I-91 Brattleboro Bridge Replacement Project Update: Week of February 8

by Not Signed In | Town Plan

Night work on the new bridge will resume at Route 30. Night work will be conducted Monday night, February 9th thru Friday night, February 13th.

Travelers are advised to take high traffic volumes associated with Presidents Day weekend into account when making travel plans.

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. The new bridge will be 104’ wide and is designed to carry all four lanes of traffic –two northbound and two southbound.

The Great Snowball Assault of 1892

by cgrotke | History

The weather was right for packing good snowballs. The targets were a plenty. Nobody stopped them.

February 5, 1892, as reported in the Phoenix:

The heavy fall of damp snow, which came on Tuesday and Tuesday night, was followed Wednesday by the worst exhibition of hoodlumism ever seen on Brattleboro streets.

In the early morning the boys began snow-balling in an entirely proper and legitimate way, but at noon this had degenerated into a wanton and indiscriminate attack upon every passerby, and upon every team, person and object which chanced for any reason to furnish a target. 

Gallery At The [River] Garden Presents Works By Shawnna O’Connor, Sam Groves

by MartinLangeveld | Arts

Starting Friday, Feb. 6, the Gallery at the Garden features two exhibits: “Touring New England through Oil Paintings” by Shawnna O’Connor, and “Lights, Camera, Action….Motion Pictures,” an exhibit of photographic works by Sam Groves. Both shows will continue through February.

O’Connor is mainly a self-taught artist.  She uses oil paints to create bright works illustrating historic sites in New England.

She originally focused on smaller canvas depictions of cats.  After the 2011 fire that ravaged the Brooks House apartments where she lived, O’Connor began to paint larger pieces, featuring some of New England’s many historic landmarks.

Fabulous Custom Electric Guitar – Raffle for Compass School International Travel Program

by EricRhomberg | Education

As a fundraiser for our international travel program, the Compass School is running an Online Raffle of a Custom Electric Guitar

For a $10 ticket, you could win this custom made guitar built by father and son guitar makers Rory Struthers (compass junior) and his dad Dick Struthers.

Secure online .

Compass student, Rory Struthers, and his guitar building father, Richard have collaborated to build a unique electric guitar entirely out of construction scrap.   This first-of-its-kind, prototype guitar is worth well over $1,000! 

Gub’mint Interference – Unclean Hands!

by SK-B | Politics

From the BBC

US senator questions forcing food workers to wash hands:

A US senator has suggested that restaurants should not have to make their employees wash their hands after toilet visits.

Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, made the comments on Monday during a speech criticising business regulations.

“Let them decide” such issues, the newly elected lawmaker said.

Another One Bites The Dust..

by KAlden | Business

Sadly, yet another fine downtown business is closing. MILAGROS restaurant’s last day will be February 13th. This restaurant was really fun to go to; delicious, inexpensive authentic food, great atmosphere, colorful space. Most of all it was a welcome change from the overwhelming amount of pizza and Chinese food places. This is tough town to try to keep a business with reasonable prices afloat. One more big, empty storefront on Main Street. It’s a shame to see them close.

Memorial for Kat (Coates) Bark

by SK-B | Spiritual

Andrew Bark wishes to invite everyone who loved his late wife Katharine M. Bark to a celebration of her life.

Kat’s memorial will be a pot luck to be held at the Townshend Town Hall from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturday, February 7th. 

For more information, please call Andrew at: (802) 451-6188,

Selectboard Meeting Notes: Nothing Ado About Much

by cgrotke | Town News

The Brattleboro Selectboard had a non-controversial, almost-dull meeting Tuesday night. If you are looking for fireworks, there are none to report.

Interesting things were accomplished, however. Things you need to know about. Things that will change the way of life as we know it in this town. A major sidewalk renovation will be underway later this year, there are new zoning regulations being developed, and Representative Town Meeting informational meetings for Town Representatives are being planned.

There was no decision regarding opposing the Charter change questions, other than to prepare informational materials, in case the board decides to send a statement.

First Wednesday: Plato’s Republic: Re-thinking His Utopian Ideal

by Brooks Memorial Library | Books

Philosophy scholar Susanne Claxton explores the key elements of the utopian republic envisioned by Plato and considers their adequacy.

Underwriter: Union Institute & University. Wednesday 4 February at 7 – 9 pm. Location Library Main Room.

For more information contact Brooks Library by phone at 802-254-5290 ext 0, by email at info@brookslibraryvt.org, or on the web at brookslibraryvt.org. Brooks Memorial Library, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301. The event is free and open to the public. 

Inserting Horizontal Lines In Word Documents Quickly?

by tomaidh | Questions & Answers

There must be someone in Brattleboro who knows enough about Microsoft WORD to answer my question.

