All Entries in the "Featured" Category

Chester-Andover re-opening set for Jan. 3 4 to 6 week restoration stretched into 19
© 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Two Rivers Supervisory Union has announced that the Chester-Andover Elementary School building will reopen for students on Thursday, Jan. 3. Since early September, K-6 classes have been held at the Green Mountain High School due to a water main break in late August that destroyed the school’s electrical and […]

Weston board rejects land donation; town purchases more salt, sand to meet weather need
By Bruce Frauman © Telegraph Publishing LLC Weston Select Board on Tuesday, Dec. 11, agreed to tell the estate of a local landowner who was hoping to donate property to the town that “it is not in the best interests of the town to accept the property.” The land, owned by the estate of James […]

State outlines plans for Lowell Lake, Master Plan Derry residents concerned about noise, wildlife, safety
By Bruce Frauman © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC The 38 people attending a meeting on Monday, Dec. 10 to engage in the planning and design process for a Master Plan for Lowell Lake State Park in Londonderry for the most part expressed concern that the park is already overcrowded and environmentally vulnerable. While praising the […]

Blue skies for 2nd Annual Holiday Cookie Tour
© 2018 Telegraph Publishing, LLC The second annual holiday cookie tour went off under sunny blue skies on Sunday Dec. 9. More than 70 visitors from as far away as Rutland and Albany toured six houses, two churches and an inn, marveling at the decorations and munching on the cookies at each site. A “passport” […]

Early plan for Chester EMS building unveiled
By Cynthia Prairie ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC A preliminary plan would put Chester’s Police, Fire and Ambulance departments into a single new building on Pleasant Street and rehab the Town Garage on Depot Street solely for the Highway Department. The total cost for both projects is estimated at $4.6 million, with the new, single-story, 14,500-square-foot […]

McNamara: No ‘crime problem’ in Cavendish Weathersfield area policing plan fails to gain traction
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC There is no “crime problem” in Cavendish, said Town Manager Brendan McNamara at last night’s meeting of the town’s Select Board. “The article (in The Eagle Times) did not portray Cavendish accurately,” he added. The article, “Weathersfield may provide police service to Cavendish, Baltimore” published in the […]

Chester’s Overture rings in the holiday season
© 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC After a week of gingerbread house decorating, wood craft workshops and a craft bazaar for kids, Overture to Christmas capped off Saturday with the arrival of Santa and Mrs. Claus at the Fullerton Inn, escorted by the Chester Fire Department. The jolly old elf led the crowd in a countdown […]

Derry to re-combine town, zoning admin posts Board assesses surprise snowstorm response, recovery
By Bruce Frauman ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC In response to an applicant for the zoning administrator position, Londonderry Select Board member George Mora revealed on Monday, Dec. 3 that the board had decided to combine this open position with the town administrator, as had been the case under Robert Nied, who held both positions until […]

GMUSD budget committee weighs increases
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC With an increase in spending of more than $217,000 since the draft budget was first rolled out two weeks before, the Green Mountain Unified School District Finance Committee took its second look at the spending plan for the 2019-2020 school year in a meeting that was scheduled […]

2nd Annual Chester Holiday Cookie Tour tickets now on sale
© 2018 Telegraph Publishing, LLC Tickets for the 2nd Annual Holiday Cookie Tour, the premier adult-oriented event of Chester’s Annual Overture to Christmas – are now on sale. Last year’s tour was a sellout and tickets are expected to go fast. Main Street in Chester is lined with wonderful Victorian and Federal style homes. Visit […]

Power outages enter fourth day as new storm approaches GMP warns further outages possible, be prepared
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing, LLC For more than 2,500 Green Mountain Power customers in Southern-Central Vermont, this was another morning of waking up to find that electricity had not been restored overnight. And with final restoration slated for Saturday night, GMP is now warning of another storm that could cause outages at […]

Explainer: GMUSD FY20 budget process has begun
By Shawn Cunningham ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Thursday night, Nov. 29, the Finance Committee of the Green Mountain Unified School District will take up its 2019/2020 budget. At its last meeting, the committee called for representatives of the public to join in the work and added Jeannie Wade of Chester to the committee. The […]

Snow cripples area, thousands without power Falling trees, heavy snow hamper cleanup
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Area residents awoke on Tuesday morning to cracking tree limbs and the woosh of heavy snow cascading off those trees and roofs. They also awoke in the dark as hundreds of trees, weighed down by the wet snow, toppled onto wires and roads and snarled traffic. Schools […]

Deja vu in GMUSD budget process, public participation sought
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Anyone attending the Green Mountain Unified School District Finance Committee meeting on Nov. 15 might have been struck by a sense of deja vu, but in reality, we have been here before. Last year, after a series of meetings – mostly short, one-hour affairs just before full […]

Damaged ash removals in Derry tagged at $100,000
By Bruce Frauman ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Londonderry Tree Warden Kevin Beattie has estimated that the cost of removing ash trees along the town’s rights of way to be about $100,000 and recommended that the town set up a reserve fund to meet the challenge. At its Monday, Nov. 19, meeting, the Londonderry Select Board […]

Weston Board targets cluttered Longley Loop
By Bruce Frauman ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC After Road Foreman Almon Crandal left the Weston Select Board meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 13, board chair Denis Benson said that Crandal told him that culverts were not replaced this year because the road crew was busy with lining roads with stones, as per state flood mitigation grants. […]

Commentary: The irony of the Phoenix
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Irony – As a literary device, irony is a contrast or incongruity between expectations for a situation and what is reality… It can also be a difference between what might be expected to happen and what actually occurs. — literarydevices.com If it weren’t for the loss of […]

Chester board: Public needs more info on Tomasso property study
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing, LLC A request for the Chester Select Board to accept a $20,000 grant from the Open Space Institute at its Nov. 7 meeting sparked a lengthy discussion around the question of the town owning the 1,800-acre Tomasso property in Smokeshire and the public’s perception of what is happening. […]

Electric service bid adds weeks to CAES opening Hopes for a Thanksgiving opening fades
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC When a bolt broke on a water main flange in late August, flooding the Chester-Andover Elementary School boiler room and ruining the the infrastructure necessary to open to students the following week, officials predicted that the school would be back in service in four to six weeks […]

Misty Valley Books shut after staff apparently quits Local purchase of store from Phoenix Books abruptly ends
By Cynthia Prairie ©2018 Telegraph Publishing On Tuesday, Nov. 6, Phoenix Books Misty Valley in Chester was open. On Wednesday, Nov. 7, it was not. Sometime on Thursday, Nov. 8, it will open again, at least through the weekend. But when it will reopen again permanently is not known by the owners, who still hope […]