The Commons/issue of Dec. 8, 2010

y l k e wve

FREE Your membership in Vermont Independent Media can make this the best free newspaper you’ve ever paid for.

See page 11.

www.commonsnews.org

Brattleboro, Vermont Wednesday, December 8, 2010 • Vol. V, No. 32 • Issue #79

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

Brattleboro man blocked from civil rights panel

bRATTLEbORO

New traffic lights put into operation

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights ousts Reed from state committee after Reformer commentary hits blogosphere

page 2

Drop In Center is honored

By Jeff Potter The Commons

page 3 VERNON

New rules for Texas landfill may affect VY page 9

Voices ESSAY

a teen writer looks at alzheimer’s page 6 VIEWPOINT

a tale of two funds, or where the money goes page 7

Life and Work ThE bEEKEEPER

Lessons from a grandfather’s backyard page 12

The Arts OPUS 21

Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons

Every tagged tree has a little thank you note attached to it.

season

Mountain greenery

for the

Christmas tree farm looks toward its future

By Randolph T. Holhut The Commons

DUMMERSTON—The mark of a good business is how many repeat customers it has.

There are so many of them at Elysian Hills Tree Farm that they keep an honor roll of the customers that have bought Christmas trees for more than 10 straight seasons. The “tree stars,” as they are called — some of whom have bought trees for 30 straight years — get a free wreath to honor each 10year milestone.

That’s the kind of loyalty shown to Bill and Mary Lou Schmidt, who have run their farm on Knapp Road for 32 years and sell approximately 1,100 trees each holiday season. Patrons from all over New England, New York, and New Jersey make the trip to Dummerston.

They have plenty of local customers, too, and if you see a large Christmas tree on display in Windham County, chances are it came from Elysian Hills.

The Brattleboro town tree in Pliny Park came from the Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons Steven Meggiolaro of Dummerston hauls away his Schmidts’ farm, and several family’s Christmas tree as his son Travis stands area businesses also get their

ready with the rope that will tie it to their car.

n see tree farm, page 4

Works by student composers get premiere

Donors to Vermont Independent Media receive The Commons in the mail.

Visit http://donate.commonsnews.org.

change service requested

PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID BRATTLEBORO, VT 05301 PERMIT NO. 24

P.O. Box 1212, Brattleboro, VT 05302 www.commonsnews.org

Breaks renegotiations for lease in Waypoint Center

By Allison Teague The Commons

BELLOWS FALLS—The recent decision of the Great Falls Regional Chamber of Commerce to vacate its home in the Waypoint Center on the Island and move to new digs came as a shock to many on the Waypoint Center Board, including Selectboard Chair Tom MacPhee and Chamber president Deborah Murphy.

The lease is a four-party agreement between the town of Rockingham, the village of Bellows Falls, the Bellows Falls Downtown Development Association (BFDDA), and the COC. According to MacPhee and Murphy, negotiations were in play at the time of the meeting

Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons

discussing a better lease agreement that are more in line with the Chamber’s mission of promoting businesses in downtown.

However, during a regular November meeting that Murphy was not able to attend, Chamber Executive Director Roger Riccio was given permission by the board to pursue other options.

Many of those present at the meeting felt the lease agreement with the town of Rockingham no longer served the organization’s purposes.

Chamber secretary Michael Smith confirmed that Riccio had signed a lease for the space formerly occupied by the former Hula Cat secondhand shop in the Staircase building just off the Square. Smith said the move will n see WAYPOINT, page 4

Brattleboro Selectboard: more budget cuts The Commons

Keri Latiolais shows of a tree to the Glejzer family of Putney.

n see vERMONT sac, page 5

Bellows Falls chamber makes surprise move

By Olga Peters

page 10

Vermont Independent Media

BRATTLEBORO—A civil rights advocate has been ousted from the state advisory panel of the bipartisan U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) after a conservative majority objected to his commentary about the racial undertones of a political slogan in the November election.

The future of the USCCR’s Vermont State Advisory Committee (SAC) remains in political limbo after the commission voted Friday to renew the subcommittee’s charter, but without its chairman, Curtiss Reed Jr. Reed, of Brattleboro, who had chaired the 17-member SAC since it resumed its operations

in 2008, charged that the decision demonstrates the right-wing politicization of former President George W. Bush’s administration’s political appointments to the civil rights agency.

The unprecedented move, made hours before two of the commissioners’ terms expired, leaves the SAC without a chairman.

“I am really disappointed,” said Reed, the executive director of the Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity.

“I speak for all the members of the SAC,” Reed said. He described them collectively as a “well-rounded, workable group to focus on Vermont issues” and said the SAC “works well together to address issues in a

BRATTLEBORO—The Selectboard has asked town department heads to review their proposed budgets once again and find more ways to cut the town’s fiscal year 2012 budget.

The draft budget discussed at Monday’s special meeting shows a 4.6 percent increase over last year’s level-funded budget.

Selectboard Chair Dick DeGray said he preferred to see only a 3 percent increase for FY 2012.

During the meeting, Town Manager Barbara Sondag and department heads suggested saving money by cutting funds for road paving and a trackless tractor used to clear snow from sidewalks. If made, these cuts would only reduce the budget

by 1-2 percent.

DeGray urged them to find more places to cut expenses.

Selectboard members Martha O’Connor and Daryl Pillsbury said they felt comfortable with a 4.6 percent increase for FY 2012.

DeGray and Selectboard members Dora Bouboulis and Jesse Corum wanted expenses lowered.

“I cannot see reducing what we’ve got,” said O’Connor.

O’Connor said she felt comfortable with the increase because cutting the budget meant cutting services.

“Every dollar has an advocate,” said DeGray.

“Every dollar represents a service and any [dollar] change represents a change in services,” said Sondag in an earlier interview.

According to Sondag, the n see MORE CUTS, page 8

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 Thank you to DAVID N. DUNN and POTTER STEWART JR. LAW OFFICES, P.C. from your grateful friends at VIM

Too Much to Do? LET US DO YOUR PAYROLL Accounting Systems Design 802-246-2500 accountingsystemsdesign.com

Open Music

Collective Concerts Dec 9: Featuring the music of Wayne Shorter and Youth Jazz Ensemble - 7:30 p.m.

Dec 12: Tribute to Lady Day: The Music of Billie Holiday - 5:00 p.m.

74 Cotton Mill Hill, Studio A 335 Brattleboro, VT

Aoife O’Donovan Band and Christina Courtin Crooked Still vocalist & friends Friday, Dec. 10 7:30 pm The United Church of Putney Tickets and info:

802-254-9276 www.twilightmusic.org

DJ Chris Holman 603-852-6185

Holiday Special $300 Weddings $750

Karaoke, Lighting & MC www.CJtheDJ.com

Second Chance Shoppe Warm Clothes for Everyone!

Holiday Decorations Galore!

Kid’s Men’s Women’s Plus Sizes Rte. 35, Townshend Village M, W. Th, F. Sa. 9:30-4

BUYING/SELLING COINS/SPORTS POSTCARDS Hampton Inn Shows Bennington Dec 26, Jan. 1st Brattleboro Sat. Dec 18, 8am-3pm

802-379-2353

Pepsijoseph@yahoo.com

COLONIAL POOL AND SPA 889 Putney Road

Craft and Gift Sale Begins December 13th December 23rd 1-4PM Different Exhibitors Every Day! Also Pool Gift Certificates Open 7 Days

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 Adrian Newkirk, Ad Composition • Cal Glover-Wessel, Distribution Bill Proctor, Distribution • Richard Henke, Vermont Associates Trainee www.vermontassociates.org

Deadline for the Dec. 15 issue Friday, Dec. 10 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.

SUBMITTING NEWS ITEMS/tips

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. advertising

Your advertising directly supports a better newspaper. The display advertising rate is $10.50 per column inch, and The Commons offers discounts for three or more advertising insertions. To place your ad, contact the advertising coordinator at ­ads@commonsnews.org.

Advertising files can be saved as PDF (press-ready setting), EPS (with fonts converted to outlines), or as TIFF (600 pixels per inch), or printed as black-and-white hard copy. We can provide limited creative services for your ad design and help you find a professional designer if you have unusual needs.

T h e C ommons

BR AT TLEBORO New traffic lights for Main Street Computerized system means changes for pedestrians, motorists

By Randolph T. Holhut The Commons

BRATTLEBORO—They’re sleek, they’re computerized, and they’re about to change the way we maneuver around downtown Brattleboro.

A new traffic control system went into full operation this week, and from the black mast arms arching over Main Street to the higher pitched chirping sound coming from the pedestrian crossing signal, it’s truly a new look and sound for motorists and others to get used to.

New lights, and the electronic control boxes running them, have been installed at the High and Elliot street intersections, as well as the infamous Route 5/142/119 intersection at the foot of Main Street known as “Malfunction Junction.”

“It’s definitely a lot more advanced than what was here before,” said Chris Barker, project engineer for the Vermont Agency of Transportation. “This ought to keep traffic moving smoothly.”

Bill McElroy of Moulison North Corp., the subcontractor installing the traffic signals, said the three control boxes on Main Street have the ability to communicate with each other and adjust the signals at each intersection based on traffic conditions as viewed from cameras atop the mast arms.

This means the traffic light cycles will change, he said. The flashing yellow lights seen downtown during the overnight hours will be a thing of the past, and likewise for waiting at an empty intersection and waiting for the

Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons

Bill McElroy of Moulison North Corp. stands in front of the computerized traffic control box at the intersection of Main and High streets. lights to change.

If there is no traffic on the side streets, the lights on Main Street stay green. If a car arrives at an intersection, the lights will change.

The biggest change for pedestrians is that they will have to initiate the crossing signals by pushing a yellow button on the signal poles. With the end of preset light signal patterns, if you don’t push the button, “you’ll be standing there all day waiting for the light,” McElroy said.

Also, the pedestrian light has a countdown clock, so people will know how many seconds they have to safely cross the street.

Blasting begins at new co-op site BRATTLEBORO — As part of the excavation for construction of the new Brattleboro Food Co-op building, the contractor will need to remove ledge rock by means of drilling and blasting.

Blasting is scheduled to begin on Wednesday Dec. 8.

At this time, the drilling and blasting operation is projected to take between 30 and 40 working days. There will be multiple blast operations each day. During the blasting operation, the following standard safety procedures will be implemented: • Installation of signage along Main/Canal Streets and the Co-op driveway alerting passers-by to the fact that blasting is

taking place and describing what to look and listen for; • Traffic control will be in place to stop traffic movement in the vicinity of the blast area during detonations; • An alarm whistle will sound at intervals leading up to each detonation; • The blaster will employ heavy rubber blast blankets to cover all blast areas; • And the blaster will employ seismographs at blast area periphery to monitor ground vibration.

All appropriate town departments have been informed of the commencement of this operation.

As for the Malfunction Junction signals, McElroy said they have been tested and no problems were found.

“Like anything, it will take a few weeks to get used it,” said Selectboard Chair Dick DeGray of the new lights at Malfunction Junction. “We all sometimes have a lack of patience when we get in a car, but I’m optimistic that all this will work.”

With the new traffic lights, the first phase of the Main Street project comes to an end.

According to Lane Construction Corp., the primary contractor for the project, the remainder of the downtown sidewalk repair and replacement work will be finished in the spring.

Installation of permanent pavement markings, pouring new sidewalk panels from below Mocha Joe’s to the intersection of Elliot Street, the removal of temporary pavement and the pouring of new sidewalk at the High Street intersection, and some pavement work in front of Adagio Restaurant are all set to be completed then.

Barker said he was pleased at how well things went with the Main Street project. “I’ve worked in a lot of towns around the state, and Brattleboro has been one of the better ones,” he said. “The people here have been great.”

• Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Selectboard supports hiring assistant town manager

By Olga Peters The Commons

BRATTLEBORO—The Brattleboro Selectboard showed support for the hiring of an assistant town manager for the first time in public during a special meeting this week.

Selectboard Chair Dick DeGray said the board had discussed the issue in executive sessions dealing with personnel matters, but Monday’s meeting marked the first public discussion.

“The major concern here is burnout,” said DeGray. “If [we don’t hire an assistant], we’ll burn out one of the better town managers this town has had in many a year.”

Selectboard members Jesse Corum and Martha O’Connor joined DeGray in voicing support for funding the position, which the town has included in its organizational plans but has not funded since the current town manager, Barbara Sondag, left the assistant town manager position in 2007.

According to Sondag, the town has budgeted a tentative $60,000 for the position.

Corum said last year he did not support hiring an assistant town manager but said this

week he changed his mind.

In his opinion, losing a town manager from burnout would cost the town in institutional memory and direction.

O’Connor said the town manager job has changed in the past few years with the state heaping on more responsibilities and the town’s increased project load.

Selectboard members Dora Bouboulis and Daryl Pillsbury felt the town should not fund a new position when it has to consider cutting the budget in other areas and possibly raise taxes in general.

Pillsbury previously supported hiring an assistant, but said he could no longer justify the expense.

Sondag, the last person to hold the assistant town manager post, took over as an interim town manager after the departure of Jerry Remillard in 2007.

At the time, the Selectboard voted to sever Remillard’s contract following several revelations of sloppy bookkeeping and mismanagement of finances by town departments.

Sondag eventually was hired as the full-time manager later that year and given the job in earnest in April 2008.

CORRECTIONS In the Nov. 24 story, “Town announces schedule for 250th anniversary celebration,” the incorrect location of the Guilford Historical Society’s museum was given. It is located in the old Town Hall, across from the Meetinghouse, in Guilford Center.

In the Nov. 24 story, “Digitizing history,” the effort to digitize the photos of Porter Thayer is being funded with a $5,000 from the Windham Foundation. A grant application is pending with the Vermont Community Foundation. No application was made to the Vermont Humanities Council.

Also, Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro does not house the Brattleboro or Benjamin Crown photo collections, only the microfilm copies.

Also, George Lindsay was a staff employee at Brooks Memorial Library. He never served as library director.

plan,” that appeared in the Nov. 17 edition, The Commons incorrectly reported the size of the proposed addition for the hospital in Townshend. Grace Cottage Hospital is planning a 20,000-square-foot addition.

The wrong caption described the photo of Academy School Librarian Eileen Parks and parent Eric Pero — the Academy School newspaper advisors — in the story “Read all about it!”

[The Commons, Nov. 17].

The Commons wants to create the most thoughtful, accurate newspaper possible, but mistakes occasionally happen. If you notice one, please e-mail us at editor@commonsnews.org or call the newsroom at (802) 246-6397.

In the story, “Grace Cottage Hospital explores expansion

a great place to shop for the holidays

SPONSOR A PAGE

Your donation of $50 pays to print a single page of The Commons. This contribution helps us publish a larger newspaper with more news, and we acknowledge these donations on the bottom of a page.

Please specify how you would like to be credited, or whether you wish to donate in honor of or in memory of another person. Mail your donation, or contribute online at http://donate. commonsnews.org.

DISTRIBUTION

The Commons distributes 5,000 copies per issue to almost every Windham County town weekly. Get in touch if you would like us to consider adding your business.

SINCE SOME HAVE ASKED LATELY...

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.

119 Main St., Brattleboro 802-258-2211 www.mysteryonmain.com

VIM’S MISSION

’Tis The Season!

To create a forum for community partic­ ipation through publication of The Commons and Commonsnews.org; to pro­mote local, independent journalism in Windham County; and to promote civic engagement by building media skills among Windham County residents through the Media Mentoring Project.

ONLINE CUSTOMER REVIEWS “we’ve had ours for four years and it still works perfectly.”

-Ace Shopper from TX

★★★★★

2999

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Barbara S. Evans, Barry Aleshnick, Alan O. Dann, Dan DeWalt, Peter Seares, Bob Rottenberg, Curtiss Reed Jr. ————— Without our volunteers, this newspaper would exist only in our imaginations.

Special thanks to: Editorial support: Joyce Marcel, David Shaw, Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg Special projects development: Allison Teague, Olga Peters Operations support: Simi Berman, Chris Wesolowski, Diana Bingham, Jim Maxwell, Bill Pearson, Andi Waisman, Barbara Walsh, Menda Waters

After $10 Mail-in Rebate.

You Pay $39.99

Remote Control Car

Full function wireless remote control. Performs spins, jumps, wheelies and other extreme stunts.

Save

50%

#9196908 $19.99 value Colors may vary.

Save

25% after mail-in rebate.

Electric Radiator 1500 watt, 3 heat settings, adjustable thermostat, auto shut-off overheat protection. 6166946 Limit 2 rebates.

Thrift Shop Home Furnishings 77 Flat Street 51 Elliot Street (802) 254-5200 (802) 246-1305 Brattleboro Vermont 05301

9

99 Ea.

200 Ct. Mini Light Set Stays lit even after a bulb burns out.

Multi-Color or Clear.

9135088, 9135096

499 Ea.

Brown & Roberts 182 Main St., Brattleboro, Vt. 802-257-4566 Open 7 days

Brian Baker

T h e C ommons

NEWS

• Wednesday, December 8, 2010

3 AROUND THE TOWNS

Drop In Center honored in Washington for excellence

By Allison Teague The Commons

BRATTLEBORO—For the past 22 years, Melinda Bussino has been following her dream of helping others.

As executive director of the Brattleboro Area Drop In Center, she has been one of the instrumental forces behind getting shelter, food, and clothing to the homeless of southeastern Vermont.

This week, this sixth-generation Vermonter travels to Washington, D.C., to receive an award from federal Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) division.

Bussino and the Drop In Center are being recognized with an Exemplary Practice Award for its work in data collection and reporting for their Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH) services.

In 2002, the Drop In Center was one of the first service providers in the nation to implement PATH data collection in Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), which helps state and national agencies get a real time picture of who is receiving assistance.

This data collection and reporting system was beta tested

by Bussino, and is specifically designed to track homeless clients, help measure the progress of clients, and collect information that can find help find inefficiencies and unmet needs. The result is better data reporting to local and state agencies.

The system helps define the characteristics of clients seeking help through the Brattleboro Drop In Center. Bussino said her two data entry assistants — Ed Johnson, a client advocate and main data entry person, and assistant director William Davison — have both been doing data entry and helped work the bugs out almost from the start.

Making it work

The three of them sit in a crowded office space where no discernible order is apparent.

Yet in under five minutes, with staff and volunteers constantly in and out finishing up tasks for the day and checking in as they leave, it is clear a well-greased collaboration is what keeps the Drop In Center functioning.

Johnson and Davison sit before laptops on desks crowded with paperwork to be entered into the system. Johnson, 24, is the more gregarious of the two.

He was a Drop In Center client at one time, as was Davison, a somewhat older gentleman.

The two are considered professionals in their field now, Bussino says. Both are success stories of what can happen by giving someone the chance to prove themselves, and a can-do attitude that things will work out.

Bussino said they are faced every day with people who have given up hope, and it is their job to help bring it back. “Sometimes hope is all they have,� she said.

