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Brattleboro, Vermont Wednesday, November 10, 2010 • Vol. V, No. 28 • Issue #75
W ind h am C ounty ’ s A W A R D - W I N N I N G , I ndependent S ource for N ews and V iews
News Rockingham
BF police expand patrol area page 4
New yard sale rules page 4
Forty years after his father saved the Brooks House, Jonathan Chase says he’s working on new ideas for filling vacant space — at his own pace
LANDLORD
takes the
Voices Be careful out there, deer season is upon us page 6 viewpoint
How much tritium is in your banana? page 7
The Arts Books
Jud Hale revisits his look at New England page 9
Life and Work giving thanks
Wardsboro man brings music to veterans page 11
Sports Football
Terriers rip Oxbow to reach Div. III finals
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Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons
Above: Jonathan Chase sits in his second-floor office at the Brooks House in Brattleboro. Top: The view from the fifth-floor cupola of the Brooks House, looking south down Main Street. By Randolph T. Holhut The Commons
B
RATTLEBORO— Forty years ago, a Brattleboro landmark was threatened with
extinction. The five-story Brooks House, built in 1871, was one of the largest hotels in New England and a landmark destination for travelers and local residents alike. It remains the largest commercial structure in Brattleboro, with 175 feet of frontage on Main Street and another 120 feet on High Street. By the late 1960s, the Brooks House had fallen on hard times, and the building was threatened with demolition. Norman B. Chase then stepped in and saved one of Main Street’s most important landmarks from the wrecking ball. Today, his son, Jonathan N. Chase, runs Brooks House Reality, the entity that transformed a Victorian-era hotel into a thriving mixed-use development. “He was years ahead of his time when it came to what people now call ‘adaptive reuse,’ taking historic buildings
Well preserved
and giving them a new life,” Chase said. “He was very aware of the historic nature of this building.” Norman Chase, CEO of Chase Industries, a real estate and development firm he founded in 1951, eyed the Brooks House property for years before he bought it, his son said. “We used to come up from Connecticut to Vermont to ski in the early sixties, and back then that meant driving up Route 5,” Jonathan Chase said during an interview in his spacious second floor office at the Brooks House. “That’s we when first saw Brattleboro,” Chase continued. “We’d drive through town and he would point to this building and he would always say, ‘Someday I’m going to buy that place.” Ultimately, the first property Norman Chase bought in Brattleboro was 20 acres of farmland along the Whetstone Brook off Western Avenue. It ultimately became the Brookside Apartments. By the late 1960s, the Chase family had moved to Brattleboro and started to settle in. That’s when the opportunity to buy the Brooks House came up.
When Norman Chase bought the Brooks House in 1970, “there were still businesses on the street level, but the upstairs, where the hotel was, was mothballed for about 10 years,” said Jonathan Chase. “There were 88 rooms and every room was completely furnished, right down to the linen on the beds,” he said. “It looked like someone went out for the afternoon and never came back.” Chase said the Brooks House was so well preserved that his father could have reopened it as a hotel. “But that’s not the direction he wanted to head in,” he said. “He knew this block could be turned around. In the end, he got it done and this project became a model for other towns in New England.” Norman Chase bought the property for $225,000, which included the land price with n see BROOKS HOUSE, page 2
$25,000 deducted for possible building removal. But the cost of renovating the building into his vision of a deluxe apartment and office complex came to more than $1 million, a considerable sum in the early 1970s. n see ENTERGY, page 2
Help for homeless vets Local nonprofit Home at Last seeks funding to buy fourth home By Randolph T. Holhut The Commons
BRATTLEBORO—Home At Last, Inc., a nonprofit volunteer group working to provide permanent housing and support services to homeless veterans, buys inexpensive mobile homes in established area parks, then renovates and furnishes them for veterans, who put up 30 percent of their income toward rent and utility costs. Robert Miller of West Brattleboro, an 86-year-old disabled World War II combat veteran, helped found Home at Last nearly three years ago. So far, he said the all-volunteer organization has placed four people — two single veterans and a married
couple — in three homes. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that as many as 260,000 military veterans are homeless at some time during any year. According to the VA, 47 percent of homeless veterans served during the Vietnam war. More than 67 percent served our country for at least three years and 33 percent were stationed in a war zone. And it’s not just men. While the share of female veterans who end up homeless is still relatively small, at an estimated 6,500, the figure has nearly doubled over the last decade, according to the VA. One out of every 10 homeless vets under the age of 45 is now a woman. The VA — which is already
By Olga Peters The Commons
LONG VIEW
ESSAY
VY grapples with leak as Entergy ponders sale
