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A Community Celebration at West River Park

On Saturday May 18th from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM the Brattleboro Recreation and Parks Board and the West River Park Committee will be hosting the Grand Opening Celebration for West River Park on Route 30 West, 1.3 miles past the entrance to The Brattleboro Retreat.

Please join the community for food and fun during this exciting opening day. Raffle tickets for a chance to win eight tickets to the Red Sox are currently being sold with the drawing at the park on the 18th. Any donations to the park will be gratefully accepted!


Green Mountain Camp – Remembering & Reconnecting Reunion

On Saturday May 18th from 5 to 9 PM, Green Mountain Camp will be celebrating 96 years of memories at their reunion for friends and alumnae! Whether you are 9 or 90, there will be pictures, songs and stories to remind you of your magical time at Green Mountain Camp.

Come see what has changed at the camp and what has stayed the same. It’s a time to reconnect with old friends and make new ones as you enjoy a delicious spaghetti dinner, s’mores, and singing around the campfire. During the evening there will be guest appearances by past GMC directors. Tickets are $10 for the evening to benefit the scholarship fund.


Brattleboro Board and Committee Vacancies

Terms of many Brattleboro committees and boards expire on June 30 of each year. The Town is looking for volunteers to serve on the following committees and boards:

Agricultural Advisory Board – 6 vacancies, 3-year term
Arts Committee – 4 vacancies, 3-year term
BASIC (Brattleboro Area Skatepark is Coming) – 2 vacancies
Brattleboro Housing Authority Representative – 1 vacancy, 5-year term
CPCC (Citizen Police Communications Committee) – 3 vacancies, 2-year term
Conservation Commission – 1 vacancy, 4-year term
Development Review Board – 2 vacancies, 3-year term
Development Review Board Alternate – 3 vacancies, 1-year term
Energy Committee – 2 vacancies for 3-year terms; 2 vacancies for 2-year terms
Energy Coordinator – 1 vacancy, 1-year term


Vermont Humanities Council Seeks Nominations for Eleventh Annual Victor R. Swenson Humanities Educator Award

Seeking Excellent Teacher for Annual Award with $1,000 Prize

Montpelier, Vt. — Do you know a Vermont teacher who has inspired you and who deserves statewide recognition? Since 2003, the Vermont Humanities Council has honored such teachers with the Victor R. Swenson Humanities Educator Award, which recognizes a Vermont educator in grades 6 through 12 who exemplifies excellence in the teaching of the humanities. VHC seeks nominations for the 2013 award. Nominating letters are due July 1.
 


But What Can I Do?

“But what can I do?”  It’s a question that comes up a lot in conversation and one I’ve grappled with in recent months as  I’ve tried to figure out a response to it.  When nothing we do seems to make any difference, why should we even care what’s going on let alone try to do something about it?  Or to put it another way, what is an ordinary person to do in the face of the kind of unsettling news that has become routine in the last ten years?    


Slow and Steady

Minnesota has just passed a law legalizing gay marriage! We now have 12 states plus the District of Columbia -that are embracing marriage equality for all of it’s citizens. It has taken a long time to get this much momentum but now it feels like a wave of hopefulness that can not be stopped. Slow and steady progress. Nevada may be next!


Vermont About to Decriminalize Small Amounts of Marijuana

The Vermont House passed today, accepting changes made by the Vermont Senate and sending the bill to the governor’s office to be signed into law. If signed, it will go into effect July 1, 2013.

Governor Peter Shumlin said “I applaud the Legislature’s action to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Vermonters support sensible drug policies. This legislation allows our courts and law enforcement to focus their limited resources more effectively to fight highly addictive opiates such as heroin and prescription drugs that are tearing apart families and communities.” 


Vermont Business Celebrates “Older Americans’ Month”

A Tempo Senior Move Slates Activities for May: “Older Americans’ Month”

Originally decreed by President John F. Kennedy in 1963 as Senior Citizens’ Month, and now known as Older Americans’ Month, May is a good time to think about services offered in New England by A Tempo Senior Move. Offering advice and services related to the changes often experienced by retirees and seniors as they get older, A Tempo Senior Move is participating in a number of events scheduled for the month throughout the region, including a recent clinical workshop at the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis presented by Christina Healy, RN, MA, and Dr. Marjorie Kettell. Healy is a geri-psych clinician and psychoanalyst on staff of A Tempo Senior Move.


Volunteers Create New Gardens at Brattleboro Exit 1

In an effort organized by the Exit 1 Gateway Project and Green Up Vermont, a visiting Americorps team and local volunteers expanded the Exit 1 gardens on May 4, Green Up Day, and May 9, 2013. They Greened Up the Exit 1 end of Canal Street.

They turned over fresh ground to prepare more garden space. They planted a bank of daylilies, as well as brightly colored pansies and other annuals that are blooming now.


On Exhibit at the Library: Postcards: Why Do We Read & Write?

On Exhibit at the Library: Postcards: Why do we Read & Write? 
2nd Floor Display  Cases      
May/June  2013

Christina Gibbons, PhD, of Brattleboro, an independent scholar interested in the history of literacy, fills the glass display cases with her images of reading in postcards collection in the second-floor entryway during May. 

