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Brattleboro Selectboard Agenda and Notes – December 4, 2018

Is Dozer a dangerous dog? Must Dozer be contained, leashed and muzzled? The Chief of Police says yes, the owner says no, and the Brattleboro Selectboard will get to decide at their next regular meeting on Tuesday.

The DPW will begin looking at options for improvements to their facilities on Fairground Road, the shiny discs on the parking garage will become a permanent installation, SeVEDS will review their year and ask for money, the Assessor’s Office will talk FY20 budget, and the board will approve some grants. You can bring up other items, of course, during public participation.


Brattleboro Committee Meeting Agendas

The Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Human Services Review Committee will meet on Friday, December 7, 2018 at 1:00pm in the Holton Hall conference room (2ndfloor) on the Winston Prouty Campus located at 130 Austine Drive.

The Brattleboro Energy Committee meeting that was previously scheduled on Monday, December 3, 2018 has been CANCELLED.


FCC Threatens BCTV’s Survival

BRATTLEBORO, VT—November 30, 2018—BCTV today announced that its future and that of similar organizations around Vermont and the country is in serious jeopardy. On September 25, The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued proposed rulemaking (Docket 05-311) which, if successful, could allow cable operators to reclassify certain services and charge those against the cable subscriber fees that are collected to fund public access stations in Vermont and across the country.


Antje Duvekot and Brooks Williams at Next Stage on Friday, December 7

Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present award-winning contemporary folk singer/songwriter Antje Duvekot and Americana, roots and acoustic blues singer/songwriter Brooks Williams at Next Stage on Friday, December 7 at 7:30 pm.

Antje Duvekot is a German-born, American-raised singer/songwriter whose songs have been critically praised for their hard-won wisdom, dark-eyed realism and street-smart romanticism.  Her bicultural upbringing and relative newness to English have helped shape her unique way with a song, giving her a startlingly original poetic palette.


Local Option Tax Increases Brattleboro Revenue, But Property Taxes Will Still Rise

At Tuesday’s special meeting, the Brattleboro Selectboard discussed adding a 1% Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) to items purchased in the ‘boro. Adding this additional revenue stream to the Town coffers has been attempted before. Most recently it barely passed as an advisory vote, but was ultimately rejected.

The main argument in favor of the tax usually involves the expected revenue. In 2015, the estimate was $600,000. This, in theory, could offset property taxes by that amount.

But, taxpayers have seen these property tax reducing “deals” many times before, and property taxes do not go down. Spending rises to meet the new income.


Author Talk with Valerie Abrahamsen

Join us at Brooks Memorial Library at 7 pm on Tuesday, December 4th as Harvard-trained theologian Dr. Valerie Abrahamsen discusses her book Paranormal: A New Testament Scholar Looks at the Afterlife.

In her book, she examines four types of evidence for the survival of the individual soul after bodily death: scientific instruments and techniques, near-death experiences, reputable psychics and mediums, and out-of-body experiences. Dr. Abramson contends that not only is the afterlife a certainty beyond a reasonable doubt, but the evidence also points definitively to reincarnation, the law of cause and effect (karma), pre-birth decisions, our ability to communicate with those who have passed over, and the fact that our loved ones know what is going on in our lives.


Like-New Holiday Book Sale @ Brooks Memorial Library!

The Friends of Brooks Memorial Library will be holding the 13th Annual Like-New Holiday Books Sale from November 29th through December 1st!

 Come on in and browse from the excellent selection of fiction, non-fiction, Kids books, CDs, and DVDs, and say hello to these hard-working library fundraisers 🙂 The Friends will be there from 10 am-6pm on Thursday and Friday, November 29th and 30th, and from 10 am-2pm on Saturday.
Can’t make it in then? No worries! the Book Sale is ongoing, and you may pay for your purchases at the Circulation Desk until we are closed.
There will ALSO be a holiday gift basket raffle ongoing until the drawing is held on December 16th. Tickets may be purchased at the Books Sale, or at the Circulation Desk any time we are open.


Joyeux Noël: A French Christmas on Dec. 7 & 8

Guilford, Vt. — Friends of Music at Guilford (FOMAG) presents “Joyeux Noël,” its 46th Christmas at Christ Church program, at 7:30 on Friday, December 7, and again at 4:00 on Saturday, December 8. Traditional elements of this event include vocal and instrumental music of the season, an entertaining story with a holiday or winter theme, and a short carol sing. 

