All Entries in the "Featured" Category
A Complex Equation: Solving the puzzle of reopening schools Part 1 of a series on reopening schools in the Time of Covid-19
This is Part 1 in a series on the issues around reopening schools closed by the pandemic in the fall. By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC The countdown clock is ticking. In less than three months the 2020/21 school year begins. And while Agency of Education Secretary Dan French is working with Vermont’s […]
Weston board OKs extending Lawrence Hill paving near Post Office loading dock
By Bruce Frauman ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Weston Select Board during its Zoom meeting on Tuesday, June 9 agreed in a 3-1 vote to pave near the loading dock of the Post Office building at Main Street and Lawrence Hill Road, where a puddle forms as deep as 6 inches forms and can turn […]
Lisai’s becomes Smitty’s with new owner
By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Garrison Smith is no stranger to working 12 hours a day, but it’s a long way from working as an attorney and corporate counsel to babysitting an ailing cooler until service can arrive. Smith is the new owner of Lisai’s Chester Market, whose name will be […]
Quick action by firefighters prevents large blaze in South Derry
By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC The quick action of area fire departments kept a late morning chimney fire from getting out of control in South Londonderry today. Firefighters from the Champion Fire Company responded to the fire at the corner of Middletown and Crescent roads a little after 11 a.m. and when […]
GM school board names new CTES principal with insufficient warning
By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Green Mountain Unified School District board held a special meeting last night to have an executive session on “contracts,” but that closed door confab was actually to discuss an administrative re-shuffle to replace outgoing Cavendish Town Elementary Principal Deb Beaupre. The result was yet another instance […]
Select Board hears of Jersey Girls’ lawsuit against Chester
By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing, LLC The Chester Select Board went into executive session on Wednesday night to discuss the lawsuit Jersey Girls Dairy owner Lisa Kaiman has filed against the Town of Chester seeking damages for losses she says her businesses have taken resulting from the weight limits on the bridges that […]
Large turnout protests racial injustice GM students highlight 'teaching moment' at Chester event
By Shawn Cunningham and Cynthia Prairie © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Saturday, more that 150 people turned out on the Chester Green to join a student-led protest against racial injustice. Organized by students from Green Mountain High School to confront racism and police brutality in the name of George Floyd and other African-Americans […]
Police identify remains found in Chester
© 2020 Telegraph Publishing, LLC Vermont State Police are saying that the body found in a creek on Thursday June 4 near Wymans Falls Road in Chester was that of Joshua Webster, 39 of Springfield. A VSP press release says that an autopsy performed Saturday, June 6, 2020, at the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in […]
Police investigate human remains found in Chester
© 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Police are investigating the discovery of human remains in Chester yesterday, Thursday, June 4. In a press release this morning, the Vermont State Police say they were notified early Thursday evening that a badly decomposed body had been located along Wymans Falls Road in Chester. According to police detectives with the […]
Chester’s iconic Fall Festival cancelled
By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing, LLC Just before the end of the Chester Select Board meeting on Wednesday night, board member Leigh Dakin announced that the Chester Rotary and the Fall Festival Committee have decided that they will be unable to hold the 46th edition of the iconic festival scheduled for Sept. 19 […]
State IDs 36 new Covid-19 cases; half are 19 and younger
©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Vermont Department of Health confirmed 36 new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, the biggest single-day jump since April 9, leap-frogging the 1,000 mark and landing at 1026. (Note: Cover photo by Geralt for Pixabay.) Thirty-four of the 36 were from Chittenden County, likely stemming from the cluster of cases identified […]
Fed compliance to state Covid-19 regs at issue in Derry
By Bruce Frauman ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Emergency Management Director Kevin Beattie told the Londonderry Select Board at its June 1 meeting that he has asked the manager of the Winhall Brook Campground to ask campers to bring their own food and supplies so they can stay there once they arrive in accordance with state […]
Despite objection over small no-bid project, Weston board OKs large payout
By Bruce Frauman ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Weston Select Board on Tuesday, May 26 voted 3-2 to pay out $964,922.90, with the bulk — $938,716.74 — going to the Vermont Education Fund. The education payout, however, was not an issue. Instead, chair Denis Benson questioned a $10,000 downpayment to Ron Prouty for building a […]
Dozens protest racism, police violence
By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Carrying signs that read “Black lives matter,” “No justice, no peace” and “I can’t breathe” among others, more than 40 demonstrators assembled in front of the Fletcher Memorial Library in Ludlow on a misty Monday evening to protest racism and police violence. Organized by Sara Stowell and Susan […]
Main St. display recognizes GM Class of 2020
By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC As the end of the school year approaches with little prospect of traditional graduation ceremonies and celebrations, schools, parents and others are working to recognize their seniors in non-traditional ways. The latest of these – the brainchild of Matt and Amber Wilson of Chester – is a […]
Salons, gyms, libraries given go-ahead to re-open as Vermont Covid-19 infections rise by 23
©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC As Vermont continues to “loosen the spigot,” in Gov. Phil Scott’s words, the state Department of Health on Friday confirmed one new case of Covid-19, bringing the state total to 975, an increase of 23 in the last week. The state also announced that another person has died from the virus, […]
Principal Beaupre to leave CTES at the end of June
By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Cavendish Town Elementary School Principal Deb Beaupre announced on Wednesday that she would be resigning her position at the end of this school year, after two years in the post. In an email to “Cavendish Town,” Beaupre said she did not take the decision lightly but that […]
Kelley gives up sabbatical; GM board votes no raises next year
By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC At the Green Mountain Unified School District Board meeting on Thursday, May 21, Chester-Andover Elementary teacher Frank Kelley asked that his request for a one-year sabbatical be rescinded and he be re-instated for the 2020/21 school year. Approved at the Oct. 17 meeting, Kelley’s paid leave was […]
Chester OKs picnic tables on the Green as restaurants begin to reopen Board reviews landscaping plan for public safety building
By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC After a discussion about several aspects of their request, the Chester Select Board on Wednesday, May 20, gave Scott Blair of Southern Pie Cafe and Jason Tostrup of the Free Range Restaurant permission to put five 6-foot picnic tables on the east end of the Green for […]
Some came, some stayed: Meet 2nd homeowners who made a tough choice about the lockdown
By Bob Behr ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Brenda and Todd really, really love Vermont. In the winter, they ride with the Andover and Chester snowmobile clubs. When it’s summer, Brenda takes long off-the-beaten-path walks, Todd putters around their Andover property, and they both feast on a weekly CSA share from the nearby Abundance Acres. But […]
