All Entries in the "Featured" Category
GM board votes to stop attorney’s defense of ‘Chieftain’ for now
By Shawn Cunningham ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Board of Directors of the Green Mountain Unified School District voted 6 to 3 last night to stop paying an attorney and have him halt work representing the board to defend the Chieftain mascot in an appeal before the state Agency of Education. Instead, the board will […]
Chester Select Board to explore offering benefits to full-time Whiting Library staff
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC While last Wednesday’s Chester Select Board agenda was short, it yielded a lot of discussion and some progress on a couple of long-standing issues. Whiting Library Board chair Matt Gorsky came before the board to ask for “some reasonable accommodation” to get benefits for the library’s two […]
Despite long agenda, GM board meets for 7 minutes; legal fees go unaddressed
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Thursday night’s Green Mountain Unified School District Board meeting ended almost as soon as it began. The board adjourned slightly more than seven minutes into the meeting over how to handle an agenda item regarding the appeal of its May 18 decision that the name Chieftain does […]
Drunk driver pleads to reduced charges in 2022 crash that injured Chester business owner
By Shawn Cunningham ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The drunk driver who ran head-on into a Chester business owner in a snowstorm on Route 103 near Gassetts in March 2022 plead guilty to a reduced charge in Windsor County Superior Court last Monday. Travis Stella of Wilton, Conn., was charged with driving under the influence and […]
A bird’s eye view of the Chester Fall Festival
©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Thanks to drone pilot Tuck Wunderle, The Telegraph took an early Sunday morning flight over the 2023 Chester Fall Festival on the Green in beautiful Chester. The festival was held Saturday, Sept. 16 and Sunday, Sept. 17. Weather concerns might have held some people back on Saturday, but Sunday saw […]
DRB holds first hearing on permits for Julian quarries Site visits set for Sept. 25
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Development Review Board hearings are quasi-judicial proceedings that can be quiet, formal affairs that consist of taking testimony and checking boxes. But they can also be confrontational and charged with emotion when people disagree over development plans. The latter was what Chester DRB chair Bob Greenfield was […]
Chieftain defense costs top $10,000 thus far Hearings with three appellants have yet to be scheduled
By Shawn Cunningham ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Green Mountain Unified School District thus far has spent $10,000 defending its decision to continue using the word Chieftain as a mascot name, and a hearing before the Agency of Education has yet to be held. Once the hearing gets under way, those costs are expected to […]
GM School Board chair Brown reverses course; to allow comment on Zoom — with stipulations
By Cynthia Prairie ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Just hours after The Chester Telegraph published an article stating that the Green Mountain Unified School District Board would no longer allow comments from the public and board members who were attending a meeting remotely, the school board chair reversed course to allow remote comments after all. The […]
Chester board bans new, unhosted short-term rentals for six months
By Shawn Cunningham ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Wednesday night, after much discussion and public comment, the Chester Select Board voted to impose a six-month moratorium on new unhosted short-term rentals beginning on Oct. 1. The suggestion for the moratorium came from Zoning Administrator Preston Bristow, who pointed out that there are seven such rentals […]
Remote meeting styles evolve with good and bad experiences, technology
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The recent move by Green Mountain Unified School District Board to prohibit comment from those who attend its meetings by Zoom – including board members – prompts the question of where other boards stand on the issue of remote vs. in-person meetings and what goes into […]
2023 Guide to Chester’s Fall Festival on the Green
© 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Festival on the Green is a weekend filled with music, great arts and crafts, good food and friends set in the charming Vermont town of Chester. Editor’s Note: Please return often to check for updates to music, farm events and vendors. Now in its 48th year, the Festival […]
Cavendish member objects to GM board changes to Zoom meetings Lisa Sanders to join Cavendish representation on GM board
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC While the Green Mountain Unified School District Board finally filled the open seat for a Cavendish representative at its Thursday, Aug. 17 meeting, another issue came to light that has the potential to further inflame the relationship among the district’s towns: restricting public comment to those attending […]
Attorney General Clark brings warning about recovery scams to southern Vermont
By Cara Philbin ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark hit the road last week to hear from southern Vermont residents impacted by the July floods. Together with Vermont Senate Majority leader Alison Clarkson who represents Windsor County, Stephen Clark of the Small Business Association and Emily McDonnell, a small business advocate in […]
Chester residents call for more short-term rental regulations
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last Wednesday, several Chester residents attended the Select Board meeting to tell members that they want more regulation of short-term rentals before it’s too late and that neighborhoods like the Stone Village are full of “empty houses for tourists.” The topic was on the board’s agenda because […]
Chester to bypass vendor, roll out first phase of STR registration applications No implementation dates from swamped Granicus
By Shawn Cunningham ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last Friday’s “kick off” meeting with Granicus, the company that Chester hired to establish and manage its short-term rental registry, has spurred the town to seek an old-school route while waiting for the more hi-tech segments to be created. “Alex bravely answered our questions and stayed chipper,” Zoning […]
Path of Least Resistance: Flood survivors struggle between the government maze or going it alone Business owners face a different road to recovery
By Cara Philbin ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The federal government unveiled its new Disaster Recovery Center in Springfield last Friday under yet another deluge of rain and crackling thunderstorms, a seemingly new normal for this part of New England. Visitors to this new center, at 100 River St. in the Springfield Health Center, one of […]
What to know about emergency business gap funding
The Vermont Department of Economic Development has announced additional details and guidelines for the Business Emergency Gap Assistance Program. This $20 million grant program is intended to help businesses and nonprofits restore, reopen, and bring their employees back to work after suffering physical damages to their property beginning on July 7, 2023, when severe storms […]
CAES sustained minor damage during floods Other TRSU schools in good shape; all to open on time
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The area rumor mill was working overtime as people have added their own interpretations to a story about flood damage in Vermont schools that ran in VT Digger a week after the July 10 floods. With the Digger article attributing “major damage” to the school, one such […]
Work on Chester’s delayed short-term rental registry to move forward
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Implementing a short-term rental registry has been a more daunting task than Chester’s town government had expected. More than five months after signing a contract to provide Chester a short-term rental registration program that was planned to launch by April, Granicus told the town on July 13 […]
Weston Theater cancels last two shows;
‘Singin’ in the Rain’ moving to Walker Farm Financial losses multiply as damage to Playhouse, other buildings mount
By Cynthia Prairie ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The damage to the Weston Playhouse from the July 10 flooding was so severe that the Weston Theater Company is canceling its last two shows and moving Singin’ in the Rain from the Playhouse to Walker Farm as the final show of the season. This will allow the […]
