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Do Not Gut The Public Library!

by JessWeitz | Op/Ed

I have worked at Brooks Memorial Library for 7 years and these are my own observations about the value I see in this local library and the undermining of that value by the current town budget discussion.

The most dramatic library cuts are up for discussion this week but my whole tenure at the library has been under level funding at the best points and cuts at the worst. The current proposal is to cut two full time positions from the library, a ⅓ of library staffing reduction.

I am not going to go into detail about the general value and history of public libraries. I will just mention that I got a Master’s in Library and Information Science because I believe that the cornerstone to a functioning democracy is an informed and empowered citizenry, regardless of money, race, religion, gender, or location, and free public libraries are the providers of that cornerstone.

Morningside Shelter and Brattleboro Area Drop-In Center host 2nd Annual Camp for a Common Cause with Community Barbecue

by Not Signed In | Activism

BRATTLEBORO – On Friday, May 9 the Brattleboro Area Drop-In Center and Morningside Shelter will host the second annual Camp for a Common Cause on the Brattleboro Common. The collaborative fund- and awareness-raising event was a great success last year, with roughly $10,000 raised and evenly split between the two organizations working to alleviate homelessness in the greater Brattleboro area. Most importantly, last year’s participants and the community gained valuable awareness and perspective on homelessness in our community.

“It was chilly overnight – in the 30’s,” said Heidi Risner, a participant who raised almost $300 from family and friends to support last year’s event. “Luckily, I was warm in my tent and sleeping bag, realizing that these are not luxuries often afforded to the homeless. It was definitely a meaningful reminder of what some in our community experience on a daily basis.”

Don Killote

by spinoza | Op/Ed

I’m in another town as I read the Reformer article about the skatepark being on the chopping block, again. This town I’m in, no less hilly, and more trafficked, offers something of a feeling of salvation to me as a longboarder with this as my primary way of getting around.

Here, people in cars yield. They seem to be in less of a hurry. Whether that’s true or not, the prevailing attitude, which is so firmly in place as to be the norm, is to fully allow ALL elements of the road- pedestrians, skateboarders, bicyclists, et. al. – to exist, and move at their own pace.

Brattleboro Historical Society Talk on Slavery in Vermont

by Not Signed In | History

The Problem of Slavery in Vermont 1777-1810 is the subject of a talk to be presented on Tuesday, May 6, 7:00pm, at the new Brattleboro Historical Society History Center located in the Masonic Center building, 196 Main Street.

The speaker will be Harvey Amani Whitfield, an associate professor of history at the University of Vermont and author of a book by this title published recently by the Vermont Historical Society. The program is co-sponsored by Brattleboro Historical Society and Vermont Historical Society with support from the Alma Gibbs Donchian Foundation.

Vermonters have long been rightly proud that our state was the first to outlaw slavery in its Constitution of 1777.

Brattleboro Farmers’ Market Welcomes Spring, 40th Year! Maypole Dancing May 3rd

by Not Signed In | Town News

The Brattleboro Farmers’ Market opens for the season Saturday, May 3rd!

Come kick off our 40th year and celebrate our expansion and site security with us! Andy Davis hosts the traditional Maypole dance from 11 to 1, a springtime rite for young and old dancers alike. Children are welcome to participate in this fun, guided dance with ribbons around the Maypole.

Maple ‘N Mud Festival

by MartinLangeveld | Town News

Here’s a good way to get your farmers’ market fix, in this season between the winter and summer Brattleboro farmers’ markets: the Maple ‘N Mud Festival, 10 AM to 4 PM on Saturday, at the River Garden, 157 Main Street, Brattleboro.

This is a community event, free and open to the public. Vendors and exhibitors include the following:

  • The grades of maple syrup are being renamed to provide the general public with a little more clarity on what each grade is best suited. The new names are based on their color so come SEE, and then taste the differences thanks to Hidden Springs Maple!
  • Bascom Family Farms will be providing a rich history of maple sugaring in the area with artifacts from the late 1890′s and early 1900′s.  [MORE]

Nye Ffarrabas’ 50-Year Retrospective: Book Launch and Exhibition Opening

by CXSilverGallery | Arts

Brattleboro resident Nye Ffarrabas’ 50-year retrospective of her work is being celebrated in a new exhibtion and book just published through C. X. Silver Gallery.

C X Silver Gallery presents Nye Ffarrabas: A Walk on the Inside, an exhibition May 2 to Saturday August 23, 2014. The accompanying publication, with the same name as the exhibition, is part catalogue, part memoir, part monograph, a tribute to an artist and poet whose creative works span more than fifty years from the heyday of Fluxus Art of the sixties and seventies and continue to the present day. Please join us for the opening reception and book launch Sunday afternoon May 4th, 2014, 1-4pm, at the Gallery, 814 Western Avenue, Brattleboro, VT. Some improvisation, readings, and performance pieces may be part of the event.

Sanders Puts Focus on Primary Health Care

by Not Signed In | Politics

BURLINGTON, Vt., April 24 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and the senior Obama administration official responsible for improving access to health care met here today with representatives from 11 community health centers throughout Vermont.

