Fire rages in Brooks House, leaving 60 needing ... - The Commons

Entergy sues Vermont over state permit 

Says legislature crossed into federal terrain with 2006 law, voiding previous agreement 

VERNON—Louisiana-based 

Entergy Corp. is suing the state 

of Vermont in order to continue 

operating the Vermont Yankee 

nuclear plant after its state operating 

license expires in 2012. 

Richard Smith, president 

of Entergy Wholesale 

Commodities, made the announcement 

Monday morning, 

shortly after the corporation filed 

PRSRT STD 

U.S. POSTAGE PAID 

BRATTLEBORO, VT 

05301 

PERMIT NO. 24 

Vermont Independent Media 

P.O. Box 1212, Brattleboro, VT 05302 

www.commonsnews.org 

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED 

NEW ENGLAND NEWSPAPER 

& PRESS ASSOCIATION 

Fire rages in Brooks House, 

leaving 60 needing shelter; 

10 businesses disrupted 

Staple through electric wires causes 

blaze to smoulder between floors for 

24-48 hours; owner vows to restore 

the massive 1871 former hotel 

By Randolph T. Holhut 

The Commons 

BRATTLEBORO—A fivealarm 

fire Sunday night heavily 

damaged the historic Brooks 

House complex on Main Street, 

displacing as many as 60 tenants 

and 1o businesses. 

However, the teamwork of 23 

area fire departments, combined 

with a working sprinkler system, 

prevented deaths or injuries. 

Firefighters’ efforts saved the 

bulk of the 1871 building from 

the fire that started as a result of 

a staple penetrating an electrical 

wire in a space above a ceiling, 

according to Brattleboro Fire 

Chief Mike Bucossi. 

And while emergency personnel 

were initially concerned 

about the building’s structural 

integrity and evacuated nearby 

commercial buildings Monday 

morning, the damage to the historic 

landmark is not as extensive 

as initially feared. Owner 

Jonathan Chase said he is determined 

to rebuild the structure 

that has been in his family since 

the early 1970s. 

“There was a lot of damage 

from the fire, but a lot of the 

building is still in good shape,” 

Town Manager Barbara Sondag 

reported Tuesday afternoon. 

“There’s a lot of rumors flying 

around town, but I can say this 

building is not coming down.” 

Fighting a fi vealarm 

fi re 

Light and smoke from the 

biggest downtown fire since 

the Wilder Block burned in 

December 2004 were visible 

from Interstate 91, and firefighters 

worked through the night to 

subdue the spectacular flames 

shooting into the sky. 

At a joint news conference of 

Donors to Vermont Independent Media 

receive The Commons in the mail. 

Visit http://donate.commonsnews.org. 

Commentary from Entergy, 

New England Coalition ■ See Voices, third section 

the lawsuit in U.S. District Court 

against Vermont. 

Entergy sought a license to 

continue running the plant for 

an additional 20 years. Vermont 

Yankee provides about onethird 

of the state’s electricity and 

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The suit is based on an assumption 

of federal pre-emption 

of state law under the 

Atomic Energy Act, the Federal 

Power Act Preemption, and the 


town officials on Tuesday at the 

River Garden, Bucossi said his 

department received a box alarm 

call from the Brooks House at 

8:46 p.m., followed by a telephone 

call from a tenant that 

there was smoke in the building. 

The first fire crew that responded 

found no fire was showing, 

Bucossi said, until it reached 

a third-floor apartment where 

state fire investigators later determined 

that the fire began. 

Bucossi said the wire sparked 

sometime between 24 and 48 

hours before the fire was reported, 

and material burning in 

that void smoldered without anyone 

knowing until Sunday night. 

Although heat would have 

emanated from the nascent fire 

to the floor of the apartment 

above, that unit was vacant, thus 

letting the fire develop without 

detection. 

“It’s an old building, and when 

the fire got above the top-floor 

ceiling between the roof and the 

roof deck, it was very hard to get 

at,” Bucossi said. 

A second alarm was quickly 

called, Bucossi said. 

While the sprinkler system in 

the building appeared to have 

initially contained the fire, by 

9:01 p.m., a third alarm was 

called, followed by a fourth alarm 

two minutes later. 

Firefighters from neighboring 

towns in Vermont, New 

Hampshire, and Massachusetts 

began to pour in, with as many 

as 150 on the scene at the peak 

of the fire. 

Initially, Bucossi said, crews 

fought the fire inside the building 

as they worked to evacuate 

all the tenants. 

“We found some residents 

who were still unaware that there 

was a fire, and they were escorted 

out by firefighters,” he said. 

The fifth alarm, the highest 

level for a Brattleboro fire, was 

called at 10:27 p.m. 

A frightening moment happened 

at about 10:35 p.m., when 

Bucossi said he was doing a routine 

status report and lost contact 

with a crew on the fourth floor. 

At that moment, he ordered 

all crews out of the building and 

activated a rescue team from the 

Brattleboro Fire Department 

whose sole job is to rescue 

trapped firefighters. 

But after several tense minutes, 

everyone was accounted 

for. 

“It was very dangerous for 

the firefighters,” said Bucossi. 

“That’s why we decided to go 

to an exterior attack.” 

At the peak of the firefighting 

effort, nine ladder trucks poured 

water on the blaze, with one additional 

ladder truck held in reserve, 

Buscossi said. 

“I can’t say enough about the 

Brattleboro Fire and Mutual Aid 

crews,” said Bucossi. “The response 

was tremendous.” 

Gary King, engineering technician 

for the town’s Department 

of Public Works, estimates fire 

THANK YOU 

to Paul and Ken 

at the Blue Moose 

for providing The Commons 

with temporary offi ce space 

Monday in the back room of 

the restaurant. We owe the 

existence of this issue to 

your neighborliness. 

—Jeff, Randy, and Olga 

Commerce Clause of the U.S. 

Constitution. 

The Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission renewed Entergy’s 

license to operate Vermont 

Yankee last month; in a 26-to-4 

vote last year, the Vermont State 

Senateprohibited the Public 

Service Board (PSB) from renewing 

the plant’s Certificate of 

Public Good. 

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The lawsuit, filed by Matthew 

Byrne of Gravel and Shea, a 

Burlington-based law firm, 

summed up the nature of the 

complaint as follows: “The question 

presented by this case is 

whether the State of Vermont, 

either through a state administrative 

agency (the PSB) and/or 

the state legislature (the General 

Assembly) may effectively veto 

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Thursday Morning 

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the federal government’s authorization 

to operate the Vermont 

Yankee Station through March 

21, 2032.” 

Smith told reporters in a telephone 

conference call that “litigation 

is by far our least favorite 

approach,” but that the disagreement 

with Vermont couldn’t be 

resolved any other way. 

Brattleboro, Vermont 

Wednesday, April 20, 2011 • Vol. VI, No. 16 • Issue #97 

GREG WORDEN/SPECIAL TO THE COMMONS 

Firefighters work to subdue the fire that gutted the top two floors of the historic 

Brooks House on Sunday night and Monday morning. 

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By Olga Peters 


B RATTLEBORO— 

Traditionally, voter turnout in 

Brattleboro hovers between 16 

and 27 percent of registered 

voters. 

A group of interested citizens 

hopes to raise that percentage. 

The goals of the Double the 

Number of Voters Initiative 

entail increasing twofold the 

number of Brattleboro voters 

showing up at the polls by 

March 6, 2012 and eliminating 

■ SEE BROOKS HOUSE, PAGE 9 

Your membership in Vermont Independent Media can make this the best free 

newspaper you’ve ever paid for. Donate online at http://donate.commonsnews.org. 

Upping the vote 

Citizens take first steps to increase Brattleboro’s turnout 

the barriers between people and 

the ballot box. 

More than 20 community 

members turned out April 

12 for the initiative’s inaugural 

meeting hosted by freshman 

Selectboard member 

Kenneth Schneck, the initiative’s 

mastermind. 

Participants discussed the 

barriers to voting, what the 

group didn’t know (and needed 

to learn more about), and determined 

action items. 

Schneck also included in the 

discussion e-mail messages sent 

to him by residents unable to attend 

the meeting. 

Looking at the 

numbers 

Annette Cappy, who has 

served Brattleboro as town clerk 

for 22 years, said after the meeting 

that voter turnout rates for 

the annual election of town officers 

on Town Meeting Day 

have remained consistently low. 

By comparison, in presidential 

election years, the turnout 

jumps to 46 to 48 percent, 

Cappy said. 

“When there are real issues 

and candidates people are invested 

in, they come out [to the 

polls],” she said. 

But the fact that presidential 

elections do draw out a higher 

percentage shows Brattleboro’s 

turnout has the potential to rise 

above the twenty-somethingpercent 

norm. 

Kathleen Scheele works in 

the Campaigns and Elections 

Division of the Vermont 

Secretary of State’s office. 

Her department that runs the 

■ SEE VOTING TURNOUT, PAGE 3 

■ SEE ENTERGY, PAGE 3 

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Selectboard member 

Ken Schneck wants to 

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in local elections. 

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2 NEWS THE COMMONS • Wednesday, April 20, 2011 

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BRATTLEBORO 

Longtime 

lawyer scales 

back his work 

Colleagues celebrate the life and 

times of Tim O’Connor, the former 

speaker of the Vermont House, 

who is retiring — well, sort of 



BRATTLEBORO—It wasn’t 

quite an Irish wake, since the 

guest of honor was still very 

much among the living. 

But the Guinness and the stories 

flowed at the law office of 

Thomas Costello last Thursday 

as the friends and colleagues of 

Timothy O’Connor gathered to 

pay homage and to salute his 50 

years of service as an attorney 

and public official in Brattleboro. 

The 74-year-old O’Connor, 

who has worked as a lawyer 

in town since 1961, retired on 

April 1. 

Aside from taking care of any 

pending cases, O’Connor turned 

over the practice to attorney Jim 

Maxwell, who will be leaving his 

office in the Hooker-Dunham 

building on Main Street and 

moving into O’Connor’s former 

office on 136 Western Ave. 

O’Connor won’t totally leave 

the legal business. He said he will 

help Maxwell part-time. 

Maxwell said he knows he has 

big shoes to fill in taking over 

O’Connor’s practice. 

“You don’t over for a legend,” 

he said. “You try to work hard 

and do the same good job that he 

did. Every lawyer is different, but 

the one thing that is paramount 

is the relationships with clients, 

and Tim was exemplary in that 

regard.” 

A lifetime in a 

few blocks 

The site for Tim O’Connor’s 

retirement party was a serendipitous 

junction of the big moments 

of his life. 

Costello’s office is just up the 

hill from St. Michael’s School, 

from where O’Connor was graduated 

from high school, and from 

St. Michael’s Roman Catholic 

Church, where he married a 

girl from Putney named Martha 

Hannum nearly 50 years ago. 

Before Costello hung his shingle 

on Putney Road, his office 

belonged to Edward John, the attorney 

who hired O’Connor out 

of Georgetown University’s Law 

School five decades ago. 

“Eddie was in the front office, 

and Tim got the small office [in 

the back], and he became known 

to many around town as ‘the 

mole in the hole,’” said Costello. 

The lawyers and judges who 

gathered at Costello’s were 

across the street from Windham 

District Court, and just a stone’s 

throw away from the Municipal 

Center, former site of the 

Brattleboro Municipal Court, 

over which O’Connor once 

presided. 

And they stood just a few 

blocks away from Oak Street, 

the longtime home of Tim and 

Martha O’Connor. 

“A whole lifetime in just 

a few blocks,” said former 

Vermont Superior Court Judge 

Arthur O’Dea, a classmate of 

O’Connor’s at Holy Cross and 

Georgetown Law School. “How 

many people can say that?” 

“Before the age of computers, 

everything was done alphabetically, 

so that’s how we ended up 

as roommates,” he said. “Mass 

was at 7 a.m., and it was mandatory 

in those days [at Holy 

Cross], and the Jesuits checked 

you in.” 

So, he said, “we established a 

custom where every other day, 

we checked each other in for 

Mass. We liked to sleep, so for 

three years, I would attend Mass 

one day, and Tim would attend 

on the other day.” 

With that subterfuge, a lifelong 

friendship was born. 

“When I moved up to 

Vermont from New Jersey in 

1969, I could get into any door, 

because all I had to do was say 

I was friend of Timmy’s,” said 

O’Dea. 

O’Connor was admitted to 

the Vermont Bar in 1961, and 

like many small-town lawyers, he 

started out as a generalist, doing 

everything from criminal cases to 

divorces to probate law. His colleagues 

praised O’Connor for his 

affable nature and his ability to 

reach agreements without being 

disagreeable. 

The legal community in 

Brattleboro was a tight-knit one 

when O’Connor started out, said 

attorney Lawrin Crispe. 

“It was a very congenial bar,” 

said Crispe. “We’d always got 

together. We’d used to have 

the docket calls, and judges 

would call us up to Newfane, 

and Timmy was always at the 

center of that. He tried to keep 

up the camaraderie in the interest 

of trying to maintain civility. 

“My dad [Luke Crispe, a longtime 

attorney in Brattleboro] 

used to tell me that ‘Timmy is 

one guy you can rely on anytime 

you’ve got a problem. You always 

count on Tim O’Connor.’ 

Over 40 years, Tim has provided 

me with a lot of good pointers, a 

lot of good education.” 

Crispe called O’Connor “the 

consummate country lawyer” 

and said he has set a great example 

for young lawyers in 

Brattleboro to follow in terms of 

“not only earning a decent living, 

but also doing a lot for his community 

at the same time, and doing 

a lot for his clients, which is 

evident by the loyalty that they 

show Tim.” 

O’Connor eventually gave 

RANDOLPH T. HOLHUT/THE COMMONS 

Martha O’Connor pins a boutonniere on the lapel of her husband of nearly 50 

years, Timothy O’Connor. 

up criminal law to focus mainly 

on real estate, contracts, and 

wills. He also spent time on the 

other side of the bench, as the 

presiding judge in the former 

Brattleboro Municipal Court 

from 1964 to 1967. He said he 

gave up that job when the court 

went from meeting two mornings 

a week operating full time. 

Vermont Superior Court John 

Wesley read a proclamation from 

his court honoring O’Connor. 

Wesley remembered his days 

as a Legal Services lawyer in the 

1970s, “when you weren’t necessarily 

immediately looked at 

as part of the group.” He said 

he knew he shed his outsider 

status when O’Connor offered 

him tickets to see his beloved 

Georgetown Hoyas play basketball 

when they came up to 

Boston. 

“There are fraternities, and 

then there are fraternities,” said 

Wesley. “Getting into that fraternity, 

I knew that was a big step.” 

Wesley said he learned a lot 

about practicing “not only real 

estate law, but community law, 

through Tim’s generosity.” 

Under the 

golden dome 

Besides his long legal career, 

O’Connor has served as town 

moderator and was elected six 

times to the Vermont House 

of Representatives, serving as 

House Speaker from 1975 to 

1980. 

Not only was O’Connor the 

first Democrat elected Speaker 

of the House, he was elected 

even though his party was in the 

minority throughout his tenure. 

Costello, who served in the 

Legislature as a Democratic representative 

from Rutland during 

O’Connor’s tenure, remembers 

taking a trip to Boston and meeting 

the two most powerful figures 

in Massachusetts politics, House 

Speaker Thomas McGee and 

Senate President William Bulger. 

“These are real tough guys, yet 


Former Gov. Thomas Salmon, right, offers his praise 

of Timothy O’Connor, who was Speaker of the House 

during Salmon’s second term as governor. Behind 

them is longtime Brattleboro attorney Charles 

“Chuck” Cummings. 

they genuflected before Tim and 

called him ‘The Miracle Man,’” 

said Costello. 

Costello said Bulger and 

McGee couldn’t believe that a 

Democrat could get elected to 

lead a legislative body as a member 

of the minority party. 

“That was something that 

was beyond their expectations,” 

he said. 

O’Connor’s successor as 

House Speaker, Republican 

Stephan Morse of Newfane, 

said he learned very quickly as a 

young lawmaker how O’Connor 

pulled off a seemingly impossible 

political feat. 

Watching him preside over the 

House, Morse said that “there 

was no bias.” 

“It was all fair,” he said. “He 

was there to make sure the people’s 

work got done. To his 

credit, he made sure that people 

were getting along.” 

Thomas P. Salmon’s tenure 

as governor of Vermont 

between 1973 and 1977 coincided 

with O’Connor’s rise to 

the speakership. 

“On paper, there was no 

way that a Democrat would get 

elected Speaker,” Salmon said. 

“But it happened, my friends, for 

one reason, and one reason only 

— the Legislature of the state of 

Vermont had never met any person 

as fair, as decent, as thoughtful, 

as caring, as the member 

from Brattleboro.” 

In 1980, O’Connor ran for 

the Democratic nomination for 

governor and Salmon said he received 

“90 percent of the vote in 

Windham County. Nine-O. That 

is off the wall. That is bonkers. 

That is beyond belief. Sadly, he 

didn’t have that kind of pull in 

Chittenden County. Or Franklin 

County. Or a few other places. 

He came up just a bit short.” 

O’Connor narrowly lost to 

then-Attorney General Jerry 

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O’Connor never ran for statewide 

office again. 

Retirement time 

At 74, O’Connor said he 

thought the time was right to 

retire. He said he’s still healthy 

and wants to spend more time 

with his three grandsons, Daniel, 

8, and Jacob and David, who are 

4-year-old twins. 

That was illustrated by his 

wife’s Martha’s absence from 

last Thursday’s party to attend 

Daniel’s music recital at Vernon 

Elementary School in his grandpa’s 

stead. 

He saluted his wife for all the 

help she provided over the years, 

both in raising their three children 

and in running a small-town 

law office. 

“Over the past 50 years, she 

has worked very closely with 

me at the office. You look back 

and see who has been constantly 

there, and I’ve many secretaries 

and many associates, but I had 

one wife who was shoulder-toshoulder 

with me — answering 

the phone, taking messages 

at night, and constantly being 

on call.” 

When he graduated from 

Georgetown Law in 1961, 

Washington was swept up in the 

excitement of John F. Kennedy’s 

presidency. It would have been 

easy to stay in Washington, but 

O’Connor chose to come back 

home to Brattleboro. It is a decision 

he has never regretted. 

“I say now, without any question, 

except for asking my wife 

to marry me in July of 1961, the 

best thing I did was to come back 

here and to begin the practice of 

law,” he said. 

“From hearing stories from 

my classmates practicing in New 

York and Washington, I think 

the interaction is so difficult that 

they burn out faster than we do 

here,” he added. 

