The Marina Restaurant’s Annual Plunge for Charity Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Brattleboro, VT—On Sunday, May 3, starting at 3 p.m., people will be jumping from a boat into the chilly water of the West River to benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters, doing their part for The Marina Restaurant‘s Plunge for Charity.

The inspiration for The Marina Plunge, now celebrating its 10th Anniversary, came in 2003 when several Marina employees jumped into the river to celebrate a birthday. The following year they decided to make it an annual event for charity.

That year, a handful of individuals were thrilled to raise $1,500 for The Gathering Place, an adult day care center. Since then, the event has seen steady growth, according to founder and organizer Deirdre “Dee” Baker of Brattleboro.


Quality Used Books Sale in Guilford on April 25

The Guilford Community Church, UCC will hold its annual Book Sale on Saturday, April 25, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Excellent current and collectible books will be offered, including a selection of children’s and young adult books. “Vermont.calm” T-shirts will also be available for purchase.

The sale helps support the many local and global missions of the church. From Route 5, just beyond the Guilford Country Store, turn left onto Bee Barn Road then right to 38 Church Drive.

For further information contact Pat Haine (802) 257-0626.


In Memory: Georg Steinmeyer

Georg Steinmeyer passed away recently, just a few weeks after his wife, Hanne.

Georg was a very interesting person. He grew up in Germany as part of the Steinmeyer organ building family, and came to Brattleboro in the fall of 1955 to work as Director of the pipe organ division of the Estey Organ Company. He often told the story of getting a transatlantic phone call in Europe from the United States, a rare occurrence, asking him to take the job.

Unfortunately, Estey’s days were numbered. Georg helped to oversee the building and installation of the final pipe organs built by the company.


Brattleboro Senior Meals Menu

Brattleboro Senior Meals Menu

April 13      Chicken Stir Fry

                 Bulgur & Lentil Pilaf

                 Citrus Glazed Carrots

                 Cantaloupe


Why Not Us, Too?

How I wish Brattleboro would follow Westminsters lead. This mornings Reformer let us know that residents of Westminster will be receiving a mailing with information regarding their “new” trash/recycling program. Included with the mailing will be 52 STICKERS FOR 52 WEEKS OF TRASH …………….. and they’re FREE, FREE, FREE! If residents use more than one bag per week they’ll have to purchase additional bags for $3.00 each. This is a perfect example of those in charge governing and at the same time considering and showing compassion and understanding towards their residents.


I-91 Brattleboro Bridge Replacement Project Update: Week of April 12

I-91

On Tuesday, April 21, there will be a formal inspection of the I-91 Bridge. Daylight is needed for the inspection, so the bridge will be closed from approximately 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. At the same time, the PCL team will repair potholes that developed over the winter. I-91 will be closed between Exits 2 and 3 both northbound and southbound. Traffic will be detoured onto VT Route 5.

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.


Snow, Synchronicity, and Edward Snowden

Maybe it was those snowflakes in our weather forecast, but I had a lot of snow-related synchronicities this week.  It started with the news that a new monument had gone up overnight in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene Park, not far from the Brooklyn Bridge.  The monument consisted of a bust of Edward Snowden, with his name emblazoned across the column below it in big Roman capitals.  It was an impressive gesture by a group of artists who wrote (as you shall see below) some powerful things about freedom and heroism and the public’s right to know.  And even though the government covered it up, by sending park employees to smother Snowden’s bust in a tarp so no one could see it, civil disobedience had happened and it was noteworthy.  — it’s a nice statue.  


Real People – A Live Show To Benefit WVEW-lp

Brattleboro Comedy Duo Performs Benefit for Local Radio Station

Brattleboro comedians Jay Gelter and Ben Stockman are taking their radio show,REAL PEOPLE with Jay and Ben, out of the recording studio and onto the stage on April 24, 8:00 pm at the Hooker Dunham Theater in Brattleboro, VT to benefit Brattleboro Community Radio.

Inspired by comedy podcasts like Comedy Bang! Bang! and The Dead Author’s Podcast, the show features Gelter and Stockman interviewing the “real people” of Brattleboro, who aren’t real at all, but rather one of them or a special guest playing a bizarre character in a weekly improv tour-de-force. The show airs every Thursday at 10 pm on WVEW-LP 107.7 FM and is posted as a podcast the next day on their website and iTunes.


