Author Archive for Shawn Cunningham
Chester police move to unionize
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The New England Police Benevolent Association has filed a “petition for election of collective bargaining representative” with the Vermont Labor Relations Board on behalf of members of the Chester Police Department. The petition is a first step toward Chester Police officers being represented by a regional union […]
GM board calls for more precise costs on $18M of $28M proposal Energy audit firm works toward bond vote in March 2022
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC At a special meeting on Monday night, the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District weighed the $28 million proposal put forward by the New Hampshire firm Energy Efficient Investments as a result of its “energy audit” and decided to ask for more details on the […]
GM board votes to stop using Native American logo
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Just a few months after adopting a format that puts time limits on every item on its agenda, the Green Mountain Unified School District went spectacularly off the rails on Thursday night running to three hours rather than the 108 minutes outlined on the agenda. The sticking […]
Chester board votes to offer emergency services to Andover If accepted, $55,755 annual fee would be $22,000 above 2021 contract
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Wednesday night, the Chester Select Board voted to offer fire and ambulance coverage to the Town of Andover for 2022 at the cost of $55,754.67. That represents a 69 percent increase over the $33,000 that Chester charged Andover for fire, ambulance and dispatch in 2021. The […]
Small public turnout at forum on fate of Chieftain mascot Speakers generally in favor of some degree of change
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC For what was expected to be a hot-button topic, the community discussion of whether to change Green Mountain High School’s Chieftain mascot last Thursday night drew relatively sparse attendance. The number of those on the Zoom call peaked at 52 toward the end of the meeting but […]
Negotiations with Chester to begin as Andover residents weigh in on fire, ambulance Tensions cool as select boards seek to find an equitable route
Video by Cynthia Prairie/Video editing by Leah Cunningham ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC More than 35 Andover residents attended the Andover Select Board on Monday night to voice their concerns over Chester’s decision to discontinue fire and ambulance service to the town at the end of this year. […]
GMUSD board hears further details of energy audit findings Will look at prioritizing needs for a future bond issue
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last Tuesday night, the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District held a special meeting to begin looking at the long list of projects that came out of an “energy audit” conducted by Energy Efficient Investments or EEI over the past two years. EEI had presented […]
Chester native traces story of Romaine Tenney Travis Van Alstyne animates the farmer's last year, last days
A 40-second clip of Travis Van Alstyne’s animation.By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC It’s been more than 57 years since Weathersfield farmer Romaine Tenney responded to the taking of his farm by the state of Vermont to build Interstate-91 by setting his barns and house on fire and nailing himself inside. Since […]
Chester Select Board to end contracting emergency services to Andover in 2022 Cites 'heightened animosity' and 'clear distrust' of Chester
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Wednesday night, the Chester Select Board decided — after a one hour executive session — that the town would no longer provide its fire and ambulance coverage to Andover after the end of this year. When the board came out of the closed door meeting, board […]
Chester emergency departments explain costs, training, services in Andover
By Shawn Cunningham © Telegraph Publishing LLC An informational meeting on emergency services between the Andover and Chester select boards Monday night was winding down when Andover board member Chris Walker slammed a travel mug on the table and walked out saying that the Town of Chester wasn’t listening and would force Andover to pay […]
Powerful ‘Mountaintop’ built on sterling performances
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Mountaintop – now running at Weston’s Walker Farm stage – is a fantasy that imagines the last night of Martin Luther King’s life set in Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis during a thunderstorm. It is April 3, 1968. King has just delivered his […]
Chester greenhouse project in flux following multiple board resignations Current, former members hope efforts continue to completion
By Cynthia Prairie and Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC An effort to erect an historic greenhouse in Chester and operate it as a community service is in the midst of an upheaval after three members of the six-member board quit in late August, citing a disagreement over what some say is the “scope […]
Visitors to new Public Safety Building treated to demonstrations, good eats and a real fire call
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Nearing the close of Sunday’s Open House for Chester’s new Public Safety Building – which featured demonstrations by both the Police and Fire departments – attendees got a chance to see a real-life response to a fire call. Click the link to take you down to the […]
Michigan man pleads guilty to 2019 GMUHS bomb scare, threats
© Telegraph Publishing LLC A 24 year-old Holland, Mich., man pleaded guilty, in federal court in Burlington to making a threat to “shoot up” Green Mountain Union High School in February of 2019. The Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Vermont announced the plea deal on Friday, Sept. 24. According to a […]
More CAES students quarantining; over 10%
of TRSU students return to remote learning 9 Covid positives send 200 Springfield students home
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC As of Wednesday, Sept. 22, more Chester-Andover Elementary students are quarantining and receiving remote instruction as combined classes of fifth and sixth graders were exposed to a member of the CAES community who has tested positive for Covid-19. This is the second CAES classroom this week to […]
GMUSD appoints new Chester director, hears results of ‘energy audit’
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Green Mountain Unified School District board met on Thursday, Sept. 16 and added one more member to their ranks to replace Jeannie Wade of Chester who resigned when she took a job with Chester-Andover Elementary School, which is part of the district. On the previous night, […]
Chester board hears of safety building opening, raises ambulance rates
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC As the new Public Safety Building is readied for an open house on Sunday, Sept. 26, Assistant Fire Chief Ben Whalen came before the Chester Select Board to explain that much of the new furniture and other equipment that people will see were not paid for by […]
CAES classroom quarantines after Covid exposure Ludlow Elementary classroom follows suit
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC A second-grade classroom at Chester-Andover Elementary School is meeting remotely today because the administration learned early Friday morning that the students and teacher had come in contact with a “member of the school community” who had tested positive for coronavirus, according to Two Rivers Superintendent Lauren Fierman. […]
Andover Board, residents complain about Chester emergency service, cost Negotiations, creating a fire department among strategies
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC A discussion of the amounts charged by the Town of Chester for fire protection and ambulance service took up a large portion of the Monday, Sept. 13 Andover Select Board meeting with one board member saying he had been shopping the service around but no other town […]
Andover Select Board agenda for Sept. 13
The Andover Select Board will hold its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday Sept. 13 at the Andover Town Office, 953 Andover Weston Rd. Below is its agenda: 1. Call Select Board meeting to order. 2. Act on Agenda. 3. Act on Minutes: Act on the minutes from the August 23rd meeting. 4. Public […]
