All Entries in the "Featured" Category

Stone Village on display in Holiday Cookie Tour
© 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Ringing in the festive holiday season, from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8, visitors will have the chance to tour eight decorated homes and the Stone Church in Chester’s historic Stone Village, enjoying homemade cookies and good company. Now in its third year, the Chester Holiday Cookie Tour invites […]

Christmas trees arrive for Chester Fire Dept. sale
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Just before 8 a.m. on Black Friday, the scanner crackled to life with a loud piercing tone. “Chester Fire, Administrative tone. The truck with the trees has arrived. All available personnel to the field to unload.” And with that, a Chester holiday season tradition and a major […]

GM budget panel nixes CAES preschool, urges fund-raising for CTES playground Puts money into STEAM, literacy, early foreign language
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Green Mountain Unified School District Finance Committee rejected a number of administration initiatives on Monday night in favor of fully funding the priorities it established at a September retreat. The committee took up a two page document titled Administration Priorities, quickly calling it a “wish list.” […]

Chester board mulls cannabis sales, Historical Society loan, donation of old Jiffy Mart building
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC At the request of one member, the Chester Select Board last Wednesday took up a lengthy discussion of whether the town should ban the sales of cannabis (marijuana) if pending legalization legislation passes the Vermont House in the next session. Last January, the Vermont State Senate passed […]

Budget requests on GM finance agenda Monday include bank building, new CTES playground Panel seeks public input from Baltimore Andover, Cavendish, Chester
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC At its Nov. 12 meeting, the Green Mountain Unified School District Finance Committee expressed its desire for public participation in its decision-making and asked The Telegraph to publicize that. The Telegraph, in turn asked that all documents to be used in the meetings be made public in […]

GMUSD finance panel urges public participation
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC If you live in the Green Mountain Unified School District, the Finance Committee of the Green Mountain District Board wants you. Noting that in past budget cycles, budget committees have recruited the public to become members and bring different perspectives to the table, committee chair Deb Brown […]

News analysis: Better process would yield better school budgets
By Shawn Cunningham © Telegraph Publishing LLC Two Rivers Supervisory Union Business Manager Cheryl Hammond recently told the Green Mountain Unified School District Board that the district ended the 2018/2019 school year with a deficit of approximately $149,000 or about 1.2 percent of the overall budget. That’s not especially surprising considering the fact that among […]

Derry board mulls cannabis sales
By Bruce Frauman ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Londonderry Select Board has begun considering allowing a cannabis dispensary within town limits, should the state legislature pass S. 54, which would establish a commercial marketplace for the products in the Vermont. At the board meeting on Monday, Nov. 18, board member George Mora said it might […]

Lumber truck crash closes Rt. 11 in Chester Driver cited: was his 2nd accident in same area in five years
UPDATE – November 12, 9:52 p.m. – Vermont State Police have posted that Route 11 is now open to traffic. By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Around 1 p.m. this afternoon — Tuesday — a tractor trailer carrying lumber slid off the road into a ditch on Route 11 just west of Swett […]

Police press for more clues in Rt. 103 homicide
By Shawn Cunningham and Cynthia Prairie © 2019 Telegraph Publishing, LLC One week after a Boston truck driver was found shot to death in his produce delivery truck on Route 103 in Rockingham, a large contingent of Vermont State Police were out at the scene hoping to jog drivers’ memories to help with the investigation. […]

Londonderry to join state’s opioid lawsuit
By Bruce Frauman ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Londonderry Select Board at its meeting Monday night chose to join a Vermont lawsuit that is part of the nationwide multi-district litigation against manufacturers and distributors that created or contributed to the nationwide opioid crisis. Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan said in a letter to all Vermont […]

Chester voters OK bond for emergency services building $4.777 million project to set to begin in May 2020
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Chester voters overwhelmingly approved a $4.777 million bond issue to construct a 15,000-square-foot emergency services building on Pleasant Street and to renovate and upgrade the existing town garage. With 499 residents casting ballots on the lone issue, the bond passed 315 to 183 vote with one spoiled […]


Chester holds final info meeting on emergency services building Vote today on whether to approval $4.777 million bond issue
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC With one day to go before voting on a $4.777 million bond issue for building a new home for Chester’s fire, ambulance and police departments and renovating and upgrading the existing town garage, more than 40 residents turned up on Monday night for the last information meeting […]

Windstorm knocks out power for days
By Shawn Cunningham ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC A powerful storm on Thursday night into Friday left thousands of Green Mountain Power customers in the dark with many still powerless on Sunday morning. As of this morning — Monday — GMP was reporting 371 statewide customers without power with more than 25 percent in The Telegraph […]

Four displaced after fire damages Chester home
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC A Sunday morning fire on River Street in Chester severely damaged a house, leaving a family homeless. Neighbor Larry Reed told The Telegraph that around 10 a.m. he heard an explosion and looked outside to see the second floor porch on the green house next door — […]

Boston trucker apparently shot dead on Rt. 103 Victim pled guilty in 2017 to federal drug charges in Mass.
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC A Boston man was found dead along Route 103 in Rockingham Friday, apparently of a gunshot wound, in the truck he was driving for a Boston fruit wholesaler according to Vermont State Police. Late Friday afternoon, state police were sent to perform a welfare check on the […]

Powden releases text of speech to board, Telegraph Board members' reaction to presentation mixed
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing, LLC A speech given by Two Rivers Supervisory Union Superintendent Meg Powden but withheld from the public was released after The Chester Telegraph requested the text under a state law that protects the public’s right to know what government agencies are doing. Board members’ reaction to the speech […]

Weston board continues town worker health insurance, OKs funds for Flood Brook speed sign
By Bruce Frauman ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC During a short meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 22, the Weston Select Board voted to continue with health insurance coverage through MVP in spite of a 9 percent increase in premiums. The town insures four full-time staffers. Board member Jim Linville said the risk of exposure without insurance was […]

Derry to mull fund to tackle emerald ash borer
By Bruce Frauman ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC After considerable discussion, the Londonderry Select Board agreed on Monday, Oct. 21 to consider both an annual budget allocation and a fund that can accumulate from year to year to cope with the emerald ash borer beetle that was identified in the town in early October. The beetle […]