Brattleboro Selectboard Agenda and Notes – June 7, 2016

Brattleboro will be applying for federal funds to purchase land along the Whetstone as part of ongoing flood mitigation plans for the town. It’s on the agenda for the next regular meeting of the Selectboard at the Municipal Center.

The board will also sign off on applying for a Bond to pay for for police and fire projects, accept $200,000 from the state for I-91 detour impact paving, issue the annual dog warrants for canines without licenses, and more. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.


I-91 Brattleboro Bridge Replacement Project Update: Week of June 6th

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. No additional restrictions are anticipated.

Route 30

The speed limit on Route 30 near the work zone has been reduced to 40 mph. Project-related truck activity on Route 30 will continue. Route 30 may be reduced to a single lane intermittently, with flaggers regulating traffic within the work zone.


Hurricane Damage Costs Will Skyrocket Due to Climate Change, New Report Finds

WASHINGTON, June 2 – Costs from hurricane damages in the United States are expected to increase 39 percent in the coming decades because of the effects of climate change and coastal development, according to a new report prepared by the Congressional Budget Office for Sens. Bernie Sanders and Patty Murray. The 2016 hurricane season began Wednesday.


Brattleboro Union High School Board Meeting Agenda

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

NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETINGS

The BUHS #6 Finance Committee will meet at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 9 in the James E. Kane Conference Room, 53 Green Street.

NOTICE OF BOARD MEETING

The BUHS #6 Board of Directors will meet at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, June 6 in the WRCC Cusick Conference Room.


Seeing and Doing

I’m hung up on the unsilverlined silverback Harambe tragedy. After watching the video a few times, it continues to run in my mind. I see the great and beautiful primate clearly making a universal gesture of nurturance with its delicate paw.  His aura calm. Body language, unaggressive. Maybe I’m projecting, but I saw awareness and protectiveness on display in that enclosure. And a look, unforgettable, seems to be saying “Yo people, y’all know you dropped bambino in here, down here…Reading me?”

The subsequent hit on the ape, and ensuing flurry of responses, including laying of blame compels me less. But that’s sure interesting too.  [As a sidebar to this I keep thinking that if we can no longer recognize fundamental signs, mudras for benign intent- from creatures of our own world- what chance do we have of getting the right message when the aliens come visit?]


The Root Forum: Decolonizing for Indigenous Sovereignty

“If you’re not aware of your location in relation to the indigenous people’s liberation struggles of whose lands you’re on, then any liberation that you’re fighting for is still gonna be colonization.” – Klee Benally, Navajo artist and activist of Big Mountain, Black Mesa, AZ

The Root is working to gain a deeper understanding of what this means so that we can be in solidarity with indigenous liberation. We live, work, and organize on colonized land. The history of the Native people in the Connecticut River Valley has been intentionally and violently replaced. What we have learned about the place where we live is from a colonizer perspective. To decolonize our minds and our spaces it is crucial to un-learn the history of this river valley, so that we can better understand the Indigenous narrative.


Brattleboro Senior Meals Breakfast Menu – June

JUNE BREAKFAST MENUS

June 3rd – Scrambled Eggs w/Boursin Cheese & Spinach, Vegetable Hash w/Celeriac, Turnip & Carrots, Scone,  Fruit, Yogurt, Juice, Coffee.

June 7th Corned Beef Hash, Scrambled Eggs, Muffin, Fruit, Yogurt, Juice, Coffee

June 10th  –Breakfast Sandwich w/Egg, Cheese & Sausage, Home Fries,  Fruit, Juice, Yogurt Parfait , Coffee


Democratic Party Turning Out to Be the Biggest Hypocrites in Vermont!

The Democratic Party in Vermont is turning out to be a bunch of flaming hypocrites!

I’m not listing all the forums I have not been included in as a Democratic Party candidate for Governor of Vermont, but this is the most recent one I found out about today that I have been excluded from; and now I can see the Democrats for their true colors.

I have not yet been invited to any Governor candidate forum or debate in Brattleboro.


New Scam – U.S. Government Grant Dept

I’ve been called several times from the “U.S. Government Grant Dept.” in Washington DC, informing me that I have been selected to receive a $7000 grant that I “will never have to pay back”.  The callers speak strange English. Not Indian Maybe Philippine.

Be aware!


Lost Beagle in Brattleboro

I was just at Avenue Grocery on Western Ave and learned that there is a missing beagle somewhere in Brattleboro.

The dog was in Harmony Lot with its owner, got spooked and ran away. I was told that it is a shelter dog, named Gypsy, and could be anywhere from downtown to I-91.

If you see a confused, scared beagle out there, get in touch with Avenue Grovery and they can put you in touch with the owner.


Guilford Plays Premiere this Weekend

Guilford Center Stage begins its second season with the premiere of a pair of one-act plays by Guilford playwright, Michael Nethercott, who also directs the production.   “Nocturne Titanica” is a unique take on the sinking of the Titanic. “The Lace Jury” is based on the first American all-women jury of the 20th century.  Interestingly, the historic events on which the plays are based happened within 6 months of each other in 1911 and 1912.

There will be three performances: Friday and Saturday, June 3 and 4 at 7:30 pm, and a matinee on Sunday, June 5 at 2 pm. at Broad Brook Grange.


Harris Hill Death

From the Brattleboro Police:

“Lt. Carrier

On May 29, 2016 at 09:12 hours, members of the Brattleboro Police Department and Emergency Services responded to the Harris Hill Ski-Jump for a report of a possible deceased male.

Upon arrival it was determined the male was in fact deceased.


I Will Not Celebrate Memorial Day

“I do not celebrate Memorial Day”

 I do not celebrate this one day

to commemorate the war dead.

I do not honor this one day

to remember their sacrifice.

No, I will not honor them

on this one day…


Mourn Deceived GIs! “US Foreign Policy Greatest Crime Since WWII” (Ex US Att. Gen. Ramsey Clark)

DESCRIPTION:

1994, Ramsey Clark wrote in his The Fire This Time – US War Crimes in the Gulf, “The greatest crime since WWII has been US foreign policy,” in Crime in America, 1970, “Crimes are meant to be prosecuted,” and in Challenge to Genocide, 1998 that ‘investments in the illegal and genocidal use of the nation’s Armed Forces, CIA and mass media will be made unprofitable and brought to an end through prosecution under the law’


Pet Peeve – Brattleboro Tax Tabs

May 30, 2016
John O’Connor
Town Treasurer/ Finance Director
Town of Brattleboro
230 Main Street
Suite 111
Brattleboro, VT 05301

Dear John,

I was  preparing bills and I just felt compelled to air a pet peeve that I have had for years.

Every year I get a Property Tax Statement that contains four tear off tabs that I am to mail in to the Town with a check for the quarterly payment of my property taxes. 


From the Halls of Montezuma

From the Halls of Montezuma-To the shores of Tripoli (Marine’s Hymn)

In 1805, U.S. Marines and Berber mercenaries attacked the Tripolitan port city of Derna. The Marines and Berbers were on a mission to depose Yusuf Karamanli, the ruler of Tripoli. (Pirates from the Barbary States were seizing American merchant ships and holding the crews for ransom).