
Chester Select Board holds conflict of interest seminar
© 2016 Telegraph Publishing, LLC The Chester Select Board will hold a special meeting on Thursday May 19 at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 556 Elm Street. The meeting will be a seminar on conflict of interest conducted by Garrett Baxter, an attorney with the Vermont League of Cities and Towns. This is a public […]

Reeds sell iconic Misty Valley Books to another Vt. independent
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC This morning, a Chester institution changed hands as Bill and Lynne Reed sold Misty Valley Books, which they have owned for 15 years, to Michael DeSanto and Renee Reiner, the owners of Phoenix Books, an independent bookseller with stores in Essex, Burlington and Rutland. In an interview […]

New uses in all districts in proposed Chester zoning changes; public hearing May 16
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Monday, May 16 at 7 p.m., the Chester Planning Commission will hold a public hearing at Town Hall, 556 Elm St., to receive comments on substantial alterations to the town’s zoning regulations less than two years after sweeping changes were adopted by the Chester Select Board. […]

Chester Select Board mulls offer to accept Yosemite Firehouse
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Saying that it needed an answer sooner than later because it has two other parties interested in the property, the Chester Historical Society formally offered to give the Yosemite Firehouse to the Town of Chester at the May 4 Select Board meeting. The organization included all of […]

Nine firms bid on Chester downtown masterplanning
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC When all of the responses to Chester’s Request for Proposals were opened on Friday, nine firms had put their names forward hoping to be the consultant who leads the town’s Village Center Master Plan process. Town Manager David Pisha and Executive Assistant Julie Hance said they were […]

Weston doctor arrested on drug fraud charges
© 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Vermont State Police are alleging that Dr. Melanie M. Canon, 49, of Weston prescribed opioid pain relievers to patients, then retrieved the drugs from the pharmacy, never delivered them and kept the drugs for her own use. In a press release today, Sgt. Thomas Mozzer of VSP’s Drug Diversion Unit […]

Construction springs up throughout Chester this summer
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC In addition to road closures for bridge work in Weston and culvert work in Andover with paving all around the area, Chester will be busy with construction on municipal and private jobs all summer. Work on a new Jiffy Mart and the Dollar General has begun and […]

Windham house destroyed in afternoon blaze
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC By the time firefighters reached the house at the top of Windham Springs Road Tuesday afternoon it was entirely ablaze, said Windham Fire Chief Rick Weitzel who was in command at the scene. “The walls were still standing, but the roof was gone and the garage was […]

Spate of fires — and an odd emergency call — take a toll on firefighters
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Monday morning, Chester Fire Chief Matt Wilson told a visitor that he hoped for “significant rain” to relieve the dry conditions that have contributed to a rash of brush and forest fires in recent days. In addition to working four days on two separate fires on […]

Chester to host Red Nose Day May 26; Hearse House rehab progresses
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC There are red letter days and red flag days, but having gotten the approval of the Chester Select Board to hold a walkathon on The Green at the April 20 meeting, a group of local volunteers will bring a “Red Nose Day” to town next month. Going […]

Ascutney motel on fire; at least 10 agencies respond
UPDATE: Ascutney command has reported that 15 rooms in the center of the motel have collapsed and that they are fighting the fires on the north and south ends of the building. More fire companies have been called to cover the stations of those already on the scene. © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Emergency scanner […]

UPDATE – Forest fire hits Missing Link Road
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC More than 25 pieces of firefighting equipment from 13 departments lined Missing Link Road (Route 5) in Springfield this afternoon as more than of 40 firefighters worked in the woods up the steep incline from the road. According to Springfield Fire Chief Russ Thompson, who was incident […]

3-alarm brush fire in Londonderry draws large response
UPDATE: The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation has posted today’s predicted fire danger as “High” for the state, but has noted that it may be “Very High” in southern Vermont due to higher winds. Open burning requires a permit from your town fire warden. By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Fire […]

Fire danger high today, may be higher this weekend
© 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The National Weather Service and several Vermont agencies are announcing that this weekend a high danger of brush and forest fires will exist. With just a few days sunny days with lower humidity and higher winds, dead grass, leaves and brush can become prime fuel for fires. These agencies are […]

Select board hears of fund-raising event for Chester kids; again questions Academy Building lease
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The agenda for last Wednesday’s Chester Select Board meeting looked mostly like routine housekeeping: grant applications to sign, a couple of liquor licenses to renew, the annual update of the local emergency plan and a review of new cemetery policies. But the meeting was anything but routine. […]

Andover Town Clerk Linda Bargfrede to retire
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Andover Town Clerk Linda Bargfrede announced on Monday night that she would be retiring from her post effective June 1. “You know I have been thinking about this for a while,” Bargfrede told the Andover Select Board. For a number of reasons, I think this is the […]

Vermont State Police Log for April: Feb. 2- March 31, 2016
© 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Editor’s Note: The Vermont State Police incident report is a sampling of incidents directly from Vermont State Police. We do not identify individual victims of crimes nor those who have been arrested. Tuesday, Feb. 2, Londonderry — A caretaker reported that someone had broken into a barn in the Landgrove […]

Grafton Select Board tussles over wind project issues
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Grafton Select Board zipped through the first seven items on its Monday, April 4 agenda with unanimous votes and even some friendly banter, but got mired on the next two, which asked if a lawyer should be hired to represent the town and if the Select […]

Break-in in Windham; police ask for help
© 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Vermont State Police are reporting that on Sunday April 3, they were called to investigate a burglary at a house on Abbott Road in Windham. At this time, the only thing that seems to have been taken is a 55-inch flat screen television. The crime occurred on the night […]

Andover board accepts culvert bids, work to begin in summer
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC In a brief meeting Monday night, the Andover Select Board accepted the low bids of Ameden Construction of Jamaica for three culvert projects to be started in June. Consulting engineer Everett Hammond pointed to the complexity of the culvert work done last year on Lowell Lake Road […]