It’s summer. It’s Brattleboro. Time to list the little things that grab your attention and share them with others.
Parklets are being set-up for some restaurants in town to serve outdoors. Cement barriers have been dropped in parking spaces to mark boundaries.
The Brattleboro Citizen Police Communications Committee (CPCC) will meet on Monday, June 22, 2020 at 5:30pm via GoToMeeting. In keeping with Governor Scott’s “Stay Home – Stay Safe” order, this meeting will be held with no physical location using GoToMeeting. A copy of the agenda is attached and it contains information about how to access the meeting remotely.
Why do so many Americans value the lives of others so little? Why are they willing to allow the spread of disease, disability and death with such arrogant defiance so they can eat at restaurants, have their hair cut and mingle in public crowds at beaches and rallies?
Some argue that if more businesses do not re-open then the economy will suffer too much. We have a society that worships commerce and the power of the dollar and that is one of the reasons so many Americans are deciding to stop taking measures to spread the COVID virus.
We must re-tool our economy in the face of the pandemic while also making the decision to value life above all else. Our collective ethos is heading in the wrong direction and a lot of people are going to suffer and die.
(I graduated from North Country Union High School Newport, Vermont 50 years ago this June. The following is a letter to my old classmates. In March I called my old school to see if a 50th reunion was planned and the school secretary told me that due to lack of interest the reunion committee had been discontinued some time ago. “People don’t seem to care about their 40th and 50th reunions so much these days”.)
Growing Up in Vermont
Growing up in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s was an exhilarating experience! Being born only six years post World War II, I found that life in America was a special privilege. We had been ushered into the greatest generation imaginable! In reality rural Vermont of the North East Kingdom was my home but America of the 50’s was booming and moving. Moving fast away from old traditional values.
I was looking though old Brattleboro newspapers for mentions of slavery. Most of the articles are op-eds on slavery in the South, but I came across this mention of Brattleboro’s “only living ex-slave” – Mr. Jake Cartlidge. He was a Brattleboro resident for over 40 years, and this story is about trying to help him get some extra pension funds. (A warning that the newspaper used the n-word discussing his time as a slave, while quoting a slave buyer.)
From the Vermont Phoenix, Dec 6, 1912
“Town’s Ex-Slave In Need Of Funds
Efforts to Secure More Pension for “Jake” Cartlidge
Born in Slavery, Sold on the Block, Beaten by Cruel Taskmaskers – Served Pennsylvania Regiment
Coronavirus. Protests. Police. Elections. Masks. There is a lot to be thinking about right now.
Add that pesky climate emergency back on the list:
“The world has only six months in which to change the course of the climate crisis and prevent a post-lockdown rebound in greenhouse gas emissions that would overwhelm efforts to stave off climate catastrophe, one of the world’s foremost energy experts has warned.
NOTICE OF BOARD MEETING
The Windham Southeast School District Board will host a Public Information Meeting meet remotely at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23, 2020 via Zoom:
Spoon Agave: There are no obvious signs of leadership in Brattleboro so I can only conclude that the collective vision in the Municipal building is that the pandemic will end someday and everything will be OK. If anyone reading this has seen something different please share what it is. At the moment it feels like the town is simply marking time (just filling potholes) until whatever happens happens and we’ll deal with it then. That is one strategy, anyway.
Dot Lenhart: Do you have any suggestions?
The Town of Brattleboro is looking for citizens to serve on the following committees and boards:
ADA Committee
Arts Committee
Cemetery Committee
Citizen Police Communications Committee (CPCC)
Wondering about the planes buzzing southern Vermont? We asked the VT Air National Guard about it and they weren’t sure where the planes were from at first. After a bit more research, they told us the planes were F-15’s from Massachusetts, and directed us to a page about what they are doing:
SPECIAL USE AIRSPACE
Chugs Temporary Military Operations Area (MOA), Windham, VT
There were many big issues at Tuesday’s meeting of the Brattleboro Selectboard but the biggest of them all was an extended discussion about dismantling a racist system by defunding the Brattleboro Police. Citizens were rather clear and consistent in asking that the General Fund budget be voted down, and that funding for the police be reassigned to social services.