Eventually, part-time jobs opened up at the center and the natural strengths of Johnson and Davison became clear. Bussino could see that Johnson was good at working with computers,even with his cerebral palsy that has left him with the use of only his right hand. “He is faster on the computer than I am,� she said.

At the same time, Bussino said Johnson “has a natural rapport with people, so when we added the client advocate position, it was a good fit for him.�

Bussino said Johnson was an at-risk youth who first came to the Drop In Center at age 15, “and he just stayed on with us.

He found a home with us.�

And Bussino says that is probably the most important part of what they offer. Many people who come to the Drop In Center are just looking for camaraderie and interaction with people who will not look down on or through them, and will look them in the eye. “The homeless people in our world are invisible,� she said. “Most want to be invisible [because of shame and guilt], and it can become a way of being.�

Bussino describes several clients who have been on the streets so long that even getting in the door of the Drop In Center is difficult and too overwhelming for them. “We get people who are not eligible at Morningside because they aren’t clean and sober, or have mental health issues, or can’t be around children,�

Bussino said.

They are both the hardest to help and the people who need help the most, she notes, adding that “when people come here, they are treated respectfully. No one is turned away.�

Davison was homeless for six years, he said. The hard life is etched on his finely featured face, but it is obvious he has great pride in his work at the Drop In Center. His enthusiasm is engaging. “People will talk to him,�

Bussino said. “His specialty is getting help for at-risk youth.�

Johnson piped up, adding, “Kids will open up to him. I don’t know what it is about him, but they trust him.� “They have become recognized by others working in the field of homelessness as professionals,� Bussino said of Johnson and Davison.

Johnson has been there nine years, and Davison five. Neither has any inclination elsewhere.

Bussino said they are serving more clientele than they have services for. Out of 400 homeless people last year, they were able to house 143. Last year, they gave at least one service (food, clothing, overnight shelter, or housing assistance) to 7,700 people.

On Thanksgiving Day this year, they gave out 840 food baskets.

Bussino said this year will be even harder for people as heating and food costs are higher than ever, and cuts are being made in fuel assistance. “People are buying less food with their food stamps, because food costs more,� Johnson said. “And those who aren’t on food stamps have a choice between heating their homes and eating.�

Bussino said their food shelf is always understocked for the need. “We always need peanut butter, tuna fish and pasta,� naming the highest nutritionally efficient foods kids will eat. “The donors in the community, private and business, can’t give as much this year because of the economy. We aren’t getting the same amount of donations.�

But, Bussino said, “We’ve intervened [usually that means finding housing for people facing imminent eviction or foreclosures] in 153 households in the last 14 months,� Johnson said. “We found them housing,�

Bussino explains.

BALSAM WREATHS Made at the stand - come watch!

New support group for women forms at BMH

Allison Teague/The Commons

Melissa Bussino, executive director of the Brattleboro Area Drop In Center.

Open to all

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

Please Join Us

Union Institute & University

Cold Buderus Weather is Here!

Tankless Water Heater Convection Heater Wall-Hung Boiler Buderus

Buderus

Wall-Hung Boiler

Freedom 90 Direct Vent Wall-Hung Tankless Tankless Water Heater Gas Direct Vent Tankless Water HeaterWater OPEN HOUSE Furnaces Boiler Tankless Water Heater Wall-Hung Boiler Heater Friday, December 3rd • 5:30-7:30pm Visit us at www.merrillgas.com

Please Join Us

MERRILL GAS

Direct Vent

Doctorate in Psychology (Psy.D.) Master of Arts with concentrations Tankless in Psychology and Counseling:

OPEN HOUSE VISITING DAY

Water Heater

Friday, December 3rd • 5:30-7:30pm

Saturday, December 18th • 9am-Noon (lunch included)

Master of Arts with concentrations î ?e B.A.in in Psychology Liberal Studies,and Brattleboro Weekend program Counseling: is currently enrolling for January. Apply today!

Freedom 90Freedom 90

Full Service &

Visit ususatatVisit www.merrillgas.com Gas us at www.merrillgas.com Installation Dept.

VisitFurnaces www.merrillgas.com 1357567

1357567

Freedom 90Us Today Contact Gas Furnaces

VISITING DAY Saturday, DecemberReservations 18th • 9am-Noon Visit us at www.merrillgas.com appreciated. (lunch included)

1357567

CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION

802-257-9411 • www.MyUnion.edu

î ?e B.A. in Liberal Studies, Brattleboro Weekend program BrattleboroCenter@myunion.edu is currently enrolling for January. Apply today!

B.A. & M.A.: 3 University Way, Brattleboro Psy.D. : 28 Vernon Street, Brattleboro

Reservations appreciated.

LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED

Since 1946

55 Depot St. Brattleboro, VT

55 Depot Street • Brattleboro, Vermont Since (802) 254-5755 1946 802.254.5755 www.merrillgas.com

Cut your energy costs this year‌ byHospital installing something more Brattleboro Memorial 802-257-9411 • www.MyUnion.edu BrattleboroCenter@myunion.edu efficient. Call Merrill Gas! is pleased to welcome CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION

B.A. & M.A.: 3 University Way, Brattleboro Psy.D. : 28 Vernon Street, Brattleboro

Holiday Pies, breads, rolls ~ baked daily ~ Special orders available!

Janine Foote, DO Direct Vent Family Medicine

Convection Heater

Buderus

Our own maple syrup, jams, honey, fruit baskets...

apples, fresh pressed cider, winter squash, herbs, gilfeather turnips, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower www.duttonberryfarm.com O pen Dai ly 9 a M –7 pM Routes 11/30, Manchester 802-362-3083

Now accepting new patients Direct Vent Dr. Peter Foote most recently practiced at Duke Medicine in Raleigh, North Carolina, after having been associated with Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington, NJ. He is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University, and received his Doctor of Osteopathy at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PA), in 2002. He completed his family medicine residency at Hunterdon Medical Center. Dr. Foote is board-certiďƒžed in family medicine.

1

Freedom For90 All Your Gas Gas Gas Propane Needs Furnaces Furnaces Furnaces

Wall-Hung Boiler

FREE CIDER SAMPLES

Route 9, West Brattleboro 802-254-0254

Direct Vent Wall-Hung Boiler Direct Vent

Doctorate in Psychology (Psy.D.) Buderus

BRAT TLEBORO CENTER

Choose your Perfect Tree from our huge selection!

Route 30, Newfane 802-365-4168

Free wellness clinic offered in Putney

to get from one day to the next.

The Brattleboro Drop In “I make sure everyone is paid PUTNEY — Putney Center is a humble place. People before I am,� Bussino said.

Integrative Healing Arts (PIHA) who walk in will find welcome, She said this summer, she is hosting a free wellness clinic warmth, food, a shower and went unpaid for five weeks. “I on Saturday, Dec. 11, from 1-5 place to do laundry, free clothes, was paid eventually,� she said. p.m. It will take place on the sectoys and books, and conversation “But these people need their payond floor of the Putney Tavern, if that is what they need. checks more than I do.�

133 Main St. Bussino said sometimes “it’s Bussino described another PIHA is a group of holistic just the opportunity to use the time when they didn’t know how health care practitioners and inkitchen to cook a meal to share they were going to stay open, let structors who have been meeting together. One person will use alone meet payroll. That day, she together on a monthly basis for their food stamps to buy some picked up the mail and found a several years as peer support and eggs, another bacon, another check for $6,000. “It covered for community outreach. juice or coffee. And they’ll cook just what we needed,� and was The practitioners for this event and eat a meal together.� the last money out of the treasury Our Place food are: Jane Collister (polarity therThat simple act of sharing of an entity that had shut down apy, energy balancing, massage); drive nets 176 bags what little they have and do- that year.

Rupa Cousins (The Alexander 55 Depot St. Brattleboro, VT ing something nice for and with “They gave us what was left of groceries Technique, a mind-body tenSince 55 Depot St. Brattleboro, VT (802) 254-5755 one another makes them all feel over in their account. How good sion reliever); Jill Keil (com1946 good. Bussino understands, as is that?�

BELLOWS FALLS — Our munity acupuncture, to reduce Si nc e (802) Cut254-5755 your this year‌ do her staff and volunteers, that In addition to receiving the Place 55 Drop-in Center a stress, anxiety, and costs trauma); 1946 Depot St. filled Brattleboro, VTenergy it is these simple acts that keep award from55 SAMHSA, Bussino with the 176 bagsVT of gro- Kelli (neuromuscular Depot St. bus Brattleboro, Since byMoran installing something more (802) your energy costs this year‌ people feeling human and per- will be a presenter at a workshop ceries donated Cut during a254-5755 recent body balancing); Nancy Redding 19 46 S in ce efficient.

Merrill haps provide a little hope just on the Drop In Center’s(802) PATH 254-5755 food drive Shaw’s supermar("power animalâ€? Call retrieval, sha-Gas! 55atDepot St. 1Brattleboro, VT 9costs by installing something more 46 when they need it. program. ket Cut in Walpole, as part of manic healing); and Miriam Wolf your N.H., energy this year‌ Si nc e (802) 254-5755 1946 “I am surprised every day by The Drop In Center was one the Project Feed the Thousands (bodywork, muscle testing, maefficient.

Call Merrill Gas! by installing something more the overall basic goodness of of three agencies honored. The campaign. trix energetics).

Direct Vent Cut your energy costs this year‌ people,â€? Bussino said. “Everyday other two are the Center for Connecticut RiverCall Transit Sessions are offered free of efficient.

MerrillConvection Gas! Heaterboth one of my staff, a volunteer, Urban Community Services in suppliedby theinstalling bus, whichsomething CRT charge, although donations more someone in the community, one New York City and the Colorado executive director Mary Habig large and small are gratefully Call Merrill Gas! to benefit the Putney Direct Vent of our clients, or a stranger will Coalition for the Homeless in described efficient. as “completely full� accepted, Buderus do something that keeps my faith Denver. Thirty-three agencies at the end ofDirect theConvection dayVent with about Food Shelf. No advance schedHeater inUnion people going.� around the country were nomi1,069 items.

In addition, uling is necessary.

Institute & University Convection Heater Wall-Hung Boiler While not a faith-based ser- nated for the awards.

Direct Vent B R A T T L faith E B Othat R O “someCENTER vice, sometimes Direct Vent Direct Vent Convection Heater thing will turn up� is all they have

Peter Foote, DO Family Medicine

CHRISTMAS TREES

BRATTLEBORO — Brattleboro Memorial Hospital announces a new support group specifically for women who are experiencing or have experienced a diagnosis of cancer.

The Women’s Network of Strength will have a ‘lunch and learn’ session every month on the third Wednesday, from noon to 1 p.m. The next meeting will be Dec. 15. These meetings will be held in the Women’s Resource Room on the second floor of the Richards Building at BMH. You are invited to bring your lunch to this educational program where you can find support for your diagnosis of cancer. For more information, contact Kelly McCue, RN, at 802-251-8437, or kmccue@bmhvt.org to receive a listing for upcoming programs.

McCue is the navigator for the BMH Comprehensive Breast Care Program, which offers diagnostic treatment and support services to patients who have questions regarding their breast health. The Breast Care Program was developed in part with funds from the Susan G. Komen Foundation. It is designed to help women with breast concerns navigate the health care system. It may also be helpful to patients who have other questions regarding their breast health.

The program will support physical, emotional, and spiritual recovery on an individualized, multi-discipline basis. The medical director of the comprehensive program is BMH general surgeon Joseph Rosen, MD, whose specialty is diseases of the breast.

$137.68 in cash was contributed. “We count on this early winter Project Feed the Thousands food drive to help folks get through the holidays,� said Our Place executive director Lisa Pitcher. “It’s gratifying that people are willing to think of others as they go about the hustle and bustle of the season.�

In addition to non-perishables, about a half dozen frozen turkeys were donated.

Project Feed the Thousands continues through Dec. 31 as an effort to meet the food needs of the one in five Windham County residents who is struggling to put food on the table. Contributions can be made by visiting the web site at www.feedthethousands.org or by sending them to Our Place at P.O. Box 852, Bellows Falls, VT 05101.

Our Place is a daytime shelter and food shelf located at 4 Island St. whose mission is to connect people to food and each other.

It serves families in Rockingham and the surrounding area and in Walpole and North Walpole, N.H.

Dr. Janine Foote graduated magna cum Tankless Water Heater

Windham Family Practice Gannett Building 21 Belmont Ave, Suite 2 Brattleboro, VT 05301 802-257-7792

Visit WWW BMHVT ORGĂŚsĂŚFACEBOOK COM "-(64

laude from the Stevens Institute of Technology (NJ) with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical biology. She received her Doctor of Osteopathy at the Philadelphia Freedom College of Osteopathic Medicine (PA)90 in 2002. She completed her family medicine Gas residency at Hunterdon Medical Center in Furnaces Flemington, NJ, after which she continued on staff there. She is a member of the us at www.merrillgas.com American Academy of Family Physicians1357567 and is board-certiďƒžed in family medicine.

1357567

NEWS

4

BELLOWS FALLS

A federal case?

Tangled up in all this is use of the remaining $1.3 million dollars of a Federal Transit Authority bus and bus facilities grant.

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy’s office recently gave an extension of the grant to the town of Rockingham, and the final proposal for using is still being negotiated with the FTA. The FTA and Leahy’s office confirmed that the Waypoint Center is being considered as an intermodal center and recipient

from page 1

of $1.3 million for renovations, upgrades and accessories related to bus transit and bus facilities.

BFDDA president Gary Fox said that Greyhound has a daily stop at the Bellows Falls train station. Green Mountain Railroad owns the station, the current home to the intermodal center.

Amtrak also uses the station for the Vermonter, the daily passenger train between St. Albans and Washington, D.C. “We need to be open and the space needs to be maintained,” Fox said. He said he understands the Chamber’s concern with meeting those daily requirements all year long.

According to Murphy, meeting those proposed maintenance, upkeep and hours of operation requirements at the Waypoint Center compatible with an intermodal center were troublesome to the Chamber, whose purpose of promoting downtown businesses is not directly related to keeping a visitors’ center open, cleaned and staffed. She said those points were in discussion via the Waypoint committee, and lease changes.

At this point, with the de facto chamber move, Fox said he wants to be certain he has fulfilled his contractual obligations with Green Mountain Railroad.

Once that is achieved, using the Waypoint as the intermodal hub would make sense, he said.

Murphy — who also serves as the passenger rail manager for the Vermont Rail System, the owner of the train station — also agreed it was a good idea to “consolidate things into an intermodal center and a welcome center.”

Acknowledging she did not really want to lose tenants in the

train station, she said any decision about Amtrak moving its stop to the Waypoint Center will “ultimately rest with them.”

“It’s a nice package,” Murphy said of the Waypoint Center. “It needs to be marketed, though. If this is going to happen, we need to sit down and plan how to market it,” Murphy said. “It could make a great conference area.

It’s great for events now.”

FTA representatives stated they were awaiting a more defined proposal from Walsh as to how the $1.3 million would be used at the Waypoint Center, and that eligibility for using the funds rested on it being a bus transportation facility-related proposal.

According to the FTA, the concept is to create a waiting and ticketing area for bus patrons, and the agency would like a better understanding of the purpose of proposed improvements and see how they related to bus riders, whether local or Greyhound.

The grant funds are required to be used for bus transportation, but the FTA noted that services beyond bus-related activities would be OK at the intermodal center. For instance, the FTA said it would not consider a coffee shop or any other type of shop alien to the purpose of the center.

The FTA hopes to have everything finalized on how the money was going to be utilized “by the end of the calendar year.”

As yet, a time has not been established for a meeting with the FTA to discuss the final proposal for the town of Rockingham’s grant funding. The agency hopes to wrap it up “by January.”

AROUND THE TOWNS Toys for Kids program seeks donations BRATTLEBORO — Distribution has begun for the Marine Corps League Toys for Kids campaign in the Brattleboro area.

The Brattleboro detachment, its auxiliary unit, and volunteers have scheduled 15-minute “shopping” sessions for parents or guardians of nearly 500 area children on the lower level of the American Legion post off Linden Street. The sessions are being held weekdays from 4-8 p.m. for those who registered by phone in November.

“Shoppers” are guided by age-categorized tables of toys, with potential gifts for infants to age 12. The volunteers will be at the site through Dec. 20.In addition, toys are provided for needy children through the Drop-In Center and area Legion posts, with the final tally expected to reach over 700 children during

WE’RE NOT AFRAID OF THE BIGGEST HOODS IN TOWN!

SELF-SERVICE CAR WASH

Try our new space-age wand equipment!

• Hot, soapy water • Separate foam brush Choice of: • Wax • Pre-soak for extra-strength soap • Tire cleaner • Vacuum cleaners • Heated floors • $2.50 for 4 minutes • Add 25 cents for more time 214 Canal Street Brattleboro, VT

S e l f -S e r v i c e

car WaSh Owned & Operated by Barrows & Fisher Oil

• Wednesday, December 8, 2010

dummerston

n Waypoint occur “hopefully by February.”

Murphy said that while she was not aware of the intent to move before the meeting, her understanding of the new lease in the Square was that “it would be more expensive for the Chamber.” She noted renovations, utilities, rent and maintenance were either expenses they did not currently have, or were higher at the new location.

The Chamber’s monthly rental fee of $300 at the Waypoint Center was waived by the Selectboard for the first two years it was in that space. The Chamber was supposed to start paying rent again in July 2010, but MacPhee said they have not “seen a nickel of it.”

Interim Town Manager Francis “Dutch” Walsh said he expected to have more discussions with the Chamber with regard to its notice to vacate the Waypoint, and noted that he was not second-guessing their intent or decisions.

Smith noted Riccio had told him before leaving on vacation that a registered letter had been sent to the town notifying officials of the changes, on Nov. 29.

T h e C ommons

the Christmas season.

Donation of new, unwrapped toys begins traditionally with a jamboree in late October at the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Specially designed barrels then begin appearing in late November at convenient locations throughout the Brattleboro area.

The list of Toys for Kids collection barrels includes the following: Fireside True Value, Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, Auto Mall, Ford of Brattleboro, River Valley Credit Union, Brattleboro Savings & Loan, Emerson’s, Perkins Home Center, Whitman’s Hair Stylist, Viking Tattoo, Landmark College, American Legion, VFW, the Eagles, Creative Moods, Garofalo TV, Wireless Zone, Members First Credit Union, Agway, Brattleboro Subaru, and Zico’s Barber Shop.

Monetary donations are also accepted.The Toys for Kids campaign is in conjunction with the Marine Corps League and Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program, but in Vermont, all donations are disbursed locally.

For further details, contact Detachment 798 Commandant and program chairman Richard Hodgdon at 802-257-7549 or Richard_Hodgdon@comcast. net.

n Tree farm trees, garlands and wreaths from them.

According to the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Christmas tree farming is a $20 million business in Vermont, and there are 300 tree farms in the state.

But the Schmidts do things a little differently.

