Author Archive for Shawn Cunningham
Afternoon fire destroys garage on Cummings Rd. No one injured in two-alarm blaze
By Shawn Cunningham © 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC Seven area fire companies with 35 firefighters responded to Cummings Road in Chester Sunday afternoon to quell a fire that ended up destroying a large garage/office belonging to Jarrett Sanderson. The Chester Fire Department got the call just before 3 p.m. and arrived with an engine and […]
VSP identifies Ludlow officer, resident in New Year’s Day shooting
© 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC Late this afternoon, Friday, Jan. 2, Vermont State Police identified the man who was shot in Ludlow on New Year’s Day as well as the Ludlow Police officer who shot him. According to the Vermont State Police, Jaime Gomez, 18, who lives in a room at the Fox Run Inn […]
Ludlow officer shoots, injures man in New Year’s Day incident
©2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC A member of the Ludlow Police Department shot and injured a man early on New Year’s Day, according to a Vermont State Police press release. According to the press release, the man who was shot was taken to the hospital although the extent of his injuries and the name of the […]
Chester mulls a local option tax; neighboring towns already have them and like them
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Select Board is nearing its deadline to decide whether to put before the voters in March a 1 percent local tax that would be in addition to the current state sales taxes charged on rooms and meals and served alcohol. We thought it would be […]
Chester board hears objections to local option tax, appoints development panel members
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Select Board last Wednesday looked at 2026 budgets for Public Works as well as the Water and Sewer departments and appointed four volunteers for a new economic development commission. But the continuing discussion of a 1 percent local option tax on rooms (hotel, inn and […]
Chester Festival, long held on the Green, to move to Legion field
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Approximately three dozen people gathered at Chester’s American Legion on Tuesday evening for a long awaited information session about moving the 2026 Chester Festival on the Green off the Green and surrounding town properties and onto a field next to the American Legion, off Route 103 South. […]
Santa lights up the Chester Green
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Carolers, bundled up against the chill, gathered around a blazing firepit on the Chester Green last Saturday afternoon singing songs of Christmas while across Main Street, Laurie and Samantha Vertefeuille were putting the finishing touches on Santa’s house. Cookies, candy canes and hot chocolate were ready. All […]
Chester Board hears local option tax concerns, picks new moderator Frank Kelley to replace longtime Moderator Bill Dakin at 2026 Town Meeting
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC For several meetings, the Chester Select Board has discussed putting on the Town Meeting Day ballot a 1 percent local option sales tax on rooms and meals, which would include short-term rentals and alcohol served at restaurants. The tax, which would be paid for by each establishment’s […]
Andover Select Board agenda for Dec. 8
The Andover Select Board will hold its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday Dec. 8 at the Town Office 953 Weston-Andover Road Below is the board’s agenda: 1. Call Meeting to Order. 2. Act on Agenda. 3. Act on Minutes of November 24th meeting. 4. Public Comment (Time allowance: Five minutes per visitor, 10 […]
Jozsef Piri’s 2nd degree murder case inches toward trial Judge reconsiders but lets earlier decision stand
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC A little more than six years ago, Vermont State Police were called to Route 103 in Rockingham, just south of Lower Bartonsville Road for a welfare check. There they found a produce truck belonging to a company out of Boston. The driver – Roberto Fonseca-Rivera – was […]
Snowy morning crash blocks Rt. 103N in Chester Car-tractor trailer collision sends two to hospital
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Tuesday’s snow storm was four hours old when it caused a two-vehicle crash that shut down Route 103 north in Chester into mid-afternoon. Both drivers suffered injuries and were transported to Springfield Hospital. There were no passengers in either vehicle. At just before 11 a.m. Chester Police […]
Roads less taken fill Chester board’s agenda as MacGinnis sues town
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC It’s looking like Class 4 roads will fill Chester government’s horizon for months – if not longer – as the Chester Select Board once again devoted a large portion of its Nov. 19 meeting to the topic. During last Wednesday’s meeting, Wyman’s Falls Road property owner Kirk […]
Childcare, livestock and paper preservation round out businesses moving into Chester Chester's Rising Business Scene: Part 3 of 3
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Editor’s Note: In the past two weeks The Chester Telegraph has looked at what seems to be an uptick in Chester business activity through the lens of the hospitality sector – namely restaurants and the retail marketplace. In this final installment we look at several new developments […]
Chester board wrestles with Class 4 road issues
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC There was no calm before the storm at the Nov. 5 Chester Select Board meeting with property owner Kirk MacGinnis forcefully making demands of the chair even before the minutes from the Oct. 1 meeting could be reviewed. In a confrontational style that includes handouts listing statute […]
A new year and new businesses coming to the Green, and more
Editor’s Note: Last week The Chester Telegraph took a look at what seems to be an uptick in Chester business activity through the lens of the hospitality sector – namely restaurants. This week’s focus is on what’s happening in the retail marketplace beginning with movement on the Green. By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing […]
Sen. Sanders thanks Chester Public Safety officers for life-saving work after motorcycle accident
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Members of Chester Ambulance, Fire and Police departments got a surprise presentation at last week’s Select Board meeting as Town Manager Julie Hance read letters of thanks from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders for the work they did in responding to a motorcycle crash in Andover. On Monday, […]
It all goes wrong (on purpose) at GM’s fall play
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Next weekend, the Green Mountain High Drama Club will put on a version of The Wizard of Oz in which almost everything goes wrong. And that’s if everything goes according to script, because for its fall play the group will be staging When Bad Things Happen to […]
Restaurant openings point to business revival in Chester
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC As the days turn colder it seems the business climate in Chester is heating up with around a dozen businesses opening, moving, expanding or changing hands in industries as disparate as restaurants and livestock farming, home decor and childcare. And with all that, a number of prominent […]
Estimates for PCB fix at GM high school top $20 million
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC While officials at Green Mountain Union High School have reduced the amount of airborne PCBs to acceptable levels with air filtering, the long-term solution – as spelled out at last Thursday’s Green Mountain Unified School District board meeting will be more than $20 million and there’s no […]
Chester native Travis Van Alstyne wins 2025 Hathaway History Award
By Shawn Cunningham ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Chester native and filmmaker Travis Van Alstyne was awarded the 2025 Richard O. Hathaway Award by the Vermont Historical Society for his animated short film Love of the Land. According to a VHS press release the award was presented to Van Alstyne at the Society’s annual meeting on […]