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.
POLICE UPDATES: Burglary arrest; bottle rocket fires and mailbox vandalism
UPDATE – Nov 25 8:45 a.m. Chester Police have announced three more arrests in the burglaries reported below. Also arrested on the same charges are David Farnsworth, 59, Zachary McNeill, 23 and Paige Hillock, 24 all of Springfield. © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC Police have arrested one man and hope to have two more in […]
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 […]
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 […]
Firefighters in Londonderry, Chester throw open doors to trick-or-treaters
For the second year, South Londonderry’s Champion Fire Company teamed up with the nearby First Baptist Church to put on an all-encompassing Halloween gala for kids and adults alike. The church sponsored the trunk-or-treat, getting more than 20 cars to line Thompsonburg Road between the firehouse and Route 100, an area that the Fire Department […]
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 […]
Bewitching weekend in Chester for kids and adults alike
©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC It was a day of feasting and an evening of frights for more than 400 folks who descended upon Chester-Andover Elementary School last Saturday to take part in the pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving meal and the annual Trunk or Treat Halloween festivities. According to Chris Meyer, more than 400 meals were served up […]
Osso bucco to bibimbap: Chester cook vies for ‘Master Chef’ slot
By Cynthia Prairie ©2015 – Telegraph Publishing LLC She was hoping her osso bucco with white bean puree was good enough. As she walked toward the Doubletree Suites in Times Square carrying her dish on that early October Saturday, Christine Anderson of Chester was set on winning a spot on season seven of Master Chef. […]
Board member’s answer to wind project zoning question spurs debate; capital budget proposed
By Cynthia Prairie ©2015-Telegraph Publishing LLC About 15 Grafton residents squeezed into the Grafton Elementary School Library then folded themselves into teeny chairs for the Monday night meeting of the Grafton Select Board. The Select Board then proceeded to squeeze a long agenda into less than an hour, before going into executive session on a […]
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 – […]
Crowds flood Peru streets for 36th annual fair
A cool but sunny Saturday greeted the 36-year-old Peru Fair. With 100 vendors selling everything from pottery to dumplings, music filling the air from several stages and the aroma of fire-roasted pig wafting through the crowds, it was bound to be a success. Proceeds from the fair go to the Peru Scholarship Fund, a non-profit […]
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 […]
Chester Fall Fest shines under two sunny days
©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC Two sun-filled days and the Green filled with vendors and visitors. It’s no wonder that Nancy Davis, one of the organizers of the Chester Rotary Club’s annual Chester Fall Festival, declared the event a success. (To launch photo gallery, click any photo) “Vendors were happy with the event and with their […]
Chester Police Log for June 13 through Sept. 10, 2015
Editor’s Note: The Chester Telegraph Police Log is a sampling of incidents directly from Chester Police reports. We do not identify individual victims of crimes nor those who have been arrested. Saturday, June 13, 10:02 a.m. Police spotted a chicken running out into traffic at River Street and Route 103 South being chased down by […]
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 […]
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 […]
Campaign launched for 2016 Londonderry 4th of July Fireworks
Kate Buggeln and husband Steve Kulovits of South Londonderry donned matching Uncle Sam costumes at the West River Farmers Market in Londonderry this past Saturday to begin to drum up financial support for the town’s annual Fourth of July Fireworks on Magic Mountain. The 2016 fireworks will be held on Friday, July 1 at nightfall, […]
Yosemite Firehouse now ‘4-Sail’
A s controversy swirls around the future of the historic Yosemite Firehouse in Chester, an unknown wag tweaked the masses by posting this misspelled For Sale sign on the building over the weekend. The phone number is for the Chester Historical Society. The building sits on Route 103 North, just past the Chester Town Hall.
Broadway Boot Camp taps into local talent
By Cynthia Prairie ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC T he finale for Weston Playhouse’s first ever Broadway Boot Camp nearly brought down the house Friday afternoon as parents, family, friends and members of both the Playhouse’s Young Company and its professional cast gave the 20 student actors a standing ovation. (Click on any photo to launch […]
Andover celebrates itself with food, fun and fund-raising
©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC Between 250 and 300 people turned out for the 2nd Annual Andover Day on the grounds of Andover Town Hall, 953 Weston-Andover Road, on Saturday, according to Town Clerk Linda Bargfrede. The annual event raised more than $2,000 to fund scholarships that go to college bound Andover students. But the real […]
