All Entries in the "Featured" Category
A LOOK BACK: 2015 saw fires, rise in crime; but business, local controversies also grabbed headlines
Fires: All tragic, some suspicious © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC Early in the morning of March 6, 11 fire departments responded to a four alarm fire at the Monier home on Elm Street in Chester. While working one fire in nine below zero temperatures, firefighters were called to a house across the street to put […]
Chester board talks party to celebrate N.Y. charter; Townscape recaps volunteer work
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Select Board continued to wrestle with funding capital expenditures by municipal bond rather than through current tax revenues and worked on the budget at its Dec. 16 meeting, but not before talking about some partying. In fact, while it did not delve into the question […]
Christmas village returns to Chester Town Hall
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC After a year’s hiatus and a town office remodeling that gave him more space in which to work, Ken Barrett – Chester’s own Father Christmas – is back creating a spectacle of light and movement, nostalgia and whimsy with his annual Christmas village. It’s like having a […]
Chester board moves toward capital bond plan, discusses 2016 anniversary
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC In years past, late November and early December was a time of wrangling over what would go into – and what would come out of – Chester’s municipal operating budget. But at two recent meetings – Nov. 24 and Dec. 2 – the plan for capital spending […]
A dustup in Grafton: Select Board chair, Treasurer spar on proposed wind panel
By Cynthia Prairie ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC A cold wind blew through the Grafton Select Board meeting Monday night, generating electricity between two elected officials: the Select Board chair and the town Treasurer. Grafton Treasurer Kim Record proposed creating a subcommittee to research financial benefits and proposals to present to the Iberdrola wind energy company […]
TRSU superintendent, assoc. super announce retirements
©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC Two Rivers Supervisory Union Superintendent Bruce Williams and Associate Superintendent Linda Waite have announced they will retire from their positions effective June 30, 2016. The search for Williams’ replacement will be handled by an outside search firm, while the TRSU Executive Board has recommended dissolving the post of associate superintendent in […]
Early morning blaze destroys farm machine shop
UPDATE Dec. 4, 2:25 p.m. Vermont State Police fire investigators responded at the request of the Chester Vermont Fire Department, and found the cause to be undetermined, and not suspicious. The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources also responded to assist with a HAZMAT spill of glycol that was a result of the fire. In addition […]
Emergency crews respond to cascade of crashes along I-91
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC Emergency personnel across the area had their hands full on Tuesday with multiple accidents caused by freezing rain on cold roads. Police and fire departments were stretched while emergency vehicles “crawled” along icy roads. Vermont State Police from the Rockingham Barracks called in the night shift to […]
Iberdrola letter to Grafton outlines 2016 timeline for wind project; says it won’t build on a ‘nay’ vote
By Cynthia Prairie ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC In a letter to Grafton residents sent just before Thanksgiving, Iberdrola Renewables, the Spanish energy company that hopes to build a wind farm with 28, 492-foot-high turbines in Grafton and Windham, has outlined its plans for next year that include a timeline on proceeding with the project and […]
Freezing rain causing hazardous roads, emergency vehicles ‘crawling’
UPDATE 3:45 p.m. VT 511 is now reporting “County-wide black ice warning” for Windham, Windsor, Orange and Washington counties. Scanner reports say “modular homes have been grounded” so those wide loads should not be on the roads. UPDATE 2:05 p.m. Police are reporting that Routes 103 and 10 have been reopened. By Shawn Cunningham © […]
Chester wrestles with health insurance co-pay, bidding process
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC In a contentious Nov. 18 meeting that saw Chester’s Select Board set a special meeting for 7 p.m. tonight to finish the agenda rather than continuing late, members questioned whether the town should take possession of the information booth, whether to require town employees to pay something […]
School merger study committee begins work
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC Sitting on small chairs in the Chester-/Andover Elementary School Library last week a group took up the task of studying merger options as required by Vermont’s new school consolidation law. Under Act 46, the state is encouraging school districts throughout Vermont to look at and adopt consolidation […]
Spate of home, business burglaries alarms Chester
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC With seven burglaries in the past two weeks, Chester is feeling the sting of drug-related crime that has touched neighboring communities this year, according to Chester Police Chief Richard Cloud. Three homes, three downtown businesses and a construction equipment facility in Chester been broken into and, because […]
Bottle rockets start brush fires in Chester: mischief or arson?
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC Firefighters from Chester and Proctorsville responded to, and quickly put out, a brush fire on Popple Dungeon Road Monday afternoon. But in a worrying development, it was the third such fire in one week and the second in one day. “We believe we have someone who is […]
Grafton to begin offering some cellphone coverage
By Cynthia Prairie ©Telegraph Publishing LLC Grafton is about to enter the 21st century with better cellphone coverage, at least in the 1-mile radius around Town Hall. On Monday night, the Select Board approved a contract with Delaware-based Vanu Coverage Co., which touts itself as providing cellphone coverage in difficult-to-cover areas throughout the world. The […]
Businesses urge Chester to take over info booth/restroom as ‘commitment to economic growth’
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC With the opening of the budgeting season, the age old question of what is necessary and what is not took center stage for much of the Wednesday, Nov. 4 Chester Select Board meeting that included weighing items on the proposed new capital bond plan, town-wide master planning […]
Health, environmental concerns aired at Grafton wind meeting
By Cynthia Prairie ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC In a wide-ranging meeting, Grafton residents gathered Monday to discuss everything from possible health effects of wind turbines on surrounding residents to suggested economic benefits of cutting taxes with yearly payments from wind companies. But what much of the discussion boiled down to is a Vermont town’s inability […]
Car gas leak is first time for new Chester FD turnout gear
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC Moments before The Telegraph arrived at the Chester fire station to photograph firefighters in new turnout gear donated by a second homeowner to honor the service of former Fire Chief Harry Goodell, the trucks went rolling out, lights flashing on their way to a call. According to […]
Londonderry board OKs proposal to hire State Police, delays town vote til March
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 – Telegraph Publishing LLC The Londonderry Select Board last night unanimously approved the recommendations of its Ad Hoc Policing Committee to contract with Vermont State Police for patrols. But decided to wait until Town Meeting in March 2016 to put the question before voters. But it was one audience member’s […]
Minor injuries in mini-van dump truck collision
©2015-Telegraph Publishing LLC No one was seriously injured in the mini-van-dump truck collision on Route 103 this morning. According to police, at 8 a.m. Thursday, a mini-van traveling north toward Chester crossed the center line and collided head-on with the southbound dump truck, owned by the Town of Chester, in front of the Chester-Andover Family […]