“I started collecting images of women reading twenty five years ago and now have several hundred. The original post cards were first exhibited in the library at UMass Amherst in 2001. After that I began lecturing and quickly realized my collection was not about painting but about the history of literacy, so I added men reading and writing as well.”


CRVBL Weekend Roundup – Keene Beat Brattleboro, and More

CLAREMONT ALONE IN FIRST, CHESTER/SAXTONS WINS IN MUD, SUNAPEE BEATS WALPOLE AND KEENE WINS FIRST GAME IN CRVBL ACTION

By Kevin McElhinney, CRVBL

The defending Connecticut River Valley Baseball League champion Claremont Cardinals are now in sole possession of first place, the Chester/Saxtons River Crush emerged victorious in a rain shortened battle against Putney, Sunapee defeated Walpole and Keene won its first game of the year in recent action among local adult baseball teams.


Antiwars Belatedly Cry Meaninglessly “Hands Off Syria!” Never “Nuremberg Trial for Americans!”

DESCRIPTION:
Antiwar leaders do not call for the prosecution of US homicidal crimes against humanity ALREADY committed in Syria, nor of crimes committed in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan, Grenada, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Cuba, Lebanon, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Guatemala, Congo, Korea and Greece. Crimes committed without arrest, arraignment, indictment, punishment, imprisonment, or hanging

TEXT:
 Antiwar leaders protest, “Hands off Syria!”, but do NOT call for the prosecution of US homicidal crimes against humanity ALREADY committed in Syria by CIA, State Department, Congress, the Executive branch and investment bankers.


Neighbors: Help Save Kid’s Summer Program!

PLEASE ATTEND MEETING: Clark Canal Community Association, Thursday, May 16th  —  6:30 P.M., Agape Church

Each Summer for years, Peggy Longueil directed the program and we all thought she would continue forever. When Peggy died, it was our good fortune that Juanita Lane volunteered to keep the Summer program alive. 

Through the Summer Program, neighbor kids have a place to be active and enjoy planned activities, including movies, swimming, and even did a marvelous job painting a mural at the Brattleboro Transportation Center! 


Bring Your Favorite Game and Join Us!

This Wednesday, May 15th at 6 pm is game night at the Brattleboro Food Coop deli.

Who knows what we’ll play? Bring along a favorite you’ve been wanting to play and maybe we’ll play it. Usually Tim and Mike have enough games for everybody, but it never hurts to bring more.

You can look up my review of last month’s get together in Board Game group.


Proctor and Gamble Pet Food Recall

Recently we were informed that One Stop Country Pet would no longer be carrying EVO  brand organic, raw dry dog food, the only kind our three boys have ever eaten. We finished the supply we had (which fell within the production time before Salmonella was identified in several Natura products). 

We just spoke with another pet supply store in Boston and they, too, stopped carrying Natura products as a result of the problems Natura has had after being bought out by Proctor and Gamble, according to both stores. 


Getting Your Ducks In Order, And Getting Your Duck Order In

For the last week or so, Agway on Putney Road has been having its seasonal sale of young chickens and ducks. There are five or so big bins filled with chicks, ducklings, and even a gosling or two, I think. They have some lamps to keep them warm, and food and water.

Ask for help and they’ll get a box and put your little feathered friends in it for you and you can be on your way. 

On your way to what? When we were young, parents got us some duckings to raise. They started out indoors but quickly became backyard friends.


Brattleboro Taxes and Utilities Due

The fourth installment of the 2012 Real Estate and Personal Property Taxes will be due on May 15, 2013Payments made after May 15, 2013 will have an additional 1% interest, as well as an 8% penalty added to the unpaid balance. 

The utility billing is also due on May 15, 2013. Payments made after May 15, 2013 will have an additional 1% interest, as well as an 8% penalty added to the unpaid balance. 


BCTV Channel 8 & 10 Schedules for the Week of 5/13/13

BCTV Channel 8 Schedule for the week of 5/13/13

Monday May 13

12:00 am      NRC VT Yankee Safety Assessment Hearing 4/30/13

1:29 am       Spotlight On Vermont Issues – Ep. 2 Senator Anthony Pollina on Campaign Finance

2:00 am       FSTV Overnight

4:00 am       VT Right to Know Label Genetically Engineered Food

5:40 am       Bono: The good news on poverty (Yes, there’s good news)


Governor’s Misguided Views On Gun Control

A recent LTE from Putney resident Elan Moses contained too much misinformation to be useful (Governor’s misguided views on gun control).

While his point that Vermont’s lack of gun legislation opens the door to many abuses, his suggestions for curing this were naïve and disingenuous.

“It does not mean we do not make efforts to make it harder to acquire semi-automatic weapons here in
Vermont”. I don’t think he has any idea what a Semi-Automatic firearm really is. (Unfortunately, this attitude is widespread in America. The very word “semi-automatic” has a high scare factor despite the fact that the
overwhelming majority of hunting rifles used in the USA today are semi-automatic).