of Sally Dee. of service. Was a lifelong member of Husband of Lucinda Dee. Father of Trinity Lutheran Church where he Lachlann and Knowlton Dee. Brother served as a trustee and on the church of Dik, Justin and Rachel Dee. Born council. The current location of the in Beverly, Mass. Graduated from the church on Western Avenue was doUniversity of New Hampshire as an nated to the church by his family in art major. Taught ceramics at a high the early 1950s, when the church reschool in Great Barrington, Mass., located from its original location on before moving to East Dover, where Strand Avenue. Mr. Johnson assisted he and his family have resided for 23 with the construction of the church. He years. Was a ski pro, snowboard pro was a member of the Free & Accepted

• Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Reunions

Births, deaths, and news of people from Windham County

Obituaries

T h e C ommons

folks from Meet the at the ck Beef , Hardwi dnesday Co-op We 11-3 pm r 13, Octobe

Why does the BRATTLEBORO FOOD CO-OP advertise in The

I

?

think it’s a really good community paper. It speaks to Brattleboro and the surrounding area in a more community-oriented way.

I was worried when it first started that it would be left leaning, but The Commons represents all points of view, with no agenda, and it does not sensationalize the news.

Maybe I am old-school. I love print media. To me, there is nothing like picking up a paper — and I can wrap a dish in it the next day!

—B.J. Davis, Marketing Manager To advertise in the next issue, contact Nancy Gauthier at ads@commonsnews.org or (802) 246-6397.

t - bigger GTP pro-

Wednesday, October 13, 2010 • page 9

LIFE & WORK Remolding a

life

Putney doctor leaves his medical practice to focus on making art

By Allison Teague

P

The Commons

UTNEY—“It’s time to move on to something else.”

That’s what Walter Slowinski, M.D., said of his Oct. 22 departure from the Putney Medical Office, where he has been practicing for the last 12 years.

Slowinski said his decision has nothing to do with finances and everything to do with wanting to focus on his lifelong passion for making clay pots, developing a web presence to market them, finding galleries to carry his ceramics, and “moving [his] work out into the world.”

Things have changed for doctors like him, Slowinski admits, in that the “bureaucratic and legal systems don’t deal with respect” for the people —neither patients nor the doctors who just want to help them feel better.

Slowinski explains family doctors are on the relatively low paying end of the medical spectrum. This is partly based on a Medicare formula designed many years ago, where the risk score is used to adjust payments.

The result is fees for services are lower than procedure-oriented fees.

“Graduates are less excited about going into medicine [because of the enormous debt load]. It’s not as satisfying,” he said, particularly for primary care providers like himself.

He adds that few doctors graduating — some with student loan debts as much as $100,000 after medical school — want to work for a small, private practice where income is not guaranteed, and benefits packages do not Allison Teague/The Commons cover as much.

Dr. Walter Slowinski shows off one of his teapots in the back of the klin at his As a result, Slowinski says that

Brattleboro home.

Brattleboro Historical Society

A view of lower Main Street from 1917. The Billings Hotel is at center left. The collection of wooden buildings that was the original Vinton Block is at far left. These buildings were destroyed by fire in 1922 and replaced with a new brick structure in 1927.

Everything old is new again Co-op builds anew on the site of historic buildings past

By Fran Lynggaard Hansen

B

The Commons

RATTLEBORO— The lower end of Main Street looked a good deal different in 1927 than it does today, but the soon to be built Brattleboro Food Co-op, located where Best Muffler was recently torn down, follows some of the foot prints of the long gone Vinton Block.

In a way, it will return lower Main Street back to the way it looked 83 years ago.

“Vinton Block is Nearly Finished,” was the headline in the business section of the Jan. 14, 1927, edition of The Brattleboro Daily Reformer.

“Total cost is about $90,000.”

The new Brattleboro Food Co-op building will be built for

around $1 million.

The Reformer article laid out the particulars.

“Brattleboro’s chief mercantile acquisition for the year 1926 is the new Vinton Block on lower Main Street, almost opposite the Plaza. (This is referring to the Plaza Park where the Spirit of Life Statue was erected.) The new building is a substantial structure of two stories, housing six stores, the upper story providing an annex for the Billings hotel. ….The erection of the new building not only serves to replace an unsightly and unused section of property, but serves to lengthen the business section of Main Street. It also gives indication that for the present at least the growth of the business section is toward the south.”

At the time that this article was written, four of the six

shops planned for the building had already been rented. The Vinton Block was to house six stores on the street level and a second story some of which was to be used as an annex for The Hotel Billings. An overhead bridge was to connect the upper story with the main hotel building next door.

The Brattleboro Candy Shop, already located at 109 Main St., was planning a second store. The proprietor, Nicholas Bardis, was to manage the new store, and business partner Peter Apostoles would continue to run their shop on Main Street. The Candy Shop offered “confections, ice cream, sodas and a luncheonette.”

Homer Broe, who had been operating the Cash and Carry Market in the Abbott apartment building, planned to open a meat market and grocery store

in the basement of the new building.

The third store was a men’s furnishing shop, operated by Elmer W. Fuller, who for several years had been employed in the men’s department in the Goodnow, Pearson & Hunt store, located at the current site of Twice Upon a Time on the Main Street hill.

The fourth rented store housed Andrew Petrosini, a shoemaker who had been operating his business at 25 Canal Street, and planned to specialize in shoe repair.

