Author Archive for Cynthia Prairie
Cynthia Prairie has been a newspaper editor more than 40 years. Cynthia has worked at such publications as the Raleigh Times, the Baltimore News American, the Buffalo Courier Express, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Patuxent Publishing chain of community newspapers in Maryland, and has won numerous state awards for her reporting. As an editor, she has overseen her staffs to win many awards for indepth coverage. She and her family moved to Chester, Vermont in 2004.
2016 Telegraph Gift Guide: Share Your Blessings
This year, we decided that the annual Chester Telegraph Gift Guide would take a different view and look at the organizations that do so much to help others in our communities. In myriad ways, these organizations are there to help us and our families, friends and neighbors as well as the animals in our lives. […]
Grafton addresses solar energy in Town Plan, grant for possible project
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The public vote against a proposed wind farm for Grafton in early November did not dampen the interest nor the need to address renewable energy in its Town Plan. On Monday night, the Grafton Select Board voted — 3 in favor with 2 abstaining — of backing the […]
‘Once’ kicks off Weston theater season that ends with Walker Farm opening
©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Weston Playhouse Theatre Company will lead off its 2017 season with the Vermont premiere of the 2012 Tony Award winning musical Once and conclude with the opening of the company’s new second stage on the Walker Farm property in Weston, which has been 10 years in the making. “We’re planning a […]
Stiles Brook landowner, wind foes take a breath, consider next steps
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC While Iberdrola Renewables has said it will not move forward with a 24-turbine wind project straddling the Windham and Grafton line following a decisive vote, the owners of the 5,000-acre project site have made no such promise. When asked on Monday, what happens next, Meadowsend Timberlands’ managing forester […]
Second-homeowners against Iberdrola wind project as well, surveys find
By John Hoover and Cynthia Prairie © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Like their full-time resident counterparts, second-homeowners in both Windham and Grafton overwhelmingly rejected a proposal by Iberdrola Renewables to build a 24-turbine wind farm on property straddling the towns. Second-homeowners in both towns had been mailed surveys asking whether they were for the proposed […]
Grafton, Windham voters deal fatal blow to Iberdrola wind proposal
By Cynthia Prairie © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC In a decisive blow to a proposed industrial wind project, the voters in Windham and Grafton have voted against putting a 24-turbine industrial wind project along the Stiles Brook tract of land that straddles the two towns. When the votes were counted on Tuesday night, Grafton defeated […]
Wind tax info meeting canceled on legality concern
©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC What was intended as an informational workshop for Grafton property taxpayers to show them how to figure out the impact of the tax benefits derived from the proposed Iberdrola wind proposal on their personal property taxes did not come off as planned on Saturday. The meeting had been warned as a […]
Ornithologist downplays turbine danger to rare bird
By Cynthia Prairie © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC A Vermont ornithologist is downplaying concerns that the at-risk Bicknell’s thrush will be imperiled should the 24-turbine Stiles Brook wind project go through. Some in the anti-wind community in Grafton and Windham are hoping to use the plight of this small songbird as the Nov. 8 vote […]
Grafton sets wind project info meeting dates
©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Grafton Select Board on Monday has set dates for meetings and workshops to disseminate information on the effects of a proposed industrial wind project on taxpayers, homeowners and residents when it comes to economics, health and the environment. With only 20 days before the Nov. 8 election, which will include […]
Citizen Matt: Chester Det. Wilson takes on a new beat
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC In just a few days, Matt Wilson will no longer be a Chester Police detective. The 15-year veteran of the force will be leaving the department in late October to take a position a little closer to home — as a matter of fact, in his home, where […]
Chester Police Log, July 1 through Oct. 5, 2016
© 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Editor’s Note: The Chester Telegraph Police Log is a sampling of incidents directly from Chester Police reports. In general, we do not identify individual victims of crimes nor those who have been arrested. Friday, July 1, 7:04 a.m. An Andover resident reported that her home had been broken into, cabinets […]
Iberdrola offers ‘partnership’ payment to Grafton voters
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Iberdrola Renewables is offering the registered voters of Grafton a minimum $428 annually in “partnership” payments should its pared down 24-turbine ‘industrial wind farm be built on the Stiles Brook property that straddles Windham and Grafton. EXCLUSIVE: Iberdrola sweetened the pot, but Windham residents stirred it. On Wednesday […]
Iberdrola sweetened the pot, but Windham residents stirred it
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Following the rollout on Tuesday of Iberdrola Renewables’ “sweetened deals” to the towns of Windham and Grafton, there were outcries that the Spanish wind company was “bribing” and “buying votes.” (See also, Iberdrola offers Grafton voters ‘partnership’ payments) However, the new proposals, which eliminated four of the 20 […]
Grafton board officially sets wind vote for Nov. 8
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 – Telegraph Publishing LLC The Grafton Select Board on Monday night voted unanimously to make Tuesday, Nov. 8, the date for the townwide vote on the Iberdrola wind project and also adopted the same language that Windham adopted for its vote. Registered voters in the Town of Grafton will be able […]
Grafton Planning Commission won’t present draft Town Plan to Select Board on Monday
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Grafton Planning Commission will not be presenting a draft Town Plan at the Monday, Oct. 3 Select Board meeting as the board had hoped, a development that Select Board chair Ron Pilette called “very disappointing.” The board has considered the Town Plan — even a draft — […]
Iberdrola schedules residents’ meetings in Windham, Grafton
©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Iberdrola Renewables has invited Windham and Grafton residents to two meetings next week that it will hold in their communities. The meetings, according to Iberdrola communication director Paul Copelman, will “present changes to the project footprint and to the community benefits package.” Residents will learn about the revised plans to both […]
Grafton board changes direction, shoots for wind vote on Nov. 8
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC In a surprising change, the Grafton Select Board now believes it may be able to hold a formal, binding vote of registered voters on the proposed Iberdrola wind project to coincide with the presidential election — Tuesday, Nov. 8. The Spanish wind company is proposing to construct 28, […]
Telegraph Business Ticker
New medical director at Hospitalist Medicine program at Springfield Hospital Springfield Hospital welcomes Marvin Malek, MD, MPH, to his new position as medical director of the Hospitalist Medicine program at Springfield Hospital. Dr. Malek received his Bachelor of Arts, with Distinction in all subjects from Cornell University. Thereafter, he received his Doctor of Medicine from […]
Grafton board says formal vote on wind project to occur in late 2016, early 2017
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC On a 3-to-1 vote, the Grafton Select Board agreed on Tuesday night to tell Iberdrola, the Spanish wind company, that it would not be ready to hold a vote of registered voters on the company’s controversial wind project until late 2016 or early 2017. This formal vote is […]
Chester Police Log for June 30 through Aug. 27, 2016
© 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Editor’s Note: The Chester Telegraph Police Log is a sampling of incidents directly from Chester Police reports. In general, we do not identify individual victims of crimes nor those who have been arrested. Thursday, June 30 A man contacted Chester Police to report that he had purchased $5,731 worth of […]