That lack of burnout means 

that while O’Connor is giving up 

full-time work, it will be tough to 

make that happen in practice. 

“He’s not retired,” said 

Crispe. “He’s going to have 

people chasing him for years to 

come.”

THE COMMONS • Wednesday, April 20, 2011 NEWS 3 

■ Voting turnout FROM PAGE 1 ■ Entergy FROM PAGE 1 

statewide election numbers, 

and she said that Brattleboro’s 

turnout numbers are on par 

with other Vermont towns. 

According to the elections 

division, the ratio of voter turnout 

statewide to the number of 

eligible voters in Vermont was 

66.7 percent in the 2008 general 

election. 

The elections division, which 

publishes general election statistics 

and results beginning 

with 1974, records the election 

with the lowest turnout as 

1978, with 44.4 percent. The 

highest turnout, 1992, was 69.8 

percent. 

When they want to vote, 

Vermonters can choose between 

going to the polls, early 

voting via absentee ballots, or 

voting by phone for people with 

disabilities. 

In an attempt to increase 

turnout, former Secretary 

of State Deb Markowitz advanced 

changes to the voting 

law that resulted in increased 

convenience of early voting, 

said Scheele. 

The easier early voting laws 

went into effect in time for the 

2002 general election. 

And early voting has 

increased. 

Absentee ballot use has escalated 

from 35,417 in 2002 

to 94,664 in the 2008 general 

election. The 2010 statewide 

general election saw 50,474 

early ballots. 

But despite the increase in 

early voting, overall turnout 

remains stagnant. Scheele attributes 

this to Vermont’s 

“non-diverse” population and 

a lack of citizen-led initiatives. 

In general, she said, other 

states with more diverse populations 

and the ability to put 

initiatives on their ballots, such 

as California, have more special 

interest groups pushing those 

initiatives. 

Scheele responded to the 

suggestion that the committee 

offer a “big prize” for people 

showing up to vote. 

“Yeah. No. Bad idea,” she 

said. ”There’s a [Vermont] 

constitutional prohibition 

[against] that.” 

Barriers? 

At the April 12 meeting, 

participants identified 22 barriers 

thwarting people’s ability 

to vote. 

Some of the barrier were 

logistical, such as lack of 

transportation. 

The audience suggested solutions 

such as finding volunteer 

drivers to bring people to 

the polls or allowing people 

to register to vote at the same 

time as they apply for a driver’s 

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license. 

Cappy answered most of the 

suggestions by pointing out existing 

programs like a shuttle 

program to drive people from 

their homes to the Brattleboro 

Union High School, where the 

town holds elections. 

Byron Stookey suggested 

that voting would increase if 

the polls opened two hours 

earlier, at 7 a.m., because 

more workers employed at 

9-to-5 jobs could get to the 

high school. He said that while 

standing outside BUHS during 

elections, he identified those 

voting as mostly who are retired, 

self-employed, or otherwise 

not working traditional 

office hours. 

Cappy said that BUHS does 

not allow the poll workers in 

early enough to allow for a 7 

a.m. start, noting that school 

officials have told her that doing 

so would disrupt school. 

Further conversation revealed 

that the request to not disrupt 

school came from the athletics 

department. 

Many area towns do not 

open the polls until 10 a.m., although 

some towns open their 

polling stations at 8 or 9 a.m. 

Contacted after the meeting, 

Scheele said she didn’t favor 

a 7 a.m. polling start because 

Vermont provides an absentee 

voting window of 45 days. 

Because of the ease of early voting, 

she would prefer polls open 

statewide at 10 a.m. This later 

start time would mean better 

count numbers, because the 

poll workers would feel less fatigued, 

she said. 

Combating 

apathy 

More of the stumbling 

blocks the group identified, 

however, focused on a culture 

of “apathy” towards voting. 

District 3 Town Meeting 

representative Spoon Agave 

said he believed a large number 

of voters feel their ballots 

don’t count. No matter 

who they elect, nothing ever 

changes, he said. 

Agave also serves on the 

Charter Review Commission, 

and has served on the 

Brattleboro Selectboard. 

“People think one candidate 

is just like the other candidate,” 

said Cappy. 

Tessa Anders, a social studies 

teacher at BUHS, said many 

of her students did follow politics 

but felt a “lack of connection.” 

Her students couldn’t 

see how what they cared about 

in their daily lives connected to 

the big picture of democracy or 

local, state, and federal decision-making 

processes. 

Charter Review Commission 

Chair Larry Bloch said he 

felt that part of the apathy 

stemmed from a lack of civics 

education in schools. 

He also made a push for a 

charter change he wants to 

propose at a later date to lower 

the age required to vote in local 

elections to 16. 

Bloch added that most 

18-year-olds are in a state of 

transition “and ready to leave 

the area,” making it harder for 

them to vote. 

Kurt Daims said that people 

understand that they need to 

honor the rights that veterans 

have fought for. People don’t 

understand the responsibilities 

of citizenship, such as jury duty 

and voting, he said. 

Bloch said in some countries, 

voting is compulsory and 

allows for a “protest vote” like 

a “none of the above” option. 

“It redefines apathy,” said 

Daims. 

Schneck said the lack of voting 

wasn’t just down to high 

school students. 

District 1 Town Meeting 

representative Peter Cooper 

said some people “vote out of 

a tradition or habit.” 

But what if someone hasn’t 

built the ballot habit? 

Schneck said it’s important 

to “dispel misinformation” 

about the voter registration 

process, like the falsehood that 

registering to vote also means a 

person is automatically drafted 

in the army or put in the pool 

for jury duty. 

The audience also discussed 

shifting the topic of voting into 

community discussions yearround, 

so voting could remain 

in people’s minds beyond election 

season. 

“I’m in no way swayed by 

these barriers,” said Schneck 

referring to the list compiled 

by the audience. 

Schneck said he felt encouraged 

by the group of people 

committed to increasing voting 

who took the time to show up 

“on a random Tuesday night.” 

Going forward, Schneck is 

developing a survey to gather 

information about why people 

do or don’t vote in Brattleboro 

to help the group gather more 

information and statistics. 

The next meeting will take 

place May 10 at 6 p.m. in the 

Selectboard Meeting Room 

on the second floor of the 

Municipal Center. The committee 

plans to meet once a 

month. Contact Schneck at 

kschneck@marlboro.edu for 

more information. 

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Entergy, he said, offered a 20year 

power purchase agreement 

with state utilities and offered 

to negotiate with the Vermont 

Department of Public Service 

to establish a date for decommissioning 

the plant. 

Last month, Entergy announced 

that its attempts to sell 

Vermont Yankee to prospective 

buyers fell through because of 

the anti-nuclear political environment 

in the state. 

“The governor and many in 

the General Assembly have concluded 

the plant should be shut 

down,” Smith said. “This has left 

us with no other choice but to 

seek relief in the court system.” 

The announcement came just 

two weeks after Entergy officials 

told Gov. Peter Shumlin that 

they planned to continue operating 

the plant — without permission 

from the state — after 

the mandated shutdown date of 

March 21, 2012. 

“At that meeting they indicated 

they wouldn’t be suing 

the state, they would just instead 

continue to operate the plant,” 

Shumlin said at a press conference 

on Monday. “Obviously, 

they changed their minds.” 

Long legal 

engagement 

Attorney General Bill Sorrell 

told reporters that the lawsuit 

was not unexpected. In fact, 

Sorrell said he and a team of 

three staff lawyers had been preparing 

for just such a potentiality 

for months. 

Sorrell said that now that the 

battle is “joined,” he foresees 

a long legal engagement with 

Entergy ahead. 

“I can’t imagine this case is going 

to be resolved at the district 

court level here in Vermont and 

that’s going to be the end of it,” 

Sorrell said. 

“Perhaps, but I think it’s entirely 

likely that this is a case that 

will be appealed by one party or 

other to the federal appeals court 

in New York City and conceivably 

beyond that,” he added. 

“Although we could get an 

initial read on the case in the 

relatively near future, it’s entirely 

possible that this case will be litigated 

for quite some time into 

the future,” Sorrell said. 

Memorandum of 

understanding 

Entergy purchased Vermont 

Yankee in 2002. Four years 

later, Gov. James Douglas signed 

into law Act 160, requiring that 

Entergy obtain a Certificate of 

Public Good from the Vermont 

Public Service Board to continue 

operating the plant beyond 

its original certificate’s 

expiration on March 21, 2012. 

At that point, the plant will be 

40 years old. 

Shumlin said that in 2006, 

when the law was signed by 

Douglas, “Entergy Louisiana enthusiastically 

supported the bill.” 

“I should also remind you 

when Entergy Louisiana bought 

the plant, it signed a memorandum 

of understanding that they 

would comply with all Vermont 

laws,” Shumlin said. “We fully 

expect Entergy Louisiana to be 

held to the same standard as any 

Vermonter — that they follow 

Vermont laws. As governor, I will 

see to it that Entergy Louisiana 

does follow the law.” 

Smith said the state of 

Vermont “changed the rules 

on us.” 

The 2006 law, he said, “took 

BRAIN 

STORMIN’ 

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Each week we’ll pick a different 

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local topics to issues of our 

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world. Lively conversation with 

guests, callers, and stimulating 

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control of plant’s future away 

from the Public Service Board 

and instead it placed Vermont 

Yankee’s fate in the hands of 

political decisionmakers, namely 

the state General Assembly and 

the governor who could deprive 

[Entergy] from operating the 

plant for unsupported, arbitrary 

reasons. This is not what we 

signed up for in 2002.” 

Shumlin has long opposed 

relicensing of Vermont Yankee 

because the aging plant has been 

plagued by problems (a water 

cooling tower collapse, transformer 

fire, tritium leaks, radioactive 

steam releases inside the 

plant, and maintenance glitches). 

Entergy officials, however, 

maintain that Vermont Yankee 

is one of the most reliable and 

best performing nuclear plants 

in its fleet. 

More news 

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appears at 

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(abbr.) 

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HENRY HOOK 

THE COMMONS CROSSWORD 

“Your Humble Serpent” 

Courtesy Cars or Rides Always 

Available at No Cost! 

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was called off? 

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publisher 

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ARTS NOTEBOOK 

Music 

Mal Blum headlines concert 

for Marlboro College 

Women’s Resource Center: 

Rising indie singer/songwriter Mal 

Blum headlines a benefit concert 

for the Marlboro College Women’s 

Resource Center on Thursday, April 

21, at 7:30 p.m., in the college’s 

Campus Center. 

Blum has opened for national artists 

including Amanda Palmer, Kimya 

Dawson, and Melissa Ferrick. Her music 

earned top 10 status on the 2009 

Click List, a feature of the LGBT 

television and web network, LOGO. 

Deborah Singer of Hear/Say magazine 

calls Blum, “A talented artist that 

makes songs where you don’t want to 

miss a word.” 

Admission is by suggested donation 

of $10 ($3 for Marlboro College 

students with ID). Also performing 

during the benefit concert are Shea 

Witzo and Turning into Softy. Witzo 

is a current Marlboro student and activist 

whose performances blend jazz 

vocals with ukulele and oftentimes a 

megaphone. Turning Into Softy plays 

acoustic pop and is led by Marlboro 

students Christina Schneider and 

Michael Schneeweis. 

The Women’s Resource Center 

was founded in the spring of 2010 

by several concerned female students 

who felt the community would benefit 

from more education around issues of 

sexism, gender and women’s health as 

well as advocacy for female students. 

Since its foundation, the WRC has 

brought in speakers and consultants, 

encouraged discussion of racism, sexism, 

and sexual assault, and worked as 

an institutional advocate for women 

at Marlboro. 

Strawberry Hill Fiddlers 

at Hooker-Dunham: Twilight 

Music presents a benefit concert for 

Hooker-Dunham Theater & Gallery, 

139 Main St., Brattleboro, featuring 

The Strawberry Hill Fiddlers, a 

teenage ensemble of 10 fiddlers, two 

cellists, a bassist and a guitarist from 

the Hudson Valley in New York, on 

Thursday, April 21 at 7 p.m. 

The Strawberry Hill Fiddlers perform 

a spirited program of traditional 

music of many genres. Directed by 

Emily and Carole Schaad, the fiddlers 

include singing, improvisation 

and Appalachian clogging with their 

fiddle tunes. The band members, who 

also study classical music and play in 

orchestras, meet weekly to learn, arrange 

and perform traditional tunes 

from many cultures. They are part 

of a fiddle program administered by 

Stringendo, Inc., a community music 

school that also directs a Saturday 

orchestra program during the school 

year and a summer day camp for young 

string players. 

The “Strawberries” have released 

two CDs, performed on PBS Radio’s 

“Dancing on the Air,” shared the stage 

with Natalie MacMaster, Jay Ungar 

and Molly Mason, Alasdair Fraser and 

Barrage, and toured the U.K. Tickets 

for the show are $10 general admission, 

$8 students and seniors, and free 

for kids 6 and under. For ticket reservations 

and information, call 802-254- 

9276 or visit www.hookedunham.org. 

A “Gather-ring at the 

River”: The Vermont Spring Ring, 

a handbell concert involving 30 choirs, 

will be held Saturday, April 30, at 4 

p.m., at the Bellows Falls Union High 

School gym in Westminster. 

Local choirs participating include 

the West B Bells from the First 

Congregational Church in West 

Brattleboro, the St. James Episcopal 

Church Choir in Keene, N.H., the 

Ringers on the Square from the United 

Church of Christ in Keene, and the 

Saxton River Ringers from Christ’s 

Church in Saxtons River. 

The more than 270 ringers from 

across Vermont and southern New 

Hampshire attending this event will 

spend the day working with nationally-known 

handbell director Monica 

McGowan, who has an extensive 

background in handbells and hand 

chimes. The concert will feature the 

full group of ringers presenting four 

pieces especially composed for handbells: 

Renewed Spirit by Michael 

Mazzatenta, Animato by Arnold 

Sherman, For the Beauty of the Earth 

by J.D. Frizzell and Immortal Invisible 

by Douglas Smith. In addition, 12 

choirs — including the Ringers on the 

Square, the Bellisimo Ringers and the 

Saxtons River Ringers — will perform 

solo pieces. 

The Vermont Spring Ring is sponsored 

by Area I of the American Guild 

of English Handbell Ringers. It originated 

30 years ago to allow bell ringers 

from across Vermont and southern 

New Hampshire to gather and share 

their love of this musical medium while 

enhancing their ringing skills. 

Performing arts 

Kali Quinn at Sandglass 

Theater: Acting on Impulse and 

GUTWorks present Overture to a 

Thursday Morning , featuring virtuosic 

performer Kali Quinn, at Sandglass 

Theater in Putney on April 28-May 1. 

Quinn’s newest solo performance 

is a suspenseful and inspiring journey 

that questions the will to go on and 

who to take with you. The play tours to 

Vermont after a successful run in New 

York City and Rochester, N.Y. Quinn 

plays Lila, a character who smokes, listens 

to Talking Heads and wants to be 

a violin rock star, but unwanted discoveries 

push her toward the secret truth 

about her own birth. A clash of 1950s 

nostalgia, visual poetry, and contemporary 

angst are all explored through 

real-time musical composition, physical 

tragic comedy, and common household 

objects. 

Performance are April 28, 29, and 

30 at 8 p.m. On Sunday, May 1, at 2 

p.m., a matinee will benefit for Making 

the Most of I, a local organization offering 

women support, education and 

resources for making healthy changes 

in their lives. Tickets are $15 and may 

be purchased at brownpaperickets. 

com, by calling 800-838-3006, or at 

the door 45 minutes before each performance. 

The performance runs one 

hour, and all performances will include 

an optional talkback. 

Visual arts 

Theater curtains at 

Main Street Arts: Before movies, 

Vermonters glimpsed far-off worlds 

through immense, hand-painted 

theater curtains. These painted 

back-drops set the stage for dances, 

concerts, and vaudeville shows. 

Come to Main Street Arts in 

Saxton’s River on Wednesday, April 

27, at 7 p.m., for Suspended Worlds: 

Vermont’s Painted Theater Curtains . 

This is an up-close and personal look 

at these amazing pieces with Christine 

Hadsel. This program is especially exciting 

as Main Street Arts happens to 

house Vermont’s largest single collection 

of these theater curtains, so attendees 

will be able to see the actual 

curtains “in person.” 

Between the 1880 and the 1940s, 

traveling actors would visit Vermont 

towns, painting curtain back-drops 

and putting on shows. They would 

leave the curtains for the buildings’ 

permanent use. Due to the generosity 

and enthusiasm of these itinerant artists, 

a culture of local variety shows, 

school performances and theatrical 

productions flourished in Vermont 

— also attracting touring troupes of 

performers, opera companies, vaudeville 

singers, and itinerant musicians. 

Hadsel is the director of Curtains 

Without Borders, Inc., of the Vermont 

Painted Theater Curtain Project. 

Starting in 1996, the project has restored 

160 out of the state’s 185 curtains, 

most of which are now installed 

for use, or are on public view. Vermont 

is the first state to pay attention to 

the restoration and conservation of 

these curtains. She will talk about the 

project, show slides and tell stories of 

Vermont’s many curtains and their artists, 

along with a viewing tour of Main 

Street Arts’ collection. 

This program is hosted by the 

Rockingham Free Public Library in 

Bellows Falls and sponsored by the 

Vermont Humanities Council. It is 

free and open to the public. For more 

information, call Rockingham Public 

Library 802-463-4270 or Main Street 

Arts at 802-869-2960. 

Paintings by Terry Carter 

at the Blue Moose: “Fall into 

Spring” an exhibit of painting by local 

artist Terry Carter will be shown for 

the month of May at The Blue Moose 

Café, 29 High St., Brattleboro. 

Working with materials that span 

these two seasons, Carter has gone 

beyond traditional painting on canvas 

to try out her skills on gourds. In 

keeping with the time honored genre 

of landscape and still life, her painting 

on more conventional surfaces such 

as canvas, highlights the lush colors 

of the summer. 

During the fall harvest season, 

Carter collects gourds for her work, 

choosing them for their unusual shapes 

and curves. Each unique find suggests 

to her a particular composition and 

design. After the gourd is dried, she 

works with numerous coats of varnish 

and primer, layered with paint. When 

completed, the finished pieces have an 

organic look and feel to them and will 

last indefinitely. 