The Vinton Block was situated on a side hill and was 13 feet higher at the south end than at the north, and on “a decided curve of the street,” the article stated, “which presented much more than the average problem in the design and construction” n see CO-OP SITE, page 10

Allison Teague/The Commons

The crowded workbench in Dr. Walter Slowinski’s studio. the primary care medical programs are not being filled.

“Doctors want to work where they have a predictable paycheck to pay off their enormous debts, and have a good benefit package.” Large medical organizations can provide this, where a private practice cannot.

But once a position is found, paying off the loan becomes paramount, often overshadowing patient care in the form of patient load and specialization.

According to malpractice insurance dictates, having an obstetrician deliver a baby, or an orthopedist put on a cast, has less risk attached to it than if a primary care doctor performed those services, as they did historically. As a result, specialization ends up driving up the cost of health care through the mechanism of malpractice fears.

An Oct. 5 article from the Reuters news service notes that the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) estimates that 63,000 more primary care doctors would be needed in 2015 than would be available.

Also, as an estimated onethird of today’s doctors retire, 32 million people are expected to need health care under the new federal health care law, according to a recent report by Modern HealthCare.com.

According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, nurses currently perform many primary care functions such as counseling for diabetes and care for patients dying of cancer, as well as delivering babies.

The AAMC suggests nurses are an untapped resource and can fill the expected physician shortage with more training, helping to cut costs, and is advocating legislation to fund training programs supporting that direction.

Slowinski, however, notes that Vermont’s health care programs are ahead of the rest of the nation. He has had conversations with Rep. Mike Mrowicki, D-Putney, regarding health care reform, and says that he is “willing and available to tell people” of his experience as a PCP. “Nobody values us but our patients” he said, quoting a friend.

“But they love us and they let

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us know.”

“People are able to get care much [more easily] here,” he added, citing the Catamount and Dr. Dynasaur programs for families and children, as well as VHAP for those who are not insured in Vermont.

The clinic in Putney also provides free clinic Thursdays where “we help people find the health resources they need, and fill out paperwork” more than they actually treat patients. “It’s a different doctor each time,” Slowinski said, “so there’s no continuity of care.” The treatment comes with getting the patient connected with the appropriate provider for their needs.

Slowinski said he will miss the practice and his patients, and that the door isn’t completely shut to getting involved again in some way in the future, but for now, he wants to concentrate on his art, and the rural lifestyle he lives just outside Brattleboro.

Doctor’s art

Slowinski’s home sits in “the perfect spot” for orchards where he raises apples and peaches, and has a large kitchen garden each year. He has successfully had peaches three years in a row, “which is unusual to anyone who grows them,” he said, because of spring freezes like the one that killed many fruit bearing trees this last spring.

“We were watching the temperature gauge,” he said. “If it had gone below 28 degrees, we would have gone out and sprayed the buds, but it stayed steady.” A difference of one degree at that point, will determine life or death of the bud that yields the peach.

Slowinski’s connection with the outdoors is at the heart of his love of farming, and his lifelong desire to produce ceramics.

His family farmed growing up, first in Connecticut, and then in Minnesota where they moved when he was 10 years old. “My father always had a garden,” he said. “I learned from him.”

His grandmother raised and preserved fruits and vegetables as well, as did grandparents going back generations. “I guess that’s where it came from,” he smiled, as he stood among his apple and n see slowinski, page 10

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LIFE & WORK

10 VERMONT CHEDDAR

By Silvio Graci

n Slowinski peach trees.

Slowinski said he gets about 7 to 8 bushels of apples each year now, and while he stores some in a high tech root cellar he dreamed up with the help of Gary MacArthur of Solar PV Assessments in Marlboro, he said he bought a cider press, pointing to the shed just off the house, and now makes cider as well as hard cider.

“Hard cider was the Vermont state drink,” he grinned. It also happens to be rising in popularity along with local breweries, wineries and distilleries in Vermont.

“We don’t sell it though,” he assured. “We drink it ourselves.”

Slowinski showed the way down past his house to a huge, hand built, wood-fired kiln based on the noborigama climbing kilns of Japan where he fires his ceramics. He pointed out the firebox and vents, and a peep hole in the back where he can check his cone [“I fire at cone 11.”] temperature. Dozens of bricks slide in and out to regulate air flow and adjust temperature throughout the firing process.

Using stoneware clay, the wood firing melts the clay so it fuses, thus he does not have to glaze it, pointing out the delicate patterns and colors left by wood

from page 9

and ash on the finished pot held in his hand.

The wood he uses to fire the kiln comes from a Putney company that makes stakes for the highway at $5 a bundle. “I can fire my kiln for about $20 worth of wood,” he said. It is important to him to weigh costs and energy usage.

Just as the shed housing his kiln sits beside the house but amidst maples that have all ready lived several hundred years, Slowinski’s desire to live sustainably and bridge the natural world with his art form in process and form means paying attention to details such as this.

An old barn sits near the original site of his home [“…that we had moved away from the road”], and the quiet walk past an old stonewall and maple trees over colorful fallen leaves covering the old driveway, is broken only by the sound of chipmunks and squirrels and argumentative jays among the limbs and branches overhead, and soft swish of our feet.

One side of the original barn is dedicated Slowinski’s art. As we entered the first room, he bent to a pile of gnarled and twisted branches and limbs that took up most of what resembled an

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of the building.