First of all, their customers don’t cut down the trees. Many of the trees the Schmidts sell are selected in October, when they hold their annual Christmas Tree Tag Days. Customers select the trees they want in the fall and set a time between the Saturday after Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve to retrieve their choices.

“We had 125 trees picked up the first week after Thanksgiving,” said Bill.

For the procrastinators, the Schmidts do offer a select number of pre-cut trees that range from “wee trees” that are 2 feet tall to 16-foot monsters. The price depends on the size and the species: Balsam fir, Canaan fir, white spruce, white pine, and blue spruce.

And, if necessary, they will custom cut a tree to order.

Richard Glejzer said his family just moved to Putney from Chicago, “and we really wanted to have a fresh tree.”

The freshly cut eight-footers in the racks near the road were nice, he said, but his family wanted something bigger.

So they went down the hill and picked out a 10-foot white spruce, which Bill cut down and hauled up the hill for them.

“Our neighbors said this was the place to go,” said Glejzer.

Bob and Sue Francoeur of East Longmeadow, Mass., were also going big. They were bringing back a 13-footer.

“We’ve been coming here for years,” Bob said.

The tree was so big, it took a winch and a lot of muscle to push it through the netting machine the farm uses to secure trees for travel.

The tagged trees in the pickup area above the Schmidts’ historic 1791 farmhouse were more modestly sized.

Rebecca Seymour of Brattleboro said her daughters, seven-year-old Madeleine and four-year-old Clara, picked out the tree on the weekend after Columbus Day, but the girls were reticent about why they picked this particular one.

Like the Seymours, Steven Meggiolaro and his son Travis of Dummerston are repeat customers. Steven said he liked to get his tree early to use it in the family photo for their Christmas card.

workshop, “Repurpose and Upcycle your Old Clothing” on Sunday, Dec. 12, from 1:30-3 p.m., at the Putney Library.

The workshop, by Sadelle Wiltshire and Grace Mrowicki, will cover ideas to repurpose used clothing into new clothing, household items and even gifts.

Demonstrations and hands-on time will include how to rework old T-shirts into tote bags, pillows, pet toys, plus deconstructing old sweaters into reusable yarn to knit, crochet and weave new items.

Other “DIY” ideas for clothing upcycling will be shown and discussed. Attendees are encouraged to bring old t-shirts or other clothes for repurposing into a holiday gift. Also bring a pair of scissors suitable for cutting fab- Passing it on ric. Information at paull@sover.

To be a Christmas tree net or 802-387-4102. farmer, Bill said, you have to think long term.

The Schmidts grow about 19,000 trees on 20 acres of their Audubon holds property. “We plant about 1,000 annual Bird Count each spring,” Bill said. “We used to plant 1,500, but we wanted SPRINGFIELD — The to cut back a little since it is so Ascutney Mountain Audubon much work. Aside from this time Society will hold its 111th of year, we do most of the work Annual Christmas Bird Count ourselves.” this year on Dec. 18 and 19.

The Schmidts “plant fiveThere will be two counts, the year-old seedlings, and it takes first on Saturday Dec. 18, in the another seven or eight years for Saxtons River area, and the sec- them to grow to 8 feet tall,” Bill ond, on Sunday, Dec. 19, for the said. “That 13-footer you saw Springfield area. Both will be all- was planted about 17 years ago.” day events with tally parties in They also grow an acre of orMake new use of the evening, so birders should be ganic heirloom rhubarb. old clothing prepared for a long day.

Bill is 75, and he said Mary For the Saxtons River area, in- Lou will only admit to being PUTNEY — Transition terested people are asked to meet in her early 80s. They have bePutney will host a reskilling Don Clark at Allen Brothers on gun to plan for the day when Route 5, south of Bellows Falls the farm will be someone else’s in Westminster, at 6:45 a.m. responsibility.

Contact Clark at 802-843-2347 As the founding executive dior sapsbks@sover.net for a route rector of the Windham Regional assignment, or to say you’ll be Commission and a regional diThis Week at the Movies: watching and counting at your rector of the Vermont Land Secretariat home feeders.

Trust, Bill said it was important Fri 7 & 9:15 Sun 5 & 7:15 In Springfield, Hugh Putnam to him and to his wife to preserve Mon and Tues at 7:15 will meet counters at McDonalds his land as a working farm.

Upcoming Live Events: at 7 a.m. for route assignments Since 1995, the farm has operCaravan of Thieves or to join a team. Contact ated under a conservation easeThe Speckers Putnam at 802-886-8430 or ment from the Vermont Land Thursday, Dec. 9 at 7:30pm putnams@vermontel.net to let him Trust, which stipulates that the Gandalf Murphy and the know if you’ll be counting at your land must remain in active agriSlambovian Circus of Dreams home bird feeders. cultural use.

Christmas Show Evening tally parties will folThe farm includes 138 acres Saturday, Dec. 11 at 8pm low the days’ events. Clark’s of conserved land, including 100 Reserved Seating Online group party location will be an- acres of managed woodland. bfoperahouse.tix.com nounced at the Saxtons River None of their children were By phone (800) 595-4849 gathering place. The Springfield and at Village Square Booksellers group will meet at the Putnams, On The Square, Bellows Falls VT www.bfoperahouse.com 29 Meadow Drive, Springfield, (802) 463-4766 at about 5 p.m.

SCRAP METAL

R.G. Winchester Auto

“Shop the Rock” Whether you are looking for traditional, contemporary, trendy, or a unique, one of a kind piece of jewelry, you will be sure to find it at

The Rock and Hammer Crafters of Fine Jewelry On The Square Bellows Falls, Vermont 802­463­2289

from page 1

Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons

Bill Schmidt cuts down a 10-foot white spruce as Keri Latiolais guides the tree to the ground.

Tips to keep your Christmas tree fresh, safe BRATTLEBORO—The Brattleboro Rotary Club has been selling Christmas trees for decades, so its members know a thing or two about how to keep them fresh. They offer some tips: • Once you and your Christmas tree have safely returned home, make a fresh cut across the bottom of the trunk to open up the pores in the wood, allowing it to absorb water readily.

• Make the cut about 1 inch above the old base, at a very slight angle. The tree should be immediately set in the stand and placed where it will spend the season. Be sure to use a stand with a water reservoir large enough not to need refilling too often.

• Depending upon the size, species, and location of the tree, it might absorb a gallon of water in the first day, so it should be checked frequently and re-watered as necessary.

As long as the tree is able to absorb and transpire water, it will stay reasonably fresh and fire-resistant.

• It is important that the tree always be kept watered and not allowed to dry out. Once the reservoir dries, a seal of pitch begins to form on the cut. After six hours, the tree will no longer be able to absorb water and will quickly dry out. To remedy this, it will be necessary to recut the stump again, or the tree will begin to interested in continuing the farm, so the Schmidts put the word out last year that they were looking for successors.

Keri Latiolais and her husband Matt did some vegetable farming in the Burlington area, and were looking for a farm in southern Vermont. Theirs was one of about 30 inquiries about the farm, and now they are working the land alongside the Schmidts.

“Over the next few years, we’ll be doing more as they ease out of things,” Keri said. “We hope to run this farm as well as they have.”

Keri grows pumpkins, garlic, and flowers at the farm, but she said it is the Christmas trees that keep it in the black. She hopes

lose its needles.

• Keep your tree away from heat sources like fireplaces, radiators, and television sets.

• Make sure that all of your light cords are in good shape.

If the insulation on the wiring has become brittle or cracked, discard it. It’s time to buy a new set!

• Be sure to unplug the lights before you go to bed or any time you leave the house.

• Never overload electrical circuits.

• After Christmas, recycle your tree rather than sending it to a landfill with the rest of your trash.

• Use common sense.

Taking precautions such as these will help preserve the unique beauty and tradition that only a real Christmas tree can provide.

The Brattleboro Rotary Club will sell Vermontgrown Christmas trees in front of Brattleboro Bowl on Putney Road from 1-7 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

Proceeds from the Christmas Tree Sale support the club’s annual student scholarship awards of $3,000 each to eight students at local high schools.

For more information, visit the Brattleboro Rotary Club website at www.brattlebororotaryclub.org.

to grow more vegetables in the summer and perhaps start a community-supported agriculture (CSA) farm.

Keri and Matt’s plans suffered a setback last November when Matt, a forester, was badly injured in a fall and suffered a fractured skull and a traumatic brain injury. He has recovered from his injuries, but is still not at full strength.

Keri said that her parents have helped out on the farm during Matt’s recovery.

Bill Schmidt is hoping things will work out for the Latiolaises.

“They really value this place and want to keep it as a farm,” he said. “We were looking for stewards for this land, and they will do a good job carrying it on.”

Candlelight Hayrides to Celebrate the Winter Solstice Tuesday, December 21, 4:30 – 7:30pm, first come-first served - no reservations accepted.

30 Years Licensed J unk Y ard is paying $150-$300 for Junk Cars & Trucks

Ride through the dark woods and fields past a candlelit fir tree, lamp-lit stream, torches and homemade lanterns. Snuggle down in the hay to hear voices ringing out from the darkness in celebration of light, peace and the change of seasons.

Prompt, courteous service

( rides will be moved to Wed, Dec. 22 if there is inclement weather.

Call or check website if weather is questionable)

Also buying batteries

802.254.4322 802.258.0478

Accepting calls 24/7 Pickup & Delivery prices vary

511 Upper Dummerston Road Brattleboro, VT 05301 802 254 9067 For details visit our new website: www.fairwindsfarm.org

T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, December 8, 2010

NEWS

5

COUNT Y AND STATE n Vermont SAC particularly Vermont way.”

SAC members are considered “uncompensated government employees,” according to the motion at the meeting to recharter the commission.

Reed said the Vermont SAC includes “every political persuasion, [a] good mix of ethnic [and] racial minorities.”

He described the diversity of backgrounds in the group as “particularly important” for the issues under consideration, including law enforcement and civil-rights issues specific to the immigrant community.

The SACs “advise the Commission of civil rights issues in their states that are within the Commission’s jurisdiction,” according to Vermont’s state website, www.vermont.gov.

“More specifically, they are authorized to advise the Commission on matters of their state’s concern in the preparation of Commission reports to the President and the Congress; receive reports, suggestions, and recommendations from individuals, public officials, and representatives of public and private organizations to committee inquiries; forward advice and recommendations to the Commission, as requested; and observe any open hearing or conference conducted by the Commission in their states,” the site continues.

Other SAC members include two Brattleboro residents: Tara O’Brien, a member of the Vermont Partnership’s board of directors, and Terry Martin, a former Brattleboro and state police officer. The commission produced a report on law enforcement and racial profiling in 1999.

O’Brien, wary of speaking on the record out of fear of similar repercussions, said last week’s actions create a crisis of confidence for board members and a credibility problem for the federal commission.

“How can they say they’re protecting the rights of Vermonters when they can’t even do that for a member of their own committee?” she asked.

“It puts the whole committee in the position of being extra cautious about what we say,” O’Brien said.

Objectionable remarks

After approving the SAC’s new charter and all members other than Reed, commissioners in a 5-0 vote rejected reappointing Reed, rebuking him for a political commentary that appeared prior to the November election.

Three other commissioners abstained.

The commentary, “‘Pure Vermont’ is pure invalidation,” appeared in the Brattleboro Reformer and on Vtdigger.com , a state government news and commentary website, as well as in other media prior to the state election.

In the piece, which described Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Dubie’s campaign slogan, “Pure Vermont,” as an example of “cross-cultural blundering,” Reed wrote that “for many Vermonters, the words denote racial, religious, and cultural oppression.”

But it was 56 of the 498 words of the piece that drew the scrutiny of several commissioners.

In addition to raising connotations of racial purity and the history in Vermont of the Ku Klux Klan, Reed’s commentary invoked early-20th-century eugenics policies. “‘Pure Vermont’ raises the specter of Hitler’s Aryan Nation and the Khmer Rouge, where the purifying agent was genocide,” he wrote.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Dubie characterized the slogan as a “positive message and a welcoming one.”

Reed also took heat for statements he made to Vermont Public Radio when the commission was rechartered in April 2008 after a hiatus of more than a year.

He told VPR reporter Neil Charnoff that “for reasons we don’t understand, the charters for Vermont and dozens of other states across the country were stalled.”

“I think there’s a history of the current [Bush] administration wanting to provide a more positive view of civil rights,” Reed told Charnoff. “You can claim to have fewer reports of harassment, fewer reports of incidents of civil rights issues, if the eyes and ears in the states detecting that have been rendered inoperable.”

A commission staffer who spoke on condition of anonymity said that staff members of two conservative commissioners found links to Reed’s

from page 1

commentary on several rightwing websites and listservs, resulting in a request to Reed that he apologize for intemperate remarks or step down from the state committee.

Reed did neither.

Later, the USCCR’s staff director, Martin Dannenfelser, wrote to say that “taken together, commissioners are concerned that you have used these public platforms to impugn the motives of Mr. Dubie and the Bush administration and, in the case of Mr. Dubie, to associate his views with those of avowed racists and mass murderers.”

Dannenfelser said that several commission members wanted Reed to respond before the USCCR considered rechartering the Vermont SAC. “I remind you that Vermont and our country have a long and distinguished history protecting the rights of free speech,” Reed replied, calling any controversy over his piece an issue that “seems to be reverberating only in Washington.”

“The decision to replace me as chair or to remove me from the committee altogether [because of the op-ed piece] strikes at the heart of First Amendment rights,” he added.

“Neither my employer, the VT SAC, nor the USCCR were referenced in the piece,” Reed continued. “Our democracy cannot afford the double standard proposed by the suggestion that I, or any member of the VT SAC, step down because of our personal opinions and the act of expressing those opinions in the public square, while at the same time the USCCR purports to defend our civil rights.”

David Shaw/Commons file photo

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights reauthorized the charter of the Vermont State Advisory Committee — minus its chairman, Curtiss Reed Jr. Conservative members of the USCCR took issue with a critical commentary Reed wrote about “Pure Vermont,” the campaign slogan of Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Dubie.

usccr.org

Former USCCR Chairman Gerald A. Reynolds, whose term expired hours after the commission’s vote.

www.usccr.org

USCCR Staff Director Martin Dannenfelser, appointed to the job by Heritage Foundation usccr.org Ideology on the usccr.org the George W. Bush USCCR Commissioner USCCR Commissioner USCCR Commissioner commission?

Todd F. Gaziano.

Michael Yaki.

The eight commissioners of administration.

Gail Heriot. the USCCR, a bipartisan commission created by the Civil Rights Act of 1957, serve staggered six-year terms. The president and Congress appoint four members each, and “not more than four members shall at any one time be of the same political party,” according to the commission’s website, www.usccr.gov.

Democrats have charged that the Bush administration circumvented these rules, appointing Republicans who have disingenuously declared their party affiliation as “independent” to qualify for the bipartisan commission.

One such member, Vice Chair Abigail Thernstrom, since reverted her affiliation to Republican. Commissioner Todd F. Gaziano, senior fellow in legal studies for the conservative thinktank The Heritage Foundation, is listed on the USCCR’s website as an independent.

The subcommittee’s two-year charter expired in April, which legally disbanded the group until the commission’s Friday vote.

The terms of two members, Gerald A. Reynolds and Ashley L. Taylor Jr., both Republican presidential appointees, expired only hours after the vote.

Reynolds had served as the USCCR’s chairman.

The USCCR staff member said the commission has been increasingly infused with ideology during the Bush administration, speculating that the renewal of the Vermont charter was delayed because commissioners wanted to include “some of their people” in addition to the incumbent members.

Reed confirmed this account, noting that SAC members rebelled against adding several candidates he characterized as “right-wing, really narrow-issue-focused.

“We stuck to our guns, which is one of the reasons it took so long to get rechartered,” he added.

The USCCR staffer cited a similar story with the renewal of the New Hampshire SAC’s charter.

That group submitted its application, and the charter was reauthorized with an additional surprise member, Kevin Smith, executive director of Cornerstone Policy Research, a nonprofit research group that, among other conservative causes, opposes gay marriage equality issues.

When that happened, the USCCR “got flooded with letters and e-mails, saying, ‘How dare you put this man who’s the antithesis of everything civil rights is?’” the staffer recounted.

Support from the state SAC

SAC members sent a unanimous letter of support for both the charter reauthorization in general, and Reed in particular, to then-Chairman Reynolds.

“As you know, during the time

that Mr. Reed served as chair, the SAC produced a comprehensive report addressing the effect of perceived racial profiling by state and local law enforcement officers,” the members wrote.

“To have developed and seen through to successful resolution a report on a topic as politically charged and sensitive as racial profiling requires tact; the ability to engender trust and encourage openness; dedication; and the skills to advance the pursuit of knowledge and understanding in a manner that yield results rather than resistance,” they continued.

“The leadership and tone set

by Mr. Reed proved invaluable during this work and, we believe, earned the trust of those with whom we needed to interact, including members of the law enforcement officials across the state,” the members wrote.

David Carle, spokesman for U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (DVt.), said the senator’s office was closely involved in the issue, first in trying to get the SAC reauthorized, and then in trying to figure out the “unsettling” aspects of Friday’s vote.

In the end, the commissioners decoupled the approval of the Vermont SAC’s charter from Reed’s reappointment to the group.

The vote, according to the USCCR staffer, included “20 minutes — and someone timed it — of trashing Curtiss in a public meeting.”

After reading the transcript on Tuesday, Reed described his reaction as one of disbelief.

“I don’t think any of them fully read the piece,” he said.

A staff member represented Leahy’s office at the proceedings, which two of the senator’s other staffers variously described as “pandemonium” and “not well run.”

The meeting transcript, released at press time, reveals a long stretch of commissioners interrupting one another and arguing over parliamentary procedure, in between a heated discussion about whether Reed’s reference to Hitler and the Khmer Rouge in his commentary

Voted Greater Brattleboro’s Best Real Estate Off ice 8th Year Running! by Market Survey of America

www.

BrattleboroAreaRealty .com

163 High Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301 (802) 257-1335 (800) 452-0233 Fax (802) 257-1337 Erich Hoyer, President • Angela Sherman, Office Manager • Christine Lewis, Broker David Putnam, Realtor Kristen Ziter Taylor, Realtor

crossed the line.

Several commissioners also misinterpreted Reed’s letter of explanation as insisting that he had a first-amendment constitutional right to be seated on the SAC. Gaziano took exception to Reed’s refusal to disavow his commentary and his “own sort of defiant, crazy, legally flawed defense of his action.”

“I was willing to hold my nose and vote for him before I got the e-mails from him where he once again demonstrated a lack of judgment [by defending the commentary],” then-Chairman Reynolds said.

Commissioner Michael Yaki, a Democratic Congressional appointee, defended Reed’s VPR hypothesis that the state SACs’ charters were systematically allowed to expire.

“Everything he said on [VPR] I’ve said twice over, five times over, maybe 20 times over,” Yaki said, adding that he believes the state SACs “still are being manipulated, run over, and otherwise packed.”