The system moves slowly, they were told, and their attention should be placed on next year’s budget process. The board committed to making a re-evaluation of community safety a priority in the near future, but passed the budget by a 3-2 split vote.
NOTICE OF MEETING
The Windham Southeast School District Diversity and Equity Committee will meet remotely at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, June 22, 2020 via Zoom:
The Town of Brattleboro will resume Parking Enforcement operations on July 1, 2020. Parking meters and kiosks will once again require payment for parking in the downtown. This includes all regulated surface parking lots and all on-street metered parking spaces.
Parking enforcement was halted on March 17, in response to Covid-19. Now that Vermont is beginning to reopen for business, it is time to resume regular parking enforcement activities. To protect the public health, all meter and kiosk push buttons will receive a regular wipe down two times each day, Monday through Saturday, to disinfect the frequently touched surfaces.
The Convergence Quartet to Perform at the Vermont Jazz Center, Saturday, June 20th at 8:00 PM
The Vermont Jazz Center presents a live stream event with Eugene Uman’s Convergence Trio with special guest Wanda Houston on Saturday, June 20th at 8:00 PM. The group includes Uman on piano, Houston on vocals, David Picchi on electric piano and Jon Fisher on drums.
Earlier this month I released a public statement addressed to People in government organizing slavery reparation movements’ legislation to recognize that People incarcerated and People employed in the military have both been and are currently treated as property denied both constitutional and life protections of freedoms, rights, and liberties. We can and will change such insanely brutal conditions with prison abolition and labor union empowerment. The newspapers have not published my letters and I have not been allowed access to participate at official reparations meetings which say no one is denied entry.
Proposal: Motioning contracting a Space Force base in Brattleboro by direct democratic public vote
Reasoning: In empathetic awareness to both the current local populaces’ needs and sensitive to futures’ quality of life benefits from now initiating negotiations on how to ethically manage a Municipal Space Station for universal peace, travel, resource sharing, and developing Earth conservation sciences which are conscientious of and cooperative with world interests. People employed by the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation would be appropriate business liaisons mediating between the military, government, and labor unions. Base investors will comply by funding planting for 1 and 1/5 edible (non apple) trees into orchards for every tree cut down for base & orchard construction.
Montpelier, Vt. – Governor Phil Scott today signed an executive order to update and extend the State of Emergency in Vermont to July 15. The latest order reflects all current re-openings and eased restrictions, which have been underway since late April to account for the State’s low case counts and continued slow growth rate.
State data and modeling shows overall spread of COVID-19 continues to be limited, even as the state has seen an isolated outbreak with 84 related cases in the Winooski area.
Governor Scott also detailed how a robust testing and tracing program; better knowledge of the virus; greater public awareness of, and adherence to, preventive measures; health and safety requirements across sectors; and increased stock of critical healthcare supplies, the state is much better positioned to track, manage and box in outbreaks and slow spread, which is critical to managing this virus until there is a vaccine.
BCTV Channel 8 / 1075 schedule for the week of 6/15/20
Monday, June 15, 2020
5:00 am Vermont Dairy Producers Alliance E-Meeting – Welch, Leahy, Sanders
6:00 am Bread and Puppet Theatre presents – Honey, Let’s Go Home Opera
7:30 am Rotary Cares – Ep 26 – Jim Rumrill, Sofia, and Paul
7:45 am The Quarantine Sessions from Next Stage Arts – John Citrone -Composer, drummer, guitarist – Part 2
7:55 am The Quarantine Sessions from Next Stage Arts – Josué Cruz
We are opening June 15th! Our hours will be Mon-Fri from 11am-7pm. Sat & Sun from 1pm-7pm. Yes, we will be serving lunches Mon-Fri from 11:30 am – 1:30 pm. There will be slight price increases at this time, with prices subject to change. Our lunch specials will now be $7. Lunches will be served on our hall side due to social distancing restrictions. Entrance will be through the glass doors, and the public is welcome. Hand made burgers, fries, chicken wings, chicken fingers, sandwiches, etc. are still available. Take outs also available by calling 257-0438. Pie slices while supplies last.
Brattleboro Senior Meals Menu June 15 to June 19
IMPORTANT INFORMATION AT THE BOTTOM OF THE MENU
June 15 BBQ Chicken
Sweet Potato
Roasted Cauliflower
Apples
