Author Archive for Shawn Cunningham
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. […]
Neighbors plead with Chester board to enforce on quarry violations
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC In an otherwise light meeting – mostly followups and housekeeping – the Chester Select Board last Wednesday heard from neighbors complaining that the Julian quarries in Gassetts were continuing to violate a signed agreement with the town. The quarries were cited by the town for violations in […]
Well attended forum explores future of education in Vermont
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Monday night’s forum on statewide education reform, sponsored by the Chester Democratic Committee, attracted about 40 people of many political stripes. And it was remarkable for the extent to which members of the invited panel — also of different political persuasions — agreed on the problems and […]
Firings at federal heating program could impact more than 23,000 Vermont households
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Next winter could be a lot harder for hundreds of households in Windsor and Windham counties — and more than 23,000 statewide — if the federal program that provides seasonal and emergency heating assistance for low income households is not restored by the Trump administration. Last Tuesday, […]
Hands Off rally in Chester draws large, peaceful crowd
By Shawn Cunningham and Cynthia Prairie © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC A crowd of around 500 showed up on the Chester Green on chilly, gray Saturday to send a message to the Trump administration and that message was “Hands Off.” Protesters brought mostly hand-made signs that expressed the taxpayer-funded services and rights they wanted left […]
Spring ice storm knocks out power to thousands
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC As temperatures rise and shards of ice fall from the trees they have bent or broken, a drizzle of rain continues to fall while power crews work to restore electricity to thousands of customers in our area. The freezing rainstorm, which began on Saturday morning, deposited ice […]
Springfield man held on arson, more than a dozen other charges
A Springfield man was arrested on Saturday morning on more than a dozen charges, including arson in connection with a fire that destroyed a home in Athens earlier that day. Vermont State Police say that Benjamin Stocker, 33, was arrested at his home in Springfield and was being held at Southern State Correctional Facility on […]
Chester board talks forest management, finishes annual appointments
By Shawn Cunningham © Telegraph Publishing LLC Last Wednesday’s Chester Select Board meeting was partly made up of the re-organizational housekeeping that follows each year’s March Town Meeting but also looked toward the future and the work that the town needs to do. Windsor County Forester Hannah Dallas came before the board to discuss the […]
‘Wizard of Oz’ comes to GMUHS this weekend Please watch for falling houses
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC A yellow brick road will be running through the Green Mountain High auditorium this weekend as the school’s theater department presents The Wizard of Oz. Based on the classic 1939 MGM musical with music and lyrics by Harold Arlen and E.Y. ‘Yip’ Harburg, the play recounts the […]
Brisk turnout for Chester housing development open house
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC On a sunny, almost spring afternoon on Tuesday, more than 100 people gathered inside Chester’s Town Hall to attend an open house to gather the public’s opinion on ideas for developing a piece of land owned by the town for accessible and affordable housing. The presentation was […]
