Author Archive for Shawn Cunningham
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 […]
Blue rally, red rally on the Chester Green Festive No Kings protest draws close to 600; more subdued GOP event follows with 80
By Shawn Cunningham and Cynthia Prairie ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC On a picture perfect October Saturday, two polarized political factions shared Chester’s Green – at different times – to hold peaceful rallies with very different vibes and vastly different numbers in attendance. The Green was already crowded by the 10:30 a.m. start time for Chester’s […]
Cancer benefit soccer game rescheduled to Oct. 18 Springfield and GM girls play to support cancer research
© 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Monday’s Pink Game – a benefit for cancer research – has been postponed to Saturday, October 18th, at 6:00 p.m. under that lights at Riverside Middle School in Springfield. With the uncertain weather, forecast the Springfield and Green Mountain girls teams agreed that rescheduling was the best decision. We’re hopeful […]
Chester solons get Class 4 earful
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC As the Chester Select Board wordsmithed a final version of its policy on the maintenance and use of Class 4 highways at its Oct. 1 meeting, two landowners addressed objections – not to the policy in general – but to how it impacts their properties specifically. Board […]
E-Court rejects Julian Quarries appeal of ‘stop work’ order
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Sept. 30, Environmental Court Judge Joseph S. McLean sided with Vermont’s Land Use Review Board — and by extension a number of Chester residents — by rejecting Julian Materials’ appeal of the board’s “stop work” order at its three Gassetts Quarries. The LURB posted its stop […]
Act 181 is coming: How will it affect your property? Details of this Act 250 reform are being defined as law is rolled out
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC In 2024, the Vermont Legislature passed Act 181 that makes a number of changes to the state’s laws on land use with special attention to encouraging new housing in downtowns. But there may also be changes to the way rural land is treated and landowners should pay […]