Regarding Reed, Commissioner Gail Heriot said she looks “for two things that I am not finding with this candidate for the SAC.” Those qualities, she said, are “a temperament that allows them to deal with complex and difficult issues, and two, I am looking for someone who actually has some expertise on civil rights.”

Carle said Leahy’s staff has been in contact with the Obama administration consistently about the Vermont SAC issue, urging White House staff to prepare appointments to the vacant slots on the commission.

The administration has also been free all along to replace Dannenfelser, a Bush appointee who had worked as a vice president of the Family Research

Council, where he also served as the conservative Christian nonprofit thinktank’s chief government relations official.

Matthew Lehrich, a spokesman with the White House Press Office, when asked about a timetable for potential appointments, noted that “we generally don’t comment on nominations before the President has announced them.”

An uncertain future

By all accounts, Reed’s future with the SAC remains in limbo, dependent on subsequent appointees who might revisit the issue.

And even though the USCCR staff member described the mechanics of Friday’s vote as potentially in violation of agency regulations or other federal protocol, no one interviewed for this story could say whether those circumstances would render the outcome invalid.

Reached on Monday, Yaki described politicization on the commission as “not unusual.”

“In the end, we just didn’t have the votes,” said Yaki, who added that some on the commission have been concerned about the possibility that some or all of Reed’s colleagues on the SAC might resign.

If the commission membership dips below 10, he said, the whole SAC must be reorganized from scratch.

But Yaki also pointed out that some of Reed’s support came from commission members like him who strongly disagreed with the principle of reprimanding a SAC member for expressing an unpopular or disagreeable view, without agreeing in full with what Reed actually wrote.

“I understand political hyperbole,” said Yaki, a former member of the San Franscisco Board

Holistic Care for Whole People

Have the Holidays got you Harried?

Sojourns offers a full range of Immune Support (just in case Santa doesn’t get sick days )

Give us a call to explore how we can help you stay healthy this winter

Our Bodies Are Ecosystems not Chemistry Sets™.

4923 US Route 5 • Westminster, VT

802–722–4023 www.sojourns.org

Insurance accepted for all billable services Saturday appointments & gift certificates available

of Supervisors. “I’ve run for office and managed campaigns in the political arena. But I want to point out how far out Curtiss’s rhetoric was.”

Yaki said Reed’s commentary had “a loaded connotation to it, in my own opinion,” with the result that even on a differently constituted commission, “there might still be some people who feel some queasiness about what he said.”

“I don’t know why he used that particular example,” he said. “It’s easy to toss around, but hard to take back.”

“The first amendment allows you to speak freely and disagree,” Yaki said. “While you have the freedom to do whatever you do and say whatever you say, some people will hold you accountable later on.”

Disclosure: By way of transparency, we note that Reed serves on the board of directors of Vermont Independent Media, the nonprofit that publishes The Commons.

Primary Care Holistic Medicine Naturopathy Acupuncture Biological Medicine Chiropractic CranioSacral Therapy Nutritional Counseling Massage Physical Therapy Occupational Therapy Immune Support Apothecary

6

VOICES

T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, December 8, 2010

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

E S S AY

The art of dancing

A young woman sees her grandmother’s lucid moments become fewer and fewer, until, finally, they are no more Guilford Holly McCarrick is a senior at Brattleboro Union High School. This memoir origBeth Wood was diaginally appeared on Teen Ink nosed with Alzheimer’s (www.teenink.com), a literary disease.

It began with simply forget- magazine and website featuring the work of young writers. ting to turn off the stove after she was done cooking one of her famous meals, or needing a reminder of her son’s phone recent years she has become number. someone else. I do not blame Then, as most Alzheimer her, and I do not resent her patients do, she began to forfor it. get to eat or bathe. She would I simply acknowledge that wake up unaware of where my grandmother is gone, and I she was. She’d imagine peomust take care of what she left ple were stealing things, simply behind because I owe her that. because she could not remember where they had previously When I was younger, I been. Her day-to-day life bespent every Monday at my came full of stress and struggle; grandma’s. It was the one day her own grandchildren went both my parents worked, and unrecognized. she was the perfect babysitter.

Beth Wood is my I had no grandfather, so it was grandmother. always just her and me on these Almost 10 years later, all I days. see is a frail old woman barely Everything was better at holding onto reality. I see Grandma’s; I have never tasted a child who whimpers and a grape juice Popsicle quite like whines because she doesn’t the ones she would make. I was know what else to do. And always promised my favorite above all else, I see the remains meal (usually chicken nuggets of someone I had once loved or a cheese quesadilla) exactly so dearly. when I wanted it. She loved I understand how that me, and I loved her right back. sounds; I am openly saying The afternoons were spent I no longer feel love for my out in her garden. Now let grandmother. me tell you, this garden was But let me explain — I still something to brag about. At care. first glance, the tangled vines, It’s the way you feel about stems, leaves, and plump fruit your first dog after it passes and veggies gave the area what away, or the way you look back my grandma called an “out-ofon an old boyfriend whom you control vibe.” once loved. I loved my grandAnd I’ll be honest, it was a mother, but in these more mess — but it was her mess.

I

n September of 2000,

She understood its crazy knots and interweaves, and could find exactly what she was looking for in a heartbeat.

I remember sitting crosslegged, my hands resting behind me buried in the cool soil.

I would watch as my grandma weeded and plucked her way around the perimeter, and slowly worked into the interior — all the while chattering away to me.

It was like watching someone cleaning a home; nothing was fully satisfying for her until she reached the final weed that needed to be pulled or the last tomato that needed to be picked, and the garden was clean for the day. Then she’d stand up and observe all the work she had done.

I knew what to do when I saw this; I’d get up from my sitting spot, brush bits of the earth off my little sundress or overalls, and pad my way over to her.

“Some fine work we did today, huh, girl?” she’d say, placing her hand on my head.

“It looks better than yesterday,” I’d observe.

“Sure does. How ’bout a Reese’s?”

“Two?” “Only if you don’t tell your father!”

And off we’d go, leaving the garden behind us for the time being. Once the old red door of her familiar home would screech open and my toes relaxed over the cool tiled floor, a Reese’s peanut butter cup

marlene o’connor (www.marleneoconnorart.com)

Detail from “Her Story,” by Brattleboro artist and illustrator Marlene O’Connor: pencil, ink, Xerox transfer and shellac (three panels). would be plopped into my hand without any reminders of the promise.

“You’ll get the second after dinner,” she’d say. “What will it be?”

Again, I’d find myself sitting and watching her. She’d prepare my dinner to order as I lay spread out on the peeling linoleum. Her grey hair curled around a sun-kissed face, and her callused hands were always busy at work.

Activities would vary during the in-between moments of gardening and munching; on the best days, we’d simply dance.

EDITORIAL

Striking a balance

T

he recent closure of Alici’s Bistro, a restaurant on Harris Place, shows the inappropriate imbalance in the town of Brattleboro’s approach between the need to increase parking revenues and the need to provide convenient parking for local businesses.

The Harris Place lot was the last downtown parking lot that used meters until this summer, when the town removed all but 14 of the 64 meters in the lot and converted it into permit-only parking. Anyone who parks in those spaces without a permit during enforcement hours — from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. — gets a ticket.

Carol Coulombe, Brattleboro’s parking enforcement coordinator, made the decision unilaterally.

According to the Brattleboro Reformer, she decided that since her department did not have the money to replace the aging parking meters, she would remove them.

The parking enforcement department in Brattleboro is what’s known as an “enterprise” agency, meaning that it has to generate the revenues to operate the town parking lots and the Transportation Center on Flat Street through parking fees and fines.

When your department has to fund itself, your job becomes focused on maximizing revenue at the expense of all other considerations, including customer service.

Coulombe did not bother

Kerri Hicks/Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)

The outside bar at Alici’s Bistro in the summer of 2009. to tell Musa Alici, the owner of the restaurant that bore his name, that nearly all the parking in front of his establishment was changed to permit-only. Aside from notifying the police chief, she is not required to tell anyone if she makes such changes.

Suddenly, Alici’s potential customers had to park in the High-Grove or Harmony lots, both a good distance away from his restaurant.

Alici has not had an easy time of it since he opened his restaurant in 2007. He has had long-running battles with the Selectboard over signage and operating hours. An electrical fire in December 2008 and the lingering effects of the recession also cut deeply into his business.

But, in a Facebook post, Alici squarely placed the blame for the closure of his restaurant on what he called “little town politics” and “unfair, unequal, and anti-business” treatment by the town.

He wrote that the parking change dealt the last, fatal blow to his business.

Granted, the town is under no obligation to provide parking spaces for downtown businesses. But for all the talk from officials about helping small businesses, the town does little to address the number-one peeve of downtown patrons — inconsistent and incomprehensible parking policies.

Brattleboro has developed a reputation for hyper-aggressive parking enforcement,

combined with parking fees and fines that are high for the size of this town.

The machines in the “pay and display” lots are balky — and, if you don’t have change in your pocket, unusable.

The town has a “smart card” system for some of the downtown meters, but it is poorly promoted and inconvenient for visitors.

And, there’s still talk about charging for parking on Sundays and extending the hours for metered parking.

If the town wants to position itself as a destination for shopping, dining, and the arts, it needs parking policies that don’t drive visitors away. It also needs to view parking as a service and not as a profit center.

still stays. I spend a week every summer taking care of her and giving my uncle and his family a break. Every year, the stress of the trip increases; I watch her progress further and further into the cruel and unforgiving stages of dementia.

In the beginning, during some lucid moments, she would cup my face in her hands and cry, taking in everything she could about how I’ve changed. I cried, too.

However, slowly, these moments became fewer and fewer until finally, they were no more.

This past summer, she spent every moment of every day confused and unsure of everything. She knew nothing of who I was. But when I could calm her, she’d animatedly tell In 2000, a month before she was diagnosed, my famme tales of my younger self. ily took me away from her to “Oh, my granddaughter my current home in Vermont. Holly is a mischievous little I remember missing her, but girl!” she’d tell me, and I’d knowing she was not gone for- smile, knowing the truth in that ever. I’d receive letters from statement. her, all starting with, “My dearIt hurt too much for me, est Holly,” and ending with though, to keep hoping des“Love forever.” When arthritis perately for her mind to reach plagued her fingers, she would back into reality. It took an call. During one of these phone emotional toll on me greater conversations, I learned she than anything I’d been exposed wasn’t gardening as much as to yet in my life. usual.

So, in a silent vow to the “I forget to some days,” grandmother I knew in my she’d say, and my heart would memories, with no sense of reache. morse or sadness, I took care It was 11 p.m. when my of this dying woman. I did it uncle called us, telling us my for myself, however selfish that grandmother had called 911 may have been. In this way, it because she was convinced was easier for me to deal with someone had broken into her the constant asking of, “Where home and stolen from her — am I?” and “Who are you?” In but it hadn’t happened. This this way, I distanced myself. was when, after a doctor’s examination, we were informed On my last night alone of her mental health. Doctors with her, I cried. advised her to move in with I cried for the woman I had one of her children, or that her lost, so long ago, to this awful family place her in a nursing disease. Though she did not home. understand why I was crying I remember waking up in the or who I even was, she patted middle of the night and hearmy back and told me it would ing my parents arguing with be all right. A couple minutes my extended family about what later, she forgot where she was to do. and left me alone in the empty We could not take her, as kitchen. Suddenly, I heard muour home was too small. My sic coming from her room. aunt couldn’t take her because Assuming the music would she did not have the money or confuse her, I pulled myself totime to care for her. My oldgether and followed the sound, est uncle finally said he would knowing I should turn it off. take on the responsibility, as The door to her room was my grandmother was a sumcracked open slightly. mertime woman, and my uncle I remember this moment as lived in San Diego. though it were yesterday; I re“It’s best for her to be in a member feeling apprehensive place she can stay outside year- about looking inside, afraid of round,” the adults would reawhat I’d find. I didn’t think I son. They were right, but the could watch my grandmother, idea of taking Grandma out of once so strong and loving, cry her home where she’d spent from fright and general conher whole life and flying her fusion anymore. Part of me across the country broke the willed myself to walk away and hearts of my father and his just let the music play, but I siblings. peered into the room.

However, it was done.

My grandma was neither crying nor confused.

And now, almost 10 years She was dancing. n later, that is where my grandma I’d watch as my grandmother cranked up the radio, and she’d hop and swing to the music. She’d take my hands and twirl me around. I’d skip about the old kitchen, using dishtowels as flags, all the while being cheered on by my grandma.

When I’d get too tired, I’d collapse on the floor and rest, but Grandma never tired. She danced and danced, her grey hair splaying wildly around and her hands above her head, waving at the sky. Her energy was infectious, and I couldn’t stay down for long. She’d pick me up, spin me around, and bump my hips.

I felt loved, and rightly so — Beth Wood adored me.

T h e C ommons

VOICES

• Wednesday, December 8, 2010 VIEWPOINT

A tale of two funds A lawmaker gives a tutorial about the political pull on two buckets of money

W

7

T'ai Chi Ch'uan in Brattleboro

Radiant Byte/iStockPhoto

Wilmington Ann Manwaring, D-Wilmington, represents the reach into several Windham-2 district in the state different pockets House of Representatives and to pay our variserves as a member of the House ous taxes.

Appropriations Committee. This We extract money from the piece originally appeared on economic activities of our daily VTDigger.org. lives, and that money makes up the revenue streams that make possible the civic life from which we all benefit. When our throughout the year, in spite of money arrives in Montpelier, it the fact that Vermont, unlike lands in one of several buckets, most states, does not have a called funds, the two largest of constitutional requirement for which are the general fund and a balanced budget. the education fund.

All the wrangling over what Our public discourse is gen- to spend the money on haperally about spending and, pens within this framework. therefore, taxes being too high.

The General Fund, then, is Little is widely known about revenue driven, meaning that the actual structure of those spending is adjusted to meet funds and how their very deexpected revenues. One addisign can act as upward or tional element is present in the downward pressure on spend- general fund, and that is the ing, regardless of policy choices political pressure exerted on made by the Legislature and 181 elected officials (150 reprethe governor. sentatives, 30 senators and one So, in the spirit of shining a governor) who have to publicly bright light on our money, here vote to increase the taxes that is a brief discussion about the make up the revenues that are two largest funds, how their deposited into this fund. very design affects how tax dolAll attempts to balance the lars are spent, and how the in- budget without raising taxes terrelationship between the act as powerful downward general fund and the educapressures on spending within tion fund affects how deeply the general fund. we taxpayers have to reach into our various pockets in the first The education fund, by place. contrast, works very differently.

This walk admittedly will School boards prepare budtake us a little way into the gets to be accepted or modiweeds. But if you care about fied by the voters in each of the ever-increasing burden of Vermont’s 246 school districts. your property tax and about Through a process that, in the the future of your community’s opinion of many, is too comschools, I hope you will find plex and opaque, those budgets these observations instructive. are then aggregated, and school property tax rates are set stateThe general fund is the wide and locally. big-daddy fund used to pay for The resulting revenues are most of the obligations of state then deposited into the educagovernment. It is a very stable tion fund and redistributed to fund, and I suspect that most schools via a complex system readers will be surprised to based on an equal per-pupil learn that your legislature and expenditure. (A discussion of your governor and his adminthe complexity of the educaistration, regardless of political tion revenue generation and party, are very good stewards distribution system is certainly of your tax money. needed, but best left to another Supporting our schools is a day.) joint responsibility of both state The education fund’s design, and local governments, and we unlike that of the general fund, (lawmakers and constituents actually results in upward presalike) have not yet figured out sure on spending. Here’s how: what tools can help us to arrive First, the method by which at a sustainable level of spend- the property tax is raised is so ing that assures all our children complex, it is not subject to the a good education no matter same political dynamic to “not where they live in the state. raise taxes” that is present with Economists agree on conthe general fund. sensus revenue forecasts, and Next, while just under 70 lawmakers enact expenditures percent of the 2009 $1.3 billion based on those forecasts, reeducation fund comes from sulting in a balanced budget. property tax revenues, the balStructures are in place to asance of the 30 percent is made sure that it remains in balance up of several items. e taxpayers

Two percent of the 6 percent sales tax you pay goes into this fund, as do the lottery profits of about $21 million, and several other smaller items.

The larger part of that last 30 percent, however, is a transfer from the general fund.

This transfer represents a huge chunk of the budget — in 2009, it was 25 percent of the $1.1 billion general fund — and it has many other demands on it. This chunk has a powerful structure that fosters downward pressure on spending.

Can you just see a hand creeping out of the general fund bucket and planting a few of its obligations into another bucket?

And then there is the education fund bucket itself.

It was originally created in 1997 so that low-spending districts were encouraged to increase spending, paid for, theoretically anyway, by “excess” property tax revenues from sending towns.

Subsequently, penalties were imposed on high per-pupil spending districts.

However, so many more districts are able to increase spending that, in the aggregate, the demand for revenues in the education fund escalates with few structural elements to stop it. Thus, the basic design of the education fund acts as upward pressure on spending.

It is certainly true that containing spending in both funds leads to the need for less revenue in both. But the power of the state to adjust spending in the general fund is direct.

Supporting our schools is a joint responsibility of both state and local governments. Policy makers have for several years focused on strategies aimed at shrinking school governance and closing small schools, strategies that the state does not have the power to implement unless it were to take over the running of schools in Vermont.

If we as citizens of Vermont (including legislators) collectively want our schools to remain a central element of our communities, as they now are, if we want to get a handle on property-tax creep, and if we want to reduce the stress that exists between state and local officials, then state policy makers need to look at the root causes of these problems, one of which is the basic structure of the buckets into which our tax money is deposited. n

Available Pets for Adoption Windham County humane SoCiety Make a friend for life

916 West River Road, Brattleboro, VT View all at: wc h s4 p e ts. o r g 802-254-2232

Hi Everybody! My name is Keith and I am a super-duper Black and Tan Coonhound puppy! I am very smart and social and I do well with people, kids and other dogs as well. I haven’t met too many cats yet but I bet I’d like them too. I am smart and I am learning new things at a rapid rate and I am just patiently waiting for my new family to come and scoop me up!

Oh boy- here comes everybody’s best friend, chaco the lab mix! Chaco is a young lab mix who is looking for an active and fun home and lots of good times!! He is just wonderful with other dogs and with cats too! He likes all people and kids but can be a wee bit shy with men at first (hint: a little cheese and meat helps break the ice!) He will need an active home where he can get in some daily runs and hikes. Right now our runner volunteers have been taking him out and he has been great. Please don’t miss out on this wonderful dog- stop by and visit with him today!!

648 Putney Road Brattleboro, VT

802.257.3700 one st o p co u n tr y p et.co m

German government’s decision to extend the life of the country’s nuclear power plants for several years.

Organizers stated that the protest was not only an effort to voice ongoing concern and dissent over the use of nuclear power but also an effort to show support for local renewable energy sources.