The building had frontage of 145 feet of Canal Street and a depth of 65 feet. It actually comprised three large triangles which when assembled together provided an area of about 6,300 square feet. It had a Greek Doric design.

Two firewalls extended from the floor of the basement to the roof, and the firewalls were equipped with automatic fire doors, a new feature for its time period. The main floor was divided into six stores varying in size and shape which provided each with two display windows of glazed plate glass.

The outside had “cast stone of a limestone color.” The Art Stone Co. of Millers Falls, Mass., was the mason. The roof was flat with a main cornice of copper and stucco. The store entrance floors were of a colored concrete block and the interior floors were hardwood. An “electrically operated freight elevator, installed by the Bay State Elevator Co. of Springfield, Mass., has been installed at the rear for the convenience of lessees of the two northernmost stores.”

Katherine Wright of Brattleboro was 13 and l living on South Main Street when the building rose up.

“My grandfather worked in the Vinton Building at the grocery store there. Over the years some of the stores changed.

There was Park Drug Store and an appliance store at one time.

The building was connected upstairs to The Hotel Billings building next door on the second floor,” she remembered. “My mother Mrs. Francis (Donna) Holiday made beds there part time. My father worked at the Estey Organ Factory and walked down to the hotel and waited for

T h e C ommons

old stall.

“Apple and wild high bush blueberry are the best,” he said, holding up piece after piece of bent and unique branches of wood.

“I’m always on the lookout for them,” he said, “whether I’m out hiking or canoeing. If I see something that looks right, I’ll stop and bring it home.”

He held up a twisted, corkscrew branch. “A wild rose grew up the trunk. It took years to make this,” he said.

Slowinski is concentrating on making teapots now. “I drink a lot of tea,” he said, “but I also like to make something that people are going to use, that has function, that is beautiful.”

He said the idea for using wood for the handles didn’t come all at once, but kind of arrived after a few years of making teapots and looking at books and seeing someone else using something organic instead of clay for a handle on a pot.

“Then I started to really get into finding the right piece of wood that had the shape to fit for a handle,” he smiled.

He said he can make three pots a day now, “but maybe up to six [once retired]. I don’t know yet. I want to be making pots

trees, seeing the natural geology of his surroundings.

“My pottery tells me what it needs,” he said. “Initially, I might not like it [when it comes out of the kiln] but it grows on me as I observe its texture or colors [from the wood firing process] and I realize it’s supposed to be like that. I want people who enjoy that sort of thing to have my art,” he said.

Slowinski’s market will reach beyond local, regional and national boundaries he believes, “which is why I want to establish a web presence [for global access] and to find national galleries who will show my work.”

Walter Slowinski, M.D., is clearly ready to move into being Walter Slowinski, artist, musician and potter, and everything is in place to do so. “My last day [at the Putney Health Clinic] is Oct. 22.” He has taken care that his patients are all aware of his departure and that a replacement has been found, so no one will miss out on health care that he has provided until now.

“It’s been really great working in Putney. The staff and patients have been wonderful. But the time has come to make the break.

I’m grateful to have this opportunity,” he smiled, his face alight with the anticipation of being able to focus on his art full time.

her every night in the lobby of the hotel on his way home from work.”

Another hotel in town

The Hotel Billings was operated by Arthur L. Billings.

Located across the street from the railroad station, it had a steady clientele of business people, salesmen and visitors to the area. The Hotel Billings occupied the space between the Vinton Block and the Wilder Block, where the entrance to the parking area of the Co-op now lies. Behind these buildings was the Vinton Paper Mill, and the Vinton Pond, a popular spot for ice skating in the winter.

The hotel had a lobby and restaurant on the first floor and 65 rooms on the second, third and fourth floors. These were the days when single men often boarded at a hotel long term.

When the Vinton Block was completed, some of its rooms were located in what they called “the annex.” The cost of a night at the hotel was $1, $2 or $3, while rooms in the annex went for $1.50 per night. The Billings Restaurant was open for three meals a day.

Dummerston resident Ken Laughton had the pleasure of a meal at the Billings Restaurant, a real treat for a kid in 1938.

“There were six of us boys from Dummerston Center down to the Odd Fellows Hall on an outing for a 4-H event, with our leader, Mr. Bruce Buchannan.

After the event, we all went down to the hotel for dinner. Dining out was a real treat for a kid in those days, so it was a great deal of fun,” he said.

After the death of Arthur Billings in 1941, his widow, who continued to operate the hotel,

Lewis R. Brown/Brattleboro Historical Society

This 1932 photo shows the Hotel Billings and the second version of the Vinton Block on lower Main Street. Both were torn down in the early 1960s to make way for the shopping center that now is the home to the Brattleboro Food Co-op. sold the building and the business to Peter and John Latchis.

The new owners announced in a Reformer article on Sept. 12, 1941, that “the Billings would be operated by the Latchis Hotel for the present in the same manner as in the past.”

Having acquired the building, the Latchis family then owned a majority of the buildings from the foot of Main Street to the corner of Flat Street. The former Vinton paper mill buildings then housed their private printing shop along with a garage behind the buildings along Main Street in the area where the Food Co-op is currently housed.

By Dec. 7, 1961, all that was left of these buildings was an editorial in the Reformer called “Obit of an Old Building.”