This year’s program is dedicated in memory of Neil Quinn, who passed away in mid-September. He served as Guilford’s town moderator for many years and was a long-time member of Christ Church Guilford Society, the nonprofit group that maintains this historic site, performing much of that work himself. An avid cyclist and skier, he founded and ran the West Hill Shop in Putney from 1971 through 2004.


Friends of Brooks Memorial Library Annual Appeal

The Friends of Brooks Memorial Library Annual Appeal is underway. If you missed giving Tuesday, it is not too late to donate! All proceeds go towards the Friends support of library programming, technology, resources and material purchases. Read more…


How to Create Your Own Website BDCC Workshop

A December 4th workshop will help small businesses and nonprofits create their own website. The Workshop is sponsored by INSTIG8, an arm of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, and will be held from 4:00 to 6:00 pm at the BDCC office at the Cotton Mill.


Cameo Baroque Offers Wintertide Concert at Main Street Arts

SAXTONS RIVER, Vt. – Main Streets Arts ushers in the holiday season with a benefit concert by Cameo Baroque Saturday, Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m.

With a theme of Wintertide, the four-piece group will offer music by English, Italian and German composers such as William Boyce, Antonio Caldara, Georg Philipp Telemann, George Frideric Handel and Tommaso Albinoni.

Members of the quartet performing on period instruments are Beth Hilgartner, recorder and voice, Leslie Stroud, traverso (Baroque flute), Ernie Drown, harpsichord, and Laurie Rabut, viola da gamba.


Telephone Scam

There’s one going around right now. I get about 4-5 calls a day.

The caller identifies themselves as representing “Microsoft Technical Department”. They go on, saying they have observed suspicious activity in your account or some such.

If you continue, they have you enter a few strokes and a whole list of items pops up.(about 25) They say that each item represents someone, somewhere, who is currently using your computer for their own purposes without your permission.


BCTV Schedules – Week of 11/26/18

BCTV Channel 8 schedule for the week of 11/26/18

Monday, November 26, 2018

1:40 am Landmark College Presents – James Sturm, Cartooning – Past, Present, Potential
2:30 am Osher Lifelong Learning Institute – Lake Champlain’s Rum Runners and Boat Patrol
3:50 am Okemo Valley Shorts – Coolidge Solar Project Update
3:55 am Osher Lecture Series – Kate Reed
4:58 am BCTV Highlights – Community Media Day 2018


VFW $6 Lunch Specials Open to the Public 11-26 to 11-30

The Brattleboro VFW located at 40 Black Mountain Road is open to the public for lunch. Lunch is served Mon-Fri from 11:30 – 1:30. Specials listed below are only $6 a plate. Hand made burger, fries, sweet potato fries, wings, onion rings, soups and sandwiches are also available. Take outs available by calling 257-0438

Mon – chicken lo mein w/ homemade eggrolls (apple pie cupcakes for $1.50)


48th Community Messiah Sing on Dec 1: A Benefit for the Homeless

Brattleboro, Vt. – Friends of Music at Guilford (FOMAG) invites singers and music lovers in the Tri-State region to start their holiday season at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 1, with the 48th annual Community Messiah Sing, a benefit for the homeless. Centre Congregational Church, at 193 Main Street in Brattleboro, has been home for the Sing since 1982 and for a few prior seasons as well.

Kenneth Olsson, conducting the Sing for a second season, is well known in the region as a performer in opera and musical theater productions as well as pianist, organist, and choral conductor. He has led FOMAG’s season-opening Guilford Festival Orchestra concerts since 2012 and in 2014 co-founded the Southern Vermont Lyric Theatre.


Brattleboro Committee Meeting Agendas

The Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee will meet on Thursday, November 29, 2018, at 5:30pm at the Windham Regional Career Center (80 Atwood Street) in the Cusick Conference Room (2ndfloor).

The Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Human Services Review Committee will meet on Friday, November 30, 2018, at 1:00pm at Holton Hall (in the 2ndfloor conference room) on the Winston Prouty Campus (130 Austine Drive).