All Entries in the "Featured" Category
Lack of documentation on ownership of Yosemite artifacts raises questions
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC While members of the Chester Select Board have asserted that the town has no ownership interest in the historic Yosemite Firehouse, questions arose at its Oct. 7 meeting regarding the building’s contents, namely those that are or might be the property of the town of Chester. On […]
Chicken Pie Supper feathers nest for Andover scholarships
© 2015 — Telegraph Publishing LLC “It’s chicken pie, not chicken pot pie,” explained Bonnie Zipeto as servers whisked away the remains of the 5 p.m. seating and kitchen volunteers prepared for the 6 o’clock crowd. “It doesn’t have peas or other vegetables in the dish.” Whatever the recipe, Andover’s 11th Annual Chicken Pie Supper […]
Big Buzz Chainsaw Fest is carving a niche among Chester events
©2015-Telegraph Publishing LLC For the second year in a row, the six-year-old Big Buzz Chainsaw Carving Festival has found a comfortable home on the grounds of a former cornfield next to the American Legion on Route 103 South in Chester. Click here to go to the Big Buzz Photo Gallery below. The event, which began […]
Grafton Select Board OKs $30,500 for new salt shed
By Cynthia Prairie ©2015 — Telegraph Publishing LLC The Grafton Select Board approved two capital expenditures at its Monday, Oct. 5 meeting, including $16,184 for guard rail replacement along Route 121 and $30,500 for a new salt shed. The guard rail work was awarded to Lafayette Highway Specialities of Massachusetts, while the salt shed – […]
Voters approve Chester water project by wide margin
By Shawn Cunningham and Cynthia Prairie ©2015-Telegraph Publishing LLC With a turnout more than double either of the two previous ballots, Chester voters Tuesday passed a $4 million bond for a project to add a 330,000 gallon water tank and replace aging mains. The measure passed by a vote of 280 to 121 with turnout […]
Info meeting primes Chester for 3rd water project vote today
By Cynthia Prairie ©2015 – Telegraph Publishing LLC In a 40-minute informational meeting – the third held since May 18 — about 30 Chester residents Monday night listened as Town Manager David Pisha and engineer Naomi Johnson offered a more focused explanation of the project and its funding than given in earlier meetings. Town voters […]
Truck tire mishap shuts Maple at 103 in Chester
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC Maple Street in Chester remained closed at noon today after a tractor-trailer carrying an oversized load clipped a curb, tearing up a tire and shutting off traffic in downtown Chester around 9:30 this morning. Police estimate that the small section of roadway will be closed for “for […]
DRB green-lights new Jiffy Mart for Chester
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC At its Monday Sept. 21 meeting, the Chester Development Review Board gave its approval to an application by Champlain Oil to construct a 4,980-square-foot Jiffy Mart, which would house convenience store, a Subway and a Ramunto’s Pizza Express. The Jiffy Mart would also have four double-sided gas […]
Select board hears -1.5% loan reduces Chester water project cost by $800,000
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC In a short meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 16, the Chester Select Board heard an update on the water project, which comes up for a vote next Tuesday, Sept. 29, and a preliminary offer to build the town a new radio/cell tower that would replace the one – […]
Grafton residents await answers on wind project
By Gloria Dufield © 2015 Telegraph Publishing, LLC Less then a dozen community members attended Grafton’s 15-minute Select Board meeting on Monday in which topics ranged from finalizing details relating to ongoing projects, FEMA buyouts and the town garage closing, to the continued discussion on the wind project. The board voted Town Administrator Rachel Williams […]
Educators, legislators address school funding, consolidation
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC About 120 people attended state Rep. Oliver Olsen’s Legislative Forum on education funding and school consolidation (Act 46) on Monday at Flood Brook School in Londonderry. While Olsen gave a nuts and bolts presentation to explain how the school funding system currently works, it became clear that […]
Commentary: Vote for the Chester water project — at least vote
By Shawn Cunningham ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC In less than two weeks, Chester voters will go to the polls again to vote on whether to go ahead with a $4 million upgrade to the municipal water system. At its most basic, the project will correct some major problems including insufficient pressure during fires and a […]
Grafton to sell old town garage for $95,000 to local excavating firm
By Cynthia Prairie ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC In a relatively quick meeting to clear Town Hall* for the Planning Commission last night, the Grafton Select Board unanimously voted to accept the bid for the old town garage to Grafton resident and business owner Jamie Gregory, of Jamie Gregory Trucking and Excavating. The bids were opened […]
Income survey gives Chester better borrowing terms for water project
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC In addition to turning down a request from Vietnam Veterans of America to hold a coin drop on Main Street, the Chester Select Board at its Wednesday, Sept. 2 meeting discussed the results of the median household income survey that will make borrowing for the water upgrade […]
Construction of Dollar General in Chester expected to begin soon
By Cynthia Prairie © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC Construction on the 9,100-square-foot Dollar General for Main Street in Chester is expected to begin this fall with the store opening in early 2016. And a sure sign of the impending work are the building permits nailed to wooden frames on the property. A spokesman for the […]
VTrans proposed fix for tight Main St.-Maple St. turn
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing, LLC Ryan Darling of VTrans has approached the town of Chester with the idea of fixing the corner of Maple and Main streets where trucks have difficulty turning to go north on Route 103, Town Manager David Pisha told the Chester Select Board at its Wednesday, Aug. 19 […]
Commentary: Save Yosemite Firehouse, save Chester’s history
By Cynthia Prairie ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC This past weekend Chester memorialized the late Merritt Edson with a stone monument on the Green. Edson, a Chester resident and Marine Corps general who won a Congressional Medal of Honor for his service in World War II, was also the founder of the Vermont State Police, which […]
Grafton Select Board OKs liquor license for new market owners, allows Fire Department to use FEMA house for rescue exercise
By Cynthia Prairie ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Monday Aug. 17, the Grafton Select Board met in the picturesque Town Hall for the first time in more than a year since the meeting moved to the Grafton Elementary School. At that brief, 19-minute meeting, it found a useful purpose for a FEMA house and began […]
After final testimony on traffic and architecture, Chester DRB closes Jiffy Mart hearings
By Shawn Cunningham ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC It was dueling experts on traffic and Chester’s architectural character as the Development Board of Review held its final meeting on a Jiffy Mart proposed for the corner of Pleasant and Main streets in Chester on Monday, Aug. 10. The hearing began with board chair Carla Westine acknowledging […]
Chester Select Board sets 2nd water project vote, Chase seeks purchasing, conflict of interest policy review
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC In an odd bit of legal theater recommended by a bonding attorney who does work for the state, the members of the Chester Select Board met on Wednesday night as the Chester Water Commissioners. The purpose of the meeting was to arrive at the conclusion that the […]