Painting landscapes and common 

wildflowers found in Southern 

Vermont, Carter’s direct experience 

and intimacy with nature is reflected 

in her work. Her visual memories of 

growing up in rural New Hampshire 

inspired her to work with subject matter 

close to home. The exhibit will be 

on display during the café’s regular 

hours, Monday through Saturday from 

8 a.m.-5 p.m. 

Film 

Headline Vermont shown 

in Wilmington: Vermont 

Independent Media, publisher of The 

Commons , Windham County’s awardwinning 

weekly newspaper, will present 

Headline Vermont , a Vermont 

Public Television documentary film 

about the history of journalism in 

Vermont. 

Produced by Daniel Lyons of 

Brattleboro, Headline Vermont combines 

archival images, interviews with 

historians and journalists, and reenactments 

to tell colorful stories of 

newspapering from the frontier era 

into the 21st century. The film recently 

received a nomination in the 2011 

Boston/New England Emmy Awards 

in the Historical/Cultural Program/ 

Special category. 

Segments of the film feature the 

staff of The Commons in action. Jeff 

Potter, editor of the paper, will be 

on hand for a discussion period after 

the film. 

The film will be shown at the Pettee 

Memorial Library, 16 South Main St., 

Wilmington, on Wednesday, April 

27, at 3 p.m. 

Books 

Best selling mystery author 

returns to Brattleboro: 

Mystery on Main Street, New 

England’s only bookstore devoted 

exclusively to tales of mystery and suspense, 

will host an author signing with 

Edgar-nominated author Ken Wishnia, 

Saturday, April 23, at 3 p.m. Wishnia 

will discuss The Fifth Servant , now 

available in paperback. 

The Fifth Servant follows a young 

Talmudic scholar’s attempt to save 

his Jewish community in 16th-century 

Prague during the Inquisition. He has 

only three days to discover who killed 

a Christian girl found in the store of 

a Jewish shopkeeper, against whom 

the authorities have brought a bloodlibel 

charge. 

Space, as always, is limited; reserve 

a spot to avoid disappointment. All 

events are free and open to the public. 

If you cannot make an event but would 

like an autographed copy of The Fifth 

Servant, contact Mystery on Main 

Street. For information, reservations 

or to reserve books, call 802-258-2211 

or email to: info@mysteryonmain.com.

THE COMMONS • Wednesday, April 20, 2011 NEWS 5 

Photojour nalism 

workshop offered 

at RFPL 

BELLOWS FALLS — What 

are the elements of an effective 

news photo? What kind of photos 

are editors looking for? Find 

out the answers to these questions 

and more on Saturday, 

April 23rd, from 11 a.m.- 12:30 

p.m. at Rockingham Free Public 

Library (RFPL). 

“Photojournalism: A View 

From Both Sides of the Editor’s 

Desk” with Randolph T. Holhut, 

news editor at the The Commons , 

will cover the basics of news photography 

from the perspective 

of someone who not only takes 

pictures, but selects them for the 

printed page. Learn how to think 

visually to come up with images 

to complement your words, and 

the ways a good photo can give a 

news story more impact. 

Holhut has more than 30 years 

of experience in print, broadcast 

and online media He has 

worked in various capacities as 

a reporter, photographer and 

news editor at the Worcester 

(Mass.) Telegram & Gazette , the 

Brattleboro Reformer , the Eagle 

Times in Claremont, N.H., and 

The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, 

Mass. 

This workshop is free and 

open to the public. Participants 

do not need previous writing or 

journalism experience to attend, 

and they are invited to bring a 

project or share successful techniques. 

Space is limited, so call 

RFPL at 802-463-4270 to reserve 

a spot. 

This workshop is part of 

Vermont Independent Media’s 

Media Mentoring Project, which 

offers free seminars throughout 

Windham County. These workshops 

enable local residents from 

all walks of life to build their writing, 

editing, and journalism skills 

and get their work published. 

Plots now available 

for community garden 

BRATTLEBORO — The 

Brattleboro Recreation & Parks 

Department is taking reservations 

for the Stockwell Drive 

Community Garden Site. 

Returning gardeners can register 

between April 20 to 27. On 

Thursday, April 28, registration 

will begin for new gardeners. 

Space is limited to 20, 

100-square-foot garden plots. 

Reservations will be on a first 

come, first serve basis. The 

cost of a plot is $25. To reserve 

your garden plot, stop by the 

Recreation & Parks Office at 207 

Main St., weekdays between the 

hours of 9 a.m.-noon and 1-4 

p.m. For more information, call 

802-254-5808. 

Electronics recycling 

event benefits 

NewBrook School 

NEWFANE — To raise 

awareness for Earth Day and 

Green Up Vermont, Double Plus 

Green, a local eco-conscious web 

design company, will sponsor an 

electronics recycling drive and 

fundraiser. 

For Earth Day, Double Plus 

Green will be located at Newfane 

Town Office parking lot on April 

22 and 23, from 11 a.m.-4 p.m., 

to collect unwanted electronics. 

As a follow-up, Double Plus 

Green has arranged a curbside 

pickup on April 30, a week 

prior to Green Up Vermont. 

Donated items will need to be 

curbside with a note indicating 

that it’s for donation/recycling 

by 10 a.m. that morning. Email 

recycle@doubleplusgreen.com 

or call 802-365-7907 to arrange 

a pickup. 

Used electronics and unwanted, 

broken or mismatched 

jewelry may be used toward the 

fundraiser. Your used items 

may be tax deductible and will 

be recycled in accordance with 

EPA regulations, with 100 percent 

of the proceeds to help fund 

Newbrook Elementary School’s 

Montreal trip. 

Although they are accepting 

any used electronics, the following 

items may be used toward 

the fundraiser: cell phones, laptop 

computers, inkjet printer 

cartridges, MP3 players, digital 

cameras, digital video cameras, 

handheld game systems, GPS devices, 

radar detectors, electronic 

book readers, and gold, silver, 

and platinum jewelry. 

For more information, 

visit www.doubleplusgreen. 

com/earthday2011, or call 

802-365-7907. 

Brattleboro 2011 

water quality report 

is now available 

BRATTLEBORO — 

Brattleboro’s 2011 Water 

Quality Report should arrive in 

the mailbox of all billed water 

customers in the next few days. 

AROUND THE TOWNS 

According to the Water 

Department division of the 

Department of Public Works, 

no violations were found and 

few contaminants were detected 

in the water supply. This federally-mandated 

report contains 

information and test results on 

the water supplied to Brattleboro 

residents during the past year. It 

also includes general information 

about the town’s water supply 

and its sources. 

Anyone not receiving a report 

in the mail may pick up a paper 

copy at the Water Department 

office on Fairground Road, the 

Town Treasurer’s office or Town 

Clerk’s office at 230 Main St., 

the Brooks Memorial Library, 

or the Chamber of Commerce 

office on Main Street. If any 

property owners would like copies 

to supply to their tenants, call 

and the department will supply 

the report. 

The report is also at www. 

sover.net/~brattdpw, or at 

www.brattleboro.org on the 

Public Works page in the Town 

Departments section. You may 

contact the Water Department at 

802-254-4255 for more information 

or questions. 

Drop In Center 

fundraiser marks 

Bussino’s 65th 

birthday 


Board of Directors of the 

Brattleboro Area Drop In Center 

recently announced that they 

will hold a special appeal during 

the month of April in honor 

of Executive Director Melinda 

Holden Bussino. 

Bussino will reach the milestone 

birthday of 65 on April 20, 

and when asked what she wanted 

for the occasion she replied, “I 

need nothing for myself, just to 

have folks help the homeless.” 

Appeal letters have gone out to 

the community, and the goal of 

the board is to raise $6,500. 

The Drop In Center, located 

on 60 South Main St., is a day 

shelter for the homeless and the 

location of Vermont’s second 

largest food shelf. It is also the 

operator of Brattleboro’s Winter 

Overflow Homeless Shelter. 

In the past year, the food shelf 

has served more than 7,000 separate 

people in need of emergency 

and supplemental food, 

the Overflow Shelter housed 

112 separate homeless people 

in the past winter, the Drop In 

Center’s day shelter case management 

and outreach services 

has seen 137 separate homeless 

and at risk people since January 

(a 4o percent increase over the 

previous three months), and its 

housing support program has 

prevented homelessness in over 

200 additional households in the 

last 18 months. 

Bussino joined the Drop In 

Center staff as executive director 

in January 1989 and has led 

the agency in its growth to meet 

urgent community needs for 

the past 22 years, so the board 

felt it was fitting to honor her in 

this way. She said that she is not 

nearly ready to retire, but is honored 

by the excellent work of the 

staff in accomplishing so much 

with so little, and by the outpouring 

of support the center receives 

from the community. 

“It is my great joy as a 

Brattleboro native, to be able to 

give back to the community I was 

raised in,” she said. 

Donations and birthday wishes 

may be sent to: Brattleboro Area 

Drop In Center, Attention: 

Lucie Fortier, P.O. Box 175, 

Brattleboro, VT 05302. 

The Dutton family are strong believers in buying locally. 

ALL of their produce are grown by them in Vermont soil. 

They advocate for supporting and giving back to the 

community by selling only local made products and hosting 

annual events which allow local businesses to promote 

these great items. Vermont is full of wonderful and unique 

products that the Duttons feel should not go unnoticed! 

Stop in today, help support our locals and see what great 

things they have to offer! You won’t be sorry. 

Route 30, 

Newfane 

802-365-4168 

www.duttonberryfarm.com 

OPEN DAILY 9 AM–7 PM 

Route 9, 

West Brattleboro 

802-254-0254 

Vigil marks 25th 

anniversary of 

Chernobyl disaster 

BRATTLEBORO — On 

Tuesday, April 26, from 9 a.m. 

to 1 p.m., there will be a vigil at 

the Wells Fountain (in front of 

the courthouse at end of Main 

Street) to commemorate the 25th 

anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear 

disaster. Prayers will also 

be offered for the victims of the 

nuclear disaster that is unfolding 

in Fukushima, Japan. 

This vigil is sponsored by the 

Nuclear Free Future Coalition 

of Western Massachusetts, the 

Citizens Awareness Network and 

the Traprock Center for Peace 

and Justice. For further information, 

contact Hattie Nestel at 

978-249-9400 or Hattieshalom@ 

verizon.net. 

BMH offers 

free tobaccocessation 

class 

BRATTLEBORO — 

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital 

will offer a six-week class of 

Vermont Quit Network’s tobacco 

cessation program starting 

Tuesday, April 26, and going 

to May 31. It will be held in the 

Tyler Conference Room on the 

first floor of the main hospital. 

Class times are 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. 

The weekly program offers 

group support as well as individualized 

strategies to help participants 

quit smoking for good. The 

tobacco cessation program provides 

a logical progression to quit 

smoking, including awareness 

of the smoking habit, addiction 

problems, and actual behavior 

change. Weight control, stress 

management, and social interactions 

will be covered during the 

program. Free nicotine replacement 

therapies such as the patch, 

gum, and/or lozenges will be 

available for Vermont residents. 

There is no cost for this program. 

For more information 

about the class, or to register, 

call 802-251-8456. Help is also 

available at the Vermont Quit 

Network at 877-YES-QUIT. 

Gardening event 

benefits Wardsboro 

Elementary 

WARDSBORO — Come 

step into spring at Wardsboro 

Elementary School on Thursday, 

April 28, from 6-8 p.m., as horticulturist 

and afterschool program 

director Clea Beriau give a brief 

presentation on spring planting 

to promote bulb growth. 

This event is a fundraiser 

for the afterschool program at 

Wardsboro Elementary, and includes 

dinner. A $10 donation is 

requested. Call 802-375-6409, 

ext. 102, to reserve a spot. 

Girl Scouts donate 

cookie sale proceeds 

to Our Place 

BELLOWS FALLS – Brownie 

Troop 1033 and Junior Troop 

12954 used part of the funds 

they raised during their recent 

cookie drive to make donations 

to local nonprofit agencies feeding 

the hungry and keeping the 

homeless warm. 

The troops made a cash contribution 

to the Greater Falls 

Warming Shelter and also donated 

cookies to Our Place 

Drop-in Center and Westminster 

Cares. 

The girls’ efforts resulted in 

the sale of 18 cases of cookies, or 

2,160 individual boxes, and also 

earned then credits towards attending 

summer camp. 

Routes 11/30, 

Manchester 

802-362-3083 

“When I asked them where 

they would like to donate, they 

immediately said the warming 

shelter and the food shelf at Our 

Place,” said troop leader Tonya 

Kendall. 

She and Jennifer Tidd share 

the leadership of both the 

Brownie and Junior troops, 

which contain members from 

Saxtons River, Westminster 

and Putney, and meet at the 

Westminster Institute. 

Blueberry workshop 

offered at Boyd Farm 

WILMINGTON — On April 

23, from 11:30-12:30 p.m., the 

Boyd Family Farm on East 

Dover Road offers a workshop 

on blueberry shrub pruning and 

fertilizing. 

DJ Boyd will cover the how, 

what and why in this free beginner 

course on pruning your 

blueberry bushes. Correct pruning 

not only enhances the shape 

and health of the plant and tree 

but also will encourage fruit development 

and ripening. Contact 

802-464-5618 or boydfarm@ 

sover.net for more information. 

Herricks Cove Wildlife 

Festival is May 1 

ROCKINGHAM — Where 

can you learn about barred owls 

and bats, see a wolf and a wallaby, 

and enjoy a day outside 

along the beautiful Connecticut 

River? The Herricks Cove 

Wildlife Festival, of course! 

The festival goes from 10 

a.m.- 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 

1. Come for an hour, or stay all 

day. The suggested donation is 

$2 per person, $5 family. The 

event takes place, rain or shine. 

Festival goers are asked to leave 

their dogs at hom. 

For the past 12 years, people 

have been celebrating spring and 

wildlife on the first Sunday in 

May. This festival includes nature 

presentations, activities and 

programs featuring live animals, 

guided nature walks, crafts, tasty 

food, workshops, birding and 

much more. The event brings 

together more than 25 outdoor, 

wildlife, environmental and conservation 

groups from all over 

New England and beyond. 

“Wildlife Encounters Zoo” 

will be there all day with a diversity 

of live animals from 

many continents. Other presenters 

include Vermont 

Institute for Natural Science, 

Squam Lakes Natural Science 

Center, the Southern Vermont 

Natural History Museum, the 

International Wolf Center, 

Valley Quest, storyteller Brian 

Ellis, and more. 

Herricks Cove is located on 

Route 5, not far from the junction 

of Exit 6 of Interstate 91 and 

Route 103. After descending a 

hill and crossing the Williams 

River, take the first road to the 

right (Herricks Cove Road). 

Watch for signs. For more information, 

contact Alma Beals 

at madalma13@yahoo.com, or 

802-722-3355. 

New parent resource 

guide available 


Building Bright Futures Regional 

Council of Southeastern 

ASSISTANT TEACHER 

Looking for an enthusiastic team player to 

join our inclusive early education center full-time. 

Qualifications include a CDA, Associate’s degree or higher. 

Coursework in child development required 

(can be completed within the first 6 months of employment). 

For more information visit our web site at 

www.winstonprouty.org 

Interested candidates should send a letter of interest, 

resume and names of three references by April 22, 2011 to: 

Chloe Learey, The WinstonProutyCenter 

20 Winston Prouty Way, Brattleboro, VT05301 

�� 

No phone calls please. EOE 

Available Pets for Adoption 

Make a friend 

for life 

Hi everyone, YODA 

here! I am tall and 

striking with my 

long body and 

gorgeous, creamy 

coloring. Social 

and talkative, but 

very easy-going, I 

never complain. I 

even get along with 

other cats and dogs 

after an appropriate 

introduction. If tall, 

handsome and ohso-easy 

is what you’re looking for then I’m your 

guy. Stop by the shelter to meet me! 

WINDHAM COUNTY 

HUMANE SOCIETY 

916 West River Road, Brattleboro, VT 

802-254-2232 View all at: wchs4pets.org 

Smooth and sweet, 

just like my name, 

CARMELA. I was 

brought to the shelter 

with my sister Georgi 

and brother Heineken 

to find new homes. I’m 

a little shy with a very 

gentle disposition, so I’m looking for a quiet home. Other 

cats would be ok with me, but I will need time to get used 

to dogs. If you’re looking for a quiet, loving pet I just 

might be the right one for you! 

Vermont has released a new 

resource guide for parents. 

Parenting in Your Pocket was 

modeled after the Windham 

in Your Wallet guide of Youth 

Services. It is designed to be a 

handy, portable guide of information 

valuable to all families, 

whether they are expecting their 

first child or have teenagers. 

The guide includes resources 

in more than 15 topics, including 

child care (preschool and 

after school options, as well), 

health (including mental health 

and support groups), and education 

(including parent education, 

safety and nutrition training), 

making sure to include those 

services that may not be readily 

known by parents. 

The guide also highlights free 

and low-cost options for families 

in the areas of clothing, recreation, 

and food, and includes 

critical information on safety, 

crisis hotlines/helplines covering 

a variety of parenting topics, 

as well as resources for children 

with special needs, financial assistance, 

and transportation, 

among other topics. 

This collaborative project involved 

staff of the Brattleboro 

Area Prevention Coalition, 

Early Education Services of 

Windham County, Prevent 

Child Abuse Vermont, Windham 

Child Care Association, and a 

community volunteer involved 

in the Maternal Child Health 

Coalition. The editor and publisher 

of Parent Express , a free 

monthly newspaper for families 

in Windham and Cheshire counties, 

consulted on the design and 

provided in-kind and financial 

support of the project, including 

printing and distribution. 

Parenting in Your Pocket is 

available at Windham Child 

Care Association in Brattleboro 

and online at www.windhamchildcare.org 

or www.parentexpress.net. 

Please contact Sarah 

at 802.254.5332 for more information 

or to request copies 

for yourself or an organization. 

Nominations sought 

for Early Childhood 

Educator of the 

Year award 

BRATTLEBORO — Do 

you have a child with an excellent 

early childhood 

teacher? Windham Child Care 

Association seeks nominations 

for the 2011 Early Childhood 

Educator of the Year Award 

from parents, grandparents, 

employers, friends and peers. 

Nominees must be early childhood 

educators working in family-or-center 

based child care 

This space is graciously sponsored by: 

onestopcountrypet.com 

programs regulated by the state 

of Vermont. 

Successful candidates will be 

knowledgeable of early childhood 

development, create a safe, 

loving, creative, stimulating environment 

for young children, 

nurture each child’s growth, 

work with parents as partners in 

supporting the healthy development 

of their children, and demonstrate 

commitment to the field 

of early childhood education. 