straining to care for new veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), brain injuries and other physical ailments — is ill-prepared to deal with the growing number of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who are joining the ranks of the homeless. This means local government agencies, service organizations and community groups like Home at Last have to pick up the slack. In a public appeal last year, Miller said the organization needs “a rock-bottom minimum of $20,000 per year for lot rental, utilities, heat and property taxes” to maintain the three homes. “This figure doesn’t account for price increases, or the purchase n see HOME AT LAST, page 3
VERNON—Days after Entergy announced it placed Vermont Yankee up for sale, boasting a record of reliable operation, on-site officials shut the 605-megawatt nuclear plant Sunday night to investigate a leak in the feedwater system piping. “The decision to shut the plant down was conservative and based on industry experience with feed water systems as well as worker safety,” said Entergy spokesman Larry Smith, who asserted that the leak “poses no threat whatsoever.” The leaking water, containing multiple radioactive isotopes, including tritium, was captured within a larger system that funneled it back into the feedwater system. This is the first time the plant has been deactivated for such a repair in the last year. Three similar leaks occurred previously, but Vermont Yankee continued to operate as crews fixed those problems. According to Smith and Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Company invites offers for VY By Olga Peters The Commons
VERNON—Entergy Corp, the Louisiana-based owner of Vermont Yankee, confirmed months-long rumors regarding its intention to sell the 38-year-old nuclear plant but remains tight-lipped regarding details. Entergy issued a press release Thursday saying a process is under way to explore the potential sale of its 605-megawatt nuclear plant. While no decision has been made to sell the plant, the company expects interest from multiple parties. The sale process is being conducted confidentially, and no additional details n see VY SALE, page 8
n see LEAK, page 3
Barber’s action rebuked in Bellows Falls Rally decries treatment of New Mexico letter writer By Allison Teague The Commons
BELLOWS FALLS—A letter to the editor from out-of-town visitor, Dr. Darryl Fischer of Silver City, N.M., that was published in the Brattleboro Reformer has garnered a lot of attention last week. In a letter published in the Reformer’s Nov. 3 Letter Box, Dr. Fischer wrote that he was refused service by a Bellows Falls barber. “I am a black physician looking for a change of scenery after 30 years of working in a major U.S. city,” wrote Fischer. “While visiting other medical practitioners in Bellows Falls, I thought I would have a haircut. I walked into a local barbershop. “Two gentlemen were playing cards inside. I asked them if the barber was in and one of the men said the barber was not. So I returned an hour later and the same person who said that the barber was not in was cutting a Caucasian patron’s hair. “I am very pleased to know that I would not want to work or live in Bellows Falls with the above behavior of your local businesses.” “It’s an unfortunate incident,” Development Director and Interim Town Manager Francis “Dutch” Walsh said. Michael Aldrich, the barber who allegedly refused to cut Fischer’s hair, told The Commons that he “made a mistake when I lied to [Dr. Fischer when he walked in]. I should have just come out and told him ‘I can’t cut your kind of hair.’” Lori Brown, owner of Boccaccio’s hair salon in Bellows
Gila Regional Medical Center
Dr. Darryl Fischer, a physician visiting from New Mexico who alleges in a letter to the Reformer that he couldn’t get a haircut in Bellows Falls. Falls, said, “We are all trained to cut any kind of hair whether you’re African American, Caucasian or Indian,” she said. But Brown also said that “if I pulled out the same length of hair I would on a Caucasian in an African American’s hair, and cut it, it would be a lot shorter.” If someone did not know how to do that, she admitted, it could be a disaster. Brown said she allowed that maybe the barber was “old school” and therefore might not know how to cut African American hair, “but we’re all trained to cut any kind of hair no matter who walks in.” “About 3 percent of our clientele are African Americans,” several of whom are local and others who come from Springfield, she said. Rockingham Selectboard chair n see BARBER, page 4
PA I D A D V E R T I S I N G • T O P L A C E YO U R A D , C A L L ( 8 0 2 ) 2 4 6 - 6 3 9 7 O R V I S I T W W W . C O M M O N S N E W S . O R G
ARCHER MAYOR Book Signing
‘Red Herring’ Sat., Nov. 13, 11-1:30
BAKER’S HALLMARK
Putney Rd., Brattleboro
Gathering in Gratitude: The Night Passage mystical theater performance Sat Nov 20, 2 & 7 Sun Nov 21 2 pm at the Stone Church, Brattleboro
254-1310 MahaloArtCenter.com
Seeking vendors for Holiday Craft fair Sat., Dec. 11, $20/Table Westgate Community Center West Brattleboro 802-257-2430 or westgatehousing@comcast.net
Thurs., Nov. 18 7:30 pm
Sierra Hull & Highway 111 w/ The Stockwell Brothers Bluegrass and Newgrass from Tennessee and Putney The united Church 15 Kimball hill, putney Tickets and info: 802-254-9276 www.twilightmusic.org
BURROWS
Second Chance Shoppe
SALE
Celebrating 29 years of keeping your family affordably clothed!
SPECIALIZED SPORTS 75th Anniversary Starts Nov. 13 - Great Deals Throughout The Store Get a Jump on your Holiday Shopping! 105 Main St. Bratt. Open 7 Days
Kid’s Men’s Women’s Plus Sizes Rte. 35, Townshend Village M, W. Th, F. Sa. 9:30-4
Our Place (Diner)
& Family Restaurant 209 Canal St. Brattleboro, VT 802-254-4700 From Diner Classics to Seafood & Cocktails. Serving breakfast, lunch & dinner every day.
BUYING/SELLING
COINS/SPORTS POSTCARDS
Chester Stone House
Open 7 Days 802-379-2353
Pepsijoseph@yahoo.com