All Entries in the "Featured" Category
Fierman outlines school opening measures at well-attended forum
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC At a time when school officials all over the country are facing meetings of unhappy, often disrupting and even threatening parents regarding their decisions on issues like masking, the Two Rivers Supervisory Union held a school-opening forum last Thursday that was, by contrast, calm and civil. Local […]
Andover board gets legal advice on short-term rentals
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Two weeks after hearing residents speak of a short-term rental “tsunami,” the Andover Select Board received advice from attorney Jim Carroll on how they should and should not regulate that business. Via Zoom, Carroll told the board that there are a number of municipalities that either have […]
Guide to 2021 Chester Festival on the Green
© 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The 46th Chester Festival on the Green, know by several names over the years including the “Sale on the Green” and “the Chester Fall Festival,” remains a weekend filled with music, great arts and crafts, good food and friends set in the charming Vermont town of Chester. Like so many […]
Health Dept. employees urge stronger measures as infections, deaths rise
© 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Thursday, nearly 91 Vermont Health Department workers sent a letter to the department’s top administrators urging them to step up their Covid-19 public health guidance. Vermont Health Commissioner Mark Levine, who received the letter, responded later on Thursday writing: “As a department, we have to recognize that in a […]
Ludlow resident disrupts GM board meeting over masking Public forum set for Thursday as meeting over Chieftain mascot mulled
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last Thursday, the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District followed in the footsteps of the Ludlow Mount Holly District board in delegating the decisions about handling health-related issues like mask mandates to Superintendent Lauren Fierman. But before that could happen, the meeting was repeatedly and […]
Following ‘vicious dog’ hearing, Chester board orders dog impounded, sets conditions of release
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Select Board – acting as a quasi-judicial body under state law – judged a German shepherd named Dutchess to be vicious and ordered her impounded. According to testimony given at the hearing last Wednesday night, the dog, which is owned by Michael Horton, has bitten […]
Vermont cases, deaths increase as positivity rate ticks down
© 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The state of Vermont has reported six new Covid-19 deaths over the past week, a jump up from the four recent deaths reported since the first of August, for a total of 270 deaths. Positive cases are also on the rise this week with 738 new cases reported in the […]
Cavendish looks at enforcing old junkyard ordinance
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC At its Aug. 9 meeting, the Cavendish Select Board discussed the enforcement of its 15-year-old “junkyard ordinance” and got some push back from one resident who says he was unfairly singled out under the law when others in town were not. Brendan McNamara told the board that […]
LMH school board delegates health decisions to administration
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Looking to a Sept. 7 opening of its schools as a highly transmissible variant of the Covid 19 coronavirus is increasing infections across the United States, the board of the Ludlow Mount Holly Unified Union School District voted last Wednesday to once again delegate decisions regarding health […]
Andover confronts short-term rental ‘tsunami’
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC With a growing number of dwellings in Andover becoming short-term and vacation rentals, the Andover Select Board on Monday, Aug. 9 took public comment as well as advice from the town’s Zoning Board of Adjustment/Planning Commission on what steps can be taken to get a handle on […]
Weston board changes planning and zoning structure, sets tax rates
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Weston Select Board revised the planning and zoning structure of the town at its meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 10, moving from a Planning Commission and Zoning Board of Adjustment to a Planning Commission and Development Review Board. This shifts the responsibility for a number of zoning […]
As cases rise, Telegraph’s Covid Updates return In one week: 31 new cases in Windsor, 25 in Windham
Editor’s Note: For almost a year, The Chester Telegraph has provided a weekly update on Covid cases in Vermont. We ended the column in May as case numbers dropped significantly. But with the rise of cases, we resume this weekly Friday report. ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Covid-19 positive cases are again on the rise — […]
Chester board mulls construction finances, choices
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC In an accelerated meeting last Wednesday that took visiting members of the Andover Select Board by surprise, the Chester Select Board heard from Town Manager Julie Hance about the finances and schedules of the soon to open Public Services Building on Pleasant Street and the soon to […]
TRSU board hears reopening plans, hires GM board member
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC With school reopening in one month from its Aug. 7 meeting, the board of the Two Rivers Supervisory Union heard plans for bringing students back to the classrooms while the Covid-19 pandemic continues. Superintendent Lauren Fierman told the board that with the state of emergency lifted, the […]
Clearing a trail, one bite at a time
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Day and night during the last two weeks of July, a band of workers quietly and methodically rid 14 acres of the new Chester hiking trail of the invasive barberry bush – by eating it. Actually the 16 goats – from Slippery Slope Farm in Londonderry – […]
Weston tax rate still up in the air Public hearing set for Aug. 10 on switching from Zoning Board to DRB
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Weston Select Board on Monday, July 27, once again passed on approving the town tax rates but did reinstate a 3 percent late fee for property taxes that had been waived last year due to the pandemic. At its July 13 meeting, the board had questions […]
Chester plays host to new farmers market
By Cynthia Prairie ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC See Photo Gallery Below Despite only three vendors and a community organization info booth, the inaugural Chester Farmers Market, held on Wednesday, July 18, made an enthusiastic show of it in the grassy field next to the Baba a Louis parking lot on Route 11 West in Chester. […]
In policy shift, feds to redirect ‘county’ ARPA funds to Vermont towns $121 million had been destined to 14 court 'jurisdictions'
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC In a phone call to U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont last night, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin confirmed that her department would issue new guidance today specifying that Vermont’s 14 counties do not constitute “units of general government,” and will therefore send $121 million more in […]
Public weighs in on Chester greenhouse proposal Select Board continues speed limit talk; town garage rehab hits a budget wall
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Before taking up the regular business of its agenda for Wednesday, July 21, the Chester Select Board held a forum for the organizers of the community greenhouse project to explain what they are working on to the public, answer community questions and take comments and suggestions. Around […]
Area towns consider ways to spend ARPA funds Town Halls, broadband, water among ideas for fed monies
By Cynthia Prairie ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Gov. Phil Scott has announced that Vermont has received 50 percent of its allocation from the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund within the American Rescue Plan Act, and a number of south-central towns have already begun considering how they will spend those funds. Those towns include Andover, […]
