All Entries in the "Featured" Category
Grafton voters overturn junk ordinance
By Mark Burbela Grafton ©The Chester Telegraph — 2014 In a 56 to 37 vote, the voters of Grafton defeated an ordinance that would have limited the number of unregistered vehicles that could be stored on a residential property and required screening from view of so-called “junk.” The ballot was taken at a special town […]
Chester wrestles with tight budget; Hearse House planning moves ahead
By Shawn Cunningham ©The Chester Telegraph — 2014 During the Chester Select Board’s regular meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 17, town manager David Pisha reported that funds – including property taxes — are coming in slower than last year. Select Board member Derek Suursoo noted that the financial report handed out didn’t give him the detail […]
Objections to zoning changes fail to sway Chester Select Board
By Shawn Cunningham ©The Chester Telegraph — 2014 On Wednesday, Sept. 17, about 25 Chester business owners and residents gathered at the Chester Select Board to express their views on several proposed changes to the town development bylaws. Most were concerns about two specific changes — raising a minimum residential lot size and rezoning a […]
Green Mountain Flyer Fall excursions right on track
Yesterday, Tuesday, Sept. 23 was the premier run for the Green Mountain Flyer’s Fall Foliage excursions running out of Chester Depot. About 75 passengers boarded the morning train, most coming from outside the area. Cars in the newly refurbished Vermont Railway’s parking area in front of Erskine’s sported license plates from as far away as […]
High waters: Two neighboring towns face very different challenges
By Cynthia Prairie ©The Chester Telegraph – 2014 Londonderry and Chester are 14 miles apart and lie in two different river valleys: Londonderry in the West River; Chester in the Williams. Both were flooded in 2011 by Tropical Storm Irene, but Chester fared far worse. Then, on July 28 of this year, torrential rains soaked […]
High waters: Vermont adopts ‘counter-intuitive’ approach to river management
By Cynthia Prairie ©The Chester Telegraph — 2014 “One hundred years ago,” says Vermont river engineer Todd Menees, “it made sense to build on rivers — for hydro-power for mills, for commerce, for travel … ” as well as for some of the best farmland that lies in the floodplains. But, he says, “We now […]
Chester residents take aim at proposed 3-acre lot size, gas sales zone expansion
By Shawn Cunningham ©The Chester Telegraph — 2014 Residents who turned up to offer input on Wednesday, Sept. 3 on Chester’s proposed Unified Development Bylaws complained about a suggestion to change the minimum lot size to 3 acres and to extend gasoline sales on Main Street from St. Joseph’s Church to Pleasant Street in an […]
Plan for Chester Ambulance reorganization explained; beautification panel proposes restoration of ‘hearse house’
By Shawn Cunningham ©The Chester Telegraph — 2014 At its Wednesday, Sept. 3, meeting, the Chester Select Board looked at a grassroots effort to restore the hearse building at Brookside cemetery, questions about the application for historic site markers and the restructuring of the Chester Ambulance service Back in June, the board had heard about […]
Grafton Select Board updated on break-ins, drug use
By Mark Burbela ©The Chester Telegraph – 2014 The Grafton Select Board met Tuesday Sept. 2 to discuss local crime and getting more publicity for its town-maintained covered bridge. Capt. Robert Lakin of the Windham County Sheriff’s department was to lead a discussion on narcotics use, local crime connected to narcotics and how communities are […]
Explainer: In search for fairness, Vermont’s school funding calculations tax the brain
By Shawn Cunningham ©The Chester Telegraph – 2014 Whether you live in a Victorian on The Green, an old farmhouse up a dirt road or a yurt off the grid in the hills, you have one thing in common – property taxes. The largest portion of that annual payment is the education tax. It’s also […]
40 listen as state ed experts explain education funding formula
By Shawn Cunningham ©The Chester Telegraph – 2014 The first two hours of the Chester Select Board meeting for Wednesday, Aug. 20 was devoted to a seminar on how the state education tax rate is calculated and why Chester’s tax rate took such a jump this year. The program was led by Steven Jeffrey, executive […]
No surprises in a primary election with ‘ridiculously low’ turnout
With 97.8 percent of the precincts reporting in Vermont’s primary held Tuesday, Politico.com is reporting that Democratic incumbent Gov. Peter Shumlin easily defeated H. Brooke Paige with 82.5 percent of vote from those picking up Democratic ballots. He garnered 15,164 votes to Paige’s 3,225. Republican Scott Milne also came out on top against two other […]
Chester architect wins competition to help design Japanese resort
Chester architect Claudio Veliz has projects in Ludlow, Chester, New York City and now Hokkaido, Japan. Veliz learned over the weekend that he had won one of two spots on a panel that will design a new eco-ski resort in the snowy northernmost prefecture of Japan. According to Veliz, an eco-ski resort has no lifts […]
Primary election set for Tuesday, Aug. 26
©The Chester Telegraph – 2014 The primary election is being held next Tuesday, Aug. 26, to determine which candidates will represent their parties during the November General Election. Seventeen offices are on each ballot and no party has put someone up for every position. Since Vermont is an open primary state, voters will be given […]
All Aboard! Green Mountain Flyer restarts Fall Foliage excursions
By Cynthia Prairie ©The Chester Telegraph – 2014 The Green Mountain Flyer will begin using Chester as the hub for its regular Fall Foliage excursions beginning on Tuesday Sept. 23 and running through mid-October. In preparation, employees of the Vermont Rail System, which is celebrating its 50th year this year, have been working in and […]
After a year’s wait, new Chester website caught in a web of uncertainty
By Shawn Cunningham ©The Chester Telegraph — 2014 On July 3, 2013, the Chester Select Board voted to have a new town website constructed, using economic development funds to pay $10,000 to a company that had not yet been incorporated and had constructed just one website – its own. Kyle Rogstad, one of the partners […]
Grafton residents petition junk ordinance to town-wide vote
By Mark Burbela Grafton ©The Chester Telegraph – 2014 Although the Grafton Select Board meeting on Monday, Aug. 4 was slated to be short because of an executive session to discuss a personnell matter and a proposal that a portion of a public roadway be turned into a private road, there was much discussion about […]
After tanker wreck, homeowner keeps his sense of humor
By Shawn Cunningham ©The Chester Telegraph – 2014 When Joel Brookes sat down to his morning coffee and looked out the window on Friday, May 16, he had no idea he was about to begin a journey that would stretch two years into the future. After watching the 10,000-gallon P&H tanker turn over and slide […]
Flood cleanup estimates over $1.5 million; FEMA tours damage
By Cynthia Prairie ©The Chester Telegraph – 2014 Preliminary figures indicate that the Chester-Andover-Windham area suffered between $1.5 million and $1.8 million in damage from the torrential rain storm and subsequent flooding of Monday, July 28. These figures also include $100,000 in damage to both Reading and Weathersfield. On Tuesday morning, Aug. 5, representatives from […]
Crews work to repair road damage in Andover, Chester
By Shawn Cunningham © The Chester Telegraph 2014 Clickable photo gallery is below the article. Photos by Shawn Cunningham, The Chester Telegraph T own road crews, VTrans and private contractors were busy Tuesday morning as they continued to put local roads back together after Monday’s torrential rains (Click here for Monday’s story.). In Andover, Simmonds […]