Mary Wakefield, who heads the Health Resources and Services Administration at the Department of Health and Human Services, joined Sanders at a news conference to discuss what the senator has called a crisis in primary care in the United States.

“We have made some good progress in Vermont and across the nation in the last few years but clearly we still have a long way to go,” Sanders said.

CRVBL Opens 2014 Season With Claremont Victory

by CRVBL | Recreation & Sports

The Connecticut River Valley Baseball League got its 2014 season underway as the league champion Claremont Cardinals started their title defense with a 7 to 2 win over the Brattleboro River Rats at Dummerston Field. All eight town teams in the league are scheduled for games this weekend at locations in New Hampshire and Vermont.

Taking A Deep Breath

by spoon | Op/Ed

More than anything else I hope, maybe a lot of people hope, that the Selectboard can come to function as a unified body.  Not that they all need to have the same beliefs and opinions about everything.  Unified in the sense of a mutual desire to listen to and bring out the best in each other.  A body that can consider matters in such a way that, even if they don’t entirely agree with one another they know they have reached the best possible conclusion they can.

Tradition dictates against that.  The modus operandi of the Selectboard, as I have observed it for the twenty-five years I’ve been in town, is five separate people vying to prevail.  The result is that they quickly tire of their own “deliberations” long before anything is fully discussed or analyzed.  At that point, having grown impatient and irritable, one of them calls for a vote and whichever three find the same solution least disagreeable determines the final decision.

I-91 Brattleboro Bridge Replacement Project Update: Week of May 4

by Not Signed In | Town Plan

I-91
Northbound I-91 traffic has been relocated onto the southbound bridge. Traffic will remain reduced to one lane in each direction on I-91 until completion of the new bridge in the Fall of 2015.

Weather permitting, night work will be conducted Sunday night, May 4th through Friday Night, May 9th.

Route 30
The speed limit on Route 30 near the work zone has been reduced to 40 mph. This reduction will remain in effect through the Spring of 2016.

Project-related truck activity on Route 30 will continue. Route 30 will be reduced to a single lane intermittently both day and night, with flaggers regulating traffic within the work zone.

The Vermont Jazz Center Presents: Bob Stabach’s CD Release Party

by Not Signed In | Entertainment

Bob Stabach, a “local treasure,” to release his first jazz recording as a leader

On Sunday April 27, at 7:00 PM, Bob Stabach will be celebrating the release of his first jazz CD as a leader. The project, entitled “Light Forms” has been a labor of love for Stabach and his working quartet who include Stabach on saxophone, Eugene Uman on piano, George Kaye on bass and Jon Fisher on drums; the group has been playing together for about 5 years. They have been a kind of “house band” at arts presenter, Wendy Redlinger’s home where she has graciously offered the quartet and other high-level artists an opportunity to present their music in a great sounding, comfortable, welcoming space with a fine acoustic piano. For jazz musicians, Wendy’s Soirees attract a dream audience: listeners who thrive on hearing new compositions and observing the creative process in action. Bob has chosen to release his CD at Wendy’s because her home has been the workshop space where much of the music, now etched on his brand-new recording, was performed for the first time. The concert begins at 7:00; all are welcome to a 6:00 community potluck to meet and greet the artists.

Adult Beginning Violin Class: Starting Next Week!

by Pam Lierle | Music

NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY!  

Instrument provided!

The Adult Beginning Violin Class is a GREAT opportunity to explore learning an instrument, with no pressure or expectations. Just 5 lessons, then you decide if it is right for you.

The Adult Beginning Violin Class, is for true beginners interested in “trying out” an instrument.  The ever patient and enthusiastic Michelle Liechti will lead this adult class on Thursdays, from 9:30-11 am, starting May 1, at the BMC. Tuition for 5 sessions is $50 and loaner violins are available.  

Beyond Any Reasonable Bounds of Jurisprudence

by Vidda | Op/Ed

Since Vermont is one of the 17 states to (finally) decriminalize possession of marijuana, one could say that the Legislature and governor should be patted on the back for doing the right thing.

But wait. Not so fast.

Is decriminalizing marijuana really an admission of guilt and culpability in criminalizing people who were not criminals before?

Women in Music Gala Features Opera & Chamber Music by Elise Grant

by fomag | Music

Marlboro, Vt. — Friends of Music at Guilford presents its 5th Annual Celebration of Women in Music, the organization’s signature season fundraiser, at a private home atop Ames Hill in Marlboro on Saturday, April 26. Guests are treated to a generous buffet of hearty hors d’oeuvres and salads to enjoy on arrival, then are offered a sampling of desserts after the concert program, which begins at 7.

Sanders Congratulates Vermont Lawmakers on Food Labels Law

by Not Signed In | Politics

BURLINGTON, Vt., April 23 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today congratulated the Vermont Legislature for passing a bill making Vermont the first state in the nation to require labels on food containing genetically-modified ingredients.

“I am very proud our small state stood up to Monsanto and other multi-national food conglomerates and is taking the lead in a movement to allow the people of our country to know what is in the food that they eat,” Sanders said. “Working with Vermonters, I will continue my efforts in Washington to pass national legislation on this important issue.”