“Well on its way toward surrender to various methods of destruction – a ceremony including no mourners among those who watch it — the old Billings Hotel ... deserves something in the way of an obituary. While its exact age has not been determined it is believed to be about 70 years old. Once the site of its melodeon factory, the land was sold by the Estey Organ Co. in 1889 to Charles Miner, believed to be the original builder. It remained in his name along with that of Dr. Charles Sholes until

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every day.”

When he went to college at Oberlin, he belonged to an unofficial student co-op where he learned to throw pots.

“I’ve done it ever since,” he said, which amounts to almost 40 years. “I want to do it full time now.”

Slowinski also plays the clarinet and saxophone with the Jazzberry Jam band professionally, he said. For as long as he has worked in Putney, he has ridden his bicycle the six miles to and from Brattleboro, bringing a new definition to “park and ride.”

“I drive to just north of town on Route 5, park and ride [instead of riding all the way from his house]. I was getting home too exhausted to do anything.”

He explained his involvement in the arts and medicine concurrently as sides of the same coin.

“I have to be quiet, and either listen [medicine and music] or see [art] and let a sense of what fits rise.”

Slowinski said he is outdoors all the time hiking, fishing or canoeing, and while there, he is always observing what is.

“Like the Japanese would look at a landscape and appreciate it for what it is without wanting to change it,” he said. He loves to see how rocks have been shaped by wind, water and things growing on them like lichens and

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1907 when the property was sold to Arthur B. Clapp and after his death it was sold again in 1921 to the Billings family who made it into a hotel.

“In the case of the old Billings block the only source of personal recollections are of old time residents. In the course of its long life the block had a long list of tenants including a garage that at one time occupied its entire ground floor. It also housed a restaurant, a drug store, a candy shop and a basement food market.

“From its falling bricks, shattered plaster and twisted plumbing no sound has come to arouse the skeletons supposed to inhabit family closets as might well have

been the case had a building with such a varied history been able to talk.”

Yet, buildings do stay alive so long as people retain memories of them, and Katherine Wright has a dandy.

“I happened to be going by the building one day when the electricity went out. All the ice cream in the shop was melting. The manager told me that I could eat all I wanted, but that wasn’t much I can tell you. I’ll never forget that day. Imagine, telling a young thing she could have all the ice cream she could ever want. I can remember that like it was yesterday,” she said with a broad smile.

Bone marrow donors sought in region BRATTLEBORO — Sixteenyear-old Zoey Marie Brown was diagnosed with leukemia in 2009.

Many in Windham County know Zoey as the daughter of Gina Brown, founder of Spring Hill Horse Rescue, in North Clarendon. A compassionate and giving teen, she works beside her mother to rescue horses who, otherwise, may not have found the wonderful homes they have. Many folks in the county have benefited from their work, and some have horses, donkeys, mules and other animals Gina and Zoey have rescued.

Having been in remission, the cancer is back, and she has had to endure chemotherapy. Now she needs help to find a bone marrow donor.

Screenings will be held from 5 to 8 p.m., on the following dates and locations: Oct. 20, Rescue Inc, 541 Canal St, Brattleboro;

Oct. 21, Bellows Falls Fire Department, 170 Rockingham Street, Bellows Falls; Oct. 22, NewBrook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Department, 698 VT ROUTE 30, Newfane.

Screening is easy – a simple cheek swab. Donors must be between 18 and 60 years old and in overall good health.

Screening results will be entered into the National Marrow Donor Program database and you may be contacted if you are a best match for Zoey or someone else who is in need of a transplant.

For more information, contact: Laurie Bayer at 802-4516760, or Kerry Ellis, Marrow Donor Program coordinator at Rutland Regional Medical Center at 802-747-6267. Or visit the National Marrow Donor Program at www.BeTheMatch. com.

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T h e C ommons

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11

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT ARTS CALENDAR Bellows Falls, Real to Reel Video in Walpole or by calling Our Place at 463-2217. Anyone wishing to contribute bowls or auction items may call the same number or e • C ap i t o l S t ep s a t t h e mail ourplace@sover.net. • FACT Latchis: The sassy, musical, po- TV hosts camera, editing litical satire of the Capitol Steps classes: Falls Area Community will return to the Latchis Theatre Television (FACT) hosts camera in downtown Brattleboro at 7:30 and editing classes every Tuesday p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 16. Armed this fall at 6:30 p.m. Those interwith new songs and numbers, the ested should call the station at Capitol Steps performers will bring 802-463-1613 to enroll. FACT their timely and irreverent spoofs needs new producers to be trained of the headlines to the stage, and so that they can bring their talpromise to bring down the entire ents to the station and create new house — and Senate. shows. Students will have the A free pre-Capitol Steps event choice between two classes, Studio “Heart of the Home” at 6 p.m. will Production or Digital Production. focus on the work of the Windham Studio Production will require Housing Trust with photographs the student to participate in the in the main theater, a silent auction complete production of a newsfocusing on the home. Comfort style studio program. Each student food, beer and wine will be sold. will explore the individual roles All proceeds will support the af- involved with studio production, fordable housing and community including director, camera operadevelopment work of Windham tor, on-camera talent, audio mixer, Housing Trust. technical director, lighting direcThe Capitol Steps began as a tor and graphics. After learning group of Senate staffers who set all aspects of the studio and studio out to satirize the very people control room, each student will be and places that employed them. required to submit a news story Altogether, the performers have and accompanying photograph worked in 18 Congressional offices or video footage, select a particuand represent 62 years of collective lar role, and produce a 10-minute House and Senate staff experience. news-related program.

