Rescue Inc. is pleased to announce that its annual report for the last fiscal year is available in print for the townspeople that we serve.

Rescue Inc.’s service area covers over 500 square miles of territory and all or part of 15 towns. This includes the good people of Brattleboro, Brookline, Vernon, Townshend, Stratton, Putney, Guilford, Wardsboro, Newfane, Dummerston, Halifax, Jamaica, Marlboro, Vermont as well as Hinsdale and Chesterfield, New Hampshire. We are pleased and proud to serve the emergency service needs of everyone in our service area and publish our report so that all are better informed and to emphasize our appreciation for your incredible support.

Gubernatorial hopeful Susan Bartlett discusses the legislation she will present to the Senate in the following post.

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I will present the bill that contains the "Challenges for Change" to the Senate on Tuesday, Feb. 8 , This is an important bill that will change the way Vermont government judges success and should save millions of dollars.

At the end of last session, it was clear that Vermont and the country were in a serious recession and that it would be a long time before we recover.

PLEASE NOTE THE OFFICES ARE CLOSED FEBRUARY 15, 2010, TAXES ARE DUE ON FEBRUARY 16, 2010

The third installment of the 2009 Real Estate and Personal Property taxes will be due on or before February 16th, 2010. Payments made after February 16th will be assessed a 1% interest fee.

The water/sewer billing is also due on February 16th, 2010. Payments made after February 16th, 2010 will have an additional 1% interest, as well as an 8% penalty added to the unpaid balance.

Early/absentee ballots for Annual Town and Town School District election to be held on March 2, are now available in the Brattleboro town clerk's office. Anyone wishing to vote prior to March 2, may apply for an early/absentee ballot until 5:00 p.m. on Monday, March 1.

Early/absentee ballots may be voted in person in the clerk's office, mailed to the voter by the clerk's office, picked up by the voter or delivered to the voter's residence by two justices of the peace. All voted ballots must be received by the clerk before the polls close on election day in order to be counted. For more information or to request an early/absentee ballot call 251-8157.

Former presidential candidate Howard Dean will address health care reform and other political hot topics at a special Brattleboro public appearance Wednesday, Feb. 17.

The former Vermont governor and Democratic National Committee chairman, who last spoke locally five years ago, will talk and take questions at 6:30 p.m., at the Ramada Inn at 1380 Putney Road.

Dean, a physician by training and author of the recent book "Howard Dean's Prescription for Real Health Care Reform," currently is making national news for his call for Congress to provide all Americans with affordable medical coverage.

All this fuss about Tritium baffles me. It's not about leaking pipes at all. A hitherto unknown form of Cold Fusion is occurring naturally in the geological strata under the Yankee plant. Tritium is the natural byproduct of Cold Fusion. This discovery will revolutionize energy production, free us from the worries of post oil and global warming and we'll all live happily ever after.

Antonio Hart, one of the leading saxophonists of his generation, will be performing with a hand-picked quartet of New York-based musicians on Saturday, February 13th at the Vermont Jazz Center in Brattleboro, VT. The show will begin at 8:00. The concert will also feature Mr. Hart’s colleague from Queen’s College, David Berkman on piano.

Hart’s approach to developing his own personal style is based on a deep respect for the tradition. He has cultivated relationships with jazz’s icons, assimilated their styles and learned meaningful lessons on and off the bandstand. Hart has reached back and studied the music of the old Masters by transcribing jazz improvisations off of their orignal recordings. Amongst others, he has learned numerous solos by Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Cannonball Adderley, Johnny Hodges and Ben Webster in an attempt to decode the secrets locked within them. Hart has gone well beyond this task by performing and recording with many of today’s living masters. He has served as apprentice to Dizzy Gillespie, Jimmy Heath, Donald Byrd, Sir Roland Hanna, Dave Holland and Nat Adderley, learning why they chose specific notes, gleaning from their leadership styles and observing their attitudes towards life.

