All Entries in the "Featured" Category
Chester planners shuffle the deck
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Planning Commission presented a fairly comprehensive amendment to the town’s zoning regulations to the Select Board on Nov. 15. The amendments are the commission’s response to Act 47 – the HOME (Housing Opportunities Made for Everyone) Act from the 2023 legislative session. The intent of […]
Holiday events throughout the region Tree sales & lightings, visit with Santa, concerts, crafts & more
By Stacia Spaulding ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The holiday season has arrived. Are you in need of a Christmas tree or some hand-crafted gifts? Do the kids want to meet Santa? How about a relaxing evening filled with holiday music? The Telegraph has compiled a list of holiday events in the region. Our Calendar of […]
Chester DRB hears application for Goldthwaite Road wedding venue Question arises about whether use is permitted for property
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Several neighbors of 76 Goldthwaite Road in Chester attended Monday night’s Development Review Board meeting to register their concerns about an application to put a “wedding venue.” But how the application got to the board in the first place would be a good question. The application for […]
Chester board considers waiting period between home sale and allowing short-term rental
Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Forty-six days into a six-month moratorium on new un-hosted short-term rentals, the Chester Select Board appears to be leaning toward instituting a waiting period between the purchase of a property and the opening of such a short-term rental. The goal is to make it less attractive for investors […]
Flood resiliency takes center stage at legislative forum in Weston Area residents anxious for solutions to persistent flooding
By Cynthia Prairie ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC WESTON Flood resiliency and mitigation was the major topic addressed during a gathering on Saturday of about 30 residents of Weston and surrounding towns for a discussion with state Rep. Kelly Pajala, and state Sens. Alison Clarkson, Dick McCormack and Becca White. McCormack, Clarkson and White represent Windsor […]
GM restructuring reboot gets under way
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Compared with recent Green Mountain Unified School District board meetings, last Thursday’s Restructuring Committee session was refreshingly low-key and constructive. It was all the more interesting because the committee is comprised of the entire board and 10 of the 11 members were present. The original four-person committee […]
DRB hears objections to Julian Materials’ permit
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Monday, Oct. 23, Chester’s Development Review Board continued its hearing on a conditional use permit application by Julian Materials to make changes in the use and operations of its three quarries in Gassetts. And with the next session not scheduled until Monday, Dec. 11, it’s looking […]
GMUSD board actions on mascot appeal lacking in transparency
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Anyone hoping for a bit more clarity on the issue of the Green Mountain Unified School District’s hiring a law firm for the appeals of its decision that the use of the name Chieftain does not violate its own policy would be disappointed after last Thursday’s board […]
Quarry hearing focuses on noise, unanswered questions
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC One neighbor leaving last Wednesday’s Development Review Board hearing on the Julian Materials in Gassetts said his head was buzzing. It was not because of the noise of extracting stone but rather the complex and technical noise assessment presented by Eddie Duncan of RSG Inc. of White […]
Report: GM PCB levels under control; long, complex cleanup ahead
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The results of air monitoring and sampling as well as identifying sources of PCBs at Green Mountain High that took place over the summer are in and the report is a mixed bag. While some areas – especially the caulking around windows – are registering quite quite […]
Derry takes its place in history of snowboarding Dedication of Burton Snowboards historic marker draws Olympians, former employees and fans
By Cara Philbin ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Friends, family and fans of the late Jake Burton Carpenter gathered at Williams Park on Main Street in Londonderry last Tuesday to unveil a state historical marker honoring his legacy of revolutionizing winter sports through the perfection of the modern snowboard. (Click any image to launch gallery.) It […]
State action on Chieftain appeal looks stalled
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC While the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District board has stopped paying for an attorney to defend its Chieftain name, appeals to the Vermont Agency of Education, which could permanently settle the issue of whether the name violates school policy, appear to have stalled. The […]
GM board votes to stop attorney’s defense of ‘Chieftain’ for now
By Shawn Cunningham ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Board of Directors of the Green Mountain Unified School District voted 6 to 3 last night to stop paying an attorney and have him halt work representing the board to defend the Chieftain mascot in an appeal before the state Agency of Education. Instead, the board will […]
Chester Select Board to explore offering benefits to full-time Whiting Library staff
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC While last Wednesday’s Chester Select Board agenda was short, it yielded a lot of discussion and some progress on a couple of long-standing issues. Whiting Library Board chair Matt Gorsky came before the board to ask for “some reasonable accommodation” to get benefits for the library’s two […]
Despite long agenda, GM board meets for 7 minutes; legal fees go unaddressed
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Thursday night’s Green Mountain Unified School District Board meeting ended almost as soon as it began. The board adjourned slightly more than seven minutes into the meeting over how to handle an agenda item regarding the appeal of its May 18 decision that the name Chieftain does […]
Drunk driver pleads to reduced charges in 2022 crash that injured Chester business owner
By Shawn Cunningham ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The drunk driver who ran head-on into a Chester business owner in a snowstorm on Route 103 near Gassetts in March 2022 plead guilty to a reduced charge in Windsor County Superior Court last Monday. Travis Stella of Wilton, Conn., was charged with driving under the influence and […]
A bird’s eye view of the Chester Fall Festival
 ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Thanks to drone pilot Tuck Wunderle, The Telegraph took an early Sunday morning flight over the 2023 Chester Fall Festival on the Green in beautiful Chester. The festival was held Saturday, Sept. 16 and Sunday, Sept. 17. Weather concerns might have held some people back on Saturday, but Sunday saw […]
DRB holds first hearing on permits for Julian quarries Site visits set for Sept. 25
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Development Review Board hearings are quasi-judicial proceedings that can be quiet, formal affairs that consist of taking testimony and checking boxes. But they can also be confrontational and charged with emotion when people disagree over development plans. The latter was what Chester DRB chair Bob Greenfield was […]
Chieftain defense costs top $10,000 thus far Hearings with three appellants have yet to be scheduled
By Shawn Cunningham ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Green Mountain Unified School District thus far has spent $10,000 defending its decision to continue using the word Chieftain as a mascot name, and a hearing before the Agency of Education has yet to be held. Once the hearing gets under way, those costs are expected to […]
GM School Board chair Brown reverses course; to allow comment on Zoom — with stipulations
By Cynthia Prairie ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Just hours after The Chester Telegraph published an article stating that the Green Mountain Unified School District Board would no longer allow comments from the public and board members who were attending a meeting remotely, the school board chair reversed course to allow remote comments after all. The […]