Since they began, the Capitol Digital Production will teach the Steps have recorded 30 albums students the basics of video proand have been featured on NBC, duction concentrating on the tool CBS, ABC, and PBS, and can and methods used in making video be heard four times a year on programs. Students will participate National Public Radio stations in hands-on enviroment, learning nationwide. proper camera operation, audio The Capitol Steps will per- recording, basic lighting and most form songs from their new album, importantly the fine art of postLiberal Shop of Horrors, although production editing. This course the material is subject to changes will give you all the tools you need in the headlines and the scandals to go out and shoot and edit your of the day. Current songs include story for air on FACT 8. both political and non-political stories, including Secret Kenyan Man, Battle Hymn of the Tea Public, Return to Spenders, Under BP, What Kind of Fuel am I, and many more.

• BMC announces new F o r m o r e i n f o r m a - classes in choral arts: Are you tion or to purchase tickets by a singer who wants to read mucheck or credit card, contact sic, but never learned how? Read Development Assistant Betsy a little bit, but want to improve H a l l a t 8 0 2 - 2 4 6 - 2 1 1 4 o r your confidence and skills? Read bhall@windhamhousingtrust.org; or pretty well, but seek more insight purchaseyourticketatwww.brattleborotix.com. and musicality?

The Windham Housing Beginning on Thursday, Oct. Trust is a nonprofit organiza- 21, the Brattleboro Music Center tion that creates a wide variety offers two classes for singers who of affordable housing opportuni- are looking to increase their enjoyties, and fosters vibrant, diverse, ment and skill in the area of muand attractive communities sic reading, comprehension, and throughout Windham County. interpretation.

For more information, visit “Musicianship Skills for www.windhamhousingtrust.org.

Singers: The Fundamentals” is for people who love to sing who want to expand their ability to read music at the basic level, while “Musicianship for the Experienced • Woodland landscape Singer” is aimed at the more adpainting: The Saxtons River Art vanced singer who seeks to deepen Guild will host a workshop, “The their level of skill, musicality, and Woodland Landscape Painting in insight. Both classes are taught by Pastel,” with Robert Carsten on choral director Susan Dedell.

Saturday, Oct. 23, from 9:30 a.m.

Both classes place a huge emto 3:30 p.m., at the United Church phasis on rhythm skills, and aim in Bellows Falls. to connect the intellectual ability This workshop will explore to read musical notation with the various ways to correspond the body’s instinctive rhythms. Both subject of landscape with con- classes also seek to integrate the temporary and historical artistic ear’s natural ability to hear melconcerns. Working from photo- ody and harmony into sight readgraphs, concepts of color, design, ing and interpretation. While the and techniques will be presented first class is aimed at covering and demonstrated. Critique, at-ea- the fundamental basics of musisel assistance, and lots of painting cianship, the second class in this time will make this an educational series is geared toward the experiand enjoyable painting experience. enced singer who seeks to deepen All levels are welcome from begin- their level of skill, musicality, and ner through advanced. insight.

For registration, call Kathy “Musicianship Skills for at 802-463-9456 or Donna at Singers: The Fundamentals” 603-835-2387. will be held on Thursdays, 5:45 • Potters aid Our Place - 6:45 pm. “Musicianship for the Empty Bowl event: Area potters Experienced Singer” will be held are working on their wheels to cre- on Thursdays, 7-8 p.m. The cost ate bowls for the thirteenth annual per class is $140 for eight weeks Empty Bowl soup supper and auc- beginning on Oct. 21. To register tions Sunday, Nov. 7, at Alyson’s for Choral Arts classes, contact the Orchard in Walpole, N.H. to ben- Brattleboro Music Center at 802efit Our Place Drop-in Center.

257-4523 or visit www.bmcvt.org The bowls are a highlight of for more information. the event, as each attendee selects • House Blend performs in one to take home as a reminder BF: On Saturday, Oct. 23, at 7:30 of those who struggle to put food p.m. at the Immanuel Episcopal on the family table. “Gather and Church in Bellows Falls, a concert Share” is the theme of this year’s will feature the a cappella group event, which begins at 5 p.m. with House Blend. an auction preview and social time.

Formed in 2006, House Blend Proceeds go towards support- is an assembly of 20 veteran ing the food programs of Our singers from Vermont and New Place, which serves families in Hampshire, devoted to the collecthe greater Rockingham area and tive exploration of the many styles Walpole and North Walpole in of mostly a cappella songs from New Hampshire, serving break- around the world and throughout fast and lunch four days a week musical history. A democraticallyand providing groceries and fresh governed party of self-professed produce to approximately 160 singing addicts, the “Blenders” families per month, including 52 look to the artistic direction of homebound seniors. all of its members to guide the Fiddler Jill Newton and Friends group, creating a harmonious brew will be playing traditional tunes that reflects their diverse musical for the event. Bob Sprague is auc- backgrounds. tioneer. The Empty Bowl is part of Their repertoire includes prean international effort that began cisely blended early music, conin 1990 to raise money for food temporary arrangements by local programs. composers, songs from American Tickets ($30) will be available folk traditions such as spirituals, at Village Square Booksellers in soulful gospel numbers, hill songs

Performing arts

Music

Visual arts

of Appalachia and jazz, as well as lush Italian and Spanish ballads, South African freedom songs, village music of Italy, France, Québec and the Republic of Georgia, Renaissance madrigals, songs from the Jewish choral tradition, contemporary Latin chant and Bach, along with anything else the singers choose to add to the mix.