Normally, when you want to quickly insert a horizontal line into a Word document there is a keyboard shortcut to save you time.

Example: To put a simple divider line between two paragraphs in a document, just type 3 dashes — and hit
‘Enter’ immediately.

Free Computers for Tax Filing at Brooks Library

by Brooks Memorial Library | Other

The Brooks Memorial Library at 224 Main Street in Brattleboro offers free sessions on its public access computers for filing taxes online.

Because the IRS and Vermont Department of Taxes have severely limited their distribution of paper tax forms through libraries, many citizens are turning to online filing, which has many benefits—including, in many cases, a quicker refund.

The library cooperates with the Windham County United Way and its partner agencies to provide access to www.myfreetaxes.com, where citizens with household incomes at or below $60,000 can file their taxes for free.

BUHS Public Information Meeting Postponed To February 5

by Not Signed In | Education

BRATTLEBORO UNION HIGH SCHOOL BOARD
53 Green Street
Brattleboro, VT 05301
www.wssu.k12.vt.us

NOTICE OF MEETING

The BUHS #6 Board of Directors will hold a Public Information Meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 5, 2015 in the WRCC Cusick Conference Room. The regular board meeting will immediately follow. (rescheduled from 2/2)

What To Do With All That Snow?

by Rolf | Creative

In memory of Larkin Mead, the University of Brattleboro Faculty got together on Sunday and created a giant Snow Monster at the NEYT parking lot.

As many may remember from their citizenship test when they moved to Brattleboro, Larkin Mead helped make Brattleboro and himself famous, by carving a life sized snow angel and setting it out for passersby. Larkin was later taken into sculptures studios where he learned much more about this art, and went on to become a famous artist. 

Our goal was to create nothing as artistic as Larkin’s snow angel,but instaed something much goofier.

Selectboard Over-Reach

by Kurt Daims | Town News

In his campaign against the Pro-Democracy Amendments Mr. Gartenstein said he wants to provide guidance for the town.  Town charter gives the selectboard a list of duties “not committed by law to the care of any particular officer . . .”.  “Guidance” and “ideas” are not on their list.  The charter assigns guidance of the office of town rep: the rep town meeting is “. . . a guiding body for the town and a source of ideas . . . “.  

Mr. Gartenstein may want to provide public education, but that is not their job either.   That is assigned to another office, the school directors.  These are just excuses to interfere with the democratic process described under the charter “Powers of the People”

The Real Snowstorm of 2015, and Hot Chocolate

by cgrotke | Nature

The snow continues to fall here at the iBrattleboro world headquarters. The temperatures are low, as they have been for quite a few weeks, but this time around we have been given some snow. Quite a bit. There seem to be about 8 to 12 inches out there so far, and no signs of it stopping anytime soon.

I like the way everything is quiet when the snow is like this. No one is out driving around. Everyone is waiting for it to pass.

Brattleboro Energy Committee Meeting Postponed

by Not Signed In | Town News

The Brattleboro Energy Committee meeting previously scheduled for today has been rescheduled due to the weather. The meeting has been rescheduled to Tuesday, February 3, 2015 at 5:00pm in the Planning Services Department at the Municipal Center.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

Express Fluency Opens Classroom in Downtown Brattleboro

by expressfluency | Business

Express Fluency- a language school offering innovative courses in VT, MA, ME, and NY, has opened a new classroom at 73 Main Street in Brattleboro.

Express Fluency offers a new approach to learning a language which has helped thousands of people, including those who were previously unsuccessful language students, gain fluency in Spanish quickly and easily. French and Mandarin classes will be added in 2015.

BCTV Channel 8 & 10 Schedules for the Week of 2/2/15

by BCTVProg | Media

BCTV Ch 8 schedule for the week of 2/2/15

Monday, February 2, 2015

12:00 am Nontombi Naomi Tutu: Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebrations 1/18/15

1:30 am UVM Comm Med School: Keep Life Sweet

3:00 am Common Good VT_ Using Census Data to Tell Your Story

4:55 am Focus – Ep.1: Free Speech and Charlie Hebdo

5:30 am True North Reports: Prospects for Advancing the Cause of Liberty

Brattleboro Selectboard Agenda and Notes – February 3, 2015

by cgrotke | Town News

The Brattleboro Selectboard will begin working to identify and promote an explanation for their public position against proposed Charter changing amendments at their next regular Tuesday meeting at the Muncipal Center.

The board will also approve grants and funds for a radio repeater, sidewalk repair, and “highway safety equipment,” learn more about VT Alert from the Fire Department, consider giving out three more licenses for liquor samples for a tasting and sampling event at the River Garden, and more.

Watch it all on BCTV, or better yet, attend in person and participate. You can read all about it here the next day.