Deadline for nominations is 

Friday, May 27. Nomination 

forms can be found at www. 

windhamchildcare.org, along 

with a listing of award winners 

from the last 22 years. 

All nominators will be automatically 

entered into a drawing 

for a $50 gift certificate to 

Altiplano in Brattleboro. For 

more information, contact Sarah 

DiNicola at Windham Child 

Care Association, 130 Birge St., 

at 802-254-5332, ext 310, or 

sarah@windhamchildcare.org. 

Walpole Farmers’ 

Market opens for 

season on May 13 

WALPOLE, N.H. — The 

Walpole Farmers Market season 

will begin on Friday, May 13 on 

the Walpole Common. 

The hours have been changed 

to 4 - 7 pm to make it easier for 

customers to shop after work. 

The regular weekly market will 

run through Friday, Oct. 21. 

The market is scheduled to 

run year round this year, adding 

a monthly winter market after the 

popular holiday markets. From 

November, 2011 through April, 

2012, there will be a market each 

third Saturday of the month. 

The Thanksgiving Market, 

also held on the Common, 

will be the Saturday before 

Thanksgiving, Nov. 19, from 

9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Holiday 

Market, held in the Town Hall, 

will be Dec. 17, the Saturday before 

Christmas Eve Day, from 10 

a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Produce farmers are already 

gearing up to produce more storage 

veggies to supplement the 

meat, dairy, bread, wine, maple 

syrup and bee products, crafts, 

and prepared foods that will be 

available at the winter markets. 

The new winter markets will also 

be held in the Town Hall, every 

third Saturday from 10 a.m. to 

1 p.m. 

For more information, visit 

walpolefarmersmarket.com, 

email jill@walpolefarmersmarket.com, 

follow along on 

Facebook, or call 603-756-3168. 

If you’d like to receive email updates 

about the market, send 

along your email address. 

Hi! OZZIE here!! I am so excited to be 

here in New England!!! Back in Kentucky, 

I was tied out in the yard and that 

is not the best thing for a dog of my kind 

- I am a 2 year old Weimaraner and I am 

very handsome, though I’m a little thin 

right now. I love, love, love people but 

I might be too rambunctious for young 

children, so a home with children ages 

10 and up would be best. I like some 

dogs, but not all, so if you already have a 

dog or two, we’ll do a dog introduction 

here at WCHS. I’m a high energy guy 

and I’m looking for a home that will give 

me lots of vigorous exercise, every single day! Are you the right home for 

me? I’d be an amazing companion for an active family! 

Please come and meet DANTE! 

Dante is a fine Southern gentleman 

who is young and active 

but also has some nice manners 

as well. Dante does well with 

many other dogs but likes the 

ladies the best. He also has been 

doing very well with clicker training 

and is a super fast learner who 

loves to train. 

Dante is very, very social with people and should do well with 

children too. Don’t miss out on this fantastic dog! 

648 Putney Road 


802.257.3700 

149 Emerald St 

Keene, NH 

603.352.9200

6 THE COMMONS • Wednesday, April 20, 2011 

SPORTS & RECREATION 

Colonels open baseball 

season with mixed results 

The Brattleboro 

Colonels started 

their first week of the 

baseball season with 

mixed results. 

The Colonels lost their 

home opener to Monument 

Mountain of Great Barrington, 

Mass., 11-3, on April 12. 

Brattleboro was not sharp in 

any aspect of the game, as losing 

pitcher Tommy Heydinger 

was hit early and often by the 

Spartans. He gave up 3 walks 

and 9 hits before he was removed 

in the fifth inning, and 

his defense behind him was less 

than stellar. 

The players bounced back 

from that loss with a 4-3 win 

over Hartford at Tenney Field 

last Friday. Pitcher Sawyer 

Olson earned the complete 

game victory, with 2 walks and 

4 strikeouts. 

Aside from a shaky fifth inning, 

Olson performed solidly. 

Soren Pelz-Walsh had the hot 

bat with 4 hits and drove in two 

runs during the second inning. 

Evan Parro and Kevin Paciulli 

each hit RBI doubles in the 

first inning to stake Olson to a 

early lead. 

Now 1-1, the Colonels host 

Bellows Falls on April 21. 

Baseball 

• Bellows Falls got its season 

off to a good start with a pair 

of wins. 

On April 12, the Terriers 

hammered Windsor, 17-2, in a 

game at Hadley Field stopped 

after six innings due to the 

15-run rule. Pitchers Cooper 

Long, Jeremy Kilburn, and 

Eric Laurendeau teamed up 

to shut down the Jacks. Long 

RANDOLPH T. 

HOLHUT 

Sports Roundup 

was solid at the plate too, with 

2 doubles, 2 RBIs, and 3 runs 

scored. Bruce Wells and Forest 

Coleman each drove in 2 runs, 

and Matt Marchica scored 3 

runs. 

BF followed that up with a 

12–6 win over Springfield last 

Thursday. 

Wells and Brendan Hackett 

each had 3 hits and combined 

for 7 RBIs, while Marchica 

went 2-for-3, with 3 stolen 

bases and 3 runs scored. Long 

and Kilburn again collaborated 

on the mound; together, they 

struck 7 and scattered 6 hits 

while allowing just 2 walks. 

• Leland & Gray prevailed in 

their home opener last Friday, 

a 17-8 win over Twin Valley. 

The Rebels put the game out of 

reach early, while the Wildcats 

hung around but could not put 

together a big inning until it 

was too late. 

Pitcher Drew Barnum went 

5 innings to get the win, holding 

Twin Valley to just 5 hits 

as he walked 2 and struck out 

2. Jared Van Osdol finished 

up with 3 strikeouts in the final 

2 innings. In the 2 innings 

he worked, Joe Moore gave up 

7 runs to take the loss for the 

Wildcats. 

Jason Moore and Dal 

Nesbitt finished out the game. 

Together, the three pitchers 


Brattleboro’s Helen Manning competes in the triple 

jump at a five-team track meet last Thursday at the 

BUHS track. 

gave up 16 hits. 

It was the third straight 

road loss for 1-3 Twin Valley. 

On April 9, the Wildcats were 

handed a 10-5 loss by Mount 

Everett of Sheffield, Mass. On 

April 12, West Rutland beat 

Twin Valley in a 16-11 game 

that was stopped after five innings 

due to darkness. 

Softball 

• A warmer afternoon and 

another week of practice gave 

the Colonels an opportunity 

to tighten up their game after 

starting their season with a 

32-0 rout of Bellows Falls. 

Last Friday, the defending 

champs looked the part as 

they shut out Hartford, 10-0. 

Pitcher Kayla Wood gave up 

only 2 hits in the victory, striking 

out 9 and walking no one. 

Wood helped herself with a 

3-for-4 day at the plate, driving 

two runs. Ariel Kane hit a 

pair of triples, driving in 2 runs. 

Both Kane and Kaylee Graham 

went 3-for-4, Graham also 

drove in 2 runs. 

Brattleboro had 14 hits on 

the day as Ashley Watson, 

Sydney Santor and McKenzie 

Bover all had doubles, while 

Kelsey Patterson and Taylor 

Kerylow also had base hits. 

Now 2-0, the Colonels travel 

to Claremont, N.H., to face 

Stevens on April 21. 

• Leland & Gray looked 

sharp, and not just because 

they have new uniforms this 

season. 

The Rebels played an excellent 

game in shutting down 

Twin Valley, 4-1, in their 

home opener at Townshend 

last Friday. Pitcher Nicole 

Sherman got the win, holding 

the Wildcats to just 4 hits. 

Sherman struck 4, walked 5 

and hit a batter, and gave up 

the only run of the game in the 

seventh. 

Twin Valley pitcher Kylieblu 

Crawford scattered 9 hits 

and walked 4 in a losing effort. 

She and her twin sister Bryerlyn 

accounted for all of Twin 

Valley’s hits, and they helped 

put a scare into the Rebels’ fans 

as the Wildcats had the tying 

run at the plate in the seventh 

before Sherman escaped the 

jam for the win. 

Michaela Tietz and Ashley 

Goddard went 2-for-3 for 

Rebels. Tietz scored one 

run and drove in another, 

while Alex Morrow drove in 

a run with a sacrifice bunt. 

Aly Marcucci and Jacqueline 

Hazard each scored a run. 

• It was another tough outing 

for the Bellows Falls 

Terriers last Thursday, as they 

dropped their home opener 

to Springfield, 27-0. BF was 

held to just two hits, by Megan 

LaBeau and Emma Shaw, who 

was the losing pitcher for the 

0-2 Terriers. They are off until 

April 25, when they travel to 

Fair Haven. 

Tennis 

• It took a victory in the final 

singles match to give Hartford 

a 4-3 win over the Brattleboro 

girls on Saturday. Lauren 

Mabie, Mary McLoughlin, and 


Pole vaulter John Punger of Bellows Falls clears the bar during competition at 

a five-team track meet last Thursday at the BUHS track. 

Hayley Ryan all won their singles 

matches. 

• The Bellows Falls girls 

got their season off to a strong 

start with a 6-1 victory over 

Springfield at the Hadley Field 

courts on April 11. The singles 

players — Ruth Rowell, Hillary 

Willard, Weeze Bennett, 

Vanessa Edwards, and Lee 

Parslow — all won their 

matches. 

The closest match of the 

day was at No. 2 doubles, 

as Remington Kurkul and 

Tessa Morey rallied to defeat 

Springfield’s Kelsie Howard 

and Hannah Sorrell, 2-6, 6-4, 

7-2. 

• The Bellows Falls boys 

opened their season with a 7-0 

loss to Hartford last Thursday 

at the Hadley Field courts. 

They won’t be back in action 

until April 25, when they travel 

to Brattleboro. 

Track and Field 

• Twin Valley has a track and 

field team for the first time this 

year. 

In the team’s inaugural meet 

in Brattleboro on April 11, 

Twin Valley freshman Sammy 

Cunningham-Darrah placed in 

the top 3 in all the events she 

participated in. She was second 

in the 100 and 800; she also 

took third in the long jump and 

joined Emily Furlon, Jennifer 

Jones, and Alex Kennedy in 

taking second in the 4 x 100 

relay. 

Cunningham kept it up last 

Thursday at a five-team meet 

in Brattleboro. Competing 

against much bigger schools, 

she won the 100- and 200-meter 

dash, in 13.9 and 29.57 seconds, 

respectively. Kennedy 

and Cunningham-Darrah 

placed second and third in the 

400, while Jen Jones ended up 

third in the 1,500. 

• While the Twin Valley 

girls made some noise in last 

Thursday’s home opener for 

the Brattleboro track teams, 

the Colonel girls came away 

with the team victory. 

Ursula Casey won the hurdles 

and triple jump, and she 

took second in the long jump 

and third in the high jump to 

lead the Colonels. 

Halie Lange won the 800 

and led the 4 x 800 relay team 

to victory. Paige Bailey won 

the pole vault, Helen Manning 

took the long jump, and 

Hannah Reichel was a winner 

in the 3,000. 

The Colonels came in second 

to Fall Mountain in the 

boys meet. Greg Reuter led 

Brattleboro with wins in the 

200 and 400, and a third in 

the 100, as well as leading the 

Colonels to a second in the 4 x 

100 relay. 

Jacob Ellis won the 800 

and was a member of the winning 

4 x 800 relay team. Other 

first-place finishers included 

Austin Lester in the 1,500 and 

Spencer Olson in the 3,000. 

Bellows Falls came in third 

in the girls’ meet, and fourth in 

the boys’ meet. 

Lacrosse 

• Sam Finnerty scored 

the winning goal in suddendeath 

overtime to give the 

Brattleboro boys a 8-7 victory 

over Rutland at Natowich 

Field last Friday. Finnerty also 

scored and had three assists for 

the Colonels in regulation time. 

Travis Elliott-Knaggs also 

had a pair of goals. Tarique 

Rashed, Jon Thomson, Alex 

Phomnath, and Nik Rancourt 

also scored. Goalie Romello 

Lindsey had 12 saves. 

The following day, the 

Colonels journeyed to 

Monson, Mass., and won, 10- 

4. Phomnath finished with 3 

goals and 3 assists. Thomson 

also scored 3 goals, Elliott- 

Knaggs scored twice, and 

Rashed and Finnerty each 

added a goal. 

Rashed also got a pair of assists, 

while midfielders Taylor 

Lynde and Andy Harris each 

had an assist. Lindsey and 

Logan George shared time in 

goal and combined for three 

saves. 

Miscellany 

• The Brattleboro Recreation 

& Parks Department will host 

the “Hoop It Up” basketball 

camp for children entering 

grades 2-7 on the week of June 

20-24 at the Gibson-Aiken 

Center, 207 Main St. 

For students in grades 2-4, 

the camp will run from 9 a.m. 

to noon and will focus on the 

development of motor skills, 

giving each child the opportunity 

to practice specific skills in 

a structured and fun setting. 

For students in grades 5-7, 

the camp runs from 1 to 4 

p.m. and will focus on the development 

of motor skills as 

well as provide opportunities 

to practice team skills in game 

situations. 

The camp is intended for 

boys and girls to improve 

their skills with ball handling, 

dribbling, passing, catching, 

and layups.It is directed 

by Todd Bell, who coaches 

at Brattleboro Union High 

School. All counselors are present 

or past athletes who are 

either attending BUHS or are 

involved in college basketball 

programs. 

This camp has a small 

camper-to-counselor ratio, 

helping to ensure plenty of 

individual attention and instruction 

in a fun, supportive 

environment. 

The cost is$85 for 

Brattleboro residents and $100 

for non-residents. To register, 

stop by the Brattleboro 

Recreation & Parks office at 

the Gibson-Aiken Center, 207 

Main St.. For information, call 

802-254-5808 or visit www. 

brattleboro.org.

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MILESTONES 

Births, deaths, and news of people from Windham County 

Obituaries 

Editor’s note: The Commons 

will publish brief biographical information 

for citizens of Windham 

County and others, on request, as 

community news, free of charge . 

The Rev. Monsignor 

Thomas J. Ball, 77, Rector of 

the Cathedral of the Immaculate 

Conception in Burlington. Died 

April 17 at his residence. Born 

in Dover, N.H., the son of the 

late William and Elizabeth 

(Bragg) Ball, he was educated 

in Somersworth, N.H., schools, 

St. Anselm College, St. Mary’s 

University and the Blessed 

Sacrament Seminary. On June 

11, 1966, he was ordained a 

priest by the Most Rev. Robert 

F. Joyce. His first assignment 

was St. Charles Parish in Bellows 

Falls from 1966 to 1971, under 

the guidance of his mentor, 

Msgr. Patrick Barry. Other assignments 

included Christ the 

King Parish in Rutland from 

1971 to 1974, Christ the King 

Parish in Burlington from 1974 

to 1976. He then became pastor 

of St. Charles Parish from 

1976 to 1987 and Rector of the 

Cathedral of the Immaculate 

Conception in Burlington from 

1987 to the present. He served 

as Dean of Windham County 

for 10 years, on the Priest Benefit 

Fund Committee and Vocations 

Committee. He was a life member 

of the Knights of Columbus, 

3rd degree and served as chaplain 

of the Knights of Columbus 

in Bellows Falls and Burlington, 

and a member of the American 

Legion and B.P.O.E. 916. 

M EEMORIAL MOR I A L IINFORMATION N FOR M AT ION : 

A funeral Mass was held on 

April 20 at the Cathedral of 

the Immaculate Conception in 

Burlington. Burial will be in the 

Dougherty, Ball, and Dupuis 

Family lot in Rollinsford, N.H. 

Donations to the Cathedral of 

the Immaculate Conception 

Renovation Fund, 20 Pine 

Street, Burlington, VT 05401. 

Leon J. Farnsworth, 82, of 

Brattleboro. Died March 23 at 

Westwood Nursing and Care in 

Keene, N.H. Brother of the late 

Norman Farnsworth. Born in 

Springfield, Mass., the son of the 

late James and Edna Farnsworth, 

he served in the Army during 

World War II. As an artist, he 

created many wonderful and 

unique oil paintings, woodcarvings, 

and dollshouses. He was a 

member of the American Legion 

Brattleboro Post 5. M EMORIAL 

INFORMATION : A graveside service 

was held on April 18 in the 

veterans section of Locust Ridge 

Cemetery in Brattleboro. 

Susan A. Kamus McCanna, 

60, of Walpole, N.H. Died 

April 15 at Maplewood Home 

in Westmoreland, N.H. Wife 

of Jeffrey F. McCanna for 39 

years. Mother of Benjamin P. 

McCanna of Steamboat Springs, 

Colo. Sister of Robert J. Kamus 

and his spouse, Patricia Cryder 

Kamus, of Antes Fort, Pa. 

Predeceased by her father. Born 

in Warren, Pa., the eldest child 

of Frank J. and Marjorie E. 

Bossert Kamus, she graduated 

from Jersey Shore High School 

in 1968. She attended Lock 

Haven University and Lycoming 

College, before receiving her 

Bachelor’s (summa cum laude) 

from Johnson State College. 

She later earned a Master’s 

Degree in Education from the 

University of Vermont. For 18 

years, she taught Dummerston’s 

Kindergarten children, and did 

so with great kindness, caring 

and concern. She died as she 

lived — with courage, strength, 

and grace. M EMORIAL INFOR- 

MATION : A memorial service 

will be held at Dummerston 

Congregational Church on April 

23 at 1 p.m. A memorial service 

is planned in Jersey Shore, Pa., 

on April 30, beginning at 10 

a.m. Internment will be in her 

family’s plot in Woolrich, Pa. 

Donations to the Dummerston 

School Endowment Fund or 

CaringBridge.org. 

Monica Morse, 48, of 

Guilford. Wife of Charles Morse. 

Mother of Gabriel Morse. Born 

in Brook, Ind., she graduated 

from Worcester (Mass.) State 

College. She spent 12 years 

working as a counselor, cook, 

teacher and mentor at a camp for 

disadvantaged youth. In 1999, 

she received her nursing degree 

and moved to Vermont, working 

as a pediatric nurse at Springfield 

Hospital. She loved camping, 

knitting, and any creative challenge. 

She was a doer, a leader, 

a teacher, and an inspiration to 

all who knew her. M EMORIAL IN- 

FORMATION : A memorial service 

was held on April 17 at Guilford 

Community Church. Donations 

to the Four Winds program of 

Guilford Central School. 

