Author Archive for Shawn Cunningham
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 […]
From sidewalks to stop lights, Chester residents weigh in on priorities for ARPA funding
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC With $900,000 on the table to fund most anything that could be labelled “government services,” around 20 residents came together – in person and on Zoom – on Monday evening to lend their ideas on how the money should be spent. There are only a few restrictions […]
‘Oldest man in Chester’ to celebrate 104th on the Green
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC When Bernard Mowrey was born, Woodrow Wilson was president of the United States, the end of World War I was still six months away and the flu pandemic, which would kill tens of millions worldwide, was just getting under way. Next week he’ll celebrate his 104th birthday […]
Derry Town Meeting scuttles dam article
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC On a sunny but cool and blustery Saturday morning a little over a hundred residents of Londonderry gathered in the parking lot of Town Hall on Middletown Road to hold their Town Meeting, which had been postponed from early March due to Covid worries. Ironically, they were […]
Chester board begins to set up cannabis panel
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Select Board took up the task of forming a local cannabis control commission at its Wednesday, April 20 meeting and while everyone agreed that such a commission has little real power, the discussion quickly turned to whether there would be representation of “both sides” on […]
Dam meeting attendees get a Covid scare Londonderry Town Meeting moved outdoors in response
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC Approximately 70 people who attended last Wednesday’s information meeting regarding the fate of the Williams Dam in Londonderry also got an unexpected call over the weekend. That call was to inform them that four of the town government representatives who had been at the meeting had tested […]
Chester to hold public forum on use of $900k in ARPA funds
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Monday, May 9 Chester residents and property owners will be able to to weigh in on how the town will use $900,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds. The brainstorming session is part of an outreach effort to get the public’s ideas for the best use […]
News Analysis: Legislature shuffles the districts in spite of local wishes Local towns need to leverage new representation
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC While the text of House Bill 589 said that lawmakers would be seeking public — and municipal — input on their reapportionment plan to determine what State House districts will look like for the next 10 years, for officials in most area towns, they apparently were not […]
VSP trooper resigns, charged with perjury, animal cruelty
© 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC A detective trooper assigned to the Westminster State Police Barracks has resigned and faces charges of perjury, animal cruelty and violating an abuse prevention order. According to the Vermont State Police, Zachary Gauthier, 31, of Weathersfield, was cited on those charges this morning. In an affidavit of probable cause, police […]
GMUSD board chair asserts ownership of buses LMH members nix re-registration, titling in GM name
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC In a 3-3 tie vote, the board of the Two Rivers Supervisory Union defeated a motion to re-register and re-title eight school buses in the name of Green Mountain, the district that bought them for $684,000 back in 2019. The buses are currently registered to TRSU. All […]
Driver in Rt. 103N crash pleads not guilty to two charges
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC One month to the day after the crash that left Chester bookstore owner Vicki Thornton severely injured, Travis Stella, 27, of Wilton, Conn., was arraigned on charges of DUI-1 and grossly negligent operation with serious injury resulting in Windsor County Superior Court in White River Junction. Represented […]
Chester panel mulls zoning change for Baba A Louis buyer
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC With adjustments to the Village Green District proposal finished at its Monday April 4 meeting, the Chester Planning Commission turned its attention to a request from Robert “Sugar Bob” Hausslein for a change of zoning to accommodate food manufacturing in the long shuttered Baba A Louis bakery […]
Detour & delay season is right around the corner Here's a short guide to avoiding the worst of it
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC Every year as the weather warms, we begin to look around to see where the public works construction season will give us delays and detours. Here are some of the projects you may run into this summer. Andover The major project in Andover will be a relatively […]
