For opinion pieces on any topic.
Next in our series of iBrattleboro interviews with Selectboard candidates is out interview with Ian Kiehle. Mr. Kiehle is running for one of the one year seats on the board.
Why do you want to be on the Selectboard this year?
I’m able to make the time that the commitment requires, and I feel confident that I can serve the community well as a selectboard member.
Why run for the 1 year seat?
As a result of recent Town Charter changes, counting votes for write-in candidates on Tuesday’s ballot has changed. If a Brattleboro citizen wishes to be considered a write-in candidate for any town office (including town meeting member) that candidate must now declare his/her candidacy to the town clerk no later than 7:00 PM on election day.
Only write-in votes for declared candidates will be counted after the polls close. Providing they have garnered the most votes in the race, write-in candidates for town officers need a minimum of 30 votes to win, town meeting members need a minimum of 10 votes.
Phil Kramer is running for a 1 year seat on the Brattleboro Selectboard. Here are his responses to our questions.
Why do you want to be on the Selectboard this year?
I am running for selectboard at this time because I want to make a difference. These are trying times for our community, our country and our world. The decisions we make today will have a lasting impact on the future. I have a vision of what direction Brattleboro should be moving. Over the years I have gained a great deal of insight into the spirit of this town and the way things work.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 – Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told the American Legion today that he is “deeply troubled” by unacceptable backlogs in processing veterans’ disability claims.
“I refuse to accept the status quo,” Sanders told the Legion’s annual conference at the Washington Hilton hotel.
While the Department of Veterans Affairs has processed more than 1 million claims a year for each of the past three years, the number of new claims has outpaced the department’s ability to process the paperwork.
Watch the full Selectboard Candidate forum, which was held Friday, February 22, 2013.
This forum was sponsored by The League of Women Voters, and moderated by Francine Vallario.
Because, I’m White
I will not be stopped
for driving while black.
I will not be shot dead
for wearing my dreads.
I will not be rejected
subjected or ejected
Bent over & inspected.
$12 trillion in banker bailouts, billions more in quantitative easing that now will continue monthly. Constant war and military interventions, yet people keep voting Republican or Democrat as if this is the answer. Our sons and daughters are being sacrificed. FOR WHAT? For freedom and democracy? Do you really think so?
The film below is well-researched and less than 45 minutes long. If you review it on its factual merits versus the propaganda that has been drilled into your head since birth, perhaps an awakening will occur.
(Nice new Spring colors on iBrattleboro while it is snowing outside!)
Pittsburgh, PA Political Corruption Trial – When Will We Do That In Vermont?
If it is illegal for the State of Vermont to give taxpayer money to Vermont Public Radio, UVM, VLCT, VTdigger,
and Vermont Law School knowing that they will hold debates that include some candidates and not others,
or write articles that specifically disparage voters from voting for some candidates, (acting as illegal and unregistered political action committees funded by taxpayer dollars) then that means that state taxpayer dollars are being used to promote the political campaign of Governor Peter Shumlin, while not equally promoting some of the other candidates.
I’m running for the three year seat because it takes that long to learn how to do the job with at least moderate effectiveness. I’ve lived long enough to know the value of experience, practice and training. If I do a good job and the voters want me back I will remain on the board for additional terms. My experience is especially valuable at this point because with three new people coming on there is a possibility that among the five member Selectboard we could have an aggregate experience of only 4 years, or less than one year per person.
Brattleboro Citizens Breakfast – Video
February 15, 2013
Next year’s Town School budget does not include a position for someone to help elementary teachers, students, and staff with the various tasks and challenges involved with technology.
Things like learning and running programs, exploring the web, taking and editing pictures, making slide shows, playlists, videos, virtual spaces, interactive stories, comic books, digital posters, blogs, navigating the cloud, connecting devices, and platforms etc..etc. These essentials of a well-rounded education are vanishing.
Brattleboro Citizens’ Breakfast
February 15, 2013
Gibson-Aiken Center – Brattleboro VT
Moderator: Daryl Pillsbury
Wednesday, February 27, at 5:00 PM is the deadline to register to vote in the Town and Town School election. If you are registered to vote in the town you reside in, you do not need to register again.
If you are unsure if your name is listed as a registered voter in your town or for more information about voter registration and early voting, contact your town clerk. In Brattleboro, call 251-8157.
Office hours for the Brattleboro Town Clerk’s office are 8:30AM – 5:00PM, Monday through Friday. In addition to regular hours, the office will open Saturday, March 2, from 9AM to noon for early voting and will be closed Tuesday, March 5, election day.
Voting on March 5, will be held on at the B.U.H.S. gym on Fairground Road. Polling hours are 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM.
BURLINGTON, Vt. (Feb. 20, 2013) – In Brattleboro tomorrow, Rep. Peter Welch will announce legislation to curb the practice of employers requiring prospective or current employees, as a condition of employment, to provide access to password-protected social media accounts like Facebook and Twitter.
Welch will make the announcement at the Vermont Department of Labor Brattleboro Resource Center at 10 a.m. The Resource Center provides job seekers with access to personal computers, the Internet, educational resources, and information on employers.
Welch’s full public schedule for Thursday is copied below.
Thursday, February 21st:
Mr. Schoales is running for a 1 year seat on the Brattleboro Selectboard.
Why do you want to be on the Selectboard this year?
I am concerned about the future and whether we will have a strong enough community and local economy to weather the challenges ahead. When I saw that Dick and Dora were leaving it seemed like it might be an opportunity to be part of a more collaborative board that could work well together toward strengthening our community and economy.
Why run for the 1 year seat?
I prefer to come back to the community for signatures every year rather than risk feeling entitled to the position. That’s why I have always taken one-year petitions for the town school board seat.
This year, two candidates are hoping to get your vote to become Moderator of Representative Town Meeting.
Lawrin Crispe is one of those candidates, and his interview follows.
Tell us a little about yourself…
“10-86 this is Dispatch. Where are you?”
“We are working the once per year Code 18 in West Brattleboro across from Gilles Seafood Restaurant. We have two unmarked vehicles parked nose to nose in the center lane with a police cruiser behind each vehicle with lights flashing. When passing traffic slows down to rubber neck at the phony accident scene we look at their inspection sticker, license plate registration sticker, and seat belts. If we see an infraction we ticket them. We are also testing our new ALPR toys compliments of Homeland Security.”
“How is the automatic license plate reader working?”
David Sanger, New York Times chief Washington correspondent, offers a look inside the Obama Administration’s use of innovative weapons and new tools of American power to manage rapidly shifting global threats and challenges.
Sanger has been part of journalistic teams that has won the Pulitzer Prize twice. In 2011, his team was a finalist for the Pulitzer for International Reporting for coverage of Japanese nuclear disaster.
His background also includes reporting on economic and foreign policy and how these issues effect U.S. competitiveness and relationships with America’s major allies. Sanger has also bee bureau chief in Tokyo for six years. His most recent book is Confront and Conceal: Obama’s Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power, Crown, 2012.
Dear Friends, Neighbors, and Readers of iBrattleboro.com:
You will recall that the Selectboard acted a handful of months ago to commit to a contract with a design firm, which has since been working on the design for the skating facilities at Crowell Park.