James W. Perkins, 89, of 

Dummerston. Died April 12 at 

his home on April 12. Husband 

of Shirley Twiss Perkins for 61 

years. Father of Laura Marsh of 

Middlebury, Barbara Wyner, 

of Belmont, Mass, and David 

Perkins, of Washington, D.C. 

Born in Madison, Maine, the son 

of Charles and Bertha (Jewett) 

Perkins. In his youth, Jim spent 

considerable time at Lakewood 

Theatre, a summer theatre and 

resort on the shores of Lake 

Wesserunsett, where his father 

was a scenic artist for 40 

years. There, he worked at the 

theatre’s general store, served 

as caddie and tennis partner 

for resort guests, and he often 

shared the theatre stage with 

many renowned Broadway actors 

and actresses, many of whom 

would later achieve stardom in 

Hollywood. Graduated from 

Skowhegan High School, Class 

of 1939, and attended Bay Path 

College in Longmeadow, Mass., 

studying business administration. 

Near the end of his second 

year, he enlisted in the 

Army Air Corps, serving from 

1942 to 1946 as an aircraft mechanic 

and crew chief while stationed 

in North Africa, Egypt, 

and Italy. After his service, he 

attended Boston University 

under the GI Bill, returning to 

Lakewood occasionally to visit 

family. During one of these visits, 

he met his future wife, who was 

waitressing at the theatre inn. 

He graduated from BU in 1951, 

and after the birth of their first 

daughter in 1953, the Perkinses 

moved to Vermont, first settling 

in Brattleboro before moving 

to their Dummerston home in 

1964. Locally, he worked as an 

office manager at Templeton 

Furniture and as a purchasing 

agent at The Book Press, 

before taking the position of 

Field Auditor for the Vermont 

Department of Employment 

and Training; a position he 

held for 20 years. He was a former 

member of the Brattleboro 

Rotary Club, a lifetime member 

of the VFW, and for several 

years was a Dummerston town 

auditor. While raising his family 

in Dummerston, he enjoyed 

maintaining his homestead, trout 

fishing in the local streams, walking 

and working in the woods 

behind his home, and garden- 

ing. M EMORIAL INFORMATION 

EMORIAL INFORMATION : 

A graveside service will be held 

at the Dummerston Center 

Cemetery later in the summer. 

James A. West, 78, of 

Rockingham and Sebring, Fla. 

Died in Florida on March 28. 

Husband of Helen West for 

57 years. Father of Dale and 

wife, Stephanie, of Miami; 

Scott and his wife, Wanda, of 

Westminster; Laurel and wife, 

Rebecca, of Charlestown, N.H.; 

and Todd and wife, Carla, of 

Rockingham. Brother of Phyllis 

Hall of Stockton Springs, Maine, 

and Lillian Bishop of Sebring, 

Fla. Predeceased by two sisters, 

Helen Smith and Caroline 

Perkins. Born in Stockton 

Springs, the son of Albert and 

Delia West, he was trucker all 

of his adult life, West worked 

for several Maine companies 

including Merrill Transport 

in Searsport, Scott Motor in 

Belfast, and Eastern Fine Paper 

in Brewer. In 1968, he moved 

to Rockingham, and drove for 

St. Johnsbury Trucking until it 

closed in 1993. As a driver, he 

had more than 4.5 million miles 

under his belt and 23 safe driving 

commendations. He met his wife 

at Waldo County Hospital in 

Belfast, Maine, when he sought 

treatment for a broken foot and 

she was serving as an X-ray assistant. 

In retirement, the Wests 

became snowbirds, spending 

summers in Maine and winters in 

Florida, along with stops to visit 

family in Vermont. Summers 

were consumed traveling around 

New England to show his restored 

pride and joy, his 1938 

Chevy truck. Winters in Sebring 

found him with a collection of 

“St. Jay” Trucking retirees and 

car show fans. M EMORIAL IN- 

FORMATION : A memorial service 

will be held at Fenton & 

Hennessey Funeral Home in 

Bellows Falls on April 23 at 2 

p.m., with a gather for family and 

friends immediately following at 

the Westminster Fire Station. 

Donations to the St. Johnsbury 

Retirees Scholarship Fund, c/o 

Irene Howe, 1160 Salido Ave, 

Lady Lake, FL 32159. 

Births 

• In Brattleboro (Memorial 

Hospital), April 12, 2011, a 

son, Emmett Andre Adams , 

to Kevin and Elizabeth Adams 

of Wilmington; grandson to 

Annabel Tobey of Jacksonville 

and Greg and Brenda Adams of 

Wilmington. 


Hospital), April 5, 2011, a 

daughter, Addison Lee Hallock , 

to Kathy and Adam Hallock of 

Westminster; granddaughter to 

Donna and Larry Wentzel and 

Kathy and David Hallock. 


Hospital), April 2, 2011, 

a son, Porter Dickson Roy 

Williamson , to Allison (Guptill) 

and David Williamson of 

Marlboro; grandson to Patsy 

and George Williamson and Rob 

and Laura Guptill. 

• In Keene, N.H., (Cheshire 

Medical Center), April 1, 2011, 

a son, Karter Vernon , to Dana 

Vosburgh and Kyle Pierce Jr. of 

Bellows Falls. 

• On March 29, 2011, a daughter, 

Lilly Avah Suponski , to 

Stephen and Michelle (Emerson) 

Suponski of Wilmington; granddaughter 

to Steven and Martha 

Emerson of Cummington, 

Mass., and Francis and Marie 

Suponski of South Newfane; 

great-granddaughter to Jane and 

the late Alvah “Pete” Emerson 

of Cummington, the late Walter 

and Ruth Steins of Huntington, 

Mass., the late Lillian and 

Francis Suponski, and Wanda 

and the late Joseph Katiewicz, 

all of Stratford, Conn. 

• In Thessaloniki, Greece, 

(Genesis Hospital), March 

4, 2011, a son, Dylan Ozan 

Shearer Demir , to Jennifer and 

Hakan Shearer Demir of Pristina, 

Kosovo, and Dummerston; 

grandson to Thomas and Patricia 

Shearer of Northfield, Mass., 

and Cemil and Aysel Demir of 

Ankara, Turkey; great-grandson 

to Harriett Grover of Tampa, 

Fla. 


Hospital), Dec. 11, 2010, a son, 

Bodhi Ananda Kilts , to Sarah 

(Raleigh) and Thomas Kilts of 

Putney. 

College news 

Kiera Lewis of Putney, presented 

A Cursory Account: Against 

the Civic Conception of Nation , 

at the 25th annual National 

Conference on Undergraduate 

Research held at Ithaca College 

in Ithaca, N.Y., from March 31 

COURTESY PHOTO 

Brattleboro area youths Alex Lier, Nico Hessel, and Alex Shriver, front 

row, and Lars and Shawn Andrews joined with 170 students from around 

the state to participate in the 24th annual Vermont State Scholastic Chess 

Championships on April 9 in Berlin. Hessel, a fifth-grader at Oak Grove 

School, took fifth place in his division. Shriver, of Green Street School, and 

Lier, of Hilltop Montessori School, also finished in the top 10 in the second 

grade section, which was one of the largest with 28 players. Shawn Andrews, 

an 11th-grader from Halifax, placed fourth in the high school division, while 

Lars Andrews claimed second place in the fourth grade competition. Four 

of these students have been receiving coaching through chess programs 

sponsored by the Brattleboro Recreation & Parks Department, and it was 

one of the best showings by southeastern Vermont youths in recent memory. 

to April 2. Selection to the conference 

was competitive, and 

Lewis was among 3,000 students 

representing some 440 colleges 

and universities nationwide. 

The undergraduate researchers 

presented work from a broad 

array of subject areas, including 

the humanities, social sciences 

and many professional fields 

as well as the fine and performing 

arts. In addition to oral presentations 

and poster sessions, 

the conference included a visual 

arts component along with 

dance, drama/theater and music 

performances. 

School news 

Sela Wang of Putney, a junior 

at Loomis Chaffee School in 

Windsor, Conn., was presented 

with the Coaches’ Award for 

Girls’ Swimming.

“There was a lot of damage from the fire, but a lot of the building is still in good shape. 

There’s a lot of rumors flying around town, but I can say this building is not coming down.” 

—BRATTLEBORO TOWN MANAGER BARBARA SONDAG 

Flames shoot out of the fifth floor "penthouse" during a six-alarm blaze at the Brooks House on Main Street early Monday morning. 

■ Brooks House FROM PAGE 1 

fighters doused the Brooks 

House with 1.8 million gallons 

of water. 

At times, the firefighters 

were drawing water from the 

Town’s Pleasant Valley and 

Black Mountain road tanks at 

4,000 to 5,000 gallons a minute. 

Sometimes the draw went above 

5,000 gallons a minute, said Rick 

Ethier, the DPW’s highway/utilities 

superintendent. 

So much fuel was being used 

that Barrows and Fisher Oil Co. 

had to come help refuel the fire 

trucks, which had run low from 

continuously pumping water. 

Bucossi said three Brattleboro 

firefighters were taken to 

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, 

treated for minor injuries, and 

were released later on Monday 

morning. 

The fire was brought under 

control by 6:36 a.m. on Monday, 

but hot spots kept flaring up 

throughout Monday morning. 

Firefighters remained on the 

scene throughout Tuesday. 

Brian Johnson, an inspector 

and investigator with the 

state Division of Fire Safety, 

said Tuesday that the sprinkler 

and alarm system made all the 

difference. 

“Everything was up to code, 

everything worked, and everyone 

got out,” said Johnson. “Without 

a sprinkler system, the whole 

block would have been gone.” 

Cleaning up 

the mess 

Crews from Renaud Brothers 

of Vernon worked on Tuesday 

morning to stabilize the upper 

floors of the building. 

Bucossi said the fourth and 

fifth floors of the historic fivestory 

building were heavily damaged, 

particularly the side of the 

structure facing the Harmony 

Lot. The other floors suffered extensive 

smoke and water damage. 

Main Street businesses in the 

immediate vicinity of the Brooks 

House were evacuated Monday, 

out of fear that it might fall in. 

Main Street between High and 

Elliot streets was closed to pedestrian 

and vehicular traffic all 

day Monday. 

Limited access to pedestrians 

was restored on Tuesday, and 

Police Chief Eugene Wrinn said 

Tuesday that Main Street will be 

completely reopened to traffic as 

soon as it is deemed safe. 

The remains of the fifth floor 

“penthouse ” — where four 

apartments were located — was 

partially demolished by Renaud 

Brothers on Tuesday. 

The building was considered 

safe enough to allow merchants 

back into their businesses to do 

a quick status check on Tuesday, 

said Brattleboro Town Manager 

Barbara Sondag. Residents on 

the second and third floors, and 

some apartments on the fourth 

floor, will be allowed in, escorted 

by firefighters, to check on their 

apartments on Wednesday. 

Some of the fourth-floor 

apartments, and all of the fifth 

floor, are too heavily damaged 

to let anyone in right away, 

Sondag said. 

Rob Mather, of the Green 

Mountain Chapter of the 

American Red Cross, said a 

temporary shelter opened at the 

Gibson-Aiken Center within an 

hour of the fire on Sunday. 

Recreation & Parks Director 

Carol Lolotte said the center has 

been open around the clock since 

then “and will remain open until 

everyone’s basic needs are met.” 

Ken Murphy, a tenant in the 

building since last September, 

sought refuge in the emergency 

shelter. 

“That building is uninhabitable 

now,” he said. “It’s going 

to be really difficult to find apartments 

for everyone.” 

According the Brooks House 

manager, Jacilyn Emerson, 48 

of the 59 residential units in the 

Brooks House were occupied as 

primary housing for 55 to 60 tenants 

at the time of the fire. 

No children had permanent 

residence in the building, she 

said. However, several children 

visited parents at the building 

regularly. 

According the American Red 

Cross, all 59 units were classified 

as “units destroyed,” which 

qualifies the residents for the 

highest level of the disaster relief 

agency’s assistance. 

All Brooks House residents are 

strongly encouraged to register at 

the Gibson-Aiken Center with 

the Red Cross for assistance. 

Five Red Cross caseworkers will 

provide on site case management 

services throughout the week. 

The registration process will 

help the Red Cross determine 

immediate emergency needs of 

the residents. The Red Cross 

is primarily able to assist with 

emergency shelter, food, clothing, 

medical and disaster mental 

health services. Local landlords 

have been encouraged to post 

rental vacancies at the Gibson- 

Aiken Center and other agencies 

will be coordinating with case 

managers at the building. 

The effort to find housing for 

the displaced residents is ongoing. 

A meeting on Wednesday 

from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Gibson- 

Aiken Center will help those 

displaced by the fire receive assistance 

from various sources. 

Historic building 

The Brooks House, owned 

by Jonathan Chase, is the biggest 

commercial building in 

Brattleboro. It was built in 1871 

as one of the largest hotels in 

New England. 

It narrowly escaped demolition 

in the late 1960s and was 

renovated by Chase’s father, 

Norman Chase, into apartments 

and retail space. In an interview 

with The Commons last fall, 

Jonathan Chase said was planning 

to turn some of the vacant 

space in the building into studio 

and gallery space for artists. 

According to the town’s 

Grand List, the block, which 

sits on almost 1 acre of land, was 

assessed at $2,355,500. 

Commercial tenants include 

The Book Cellar, Dragonfly 



Bystanders on Main Street watch the Brooks House burn early Monday morning. 

Dry Goods, the Wasteland Gift 

Shop, Adagio Trattoria, Jumi 

Shop, Brilliance, and the Mole’s 

Eye Cafe. 

The nonprofit Brattleboro 

Community Radio, WVEW, 

which transmitted from the 

Brooks House roof, is off the 

air. The station operated from 

a studio on the second floor and 

has resumed broadcasting online 

at www.wvew.org while it assesses 

the damage. 

Where help is 

available 

An outpouring of community 

support has appeared on iBrattleboro, 

with users of the online 

citizen news site offering shelter 

and support for those displaced. 

The Green Mountain Chapter 

of the American Red Cross and 

the United Way of Windham 

County are both accepting donations 

to assist with relief efforts. 

At this time, both organizations 

say financial donations 

are most helpful to the current 

efforts. 

Donations can be designated 

for immediate Red Cross relief 

efforts (such as emergency shelter 

or clothing) or long-term 

needs to be coordinated locally 

(such as security deposits, furniture, 

etc.). Both agencies will 

accept donations for the immediate 

Red Cross efforts, and 

the United Way of Windham 

County will be the repository 

for contributions designated for 

long-term needs. 

Mail checks to the American 

Red Cross Green Mountain 

Chapter, 81 High St., 

Brattleboro, VT 05301. Please 

specify “Brooks House disaster” 

in the memo of your check. 

Online donations can be made 

at vermontredcross.org . 

Or, mail checks to United Way 

of Windham County, 28 Vernon 


Some firefighters take a break on High Street early Monday morning as 22 

departments from three states battled a six-alarm fire at the Brooks House in 

Brattleboro. 

St., Suite 312, Brattleboro, VT 

05301. Please specify “Brooks 

House disaster” for immediate 

Red Cross relief efforts or 

“Brooks House long-term” for 

the long-term fund in the memo 

of your check. On-line donations 

can be made at unitedwaywindham.org 

. 

Those interested in volunteering 

for the Brooks House disaster 

relief effort should email contact 

information to info@unitedwaywindham.org 

. 

With additional reporting from 

Olga Peters, Fran Lynggaard 

Hansen, and Jeff Potter.

10 BROOKS HOUSE FIRE THE COMMONS • Wednesday, April 20, 2011 

‘To fulfill for Brattleboro that golden dream’ 

The origin of Brattleboro’s first-class hotel, and why George J. Brooks made it happen 

“George J. Brooks is no more. A sudden attack of apoplexy [heart attack] 

seized him yesterday morning as he was leaving the Brooks House 

for a visit to the library building to measure the ground preparatory to 

drawing up the final deeds for the presentation of the building to the town 

at the dedication exercises, and he dropped dead a few feet from the door. 

“Mr. Brooks was in his usual health in the morning and throughout 

his morning meal he appeared to be in good spirits. After breakfast he put 

on his coat and hat and went out. 

“‘Want to go sleigh riding, Mr. Brooks?’ inquired an acquaintance 

whom he met at the door. 

“Mr. Brooks laughingly declined; and pointed to the long rubber boots 

which he had on, said he was off for a tramp through the miry ground 

about the library building. The words had scarcely left his lips, when he 

was seen to stagger, and fall backward to the ground front of the hotel 

entrance. He was picked up and carried into the hotel, but he had passed 

beyond the reach of assistance; he was dead when he fell, though the usual 

two or three convulsive clutches and gasps followed. 

“His two nephews, by marriage, Cashier O. A. Marshall and F. G. 

Ryan, were passing on the opposite side of the street at the time, and assisted 

in removing his body to his rooms in the hotel, when Dr. Conland 

was summoned, though too late to do anything except to determine that 

the cause of his death was apoplexy. Mr. Brooks suffered a premonitory 

attack about two weeks ago, which confined him to his room for a day 

or two, and it has been painfully obvious to his friends for some months 

that he was failing physically.” 

—From The Vermont Phoenix , Dec. 23, 1886 

By Fran Lynggaard Hansen 


BRATTLEBORO— 

The death of George 

Brooks, the creator of 

the Brooks House, at 

age 68 was just one 

of the many events in local history 

that have taken place in and 

near the buildings on Main Street. 

But who was he, and why 

did he care to put the sum of 

$150,000 — the equivalent of 

which in today’s currency is $2.7 

million — into a monstrous hotel 

from which he expected no 

profit? 

The answer lies in Brooks’s 

employment history. 

Born in Cambridge, Mass., as 

one of eight children, his father, 

a shipmaster, moved the family 

to Chesterfield, N.H., when he 

was 3 years old. 

Brooks first worked as a clerk 

in the store of Gardner C. Hall, 

of Brattleboro. After 10 years 

in Hillsboro, Ill., where he was 

taught to be a farmer, Brooks left 

for the California Gold Rush in 

February 1850. He had no intention 

to mine for gold. One of his 

brothers, Horace, was a member 

of the firm of Persee & Brooks, 

who were paper dealers in New 

York City. They were also the 

owners of large paper mills in 

Windsor Locks, Conn. 

George went to California 

to establish a branch house in 

which he and his brother took a 

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When the fire of 1850 destroyed 

the large paper warehouses 

in San Francisco, Brooks 

and his brother, seizing the 

market opportunity, cleared a 

great fortune. They founded 

the George J. Brooks & Co 

Paper Warehouse. His business 

spread from Arizona to 

Oregon, Washington Territory, 

Vancouver Island, and the 

Sandwich Islands, now known 

as Hawaii. 

