Author Archive for Shawn Cunningham
Westminster man charged in road rage shooting
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing, LLC A Westminster man was arrested this afternoon and charged in a road rage shooting this morning. No one was injured in the incident. At around 8:30 a.m. today, Thursday, Robert Wright of Townshend called 9-1-1 to say that the driver of a truck had fired several shots […]
CAES asks parents not to arrive early for pickup Traffic pattern, early arrivals mean congestion at elementary
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Jim Spaulding is spending a chunk of his afternoons directing traffic. The building supervisor at Chester-Andover Elementary School has made it his mission to make the bus and parent pickups run smoothly and that means asking some people (politely) to leave. Over the years, several schemes have […]
Chester Telegraph claims TRSU board violated state Open Meeting Law
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC In a complaint dated May 7 and sent to Two Rivers Supervisory Union Superintendent Meg Powden and board members, Cynthia Prairie, editor and publisher of The Chester Telegraph, is contending that the board of the SU improperly entered into an executive session even after it was warned […]
Townscape volunteers dress up information booth, gazebo
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The people who brought you the daffodils by the cemetery wall, planters all over town, flower boxes on the bridges and the Hearse House Renovation are back and they’re getting their hands dirty. A group of Chester Townscape members descended on the information booth on Main Street […]
Hazardous waste disposal days, hours to change Chester Select Board discusses special town meetings on EMS building, loader
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The hazardous household waste collections that have been held at the Springfield Transfer Station a couple of times a year are in for a big change, which may make them both harder to access and more expensive. Last Wednesday night, Derek Suursoo, who represents the Town of […]
GMUSD board balks at hearing CTES complaints
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC While the agenda for the Green Mountain Unified School District’s Thursday, April 25 meeting was full — and the public portion of the meeting went on for three hours — one question hung over the proceedings until the end and even then some members of the public […]
Chester solons mull water, gravel and Hogs
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing, LLC Acting as the town’s Water and Sewer Commission, the Chester Select Board, at its April 17 meeting, approved taking out a $45,000 from the state’s Drinking Water and Groundwater Protection Division to inventory and map the entire water system. The Asset Management Planning loan is offered to […]
Cavendish Elementary parents petition SU to delay Beaupre contract renewal
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Nearly six dozen parents of Cavendish Town Elementary School students and other interested community members have signed a petition of no confidence in Principal Deb Beaupre, asking that the Two Rivers Supervisory Union “hold up her contract renewal” and “open an investigation into the communities (sic) concerns.” […]
Early morning flooding hammers area towns
By Shawn Cunningham ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Overnight rains and melting snows combined on Monday morning to cause flooding and close roads throughout the area. Luckily, it was also the first day of the spring break for local schools. At 6:24 a.m., a Weston firefighter asked the Keene Mutual Aid dispatcher to tone fire department […]
Troopers find double murder suspect dead
© 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Late this afternoon while searching for double murder suspect Derrick Shippee, police found him dead. According to a VSP press release, the Tactical Services Unit was searching on and around Shippee’s family’s property at 138 Sak Road in Vernon, when at around 4:35 p.m. TSU members located a body preliminarily […]
Car fire at CAES disrupts dismissal, no injuries
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC A car fire at 3 p.m. threw the afternoon dismissal for Chester-Andover Elementary School into disarray while firefighters blocked the driveway to extinguish the blaze. As parents in cars lined up behind the school to pick up their children, the car at the front of the line […]
Chester Board to begin reviewing Town Plan changes
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing, LLC The Chester Select Board held its statutory Town Plan public hearing before beginning to review changes proposed by the Planning Commission at its Wednesday, April 3 meeting. There are substantial changes to four chapters of the plan – Utilities and Facilities, Education and Child Care Facilities, Energy […]
Tension between fire departments burbles up in Cavendish Select Board meeting
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The monthly Cavendish Select Board meeting was just a few minutes old on Monday when it almost erupted into an all-out range war over issues between the town’s two fire companies. In the public comment portion of the agenda, Amy Perry of the Proctorsville Fire Department asked […]
Spring snow turns roads treacherous
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing, LLC Freezing rain and snow turned area roads slick this April Monday afternoon. Accidents were reported in Chester, Landgrove and Weston among others. According to witnesses and a State Police press release, at about 1:13 p.m. a 2006 Subaru Impreza was being driven west on the Weston Andover […]
Board gives Powden 2-year contract, 4 percent raise before performance review
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Two Rivers Supervisory Union board met Thursday night to work on the annual performance evaluation of Superintendent Meg Powden, but the real action took place in two executive sessions over the past two months. On Feb. 7, with Marilyn Mahusky as chair, the TRSU board offered […]
GMUSD board replaces Mahusky as chair
By Shawn Cunningham © Telegraph Publishing, LLC In a surprise move last Thursday night, March 21, the Green Mountain Unified School District board voted 5-3 to replace board chair Marilyn Mahusky of Chester with Joe Fromberger from Andover. The move came at the board’s reorganization session after Town Meeting Day in which newcomer Lois Perlah […]
GM junior’s musical composition to be performed by VSO members
By Shawn Cunningham ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC This is an especially busy week for Alex Beshay. Between this Wednesday — today — and next Tuesday, the Green Mountain junior will participate in a four-day national conference choir in Columbus, Ohio, then work with members of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra as it prepares to perform one […]
DMV officer from Derry makes her last collar Duchess retires after 11 years in drug enforcement
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC At the end of February, Gov. Phil Scott honored a long-time employee of the Department of Motor Vehicles upon her retirement. He presented the Londonderry resident with a gift he and the first lady had picked out personally to honor the contribution she had made to the […]
Explosion, fire destroy guest house at South Derry compound
By Shawn Cunningham ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Doug Stevens had just backed his truck into the sugar house on Winhall Hollow Road in Londonderry when one of several buildings on the property exploded. While firefighters were dousing the flames, Stevens, who is caretaker of the property, told The Telegraph that he heard a huge “baah-room” […]
Tension between fire departments extends to Select Board appointments in Cavendish
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Select board reorganization meetings are usually pretty routine affairs in which the board sets its meeting dates, picks a chair and appoints the many – usually unpaid – volunteers to jobs like representing the town on the solid waste district board. It’s not particularly glamorous or controversial. […]
