All Entries in the "Featured" Category
Andover Town Clerk Linda Bargfrede to retire
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Andover Town Clerk Linda Bargfrede announced on Monday night that she would be retiring from her post effective June 1. “You know I have been thinking about this for a while,” Bargfrede told the Andover Select Board. For a number of reasons, I think this is the […]
Grafton Select Board tussles over wind project issues
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Grafton Select Board zipped through the first seven items on its Monday, April 4 agenda with unanimous votes and even some friendly banter, but got mired on the next two, which asked if a lawyer should be hired to represent the town and if the Select […]
Road work to impact driving around Andover, Londonderry, Weston this summer
By Christopher Biddle © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Residents of and visitors to Andover, Londonderry and Weston may find it slow going on the roads this summer in part, ironically, because of the mild winter that just ended. The Vermont Department of Transportation and local municipalities may be rolling out a larger than usual number […]
Volunteer who found dead cat last year, veterinarian who saw it Friday dispute ‘bucket of water’ claim
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC A volunteer at Webster’s House and the veterinarian who was on scene Friday are independently disputing a weekend news report that a dead cat found on the site that afternoon was “wrapped in a plastic bag, floating in a bucket of water in back of the building.” And […]
Webster’s House animal shelter to close; State’s Attorney’s office considers cruelty complaint
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Webster’s House animal shelter, the 16-year-old Chester organization that specialized in rescuing cats, has been asked by its longtime landlord to vacate its home at 1758 Route 103 South by July 1, according to shelter manager Mary Donaldson. In preparation for the closing, Webster’s House, formerly known at […]
Andover board accepts culvert bids, work to begin in summer
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC In a brief meeting Monday night, the Andover Select Board accepted the low bids of Ameden Construction of Jamaica for three culvert projects to be started in June. Consulting engineer Everett Hammond pointed to the complexity of the culvert work done last year on Lowell Lake Road […]
Dollar General, Jiffy Mart could go head-to-head on construction
By Cynthia Prairie and Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Gird yourself Chester. If all goes as stated, heavy equipment will descend on Main Street as two large construction projects – within spitting distance of each other – begin in mid-April. After an unexplained delay, the developer the Zaremba Group is expected to start […]
An egg-cellent Easter comes to Weston
Saturday seemed a perfect day for Weston’s annual Easter Egg Hunt. Families brought out more than 60 kids from Weston and the surrounding communities on a sunny mid-morning to play games, guess the number of jelly beans in a jar, get their faces painted and, of course, hunt for plastic eggs chockful of treats. The […]
Valid signatures send Londonderry article back to the voters
© 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC A petition to reconsider an article that was passed at Londonderry’s March 1 Town Meeting has been given thumbs up from Town Clerk Kelly Pajala, leaving the Select Board 60 days in which to hold a special meeting and the new vote. On March 1, an article was originally meant […]
Ducks line up for Windham Foundation to take over Turner site
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Grafton Select Board Monday night gave its blessing to the Agency of Natural Resources to turn over the historic Daisy Turner property to the Windham Foundation as part of an agreement with Preservation Trust Vermont to restore the remaining cabin and build a kiosk and access road […]
Londonderry Select Board presents new argument for land purchase
By Christopher Biddle © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC With a petition to reconsider a Town Meeting Day vote still on the horizon and a request from Vtrans that the town find new sand storage by June 1, the Londonderry Select Board could use another mallet in the Whack-a-Mole game that is the purchase of 20 […]
Sandri floats idea of purchase, lease of town land;
historical society says Yosemite will have new owner
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The president of Sandri Cos. asked the Chester Select Board last Wednesday if it was open to selling town land so the company could add a Dunkin Donuts franchise to the convenience store and liquor outlet that it already runs at its Sunoco gas station on Main […]
Come out swinging: CAES parents, kids kick off ambitious plan for new playground
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC A group of parents, school staff and students have come together to begin working on a plan to replace Chester-Andover Elementary School’s well-worn 25-year-old playground known to generations simply as “The Structure.” The effort began several years ago when maintenance on the castle-like Structure began to get overwhelming […]
Champlain Oil donates, dismantles house to make way for larger Jiffy Mart
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC After unsuccessfully offering to give the Burbank house at the corner of Main and Pleasant streets to anyone who would move it from the site, Champlain Oil has donated the structure to a not-for-profit — EcoBuilding Bargains — and contracted with another company to dismantle it. EcoBuilding […]
Sandri probes land buy for Dunkin Donuts drive-thru in Chester
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC With construction of a new Jiffy Mart across the street just a month away, Sandri, the owner of the Sunoco station on Main Street in Chester, is asking the Select Board if it would sell a strip of town-owned land so the company could add a Dunkin […]
Grafton board pushes Planning Commission on Town Plan
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC With a sharply critical response directed to the Grafton Planning Commission, Grafton Select Board member Ron Pilette on Monday called on the commission to make specific changes to the Town Plan that was rejected in late December. In a short, 1-1/4-page draft response, which will be sent on […]
Petition complicates land purchase for Londonderry Select Board
By Christopher Biddle © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC A petition by Londonderry resident Tom Cavanagh to call a special meeting to reconsider the Town Meeting vote approving $10,000 for a feasibility study toward the purchase of land to be used as a gravel pit and for a salt storage facility has put the project in […]
Chester welcomes new Select Board members, considers new paper of record
Editor’s Note: The Chester Telegraph has reported on most Chester Select Board meetings since 2012. In the interest of full disclosure, we want readers to know that in our coverage of the March 2, 2016 meeting, we are reporting on an issue in which we are involved. To ensure that the information available to our […]
All articles pass at quiet Weston Town Meeting
By Christopher Biddle ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC All but one of the 27 articles in Weston’s 2016 Town Meeting passed by voice vote Tuesday morning at the Weston Playhouse. Article 17, which asked voters to approve a resolution to see if they were interesting in expanding the number of parking spaces in front of the […]
Londonderry accepts one-year State Police contract, votes to study gravel pit purchase
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Wendell Coleman’s last Town Meeting as Londonderry’s moderator turned out to be a six-hour doosie that saw a controversial proposal to hire state police to patrol the town turn victorious on the impassioned speech of a just-defeated select board member. The meeting was more than three hours […]