Author Archive for Shawn Cunningham
Andover Select Board agenda for Nov. 13
The Andover Select Board will hold its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday Nov. 13, 2023 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 October 23 meeting & October 30 hearing. 4. Public Comment (Time allowance: […]
DRB hears objections to Julian Materials’ permit
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Monday, Oct. 23, Chester’s Development Review Board continued its hearing on a conditional use permit application by Julian Materials to make changes in the use and operations of its three quarries in Gassetts. And with the next session not scheduled until Monday, Dec. 11, it’s looking […]
Londonderry woman arrested after rifle fire
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC A Londonderry woman is facing charges of reckless endangerment and first-degree aggravated domestic assault after a rifle was fired in the town Sunday night. No one was injured. According to the Vermont State Police, Ivory King, 34, of Londonderry, fired a rifle outside the home of a […]
GMUSD board actions on mascot appeal lacking in transparency
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Anyone hoping for a bit more clarity on the issue of the Green Mountain Unified School District’s hiring a law firm for the appeals of its decision that the use of the name Chieftain does not violate its own policy would be disappointed after last Thursday’s board […]
Chester board issues health order on Potash Brook Road house
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last Wednesday’s Chester Select Board meeting would have been a simple housekeeping session with members signing loan documents, approving a grant application and passing on a liquor license renewal. But preceding the housekeeping session, the board held a health order hearing regarding the house on Potash Brook […]
Quarry hearing focuses on noise, unanswered questions
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC One neighbor leaving last Wednesday’s Development Review Board hearing on the Julian Materials in Gassetts said his head was buzzing. It was not because of the noise of extracting stone but rather the complex and technical noise assessment presented by Eddie Duncan of RSG Inc. of White […]
Report: GM PCB levels under control; long, complex cleanup ahead
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The results of air monitoring and sampling as well as identifying sources of PCBs at Green Mountain High that took place over the summer are in and the report is a mixed bag. While some areas – especially the caulking around windows – are registering quite quite […]
State action on Chieftain appeal looks stalled
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC While the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District board has stopped paying for an attorney to defend its Chieftain name, appeals to the Vermont Agency of Education, which could permanently settle the issue of whether the name violates school policy, appear to have stalled. The […]
GM board votes to stop attorney’s defense of ‘Chieftain’ for now
By Shawn Cunningham ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Board of Directors of the Green Mountain Unified School District voted 6 to 3 last night to stop paying an attorney and have him halt work representing the board to defend the Chieftain mascot in an appeal before the state Agency of Education. Instead, the board will […]
Chester Select Board to explore offering benefits to full-time Whiting Library staff
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC While last Wednesday’s Chester Select Board agenda was short, it yielded a lot of discussion and some progress on a couple of long-standing issues. Whiting Library Board chair Matt Gorsky came before the board to ask for “some reasonable accommodation” to get benefits for the library’s two […]
Carrara arraigned on child sex charges, held without bail
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Appearing via video conference from Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield, Jason Carrara of Chester was arraigned Monday, Sept. 25 by Judge John R. Treadwell in the Windham County Superior Court in Brattleboro. Representing Carrara, attorney Brian Marsicovetere entered a plea of not guilty to a charge […]
Despite long agenda, GM board meets for 7 minutes; legal fees go unaddressed
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Thursday night’s Green Mountain Unified School District Board meeting ended almost as soon as it began. The board adjourned slightly more than seven minutes into the meeting over how to handle an agenda item regarding the appeal of its May 18 decision that the name Chieftain does […]
Chester man arrested on child sex charge
By Shawn Cunningham © Telegraph Publishing LLC Police arrested a Chester man today, Sunday, Sept. 24, on a charge of aggravated sexual assault on a child. According to the Chester Police, 40-year-old Jason Carrara surrendered at the Public Safety Building on Pleasant Street and was processed before being taken to Southern State Correctional Facility to […]
Drunk driver pleads to reduced charges in 2022 crash that injured Chester business owner
By Shawn Cunningham ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The drunk driver who ran head-on into a Chester business owner in a snowstorm on Route 103 near Gassetts in March 2022 plead guilty to a reduced charge in Windsor County Superior Court last Monday. Travis Stella of Wilton, Conn., was charged with driving under the influence and […]
DRB holds first hearing on permits for Julian quarries Site visits set for Sept. 25
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Development Review Board hearings are quasi-judicial proceedings that can be quiet, formal affairs that consist of taking testimony and checking boxes. But they can also be confrontational and charged with emotion when people disagree over development plans. The latter was what Chester DRB chair Bob Greenfield was […]
Chieftain defense costs top $10,000 thus far Hearings with three appellants have yet to be scheduled
By Shawn Cunningham ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Green Mountain Unified School District thus far has spent $10,000 defending its decision to continue using the word Chieftain as a mascot name, and a hearing before the Agency of Education has yet to be held. Once the hearing gets under way, those costs are expected to […]
Chester board bans new, unhosted short-term rentals for six months
By Shawn Cunningham ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Wednesday night, after much discussion and public comment, the Chester Select Board voted to impose a six-month moratorium on new unhosted short-term rentals beginning on Oct. 1. The suggestion for the moratorium came from Zoning Administrator Preston Bristow, who pointed out that there are seven such rentals […]
Remote meeting styles evolve with good and bad experiences, technology
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The recent move by Green Mountain Unified School District Board to prohibit comment from those who attend its meetings by Zoom – including board members – prompts the question of where other boards stand on the issue of remote vs. in-person meetings and what goes into […]
Community Garden installs sign by artist Jamie Townsend
© 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last week, gardeners gathered at the Chester Community Garden to mark the installation of a new sign created by Springfield artist Jamie Townsend, whose colorful, farm-related work has been on display on buildings throughout the area. Two of his paintings hang on the front wall of Erskine’s Grain and Garden. […]
Cavendish member objects to GM board changes to Zoom meetings Lisa Sanders to join Cavendish representation on GM board
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC While the Green Mountain Unified School District Board finally filled the open seat for a Cavendish representative at its Thursday, Aug. 17 meeting, another issue came to light that has the potential to further inflame the relationship among the district’s towns: restricting public comment to those attending […]