One has to wonder how the fate of energy policy in the U.S.

would differ if people who regard themselves as stewards of the earth played an active role in the decisionmaking process rather than nuclear industry “professionals “ and regulators who give precedence to corporate earnings over the well-being of the planet.

Amelia Shea Peterborough, N.H.

Matt Skove/Audio Design Home Audio/Flat Screen TV’s Car Audio/Remote Car Starters Bluetooth Phone/Hands Free Car Kits Sales and/or Installation “I’ll come to you!’’

802-257-5419

149 Emerald St Keene, NH

603.352.9200

How can we live with ourselves if our neighbors are living with hunger?

You can make a difference and alleviate hunger in our communities. The problem is growing so fast that local food shelves can’t keep up without your support. Here’s how you can help the area’s biggest food drive help your neighbors.

• Donate non-perishable food and personal care items at drop-off locations in stores and businesses near you.

• Donate online at ProjectFeedTheThousands.org • Or send a check directly to your local food shelf to buy food at a special bulk discount, making the food go farther.

Taking nuclear policy into their own hands

n early November, a delivery of nuclear waste en route to a “disposal site” in northern Germany met with some unanticipated obstacles. Dozens of farmers lined the route determined to block roadways with their tractors, trees and stumps cut down by protestors blocked the routes, and more than 3,000 people gathered in protest outside the site deemed acceptable to bury containers of highly toxic nuclear waste.

Several times police had stop and to clear flocks of sheep and goats from the roadway. A shepherdess who would only give her name as “Evelyn,” due to fear of reprisal, expressed the concern of the farmers and other protesters — that the toxic-waste disposal site represented a poisonous long-term threat to not only their livelihoods, but also the health of the land and water.

Along the roads, hundreds of people gathered to protest the

Hi! My name is elron, and I am a friendly, talkative adult male cat. I’ve lived with other cats and children, so I am easy going and ready for anything. Got a busy household? I’m your guy!

This space is graciously sponsored by:

LETTERS FROM READERS

I

Hi everybody! My name is Scry and I wanna tell you all about lil’ ol me. I’m the girl with the never-ending purr. Once you get me going, I’ll just never stop! My favorite perch is where I can hug you and look over your shoulder. I was born up in Putney in the feral cat colony so I can be shy at times but I don’t stay shy for long! Won’t you stop in for a hug?

Let’s not ignore the problem. Let’s be the solution.

Your donation helps provide nutritious food for thousands of hungry people at over 25 food shelves and community kitchens throughout southern VT and NH.

Enclosed is my check for $_____________ made out to Project Feed the Thousands.

Mail your check to Project Feed the Thousands, c/o:

Address: ____________________________

Brattleboro Area Drop In Center PO Box 175, Brattleboro, VT 05302

State: _______

Chester–Andover Family Center PO Box 302, Chester, VT 05143 Deerfield Valley Food Pantry PO Box 1743, Wilmington, VT 05363 Hinsdale Welfare Dept.

11 Main Street, Hinsdale, NH 03451 Our Place Drop In Center (Bellows Falls) PO Box 852, Bellows Falls, VT 05101 Springfield Family Center 365 Summer St., Springfield, VT 05156 Townshend Community Food Shelf PO Box 542,Townshend, VT 05353

Name:______________________________ Town: ______________________________ Zip:__________________

Or donate online at ProjectFeedTheThousands.org

NEWS

8 MILESTONES

• Robert “Bob” W. Adams, 85, of Bellows Falls. Died Dec.

2, at Grace Cottage Hospital in Townshend. Graduate of Bellows Falls High School.

Served in the Army during World War II, and from 1944 to 1946, he worked on the Army’s military railroad in the Philippines.

Worked for the Rutland Railroad for 18 years, and was also an authorized Lionel electric train repairman and clock repairman.

After the Rutland’s demise, he was hired by avid rail fan F. Nelson Blount, the founder of Steamtown USA, to create the steam train museum and excursion railroad in Bellows Falls. He eventually helped Blount start the Green Mountain Railroad in 1965. After Blount’s death in a plane crash in 1967, he became the majority shareholder of the Green Mountain and was its president from 1968 until 1978. He served on the GMR’s board of directors until 1993.

M emori a l inform ation : A funeral service was held on Dec. 6 at Fenton & Hennessey Funeral Home in Bellows Falls, with burial in Oak Hill Cemetery.

• Kenneth Edward Brooke, 80, of Marlboro. Died Nov. 29 at

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital.

Husband of Margaret Nicholson for 50 years. Father of Carol Brooke-deBock and husband, Will, of Marlboro; Ellen Wanless and husband, Bill, of Seattle; and John Brooke and his partner, Monique Lary, of Atlanta.

Born in Dallas and raised in Des Moines, Iowa, where he was a graduate of Roosevelt High School, Class of 1948. Attended Northwestern University, where he earned his B.S. in business administration. Was a veteran of the Korean Conflict, serving as a Navy aviator stationed in Japan and surviving a plane crash into the Pacific Ocean.

After completing his active duty service, he served in the Naval Reserve. Worked in computer technology for I.B.M and coowned and operated Creative Systems Interface, a computer systems consulting business located in Massachusetts. Was a lifelong Christian Scientist and had attended the Christian Science Church in Brattleboro.

Memorial inform ation : A private funeral service was held for the family. Donation to The Gathering Place, 30 Terrace Street, Brattleboro, VT. 05301.

• E l l e n ( O ’ P r ey ) C l a n c y, 88, of Brattleboro. Died Nov.

28 at home. Wife of the late Joseph F. Clancy for 51 years.

Mother of Joseph T. Clancy of Lido Beach, N.Y.; Daniel P. Clancy of Brattleboro; James J. Clancy of Long Beach, N.Y.; and Ellen P. Clancy of Brattleboro, with whom she lived the past eight years. Predeceased by a brother, Richard O’Prey. Born in Castlewellen, County Down, Ireland and grew up in New York City. Worked for New York Telephone for 20 years.

Was active in the 82nd Airborne Association, the unit her husband served in during World War II, for many years. Spent her retirement years in Bayonet Point, Fla., before coming to Brattleboro. M emori a l in formation: A memorial Mass was celebrated on Dec. 1 at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Brattleboro, with burial on Dec. 3 in Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, Fla. Donations to the Reformer Christmas Stocking, P.O. Box 703, Brattleboro, VT 05302-0703.

• Kylie Alexis Gay-Rounds,

infant, of Bellows Falls. Was stillborn Nov. 24 at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. Daughter of Nicole Kristen Gay of Bellows Falls and Ryan Miller

• Barbara W. Hewes, 77,

of Brattleboro.

Died Dec. 3 at her home. Wife of Norman F. Hewes for 54 years. Mother of Nathan Hewes and his wife, Barbara (Kaeppel), of Charlestown, N.H. Raised and educated in Brattleboro and was a graduate of Brattleboro High School, Class of 1951.

Worked her entire career in the printing business as a proofreader starting work at the Brattleboro Reformer and later working for Page Setters, American Stratford, Country Journal Magazine and Publishers Composition. aAso worked out of her home proof reading for Allyn and Bacon, Inc., and for several other publishers. She retired in 1998, but continued to do proof reading and editing for the author “Happy Hugo” on the Internet. Memorial information : A funeral service was held Dec. 7 at Atamaniuk Funeral Home in Brattleboro with burial in Christ Church Cemetery in Guilford. Donations to Visiting Nurse Association of Vermont, P.O. Box 976, White River Jct. VT 05001-0976., or Brattleboro Area Hospice, 191 Canal Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301. Condolences may be sent to Atamaniuk Funeral Home at www.atamaniuk.com.

• Emelea “Bobbie” (Gonder) Ward, 99, of Vernon. Died Dec.

1 at Vernon Green Nursing Home, 11 days shy of her 100th birthday. Wife of the late Alexander T. Ward. Predeceased by two brothers, Henry and Herman Gonder. Survived by four generations of nieces and nephews.Born and raised in Jersey City, N.J., she was employed at the Hallmark Card Co. for 21 years, retiring in 1975. An avid square dancer, she belonged to the Lone Star Square Dancers, and was invited to perform in Kyoto, Japan.. Memorial information: A graveside service was held on Dec. 6 at Springfield (Mass.) Cemetery, Springfield, Mass.

Births

Selectboard has seen all the proposed operating expenses and revenue projections. They’re reviewing the capital plan and debt services schedule, a document detailing what old debt the town is paying off and what new debt it is taking on.

Sondag said decisions at this stage of the budgeting process mark “where the rubber hits the road.”

She said capital expenses for FY2012 will be higher because the town had decided to defer some maintenance in past years.

Capital expenses are purchases of over $10,000 for equipment with long lifespans, like vehicles, or long-term infrastructure improvements.

“Projects are not cheaper if they have to be done on an emergency basis,” Sondag said, adding the town prefers to take proactive actions.

The town is considering replacing a 1971 Maxim fire engine. The floorboards are rusted through, and the doors won’t close properly.

“If we ask, should we replace the vehicle it’s a simple ‘yes’ answer,” said Sondag. “But the answers become harder when the town asks, ‘Do we need the fire engine?’”

Sondag said the Selectboard isn’t insisting on level-funded budgets as it did for FY 2011.

According to Sondag, the board witnessed how hard level-funding became, and this year, increases in capital expenses and health insurance would make level funding nearly impossible.

Last year saw no increases in health insurance, but rates will jump 25 percent for FY 2012.

Changes in the federal health care requirements are contributing to the rate change, as is the fact that Brattleboro’s workforce is in a high-risk pool, said Sondag.

“My goal is always get as close to level-funding as we can,” said DeGray in an earlier interview.

But it is probably not realistic for this fiscal year without terminating services, he said. Last year, for example, the town chose not to plow all the sidewalks to save money, but residents complained.

DeGray said there are some big-ticket items for the town to consider, like a $400,000 fire truck, a $150,000 highway department truck, two police cruisers and a Parks and Recreation Department vehicle.

In addition, the town is considering $400,000 in street paving, as well as about $50,000 in repairs for the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center — a building the town owns and leases to the museum for $1 — as well as repairs to buildings inhabited by the Women’s Crisis Center programs.

“Start adding all those things up, and it become almost overwhelming,” said DeGray.

During Monday’s meeting, DeGray made his pitch for a 1 percent sales tax to capture some of the revenue spent by visitors.

The current 1 percent roomand-meals tax brings in about $300,000 a year.

DeGray said the town must

from page 1

try “to garner another form of income” from an outside source.

Sondag informed the Selectboard that the $300,000 that the 1 percent meals and rooms tax brings in does not cover all expenses. She said the town needed about $800,000 in cash just to stay current with services.

“We do a lot of transient business,” said DeGray. “People come to Brattleboro because it is unique, and we need to take advantage of that.”

According to 2009 data, the most recent numbers on record, a 1 percent sales tax would have accumulated $673,069 in revenue for Brattleboro.

“At the end of the day, it would be a huge benefit for Brattleboro taxpayers,” said DeGray.

Selectboard Clerk Jesse Corum said he could not support the current proposed budget.

Corum said that to sell DeGray’s sales tax to Town Meeting Representatives, the Selectboard would need to earmark the money for something tangible, like paving or sidewalk

repair. Selectboard Member Dora Bouboulis agreed.

DeGray said he would be open to making the sales tax temporary.

O’Connor said she couldn’t support the new tax.

Brattleboro’s proximity to Massachusetts and tax-free New Hampshire made it too easy for people go elsewhere.

Bouboulis said she wished Windham County had a countywide tax charged to the surrounding towns, calling Brattleboro a hub town that “bears the burden and [from which] other towns benefit.”

“I’m not angry with department heads [for increases], but at some point we can’t keep raising taxes,” said DeGray.

The budget process began in September and will continue until January. Town Meeting Representatives will vote on the budget in March. The town will set the tax rate based on the budget and Grand List in July.

Sondag described passing a budget as the hardest and most important thing that the Selectboard does.

First Methodist presents drivethrough nativity on Dec. 12 BRATTLEBORO — The members and friends of the First United Methodist Church will present a live drive-through nativity on Sunday, Dec. 12, between the hours of 5 to 8 p.m.

The nativity is a re-enactment of the events that took place on the Road to Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. Nine of the Biblical scenes leading to Jesus will be portrayed by costumed characters and live animals. There will be hundreds of luminaries and persons along the way to guide you through the nativity. A spotlight at each scene enhances and illuminates the reflection of the costumed characters and live

animals against the night sky.

It takes many volunteers to star in this production. If you are interested in being one of the characters, call the church office at 802-254-4218. It can count as a community service for high school students who need to fulfill that requirement for graduation.

There is no cost, but the church welcomes donations of either cash or non-perishable food for the Brattleboro Area Drop-in Center. The church is located at 18 Town Crier Drive across from the Shell station on Putney Road.

• In Brattleboro (Memorial Hospital), Nov. 18, 2010, a daughter, Ryanne Jane Marie Open Weekly E d s o n , to Amber Lara and Saturday 10-2 James J. Edson of Hinsdale, Nov – March • K e n n e t h N.H.; grandaughter to Ramona For your holiday Edward “Ken” Hervieux, Penny and John table or gift list L a n e , 8 0 , o f Corliss, and Jim and Anna Farm Fresh, Local, B r a t t l e b o r o . Edson.

Handmade, Homemade Died Dec. 1.

Lunch Café & Live Music Husband of Christmas Eve Day Market Juanita Pond College news Friday Dec 24 10-2 for 45 years.

EBT Debit Cards Welcomed Father of Alberta Seale and hus • C o l i n H i n c k l e y, from River Garden, 153 Main St. band, Mike; and Jean Gilbeau Putney, is a first-year student 802-869-2141 or www.BrattleboroChamber.org farmersmarket@postoilsolutions.org and husband, Aaron, all of this fall at Pace University’s New Brattleboro. Predeceased by a York City campus. son, Kenneth E. Lane Jr.; three brothers, Chester, Arnold and Eugene Lane; one sister, Eva Nesbitt and a half sister, Lorene O’Bryan. Raised and educated General Repair All Makes & Models in Brattleboro, he served in the Diagnostic Service 24 Hour Towing Navy during the Korean Conflict Student work to be A/C Service ASE Cert on the USS Douglas Fox. Was 2 & 4-Wheel Alignments employed at C&S Wholesale published in bilingual Grocers, where he retired from grant-funded book Rod’s Towing & Repairs in 1992. Previously worked at 40 Main St., Putney VT • 802-387-4771 Boise Cascade for 17 years and BRATTLEBORO — Students for APW/Concel for 10 years. of Windham Southwest and Graduated from Christ For Southeast Supervisory Unions Rod Winchester - Owner Greg Winchester - Manager the Nation Bible Institute in together have the opportunity Stony Brook, N.Y. in 1991, and to be published in a book of artwent on to serve as co-direc- work and writing through a grant tor of Mercy Ministries, a food from the Arts Endowment Fund and clothing ministry of Agape of the Vermont Community Christian Fellowship, which he Foundation. if Entergy can ugh sell, even ny’s fall from grace ee willa be a to pa nk m Ya t co managed with his wife.

Was This project, “Learning e on been delayed th rm of Cheever Tire Ve in this country have The simple fact the aftermath r in yea or abandoned. d a buas A LY S I S omics of nuclear member and fin served deacon Chinese Art,” will N E W S A N Through is that the econ of per ible and the Coo terr k spoon economist Mar mont Law power today are things is just is Your One-Stop Solution said sell to s, s

By Roger Wither leak nes oactive for these versity of Ver at Agape Christian Fellowship. consist of Uni students frommarketsouthced its willingsubstation unpredictable radi r has announnds run, finan- the ool’s Institute for Energy and not there. now, the can Entergy Nuclea sional fires, poorly Sch sta 2012 —Entergy occay indebted, locally unpopular, the Environment.

Entergy thinks theyit up Vermont Yankee. As it ization to operate past vote. y “Wh ERNON d ciall ing Memorial inform ation : A eastern for the project. min ages creauthor ruary right all rof see. putt or more tasks and currentlyVermont Corporation’s low “No one in thei to build it to- sell it is hard to of desperation. cannot get stateSenate reconsiders its Feb politically shunned or announcement not working. $180 million — buy it or try for sale is a sign would unless the the Chinese been funeral service waskey held 4 ating word art based on Details onstatethe different tasks said. “Most of per t well haveDec. migh st: best offer. an old nuclear plant day,” Coo proposed been have that posted on Craigslikee projects “Selling Yan t Chapel; build a new one,” g to at the Green Mountain characters and, in response to the needed and other information For Sal e: Ver monnt.

Use d, is like tryin EE lear Pow er Pla fRblog, burial with fullNucmilitary honors Chinese word art and its mean- is available on the project in Your membership Your Basic Full Service ent Med.ia will follow in Meetinghouse Hill ing, create poetry and other cre- chinesewordartbook.wordpress.com Vermont Independ can make this the spaper Cemetery. Donations to Mercy ative writing.

Those interested to bestget infree new Locally Owned Tire Store for. you’ve ever paid page 5.

Ministries, in care of Agape At this time, the call is out for volved should sign up onSee Hours: Christian Fellowship, 30 Canal middle and high school students, line through the blog contact mont Brattleboro, Ver Mon.- Fri. 8:00 - 5:00 • Sat. 8:00 - 12:00 St., Brattleboro, VT 05301. teachers, school administra- page or by contacting Project • Issue #78 31 .

No V, . ber 1, 2010 • Vol dnesday, Decem Condolences may be sent to tors, and communityemembers Cai Xi Silver at ws.org WeCoordinator VIEWS sn n o WS AND m m R N E or o .c Atamaniuk Funeral Home atwwtowjoin the steering commitcaixiart@gmail.com 802-257URCE fO O S T Rt. 5 North, Bellows Falls, Vt. 802-463-3320 N E DEPEND N G , I Nin N I assist www.atamaniuk.com. • Joyce Ttee to manage one 7898, ext. 3.

W I Nor AWARDS ’ Y N U AM CO D hVernon.

W I Nof Anne Pfenning, 77, Died Nov. 29, 2010 at Vernon ews of Green Nursing Home.NWife Bradford A. Pfenning VERNON for 56 thinks Working group re y years. Mother of Cheryl t Deyo VermonP. om the region’s econdirector of the Brattleboro gets and husband, Peter, ofeeVernon; Yank Cre dit Cor p., t en Dev elop men t Town Manager sid

By Olga Peters re w and Gay Pfenning, also of ne The and Brattleboro estimated 50 dag

tune Reversal of for

NE NLY B R AT T L E B R

SNOW TIRES ARE IN!

USa gREENpEaCE

ons Special to The Comm

V

Y, n SEE ENT ERG

CHEEVER TIRE SERVICE

pagE 2

wveek ly

‘Not all jobs are created equal’

STILL , STANDING for NOW

inspector

The Commons

g

Barbara Son . 16 o ahe ad. Bla meit people attended the Nov the current cred meeting. comcrunch for the lacka said seven core three dag Son worked for of jobs paying mittee members llivable wage and years before bringing the deve the region. ess to a wider aubusinesses exitingic cru nch es opment proc munity, industry, com nom of t dience But eco to Windham c leaders. Fairpoin are nothing new, some say that and economi ons is partially supEL County. In fact in a recession Communicati ect.

