Author Archive for Shawn Cunningham
Chester board member calls budget increase ‘insidiously dangerous’
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Calling the $43,500 increase over last year’s budget “insidiously dangerous,” Chester Select Board member Dan Cote read from a prepared statement at Tuesday night’s special meeting to work on finalizing the town’s spending plan. Referring to “our inability to manage a budget,” Cote called the 1 percent […]
Magic Mtn. opens lift to mid-mountain
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Decades after its construction was begun, Magic Mountain’s Green Chair lift took its first skiers to mid-mountain on Saturday. Just before 2 p.m., resort President Geoff Hatheway christened the lift with a bottle of sparkling wine to the cheers of a patient group of skiers who had […]
Potash Brook home looks to be a total loss
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Firefighters are saying that a fire late Friday afternoon destroyed a home at 3 Potash Brook Road in Chester. Eleven fire departments and the Chester Ambulance service responded to the blaze and one minor injury to a firefighter was reported. Chester Fire Chief Matt Wilson said on […]
Kidnapping, sex assault suspect captured in Pa. Arrest made following car chases, crash near Philadelphia
© 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC A man suspected of abducting a woman and child in New Hampshire and then sexually assaulting the woman at a Vermont hotel has been taken into custody following a car chase Sunday evening outside Philadelphia. Everett Simpson, 41, faces extradition to Vermont following his arrest by the Upper Darby Township […]
Afternoon blaze engulfs Potash Brook home
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing, LLC When Andover Road resident Debbie Richardson arrived home from work just after 4 p.m. on Friday, she noticed smoke at the house across the stream, but thought it might be an outdoor fire. As she got closer, Richardson realized her neighbor’s house was on fire and called […]
News Analysis: Oversight or overreach by TRSU board
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC As the Two Rivers Supervisory Union prepares to return to its board on Thursday, Jan. 3 with a level funded budget for FY20, resistance to one item has cropped up over and over and that seems to be telling a larger story with larger questions. Namely, what […]
Troopers, off-roaders team up to help Santa bring cheer to kids at Kurn Hattin Homes
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Santa Claus and one of his elves weren’t the only ones in uniform at the Kurn Hattin Homes in Westminster last week as Vermont State Troopers from the Westminster State Police Barracks joined the jolly one to deliver toys and books to the kindergarten through fifth grade […]
Chester board looks to stem tax increase Asks Town Manager Pisha for department cuts
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Staring at a budget gap that amounts to an additional 4 cents on the tax rate, the Chester Select Board sent Town Manager David Pisha back to department heads with the message that cuts would be needed. With most of the town’s revenue in and most of […]
Big kids, little kids pose on last day together at GM Elementary pupils set to move back to CAES on Jan. 3
© 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC On what is expected to be the final day that Green Mountain High School students will share their space with Chester-Andover Elementary students displaced by flooding damage in August, everyone got together in the gymnasium on Friday for the first K-12 photo since who knows when. As each class arrived […]
GMUSD reschedules tonight’s finance meeting Next budget meeting on for Jan. 8
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC In an email this morning, Green Mountain Unified School District Board chair Marilyn Mahusky informed members that tonight’s finance committee meeting scheduled for the hour before the full board meeting was being canceled. The full board meeting will go on as scheduled at 6 p.m. at Green […]
Required spending vexes GM finance panel Tasks administration with finding cuts, lowering increases
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC After four meetings, the Green Mountain Unified School District’s Finance Committee elected to punt last Thursday night. Staring down a nearly 6 percent increase for the 2020 fiscal year (which begins on July 1, 2019) the board sent the budget back to the administration with the directive […]
Ripley resigns as Cavendish emergency chief
By Shawn Cunningham © Telegraph Publishing LLC Cavendish Select Board member Mike Ripley forgot his homework, but board chair Robert Glidden gave him a sheet of paper to recreate it before the board could move to accept his resignation as the town’s Emergency Management coordinator. Ripley had left the original on his computer. Ripley, whose […]
McNamara: No ‘crime problem’ in Cavendish Weathersfield area policing plan fails to gain traction
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC There is no “crime problem” in Cavendish, said Town Manager Brendan McNamara at last night’s meeting of the town’s Select Board. “The article (in The Eagle Times) did not portray Cavendish accurately,” he added. The article, “Weathersfield may provide police service to Cavendish, Baltimore” published in the […]
GMUSD budget committee weighs increases
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC With an increase in spending of more than $217,000 since the draft budget was first rolled out two weeks before, the Green Mountain Unified School District Finance Committee took its second look at the spending plan for the 2019-2020 school year in a meeting that was scheduled […]
2nd Annual Chester Holiday Cookie Tour tickets now on sale
© 2018 Telegraph Publishing, LLC Tickets for the 2nd Annual Holiday Cookie Tour, the premier adult-oriented event of Chester’s Annual Overture to Christmas – are now on sale. Last year’s tour was a sellout and tickets are expected to go fast. Main Street in Chester is lined with wonderful Victorian and Federal style homes. Visit […]
Power outages enter fourth day as new storm approaches GMP warns further outages possible, be prepared
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing, LLC For more than 2,500 Green Mountain Power customers in Southern-Central Vermont, this was another morning of waking up to find that electricity had not been restored overnight. And with final restoration slated for Saturday night, GMP is now warning of another storm that could cause outages at […]
Explainer: GMUSD FY20 budget process has begun
By Shawn Cunningham ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Thursday night, Nov. 29, the Finance Committee of the Green Mountain Unified School District will take up its 2019/2020 budget. At its last meeting, the committee called for representatives of the public to join in the work and added Jeannie Wade of Chester to the committee. The […]
Chester will open warming shelter if needed Fire Department will go door-to-door tonight
© 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC At 5:30 this evening, the Chester Fire Department will go door-to-door to households affected by the widespread power outages brought on by heavy snows asking if anyone needs to go to a warming shelter tonight. The trucks will have their emergency lights on so that residents will know who is […]
Snow cripples area, thousands without power Falling trees, heavy snow hamper cleanup
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Area residents awoke on Tuesday morning to cracking tree limbs and the woosh of heavy snow cascading off those trees and roofs. They also awoke in the dark as hundreds of trees, weighed down by the wet snow, toppled onto wires and roads and snarled traffic. Schools […]
Deja vu in GMUSD budget process, public participation sought
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Anyone attending the Green Mountain Unified School District Finance Committee meeting on Nov. 15 might have been struck by a sense of deja vu, but in reality, we have been here before. Last year, after a series of meetings – mostly short, one-hour affairs just before full […]
