All Entries in the "Featured" Category
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 […]
Brisk turnout for cold, rainy midterm contests
By Cynthia Prairie ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Tuesday’s General Election had three strikes against it: Most Vermont races – from U.S. Congress to the governor’s mansion and the State House – were pretty much foregone conclusions even before Tuesday and wouldn’t make a huge impact on the national scene; Mid-terms are usually ho-hum affairs that […]
Compromised electric to be replaced at CAES Planned conduit was never installed; more digging needed
By Shawn Cunningham and Cynthia Prairie © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Green Mountain Unified School District board held a special meeting on Monday night to discuss a new wrinkle in repairing the problems caused by flooding at Chester-Andover Elementary and returning 243 pupils to their classrooms. While schools officials are still hoping to reopen […]
Derry board mulls administrative openings, police coverage
By Bruce Frauman ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC The majority of the business done by the Londonderry Select Board on Monday, Nov. 5 was handled in executive session to discuss personnel issues and compensation concerning filling the positions that Robert Nied’s departure on Nov. 1 left open. For the past year, he has served as town […]
After four-year hiatus, Seesaw’s rides again
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC We usually say that it’s easier to tell you what hasn’t been retained than what has,” says Kim Prins as she begins to give a tour of the new Seesaw’s Lodge in Peru. As late as 2014, Johnny Seesaw’s Restaurant was a local institution with a storied […]
Derry bear was ready for his close-up
By Cynthia Prairie ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC It’s not every day that a Vermonter gets to shoot a bear up-close without inflicting bodily harm on the bear, but that is exactly what Londonderry resident Julie Adams did on Sunday morning. Adams was fast asleep when, around 12:15 a.m., she was awakened to the barks of […]
GMUSD board talks CAES repairs, next year’s budget
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Bfore getting down to a long agenda at its Oct. 18 meeting, the Green Mountain Union School Board heard an update on the progress of repairing the damage done to Chester-Andover Elementary by two flooding incidents caused by plumbing system breaks. CAES Facilities Director Jim Spaulding told […]
Chester board OKs small-scale retail gas sales, several roads as snowmobile route connectors
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC With just a three-member quorum present, the Chester Select Board set aside work on its “visioning process,” which is part of its budgeting priorities efforts, for another meeting and stuck to the housekeeping items on the agenda for its Oct. 17, including adoption of a zoning change, […]
