Author Archive for Shawn Cunningham
Green Up Day funded; police, insurance budget concerns and solar farm discussion continues
By Shawn Cunningham If the Nov. 20 Chester Select Board meeting had a theme, it was “green,” with issues being discussed including next year’s budget (money), Green Up Day (conservation) and new information on the perennial topic of the solar farm on town land (clean energy). Chester resident and teacher Frank Kelley went before […]
Chester Select Board considers reviving solar farm proposal
By Shawn Cunningham After closing the door on a solar project on town land in a 3-2 vote at a previous meeting, the Chester Select Board re-opened the topic for further discussion last Wednesday night, Nov.6. Board member Bill Lindsay, who moved to accept the terms set out by project developer Green Lantern at […]
Chester Select Board says ‘it’s curtains’ for solar farm on town land
By Shawn Cunningham After a year of gathering information and deliberating, the Chester Select Board last Wednesday closed the door on the construction of a solar farm on town land across Route 103 North from Trebo Road. Earlier, at its Oct. 9 meeting, the board had expected to hear from the Luke Schullenberger – […]
SoVera observatory up and running on private land
By Shawn Cunningham Ron Jackson was in good spirits despite the heavy cloud cover as he rolled back the roof on his “new” observatory on a hill in Gassetts. There wouldn’t be any stars visible, so he trained his Celestron “orange tube” Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope on a pine tree several hundred feet away and invited a […]
Solar contract decision still hanging; VAST gets OK for trail through town forest
The Chester Select Board last Wednesday expected a presentation from Green Lantern Capital regarding financial details of its proposed solar farm on town land on Route 103 at Trebo Road. But Luke Schullenberger, the company’s founder and managing partner, was taken ill. Instead, Mike Wigham of Integrated Solar, which would be contracted to build the […]
Select Board mashup: Town solar farm now a question; supervisory union budget transparency questioned and answering a question: Who hired the consultant?
By Shawn Cunningham The Chester Select Board seems to be talking itself out of a solar farm deal that it has been working on for the past eight months. During its meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 18, board member Derek Suursoo kicked off the discussion on the proposed solar farm — slated for town land off […]
Issues over proposed bylaws returned to Planning Commission; Missing Link Bridge to be rebuilt
By Shawn Cunningham For the second meeting in a row, on Wednesday Sept. 4, the Chester Select Board went immediately into executive session. The closed door session was to talk with candidates for the positions of Lister and Planning Commission member. The board entered executive session at 7:07 and returned at 7:29 p.m.after which they […]
Study author recommends adding officers to Chester Police force
By Shawn Cunningham In a presentation to the Chester Select Board on Wednesday, Aug. 21, Doug Hoyt, a former police chief of Montpelier, suggested that the Chester Police Department staff should grow by two officers, to six total. Hoyt conducted a study of the police department under the auspices of the Vermont League of Cities […]
Select Board OKs business loan for carver Pinske, bond amount for portion of gravel pit restoration
By Shawn Cunningham While the Chester Select Board had a quorum of three for its Wednesday, Aug. 7 meeting, the absence of two members who had attended the July 17 meeting combined with the presence of one member who had not lead to complications in completing an economic development loan discussed at that previous meeting. […]
Bryan Ballinger is trying to raise a STINK!
By Shawn Cunningham With an Aug. 8 deadline approaching on his Kickstarter funding campaign, former Chester resident Bryan “Breadwig” Ballinger is optimistic that he will raise the $20,000 needed to publish his “scratch and sniff” children’s book, Animal Gas. At press time, his appeal to help produce the allegory on how we perceive our ourselves […]
Under perfect skies, 41 graduate from GMUHS
ON THE COVER: Ann-Marie Toussaint gets a kiss from her nephew during graduation ceremonies. The 41 members of the Green Mountain Union High School Class of 2013 graduated under perfect skies on Friday evening, June 21 on the grounds of the school. In attendance were family and friends of the graduates as well as members […]
Apartment application, sand & gravel extraction proposed before DRB
The Chester Development Review Board took a look at two new conditional use permit applications during its Monday, June 24 meeting. After a site visit to 18 S. Main St., the board accepted the application and exhibits for Scarlett Veil, LLC, a company owned by the Meyer family,for a renovation and adaptive reuse of a […]
A day to remember those who died in service
Chester observed Memorial Day on the traditional “Decoration Day” of May 30th with a parade, prayers, gun salutes, speeches, wreath layings and other ceremonies. The day was warm and sunny as bands from Chester-Andover Elementary and Green Mountain Union High schools played and marched from the North Street Cemetery to the Brook Side Cemetery and […]
Chester detective injured at fire scene
By Shawn Cunningham Chester Police Det. Matt Wilson was injured Sunday, May 5 when the concussion from the exploding tire on a burning loader knocked him to the ground. The Chester Fire Department and Chester Ambulance Service were called out around 5 p.m. for an equipment fire at Rhoman-Wai Farm on Green Mountain Turnpike. According […]
Season’s Greenings
The long winter has finally ended but the weather has been holding us in a limbo of lukewarm days and cold nights — not what most Southern Vermonters are looking for so long after maple sugaring has ended. Still, the signs are here and, on Tuesday, Shawn Cunningham ventured out camera in hand to capture […]
Burtco proposes five-bay car wash for Route 103 S.
By Shawn Cunningham On Monday night, the Chester Development Review Board reconvened a hearing on a conditional use permit for a five-bay car wash to be built and operated on Route 103 south. The facility, which will have two automatic and three self-serve bays will be owned and operated by Burtco and is proposed for […]
4th public-private solar proposal aired; economic development plan suggested; Missing Link Bridge in question
By Shawn Cunningham During its April 3 meeting, the Chester Select Board heard from a fourth company proposing to put a solar farm on town land on Route 103N across from Trebo Road, discussed a four-page economic development plan for the town and considered not replacing Missing Link Bridge, this following 20 minutes of correcting […]
Sugar house spark ignites hillside fire
Richard Root of Green Mountain Turnpike was just finishing up sugaring for the season, cleaning and rinsing his equipment around 2:30 p.m. Sunday, April 7th, when he noticed smoke. The hillside adjacent to his sugar house had caught fire – due to a stray spark from his smokestack. According to Root, within 10 minutes, the […]
Red feeders have local guano harvesters seeing green
By Shawn Cunningham As April 1st arrives, the advent of spring makes many think ahead to a season of rebirth and growth. Gardeners are starting plants indoors and planning vegetable beds, while sugarhouses steam and farmers prepare their manure spreaders. At the same time, one little known part of Vermont’s agricultural economy prepares for the […]
GMUHS students present past at History Symposium
Green Mountain Union High School held its History Symposium on Wednesday, March 13. Dozens of students exhibited panels, slideshows, interact displays and documentaries that they produced as an adjunct to their classroom history studies. The students made presentations and answered questions from visitors. Topics ranged from indentured servitude to Elvis Presley.