Their supplies were shipped 

from New York around Cape 

Horn and on to California. It was 

said that because the majority of 

his business was always afloat, 

as he usually had $100,000 to 

$200,000 worth of paper products 

on the water at all times. 

The firm did a prosperous 

business until 1865, when Brooks 

sold his interest to N.F. Cabot of 

Brattleboro, and promptly retired 

as a very wealthy man. 

Brooks owned a great deal of 

real estate in San Francisco and 

was one of the original promoters 

of the cable street railways 

there as well. 

His obituary states, “After his 

release from the exacting cares of 

business, his attachment for the 

East and the scenes of his youth 

reasserted itself, and in due time, 

he established his legal residence 

in Brattleboro. 

“He was not a man of quick 

or alert mind,” it concedes. “He 

was slow in his conclusions, but 

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An engraving of the barely-five-years-old Brooks House Hotel, from an 1876 atlas of Vermont. 

when he had thought any subject 

out, he was hard to shake, 

though by no means unreasonable. 

He was a man of the strictest 

integrity, his word as good as 

his bond, a fair considerate competitor, 

when others were willing 

to deal fairly.” 

His obituary writer described 

him as “a hard man to beat” 

when business shenanigans 

took place. 

It can only be imagined then, 

that when the Great Fire of 1869 

razed the entire west side of Main 

Street (see sidebar), the man who 

was “slow with his conclusions” 

considered purchasing the land 

from Charles Chapin and decided 

a year later to build the gigantic 

Brooks Hotel. 

“His public spirit and strong 

attachment to the friends of 

his youth have best shown by 

his building and furnishing the 

Brooks House in 1871 at a cost 

of $150,000,” Mary Rogers 

Cabot wrote in the 1921 town 

history, Annals of Brattleboro, 

1681-1895 . “Without expecting 

to realize any returns from 

it as an investment, he spared 

no money in making it a superior 

among the hotels in New 

England, and lived there in apartments 

especially arranged with 

his sister, Miss Ellen M. Brooks.” 

Luxury 

accommodations 

An article written in the 

Vermont Phoenix (the precursor 

to the Brattleboro Reformer ) of 

April 5, 1872 described in detail 

the newest and certainly the 

most sophisticated downtown 

building. 

“A veranda 90 feet in length 

fronts the center of the building 

on Main Street, beneath which 

is the main entrance...there is a 

wash room, a baggage room, a 

sample room, and one of the best 

features of the house, a gent’s 

reading room. In the basement 

are located the boilers by which 

the entire building is heated, also 

a billiard room. A ladies entrance 

is located on High Street.” 

“There is a public parlor, and 

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COURTESY BRATTLEBORO HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

Main Street is busy in the 1880s. Notice the horse fountain at the corner of Main 

and High streets, and the clock suspended over Main Street. It would appear 

that the building that housed the Paramount theater is under construction. 

a reception room opening on the 

veranda which commands a fine 

view of Main Street. There is a 

tavern, The Oak Room, in the 

basement and a dining room is 

located on the High Street side,” 

the newspaper reported, adding 

that “the hungry multitudes are 

destined to seat themselves at his 

well-spread tables.” 

The laundry room was a separate 

building in the rear. The 

main floor also featured private 

parlors, bath rooms, the third 

and fourth floors are mostly devoted 

to sleeping apartments 

with ample accommodations in 

the way of bath rooms and water 

closets....there are 80 sleeping 

rooms in the hotel and every 

room is in telegraphic communication 

with the office by means of 

Mighaut’s Electric Annunciator. 

“The rooms are arranged in 

suites, parlor and bedroom adjoining. 

Indeed, in this respect 

the Brooks House is vastly superior 

to the average hotel and may 

justly challenge comparison with 

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any of the first class hotels in the 

country. The crowning feature of 

the hotel is the ball room. This 

is located in the center tower, 

and occupies the whole area, being 

45 feet square and 16 feet in 

height. Three windows on each 

side look out upon the surrounding 

village and upon the hotel 

itself, excepting only the corner 

tower, which is much smaller 

but rises to a great height.....In 

the construction of this immense 

block more than 1,000,000 brick 

were used, about 500,000 feet 

of lumber and $4,000 worth of 

glass." 

With a small population of 

around 6,000 people, it might 

seem that building one of the 

largest hotels in New England in 

humble Brattleboro could have 

been a mistake. To understand 

Brooks’ thinking, one needs to 

understand that during the times 

in which it was built, people traveled 

mostly by train and often remained 

at a point of interest for 

an entire summer. With only a 

short walk from the train station 

to the hotel, and with Boston and 

New York a few hours away by 

rail, Brattleboro was a friendly, 

rural, and intellectually stimulating 

town only a day away, 

making it a destination town for 

tourists. 

Hotels of the day, also housed 

local people, especially unmarried 

gentleman like Brooks. 

At the time of the opening of 

the hotel, another article in the 

local paper wished its prosperous 

citizen well with thanks for 

Thanks to the 

Historical Society 

BRATTLEBORO—These 

articles were written with materials 

in the collection of the 

Brattleboro Historical Society, 

in room 301 of the Brattleboro 

Municipal Center. All of the 

society’s collection is open 

to the public. Extensive picture 

files and articles from the 

past are carefully organized to 

make them user friendly for 

the public, and members are 

on hand to help you research 

your topic and to answer your 

questions. 

The society is open on 

Thursday afternoons from 

providing the town with another 

economic opportunity after a 

major fire. 

“In company with his brothers 

Horace and Frank, the latter 

now a resident of this village 

— he accumulated a handsome 

property as a wholesale paper 

dealer in San Francisco, and 

now in the prime of life, has returned 

to the scenes of his early 

aspirations and enjoyments, to 

fulfill for Brattleboro that golden 

dream of all ambitious villagers, 

the desire for a ‘first-class hotel.’ 

That he may live long to enjoy 

the fruits of his munificence and 

public enterprise is the sincere 

wish of all.” 

Near the end of his life, Brooks 

purchased the Goodhue homestead 

on Main Street with the intention 

of building a library and 

donating it to the town, to be 

opened in 1886. Interviewed by 

the local press at the time he announced 

his gift it was reported 

that he was so modest and embarrassed 

by the attention that he 

was receiving, he “blushed like a 

school boy.” 

That beautiful original library 

building was demolished to make 

way for the Post Office parking 

lot in June of 1971, and the present 

library down the street was 

opened. 

At the time of his death, his 

estate was valued at over $1 million. 

With few family members 

remaining, a majority of his will 

was given to charities, including 

the new library. 

1 to 4 p.m., and again on 

Saturday mornings from 10 

a.m. to noon. 

The society also supports 

the work of the Brattleboro 

Community Brain Trust, a 

project of iBrattleboro.com 

that makes local history and 

public documents available 

with the help of user participation 

and submissions. 

For more information, visit 

www.brattleborohistoricalsociety.org 

. 

For a more detailed version 

of the fire chronology in this issue, 

visit www.commonsnews.org .

THE COMMONS • Wednesday, April 20, 2011 BROOKS HOUSE FIRE 11 

Memories of a building and its businesses 

The Brooks House has provided rich memories for local townspeople. 

Following are a few recollections, compiled by our resident historian, 

Fran Lynggaard Hansen, who writes: “I can remember as a small child 

being pushed in a carriage at the First National Grocery Store, which 

occupied the store that currently houses Adagio’s. The wooden floors 

were original and creaked under the weight of the metal shopping carts.” 

In the 1960s, that store moved to the Canal Street plaza and later became 

the Price Chopper supermarket. 

“That storefront alone has also been home to a bank, Walker’s 

Restaurant, and it was the first home of Brown & Roberts Hardware 

before the move to the former Montgomery Ward building on Main 

Street, where the store remains today.” 

Ellen Fairchild 

Martyn 

“I have so many memories 

from the meat counter at the 

First National, to getting my 

hair cut up in the cupola when 

Bill McInerney had his place 

up there, and getting ice cream 

sodas at the fountain after ballroom 

dance classes. Mom had 

offices there for a while where 

they had little Frisbees to throw 

through the connecting doors, 

fresh cookies with the kids at 

the Upper Crust Bakery, and 

years of buying books at the 

Book Cellar. The memories go 

on and on.” 

Tim O’Connor 

“On a special occasion, a 

birthday or sometimes Easter 

dinner, my father would take 

our family in the 1940s to 

the restaurant [The Pickwick 

House, where the hair salon 

on High Street is now located], 

which was quite a treat. 

I remember always ordering a 

turkey dinner, as this was a time 

when that particular meal was 

only cooked at Thanksgiving, 

making it a very special meal. 

The Oak Room [which now 

houses The Mole’s Eye Cafe] 

was the tavern for the restaurant 

at that time, and the restaurant 

was upstairs. In those days, very 

few people ate out, and those 

were wonderful memories.” 

Lisa Lucius 

“I used to love going with 

my parents to the Burlington 

Savings Bank main branch that 

was in there. This was in the late 

1970s. Mr. Randall was always 

so nice and friendly. And, of 

course, who could forget walking 

in to the Brooks House Mall 

when the entire hallway was permeated 

with the smell of baking 

bread from the Upper Crust?” 

Raechel Bennett 

“Llama, Toucan and Crow, 

Fires hit businesses 

in Brattleboro 

through the years 

By Fran Lynggaard Hansen 


BRATTLEBORO—Since 

its humble beginnings around 

1762, when a grist mill began 

operating just above the area of 

the Whetstone Bridge on Main 

Street, downtown Brattleboro 

has been built, only to be rebuilt 

over and over again as the result 

of fire — one after another, every 

ten years or so. 

In fact, on Oct. 31 of that year, 

it was the Great Fire of 1869 

that took down all the buildings 

on the west side of Main Street 

between Elliot and High Street 

that provided the opportunity 

for George Brooks to build the 

Brooks Hotel (see story, facing 

page). 

Here is a list of some of the 

major fires in the area of downtown 

Brattleboro since the first 

recorded one in 1852, as reported 

by The Vermont Phoenix 

and the Brattleboro Reformer 

though the years. 

The increasing sophistication 

of the art and science of firefighting 

can be documented as the 

fires became easier to manage 

with new equipment and techniques 

and serious injury and 

deaths diminished with the advent 

of better alarms and smoke 

detectors. 

It is clear that if the Brooks 

House fire had occurred 100 

years ago, many lives could have 

been lost. 

• Feb. 23. 1852: Vermont 

House and its outbuildings, 

Main Street. “At about two 

o’clock p.m., the cry of fire 

was raised and hardly had our 

citizens rushed into the streets 

to answer the call, when the roof 

of the Vermont House was seen 

to be on fire for nearly the whole 

of its length....After the fire wardens 

had long endeavored but in 

vain to form a double column of 

men to the river, the women volunteered, 

and promptly filled the 

wide gap which men could not 

be found to occupy.” 

• Sept. 5, 1857: Gates Bliss 

& Co., 16 buildings burned. 

“About half past one o’clock, 

a.m., Dr. E.C. Cross, who was 

sitting up with a sick child, discovered 

a fire in the Cabinet 

manufactory of Messrs. Gates, 

Bliss & Co. As soon as possible 

he gave the alarm, but it was 15 

minutes or more before the citizens 

generally were aroused.... 

the flames were soon communicated 

to Joseph Clark’s drug and 

hardware store on the north and 

Estey & Green’s large Melodeon 

manufactory and warehouse on 

the south.” 

• Oct. 31, 1869: Main Street 

and Elliot Street. “The Great 

Disaster of the Great Fire of 

1869 has burned all the buildings 

on the West side of Main Street 

from High to Elliot. Discovered 

Sunday morning about 2:30 

a.m. by the night watchman, 

Vet Burlingame. ... The Phoenix 

#6 was out of order, as some 

evil disposed person had carefully 

placed shoe leather, paper, 

and chamois skins in the hoses, 

which took a half of an hour to 

remove...within three hours all 

the building on the west side 

from High Street to Elliot were 

consumed by this devouring 

monster.” 

ROGER KATZ/SPECIAL TO THE COMMONS 

The last photo of Via Condotti as the wreckers 

brought the house down. “No one was ever able to 

duplicate the atmosphere, or even the flavor of the 

sauce, after fire destroyed one of the town’s favorite 

haunts,” photographer Roger Katz writes. 

the health food store [where the 

Wasteland Gift Shop is now] 

was the best food store ever. 

This was before the Food Co-op 

became an actual grocery store. 

(It was a buying club at that 

time.) I went in there every day 

after middle school.” 

Theresa Bessette 

“Lady Lynn was a women’s 

clothing store there in the 1970s 

for many years.” It occupied 

the space where the tailor now 

resides. 

Kevin Graves 

“My first real job that I 

had was in the mid 1960s. It 

was working for Ray Elliot, 

who owned and operated the 

Hotel Pharmacy located where 

Dragonfly Dry Goods is, at the 

corner of Main and High streets. 

One of the more enjoyable tasks 

my job entailed was making ice 

cream sundaes, milk shakes, 

etc. at the soda fountain for the 

many regulars.” 

Marie Lawrence 

“I think the Hotel Pharmacy 

was the first place I had flavored 

cola. Ray Elliot kept race horses 

in a small barn just up the road 

from our house when I was in 

high school. One winter day, we 

heard a noise at the side window 

and discovered a horse with his 

head stuck in our bird feeder, 

gobbling away at the bird seed!" 

Betty Henry 

“There was a girl who 

worked at Llama, Toucan and 

Crow who made the best mocha 

cream filled cakes. I had 

her make one for one of my 

Mom’s birthdays. I worked at 

the Burlington Savings Bank 

with Bob Randall and Clarence 

“Danny” Daniels; I think Les 

Switzer worked there, too. 

Upper Crust bread was the best. 

We used to have a midnight 

visitor — Graeme Underhill 

— who visited the bread in our 

bread box more often than he 

visited us! 

“Eiko Goldthwaite was a 

wonderful seamstress, and 

she had a shop across the hall 

from the bakery. That spot 

also served as the Republican 

Headquarters when Richard 

Nixon was running for his first 

term [as president, in 1968] and 

Helene and Mike Broutsas were 

active in politics. I remember 

Ted and Sue Press sitting outside 

Lady Lynn on nice days." 

Fran Renaud 

“I remember going down the 

stairs of the Brooks House to a 

quiet little luncheon place where 

one could have a sandwich with 

a cup of coffee or tea around 

1958. That was in the space 

where the Mole’s Eye is now.” 

Patrick Brown 

“The Brooks House was 

home to the beginnings of 


Jack MacKay in front of Llama, Toucan and Crow 

in the Brooks House on Main Street in the ’80s. 

Brown Computer Solutions. 

From 1999 through 2001, I 

leased the space between Upper 

Crust Bakery and the audio 

store. As an 18-year-old, I had 

some troubles obtaining credit 

and the necessary relationships 

to get the retail store off the 

ground, so I focused mostly on 

my consulting business until 

opening for retail at our Putney 

Road location. At that time, the 

parking garage had not been 

built and the Harmony lot was 

always full. Computers were 

also bigger and heavier, so lack 

of parking was a big issue.” 

What are your memories? Send us 

a letter: voices@commonsnews.org . 

COURTESY BRATTLEBORO HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

The fire of 1869 devastated the west side of Main Street and became the site on which George Brooks 

built his eponymous hotel. In this photograph (a montage of three separate images), the remnants of the 

buildings between Elliot Street and High Street can be seen. If you look closely, you can still see the pieces 

of the storefronts and the hitching posts. 

• 1877: Revere House, Elliot 

and Main Street. “On Saturday 

night last, about five minutes 

before 11 o’clock, a fire broke 

out in the Revere House stables 

which spread with great rapidity 

to all the wooden building connected 

with the house, and then 

seized upon the house itself, totally 

destroying it so that by half 

past two Sunday morning the 

whole of this valuable property 

was only a mass of smoldering 

ruins.” 

• 1886: Valley Mill. “There 

was a spectacular fire in this village 

which is of interest for the 

history involved but also because 

it shows the deference and respect 

shown the old engine companies.... 

The Old Valley Mill 

was located on the north side of 

Bridge Street between that and 

the brook. When discovered, the 

fire had such headway that about 

all that could be done was to save 

other nearby properties.” 

• Nov. 3, 1914: Flat Street, 

four buildings burned. “Between 

11:30 o’clock and 8 o’clock this 

morning Brattleboro was visited 

by two disastrous fires, one 

of which fireman declared to 

have been incendiary. Property 

losses aggregating $29,000 were 

entailed. ... Only desperate and 

well-directed work by the fireman 

prevented the town from 

suffering its most serious fire loss 

of all time.” 

• Oct. 21, 1915: Ray and 

Judge buildings. “Fire from 

unknown cause this morning 

destroyed wooden structures 

on Main Street, causing loss 

of $25,000, dozen of tenants 

burned out, 10 streams of water...buildings 

were overrun with 

rats, sidewalk cleared of debris, 

but few tenants have secured 

new locations.” 

• Feb. 15, 1929: Princess 

Hotel. “Miss Theodora Chase 

had returned to the burning 

structure to secure her belongings...The 

fire, which was 

thought to have started in a bin 

of soft coal under the theatre, destroyed 

the Princess Apartments, 

and the Princess Motion Picture 

Theatre at the junction of Elliot 

and Church Street. Miss Chase 

was found lying on the floor of 

a room in the second story over 

the theatre by firemen.” 

• Jan. 31, 1930: Stellman & 

Son Machine Shop. “Fireman 

have difficult task under temperature 

of 4 degrees below 

zero as fire lays waste to the 


A firefighter hoses down the roof of the Paramount Theater on Main Street 

during a fire on April 30, 1991. The theater was destroyed, but later rebuilt into 

retail and office space by local architect Leo Berman. 

building owned by Twin State 

Gas & Electric Company....The 

blaze was discovered by George 

Rosebush, railroad telegraph operator 

at the Railway Station.... 

Dense smoke poured from the 

burning building into the former 

Tyler block, later known as Odd 

Fellows block, on Main Street in 

front of the machine shop.” 

• March 15, 1937: Princess 

Hotel, again. “Ernest Cloutier 

dies, screaming roomers leap to 

ladders.... Two men were burned 

beyond recognition, a third was 

burned so badly that he died in 

memorial hospital, and four others 

were still unaccounted for 

today.... Roaring flames raged 

through the Princess Hotel and 

Capitol Theatre building.” 

