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.
Chester among Windsor towns to vote on County Courthouse renovations
One issue that Chester voters will address on Tuesday, March 5 is whether to support a $2 million bond issue to upgrade the historic Windsor County Courthouse in Woodstock. Assistant Judges David Singer and Jack Anderson presented the issue before the Chester Select Board on Thursday evening, detailing the need for the renovations of the […]
Alternative plans spark strong objections from Dollar General developer, engineer
By Cynthia Prairie Speath Engineering and developer the Zaremba Group vigorously defended their site plan for a Dollar General store proposed for Main Street in Chester after the Windsor County Regional Planning Commission offered two alternatives during the continuation of the Act 250 hearing last Thursday. Click to view Alternative A and Alternative B. The […]
Who is running for which town office, thus far
If you are planning to run for elective office in the Town of Chester, you’ll need to have your petitions, complete with signatures in to Town Hall by 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 28. According to the Secretary of State’s office, you can print out a petition form from its site. “You don’t need to announce […]
Act 250 hearing for Dollar General continues Thursday
Planning commission offers alternative plans The District 2 Environmental Commission has set Thursday, Jan. 17 to reconvene its Act 250 hearing on the proposed Dollar General project for a 1.37 acre parcel of land on Main Street across from the Country Girl Diner in Chester. The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. on the 2nd […]
Sage Jewelry teams with Polish Pottery in bigger location
It was a chilly Saturday evening with snow, salt and sand still on the ground. But the move had to be done. Sage Jewelry, which for two years has sat snuggly inside the Moon Dog Cafe, on Main Street right off the Green in Chester, needed larger digs. Jeweler and owner Michele Bargfrede was teaming […]
Tis the Season: Unusual holiday gifts for every budget and everyone
By Cynthia Prairie There are few reasons to leave Chester to shop for that very special holiday gift for that very special person. Chester abounds with interesting items in all price ranges — if you know where to look. Whether the recipient is your spouse or lover, a child, your pets or friends who love […]
Family Center Thrift Shop formally opens
The Chester-Andover Family Center’s Thrift Shop officially opened its new doors last Tuesday, Nov. 20 to the cheers of the many volunteers who had spent the last few months readying the building, which in its lifetime had housed three restaurants — Putney Pasta, Azteca and Curtis’ BBQ — before being purchased by the charitable organization […]
Act 250 Commission hears Dollar General proposal, residents’ concerns
By Cynthia Prairie Emotion tinged the afternoon testimony of many of the 13 people who spoke against the proposed Dollar General store on Friday, Nov. 9 before an audience at Chester Town Hall that at one point numbering more than 50. One by one, Chester business owners, residents and a second homeowner — who had […]
Election Day proves busy for Chester voters; preferences reflect most of state
By the time the 2nd floor polling place doors opened at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 6, a line of patient Chester voters snaked down the stairs, out the front door of Town Hall and into a chilly but sunny day that continued to draw a steady stream of voters to cast their ballots. While the […]
Family center volunteers open new pantry doors, thrift shop to open Nov. 20
UPDATE: The Thrift Shop will open officially at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 20. After weeks of hard work by eager volunteers from all over the area, the Chester-Andover Family Center has finally opened the doors to customers of its food pantry and moved most of its thrift shop goods into its new site at 908 […]
Stone Village featured in national history magazine
C hester is in the national spotlight for the fourth time* in slightly more than a year, this time with a photo-heavy, 6-page article on the Stone Village, running in the December edition of Early American Life. (Click photos to enlarge) The 42-year-old history magazine covers “everything before 1850 in America,” says its publisher, Tess […]
UPDATE: ‘Preliminary party status’ granted to 28 in Dollar General case
28 seek ‘party status’ in opposition to Dollar General Bulletin: Early Friday evening, the District Environmental Commission #2 sent out notice that “preliminary party status” has been granted to the 28 Chester residents and second-homeowners who are objecting to the construction of a 9,100-square-foot Dollar General store on Main Street. Preliminary party status will allow […]
Bridge building
Construction of the new Bartonsville Covered Bridge in Rockingham is moving right along, thanks to Cold River Bridges of Walpole, NH, the same company that rebuilt Chester’s two bridges along Main Street last summer. The latticework in “Town lattice truss” style bridge, named for its developer Ithiel Town, is being built from West Coast Douglas […]
To the editor: Wilton for state treasurer
Many of the letters in support of candidates come from the candidate asking the author of the letter to write it. I can assure that this letter of support does not have that as its origination or motivation. As the chair of the finance committee of the Rutland Board of Aldermen for three years, I […]
Dollar General’s Act 250 hearing set, public invited to seek ‘party status’
After five months of quiet, Zaremba Group LLC – the developer of a proposed 9,100-square-foot Dollar General store on Main Street across from the Country Girl Diner – has filed an application for the Act 250 permit (project No. 2S0699-3) it needs to proceed with its plans. The District 2 Environmental Commission, headquartered in Springfield, […]
Chester to seek Village Center Designation
By Cynthia Prairie Leanne Tingay, coordinator of the Vermont Downtown Program, came before the Chester Select Board on Wednesday Oct. 3 to urge the board to get behind efforts within the town to achieve a state Village Center Designation. And from the enthusiasm that the board expressed following her presentation, it appears that the town […]
Chester is Prettiest Painted Place in Vermont; makes Top 60 in nationals
Chester has been named among the Top 60 finalists of the Prettiest Painted Places competition, held by the Paint Quality Institute, and the only finalist from Vermont, making it the Prettiest Painted Place in the state. Two other Vermont towns applied: Bellows Falls and Stowe. The PQI is a 23-year-old organization aimed at educating consumers, […]
Community & Arts in Brief: French classes; Rotary Cabaret coming together; interim pastor at Congregation Church
New French classes at Misty Valley Books Misty Valley Books will again offer French classes beginning Monday, Oct. 15. The Learn French courses will run for six weeks. Intermediate classes will be held on Monday evenings, beginning Oct. 15. Beginners classes will be held on Tuesday evenings, beginning Oct. 16. Both classes will run from […]
Fire destroys Brooks-Lackie house, but memories remain
Photos by Bill Revill, Lew Watters and Kaitlin O’Shea. Story follows. By Cynthia Prairie An uninhabited house in the Stone Village burns down. Although few residents have ever seen the inside of it, many are moved to grief. Within minutes of posting photographs of the smoking ruins of the Brooks-Lackie House – or Kelley’s Tavern […]
Police Log for Aug. 22 – Sept. 13, 2012
Editor’s Note: The Chester Telegraph Police Log takes incidents directly from Chester Police reports. We do not identify individual victims of crimes nor those who have been arrested. Sunday, Aug. 18, 1:26 p.m. A complainant told of a possible impaired driver along Route 103 North. The driver was located. She is elderly and said that […]
