All Entries in the "Featured" Category
Using their noodles: Spaghetti dinner helps Keewaydin camp effort
The 70 or so 5th and 6th graders from Chester-Andover Elementary School are deliciously closer to going to Keewaydin Environmental Education camp in May 2014 thanks to the volunteer parents, teachers and pupils who served up a spaghetti dinner to more than 100 hungry folks last Thursday night, Nov. 21, 2013. The dinner — […]
Green Up Day funded; police, insurance budget concerns and solar farm discussion continues
By Shawn Cunningham If the Nov. 20 Chester Select Board meeting had a theme, it was “green,” with issues being discussed including next year’s budget (money), Green Up Day (conservation) and new information on the perennial topic of the solar farm on town land (clean energy). Chester resident and teacher Frank Kelley went before […]
Parks agency repairs Chester state forest accessibility, drainage problems
By Cynthia Prairie Chester’s only state-owned forest, the 108-acre Williams River State Forest in the Popple Dungeon area west of Nudist Camp Road, has gotten some much-needed work that will make it much more accessible to the public. Tim Morton, a Saxtons River resident who is the state District 1 stewardship forester for the […]
Chester Select Board considers reviving solar farm proposal
By Shawn Cunningham After closing the door on a solar project on town land in a 3-2 vote at a previous meeting, the Chester Select Board re-opened the topic for further discussion last Wednesday night, Nov.6. Board member Bill Lindsay, who moved to accept the terms set out by project developer Green Lantern at […]
$22,000 state grant, $14,000 in donations push Londonderry park nearer to revitalization
By Cynthia Prairie With the awarding on Tuesday, Nov. 12, of a state grant for $22,000 and donations thus far reaching almost $14,000, the Londonderry Parks Board has passed the halfway mark of its goal of $63,600 to revitalize Pingree Park. Pingree Park is a 16-acre recreation area off Route 11 and Stowell Hill […]
Construction restarts at Jack’s Diner; conditional use permit still needed
UPDATE: Reached Wednesday, Nov. 6, state fire marshal inspector Landon Wheeler said that because Dodier made multiple changes to the layout of the diner and additional square footage, the new plans must be reviewed to ensure compliance with any number of building codes. He also is waiting for Dodier to submit paperwork requested three […]
Chester Select Board says ‘it’s curtains’ for solar farm on town land
By Shawn Cunningham After a year of gathering information and deliberating, the Chester Select Board last Wednesday closed the door on the construction of a solar farm on town land across Route 103 North from Trebo Road. Earlier, at its Oct. 9 meeting, the board had expected to hear from the Luke Schullenberger – […]
3rd annual Rotary Cabaret a singular sensation
A s dinner winds down, the spotlight comes up and the third annual Chester Rotary Cabaret is under way. Students from Green Mountain Union High School’s drama and music departments entertained an enthusiastic crowd of diners on Saturday, Oct. 26 at the Newsbank Conference Center. The performances were proceeded by a dinner prepared by […]
The working man’s country club celebrates its 90th
By Gary Band Area residents have known about it for years. And if you’ve driven Route 103, you’ve likely noticed the large oval sign in green, black and white standing in the clearing across from the Vermont Country Store in Rockingham. Yet it still classifies as one of Vermont’s best-kept secrets. Welcome to the […]
Drywells, flooded street: Mountain View residents seek solutions
By Karen Zuppinger When Suzanne Waldren-Munukka and her husband David bought their home eight years ago in Chester’s Mountain View community, they noticed the roadside drain at the corner of Mountain View and Cross roads, right next to their corner home. They thought nothing of it. After all, the home has town water and sewer, […]
SoVera observatory up and running on private land
By Shawn Cunningham Ron Jackson was in good spirits despite the heavy cloud cover as he rolled back the roof on his “new” observatory on a hill in Gassetts. There wouldn’t be any stars visible, so he trained his Celestron “orange tube” Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope on a pine tree several hundred feet away and invited a […]
Solar contract decision still hanging; VAST gets OK for trail through town forest
The Chester Select Board last Wednesday expected a presentation from Green Lantern Capital regarding financial details of its proposed solar farm on town land on Route 103 at Trebo Road. But Luke Schullenberger, the company’s founder and managing partner, was taken ill. Instead, Mike Wigham of Integrated Solar, which would be contracted to build the […]
With an artist’s eye: A close look at the Biker Tattoo and tattoos
Iron Adventure Run Tattoo In the military, a tattoo can be any display or show, a parade. In everyday life, a tattoo is a design inked on skin. On Saturday, Aug. 24, Chester played host to the Iron Adventure Run Tattoo, which saw hundreds of motorcyclists and their rides roll into town. At the same […]
Annual Peru Fair draws out the crowds
The skies were blue, the weather warm, perfect for the 34th Annual Peru Fair on Saturday, Sept. 28. This old-fashioned town fair actually started life in 1979 as the World’s Largest Tag Sale. Now, however, it boasts more than 100 vendors. And it draws folks from all over for food, fellowship and fun, as well […]
Playhouse gets zoning board OK; Duke leaves WPTC
By Cynthia Prairie The Weston Zoning Board of Adjustment has granted the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company a conditional use permit to build a new theater complete with parking spaces, driveway and landscaping on the 5-acre Walker Farm property at the corner of Route 100 and Chester Mountain Road in Weston. ON THE COVER: Architect Jim […]
Select Board mashup: Town solar farm now a question; supervisory union budget transparency questioned and answering a question: Who hired the consultant?
By Shawn Cunningham The Chester Select Board seems to be talking itself out of a solar farm deal that it has been working on for the past eight months. During its meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 18, board member Derek Suursoo kicked off the discussion on the proposed solar farm — slated for town land off […]
Smiling faces fill Chester’s 39th Annual Fall Festival
The sun shone bright on Saturday, and broke through a cloudy Sunday, enough to keep food vendors and craftspeople busy and shoppers and tourists visiting the Rotary Club of Chester’s 39th Annual Fall Festival on the Green. Craftsmen and women from Chester and beyond dotted the Green, demonstrating their art. Filling the air were the […]
Opponents lay out arguments against Dollar General plan
This is Part II of a two-part series reporting on last week’s Dollar General appeal, today covering the testimony for opponents of the proposed Dollar General store in Chester and cross-examination. Feel free to share your views on the articles and the issues in the Comment section below the article or send us a Letter […]
Zaremba defends Dollar General plans in court
This is Part I of two parts reporting on this week’s Dollar General appeal, only covering the testimony for Dollar General and cross-examination. Please share your views in the Comment section below the article. By Cynthia Prairie NEWFANE Many punches were thrown, quite a number were landed but none seemed to be a knockout in […]
Judge hears from Dollar General proponents
Posted at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013 NEWFANE The first day of testimony in the appeal of the Act 250 approval of a Dollar General for Chester wrapped up shortly before 5 p.m. after an early morning site visit and testimony from witnesses on behalf of the Zaremba Group, the developer for the 10,000-store […]