JOYCE MARC porting the proj energy and tone the area has been s.

Lewis said the s meeting felt for the last 20 year rks fire at n Vermont at the Bellows Fall first meeting The Southeaster Truck accident spa ment Strategy at the — and knocks Economic Developp consisting of lighter than were excited Calvary Chapel foundation the participants EDS), a grou and (SeV ers, ess. business lead community and in its crosshairs. about the proc gton the building off its ONS a fuse in Wilmined in EN/THE COMM ssion lit rece “We the THELMa O’BRI has ry pan ts met n happen of the Calvave, SeV ED S par ticiFalls for its and the explosiosaid Lewis. sto ter, members d s,” ows cen cke Fall Bell , in cra les ows 16 .

To Bell the Nov Chris define rend near , with its memlanc, left, andPastor Ron Millette, sta The state laws that missions second meetingrehabilitate the David LeBgre page 6 ning com gation, and bers hoping to by increasing gional plan Win dha m Reg ion Chapel con years ago in the chapel.

45 mph when region’s economy re- defi ne thetowns in Windham traveling about on Windham the installed 100 s, and joist r ion floo ulat el’s ed as the 23 wages, pop shifting the chap ers and tilting its brakes lock ut a mile before estic product County, plus Weston, Searsburg, rien gional gross dom beams and gird ut six inches Hill Road, abo steep road apBy Thelma O’B and Winhall. within five years. ed the inau- Readsboro, that towns can no the building aboagain casting the stretch of te 30.

The Commons mington host autumn, Lewis said once g Rou Wil rd, chin twa proa economic wes to e re. y u er navigate thee. cle finally cam the building’s futu meeting in earl l SHEND—Yo the long vehi N on , gura W The bt O held T dou M es r alon have been who serv turning in ary Chapel NE W VP T fIL other meetings , in Dover and prosperity rive David LeBlanc, church and a stop after over closer to the lp of might call the Calv the church ned lot, t h t h e h e D, pagE 3 the i nd plan at ing W nshe are ette park el or Tow Mill t chap with in Wes ROA n SEE RAIL only a few feet cleaning busiBrattleboro. too tough to die.ld you explain owns a carpet , said the shock post office, but el. is, exe cut ive Lew rey chap fane wou Jeff the New else of in How ading effect. shyHousehold goods gushed is still stand- ness why the building moving van waves “had a casc t northwest to- out on impact, as did about Everything wen ing after a runaway rdous dieWindham Hill ward Jamaica.”

250 gallons of haza careened down ss acro recently-filled flew sel from the two Road last Monday, slammed into fuel tanks.

Route 30 and een the cha- Firefighteraster f Doug Chie Townshend Fire wor king the ground betwt Townshend averts dis , whi ch page 14 The mov ing vanngings of Win ot said he wasRCh, pagE 4 pel and the Wes Office and art belo n SEE Chu was carrying the rtedly was Community post? repo gallery building e, the non - four families, Ron Mil lett Chr isti an al den om ina tion and also a tor pas ’s rch chu forces that beyond the logger, called the inal 193-yearawareness that goesol projects. rocked the orig all its addigue scope of mere scho p

By Allison Tea old structure andes.” s, a steady grouin year 11 mons For wav Com The lved tions “shock in the Nov. to 30 students invo bbLE No one was hurt act of the Having of 20 at the high school have O— OR LEB GObbLE, GO imp a CLE BRaTT es 22 crash, but the s trailer truck a trip to Cuba, community issu just returned from Union High learned abouts and have worked United Van Line r-old wood three Brattleboro d the transi- and problem ge or help those cracked a 110-yea on the mai n on ways to chan e problems in School seniors foun difa stov e, in plac e100 years, and such to thes affected by tion following a tripworthy. floor for about eath the main ity. ferent culture noteught back to their commung p u , S t u d e n t started a fire ben page 9 Kai-Min a What they bro dership and floor. side nt, ari ann Lea overed and CLEa’s (Civil ion, formerly Cou ncil pre Stevens, both coThe fire was discre it caused and Sam on in act fe befo cati d Wol ng Edu ishe and ngu exti or Education of CLEa, were amo 12 ts Lab ld iden age.

Chi pres dam e the , pagE extensiv lvement with n SEE CLEA members action project) invo But then churchthe sho ck Thousands is an HapELWRV.ORg t WWW.CaLVaRYC project Feed the disc ove red thacrash blew in l. waves from the stone apron ape !

Ch ry RE lva hE Ca a section of the er structure, The 1817 WINTER IS beneath the timb

page 12

Voices

Caretaking, aging, and death by a thousand cuts

N ow h i r i N g

The Arts

Perfect Gifts for the Little Ones In Your Life

n More cuts

Documentary looks at history of newspapers in Vermont

Life and The Work

Largest Carter’s Outlet Thanksgiving in Brattleboro in New England

Open Til 8pm Sports Fridays Exit 1, I-91, 580 Canal Street, Brattleboro Ski areas get a jump on 802-254-4594 OPEN DAILY! e season th

page 11

Advertising Sales Representative

The Commons is growing!

We seek an additional nging it Bri energetic, organized person e all hom to serve as our ambassador s shift focus BUHS student nger efforts hu to local antito the business community by selling advertising on commission.

Written response only, please; send letter of interest and resume to Betsy Jaffe at betsy@commonsnews.org. to Chester

ain more track resources, Last tr trains demanding ws Falls

from Bello With freight the daily ues scenic rail rides remain open for thbound sou railroad discontin were run between Bellows Falls will northbound and ter. gue

By Allison Tea

RT STD TagE paID EBORO, VT 5301 IT NO. 24

The Commons

LS—green BELLOWS FaL will not be Mountain Railroad en Mo unt ain run nin g its gre out of Bellows Flyer excursions r, De bor ah

ot last Saturday and Chester Depe the last schedand Sunday werruns on the line uled passenger ble future. seea fore for the ot remains For now, the Depservices redal open for intermond and amtrak, lated to greyhoustination Bellows

and

Editor’s note: The Commons will publish brief biographical information for citizens of Windham County and others, on request, as community news, free of charge.

Vernon. Sister of Gail Pelkey of Springfield, Vt. Predeceased by sisters Shirley Redo, Barbara Hall, and Gladys Chadbourne.

Graduate of Springfield High School, Class of 1950, and Castleton State College, where she earned her B.S. degree in teaching. Was the school secretary at Vernon Elementary School for 17 years, retiring in 1992. Previously worked as a secretary for 10 years at Brattleboro Union High School, and taught at both Green Street School and Canal Street School. Memorial information: Funeral services were held Dec. 6 at Vernon Christian Advent Church with burial in Tyler Cemetery.

Donations to Vernon Advent Christian Home, 61 Greenway Drive, Vernon, VT 05354, or to The Gathering Place, 30 Terrace St., Brattleboro, VT 05301. Condolences may be sent to Atamaniuk Funeral Home at www.atamaniuk.com.

• Wednesday, December 8, 2010

The

Obituaries

Rounds (currently serving in Afghanistan) of Westminster.

Grandaughter of Regina Amidon and Allyn Olney of Bellows Falls, Robert Gay III of Springfield and Orland and Terrilee Rounds of Westminster and Annalee Webber, all of Westminster.

Great-grandaughter of Reginald and Judy Amidon of Brattleboro, Robert Jr. and Joyce Gay of North Westminster, and Harley and Cheryl Rounds and JoAnne and Danny Muzzey, all of Westminster. Memorial information : A funeral service will be held at Fenton & Hennessey Funeral Home in Bellows Falls at a later date. Burial will follow in the Saxtons River Cemetery.

T h e C ommons

’s Vermon stops for amtrakintermodal serWhether the move its operavice center will ypoint Center Wa the to s tion in the spring reacross the street , Fox said. mains to be seen ring propos“We are conside id.

T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, December 8, 2010

NEWS

9

Controversial rules for Texas landfill could affect VY decommissioning

By Anne Galloway Special to The Commons

VERNON—New rules under consideration by a Texas commission could hamper the decommissioning of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in the near future, according to experts and activists who oppose the change.

They say the proposal, which would allow a Texas landfill to accept additional waste from out-of-state entities, including nuclear power companies like Entergy Corp., could give away space that is allotted for anticipated radioactive material from Vermont Yankee.

Texas formed a compact with Vermont in 1998 to establish a permanent repository for lowlevel radioactive waste generated by nuclear power plants and medical and research facilities in Vermont and Texas. The compact was set up for the two states’ exclusive use. (Maine was originally a part of the agreement but dropped out). In 2009, Waste Control Specialists received a license to open a radioactive waste landfill in West Texas for the compact that is now under construction.

Two weeks ago, members of the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission, including two Douglas administration officials representing Vermont, gave preliminary approval to procedures that would allow the commission to accept applications for permits from entities in other states to dump waste at the site.

Critics say the new rules could transform the landfill into a national repository for low-level nuclear waste and that it could fill up quickly because demand for landfill space is high.

Thirty-six states are not currently part of a radioactive waste disposal compact. If the Texas Commission approves the proposed procedures after a 30day public comment period that ends Dec. 26, the West Texas facility would be the only site of its type licensed to accept waste from anywhere in the country, according to the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, an anti-nuclear group based in Maryland.

Members of the Texas commission who support the proposals, including Uldis Vanags, the state nuclear engineer for the Vermont Department of Public Service, say they are looking out for Vermont’s interests and that opening the site to “imported” waste from “noncompact” entities will help to pay for the construction of the high-tech facility, which is slated to open at the end of 2011. Otherwise, they say, waste disposal costs for the two compact members, Texas and Vermont, would be prohibitively expensive.

Vanags and Steven Wark, director of consumer affairs and public information for the Vermont Department of Public

Service, both voted on Nov. 13 to support the rules, which will enable other states to apply for access to the landfill.

Vanags and Wark, the only two Vermont representatives on the commission, were among the five commissioners who approved the change; two Texas members dissented.

Vanags said the new rule won’t have an impact on decommissioning Vermont Yankee.

“We will not give up our capacity that we need to fulfill the decommissioning of Vermont Yankee,” Vanags said. “The only way [we] would consider importation is if there is surplus capacity.”

Several Texas Compact commissioners who cast dissenting votes on the rule have questioned whether “imports” will use up capacity at the facility before Vermont has a chance to move radioactive materials from a decommissioned Vermont Yankee plant to Texas.

The proposed rules, which were promulgated in the Texas Register on Nov. 26, are now subject to a 30-day public comment period, which ends Dec. 27.

The commission is expected to make a final decision soon after the public comment period — before the new Vermont governor, Peter Shumlin, is installed and Vermont lawmakers convene for the 2011 legislative session.

Shumlin, a Democrat, and leaders of his party in the Statehouse, have been critical of Entergy Corp.’s handling of maintenance problems at the nuclear power plant in Vernon, including a transformer fire, the collapse of a cooling tower and radioactive leaks, none of which affected public safety, according to the company and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Last year, Gov.-elect Shumlin led the charge, as president pro tem of the Vermont Senate, to nix Entergy’s relicensure effort.

necessary … I don’t see your new governor as part of this.”

The rationale for taking all comers

Waste Control Specialists

An aerial view of Waste Control Specialists’ facility in Texas for radioactive canisters. the Vermont Legislature’s Public Oversight Panel.

The compact legally entitles Vermont under a 15-year license to 20 percent, or 462,000 cubic feet, of the 2.3 million cubic feet at the nuclear waste dump.

Under the proposal, however, space could be at a premium at the waste facility if “noncompact” entities are allowed to apply for permits to deposit radioactive materials at the site in Andrews County, Texas, according to Bob Gregory, a member of the commission from Texas.

Requests for waste “importation” would be vetted on a caseby-case basis, according to the published rules.

In 2009, the Compact Commission determined that Vermont and Texas together need 6 million cubic square feet of capacity for the amount of radioactive waste generated by both states.

Gregory, one of the dissenting members, said the commission doesn’t have the staff capacity or financial resources to evaluate applications. (The annual budget of $125,000 covers only travel and meeting expenses.) In addition, the subjective nature of the proposed permitting process, he said, could leave the commission vulnerable to lawsuits.

He doesn’t know how the commission will defend itself from legal challenges if the commission says no to one entity and yes to another.

“Waste Control specialists, Entergy, Santa Claus — anyone can sue us for not allowing radioactive waste to come in,” Gregory said. “What are we going to say if we can’t defend ourselves?”

Entergy, according to a Texas official, would have much to gain if the new landfill rules go through. The Louisiana-based corporation needs a place to put the waste from its fleet of 10 plants around the country.

“Opening the Texas facility

The facility, which is designed to take radioactive materials such as contaminated clothing, glass, metal, reactor components and sludge, needs a certain amount of waste to cover the fixed costs associated with construction.

White, speaking as commission vice chair, said allowing material from other states into the landfill would lower the operating costs for the compact members tenfold.

Vanags said opening up the site to more entities will keep disposal fees at the site reasonable for Texas and Vermont.

The commission hasn’t set fees for “imports,” but so far it hasn’t imposed up-front contributions from noncompact waste generators. Vermont will pay $25 million to support construction of the site this year.

“The way to reduce cost per cubic foot is to increase your capacity,” Vanags said in contending the only way the commission would consider “imports” would be if there is surplus capacity.

Vanags said before the commission would accept applications, it would conduct an updated study to determine how much capacity would be needed by the two compact states.

“We recognize as a commission we have to have a process [for dealing with requests],” Vanags said. “We’re not opposed to importation. We’re open to it, but as long as our capacity is protected. The facility in the future may be expanded, and they may amend their license. In future, there may be surplus capacity.”

White supports expanding the site to accommodate more waste.

The limitations now placed on the landfill are under the terms of the current license issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, White said. The site itself, he believes, could be expanded.

In the meantime, demand is high, White said.

Medical waste vendors are already coming in to the state of Texas in anticipation of the facility opening a year from now, he said, and hospitals are having a difficult time disposing of waste used in research and in the treatment of cancer.

“So many people say you’re opening the door,” White said.

“The door is already open. Waste is already coming into Texas, and we don’t have control over where the waste is stored. We don’t have procedures to say you can’t bring it in.”

would allow them to take it from adoption of the new rules, said those other plants,” Gregory he doesn’t understand why the said. rule has to be adopted by early January. He suspects the timA giveaway? ing has something to do with a G u n d e r s e n s a i d t h e changing of the political guard in Douglas administration sup- the Vermont governor’s office. ports Entergy’s proposal to put “What on Earth is the rush?”

Vermont Yankee in SAFSTOR Gregory said. “It’s rushing to for 60 years, while the company beat a date for when the new waits for the decommissioning governor comes to town. If the fund to grow enough to cover commissioners change, then the the cost of moving the material vote would be 4-4; now it’s 6-2.” offsite.

The terms for the commisSAFSTOR, in Gundersen’s sioners from Vermont – Vanags, view, is not necessary. He said Wark and their alternate Sarah Vermont Yankee could be de- Hoffman – expire Feb. 28, commissioned in 10 years, but 2010. Gov.-elect Shumlin, in that scenario is contingent on the interim, will likely appoint access to landfill capacity in a new commissioner for the Texas. There is just enough cu- Department of Public Service, bic square footage on the site to who could in turn name new “exaccommodate the radioactive empt” employees, or appointed waste from the plant. officials, who would take the “There’s a limited amount of place of the three who are now land (for radioactive waste dis- on the commission. posal) in Texas, and the state is Tom Smith, of Public Citizen, giving away Vermont’s land to an advocacy group that opposes Storage in 35 other states, which will make the landfill, said the commission Vermont, or Texas? it impossible to decommission wants to get the rule rammed Vermont Yankee is licensed Vermont Yankee,” Gundersen through before the Texas and to operate until March 2012. said.

Vermont legislatures have a Unless the license is extended, In June 2009, Vanags tes- chance to take action to block it. which would appear politically tified to the Vermont Public “They’re afraid the new govuntenable given the Vermont Service Board that decommis- ernor of Vermont might apSenate’s decision last year to sioning Vermont Yankee would point commissioners that might block Entergy’s bid to relicense cost less than the $568 million stand up for the state, as opthe 38-year-old plant for 20 spent on Maine Yankee, even posed to going along with what years, the plant will be shut down though projections that include the nuclear industry wants,” next year, preparing the way for the SAFSTOR option have been Smith said. decommissioning. higher. Vermont Public Radio John C. White, vice chair of At that point, where and how reported in 2007 that decom- the commission and a radiation the radioactive waste is stored missioning Vermont Yankee safety officer for the University will become a crucial issue. could cost as much as $1.7 bil- of Texas Southwestern Medical Entergy Corp. has proposed lion. In September of this year, Center, says nothing of the sort keeping the materials on the the decommissioning fund was is going on.

Vernon site in a system called at about $443 million. Entergy is “We’ve been talking about this SAFSTOR for six decades. responsible for making sure there for 16 months,” White said of the Another alternative would be is adequate money available for rule. “We can amend the rule if a more accelerated decommisdecommissioning. sioning process, in which the Gundersen said Vanags’ testiwaste would be sent to the West mony was based on the assumpTexas landfill overseen by the tion that the radioactive waste commission and operated by a would be shipped to Texas.

Dallas-based private company, “If Vanags’ testimony unWaste Control Specialists, acder oath is correct, we could GREENFIELD, Mass.—A Rosemary Bassilakis, technical cording to Arnie Gundersen, a complete decommissioning by Vermont Yankee decommis- advisor for the Connecticut nuclear engineer who serves on 2020, (but) he’s giving away the sioning forum will be held on Citizens Awareness Network; land to which you need to ship Wednesday, Dec. 8, from 7-9 Robert Stannard, lobbyist for it,” Gundersen said. “If you p.m., at the downtown cam- the Vermont Citizens Action give away the land, you force pus of Greenfield Community Network; and Dr. Marvin SAFSTOR to occur. With no College, 270 Main St. Resnicoff, nuclear physicist place to send it, we’re sort of A four-person panel will and international consulconstipated.” discuss what will happen if tant on radioactive waste Vanags, who voted to publish Vermont Yankee stops op- issues, Radioactive Waste the rules that will allow other erating in March 2012, what Management Associates. states to apply for access to the might happen before that A period of open discuslandfill, said: “There absolutely date, and what local residents, sion will follow the panel will be enough space.” elected officials, and town and presentation.

