All Entries in the "Featured" Category
2016 Telegraph Gift Guide: Share Your Blessings
This year, we decided that the annual Chester Telegraph Gift Guide would take a different view and look at the organizations that do so much to help others in our communities. In myriad ways, these organizations are there to help us and our families, friends and neighbors as well as the animals in our lives. […]
Surprising itself, TRSU Act 46 panel leans toward merger option
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC After more than a year of looking at the options for school consolidation, the Two Rivers Supervisory Union Act 46 Study Committee seemed to surprise itself by backing into a merger option to put before the state Board of Education and the voters of the towns in […]
GMUHS facilities chief takes new post as roof replacement plans get under way
By Stephen Seitz ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Brendan McNamara, the facilities director and transportation manager at Green Mountain Union High School, is stepping down on Dec. 30 to become town manager in Cavendish. His departures comes just as the school is embarking on a major project — the complete replacement of its 40-year-old roof. “It’s […]
Young moose breaks the ice at family pool in early morning visit
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC How do you get a yearling moose out of your swimming pool? That was the problem Chester resident Scott Tyrrell faced on Thursday morning. But with the help of Chester Police and a Vermont Game warden, the wayward animal is now back in the woods chilling with […]
Grafton addresses solar energy in Town Plan, grant for possible project
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The public vote against a proposed wind farm for Grafton in early November did not dampen the interest nor the need to address renewable energy in its Town Plan. On Monday night, the Grafton Select Board voted — 3 in favor with 2 abstaining — of backing the […]
Regional police force stalls out for ‘Mountain Towns’
CORRECTIONS: Jeanette Haight, Andover Town Clerk, has informed us that Andover actually pays $7,000 annually for five hours of policing a month. And also Al Peters was misidentified. He is the Andover Town Constable. By Bruce Frauman © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC After two meetings this fall, members of area select boards and Londonderry’s […]
Genser property buyout hung up by Fairpoint pole
By Bruce Frauman © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Bette Genser, owner of the former Barn Outlet store at Routes 11 and 100 in Londonderry, came to the Dec. 5 Londonderry Select Board meeting looking for an update on the buyout of her property after flooding from Tropical Storm Irene. She left with promises to “do […]
Andover board wrestles with Act 46, addresses relationship with Chester institutions
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing, LLC Ahead of a public information session on the Act 46 school consolidation law, the Andover Select Board on Monday got an update on the progress of efforts to “study the advisability of forming a union school district” from school board member Joe Fromberger. Pointing to a 20 […]
Parents, teachers raise new concerns over school merger plans
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC With discussions at three meetings in three towns in just two days, it seems the movement toward an Act 46 school merger plan for schools in the Two Rivers Supervisory Union may go from a walk to a trot. But, if a plan is going to be […]
Material in town right-of-way worries Weston board
By Bruce Frauman © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The three members attending the Weston Select Board meeting of Nov. 21 spent much of their time discussing how to approach a Longley Loop resident about his possessions that encroach on the town’s right-of-way. Jim Linville, who was acting as chair in Denis Benson’s absence, said the […]
Chester prohibits dual board memberships, sometimes; reviews dept. budgets
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing, LLC After nearly a year and a half of discussing a conflict of interest policy, the Chester Select Board resolved a final sticking point last Wednesday, voting to close the door on dual memberships on the Planning Commission and Development Review Boards. But they left the key under […]
Londonderry moves ahead with salt shed planning
By Bruce Frauman © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Moving ahead on plans for the construction of a salt and sand shed on the Prouty property on Route 100 between Londonderry and South Londonderry, Londonderry Select Board member Bill Wylie showed the board an engineering drawing for a wood frame shed at its Nov. 21 meeting. […]
Other issues waylay special Chester board meeting
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC What was intended to be a training session on the powers and responsibilities of the Chester Select Board and town manager, conducted by town attorney Jim Carroll, turned into a tutorial on legal aspects of several recent developments in Chester including why the Select Board believes it […]
Northshire merger panel unanimous in vote for larger district
By Bruce Frauman © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Northshire Merger Study Committee voted unanimously on Monday, Nov. 14 to recommend to the State Board of Education that a new school supervisory district be created. To be called the Taconic and Green District, it would be a part of the current Bennington-Rutland Supervisory Union. The […]
Magic deal finally closes; new owners take over
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC “The journey begins,” said Geoff Hatheway, “as an operating company, not just an investment.” Sitting in an office that looks out on the slopes of the Magic Mountain ski area on Thursday Nov. 3 Hatheway looked forward to the ski season ahead but cautioned that the closing […]
UPDATE: Presumed Saxtons River shooter surrenders without incident
UPDATE Nov. 20 5:30 p.m. According to a VSP press release, personnel from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Major Crime Unit, Uniform Division and Crime Scene Search Team worked throughout the day investigating this incident. Investigators spoke with residents, many of whom had been evacuated earlier, and documented damage which was consistent with being caused […]
Stiles Brook landowner, wind foes take a breath, consider next steps
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC While Iberdrola Renewables has said it will not move forward with a 24-turbine wind project straddling the Windham and Grafton line following a decisive vote, the owners of the 5,000-acre project site have made no such promise. When asked on Monday, what happens next, Meadowsend Timberlands’ managing forester […]
Weston finishes vote, tally in the dark; no glitches elsewhere
By Bruce Frauman ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC As if everything about this remarkable election were not enough, just after 5 p.m. on Election Day, the lights went out in Weston. With voting set to continue for nearly two more hours the Town Hall polling place was plunged into darkness. Luckily, that’s just about the time […]
Chester limits service of Select Board members, others
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC There was more than a little interest in the conflict over wording of an ethics policy for town officials and employees at Wednesday’s Chester Select Board meeting. The idea of a conflict of interest policy has been kicking around since mid-2015, when board member Heather Chase asked […]
Chester zoning administrator’s action questioned
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Calling the situation “very disconcerting,” a Chester resident told the Select Board last Wednesday, that the town’s zoning administrator had issued a building permit for a property without a clear ‘use’ as outlined in the town’s Unified Development Bylaws. Marilyn Mahusky, who has been a vocal critic […]
