Author Archive for Cynthia Prairie
Cynthia Prairie has been a newspaper editor more than 40 years. Cynthia has worked at such publications as the Raleigh Times, the Baltimore News American, the Buffalo Courier Express, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Patuxent Publishing chain of community newspapers in Maryland, and has won numerous state awards for her reporting. As an editor, she has overseen her staffs to win many awards for indepth coverage. She and her family moved to Chester, Vermont in 2004.
Board member’s answer to wind project zoning question spurs debate; capital budget proposed
By Cynthia Prairie ©2015-Telegraph Publishing LLC About 15 Grafton residents squeezed into the Grafton Elementary School Library then folded themselves into teeny chairs for the Monday night meeting of the Grafton Select Board. The Select Board then proceeded to squeeze a long agenda into less than an hour, before going into executive session on a […]
Big Buzz Chainsaw Fest is carving a niche among Chester events
©2015-Telegraph Publishing LLC For the second year in a row, the six-year-old Big Buzz Chainsaw Carving Festival has found a comfortable home on the grounds of a former cornfield next to the American Legion on Route 103 South in Chester. Click here to go to the Big Buzz Photo Gallery below. The event, which began […]
Grafton Select Board OKs $30,500 for new salt shed
By Cynthia Prairie ©2015 — Telegraph Publishing LLC The Grafton Select Board approved two capital expenditures at its Monday, Oct. 5 meeting, including $16,184 for guard rail replacement along Route 121 and $30,500 for a new salt shed. The guard rail work was awarded to Lafayette Highway Specialities of Massachusetts, while the salt shed – […]
Crowds flood Peru streets for 36th annual fair
A cool but sunny Saturday greeted the 36-year-old Peru Fair. With 100 vendors selling everything from pottery to dumplings, music filling the air from several stages and the aroma of fire-roasted pig wafting through the crowds, it was bound to be a success. Proceeds from the fair go to the Peru Scholarship Fund, a non-profit […]
Info meeting primes Chester for 3rd water project vote today
By Cynthia Prairie ©2015 – Telegraph Publishing LLC In a 40-minute informational meeting – the third held since May 18 — about 30 Chester residents Monday night listened as Town Manager David Pisha and engineer Naomi Johnson offered a more focused explanation of the project and its funding than given in earlier meetings. Town voters […]
Chester Fall Fest shines under two sunny days
©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC Two sun-filled days and the Green filled with vendors and visitors. It’s no wonder that Nancy Davis, one of the organizers of the Chester Rotary Club’s annual Chester Fall Festival, declared the event a success. (To launch photo gallery, click any photo) “Vendors were happy with the event and with their […]
Chester Police Log for June 13 through Sept. 10, 2015
Editor’s Note: The Chester Telegraph Police Log is a sampling of incidents directly from Chester Police reports. We do not identify individual victims of crimes nor those who have been arrested. Saturday, June 13, 10:02 a.m. Police spotted a chicken running out into traffic at River Street and Route 103 South being chased down by […]
Grafton to sell old town garage for $95,000 to local excavating firm
By Cynthia Prairie ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC In a relatively quick meeting to clear Town Hall* for the Planning Commission last night, the Grafton Select Board unanimously voted to accept the bid for the old town garage to Grafton resident and business owner Jamie Gregory, of Jamie Gregory Trucking and Excavating. The bids were opened […]
Construction of Dollar General in Chester expected to begin soon
By Cynthia Prairie © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC Construction on the 9,100-square-foot Dollar General for Main Street in Chester is expected to begin this fall with the store opening in early 2016. And a sure sign of the impending work are the building permits nailed to wooden frames on the property. A spokesman for the […]
Campaign launched for 2016 Londonderry 4th of July Fireworks
Kate Buggeln and husband Steve Kulovits of South Londonderry donned matching Uncle Sam costumes at the West River Farmers Market in Londonderry this past Saturday to begin to drum up financial support for the town’s annual Fourth of July Fireworks on Magic Mountain. The 2016 fireworks will be held on Friday, July 1 at nightfall, […]
Yosemite Firehouse now ‘4-Sail’
A s controversy swirls around the future of the historic Yosemite Firehouse in Chester, an unknown wag tweaked the masses by posting this misspelled For Sale sign on the building over the weekend. The phone number is for the Chester Historical Society. The building sits on Route 103 North, just past the Chester Town Hall.
Broadway Boot Camp taps into local talent
By Cynthia Prairie ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC T he finale for Weston Playhouse’s first ever Broadway Boot Camp nearly brought down the house Friday afternoon as parents, family, friends and members of both the Playhouse’s Young Company and its professional cast gave the 20 student actors a standing ovation. (Click on any photo to launch […]
Andover celebrates itself with food, fun and fund-raising
©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC Between 250 and 300 people turned out for the 2nd Annual Andover Day on the grounds of Andover Town Hall, 953 Weston-Andover Road, on Saturday, according to Town Clerk Linda Bargfrede. The annual event raised more than $2,000 to fund scholarships that go to college bound Andover students. But the real […]
Commentary: Save Yosemite Firehouse, save Chester’s history
By Cynthia Prairie ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC This past weekend Chester memorialized the late Merritt Edson with a stone monument on the Green. Edson, a Chester resident and Marine Corps general who won a Congressional Medal of Honor for his service in World War II, was also the founder of the Vermont State Police, which […]
Hot dog lovers raise $7,000 for Boosters, CAFC at annual Stone Hearth Inn event
By Cynthia Prairie ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Awesome Sauce Dog created by Shona Grill of Bellows Falls was named “Top Dog” by the diners during the Stone Hearth Inn’s 4th Annual Hot Dog Cook Off on Sunday. The Free Range restaurant of Chester took away the “Best in Show” award with its Gyro Dog […]
Grafton Select Board OKs liquor license for new market owners, allows Fire Department to use FEMA house for rescue exercise
By Cynthia Prairie ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Monday Aug. 17, the Grafton Select Board met in the picturesque Town Hall for the first time in more than a year since the meeting moved to the Grafton Elementary School. At that brief, 19-minute meeting, it found a useful purpose for a FEMA house and began […]
Chester police chief recovering from serious injuries
By Cynthia Prairie ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC Chester Police Chief Rick Cloud is out on medical leave for at least the next eight weeks following a fall in late July or early August that sent him to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center with serious injuries, including seven broken ribs, Town Manager David Pisha said Tuesday. The fall […]
Chester road work completion expected by mid-October
CORRECTION: The article in last Wednesday’s Telegraph incorrectly spelled Jacquie Dagesse’s last name. Also, the map in last Wednesday’s paper was taken from a Pike Industries illustration. We have updated it with current information. See map below. By Cynthia Prairie ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC The 2.7 miles of road work that begin last Wednesday in […]
2.7 miles in downtown Chester to be repaved
By Cynthia Prairie ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC Resurfacing work along 2.7 miles of Routes 11 and 103 in Chester Depot and downtown Chester will begin in the next week with completion expected by early fall, according to Jacquie Degasse Dagesse, of EIV Technical Services of Williston, which is handling communications for the project. Specifically, work […]
Green Mountain Flyer excursions extended two weeks, adds Fireworks train Aug. 1
The Vermont Rail System has ramped up its tourism train service in Chester this year, coordinating with the Chester Rotary to begin its Green Mountain Flyer Fall Foliage excursions a week earlier than last year then extending the excursions one week longer. It has also decided to restart its Fireworks Train on Aug. 1 to […]