After Images / Amy Arbus – April 30 through May 24 at Mitchell – Giddings FIne Arts

April 2015, Brattleboro, Vermont —  Thursday, April 30 an opening reception for an exhibit of acclaimed photographer, Amy Arbus, will be held from from 5 – 8pm at Mitchell • GIddings FIne Arts at 183 Main Street, Brattleboro. 

The exhibit, After Images, will run from April 30 to May 24 and is a series Arbus made in 2011 and 2012 to payhomage to her favorite painters such as Balthus, Cezanne, David, Ingres, Modigliani and Picasso. The images will seem familiar to most viewers. They are photographs of live scenes staged to replicate the powerful effects of original paintings from the early 20th century, Arbus’s team painted costumes, props, and the models themselves. What has materialized is a series of hybrid images that challenges the thin line between painting and art photography.


Volunteer Fair for Nonprofit Board Service

Get on Board Windham County will be hosting its first-ever Meet Your Match event, a community volunteer fair specifically geared towards matching potential board members with nonprofits.

Windham County nonprofits are invited to sign up to have a table at the event. The cost is $35, and registration for nonprofits will close on April 27. Nonprofits should register at http://bit.ly/Board-Match.

Many local nonprofits are seeking to expand and diversify their boards. This event will afford them the opportunity to pitch volunteer service on their board to dedicated and skilled community members. In attendance will be the 2015 cohort of Get on Board Windham County Board Fellows, a group of young professionals who have completed a 20-hour board training course.


“Musical” Backpacks

I just received an email from a lawyer and peace activist in Boston named Ralph Lopez, in which he references an .

In the article, Lopez states that “High quality images from just-posted evidence exhibits in the Tsarnaev trial by the US Department of Justice show conclusively that the backpack carried by Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in a surveillance video, and the one said to contain the bomb which killed eight-year-old Richard Martin, do not match in color.”


Room For One More Team at Summer Soccer at SIT

There is still room for a team to join summer soccer in Brattleboro this year, sponsored by the Putney Soccer Club and held on Wednesday evenings at SIT. Eleven teams are not in place and there is room for one more. The season starts on May 13 and runs to the end of August.

If you are interested in entering a team in the league and serving as captain, please email Edwin de Bruijn at labdeb@sover.net or call 802 254 6965.

Also, if you are an individual player looking to join a team, we may be able to help you find one. You can email us at putneysoccerclub@gmail.com. When you do, please tell us a little about yourself, age, skill level, and so on. Thanks.


Brooks House Annunciator

1892:

The old annunciator at the Brooks House, which was on the French system now generally discarded, and which was injured by fire several years ago, has been replaced by a new gravity-drop system of the most approved kind. All the wires run upon the surface instead of in the walls as heretofore, and are brought into an annunciator of 100 drops.

an·nun·ci·a·tor (ə-nŭn′sē-ā′tər)

n.

One that announces, especially an electrical signaling device used in hotels or offices to indicate the sources of calls on a switchboard.


The Millerites

1843:

The third of April has passed, yet the earth, in this region at least, is wrapped in snow instead of fire, as some of our friends, the Millerites, have predicted. So far from burning up, we have been in great danger of freezing to death.

It’s often interesting to look up the back-stories behind the old historical articles.

William Miller, a self-taught preacher, believed that the end times and Second Coming would happen on April 3, 1843. When that date passed, he just kept revising his predictions.  Many followers gave up all their possessions in anticipation of being called to Heaven with the faithful.  Sounds like another preacher that was in the news in recent years!


Selectboard Meeting Notes: Short Meeting, But Over a Million Spent

One of the shortest and more convoluted Brattleboro Selectboard meetings in recent memory took place Tuesday night. Board members came and went, the agenda was trimmed and re-arranged, and some major discussion were postponed. Despite the obstacles, over a million dollars worth of projects were set in motion.

Liquor licenses were approved, bids awarded, grants applied for, and the board took their first steps down the path of repairs and renovations to the Municipal Center.