Author Archive for Shawn Cunningham
West River Coffee Barn comes to Londonderry after percolating for four years
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Leaving the West River Farmers Market in Londonderry one Saturday in 2021, Kristin Nelson looked at the intersection of Routes 100 and 11 at the flashing light and thought to herself that something was needed to bring the area and the community together — right there. “Something […]
Chester planners invite public for presentation on proposed solar field
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC A large solar farm is being proposed for a cornfield off from Route 103 south, and the Chester Planning Commission is inviting the public to a presentation by the developers, Savage Solar Energy, on Monday, Aug. 11. Commission chair Hugh Quinn said the purpose of the meeting […]
Chester OKs ordinance to seek reimbursement for fighting some fires Update on GM sidewalk plan; traffic calming on the Green
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC A 17 item agenda including a hearing for a new a ordinance and a presentation on alternative designs for a sidewalk to the high school looked daunting, but the Chester Select Board got through all of it – except an executive session – in less than two […]
GMUSD appoints Jerry Ucci new Chester rep
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing Tuck Wunderle told the Green Mountain Unified School District board – on which he served – that he would be resigning to take a fellowship at a graduate school. That was at the board’s April 17 meeting, which, under state law, also started a 30-day clock during […]
GM Board finds no Open Meeting violation but agrees to Open Meeting training
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last Thursday, five of the 11 member board of the Green Mountain Unified School District assembled in the GM High School Library. A sixth joined by Zoom to make it a quorum. They weren’t there for a regular meeting but rather to answer an Open Meeting Law […]
D.C. chaos finally hits Vermont, TRSU schools
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC School budgets in Vermont begin on July 1 and end the following June 30. Budgets for the 2025-26 year were hammered out in the fall of 2024 and approved by voters beginning on Town Meeting Day in March. Grants and aid from various sources were firmed […]
GM board member complains of improper executive session Telegraph request for public docs only partially fulfilled
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Thursday, June 19, when we last spent an evening with the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District, the agenda contained an item to “cure” a violation of the Vermont Open Meeting Law relating to an executive session at a previous meeting. Also on the […]
Two Chester residents named to state boards
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Two Chester residents have been named to Vermont state boards by Gov. Phil Scott, according to a press release issued Tuesday. Included among the 83 people appointed are Heather Chase, who will continue to serve on the Vermont Economic Progress Council and Mark McKeon who will join […]
GMUSD board gets PCB update, continues internal wrangling
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC A few years ago, state sponsored testing found that chemicals known as PCBs are present at the Green Mountain High School. Last Thursday, Kassandra Kimmey of the state Department of Environmental Conservation gave a presentation on PCBs to the Green Mountain Unified School District Board that outlined […]
State board orders Julian quarries to cease operations until conditions are fulfilled
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Vermont Land Use Review Board, in its administrative order against Julian Materials LLC posted on Monday, June 16, calls on the Julian companies to “stop work” at all three of its quarries in north Chester. The Land Use Review Board administers the Act 250 program. Since […]
Chester board tables American flag issue til fall Sets tax rate, approves zoning office shuffle
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Before being elected to the Chester Select Board, Tim Roper complained to that body a couple of times about the state of the flags displayed on Main Street. They can be found wrapped around their poles, sometimes tattered and even snared on splinters from the utility poles […]
Caps off to the 48 Green Mountain High grads!
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Weeks of rainy weather made for some uncertainty, but with a forecast of just hazy to cloudy skies on Friday night, Green Mountain Union High School graduated 48 students, with 46 walking for their diplomas. Principal John Broadley told the crowds of parents and friends gathered that […]
GM board votes down sole candidate; to restart the process of filling Chester vacancy
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC In yet another in a collection of remarkable meetings, the Green Mountain Unified School District Board last Wednesday voted down the only candidate for the open seat representing Chester. Patricia “Penny” Benelli, a longtime Chester resident who holds a degree in education and recently retired from practicing […]
Chester board hears GM appointment complaints, police on immigration enforcement
By Shawn Cunningham 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC As the clock ticked toward 6:30 and the conference room on the first floor of Chester’s Town Hall began to fill up, it looked like the May 21 Select Board meeting would be another long one with multiple comments by residents on several issues currently roiling the public […]
News Analysis: More questions than answers to fill a school board seat
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC The board of the Green Mountain Unified School District has a long history of tackling difficult issues but not resolving them in a timely manner: the on again-off again discussion with the school’s former mascot being the most recent example, until last Thursday night. The board went […]
Chester Fire Department ready to roll with new tanker
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Monday morning the Chester Fire Department took delivery of its latest piece of firefighting apparatus. The department had ordered the $500,000 tanker more than two years and two fire chiefs ago, but a number of hiccups delayed the delivery, which had been expected late last year. […]
Chester board punts making school board rep recommendation; hears protests about protests
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last Wednesday, the Chester Select Board was met with a fairly full house and two large servings of controversy starting with the public comment period. One issue concerns the use of the Green for political demonstrations while the other involved objections to a candidate who is seeking […]
Friends, co-workers, residents celebrate retirement with Aldrich
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC More than 120 friends, co-workers, relatives and Chester residents turned out at the American Legion on Saturday night to celebrate Town Clerk Debbie Aldrich’s retirement after 42 years. Aldrich began working as an assistant town clerk in April 1983 and became town clerk when Sandy Walker […]
Probationary firefighter charged in Cavendish barn fire
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC A probationary firefighter has been charged with first-degree arson after an investigation of a barn fire in Cavendish last week. The Vermont State Police Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit said in a press release today that Zerrick Ausikaitis, 20, of Cavendish, “intentionally lit” a fire that damaged […]
A primer: How Vermont law enforcement agencies must handle immigration issues
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Toward the end of last week’s Chester Select Board meeting, as members were discussing items for future agendas, Arne Jonynas asked what the relationship is between the Chester Police Department and federal immigration authorities in light of recent arrests of both documented and undocumented immigrants in Vermont. […]