• December 1939: Holbrook 

House. “Within 24 hours after 

conquering one of the most 

threatening oil fires this town 

has witnessed, local firemen 

Wednesday afternoon were 

confronted with a stubborn 

blaze in partitions of F. Cabot 

Holbrook’s residence at the junction 

of Terrace and Tyler streets, 

where damage roughly estimated 

at $4,000 or more was caused.” 

• December 1958: Carroll’s 

Drug Store. “Lyman Streeter 

[a barber in Brattleboro since 

1903], 74, victim as $100,000 

fire guts the three story Leonard 

Block at 14 Elliot Street....When 

fireman entered the building, 

Mrs. Streeter was at the top of 

the first flight of stairs. She was 

taken to the office of Dr. John P. 

Lord for treatment.” 

• Nov. 20, 1972: Woolworth 

and Grant buildings. “A massive 

pre-dawn fire, its heart feeding 

on a basement paint storage 

area, destroyed Woolworth’s 

store on Main Street today, 

sending four firemen to the 

hospital. Brattleboro Fire Chief 

T. Howard Mattison declared 

the fire under control at 8 a.m., 

he said, “It was a near miss” at 

one point that none of his men 

were seriously injured or killed. 

Injured firemen included Randal 

P. Sage, 26, Wayne Shepard, 19, 

Louis Perham, 24, and Philip 

Rancourt Jr., 18, all with first 

and second degree burns of the 

face, head and ears.” Future Fire 

Chief David Emery was caught 

for a while in the burning basement 

as well. 

• Jan. 23, 1977: Barrows 

Coal Co. building. “The fourstory 

brick building at 39 

Main St. housed the Barrows 

Coal Company offices, the All 

States Cafe, an H&R Block tax 

consultants’ outlet and a number 

of apartments.... Lower 

Main Street was virtually blanketed 

with ice at the height of 

the blaze.” 

• March 20, 1978: Via 

Condotti Restaurant, Elliot 

Street. “A fire that apparently 

started in the cellar of 

the crowded Via Condotti 

Restaurant on Elliot Street 

Sunday night shortly before 8 

p.m. destroyed the two-story 

landmark buildings which also 

housed the Wings boutique 

clothing shop.” 

• April 30, 1991: Paramount 

Theater, Main Street. More than 

100 firefighters from Vermont 

and New Hampshire fought this 

fire for more than five hours, and 

managed to keep it from spreading 

to nearby buildings. The Art 

Deco-style movie theater was totally 

gutted, but was later renovated 

into retail and office space 

by local architect Leo Berman. 

• Dec. 5, 2004: Wilder 

Building, 39 Main St. “Woman 

severely injured in blaze that consumes 

the Wilder Building at 39 

Main St....The Latchis Hotel, 

which was half full, was evacuated 

and surrounding streets, including 

the bridge to Hinsdale, 

N.H., was closed.”

12 BROOKS HOUSE FIRE THE COMMONS • Wednesday, April 20, 2011 

Saddened tenants relieved to be safe 


State fire investigators enter the Brooks House on 

Monday afternoon. 



BRATTLEBORO—State 

and local officials are assessing 

the damage done to the Brooks 

House after a devastating fire 

Sunday night left as many as 60 

people homeless, and the future 

of the town’s largest commercial 

building in doubt. 

The owner of the building, 

Jonathan Chase, said Tuesday 

that he is determined to save the 

Brooks House. 

“If I have anything to do with 

it, that building will still be standing 

there,” he said. 

Chase said he is working with 

engineer Bob Stevens, of Stevens 

& Associates of Brattleboro, to 

assess the structural integrity of 

the building. 

“We’re still in the evaluation 

stage, particularly the areas that 

were compromised by fire and 

water,” said Chase. 

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we can to make sure we turn this 

tragedy into something positive,” 

said Shumlin after touring the 

fire site on Monday. 

Patricia Moulton Powden, 

deputy secretary and economic 

development director at the 

state Agency of Commerce and 

Economic Development, said 

Monday that “the first hope is 

to save what we’ve got and keep 

this historic building in place.” 

She said that she will remain 

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Jeff Lewis, executive director 

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BRATTLEBORO—Two 

fire-displaced Brooks House 

residents seemed anything but 

troubled on Monday as they 

milled around the Gibson-Aiken 

Center on Main Street, their refuge 

for the time being. 

On Sunday, Deanna Garcia, 

who’s lived at Brooks House 

for about five years, was glad 

to be back in her fourth-floor 

apartment after convalescing at 

Thompson House for six weeks, 

recovering from hip replacement 

surgery. 

She’d been home for only 

one night. 

When she first smelled smoke, 

she said she wasn’t that bothered, 

because cooking smells often 

permeate the hallways. 

But when she heard the alarm, 

she knew it was real, and she fled 

to the nearest fire escape with 

her cane. She was subsequently 

helped down the stairs. 

“It must have taken 15 minutes 

to get me down,” she said, 

chuckling about how her walker 

was now just sitting by itself in 

the hall. Another was secured for 

her at the Gibson-Aiken. 

She described the walker training 

she’d received at Thompson 

House. 

State offers help, resources 

in the aftermath of the blaze 

biggest problems for the commercial 

tenants right now is “inventory 

and business continuity. 

They need to get back in business 

now.” 

Town Manager Barbara 

Sondag said Tuesday that 

BDCC and Building a Better 

Brattleboro are working with 

Chase and with all the businesses 

in the Brooks House to 

assist with the aftermath of the 

disaster. 

“We’re working diligently to 

get them through all the hurdles,” 

said Sondag. 

Two hats for 

DeGray 

The Brooks House fire was 

personal for Selectboard Chair 

Dick DeGray. His wife, Melissa 

Galanes, owns the Galanes 

Building, which sits next to the 

Brooks House. 

“The fire department did an 

outstanding job forcing the fire 

north rather than letting it burn 

south, which would have been 

truly more devastating than it 

was,” DeGray said Monday. 

Aside from minor smoke and 

water damage, the properties in 

the Galanes Block were relatively 

unaffected. 

“It’s been a long 20 hours,” 

said DeGray, who praised the 

work and cooperation of the 

emergency responders. 

The damage and disruption 

from the fire was something that 

an already fragile downtown 

economy did not need, he said. 

“We’ve been kind of keeping 

our heads above water, which it 

better than most towns,” he said. 

“To have this happen, to have 

50 percent of the prime real estate 

on this side of Main Street 

closed, will hurt.” 

But DeGray said the town is 

“energetic, and we hope to use 

that energy to help Jonathan in 

any way we can to help him rehabilitate 

his building and get his 

businesses back in operation and 

his tenants back home.” 

Looking long-term 

Building a Better Brattleboro 

Executive Director Andrea 

Livermore said that assuming 

the best possible scenario — that 

the Brooks House’s facade can 

be retained and the funding is 

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Ed Morse 

“If you could stand with your 

walker for 14 minutes, that was 

good,” she said, having just been 

interviewed, standing, by local 

television and press reporters 

and more or less demonstrating 

her skills. 

She didn’t think she’d done 

damage to her hip with all of the 

moving around and was more 

worried about her knees, which 

she said caused her some pain. 

“I don’t know how to explain 

it, but if you’d seen me last night 

[in the Harmony parking lot 

where the evacuees had gathered], 

you’d think I was the happiest 

person in the world,” she 

explained. “It was like a dream.” 

She left basically with just the 

clothes on her back, and said that 

it was hard losing family photographs 

and scrapbooks. 

“Everything else is replaceable,” 

she observed. “I had an 

old TV and an old computer, and 

I was about to get a new one.” 

She was looking forward, she 

said, to spending the night at 

the Gibson-Aiken “in the couch 

area. There’s plenty of food and 

we have bathrooms and we even 

have showers.” 

Her daughter, Marcella 

Unaitis, of Vernon, was on the 

scene and offering comfort. 

Meanwhile, Alfred Hughes Jr. 


Crews from Renaud Brothers of Vernon begin demolishing the fifth floor 

“penthouse” of the Brooks House on Tuesday. 

available to rehabilitate the building 

— the big question remains 

is: “How long is it going to take?” 

“A major segment, the heart, 

of the downtown district, is going 

to be out of commission for a 

while, and that is not good news 

for everyone that’s downtown,” 

she said Monday. 

While downtown Brattleboro 

has survived major commercial 

fires before, most recently 

the Paramount Theater in 1991 

and the Wilder Block in 2004, 

Livermore said the Brooks 

House fire is bigger by several 

orders of magnitude. 

“In the end, it is going to be 

up to Jonathan to decide what 

he wants to do with this building,” 

she said. 

Sondag stressed Tuesday that 

it will take time, and teamwork at 

all levels, to rebuild the Brooks 

House. 

“There are no easy answers or 

solutions, but the only way this is 

going to happen is in a collaborative 

manner,” she said. “It is vital 

that we keep these businesses 

running and that we find homes 

for everyone who was displaced 

by the fire.” 

“The best thing I heard from 

Jonathan was that he wants to 

rebuild and take this opportunity 

to make it better,” said 

DeGray. “We have a great, great 

was warding off the blues with 

some dark humor, especially 

about his three-month-old laptop, 

left behind and probably not 

recoverable. 

“I was just learning how to 

use it,” he moaned, shrugging 

his shoulders with regret. 

Hughes said he’s lived at 

Brooks House for about 15 

years. He came to Vermont because 

he had friends here, and is 

originally from the United States 

Virgin Islands. 

A helpful woman standing 

nearby urged him repeatedly to 

call if he needed a place to stay 

that night. 

He said he’d be all right, and 

had stayed with friends the night 

of the fire. He was planning to 

stay at the Gibson-Aiken that 

night in a room where what 

looked like brand new cots had 

been set up. 

His experience was not unlike 

Garcia’s, but he lived on the 

third floor. 

“I was in my apartment on the 

Internet, and I heard the alarm 

go off, but that’s not unusual, 

and there was smoke in the hall, 

also not unusual,” he explained. 

“Then I heard the sprinklers go 

off and I knew something was 

wrong. I went downstairs and 

out the front door. That was 

Other fires illuminate 

economic realities 

Preservation group among those working 

to find ways to rebound from catastrophe 

By Olga Peters 


BRATTLEBORO—The 

Preservation Trust of Vermont 

and Building a Better Brattleboro 

have started working together to 

help downtown rebound from 

Sunday night’s six-alarm fire at 

the Brooks House at the corner 

of Main and High streets. 

“It’s obviously a real tragedy 

for the community,” said Paul 

Bruhn, executive director of 

Preservation Trust of Vermont. 

Bruhn said that the trust has 

released $1,000 in grant money 

to Bob Stevens of Stevens and 

Associates, P.C. to do a structural 

assessment of the building. 

community, and it’s even greater 

when it comes together in a crisis. 

We didn’t have a funeral 

[Monday]. We are going to have 

a new beginning.” 

JEFF POTTER/COMMONS FILE PHOTO 

Tenant Alfred Hughes 

Jr. (seen here in 2010’s 

Strolling of the Heifers 

parade) evacuated his 

third-floor apartment 

Sunday night. “I left 

everything,” he said. 

around 9 p.m.” 

He joined others in the 

Harmony Lot. 

“You could see flames coming 

out from the fifth floor,” he said. 

“Then I heard everyone was at 

Aiken, so I came here.” 

Hughes said he’d already 

heard from officials that apartments 

in three downtown buildings 

were being considered 

for the former Brooks House 

tenants. 

Hughes and Garcia both said 

they were pretty sure they’d 

never get back into their old 

apartments to see what survived. 

“I left everything,” Hughes 

said. 

Bruhn said Stevens’s assessment 

will help determine if the 

building can be salvaged, and, if 

so, what steps should be taken to 

rehabilitate it. 

Sometimes a fire-damaged 

building looks worse than it really 

is, said Bruhn, “and let’s 

hope that’s the case in this 

situation." 

Rebuilding will also depend on 

the robustness of owner Jonathan 

Chase’s insurance policy, said 

Bruhn. 

“It’s crucial,” he said. 

A model for 

Brooks House? 

The Wilder Building at 30-36 

Main St., which burned in 2004, 

could provide a model for the rebuilding 

of Brooks House. 

According to Bruhn, the building, 

although ravaged by the fire, 

maintained its structural integrity 

and could be saved. 

But insurance couldn’t cover 

the costs of rebuilding, said 

Bruhn. According to a 2005 

Preservation Trust newsletter, 

the Brattleboro Fire Department 

and the 

Department of Labor and 

Industry also “required that the 

unstable, upper two floors either 

be demolished or stabilization 

work started within two weeks,” 

creating impossible demands on 

owner Fred Noble. 

So Noble turned the Wilder 

Building over to the Windham 

Housing Trust — then the 

Brattleboro Area Community 

Land Trust — which, as a nonprofit, 

had access to a wider array 

of grants, loans and funding that 

a private owner does not. 

A similar scenario occurred 

with the Putney General Store 

after it burned in 2008. 

When owner Erhan Oge decided 

not to rebuild the longtime 

Putney landmark, the 

Putney Historical Society acquired 

the building and used its 

nonprofit status to harness rebuilding 

funds and provide tax 

deductions to individuals wishing 

to contribute to the effort. 

The Historical Society is rebuilding 

after a second fire in 

November 2009 leveled the 

structure.

I N 

VOICES 

EDITORIAL 

The smoke 

that lingers 

B RATTLEBORO , the Brooks House stood on the 

corner of Main and High streets, almost fortresslike, 

for generations. 

Those of us who live and work in this community, 

especially downtown in the shadow of this iconic building, 

are heartbroken by the devastating fire that has displaced 

80 people and almost a dozen businesses. 

If you have never had to witness — or, heaven forbid, 

fall victim to — a major fire such as the one we had in our 

community late Sunday night and into Monday morning, 

you should consider yourself lucky. 

The first thing you notice: the scene is quiet, hauntingly 

quiet, punctuated by sounds of breaking glass, falling pieces 

of the facade, and water everywhere — gushing from the 

fire hoses, misting in the air, running through the streets, 

cascading in sheets down the display windows of the businesses 

that will likely never reopen there. 

Children stand still. Teenagers look on somberly. People 

from all walks of life stand silently, some gazing on the 

scene, some weeping, many stoically photographing the 

cataclysm for posterity. 

Strangers talk with one another, making awkward conversation 

about this horrible event, this one mutually 

shared experience, that they now have in common. It’s 

small talk that looms large. 

Firefighters grimly move hoses back and forth. Police officers 

curtly route traffic around the affected area. 

The tone is grave; the sense of loss, palpable. 

And there’s the smoke — the bitter, acrid smoke that lingers 

heavily, the smoke that permeates every pore of your 

body, every fiber of the clothing that you yourself now feel 

so grateful to have on your back. 

You cannot escape the smell of that smoke. Even if you 

do not live in town, even if you have the luxury of going 

home to another small community, that smoke still travels 

with you. You cannot scrub it off. It is the last thing you 

smell when you go to sleep and the first thing you smell 

when you awaken. 

It is both a poignant metaphor and a practical reality. 

From the flotsam of everyday life to one’s life’s work, so 

much loss is commingled in that smoke. 

A S WE MOVE through our days and nights in downtown 

Brattleboro, we all carry just a little bit of that loss. 

After all, that smoke has bits of those irreplaceable photos 

on the refrigerator. The love notes tucked away in the 

cardboard box in the closet. The name and phone number 

of the girl or guy who actually wants you to call. 

What else could be in that smoke? The cash from someone’s 

last paycheck. The tax form. The prescriptions and 

the health insurance cards. The driver’s license. 

The furniture. The clothing. The jewelry from a beloved 

grandmother. 

The albums lovingly assembled by Brattleboro 

Community Radio. 

Alfred’s dresses — his fabulous dresses. 

And the smoke carries bits of the building itself: a 

stunningly beautiful example of late-nineteenth-century 

commercial architecture, built in an era when the most utilitarian 

of buildings were crafted with an exquisite attention 

to detail.` 

In the grand scheme, it’s true that these are only things. 

Residents of the building are safe and accounted for. 

Miraculously, of the dozens of firefighters who swarmed 

into town from three states, only three needed minor 

OPINION • COMMENTARY • LETTERS 

Join the discussion: voices@commonsnews.org 

PRIMARY SOURCE 

No other choice 

medical attention. 

Things can be replaced — lives can’t. But that doesn’t 

minimize the needs of the town, its business community, 

and its downtown residents for resilience, strength, and 

abundant help. 

It is heartwarming to see the helping hands from the 

countless number who have stepped up to provide shelter, 

financial support, clothing, and the countless other goods 

and services that become evident only when you have lost 

everything you own and have nowhere to live. 

The sadness of the loss will linger for everybody, just as 

that smoke hangs over the town, for some time to come. 

Entergy explains its lawsuit against state of Vermont 

New Orleans 

ENTERGY 

C ORPORATION 

(NYSE: ETR) announced 

on April 

18 that two of its subsidiaries, 

Entergy Nuclear Vermont 

Yankee, LLC (ENVY) and 

Entergy Nuclear Operations, 

Inc. (ENOI), have filed a complaint 

in U.S. District Court for 

the District of Vermont seeking 

a judgment to prevent the 

state of Vermont from forcing 

the Vermont Yankee nuclear 

power plant to cease operation 

on March 21, 2012. 

This request for declaratory 

and injunctive relief follows 

the federal Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission’s March 21, 2011, 

renewal of Vermont Yankee’s 

CHANEL LAGARDE and PAULA WATERS work respectively 

for Entergy Corporation as spokesman and as vice president 

for investor relations. This text is the press release released under their 

names on Monday morning. See story, page 1. 

operating license authorizing 

the plant’s operation through 

March 21, 2032. The NRC’s 

action came after a thorough 

and exhaustive five-year safety 

and environmental review of 

the plant. 

“We have made every reasonable 

effort to accommodate 

the state of Vermont and its officials 

while allowing the continued 

operation of Vermont 

Yankee — an outcome that 

benefits all stakeholders, including 

Vermont consumers 

and the approximately 650 

men and women who work at 

the plant,” said Richard Smith, 

president of Entergy Wholesale 

Commodities. 

“Despite the fact that 

Vermont Yankee is important 

to the reliability of the New 

England electric transmission 

grid, emits virtually no greenhouse 

gases, and provides more 

than $100 million in annual 

economic benefits to the state 

of Vermont, it has been made 

clear that state officials are singularly 

focused on shutting 

down the plant. That has left 

us with no other choice but to 

seek relief in the court system.” 