“We will not give up our caregional bodies can do to make This event is co-sponsored pacity that we need to fulfill the sure Vermont Yankee is prop- by the Safe & Green Campaign decommissioning of Vermont erly dismantled and cleaned- and Nuclear Free Vermont by Yankee,” he said. up, with the radioactive waste 2012. Refreshments will be In audio testimony, Vanags safely stored. served. For more informaand Wark voted against amendThe panelists will be Deb tion, contact Deb Katz at ments to the proposed rules Katz, executive director of the 413-339-5781. that would have given Compact Citizens Awareness Network; members first dibs to the landfill and also that would have delayed action and allowed the Texas and Vermont legislatures an opportunity to weigh in on the matter.

“We’re actually under the “The SMALL Credit Union closing phases of the Douglas administration,” Gundersen with a BIG HEART” said. “We’re getting to the point where we, the state of Vermont’s www.members1cu.com administrative agencies, are actu10 Browne CT PO Box 8245 ally assisting Entergy, as opposed to looking out for the best interN. Brattleboro, VT 05304 Waste Control Specialists A schematic of how waste would be stored underground taken from Waste ests of the state.”

NCUA Tel. (802) 257-5131 Insured to Gregory, a Texas commisControl Specialists’ 2007 license application. The facility would accept low-level 250,000 Fax (802) 257-5837 radioactive waste from government and private sources in Texas and Vermont, sion member who opposed the

VY decommissioning forum planned in Greenfield

MEMBERS 1ST CREDIT UNION

including Vermont Yankee.

TOP DOLLAR for Your Trade In - PLUS the BEST Service 2011 Outback Wagon MSRP Disc.

BRATTLEBORO SUBARU

$

$24,459 - $2,501

PLUS

Free Oil Changes For Life*

You Pay

21,958

stock #1141

www.brattleborosubaru.com • 1234 Putney Road, Brattleboro, VT • 802-251-1000

*Free Oil Changes for life on any new or used Subaru. **See dealer for details.

10

T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, December 8, 2010

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT ARTS CALENDAR Music

Bahman’s son Emmett on trumpet, Quinn Darrow on bass, Fabian Gaspero-Beckstrom on drums, Jaoquin Borofsky on sax, and special guest Sam Indenbaum on piano.

Tickets are (a suggested) $5, available at the door. For more information, visit www.openmusiccollective.org or call 802275 5054. OMC is located in the Cotton Mill in Brattleboro in Studio A335.

(keyboards) of Dominique Eade and Heather Masse, Ryan • Student concert at Scott (guitar) of Josh Mease and Open Music Collective: On Rumblefoot, Jacob Silver (bass) Thursday, Dec. 9, at 7:30 p.m., of The Mammals, and Robin the Open Music Collective will MacMillan (drums) of Sugar and host a student ensembles concert Gold and Tao Seeger. featuring the music of Wayne Tickets are $16 general adShorter and other works by mission, $14 for students and seMongo Santamarìa, Coltrane, niors. For ticket reservations and Monk and Ray Anderson. information, call 802-254-9276.

Local favorites Steve Frankel For more information, visit (bass), Jon Mack (sax and • O’Donovan, Courtin in www.myspace.com/aoifeodonoflute), Kate Parsons (piano), Putney: Twilight Music pres- van, www.christinacourtin.com Bahman Mahdavi (guitar) and ents an evening of progressive and www.twilightmusic.org.

Dan Borden (drums) have re- folk music with vocalist/guitar• Legion Band Christmas hearsed challenging Wayne ist Aoife O’Donovan (of the al- concer ts: The Brattleboro Shorter compositions including ternative bluegrass stringband American Legion Band will presAna Maria, Armageddon, Speak no Crooked Still and the folk-noir ent its annual Christmas conEvil, and Water Babies. Shorter is trio Sometymes Why) and vocal- cert on Wednesday, Dec. 15, at commonly regarded as one of ist/violinist Christina Courtin on 7:30 p.m., at the Legion Hall on the most important American Friday, Dec. 10 at 7:30 p.m. at Linden Street. There is no adjazz musicians of his generation The United Church of Putney, mission charge, but donations which included extended rela- 15 Kimball Hill. are welcome. tionships with Art Blakey, Miles The pair of singer/songwritFrom the opening strains of Davis, and Weather Report. ers will share a back-up band A Festival of Carols to the final The other group performing of some of today’s top young notes of Let It Snow, the 45-piece is a youth ensemble including roots musicians — Jed Wilson Legion Band will feature popular and familiar music of the holiday season. The first half of the concert, led by Bruce Corwin, Support BBBS...learn more at rivercu.com features old favorites such as Santa Claus is Coming to Town, a George Gershwin Christmas Look into medley, and ends with We Need Christmas, from the musiBig Brothers/Big Sisters acalLittle Hello Dolly. The second half, of Windham County led by Raymond Brown, features a short visit from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and a sing-along of familiar carols.

The band will also do its annual “Around Town” tour on Dec. 18.

Opus 21 selects three compositions from Grammar School students PUTNEY—Three student composers from The Grammar School traveled to St. Michael’s College in Colchester on Dec. 6 to hear their original musical compositions played live by professional musicians in the Vermont Midi Project’s Opus 21 Concert. The selected pieces are Summer’s Dance by eighth-grader Jamie Lumley, a second time winner; Chaos by sixth-grader Russell Boswell; and My Friend The Wind by fifth-grader Isaac Freitas-Eagan.

In his notes for the program, Isaac wrote, “I really liked watching my piece come together. I thought it was really cool to be able to connect with a music mentor through the internet, and I was excited when my piece was selected.”

Jamie Lumley’s notes say, “As well as writing music, I also love to play piano and sing.

Music has always been one of

my interests and I love to be able to have my thoughts written out on paper and expressed to others.”

When describing his piece, Chaos, Russell Boswell said, “The song’s name is not so much based on the attitude of the composition as it is about me…sometimes. The ending holds a surprise.”

In addition to the evening concert, each composer had dedicated rehearsal time with the performers during the afternoon and the opportunity to attend workshops and discussion groups.

Other Opus 21 entries were composed by five TGS fifthgraders: Roselle Lovell-Smith and William Parkman; Ethan Foster and Robin McOwen; and Tyler Silbey.

Under the direction of Alli Lubin, head of the music program and technology administrator, these young

BE A BIG

Member NCUA • 802-254-4800 • Brattleboro • Townshend • Putney • Brattleboro Food Coop

HOUSE FOR SALE

BY OWNER 145 Belmont Avenue, Brattleboro

Convenient and comfortable 3-bedroom home abuts hospital grounds.

Near schools and shopping. Call Dick or Susan at 257-9158 or come to OPEN HOUSE December 11 from 2 - 5. $175,900

BRATTLEBORO AREA Factory Machine Maintenance Technician – Major firm accepting applications for a manufacturing machine maintenance technician, with PLC and light electrical background.

The hours are 11:00pm to 7:00am and the starting wage will be between $14.00 to $16.00 start per hour based on experience and will offer rapid pay increases. Direct hire, offers free health and dental health premium, including 401k. For more information call Dutton toll free at 1-888-786-0791.

Shippers/Movers – Major firm accepting applications for rugged positions using a two wheel dolly loading and unloading trucks. Must be able to complete shipping orders accurately and have an excellent school or work record for reference check. Pay is $12.00 per hour, various shifts, regular full-time. For more information call Dutton toll free at 1-888-786-0791.

Lead Machine Operator with Forklift – Major firm needs candidate with good decision making skills. Second shift, 2:00pm to 2:00am or complete, $14.00 to $16.00 start per hour based on experience. For more information call Dutton toll free at 1-888-786-0791.

The show will run through December and be open during library hours: Saturdays 9 a.m.-1 p.m., and Tuesday–Friday 1-5 p.m. For more information, call librarian Meris Morrison at 802-365-7948.

• Grassy Brook Arts Festival in Brookline: The first-ever

•TubaChristmas returns to Brattleboro: The second an-

nual TubaChristmas will be held on Sunday, Dec. 19, at 3 p.m., at the First Congregational Church on Western Avenue.

TubaChristmas is a concert held in cities around the world that celebrates those who play, teach, and compose music for instruments in the tuba family, such as the tuba, Sousaphone, baritone, and euphonium horns.

It was first held in 1847 in New York City, with more than 300 musicians playing together.

Last year, tuba players from Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New York State came to Brattleboro for the inaugural TubaChristmas concert.

• Jatoba in Saxtons River:

Vermont “groovegrass” trio Jatoba will present a holiday concert on Wednesday, Dec. 22, at 7 p.m., at Main Street Arts in Saxtons River.

Admission is $5 and concertgoers are asked to bring a nonperishable food item for a food drive for the Vermont Foodbank.

• Sing along at the River

www.myspace.com/jatobamusic/

Jatoba will present a holiday concert Dec. 22.

Garden: Join Ali and your com-

munity family members for a Music Together all ages Holiday Sing-Along on Thursday, Dec 23, at 11 a.m., at the River Garden in Brattleboro Regular Music Together classes will begin again the second week of January at New England Youth Theatre in Brattleboro on Wednesday mornings at 9:30 and 10:30, and Friday monrings at 9:30.

For more information, or to reserve a space, contact Ali at MusicKidz@aol.com or call 802-275-7478.

Performing arts • Po e t r y r e a d i n g i n Bellows Falls : On Saturday,

Southern Vermont

P ainting & RestoRation Interior & Exterior

Painting Carpentry Plaster Work 802.257.3026

composers join the list of 15 former TGS Opus selected composers: Jacob Knapp, Miles Hume, Colin Clark, Brooke Mooney, Katelyn Donovan, Julian Stolper, Tim Quimby, Nathaniel Todd Long, Antonia Dufort, Michaela Shea-Gander, Lucie Foster, Ona Hauert, Claire Thomas, Jamie Lumley, and Libby Green.

“The live performance experience is such a reward,” writes Sandi MacLeod, VT Midi Project coordinator.

“When music comes from living, breathing musicians, there is an energy and vibrance that the computer can’t imitate.”

Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, The Grammar School in Putney educates children in preschool through eighth grade. More information about the Opus 21 program can be found on the web at www.vtmidi.org/opus21.htm

Dec. 11, at 2 p.m., Ben Mitchell will read from his book, Only The Sound Itself, at the Village Square Booksellers in Bellows Falls.

After the reading, the floor will be open for attendees to read their poems as well. This is part of the 2nd Saturday, Poetry Open Mic, hosted by The River Voices writing group. River Voices encourages participants to read from your own poetry, bring a favorite poetry book to read from, or just listen. Call

Give the gift of joy to your favorite gardener.

the bookstore at 802-463-9404 to get on the reader’s schedule.

• A Christmas Carol in Brookline: The Brookline

Players stage reading of A Christmas Carol will be presented Sunday, Dec. 12, at 4 p.m., at the Brookline School on Grassy Brook Road.

The show is a fundraiser to restore the Historic Brookline Church. It is directed by Bob DuCharme.

Visual arts • Quilt display in Newfane: The Crowell Gallery of the Moore Free Library, 23 West St., is featuring an exciting exhibit of 16 quilts and wall hangings made by members of the Sew What’s Group of Newfane.

The group has met for over a decade on Tuesday evenings for dinner and craft work at the local Congregational Church.

Members exhibiting work are Pat Bellou, Judy Acampora, Leona Tabel, Jean Wilson, Winnie Dolan, Jane Robinson, Jan Becket, Flo Staats, Jan Knowles, Shirley Hendricks, Betty Horton, Ginny Grabowski, Elsie Garbe, and Betty Ann Nelson.

Grassy Brook Art Festival will be held on Sunday, Dec. 10, from noon until 6 p.m., at the former Brookline School building.

Formerly known as The Artists of Brookline, the group has expanded and changed its venue from an open studio tour to a new holiday event showcasing locally made crafts for sale, including pottery, fiber arts, photography, and other arts and artisanry; a group exhibit showcasing the talents of primarily Brookline artists and artisans; craft demonstrations and a weave-your-own-ornament table. Box lunches will be offered for sale from noon until 2 pm to enjoy while browsing and shopping; baked goodies will also be available.

This event is the first re-use of the school building since its closing and is part of the initiative to explore new uses for the facility, with the hope of building interest in a multi-purpose community center where all types of programs can be held to benefit this community.

The Grassy Brook Art Fest is the newest event of the group formed in 2008 to promote local artists, and by doing so enhance and support the image of Brookline as well as provide an opportunity for sharing experiences and resources among artists and artisans in the community. Artists include Carolyn Albee, Paul Madalinski, Trish Naudon-Thomas, Windmill Hill Alpaca Farms, Whitney Hill Design, Z-pots, Rae Rice, Dandelion Designs, The Ladies Benevolence Society Crafts of the HBCPI, Gary Lavorgna, Suzanne D’Corsey, Chris Thomas, Treah Pichette, The NATCH!, and more.

SPEND ONCE,

GIVE TWICE!

Brattleboro Area Affordable Housing’s Save Our Homes program helps people with housing emergencies.

Our no-interest loans help mainly with: • security deposits (Though they can afford a month’s

rent, people often don’t have the security deposit money needed to get an apartment.)

• back rent (These days too many people are living at the edge. So, when the car needs fixing or there’s a medical bill, the rent money may not be there. And that can start them down a path to eviction.)

The Meditative Gardener cultivating mindfulness of b o d y , fe e l i n g s , a n d m i n d

by Cheryl Wilfong Published by Heart Path Press 

256 f u l l c o l o r pag e s



By this fall we had loaned more than $300,000 to 850+ families in 13 towns. Because a number of our loans turned into grants, we spent this year’s budget by October. Next year does not look better.

So, if there are people on your gift list who don’t need more things, please consider a gift to BAAH. And send your friend a card telling them you’ve done that in their honor. They will appreciate it. And the hard-pressed neighbors your gift will help will have a better new year.

Thank you!

Brattleboro Area Affordable Housing

1-800-345-6665 • orders@pathwaybook.com

PO Box 1284, Brattleboro 05302

w w w. m e d i t a t i ve g a r d e n e r. c o m

We are a volunteer, 501(c)(3) organization.

Donations to ‘BAAH’ are fully tax-deductible.

T h e C ommons

Knitting group celebrates fourth anniversary SAXTONS RIVER—On Dec. 6, 2006, Susan Bourne of Saxtons River offered and facilitated the first gathering of KnittingTogether at the Rockingham Free Public Library in Bellows Falls.

Her goals was simple: offer knitters of all levels a time and place where they could meet freely each week for a few hours to knit hats, mittens, scarves, and sweaters for local children and families.

After two years at the public library, KnittingTogether moved its weekly sessions to the Saxtons River Inn in Saxtons River, where they have been sitting and knitting together since then on Wednesdays from 1-3 p.m.

Also around that time, Bourne began graduate school and asked Mary Guild if she would kindly handle active facilitation and distribution for KnittingTogether. For the next two years, Guild did just that and kept KnittingTogether humming, right up until her death this fall.

Now, after four years of KnittingTogether, group members share all aspects of knitting, sorting, storing, and distributing items made throughout the year for gifting to local children when the weather turns cold and another Vermont winter sets in.

As with any volunteer group, members come and go for various reasons, but — as witnessed by this month’s four-year anniversary — the personal dedication of each member carries on.

KnittingTogether welcomes new members each week and will show (or remind) folks how to cast on, knit up, and bind off. The group wishes to thank Caroline Naberezny, Donna Golec, Felicia Cuming, JoAnne Russo, Susan Bourne, and other knitters who continue to bring their willing hearts and hands to KnittingTogether as they join in this effort to help warm local community children.

For information or to offer time and/or yarn, contact Bourne at susanbourne@vermontel.net.

River Gallery School plans trip to Tuscany, Umbria BRATTLEBORO — The River Gallery School in Brattleboro will sponsor a trip to Italy this spring for a week of making art and exploration of the Tuscan countryside.

Travelers will spend seven nights in a small hotel/villa south of Siena, with a day trip to Assisi, home of St. Francis, and an excursion to Siena, among the most beautiful cities in all of Italy.

There will also be wonderful Italian food and wine.

Tour guide Cicely Carroll of Putney will lead the group in painting, drawing, and photographing the rolling hills around Pienza and Montepulcino, an area designated a UNESCO Cultural Landscape Site.

An informational meeting will be held for those interested in participating in this art trip on

Dec. 15 at 6 p.m. at the River Gallery School, 32 Main St., in Brattleboro. Call 802-257-1577 for more information.

The trip will be held from April 9 to 16, 2011. An option for participants will be a cooking class, featuring preparation of Italian specialties. As an additional option, participants can add a side trip to Florence or Rome to visit museums and other sights.

Travelers will be encouraged to bring their own journals and sketch pads, pastels and watercolor supplies, but since activities are all optional, non-artists are welcome, and will equally enjoy the trip.

For more information outside this meeting, contact the River Gallery School at 802-257-1577 or rgsart@sover.net.

Cuba’s ‘Why Generation’ is subject of Windham World Affairs Council talk BRATTLEBORO — On Thursday, Dec. 9, at 7:30 p.m., the Windham World Affairs Council of Vermont will host Anthony DePalma, former New York Times correspondent and Writer in Residence at Seton Hall University, at the Marlboro Collge Tech Center on Vernon Street.

Also joining the presentation will be students from the Brattleboro Union High School who recently returned from a humanitarian trip to Cuba.

DePalma will speak on “Cuba’s Why Generation: Shifting Attitudes in Policy and the Population.” The students will offer a PowerPoint presentation on their trip, which included work with Down Syndrome children and meetings with officials from the Cuban ministries of Health, Education and Finance.

Coffee with the speakers will begin at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

DePalma is the author of The Man Who Invented Fidel, Here: A Biography of the New American Continent, and the recently released City of Dust: Illness, Arrogance and 9/11. He was the first foreign correspondent of The New York Times to serve as bureau chief in both Mexico and Canada; he has also reported from Cuba, Central and

South America, Montenegro and Albania. After 9/11, he wrote more than 85 profiles for the Times’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Portraits of Grief series, and was a 2007 Emmy nominee for his work on the documentary Toxic Legacy.

To join the Windham World Affairs Council of Vermont and receive regular mailings of events, send an e-mail to info@ windhamworldaffairs.org.

DOWNTOWN SELF STORAGE

River Garden 157 Main St., Brattleboro, VT Indoor, lighted, heated, secure

Many sizes from $50–$250 Call 802-257-4886 ext. 1

Exotic Thai Cuisine

Townshend, VT www.gracecottage.org

The Far East Just Got a Little Closer!

24 / 7 Emergency Department

7 High Street Brattleboro, VT (802) 251-1010 ThaiBambooVT.com

BRATTLEBORO TIRE 254-5411 558 Putney Road Brattleboro

Locally Owned For Over 35 Years!

LUBE, OIL & FILTER

24

95

Most cars.

Up to 5 qts. 5W-30

NEW ENGLAND KURN HAT TIN HOMES

Are you retired, or “this close” to retirement, but would still like to work a few days each week?

We have an immediate opening for a PART-TIME FINANCIAL MANAGER to join us, two days each week, although some weeks we’d be pleased if you could join us for a third day! In order to join our staff, as soon as possible, please send a cover letter, resume and references to: Kurn Hattin Homes Attn: Human Resources P.O. Box 127 Westminster, VT 05158 or Human Resources e-mail: candacec@sover.net Equal Opportunity Employer

[

www.kurnhattin.org

+ $225

ALL SNOW TIRES

On SALE

env. fee Special Oil & Filters Extra.

