All Entries in the "Featured" Category
Friends, co-workers, residents celebrate retirement with Aldrich
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC More than 120 friends, co-workers, relatives and Chester residents turned out at the American Legion on Saturday night to celebrate Town Clerk Debbie Aldrich’s retirement after 42 years. Aldrich began working as an assistant town clerk in April 1983 and became town clerk when Sandy Walker […]
A primer: How Vermont law enforcement agencies must handle immigration issues
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Toward the end of last week’s Chester Select Board meeting, as members were discussing items for future agendas, Arne Jonynas asked what the relationship is between the Chester Police Department and federal immigration authorities in light of recent arrests of both documented and undocumented immigrants in Vermont. […]
Neighbors plead with Chester board to enforce on quarry violations
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC In an otherwise light meeting – mostly followups and housekeeping – the Chester Select Board last Wednesday heard from neighbors complaining that the Julian quarries in Gassetts were continuing to violate a signed agreement with the town. The quarries were cited by the town for violations in […]
Ludlow resident, a fugitive from Brazil, arrested on federal firearms charges
By Mike Donoghue Vermont News First BURLINGTON An international fugitive, who is wanted on a child rape charge in Brazil and has lived in the United States unlawfully for more than four years, has been arrested in Windsor County on federal firearms charges after a series of gun incidents, officials said this week. Gabriel Lopes […]
Well attended forum explores future of education in Vermont
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Monday night’s forum on statewide education reform, sponsored by the Chester Democratic Committee, attracted about 40 people of many political stripes. And it was remarkable for the extent to which members of the invited panel — also of different political persuasions — agreed on the problems and […]
Firings at federal heating program could impact more than 23,000 Vermont households
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Next winter could be a lot harder for hundreds of households in Windsor and Windham counties — and more than 23,000 statewide — if the federal program that provides seasonal and emergency heating assistance for low income households is not restored by the Trump administration. Last Tuesday, […]
Hands Off rally in Chester draws large, peaceful crowd
By Shawn Cunningham and Cynthia Prairie © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC A crowd of around 500 showed up on the Chester Green on chilly, gray Saturday to send a message to the Trump administration and that message was “Hands Off.” Protesters brought mostly hand-made signs that expressed the taxpayer-funded services and rights they wanted left […]
Spring ice storm knocks out power to thousands
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC As temperatures rise and shards of ice fall from the trees they have bent or broken, a drizzle of rain continues to fall while power crews work to restore electricity to thousands of customers in our area. The freezing rainstorm, which began on Saturday morning, deposited ice […]
Chester board talks forest management, finishes annual appointments
By Shawn Cunningham © Telegraph Publishing LLC Last Wednesday’s Chester Select Board meeting was partly made up of the re-organizational housekeeping that follows each year’s March Town Meeting but also looked toward the future and the work that the town needs to do. Windsor County Forester Hannah Dallas came before the board to discuss the […]
Brisk turnout for Chester housing development open house
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC On a sunny, almost spring afternoon on Tuesday, more than 100 people gathered inside Chester’s Town Hall to attend an open house to gather the public’s opinion on ideas for developing a piece of land owned by the town for accessible and affordable housing. The presentation was […]
Cavendish board weighing road paving options; discusses police coverage
By Lorien Strange ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Cavendish’s March Select Board meeting was also Sandra Russo’s first back on the board, having previously served from 2019 to the spring of 2023. Due to an agenda posting issue, the meeting was held on a Thursday instead of the typical second Monday of the month. After quickly […]
Isolated older Vermonters can struggle alone Visiting nurses like Weston's Regina Downer are there to help
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in Seven Days as part of “This Old State,” the paper’s yearlong series on aging in Vermont. Rachel is a Seven Days staff writer and corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. By Rachel Hellman © 2025 Seven Days As Jim’s eyesight […]
Chester board talks quarrying, STRs, future rail connections and federal funds
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC With Tuesday’s elections behind it, the Chester Select Board last Wednesday got down to its annual re-organization with a bit of a surprise. When nominations for officers were opened, long-time board chair Arne Jonynas nominated vice chair Lee Gustafson to the chairman seat. The vote of the […]
Fewer short-term rentals in Chester could indicate a softening market
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC At last week’s Chester Select Board meeting, Zoning Administrator Preston Bristow and Assistant ZA Hugh Quinn updated the board on the town’s short-term rental program, which seems to have cooled down along with the entire STR market in general. The town requires property owners who rent for […]
Collapsed Chester Police carport gone; contractor expected to foot bill for vehicle damage
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC In mid-February, the carport erected next to Chester’s Public Safety Building collapsed after a snowstorm trapping a police cruiser and an officer’s private car underneath. This past Sunday, a crew disassembled it and the cars underneath it were removed. The delay had to do with the unusual […]
Andover and Londonderry Town Meeting results
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Two area towns, voted their Town Meeting articles from the floor on Monday night and Tuesday morning. Andover Andover voters approved a $1.24 million budget, elected two new select board members along with a slate of officers running unopposed and passed half a dozen other articles on […]
At Town Meeting, Chester voters OK $4.225M budget, discuss sewer, solar bond issues Tuesday's vote: Sewer, solar field bonds approved; Roper, Knapp, Gustafson re-elected
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC More than 100 people turned out for Chester’s Town Meeting on Monday night to vote from the floor on 18 published articles including the town’s $4.225 million budget. All passed on voice votes, although some got a bit more scrutiny from the assembly than others. For results […]
GMUSD budget articles pass by varying margins
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC There were two ballots given to voters in Andover, Baltimore, Cavendish and Chester on Tuesday. The pair were proposed by the Green Mountain Unified School District but while they both passed, their vote totals were wildly different. The first was asked voters if a $357,395 surplus could […]
Chester Clerk Debbie Aldrich steps aside, but not too far away
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC In 1983, Chester Town Clerk Sandy Walker hired a 20-year-old to be her assistant. And while some in Town Hall may have felt she was too young for the responsibility, Debbie Aldrich seems to have worked out. Now, with 42 years as Assistant Town Clerk, then Town […]
A field guide to Chester’s Town Meeting Day bond votes
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC In addition to the approving the town’s $4.2 million budget and borrowing to purchase equipment and do paving, Chester voters will be asked to give vote to two bond issues totaling a little over $4.1 million. While these may look like a burden for taxpayers, if the […]
