Author Archive for Shawn Cunningham
GM ‘better board’ training heavy on limitations Board association recommends 'hands off' posture toward administration
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The main event at last night’s Green Mountain Unified School District Board meeting was a training session for the board on being a board. Board chair Marilyn Mahusky told the meeting that she and Superintendent Meg Powden felt there was value in “bringing somebody in to help […]
Chester updated on Depot St. sidewalk project
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The main event at Wednesday’s Chester Select Board meeting – a public hearing on the federally funded sidewalk project along Depot Street – almost didn’t happen when the presenters were unable to make their PowerPoint presentation work. But when the situation seemed darkest, outgoing board member Dan […]
Ben Whalen: Chester needs to be good for people and business
By Shawn Cunningham ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Ben Whalen is seeking a fourth one-year term on the Chester Select Board after having won low-key campaigns in contested elections in 2016 and 2017 and an uncontested one in 2018. This year, Whalen’s name stands alone on the ballot for two one-year terms after incumbent Lee Gustafson […]
Scott Blair: Chester is a family town, not just a historic place
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Scott Blair sees Chester as a family town that attracts tourists, but he does not see tourism as the town’s primary economic driver. Instead, he says, that economic driver is small business and he believes the town needs to do a better job encouraging them. “The town […]
Massive ice sculpture crowns Popple Dungeon
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC In the late fall of each year, Peter Delaney erects a tall wooden framework for mounting a hose that’s fed by a spring up in the hills along Popple Dungeon Road in Chester. He caps the hose and then drills five small holes in the cap to […]
Chester man cited for child cruelty during I-91 accident probe
© 2019 Telegraph Publishing, LLC A Chester man was cited for child cruelty this afternoon when he refused to remove a child from an accident scene involving his company’s truck on I-91 northbound. According to a Vermont State Police press release, early in the investigation of the crash, Jason Carrara, 36, of Chester, arrived on […]
Chester board picks ‘design/build’ for emergency services building Reviews no bid contract with Russell Construction in executive session
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Select Board voted to go with a “design-build” process rather than traditional bidding for the proposed emergency services building, but not without objections by one member. “I believe in process and I don’t think we did our due diligence here,” said board member Heather Chase, […]
Fine winter weather for Chester Winter Carnival
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC After some years of either bitter or balmy temperatures, the Chester Winter Carnival went off this weekend under sunny skies and with comfortably cold thermometer readings. The ice rink was frozen solid as several of those playing broom hockey found when they fell. And there was even […]
Depot St. bridge construction set to begin Cold River Bridges signed to rebuild Cavendish span
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The long awaited work on the Depot Street bridge in Cavendish is right around the corner according to Town Manager Brendan McNamara, and the town is looking down the road at minimizing some of the problems it sees with having the span open again. McNamara told the […]
To the editor: Re-elect Joan Dayton for Delinquent Tax Collector
I am pleased to say that I will be running for Delinquent Tax Collector for the Town of Londonderry for 2019. In a brief background, I have lived and worked in Londonderry for over 20 years, I was born and educated in Vermont. I have a degree in Business Administration and have taken courses at […]
Michigan authorities arrest man in GM threat
© 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC A 23-year-old Michigan man was arrested yesterday in connection with an online threat made against a Green Mountain High School student and against the school on Monday, according to Vermont State Police. Police have said that the threat made on Monday, Feb. 4 was traced to a person “in the […]
GM High in lockdown; students moved to Legion
Here are links to the latest stories on the school lockdown. – When a child’s text message of love is ominous – Chief Cloud confirms two GM threats are related Green Mountain High School received a call this morning, Thursday, Feb. 7, that prompted school officials to call police. The Telegraph could not determine the […]
TRSU floats policies to govern its boards Move comes in the wake of questions by board members
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC In the wake of a number of recent meetings in which Two Rivers Supervisory Union and Green Mountain Unified School District board members have been skeptical and even critical of the decisions and priorities of administrators, the “senior management” of the supervisory union is proposing policies defining […]
After 20 years of feeding kids, Jack Carroll to hang up his apron
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC When Jack Carroll, class of 1969, joined a walkout at Chester High School, marching to the Green to encourage the town to pass the bond to build Green Mountain High, he could scarcely imagine he would later spend 20 years running the school cafeteria in the proposed […]
Chester Board OKs sending budget to voters $4.059 million plan would add 1.25 cents to property tax rate
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC With little fanfare and one dissenting vote, the Chester Select Board approved sending the 2019 general fund budget, with a $49,767 increase over last year, to the voters on Monday, March 4. The $4.059 million budget requires a tax increase of 1.25 cents per hundred of assessed value […]
GM board member: CAES staff under ‘gag order’ Asst. principal in budget going to voters for approval
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC In a sometimes tense meeting of the Green Mountain Unified School board last Thursday night, one board member said he had been told by a number of Chester-Andover Elementary teachers that they were under a “gag order,” while the head of the board indicated she was close […]
GM finance panel deadlocks, sends budget options to full board
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing, LLC On Monday night, the Two Rivers Supervisory Union board rejected the request of the Green Mountain Unified School District to reopen the SU budget and look for some cuts that would lower the district’s assessment for SU services. So on Tuesday night, the GM finance committee was […]
TRSU won’t to reopen budget for more cuts
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Two Rivers Supervisory Union board of directors, meeting on Monday night, voted 4 to 1 against reopening the SU’s budget. The Green Mountain Unified School District Finance Committee had asked the board to look at reducing the assessment it bills to the district in the committee’s […]
Ryan Stocker arraigned on two new charges Recordings of prison phone calls led police to 4th victim
By Shawn Cunningham ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC WHITE RIVER JUNCTION Authorities have added two new felony charges and a fourth victim to the cases against Ryan Stocker of Chester. Stocker, 20, was arrested on Thursday and arraigned this afternoon in Windsor County Superior Court Criminal Division in White River Junction. Stocker was first charged as […]
GMUSD panel asks TRSU to reopen its budget
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing, LLC For the second time in the two years since its inception, the Green Mountain Unified School District Finance Committee is asking the Two Rivers Supervisory Board to reopen its budget to find savings that will help reduce its funding increase from 4.31 percent or nearly half a […]
