Author Archive for Shawn Cunningham
Trooper tails pup that escaped after car accident
© 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Yesterday just after noon, Jacqueline Stone of Newington, Conn., was driving south on I-91 between the Springfield and Rockingham exits when she had a medical emergency. Stone drove her 2011 Toyota Sienna off the road and hit a grass embankment. Stone was taken to Springfield Hospital but her 10-month-old puppy, […]
Chester limits service of Select Board members, others
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC There was more than a little interest in the conflict over wording of an ethics policy for town officials and employees at Wednesday’s Chester Select Board meeting. The idea of a conflict of interest policy has been kicking around since mid-2015, when board member Heather Chase asked […]
Chester zoning administrator’s action questioned
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Calling the situation “very disconcerting,” a Chester resident told the Select Board last Wednesday, that the town’s zoning administrator had issued a building permit for a property without a clear ‘use’ as outlined in the town’s Unified Development Bylaws. Marilyn Mahusky, who has been a vocal critic […]
Suspicious emails to Vt. town clerks traced to Yale Law School
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC A survey by a Yale University Law School professor set town clerks throughout Vermont and election officials in at least 11 other states on edge just before Election Day, and has been pulled after the intervention of a nationwide association that represents Secretaries of State. Just one […]
Temporary bridge placed over failing Popple Dungeon culvert
By Shawn Cunningham © Telegraph Publishing LLC If you’re traveling on Popple Dungeon Road in Chester in the next couple of years, you might want to slow down just past the three-mile mark where you will find yourself driving up onto a one lane bridge sitting up on stone blocks. The town of Chester placed […]
Londonderry, Chester get tricked out for Halloween
© 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Has anyone else noticed that there have been a lot of ghosts and goblins — not to mention superheroes and pirates — roaming the streets lately? And that they all seem to have just one thing on their minds – candy? Chester and Londonderry celebrated Halloween this week each with […]
TRSU Act 46 study panel reboots, takes comments on merger proposal
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC After nearly a year of meetings focusing on planning, finance, property and governance, the Act 46 study committee for Two Rivers Supervisory Union has – in effect – gone back to the drawing board and started over. Last night in Ludlow, the committee outlined what it was […]
Chester considers sex offender ordinance, stalls on board appointments
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC While Chester’s town attorney asserted that it could “enmesh” the town in a lawsuit “that you will lose,” resident Randy Miles stressed the need for an ordinance that would limit where sex offenders could live, saying he was willing to spend taxpayer dollars fighting to keep the […]
Sparse but enthusiastic group turns out for Chester planning forum
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing, LLC If Harry Truman was right and “decisions are made by those who show up,” then on Saturday, around 50 people began charting the course for Chester’s downtown for years to come. Despite efforts by town government to bring people out to express their opinions on issues facing […]
UPDATE: One man dead, one in custody in Wardsboro shooting
UPDATE: Wednesday Oct. 19, 6:39 a.m. Vermont State Police have released the names of those involved in yesterday’s homicide in Wardsboro. Kirby Staib, 42, of Wardsboro was killed in the incident and Kevin Parker, 57, also of Wardsboro was identified as the alleged shooter. Police said in a statement this morning that the circumstances surrounding […]
Black River Produce sold to midwest food giant
By Shawn Cunningham and Cynthia Prairie © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Reinhart Foodservice, the nation’s fifth largest distributor of food to restaurants and institutions with 29 warehouses in the east, midwest and south, announced Friday that it has agreed to buy the brand names and distribution business of Springfield based Black River Produce. Some aspects […]
Jiffy Mart closes, Jiffy Mart opens
© 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC With the clock ticking up toward a 2 p.m. closing time yesterday, employees at the Jiffy Mart at Main and Depot streets in Chester were telling each customer that the store would be locking its doors for good shortly, but the new store at Main and Pleasant streets would be […]
Chester Master Plan steering committee expands to 10; other appointments on hold
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing, LLC The long awaited master planning process for downtown Chester is about to begin its year-long run and at its Oct. 5 meeting, the town’s Select Board was slated to appoint its steering committee, but there was a twist. As late as Wednesday morning at the Chester Economic […]
Fighter jets train over southern Vermont
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing, LLC Been wondering what’s up with the sounds of high-performance jet aircraft in the sky the past few days? We called around and found that it’s the 104th Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard. According their media advisory, the Guard is conducting routine training over Southern […]
Chester board hears about affordable housing, public trees and historic buildings
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Select Board did a lot of listening at its Sept. 21 meeting, with presentations on affordable housing and public trees as well as monthly financial updates and more than half an hour of public comments. Wendy Harrison, director of Development and Community Relations for the […]
Chester’s hearse moves to new, old home
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Promptly at 7 this morning, a Chester Public Works crew removed the town’s late-Victorian hearse from the small building at the Adams Funeral Home, where it has been stored and on display for many years. They then carefully pushed it down Depot Street to Main, then west […]
Chester board considers sex offender ordinance
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Two items on the agenda for Sept. 7 meeting of the Chester Select Board brought out interested residents: a proposed ordinance to limit where sex offenders could live in Chester and a discussion of whether 19 roads that are plowed and maintained by the town are in […]
Jack Coleman, force behind Chester’s Players Guild, Overture to Christmas, dies at 95
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC To the wider world, John Royston Coleman was the accomplished economist, college president, central banker, foundation executive and author who took off for the hills of Vermont to run a country inn. But to people in Chester — where he settled to run The Inn at Long […]
Vermont State Police Incident Log for Aug. 1 through Aug. 29
© 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Editor’s Note: The Vermont State Police incident report is a sampling of incidents directly from the Vermont State Police. We do not identify individual victims of crimes nor those who have been arrested. Monday, Aug. 1, Rockingham – State Police received a report of a forced entry into a garage […]
Burning tractor trailer cab closes Route 5 in Westminster
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC A smoky tractor trailer fire at the junction of Routes 123 and 5 in Westminster closed both of those roads this afternoon. According to Vermont State Police, at around 12:10, Joseph Walkins Jr., 35, of Miramar, Fla., was attempting cross over into New Hampshire with a tractor […]
