Author Archive for Shawn Cunningham
Green Mountain graduates 52 under fair skies
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Green Mountain High School Class of 2022 got a perfect evening for its graduation exercises last Friday as 52 students shifted the tassels on their mortarboard caps and became alumni. Hundreds of parents and friends watched as members of the class received awards and diplomas. A […]
Chester Planning Commission agenda for June 20, 2022
The Chester Planning Commission will hold its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday June 20, 2022 at Town Hall and via Zoom. To join the meeting go to: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81029256359 Below is the commission’s agenda 1. Changes to the Agenda 2. Review & Approve minutes from the June 6 2022 meeting 3. Citizen Comments 4. […]
UPDDATE – Missing Springfield man found alive
UPDATE 5:55 p.m. Thursday June 16, 2022 – At about 3:30 p.m. today, search crews located Donald Gurney in a wooded area near Knapp Pond in Cavendish. He was dehydrated but otherwise appeared to be in fair condition. Crews brought Gurney out of the woods on a litter and he was checked by medical personnel. […]
Update on missing person search in Cavendish
© 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC Vermont State Police say that the search for Donald I. Gurney, 65, of Springfield, is continuing today. Gurney, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, was reported missing shortly after midnight on Tuesday, June 14, 2022. His truck was found near Parker Hill Road in Cavendish. On Wednesday, about 50 searchers – including […]
Judge denies Merrill motion for pre-trial release
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC Former Green Mountain Middle School teacher Norman Merrill will remain in jail after Federal District Judge Christina Reiss in Burlington held a hearing on his “motion to revoke detention order,” then denied it last Thursday. The motion, brought by defense attorney Devin McLaughlin, asserted that the detention […]
Police searching in Cavendish for missing Springfield man
© 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC Vermont State Police are looking a 65 year old Springfield man suffering from Alzheimer’s who went missing yesterday. According to a VSP press release early this morning, Donald I. Gurney, 65, of Gurney Road in Springfield was reported missing to the police in the early hours of Tuesday June 14. […]
Chester cannabis board gets organized
By Shawn Cunninham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last night, Chester’s Local Cannabis Control Commission met for the first time, with Town Manager Julie Hance in the chair until the group could elect its inaugural chairperson and begin looking at its “purpose and goals.” Lee Gustafson, who is one of two select board members serving […]
Emergency services hold community breakfast in Chester
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Sunday June 5, Chester’s police, fire and ambulance personnel put on the first of four community breakfasts to be held in the new Public Safety Building this summer. More than 50 residents came to enjoy pancakes made by Police Chief Rick Cloud and eggs scrambled by […]
Chester Select Board discusses Whiting Library problems Adopts new Village Green zoning, gets update on police assessment
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC At the close of the June 1 Chester Select Board meeting – in looking toward future agenda items – board chair Arne Jonynas brought up the topic of recent developments at the Whiting Library saying, “Through an extremely unfortunate series of events our library board is without […]
UPDATE: Chester’s Local Cannabis Control Commission agenda for June 7, 2022
Chester’s Local Cannabis Control Commission will hold its first meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 7 at Town Hall, 556 Elm St. and via Zoom. To join the meeting go to https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83094974051 Below is the commission’s agenda 1. Organization of Board2. Citizen Comments3. Discussion regarding Purpose and Goals of Board4. New Business/Next Agenda5. Adjourn Note: […]
Community breakfast at Public Safety Building this Sunday
© 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC Chester’s Emergency Services Department – Police, Fire and Ambulance – will hold the first of its summer community breakfasts on Sunday, June 5 at the Public Safety Building on Pleasant Street. The community breakfasts are a way for residents to get to know the members of the three organizations, learn […]
Bridge replacement to close Popple Dungeon for up to nine weeks
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC Starting Monday June 13, Popple Dungeon Road from Zezza Road west will be closed while the bridge and culvert there now are replaced. Alpine Construction estimates that doing the job will take about nine weeks, although Town Manager Julie Hance says that’s the outside projection and she […]
UPDATED – Chester Select Board Agenda and Hearing for June 1, 2022
The Chester Select Board will hold a public hearing on a proposed amendment to the town’s Unified Development Bylaws to create a new Village Green District. That hearing will be followed by a select board meeting. The hearing will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday June 1, 2022 at Town Hall, 556 Elm Street and […]
Fired by GMUSD board, Merrill awaits trial in jail
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC After a 58-minute executive session last night, the Green Mountain Unified School District board voted to dismiss Norman Merrill II, who has taught middle school at Green Mountain High for many years. Merrill is in jail in northern Vermont awaiting trial on a three-count federal indictment involving […]
Nied quits as Whiting Library trustee, resigns from other Chester town offices
By Shawn Cunningham and Cynthia Prairie © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC Robert Nied, the embattled chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Whiting Library in Chester, has resigned from that board as well as from every other position he holds within the town. In an email sent today, Wednesday, May 25, to the Chester […]
Whiting board emails, texts tell a fuller story of drag queen event Board chair: 'This program must never go forward'
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC While the chairman of the Whiting Library Board of Trustees told The Telegraph that the board’s trouble with a reading program featuring drag queens was a misunderstanding, and then called it “off base” to characterize the board’s action as “shutting it down,” a review of the board’s […]
Merrill pleads not guilty, ordered to remain in custody
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing, LLC Appearing in prison-issued clothing and a surgical mask from a visiting room at Northwest Correctional Facility in St. Albans, Norman Merrill, 45, of Chester, this afternoon entered a plea of not guilty before federal Judge Kevin Doyle, who was in Burlington via video conference. Doyle then went […]
Library director resigns amid questions of board censorship
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC The director of Chester’s Whiting Library tendered her resignation on Thursday, May 12, on the eve of the Whiting’s board of trustees second executive session to discuss a scheduled library event that at least one member found “too controversial” and wanted cancelled. But board chair Robert Nied […]
Chester Planning Commission agenda for May 16, 2022
The Chester Planning Commission will hold its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday May 16, 2022 in the Town Hall, 556 Elm Street and via Zoom. To join the meeting go to: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81029256359 1. Changes to the Agenda 2. Review & Approve minutes from May 2nd, 2022 meeting 3. Citizen Comments 4. Bylaw Modernization […]
Chester board appoints cannabis commission, talks police assessment
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC At its May 4 meeting, the Chester Select Board formally created a local cannabis control commission, then appointed five of the seven residents who applied to serve on it. That included some who urged voters to reject the opt-in measure for retail sales of cannabis that was […]
