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.
Animals seized, Windham woman charged with cruelty
© 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC A Windham woman has been charged with animal cruelty and more than 60 farm animals were seized from her residence after Vermont State Police descended upon her Popple Dungeon home on Friday, Nov. 5. Vermont State Police say they issued a search warrant on the home of 23-year-old Erika VanAlstyne […]
Andover board OKs dollar amount for emergency services; tables ATV ordinance till Town Meeting Chester now must draw up contract for fire, ambulance
By Cynthia Prairie ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC During the calm portion of what turned into a headache-inducing meeting on Monday, the Andover Select Board decided that it would accept a $55,754.67 contract from the Town of Chester to provide emergency fire and medical/ambulance services, should one be offered. The price of service will fluctuate based […]
Despite letter, Drew’s Organics production to resume in 2022, owners say Facility continues to run three shifts, seeks more employees
By Cynthia Prairie ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The worldwide supply chain crisis has hit the Schlotterbeck & Foss food manufacturing facility in Chester, which also produces Drew’s Organics dressings and salsas. And despite a seemingly definitive letter to its retail customers and distributors saying that S&F is “discontinuing production” of Chester-based Drew’s Organics, a company […]
Chester Select Board agenda for Oct. 6
The Chester Select Board will hold its regular meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 6 at Town Hall, 556 Elm St., and via Zoom. To access via Zoom: https://zoom.us/join Meeting ID: 819 8884 2129 or https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81988842129. Below is its agenda. 1. Approve Minutes from the September 15, 2021 Selectboard Meeting and September 24, 2021 Special Selectboard Meeting 2. Citizen […]
Andover community action spares ‘The Jersey 5’
By Cynthia Prairie and Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Andover neighbors and town officials came together this past week to get help for a single ailing Jersey cow then ended up with a small herd. The “Jersey 5” are now lounging and dining in a green field of high grass on an undisclosed […]
See you this weekend — Sept. 18 & 19 — at the Chester Festival on the Green!
By Cynthia Prairie ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Community Events committee is excited that its months-long efforts for this weekend’s Chester Festival on the Green are finally coming to fruition. But committee chairman Scott Blair told The Telegraph on Thursday that he wanted to clear up some possible confusion. Contrary to one media report […]
New at Chester Festival: Vaxx clinic, family-friendly farm events
By Cynthia Prairie ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Vermont National Guard will be hosting a walk-in Covid-19 vaccine clinic at the Chester Festival on the Green from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 18, to administer the single dose Johnson & Johnson inoculation to anyone 18 and older. The tent will be set […]
Kinhaven employees test negative for Covid following positive results
By Cynthia Prairie ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The five employees of Kinhaven Music School in Weston who tested positive for Covid-19 have all been retested at least two more times with negative results for the contagious coronavirus, school co-executive director Anthony Mazzocchi told The Telegraph on Tuesday. While expressing disappointment that the school had to […]
Kinhaven sends youth class home early after five employees test positive for Covid Co-director: All five have been vaccinated, are asymptomatic
By Cynthia Prairie ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Kinhaven Music School in Weston ended its two-week program for children ages 10 to 14 on Saturday, a week early, after five vaccinated employees tested positive for Covid-19. Kinhaven co-executive director Anthony Mazzocchi said on Tuesday that while the employees are asymptomatic, the school sent the children home […]
Chester plays host to new farmers market
By Cynthia Prairie ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC See Photo Gallery Below Despite only three vendors and a community organization info booth, the inaugural Chester Farmers Market, held on Wednesday, July 18, made an enthusiastic show of it in the grassy field next to the Baba a Louis parking lot on Route 11 West in Chester. […]
Area towns consider ways to spend ARPA funds Town Halls, broadband, water among ideas for fed monies
By Cynthia Prairie ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Gov. Phil Scott has announced that Vermont has received 50 percent of its allocation from the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund within the American Rescue Plan Act, and a number of south-central towns have already begun considering how they will spend those funds. Those towns include Andover, […]
S. Central Vermont realtors honor two as Realtor of Year, Good Neighbor
Jenifer Prouty Hoffman, principal broker and owner of Hoffman Real Estate, has been named the 2021 Realtor of the Year by the South Central Vermont Board of Realtors. SCVBR’s Realtor of the Year award is the board’s highest honor and recognizes a realtor member for outstanding commitment to the real estate industry, and to their […]
31 area restaurants OK’d for Covid relief grants worth $4.2 million
By Cynthia Prairie ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Thirty-one restaurants, bars and food trucks from Bellows Falls to Manchester, including four in Chester, have been approved to receive portions of the $28.6 billion federal Restaurant Revitalization Fund to help them recover from the effects of restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic crisis. The total funding those […]
College News
Emerson College in Boston awarded more than 950 undergraduate degrees and more than 470 graduate degrees for the Class of 2021 on Sunday, May 2, at Fenway Park in Boston, during its 141st commencement exercises, and virtually on Sunday, May 9. The College also honored the Class of 2020 graduates in an additional ceremony at […]
Green Mountain seniors receive awards, scholarships
© Telegraph Publishing LLC At a ceremony on Friday June 11, the Green Mountain High School recognized students with the announcement of awards and scholarships. The list of the recipients is below. Chester High School/GMUHS Alumni Association Kyleigh Moses & Rosalee Saccardo Masonic Lodge Olive Branch #64 Sadie Kobak & Erik Heitsmith Order of the […]
Editorial: Keeping an eye on the public’s business
By Cynthia Prairie ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC One of the most important missions of any newspaper is to be a check on government officials and agencies, including those with the state and towns and school systems, any place that has control over taxpayer funds. From its launch almost 10 years ago, The Chester Telegraph has […]
Chester Chatter: From flag kids to money cakes
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC For some time when my daughters were young, I became enamored with Women’s Day magazine. It was full of good ideas and advice. During the summer of 1976, for the U.S. Bicentennial, it suggested buying back-to-school clothes for our in children red, white and blue and mixing and […]
Andover Select Board agenda for May 24
The Select Board for the town of Andover will meet at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, May 24 in person and via Zoom. To join via Zoom click here. Meeting ID: 869 021 5007 and Passcode: 146374. To dial in, call: +1 929 436 2866. Town offices are located at 953 Weston-Andover Road. Below is its […]
Community Preschool kids cultivate good will with ‘kindness rocks’
The Chester Community Preschool recently received a $500 grant from the Kindness Rocks Project, giving children a chance to paint rocks and have them inscribed with upbeat and inspirational sayings. The project centers around social and emotional learning and also includes workbooks and posters about kindness. Under their teachers’ guidance, the pupils on Tuesday placed […]
Keith Hill accepts 1-year contract as GM principal
By Cynthia Prairie ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Keith Hill has accepted the position of principal of Green Mountain High School, informing Superintendent Lauren Fierman of his decision on the morning of Monday, April 19. The past two weeks have been a roller coaster ride for Hill, the school system and much of the community since […]