Concert tickets are $17 in advance, $20 at the door. For seniors, students, and children under 12, tickets are $13 in advance, $15 at the door. They are available at Village Square Booksellers in Bellows Falls, Brattleboro Books, Toadstool Bookshop in Keene, N.H., Misty Valley Books in Chester and online at www.brattleborotix.com.

• Music for organs and piano at Estey museum: In

celebration of electronic music pioneer Harald Bode’s 100th birthday, the Estey Organ Museum will present a special concert at the Engine House on Birge Street in Brattleboro on Oct. 23 at 5 p.m.

Organist George Matthew Jr. will be performing pieces on a variety of instruments made by the Estey Organ Co. One of those instruments is the Walk Through Pipe Organ, a one-of-a-kind Estey pneumatic pipe organ rebuilt so that visitors can stand inside of it while it is being played. There will also be pieces played on Estey reed organs, electronic organ, and piano.

Bode was an innovative inventor who worked at the company developing ways to produce sounds using electricity and circuits. His work formed a core of knowledgelater used by people such as Robert Moog to create modern synthesizers, and the museum is featuring an exhibit of his contributions to the world of electronic music.

The $15 suggested donation supports the museum.

Information: www.esteyorganmuseum.org.

Dance • Andy Toepfer at Evening Star Grange: An evening of com-

munity contra and square dances will take place at the Evening Star Grange in Dummerston Center on Saturday, Oct. 16, from 6:30-9:30 p.m.

Live music on two fiddles will be provided by Laurie Indenbaum and Jill Newton. Andy Toepfer will be playing guitar and calling the dance. Chandra Bossard will tell a traditional folk tale midway through the evening. The dance will be preceded by a community potluck supper at 5:30 p.m. Bring a dish and your own plates and silverware.

The program will include traditional New England contra dances, square dances, circle mixers, and couple dances. Admission is $4 for children, $7 for adults and $20 for a family. For more information and directions to the Evening Star Grange, contact Robin or Andy Davis at 802-257-1819, or village@dancingmasters.com.

Books • Deep sea fishing in New England: On Friday, Oct. 15,

at 7 p.m. in the main room of the Brooks Memorial Library in downtown Brattleboro, Sandy Macfarlane, author, will lead a free discussion about topics presented in her book, Tiggie: The Lure and

Lore of Commercial Fishing in New England. She will also comment

on her personal experience with oil in the marine environment and the effects of oil in New England waters.

Tiggie was named the 2009 Best Regional Non-fiction and received the Independent Publishing Awards Bronze Medal. The book focuses on Charles “Tiggie” Peluso, one of the Cape’s crustiest,

Folksinger Richie Havens’ shows to benefit Strolling’s farm relief BRATTLEBORO—Richie Havens, the man who opened Woodstock and has had a long and storied folksinging career with performances throughout the world, will make two appearances in November to benefit New England farmers in the third annual Strolling of the Heifers Farm Relief Concert Tour.

There will be two shows — on Friday, Nov. 12, at the Lebanon (N.H.) Opera House and on Saturday, Nov. 13, at the Latchis Theatre in downtown Brattleboro.

Opening both shows for Richie Havens will be singersongwriter Meg Hutchinson, whose new album, The Living Side, was released in February.

The concerts benefit the Strolling of the Heifers Microloan Fund for New England Farmers, which addresses the difficulty many New England Farmers have in obtaining loans to sustain and improve their farm businesses.

Gifted with one of the most recognizable voices in popular music, Richie Havens has a soulful singing style that remains as unique and ageless as when he first emerged from the Greenwich Village folk scene in the early 1960s.

It’s a voice that has inspired and electrified audiences ranging the Woodstock Music & Arts Fair in 1969, to the Clinton Presidential Inauguration in 1993. In 2003, the National Music Council awarded Havens the American Eagle Award for his place as part of America’s musical heritage, and for providing “a rare and inspiring voice of eloquence, integrity and social responsibility.”

For over four decades, Havens has used his music to convey messages of brotherhood and personal freedom.

With more than twenty-five crankiest commercial fishermen, who shares his harrowing stories of fishing New England’s waters in one of the world’s deadliest occupations.

Macfarlane spent her childhood summers around the waters of Cape Cod. After graduating from the University of Massachusetts, she settled in the Cape town of Orleans where she began her professional career as shellfish biologist for the Town of Orleans.

Later, she was appointed as the town’s first conservation administrator. Sandy retired from town government in 1998, was awarded a master’s degree in resource management from Antioch New England Graduate School and founded Coastal Resource Specialists, a consulting company devoted to shellfish, coastal and watershed issues.

• Local cookbook author Deborah Krasner will talk about and autograph copies of her newest book, Good Meat, The

Complete Guide to Sourcing and Cooking Sustainable Meat, from 4

to 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 16, at Kitchen Sync, next to Vermont Artisan Designs on Main Street.

In Good Meat, Krasner, a James Beard cookbook award winner from Westminster, shows concerned consumers how to find, order, and prepare sustainably raised meat, thus making the vital connections among responsible agriculture, delicious food, good health, the environment, and every American dinner table.

