Author Archive for Shawn Cunningham
Magic Mtn. opens lift, ski area for beginners
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC With students from the Ski School looking on, the Magic Mountain Ski Area in Londonderry on Saturday opened its new Nelson Family Learning Area for beginning skiers with the mountain’s first new lift in decades. As the sun broke over the mountain and onto the new installation, […]
With little enthusiasm, GMUSD board sends budget to voters
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing, LLC The Green Mountain Unified School District board moved ahead in fits and starts Wednesday night, approving a budget proposal that a number of members were not happy with while Superintendent Meg Powden repeatedly sounded “retreat,” promising just such an extended board session “sooner than later” to sort […]
Log truck-plow crash temporarily closes I-91; no life-threatening injuries
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC A tractor-trailer truck carrying logs on I-91 collided with a VTrans plow truck Wednesday evening shutting down the highway completely for about 20 minutes and one northbound lane of the highway for several hours. There were no life-threatening injuries in the accident. According to Vermont State Police, […]
Joint Cavendish/Chester school board meeting turns on issues of transparency, trust
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC At a meeting of the Cavendish Town Elementary School Board – on its own and in a joint session with the Chester-Andover Elementary School on Tuesday night – a number of Cavendish residents expressed misgivings about the intentions of administration of the new school district. Their suspicions […]
Chester Select Board mulls budget priorities, asks departments for cuts
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC With a short schedule for getting a budget approved and sent to the printer ahead of Town Meeting Day in March, the Chester Select Board met on Monday Jan. 8 to review its 2018 numbers with an eye toward reducing an overall increase of $242,986. In a […]
An ice sculpture grows in Popple Dungeon
The recent low temperatures have given Peter Delaney’s annual free form ice sculpture a great start on the winter. Each year, Delaney, who lives in the 2000-block of Popple Dungeon, constructs a frame to support a garden hose that gets water – gravity fed – from up the hill. This year, he say, he built […]
TRSU backs away from nursing change, reshuffles principal proposal; finance committee deadlocks on budget
Editor’s note: The meetings of the Green Mountain Unified School District Board and Finance Committee were held on Tuesday evening. Here are some of the highlights of those meetings. The Telegraph will have a detailed report on the meeting in the next day or so. By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing, LLC With an […]
Powden adds foreign language to nurse, principal cuts; refuses to release meeting recording
Editor’s Note: The Chester Telegraph attended the 6 p.m. Jan. 2 meeting of the Green Mountain Unified School District Finance Committee as it worked on the budget for the new school district. Unfortunately our reporter was unable to stay past 7 p.m., but the next morning requested a copy of the digital audio file recorded […]
Master Plan moves to implementation phase; Okemo Chamber seeks Chester board help
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Without final financial numbers for 2017 to finish its work on the budget, the regular meeting of the Chester Select Board handled a number of housekeeping items and heard a plea for help from the Okemo Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce. Executive Assistant Julie Hance told the […]
TRSU Super Powden proposes consolidating nurse, principal functions in new district
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC One agenda item out of more than a dozen – next year’s budget – sucked the oxygen out of the room at last Tuesday night’s meeting of the new Green Mountain Unified School District, held at Cavendish Town Elementary School. The audience of about 15 was unhappy […]
Ludlow residents petition for school merger re-vote, hope to keep BRHS alive
UPDATE: On Wednesday, Dec. 27, Ludlow’s Assistant Town Clerk and Treasurer Pamela Todt confirmed that the petition had 127 valid signatures and is therefore sufficient to cause a re-vote of the merger with Mount Holly. By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC With just two days left until a Dec. 28 deadline, voters in […]
Magic ‘Best in Snow’ again, continues work on upgrades
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC More than a foot of snow last Tuesday was an auspicious sign for the Magic Mountain ski area just days before opening, as its new owners continued to refurbish and upgrade the 57-year-old ski area in their second season of operation. But the news that came this […]
Storm yields another crop of accidents: ‘Slow down’ says VSP
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC “It’s pretty simple,” said Sgt. Chris Buckley of the Vermont State Police Westminster barracks, “you can’t continue to drive at 65 when the road is covered with snow.” Dozens of motorists learned that lesson during Tuesday’s storm as the VSP responded to 47 calls for crashes, cars […]
Colleagues escort Sgt. Phelps home before final goodbyes on Monday
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Members of area emergency services agencies and first responders honored Chester Police Sgt. Mark Phelps, who died on Monday, by escorting his remains to the Davis Funeral Home in Springfield from Dartmouth Hitchcock Hospital in Lebanon, N.H. Just before 4 p.m., as dusk was just settling in, […]
Chester board hears culvert detour concerns, reviews 2018 budget
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC In a special hearing before the Dec. 6 Chester Select Board meeting, Popple Dungeon residents expressed their concerns about detours that would occur during replacement of a failed culvert that was insufficient to handle the water from Tropical Storm Irene. Aaron Guyette and Jason Keener of the […]
Tomasso property back on market after forestry foundation option lapses
Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC The 1,800-acre property in Chester that was the focus of so much attention and excitement as a possible “community forest” that would offer a number of recreational opportunities including hiking, mountain biking and expanded snowmobiling in addition to hunting and fishing is back on the market. Robert Perschel, […]
Missing Chester man found dead
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing, LLC A Chester man who was last seen on Oct. 24 was found dead in the woods off Green Mountain Turnpike on Saturday Dec. 9. According to Chester Police, the body of David MacTavish, who is also known as David “Milo” Mills, 54, was found by a hunter […]
American Legion donates flag pole for Chester Town Hall
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Chester’s American Legion Post 67 has donated a flag pole to the Town of Chester for Town Hall. On Thursday, it was presented to Town Manager David Pisha. In the late summer and early fall, Jeff Holden, who was representing the Legion, came to Chester’s Select Board […]
Grant will add nine holes, amenities to Chester disc golf course
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC By next summer, Chester will have an 18-hole disc golf course thanks to a Recreation Facilities grant from Vermont’s Department of Buildings and General Services. At the Pinnacle Recreation Area on Thursday, Dec. 7, state Rep. Tom Bock presented Town Manager David Pisha with a ceremonial check […]
After 11 years, GM Principal Ferenc to retire at school year’s end
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC As he sits at the conference table in the Green Mountain High School principal’s office, Tom Ferenc’s days are numbered. Last month, the long-time administrator told the GM school board that the 2017-18 school year would be his last at the helm of the Chester school. Beginning […]