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In Germany and Japan, the general feeling is now one of contrition for the atrocities committed during brutal occupations, not one of innocence as grandparents professed claiming themselves co-victims. When all the U.S. troops, ships and planes have exited all the places they didn't belong, will Americans' sense of innocence be replaced by similar pangs of conscience, and shame for the disappointing behavior of their parents?

All imperial occupations eventually end (though usually not before a ghastly massive pound of indigenous flesh is exacted along with the plunder originally intended).

Class Offerings at the Open Music Collective, at the Cotton Mill, Brattleboro, VT www.openmusiccollective.org

Harmonic Analysis As Applied To Jazz Tunes - Kate Parsons

This class will focus on developing your ability to recognize common chord progressions found in the jazz idiom. You will learn the function of chords in different contexts and explore scale possibilities for improvisation. Emphasis will be on aural recognition and developing your ability to "hear the changes."By concentrating first on the bass and melody lines, you can learn to identify key centers and modulations.

The Vermont Center for Photography is planning another show of images illustrating an aspect of local history from the not too distant past.

The late 60's and 70's brought a new generation of people together in town and in the local countryside. Some were called hippies. Some were intent on getting back to the soil with sustainable agriculture and simple living. Some were just running away from a world of convention and turmoil. Many were politically and socially active, and some just wanted to drop out. Communes, nudist colonies, along with farm, music, and literary collectives snuck into the quiet fabric of the woods and farmlands. Alternative lifestyles gained greater visibility in the region, sometimes creating great tension in communities rooted in old traditions.

My friend Bob Bowman is writing a book on “Populism” and he has been sending me previews. I’d like to share a story he relates about Benjamin Franklin & The Iroquois (Emphasis mine)

When Benjamin Franklin was a young man, he attended a pow-wow of the Iroquois Nations. He was fascinated by the fact that THEY HAD HAD A THOUSAND YEARS OF PEACE AND PROSPERITY, and he wanted to know how they did it, and asked the Big Chief. The Chief responded that ALL THE CHIEFS WERE SELECTED BY THE “CRONES” (the grandmothers and old women), and if the Chiefs didn’t serve the needs of their people, the crones could “unselect” them. In addition, the Chiefs couldn’t take their people to war without the approval of the crones.

Monday February 8

2:00 am Gay USA
3:00 am Free Speech TV
4:30 am Eckankar: Lessons and Blessings
5:30 am The Cuba Blockade: Brattleboro Delegates Answer Your Questions: at BUHS 1/27/10
7:00 am The Third Eye Show : February 2010
8:00 am The Pulse of Brattleboro: The Thompson House Van
8:34 am Health Matters Joint School : The ABC’s of New Knees
9:00 am Common Good Vermont Annual Meeting: January 11, 2010
11:00 am Harris Hill: A Look Back at 2009 Ski Jumping

Scott McCarty of Brattleboro released the following statement today regarding the Windham County State Senate race:

"As the Legislature begins to work in earnest to solve the Vermont Yankee issue and also address our economic, budget and energy futures -- I will be closely evaluating and observing the climate and also what work the Legislature will be doing to address the many issues facing Windham County families, family farms and small businesses. Depending on how the Legislature performs and how they tackle issues like college affordability, our energy future, protecting our local schools, supporting our family farms and encouraging economic growth without excessive taxation -- I will make an announcement after Town Meeting Day when I can talk more with local leaders across Windham County."

After hosting a gathering of 50 people in January, Post Oil Solutions will continue its 2nd Wednesday of the month Community Conversation on Wednesday, February 10, 7:00 PM, at the Elliot Street Cafe, in Brattleboro.

Many interests and concerns were raised at the first meeting around how to advance sustainability and build community, with break-out groups forming around food, transporation, energy, education, the local economy, health care, and so forth. These groups will be provided with ample time to continue to meet and discuss how they might move forward.