Krasner’s Good Meat provides detailed guidance to enable people to become truly responsible meat eaters. Instead of supporting industrial farming that advances

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Musician Richie Havens. albums released and a touring schedule that would kill many a younger man, he continues to view his calling as a higher one.

As he told The Denver Post, “I really sing songs that move me. I’m not in show business; I’m in the communications business. That’s what it’s about for me.”

Both shows are made possible through generous support from Newman’s Own Foundation and Price Chopper Supermarkets.

Both shows are at 7:30 p.m.; tickets are priced at $45, $35 and $25. Following the Brattleboro show, there will be a post-concert reception, with tickets available at $15 in combination with any ticket level.

Tickets for the Lebanon Opera House show can be obtained at www.lebanonoperahouse.org or the theater box office, 603-448-0400. For the Latchis Theatre show, tickets global warming, drives family farmers off the land, abuses animals, pollutes watersheds and produces high-cholesterol meat, consumers can choose a healthful, sustainable alternative.

Sustainable agriculture allows animals to eat a natural diet, without the need for antibiotics and growth hormones. Instead, these animals live in balance with the land and produce naturally lean meat the provides plentiful antioxidants, which can actually lower cholesterol. Because such meats are naturally so lean, they must be cooked differently from

may be purchased at www. brownpapertickets.com, or in person from the Latchis Hotel Front desk or Vermont Artisan Designs, both on Main Street in Brattleboro.

Strolling of the Heifers is a nonprofit organization based in Brattleboro. It is dedicated to helping save and support family farms by connecting people with healthy local foods and with the farmers and producers who bring it to them.

It organizes a major parade and festival each year in June and makes educational grants to farmers and teachers, and raises loan guarantee capital for the Microloan Fund for New England Farmers, which was launched in 2008 in partnership with The Carrot Project to address the credit needs of farmers not able to borrow elsewhere. More information can be www.strollingoftheheifers.com. conventionally-raised grain-fed meats. Krasner provides consumers with more than 200 delicious recipes for cooking this leaner meat, and she facilitates direct purchasing from local farmers.

Owner Susan Worden, whose grandparents, Georges and Suzanne Lainé, owned Le Chanticleer restaurant in Brattleboro in the 1950s, said they certainly would have enjoyed the return to locally produced meats and Krasner’s presentation that promotes community supported agriculture.

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T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, October 13, 2010

SPORTS & RECREATION Twin Valley girls top L&G in double OT thriller

T

he Twin ValleyLeland & Gray soccer rivalry is not just for the boys. The girls teams bring an equal level of intensity to their matches, as shown by the 2-1 double overtime win by the Wildcats in Townshend on Thursday.

The Rebels had the early lead in this match with a windblown 40 yard strike from Chelsea Cox in the 12th minute. Twin Valley had plenty of chances to get an equalizer in the first half, but solid goalkeeping by Keira Capponcelli allowed Leland & Gray to hold onto its 1-0 lead at the break.

Twin Valley kept up the pressure in the second half and finally got the equalizer from Savannah Nesbit midway through the second half off a Sammy Cunningham assist.

Leland & Gray had plenty of scoring chances in the first overtime, as the Rebels had five corners and a couple of scrambles in front of the Wildcat goal. But it was freshman Jordan Niles who proved to be the heroine of this drama when she raced into the goal area just as a through pass arrived and tipped it past the Rebels goalkeeper with 5:10 left in the second OT period.

Twin Valley improved to 5-3-1 and Leland & Gray dropped to 3-4-3.

Leland & Gray goalkeeper K e i r a Capponcelli dives for a loose ball as Twin Valley’s Jordan Niles (13) moves in during the first half of their game last Thursday in Townshend.

Looking on are Twin Valley’s Alex Kennedy and Leland & Gray’s Kathyrn Finegan and Alexandra Morrow (10).

RANDOLPH T. HOLHUT Sports Roundup shut out Bellows Falls, 3-0, in Westminster last Tuesday.

Cunningham had a goal and an assist. Shannon Lozito and Nesbitt also scored. But things got better for Bellows Falls on Thursday as the Terriers got their first win of the season with a 2-1 overtime victory over Windsor. Brit Moyna got the equalizer with late in the game and Kammie Crawford scored the game-winner three minutes into overtime.

Boys soccer

• Twin Valley coach Buddy Hayford notched his 300th career win as the Wildcats beat Green Mountain, 6-1, on Saturday in Chester. The Chieftains scored first, but it was all Twin Valley after that as Eli Park scored twice and George Molner, Troy Birch, Kody Crozier and Ian Murdock all had goals. Colin Lozito had three assists and goalkeeper Tony Bernard made eight saves.

On Friday, Twin Valley scored the first five goals of the game and cruised to a 5-2 road Girls soccer win over Bellows Falls. Dylan • The Burr & Burton Speigel scored two goals and Bulldogs clobbered the Molner, Birch and Park also Brattleboro Colonels, 7-2, at scored. Tyson McAllister and Tenney Field last Tuesday.

Alfredo Rodriguez scored for Brattleboro trailed 2-1 at the BF in the final 10 minutes. half, but the Bulldogs scored • It was a rematch of the five goals in the second half John James Tournament fito put the game away. Maddi nal, but the result was the Shaw and Leah Short were same as Brattleboro rolled to a the goal scorers for the 4-5-1 6-1 win over Mount Anthony Colonels. at Tenney Field on Friday The Colonels bounced back night. Travis Elliott-Knaggs with a 1-0 win over Mount led the way with three goals.

