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.
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 […]
Police Log for June 19 to Aug. 25, 2014
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. Thursday, June 19, 8:29 p.m. Police received a call that a car had passed a school bus that had its red lights flashing and […]
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 […]
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 […]
Editorial: Penny wise and still no new Chester government website
©The Chester Telegraph — 2014 If members of the Chester Select Board honestly believe that $10,000 would buy the town a brand-spanking new website with all the bells and whistles that would lure businesses to Chester and be a useful tool for its residents, I’ve got a ski mountain in Ludlow I’d like to sell […]
Public meeting in Chester to address school funding, tax formulas
The Chester Select Board has invited Steve Jeffrey, executive director of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, and James Knapp, director of the state’s Department of Property Valuation and Taxes, to address issues surrounding school funding and tax formulas, Chester town manager David Pisha said on Monday. School funding and property tax formulas have […]
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 […]
Editorial: Bringing business to businesses on Chester’s Green
Last week, The Chester Telegraph ran a series about Chester’s Green, what makes it different from other Vermont greens — it’s characterized by its businesses — and what can be done to ensure the success of businesses along The Green and in Chester as a whole. Over the years, The Green has faced its share […]
Part III: Dining out on the lure of a restaurant
By Cynthia Prairie ©The Chester Telegraph – 2014 T he Chester Green not only has two new antique stores – the Bargain Corner, just east of the Moon Dog Cafe, and VintageVermont, opened by a Bartonsville family in the Spater Building. But its new restaurant – in the Victorian house at 90 The Common that […]
Part II: It’s not easy being The Green; Defining a unique space
By Cynthia Prairie © The Chester Telegraph – 2014 When Vermonters talk about their town’s “Green,” they are speaking of a gathering place, one that likely sports a large bandstand on an expansive lawn — more square than long and narrow. Typically, public buildings or churches and some homes surround these greens, while the town’s […]
Part I: Chester’s Green a window on the health of local economy
By Cynthia Prairie © The Chester Telegraph – 2014 With three new businesses opening this summer along Chester’s Green in what had been empty storefronts, many merchants in and outside the immediate downtown area are sighing with relief. It’s not that businesses along The Green are any more important than those, say, along the Route […]
GMUHS graduates 58 under summer-eve skies
By Cynthia Prairie Fifty-eight students graduated from Green Mountain Union High School on Friday, June 20, under dazzling summer-eve skies. Most are headed to college, while several already have full-time jobs and careers lined up. (Photo gallery is below) Salutatorian Rachel Martel urged her fellow grads to pursue the unknown. “In this new beginning,” she […]
Justice Center to ‘move forward’ on transitional housing in Chester
ONE THE COVER:Chester residents packed a meeting of the board of the Springfield Restorative Justice Center. From left, Chester Select Board member Bill Lindsay, Chester resident Tom Hildreth, third from left, and standing, Select Board member Derek Suursoo, Chester resident Ron Patch and Chester Select Board member John DeBenedetti. By Cynthia Prairie At 6 p.m., […]
Sale of Armory in Chester stirs some interest
By Cynthia Prairie Gary Puryear takes a guest through the empty Chester Armory like an architect proud of his work. As environmental base transition coordinator for the federal Base Realignment and Closure program, he has overseen the cleanup and spruce-up of the 14,000-square-foot cinder block building. He seems to know every nook and cranny of […]
Beautification committee plants sunshine around Chester
By Cynthia Prairie It was a blooming beautiful Thursday morning, May 29, when members of the recently formed Chester Beautification Committee gathered at Sunshine Acres garden center on Route 11 north to fill 34 large planters with soil and flowering plants — such as petunias, salvia and sun patiens. The containers were then set out […]
Despite objections, Select Board votes Chester officer 3 months insurance after resignation
By Shawn Cunningham and Cynthia Prairie Over the protests of a number of town residents, the Chester Select Board Friday night voted to extend three months of town employee health insurance and to pay accrued vacation time to Paul Larochelle as a condition of his resignation from the Chester Police Department. The agreement was negotiated […]
Chester officer resigns after six-month administrative leave
By Cynthia Prairie Chester Police officer Paul Larochelle has sent a letter of resignation to the Town of Chester, in effect ending an administrative leave that began Nov. 18, 2013 following an undisclosed complaint. Local police would not reveal the details of the complaint or the reasons behind the administrative leave. In the meantime, the […]
Planning board makes a few changes to Chester zoning regs
By Cynthia Prairie There were few but nonetheless vocal members of the public at Monday evening’s Planning Commission 90-minute hearing to garner feedback on its proposals that, when approved, will create Chester’s first Unified Development Bylaws. Those bylaws revise and combine zoning regulations, subdivision regulations and flood hazard standards. Following Monday’s meeting, the five-member commission […]
