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.
April 5 Ladd Scholarship fund-raiser a time for reflection and the future
On the cover: The Ladd family, clockwise from rear left, son Gabe, parents Heidi and Andy, and daughters Georgia, Lily, Abbie and Marguerite. Laughter and a sense of fun. The desire for world experience. A love of learning. An allegiance to community. Five children who embody those values. A scholarship to offer students a […]
School budget issues pass; two write-ins take school posts; incumbents re-elected in Chester
By Cynthia Prairie With 402 Chester residents voting on Tuesday, all the school budget items passed and every incumbent seeking re-election was returned to office. The River Valley Technical Center budget issue was approved 307 yes to 92 no. With votes of both Chester and Andover co-mingled, the Chester-Andover Elementary School budget passed 307 […]
Chester voters OK all articles: Whiting Library issue creates a ruckus
By Cynthia Prairie Chester Town Meeting was quickly thrown a curveball on Monday night when Select Board chair John DeBenedetti sought to amend an article to give the Select Board authority over how and if money for repair and rehabilitation of the Whiting Library is spent, stunning members of Whiting’s board of trustees and […]
Andover voters to address alternative energy use, 4% hike in budget
By Cynthia Prairie Andover’s Town Meeting will begin at 10:15 a.m. Saturday, March 1 at Andover Town Hall, 953 Weston Andover Road. Besides electing 12 town officers during a floor vote, Andover voters will also consider exempting from municipal taxes those net metered solar energy systems that are regulated by the state Public Service […]
Londonderry to vote on eliminating auditors, lengthening terms of town clerk, treasurer
By Cynthia Prairie Among items under consideration for Londonderry voters during Town Meeting next week is Article 4 to eliminate the post of auditor, which has three three-year slots, two of which are up for election, and Article 3 to lengthen the terms of town clerk and treasurer, which are currently one-year terms, to […]
$385,000 in capital expenditures face vote at Chester Town Meeting
This article was originally published on Jan. 29, 2014. We republish it as a service to our Chester readers who will be voting at Town Meeting and on Election Day. By Cynthia Prairie Chester town voters will be addressing expenditure requests for 14 articles during Town Meeting, 10 of those requests from petition drives […]
Environmental Court OK’s Dollar General with conditions
By Cynthia Prairie Concluding that pertinent segments of Chester’s Town Plan are “aspirational” and not mandatory and that, even though the project will have an adverse impact, it will not be an undue impact, Environmental Court Judge Thomas Walsh has ruled that a 9,100-square-foot Dollar General can be built on Main Street in Chester. […]
Sunday morning fire destroys home on Trebo Road
UPDATE: How you can help, below the story. A single-family home on Trebo Road, about a half a mile from Route 103 North, was destroyed Sunday morning in a fire that also injured two residents and apparently collapsed portions of the building “fairly quickly,” Chester Fire Chief Matt Wilson said in an interview on […]
Bulkies and basketball: Fund-raisers fuel Lindsey Sturtevant fund
By Cynthia Prairie ON THE COVER: The bulkie team at Lisai’s prepares sandwiches for last Thursday’s fund-raiser for Lindsey Sturtevant and her family. Almost $6,000 was raised Thursday during two fund-raising events for Lindsey Sturtevant, the Chester 12-year-old who is preparing for a second bone marrow transplant after her first one — six years ago […]
For Lindsey’s sake: Community surrounds family as a little girl readies for a marrow transplant
By Cynthia Prairie Sue Willis picks out a few of the glass beads from the wooden box marked T.K. T*, gently rubbing them in the palm of her hand. With each touch, it seems, appears a memory of what her 12-year-old daughter has been through as well as a foreshadow of what she will […]
Chester’s final fiscal articles set; no formal challenges to incumbents, seven contests vacant
By Cynthia Prairie Chester town voters will be addressing expenditure requests for 14 articles during Town Meeting, 10 of those requests from petition drives mounted by organizations. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. Monday, March 3 in Town Hall, 556 Elm St. in Chester. As for the elections on Tuesday, March 4, the roster will […]
Deadlines loom for fiscal, candidate petitions in Chester
By Cynthia Prairie With Chester town vote petition deadlines looming — 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23 for fiscal articles and 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 27 for elective offices — surprisingly few petitions had been submitted as of Tuesday, Jan. 21, said Julie Hance, assistant town clerk. By last Tuesday, three of an expected 11 […]
$5,000 reward offered in antiques shop fire probe
By Cynthia Prairie The Vermont Arson Tip Award program is offering $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the fire that last Tuesday destroyed the Yankee Ingenuity Antiques shop on Main Street in Chester. Police and fire investigators have labeled the fire, which began shortly […]
Vote Chester 2014: A preliminary look at the March elections
By Cynthia Prairie As of Tuesday, only three people had filed for election for 23 Chester offices that are up for a vote. The three are incumbents seeking to be returned to seats that they currently hold. Select Board member Tom Bock, town clerk Deborah Aldrich, who is also town treasurer, and Lister Deborah […]
Top 10 from 24 months of unique reporting in The Chester Telegraph
By Cynthia Prairie On Jan. 16, 2014, The Chester Telegraph celebrates its second birthday. A few of our faithful readers have asked us to compile a list of the 10 top stories that we covered in 2013. We thought it was a great idea but, since we didn’t do it last year, we decided […]
Town water billing formula to change in 2014
By Cynthia Prairie In an attempt to even out wildly fluctuating revenue coming into the Chester water department, town manager David Pisha is looking to “radically alter the way we will bill for water in the future.” Currently, the 650 or so homes on Chester town water are billed at $2.95 per 1,000 gallons of […]
Annual Christmas dinner serves up good food, cheer to more than 100 seniors
Photo gallery is below the article More than 100 senior citizens from Chester and the surrounding towns sat down to a festive and hot Christmas meal on Saturday, Dec. 14 in the Chester Andover Elementary School cafeteria. Tables were set with bright green and red tablecloths, bowls of cranberry sauce, baskets of rolls and gift-basket […]
Prescription drug disposal site opens at Chester Town Hall
By Cynthia Prairie The Chester Police Department is participating in a nationwide effort to collect unused prescription drugs to keep them out of public water systems as well as keeping them out of the hands of children and others who might abuse them. In the long run, the goal is to deter crime. A […]
2nd annual Shop Local Gift Guide Part 2: For them, her, him and those animals over there
By Cynthia Prairie Last week, Part I of our 2nd Annual Shop Local Holiday Gift Guide offered up a load of ideas from housewares, stocking-stuffers and food in all price ranges, and within a short travel distance. This week, we tackle gifts for those sometimes hard-to-buy-for folks — family, friends, loved ones (including pets) […]
A holly, jolly Overture to Christmas
Photos and text by Cynthia Prairie Saturday’s Parade of Packages, part of Chester’s annual Overture to Christmas events, was interrupted when emergency vehicles had to pull out of the procession to respond to a single-car accident in Andover. (There were no injuries reported.) But that didn’t dampen the day as more than 20 kids […]