Anthony on Thursday. Shaw, Matt Dunn scored twice, and who was celebrating her birth- Greg Reuter and Jose Diegoday, gave her teammates the Silva each added goals. The gift with a goal in the 65th min- Colonels kept MAU off the ute off a corner kick. scoreboard until the 73rd min• Twin Valley’s speedy front ute of play, as they improved to line set the pace as the Wildcats 7-1 on the season.

Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons

• Leland & Gray’s Noah Chapin had a great game against Green Mountain as he scored three goals and assisted on two others in a 7-1 rout of the Chieftains in Chester last Monday. Colin Nystrom added two goals and Seth Jerz and Matt Bizon each scored for the Rebels. Chapin has scored nearly half of the Rebels’ goals this season.

Football

• There was hope after the hard-fought loss to Essex in the homecoming game that the Brattleboro Colonels might be turning the corner as a team.

That hope was not to be as the Colonels were clobbered by the Spaulding Crimson Tide, 4812, in Barre on Saturday.

The Colonels had no solution for the Tide’s wishbone offense, which rolled up 353 yards of rushing. Brattleboro had a brief 6-0 lead after a quarterback sneak from Nate Forrett, but Spaulding then scored 28 unanswered points to put the game away. On defense, the Tide intercepted six passes and contained Colonels running back Ivan Jackson, who had 80 yards of rushing and scored the only other Brattleboro touchdown.

Now 0-6, the Colonels travel to Hartford this Friday night. • The Bellows Falls Terriers improved their Division III record to 4-0 and won bragging rights over Windsor with a 20-0 rout of the Yellowjackets in the Dale Perkins Trophy game at MacLeay-Royce Field on Saturday.

Once again, running back Ryan Hayward was the workhorse. He ran for all three touchdowns and had 247 yards of rushing on 19 carries. Now 4-2 overall, the Terriers host Woodstock this Saturday.

Field hockey

• A shorthanded Bellows Falls squad was overwhelmed

by Burr & Burton, 5-0, in Manchester last Monday. The Terriers had only 10 players available for the game, forcing them to play shorthanded and without substitutions for the entire 60 minutes.

The outcome was just as discouraging for the Terriers on Saturday, as they were shut out Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons 7-0 by the Woodstock Wasps.

Leland & Gray’s Kurt Tietz (20) muscles past Twin In this game, BF only had 11 Valley’s Shannon Lozito as her teammate Savannah players available and ended Nesbitt (4) moves in during their game Thursday in up playing much of the match Townshend. shorthanded after Kya Coursen

took a stick to the face. BF is still winless at 0-7-1.

• Fair Haven scored the first two goals and hung on for a 2-1 win over Brattleboro at Tenney Field last Monday.

Brenna DeVencentis scored the Colonels’ only goal and goalie Caroline McCarthy had five saves. On Friday, the Colonels dropped a 5-0 decision to Hartford to fall to 1-5-1 on the season.

Cross country

• The fledgling Leland & Gray cross country team played host to a Marble Valley League meet at Grafton Ponds Nordic Center last Tuesday, but it was the Brattleboro

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Celebrate Fair Trade Month!

The Co-op is celebrating Wellness Fair Trade Day on Wednesday, October 20. Come meet the folks from some of our favorite producers who use fair trade products to make soaps, moisturizers, shampoos, and other body care products. We’ll have samples of Dr. Bronner’s soaps and local producer Badger Balm’s moisturizers and body balms.You can sample Navitas superfoods such as goji berries, cacao nibs, chia seeds, and trail mix. Ingrid, from Stones of Wisdom in Brattleboro, will be sampling her fair trade shea butter and lip balm.

Join us Wednesday, October 20 We have a wonderful basket of goodies to raffle off on Wednesday, October 20. Be sure to stop by!

— Linda, Wellness Manager

Proud supporters of Vermont Independent Media, publisher of

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Manning was fourth in 25:33; Leah Silverman was fifth in 25:46 and Emma Straus was 10th in 27:52.

• On Friday, the Colonels ran in the Russ Pickering Invitational in Bellows Falls.

Ellis won the boys’ race in 16:43 over the 3-mile course.

The Colonel boys came in first with a team score of 42 to hold off Woodstock, Thetford and Springfield. In the girls race, Reichel was 10th in 21:03 and Benit was 14th in 22:05. Both times were personal bests. As a team, the girls came in fourth behind Stratton Mountain School, Rutland and Woodstock.

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Staff Pick!

The Commons—independent media for Windham County Contact Betsy Jaffe at 246-6397.

Colonels who ran away with the event. The Colonels were tops in both the girls and boys team meets.

Brattleboro’s Jacob Ellis won the boys race in 18 minutes and 22 seconds on the 3.2-mile course, about one minute ahead of runnerup John Punger of Bellows Falls. Brattleboro’s Spencer Olson placed third in 19:46, Zeke Fitzgerald was fourth in 20:00, Allen Unaitis took sixth in 20:43 and Austin Lester wound up seventh in 21:14.

Brattleboro’s Hannah Reichel won her first MVL race in a time of 23:40. Maud Benit placed second in a personal best time of 24:47, Helen

10/8/10 12:42 PM

for Fair Trade Day - free samples and raffle!

BRATTLEBOROFOODCO-OP 2 Main Street, Brattleboro M–S 8–9, Sun 9–9 www.brattleborofoodcoop.coop ■