FREE wintER CHECKOVER Battery • Coolant Wipers • Tires • Lights

While supplies last

VERMONT STATE INSPECTION

500 OFF

$

Regular Price

BUy 3, GET 1 FREE Assurance Tires

Other brands also available

Courtesy Cars or Rides Always Available at No Cost!

VT State Inspection

Blue

#12 Due Now

11 For the Holidays, Consider a

Gift Box of Vermont

For those friends and relatives that no longer live in New England, Harlow’s offers several gift boxes with pure Vermont Maple products, jams, jellies, cheese, honey and candy. You can also design your own gift box.

Visit us on the web at harlowsugarhouse.com, call us at 802-387-5852, or visit us at our farm 3 miles north of Putney village on US Route 5.

HARLOW’S SUGAR HOUSE

GIVE ThE GIfT Of nEwS

]

1,046 reasons

to join and support Vermont Independent Media this holiday season Yes, 1,046 reasons.

That’s the number of stories we’ve published to date this year in The Commons, at least according to our all-knowing computer system.

Do you want more reasons to join Vermont Independent Media? how about 1,021,328 of them? That’s the number of words we’ve published in the paper since January, more or less.

Or maybe another 234 reasons — the number of writers, photographers, columnists, and artists who have contributed to our pages, from our employees all the way to the individual readers writing passionate letters about pay-as-you-throw trash disposal in Brattleboro this summer.

Most of those 234 contributors are just like you. when you write a letter or give us news, all our readers benefit, and we do a better job. we can’t create an excellent newspaper without your enthusiastic participation.

We also can’t pay the bills without your financial support.

That’s the simple truth. we have a great and growing number of advertisers and the help of a few large charities, but they can’t pay all the bills.

Like most nonprofits, Vermont Independent Media runs a tight ship. we need your end-of-the-year support so we can keep the presses rolling through the cold, dark winter.

If you are among our hundreds of members, we hope you’ll consider an additional donation — tax-deductible, by the way, if that’s a consideration.

And if you’re looking for a gift for that special someone, consider this: your donation of a $55 Loyal Reader membership can put the paper in the mail every week for a full year. we’ll even put a gift announcement in the paper if you’d like.

Oh — and we have 5,500 more reasons as well.

That’s how many papers we deliver all over the county every week, each copy providing news, each making its way into someone’s life, each offering knowledge and understanding of our community, our area, our world.

That’s what your newspaper does. And we can do even more, and do it even better, with your help.

So thank you for all you’ve done for us — and for all you can do now.

Yes!

I want to become a

I wish to give a membership.

Member of Vermont

Basic

Loyal Reader

Newshound

Independent Media to support The Com-

Recipient’s name ________________________________

mons, www.Commonsnews.org and the Media

Address ________________________________________

Mentoring Project, and other programs.

Town/City ______________________________________

Basic

Loyal Reader

Newshound

I already am a member, and I want to give an additional end-of-the-year gift of $______________.

State_____ Zip ___________ Phone ________________ E-mail _________________________________________

MEMBERShIP CATEGORIES • Basic. Annual rate, $35.

802-365-7357

JOHN PENFIELD’S

$

THE ARTS

• Wednesday, December 8, 2010

My name _______________________________________

• Loyal Reader. Annual rate $55,

Address ________________________________________

or $5 billed to your credit card monthly when

Town/City ______________________________________

purchased online. Get the paper in the mail.

State_____ Zip ___________ Phone ________________

• Newshound. Annual rate $100, or

E-mail _________________________________________

a larger donation. Get the paper in the mail,

I enclose $_____________

and receive invitations to special events.

You can also donate by credit card. Donate online at http://donate.commonsnews.org, or call (802) 246-6397 Please make checks payable to Vermont Independent Media. Your donation is tax deductible.

P.O. Box 1212 Brattleboro, VT 05302

Donate $55 or more, and get The Commons mailed to your home each week.

12

T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, December 8, 2010

LIFE & WORK Life lessons from a beekeeper Brattleboro resident recalls grandfather’s skills and values The Commons

B

RATTLEBORO— “When my grandfather, whom we called John, went deer hunting, he wore his simple plaid jacket, carried his Winchester rifle from the 1940s and went out to the woods at sun up. He walked patiently all day, and came back when it was dark,” says native Brattleborian Michael Fairchild, now 59, who spent part of his youth growing up on Marlboro Avenue, the backyard to Oak Grove School.

“He taught me patience. For a young boy, that’s a wonderful skill to be taught to you by a grandfather. John was a lean, kind, quiet sort of guy who was sensible and practical in every kind of way. He was humble; he didn’t have a lot, but he didn’t need a lot either. I was fortunate to have lived two houses away from my uncle, and he, John, and I used to go hunting and fishing together. We’d take a Thermos and a simple sandwich and we’d head on out into the woods,” remembers Fairchild.

John Russell lived with his wife Jenny on Highland Street. Before they were joined, Jenny owned the house, and since she was raising two sons alone, she used to rent out rooms in the 1930s.

Russell was a boarder there and eventually the two were married.

Working at the C.F. Church factory on Elm Street, he helped make the toilet seats that earned the company its motto, “the best seat in the house.”

Russell walked to work every morning because he’d never learned to drive and spent his weekends doing the things that renaissance men who had grown up in the country did on the weekend — hunting, fishing, and bee keeping.

“Many years later,” says Fairchild, “I moved with my family to Westminster West.

Initially, my father was a tailor who owned Fairchild’s Clothiers on Main Street (where Zephyr Art Store is located today), and my mother ran a store in the basement selling fabrics and notions. She was a dressmaker by trade. When we moved from Marlboro Avenue, my parents closed their stores, and my father bought the Putney General Store, which he ran for many years.”

Bob Gray, the two time U.S. Ski Team Olympian from Putney, was a good friend to Michael Fairchild. Gray’s parents were friends of Scott and Helen Nearing, who lived in Jamaica. The Nearings were

back to the land enthusiasts who published the classic book Living the Good Life in 1954. The Grays worked at Putney School and were familiar with, and practiced a lot of the same skills as, their friends the Nearings.

“Their son Bob was about my age and knew bees. He introduced me to the old time skill of tracking bees,” says Fairchild. “If you think about the term ‘making a bee line,’ you’ll understand what we were doing.”

Fairchild explains that these days, those thinking about becoming bee keepers can go to a catalog and purchase anything that they might have needed, including the bees themselves.

In older times, skills like “lining bees” or tracking them were common.

“It’s the kind of skill that generations of people passed on to their children,” he says, “the kind of thing that my grandfather John was raised with. When I was growing up post-World War II in the 1950s, these were skills that the old timers around still had.

And bees were different then, too. In those days you could go out in the backyard, and if there was a patch of clover, you’d find a wild bee working it. That isn’t so common anymore because of disease and pesticides, among other things,” he says.

While Fairchild knew that his grandfather had many of the old skills of his day, he didn’t realize that John also knew about bee keeping.

“I was in my early 20s. I’d already been exposed to the hunting and the fishing, but John was getting hives set up in the backyard of his house on Oak Grove Avenue and had been tracking bees to fill his hive,” says Fairchild. “I doubt there were many old time skills he didn’t know about, but I hadn’t realized until that day he knew bees.”

Bees can be “tracked” back to their hives because they are a working community. The bees responsible for finding pollen are out looking for flowers and grasses to provide them with the means for creating honey, their food. An experienced bee keeper has the patience and the skill to see a bee working a flower and with a good eye, can track it back to its hive. Other than perhaps a small initial circle of flight, a bee will travel from the flower on a “bee line” back to its hive.

Sometimes, bee keepers put out a jar of sugar water to attract a wild bee. From there, a bee keeper can either follow it or take some colored chalk to dust the top of the bee to see how long it takes for the bee to collect the sugar water, bring it

back to the hive, and come back for more, giving the bee keeper an idea of how far away the hive might be located.

Fairchild remembers, “I got a call from my uncle that John had tracked a hive and needed help getting the bees to the hives that he built in his back yard because he didn’t drive. The remarkable thing is that he tracked that one bee from his house on Oak Grove Avenue, all the way across the Connecticut River to the side of the Wantastiquet Mountain in New Hampshire. That takes some serious skill.

“This was the early 1970s. We jumped in my truck, and John brought me to the area where he found the hive on a steep embankment on the side of the mountain, in the hollow of a big pine tree that was almost dead.

He was nervous because we were on state land. The bees were buzzing all over the place. He didn’t want to fell the tree because he didn’t have permission, but I looked at it and decided that we were only going to fell a dead tree and leave it in a better condition than we found it. I went home and came back with a chain saw to take the tree down.

We didn’t want to have to climb a dead tree to remove the hive.”

Fairchild brought the tree down and then, with a few swift hits of his axe, opened up the hive.

“There was now sawdust inside the hive, and there were about 20,000 bees flying around in a panic. The bees are really more concerned about what happened to their home than getting 99that did the deed. That’s the bear SALE use a smoker to calm why people Kick bees Multitool the down. It brings their Pliers, wire cutter,to knife,the container attention hive and not to opener, screwdrivers. Leather sheath you,” included. says Fairchild.

The pair had brought along R 531 766 B12 one of the hive boxes that Russell had made. They laid a white sheet on the ground, put the box on top of it, and then looked inside the hive for the queen bee.

Fairchild says, “There are sev5-Pc. GTearWrench eral sections to a hive. There is Ratcheting Wrench aSet brood Tighten area & loosenand a storage area where honey faster withthe ratcheted box is kept as their ends. Metric or SAE. and there is an area food supply, where the queen lives. It’s important to find her right away because once in the bee box, the other bees will follow her into the hive. We were able to do that pretty quickly, because if you know what you’re looking for,

she’s a very distinct bee.”

The pair placed the queen into the bee box on the white sheet.

“It is a miracle. Bees are incredible. I’ll never get tired of watching an event like that. It’s fascinating. We put the queen inside the box, and you could watch the other bees walking across the white sheet and moving right into that bee box. It’s like an army of 20,000 men just marching together. We let them get settled, and then in the early evening went back to the box, closed the top, put them in the truck and took them back to Oak Grove Avenue.

“These days, well even then, you could go to another bee keeper and purchase hive materials. There is a sheet called a stamping that you can buy that is like honey comb. The bees will start building out their comb from there, but not John.

He didn’t buy anything; he made all of it himself. Where someone might spend some serious money to get started with bee keeping, John spent hours instead. He bought himself about $8 worth

of pine boards and built everything himself. That’s the old school way of doing things, and I really respected him for that,” recalls Fairchild.

“I know that he put up a lot of honey over the years. One of his granddaughters used to sell it at the Farmer’s Market for him.

But the next time that I was involved, it was the early 1990s and it was because John had died.

My uncle called and asked me if I’d like to have his bee hives and equipment. It was so great to have these pieces that he had handcrafted himself. In fact, I also am the proud owner of his rifle,” says Fairchild.

“I was really lucky. I feel like, even though I still live in Brattleboro now, I grew up in a time that is no more. These were the good old days, and it feels like they’re gone. We had the Sale Ethat nds black-and-white television Nov.so30 th only had three stations, we didn’t sit around watching that.

Instead, we ran around Marlboro Avenue like a pack of dogs. Our parents didn’t always have to know where we were. We’d walk

Your One Stop Shopping For The Holidays!

19

reg. 12.99

70-Ct. M5 Pinecone LED Light Set Green cord. Assorted color lights.

Operated T749 236, 216, 244, 257, 126 by081 B12

Connecticut River Transit

Pliers, wire cutter, knife, container

opener, screwdrivers. Leather sheath reg. 24.99 included.

and torx. With steel shaft, acetate While supplies last.

While supplies last.

5-Pc. GTearWrench Ratcheting Wrench Set Tighten & loosen faster with ratcheted box ends. Metric or SAE.

9

AA battery included.

While supplies last. reg. 24.99

www.crtransit.org

Heats up to 600 - 2,400 sq. ft. with a heating capacity of up to 65,000 BTU’s.

Stainless Steel Heat Exchanger and Automatic Circulation Blower to spread heat evenly. EPA Certified. Dimensions: 28.25"D x 25.25"W x 33"H Door Opening: 15.1"W x 12.25"H. Takes 20" log. Mobile Home Approved!

Retail… $1,399

or Call us at 888-869-6287 or 802-460-RIDE (7433)

8

Saw Blade 97 Circular Shop Clock with 12-in-1

18-Pc. Screwdriver Set Slotted, Phillips and torx. With steel shaft, acetate

AA battery included. While supplies last.

With keyless chuck.

Includes screwdriving bits, battery and charger.

12-Volt Cordless Drill/Driver With keyless chuck.

Includes screwdriving bits, battery and charger.

Sale

reg. 12.99

999

Green cord. Assorted color lights.

T749 236, 216, 244, 257, 126 081 B12

Assorted colors. T126 076, 079, 077, 075, 080 B12

SALE

$

1697

We Provide the Ride!

Sale $999

Tax Credit… $300 Your Cost After Tax Credit … $699

112-336

Sale $

Holiday Sale SaveHeating $100 Costs Give The Gift Of Lower

Saturday, December 18 MAGNOLIA WOOD STOVE MODEL 2400 1 - 4 PM

Heats up to 600 - 2,400 sq. ft. with a

off MacArthur Road,

Supplies heating capacity of up to 65,000 BTU’s.

Stainless Steel Heat Exchanger and Limited!

Marlboro, VT

Heats…750 sq. ft.

Hopper capacity… 40 lbs

802.254.2168 1099

$

Tax Credit… $330 call for Directions Please Your Cost After Tax Credit $76999

Automatic Circulation Blower to spread heat evenly. EPA Certified. Dimensions: 28.25"D x 25.25"W x 33"H Door Opening: 15.1"W x 12.25"H. Takes 20" log. Mobile Home Approved!

Retail… $1,399

Sale $999 Tax Credit… $300 www.theturnpikeroad.com Your Cost After Tax Credit … $699

on all two stage snowthrowers GASSED, OILED & READY TO BLOW!

Supplies Limited!

726 OE

$ Heats…750MSRP sq. ft.

1099 99 Hopper capacity… 40 lbs

$ 1099 999 99

Power Max® 726 OE

$

MSRP $1099 99

$

Tax Credit… $330 Your Cost After Tax Credit $76999

999 99

Putney Rd., ht For The Holi Putney Rd., Brattleboro, VT Brattleboro, VT We(802) have everything you need 254-4927 (802) 254-4927 y da

s Sale

Start Rig

Save $100

GASSED, OILED & READY TO BLOW! MODEL 2400

FIRESIDE Staff Pick! FIRESIDE The Ho For li ht

1697

TORO SNOW THROWERS IN STOCK!

on all two stage snowthrowers WINDOW INSTALLED PELLET HEATER • easiest pellet heater ever to install!

• no extra venting needed Power Max® • no fresh air kit needed

Multitool

An ideal gift for your favorite handyman or handywoman. R 130 107 B4

handles.

12-Volt Cordless While supplies last.

Drill/Driver

WINDOW INSTALLED PELLET HEATER • easiest pellet heater ever to install!

• no extra venting needed • no fresh air kit needed

SPECIAL PURCHASE

AA battery included. While supplies last.

road poTTery

Assorted colors. T126 076, 079, 077, 075, 080 B12

for festive holiday decorating!

O PEN 7 DAYS • FREE PARKING O PEN 7 DAYS • FREE PARKING

We have lots of local greens like fresh wreaths for $19.99 and fragrant balsam swags for $6.99 from Couch Brook Farm in Bernardston, and a beautiful selection of Christmas trees locally grown in Athens,Vermont. Bring your home alive with the colors and scents of the season with poinsettias, cyclamens, and lovely Norfolk Island pines.

Center Pieces ~ Christmas Balls ~ Garland

ELYSIAN HILLS TREE FARM Dummerston, VT ~ 802-257-0233

handywoman.

70-Ct. C6 LED Light Set

Trees - 5 varieties ~ Wreaths 8”-60”

Follow signs on Rte. 5 OR from Dumm. Ctr. elysianh@sover.net ~ www.elysianhillsfarm.com

Multitool

An ideal gift for your favorite handyman or B4.

R 130 107 handywoman. R 130 107 B4 handles.

SALEthe Turnpike 112-336

32 years of growing trees 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Nov. 27 - Dec. 24

Bill & Mary Lou Schmidt

Saw An Blade ideal gift for 97 Circular Shop Clock with your12-in-1 handyman or

Malcolm Wright

CHRISTMAS TREES

“Known for the Best Trees”

8

18-Pc. Screwdriver Set Slotted, 18-Pc. Screwdriver Phillips and torx. With steel shaft, acetate Set Slotted, Phillips handles.

s Sale

Please contact Sandy Clark, Asset Manager, Brattleboro Housing Authority 802-254-6071 or slclark@sover.net for more information and showings.

SALE

Kick Multitool

y da

3980 square feet of commercial/office space in our newly renovated Ann Wilder Richards Building at 1063 Western Avenue one mile from exit two off I-91 or Route 9 in the village of West Brattleboro. ADA handicapped access, heat and central air conditioning included, free abundant parking, separate entrance to leased space, private bathroom, reception area, available immediately.

897

1999

R 531 766 B12

Sale Ends Nov. 30 th

Circular Saw Blade Shop SPECIAL Clock with PURCHASE 12-in-1 Multitool

thM5 Pinecone 70-Ct. 70-Ct. C6 LED Light Set 39 Annual TORO SNOW THROWERS LED Light Set Give The Gift Of Lower Heating Costs For Bus Schedules and Information Visit our Website at IN STOCK!

MAGNOLIA WOOD STOVE

FOR LEASE

down the street with guns, going off to practice shoot at the sand pit near the high school or over in Wilson’s Woods, practicing for hunting season. Can you imagine now what would happen if five boys walked down the street with guns? There would be a SWAT team over there in minutes,” says Fairchild with a shake of his head.

“John grew up in an orphanage somewhere over in western New York State and made his way here by foot. He wouldn’t tell us about his growing up, but I imagine he was raised at an old orphanage that was a county farm. Every town has a road called County Farm Road or Town Farm Road. Those were usually the roads, just outside of a little town, where the poor people, the single mothers, the orphaned kids lived, supported by the state and by the farm where they all worked. John had a lot of skills that he must have learned in those places, and I feel lucky that I grew up having him teach me what he knew.”

Your One Stop Shopping For The Holidays!

99

Serving Windsor & Windham Counties

Courtesy photo

John Russell stands with his bee hives in this 1978 photo.

Start Rig

By Fran Lynggaard Hansen

Stop by our floral department and enjoy the fragrance of the season.

Our wreaths and swags are perfect for your door or to bring as a gift when visiting friends and family.

— Tanna, Floral Staff

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