In 2006, the Vermont 

General Assembly passed a law 

that invalidated a key provision 

of a 2002 Memorandum 

of Understanding signed by 

ENVY, ENOI, and Vermont 

officials when the company 

purchased Vermont Yankee. 

Under that provision of the 

MOU, Entergy’s two subsidiaries 

had agreed to seek 

a Certificate of Public Good 

from the Vermont Public 

Service Board if it sought 

to operate the plant beyond 

March 21, 2012. This was in 

accordance with the process 

and standard for securing the 

state certificate in effect at that 

time. 

Wednesday, April 20, 2011 • page 13 

merican Red Cross A Green Mountain 

Chapter and the United Way 

of Windham County are 

both accepting donations to 

assist with relief efforts. At 

this time, financial donations 

are most helpful to the current 

efforts. Donations can 

be designated for immediate 

Red Cross relief efforts 

(such as emergency shelter 

or clothing) or long-term 

needs to be coordinated locally 

(such as security deposits 

or furniture). 

Both the Red Cross and 

United Way of Windham 

County will accept donations 

for the immediate Red Cross 

efforts, and the United Way 

of Windham County will be 

the repository for contributions 

designated for longterm 

needs. 

• American Red Cross 

Green Mountain Chapter: 

Mail checks to the American 

GREG WORDEN/SPECIAL TO THE COMMONS 

How you can donate 

to fire relief efforts 

As the complaint alleges, 

Vermont repudiated the MOU, 

breaching that agreement and 

excusing the two Entergy subsidiaries’ 

obligation to further 

comply with that specific 

provision. 

“The 2006 state law took 

the decision about Vermont 

Yankee’s future away from 

the Public Service Board, a 

Red Cross Green Mountain 

Chapter, 81 High St., 

Brattleboro, Vermont 05301. 

Please specify “Brooks 

House disaster” in the memo 

of your check. Online donations 

can be made at vermontredcross.org 

. 

• United Way of 

Windham County: Mail 

checks to check United 

Way of Windham County, 

28 Vernon St., Suite 312, 

Brattleboro, VT 05301. 

Please specify “Brooks 

House disaster” for immediate 

Red Cross relief efforts or 

“Brooks House long-term” 

for the long-term fund in the 

memo of your check. Online 

donations can be made at 

unitedwaywindham.org . 

If you are interested in 

volunteering for the Brooks 

House disaster relief effort, 

please e-mail your contact 

information to info@unitedwaywindham.org 

. 

quasi-judicial expert decisionmaker, 

independent of legislative 

control,” said Smith. 

“It instead placed Vermont 

Yankee’s fate in the hands 

of political decisionmakers, 

namely the state General 

Assembly and governor, who 

could deprive Entergy’s two 

subsidiaries of the opportunity 

■ SEE ENTERGY, PAGE 14

14 VOICES THE COMMONS • Wednesday, April 20, 2011 

H 

ERE IS one response 

to Entergy 

Corporation’s April 

18 press conference 

announcing its federal preemption 

lawsuit against the state of 

Vermont. 

• Entergy took several hundred 

words to say to Vermont 

what Maine’s governor could 

have taught them how to say 

in three. 

• Entergy went to lengths to 

describe the lengths to which 

the $14 billion corporation 

had gone to accommodate 

Vermont, including its application, 

accompanied by the testimony 

of ten witnesses, for 

a certificate of public good 

(CPG) from the Vermont 

Public Service Board (VPSB). 

What Entergy skipped was 

that two of those witnesses 

were found guilty of giving 

false testimony and that 

Entergy Nuclear Vermont 

Yankee was sanctioned a result 

by the VPSB. 

Those giving false testimony 

included Entergy’s lead witness, 

Jay Thayer, the senior 

corporate officer entrusted with 

pushing the CPG extension 

through the state of Vermont. 

The false testimony concerned 

the presence of underground 

piping that could carry 

radionuclides. 

• Entergy complained that 

Act 160 (requiring legislative 

approval) prior to the VPSB issuance 

of any decision on VY 

relicensing was not part of the 

original 2002 memorandum 

of understanding that accompanied 

state approval of the 

plant’s sale. 

I was present in the legislative 

meeting room when 

Entergy dropped all opposition 

to Act 160, thus giving 

tacit approval to its affirmative 

vote out of committee and to 

passage. 

I surmise that at the time, 

Entergy was confident that the 

legislature would never vote 

that VY would be a deal too 

good to refuse. 

VIEWPOINT 

Drop the lawsuit, 

cut the losses 

New England Coalition responds to 

Entergy’s efforts to sue the state of Vermont 

LETTERS FROM READERS 

to operate the Vermont Yankee 

plant beyond March 21, 2012, 

for unsupported or arbitrary 

reasons. This is not what we 

signed up for in 2002.” 

D ESPITE Entergy’s disagreement 

with the 2006 state law, 

the company has made considerable 

effort to achieve state 

approvals to allow the continued 

operation of Vermont 

Yankee without resorting to 

litigation. 

Those actions included: 

• Filing a petition in 2008 

with the VPSB for a Certificate 

of Public Good to operate the 

plant beyond March 21, 2012; 

• Offering Vermont utilities 

a 20-year power purchase 

agreement at a fixed price of 

$49 per megawatt hour for the 

first contract year, followed 

by a market-adjusted pricing 

structure that ensured the utilities 

and their customers would 

benefit from low power market 

prices. 

This proposal was well below 

comparable offers from 

other electricity providers. 

It also included an inflationadjusted 

price cap starting at 

$61 per megawatt hour which 

would have ensured the utilities 

and their customers were protected 

from high power market 

prices. 

• Offering to negotiate with 

the Vermont Department 

of Public Service the 

National Service: win-win for youth, nation 

think there should be a I National Service Year 

(NSY), a program that would 

be a win-win situation for 

American youth and for our 

country. 

This training would settle 

youth down and give them 

needed self-confidence. It 

would give them experience 

in self control and in working 

within a group of other young 

people, who would be able to 

choose a work training program 

that would give them a 

head start on a future career. 

Young people who intend to 

go on to college would have a 

year of real-life experience that 

would help them see the importance 

of further education. 

The government could offer financial 

help. 

Most Americans today do 

not have any military experience 

and would be wary of 

RAY SHADIS serves as a 

technical advisor to the New 

England Coalition, a nonprofit 

antinuclear advocacy group based 

in Brattleboro. 

• Entergy argued that Act 

160 moved the decision from 

a regulatory decision by the 

VPSB to a political one (by 

the legislature/politicians. 

However, the three-member 

VPSB is comprised of political 

appointees (two lawyers and a 

retail merchant). The Vermont 

Senate has within its membership 

comparable regulatory 

expertise and is appointed by 

the people. Entergy’s regulatory-decision-versus-politicaldecision 

distinction fails the 

straight-face test. 

• Entergy claimed that VY 

had “no” emissions. Simply not 

true. Tritiated water is an emission. 

The many radionuclides 

found in the soil are emissions. 

Routine stack releases of radioactive 

isotopes of Xenon, 

Krypton, Iodine, and the rest 

are emissions, the discharge of 

toxic biocides, solvents, cleaning 

agents, rust-proofers, and 

other chemicals in discharge 

waters and cooling tower spray 

or drift are emissions. 

And the greenhouse gases 

emitting during refinement, 

enrichment, and manufacturing 

of the uranium fuel are 

prodigious; all in highly electric, 

energy-intensive processes 

generated for the most part 

by high-sulfur, coal-burning 

plants. 

The deceptive thing about 

Vermont Yankee’s greenhouse 

and acid-rain emissions is that 

they arrive unseen on the wind 

and somewhat ahead of the 

trucks bringing in the nuclear 

fuel. 

• Lastly, although it is a small 

incremental addition, Vermont 

Yankee’s emergency diesel 

generators are test run annually. 

Their importance is dramatically 

illustrated by what 

happened at the Fukashima 

Daiichi nuclear power plants 

such a plan. This is understandable, 

but shortsighted. 

Maybe NSY could be compared 

to teaching young people 

how to swim: nobody 

seems too interested in providing 

swimming lessons, but in 

an emergency, that skill is often 

life saving, not just for the 

swimmer, but for others in 

danger of drowning. 

After NSY training, every 

American would have a basic 

understanding of military procedure 

— a big advantage not 

just in everyday life, but also in 

possible encounters with other 

nations or terrorists. 

Some people are opposed to 

anything to do with the military 

and would put down the 

idea of NSY without even considering 

its merits. They would 

say that it was the government’s 

way of creating a militaristic 

citizenry. However, my 

in Japan. 

E NTERGY CLAIMS that VY 

is reliable and points to two 

“breaker-to-breaker” runs (refueling 

to refueling without 

stopping) in the last several 

years. 

This claim would be worth 

something more if the company 

could also claim that 

there were no significant equipment 

failures, human errors, or 

violations of state and federal 

regulation during this period 

(cooling tower collapse, transformer 

fire, insulator failure, 

feed-water piping leaks, condenser 

in-leakage, main steam 

isolation valve test failures, 

pump-seal failures, controlpanel 

failures, stuck turbine 

stop valves, cooling-tower 

header leaks, high-pressure 

coolant injection system failures, 

torus in-leakage, security 

breaches, steam-dryer cracking, 

tritium-to-groundwater 

leaks, and much more.) 

A better definition of a reliable 

plant is one that can 

produce electricity without violating 

regulations and without 

ignoring equipment failures; 

such a plant might be more reliable 

because it shuts down occasionally 

to properly address 

such failures, not because it 

keeps pushing its luck to keep 

running despite them. 

Entergy should drop the 

suit and cut its losses. Entergy 

would do well to consider that 

if VY has been only marginally 

profitable or not profitable 

over the last few years because 

of unanticipated maintenance 

costs and regulatory delays; the 

prospects for the proposed extended 

period of operation are 

realistically even more grim. 

We will do our best to make 

this picture clear to Entergy. 

Truly, the operative discussion 

should focus on the question 

of just how far apart we 

are or what course of action 

would best serve both Entergy 

shareholders and the state of 

Vermont. 

experience is that most people 

who have been in the military 

are happy to get out and 

are not eager to go back in, but 

they carry with them life lessons 

and improved character 

from all aspects of the military 

life, good and bad. The NSY 

program would seek to give 

these young people the better 

parts of the military experience 

and avoid the not-so-good 

parts. 

The absolute key to the NSY 

program is to have every young 

person, male and female, participate. 

This puts the program 

on a fair and equitable basis. 

Military service itself is a democratizing 

experience. Rich 

kids and poor kids alike would 

be required to do the same 

training, shoulder to shoulder. 

Sectarian and other prejudices 

would be lessened by 

living with people of different 

backgrounds. 

Certain differences would 

have to be taken into account, 

such as the overweight young 

people who would be put into 

their own special regimens. 

Would you want to bet that 

after the three months of basic 

training, they would be 

trimmed down, healthier, and 

happier? 

When this country was using 

the Selective Service (the 

draft), there was a lot of unfair 

picking and choosing of 

who went into service and who 

did not. This situation caused 

many of those who had to go to 

war to be bitter about the ones 

who were able to avoid service 

Got something on your mind? Send contributions (500 words 

or fewer strongly recommended) to editor@commonsnews.org; 

the deadline is Friday to be considered for next week’s paper. 

When space is an issue, we give priority to words that have 

not yet appeared elsewhere. 

The Vermont Yankee substation in a 2004 photo. 

Got an opinion? 

(Of course you do! 

You’re from 

Windham County!) 

establishment of a “date certain” 

for the commencement 

of decommissioning activities 

at Vermont Yankee earlier than 

the 60-year SAFSTOR period 

permitted by NRC regulations. 

• Exploring the potential sale 

of Vermont Yankee. 

Despite interest from some 

potential buyers, based largely 

on the superior operational 

record of the plant, Entergy 

was unable to reach commercial 

terms with any party due 

to the political uncertainty in 

Vermont; more specifically, 

due to the stated intent of 

Vermont officials to shut down 

the plant. 

I N A MEETING with Entergy 

representatives on March 30, 

the governor reiterated his firm 

opposition to the operation of 

Vermont Yankee after March 

21, 2012. The lawsuit we filed 

is based in part on the following 

legal principles: 

• Atomic Energy Act 

Preemption. Under the 

Supremacy Clause of the 

U.S. Constitution, the U.S. 

Supreme Court held in 1983 in 

a case involving Pacific Gas & 

Electric that a state has no authority 

over (1) nuclear power 

plant licensing and operations 

or (2) the radiological safety of 

a nuclear power plant. 

In violation of these legal 

principles, Vermont has asserted 

that it can shut down a 

T 

hanks to the amazing 

support of the Windham 

County community, Bowl 

For Kids’ Sake grossed more 

than $60,000 on April 2 to 

support the Big Brothers Big 

Sisters program at Youth 

Services. 

More than 500 fundraisers 

came out to bowl, and 

gathered pledges of support 

from thousands around the 

county and beyond to make 

this 30th-year celebration 

the biggest success ever. 

As a Big Sister in the program, 

I can attest to the 

incredible growth in the selfesteem 

of my Little Sister 

over the four years that I’ve 

been meeting with her 

The Big Brothers Big 

Sisters program makes 150 

relationships like mine possible 

throughout Windham 

County, and they couldn’t 

do it without the spirit-filled 

support of the community at 

Bowl For Kids’ Sake. 

Our top corporate sponsor 

was Brattleboro Subaru, 

NICOLE RICCIO/SPECIAL TO THE COMMONS 

■ Entergy FROM PAGE 9 

because their fathers had influence, 

because they lied about 

their family responsibilities, 

or because they used other 

evasions. 

The NSY program would 

not have the life-and-death 

aspect of wartime military 

service. 

It would go something like 

this: 

1) Every young person in 

the United States, male and 

female, would be required 

to serve one year in the NSY 

program, some time between 

their 16th and 19th birthdays. 

Drop out of high school, 

and you would be in the program 

as soon as you reach 16. 

Graduate from high school, 

and you would be placed in 

the program immediately after 

graduation. 

2) The first three months of 

NSY training would be very 

similar to the U.S. Army’s basic 

training, which stresses 

getting the recruits into good 

physical shape, and teaching 

the rules for obeying 

commands and for working 

together as a unit. Firearms 

use and safety would be useful 

knowledge, whether one 

has any interest in guns or not. 

Having a knowledge of firearms 

is an important part of 

growing up. 

3) The second three months 

would be devoted to instruction 

in the recruit’s choice of 

a job, such as computer operator, 

helicopter mechanic, 

nurse, cook, motor pool driver, 

vehicle mechanic, police 

federally licensed and operating 

nuclear power plant, and 

that it can regulate the plant 

based upon Vermont’s safety 

concerns. 

• Federal Power Act 

Preemption and the Commerce 

Clause of the U.S. Constitution. 

Vermont is prohibited from 

conditioning post-March 2012 

operation of the Vermont 

Yankee Station on the plant’s 

agreement to provide power 

to state utilities at preferential 

wholesale rates. 

The Federal Power Act 

preempts any state interference 

with the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission’s exclusive 

regulation of rates in 

the wholesale power market. 

The Commerce Clause of 

the U.S. Constitution bars a 

state from discriminatory regulation 

of private markets that 

favors in-state over out-of-state 

residents. 

“Litigation is by far the least 

preferred approach,” said 

Smith. “But it is clear our disagreement 

with the state of 

Vermont on the scope of its authority 

over Vermont Yankee 

cannot be resolved between the 

two parties. Putting this dispute 

before a federal judge is 

the appropriate and responsible 

way to resolve this disagreement. 

Our filing today does 

just that.” 

Bowl for Kids’ Sake fundraiser 

generates amazing support 

officer, legal clerk, tank driver, 

supply clerk, heavy equipment 

operator, or radar operator. 

The recruits would be sent to a 

camp or training center, where 

they would receive training. 

4) The final six months 

would find the recruits assigned 

to a military installation, 

where they would be 

involved in on-the-job training. 

They would work alongside 

Army, Navy, or Air Force 

members. Just ask employers 

whether they would want a 

high school graduate or someone 

who had an additional year 

of U.S. Army training, and I 

bet they’d opt for the NSYtrained 

person. 

NSY would give teens better 

citizenship skills, an improved 

understanding of democracy, 

and the educational benefit of 

working in an adult environment. 

Military training is recognized 

as having an effect on 

reducing crime. 

who has pledged $10,000 

over three years to this 

event. People’s United Bank 

and Windham Southwest 

Teachers Association were 

joined this year by Integrated 

Solar as lead corporate 

sponsors. 

We’d like to thank these 

and the other corporate 

sponsors, prize donors, volunteers, 

bowlers, and those 

who sponsored a bowler. It 

really takes generous people 

from all five groups to 

make Bowl For Kids’ Sake 

such a success for kids in our 

community. 

Please call Youth Services 

at 802-257-0361 for more 

information about how you 

or your business can become 

involved in Big Brothers Big 

Sisters, or go to www.youthservicesinc.org/bbbs. 

Betsy Gentile 

Brattleboro 

The writer serves asthe co-chair 

of Bowl For Kids Sake. 

NSY would have an impact 

on the unemployment problem 

in our country. The large group 

of young people who get out of 

high school every year and are 

unable to find a job would be 

swept up and given something 

of importance to do. 

Some countries around the 

world have successful programs 

specifically for military 

training for their youth, notably 

Israel. Because of Israel’s situation, 

with enemies all around, 

that country’s young people 

understand the need for such 

a program and they participate 

in it. 

In the world we live in today, 

a training program like NSY 

could be viewed as an insurance 

policy providing a sense of 

security. “Be prepared” is the 

byword. 

Ted Schreyer 

Newfane

THE COMMONS • Wednesday, April 20, 2011 VOICES 15 

The next day 

From behind the yellow police tape, uncertainty and sadness 

Brattleboro 

O 

N THE DAY after 

the night that the 

Brooks House was 

destroyed by fire, 

I went downtown to see it for 

myself. 

I parked up near Union 

Street, where I could smell the 

acrid smoke, and walked toward 

the corner of Main and 

High. 

The Brooks House came 

into view, a devastating 

sight. This historic red brick 

Victorian pile has anchored 

Main Street since it was built in 

1871. It was the heart of Main 

Street. 

Now it looked fragile, torn, 

and tattered. The beams let 

the light play through. I wondered 

at how we had kept it for 

so long. 

The beautiful Mansard roof 

was melted, and the cupola 

where Rudyard Kipling and his 

cronies had once played poker 

was tilted to the West. 

It had become Brattleboro’s 

Brattleboro 

D 

ECEMBER 6, 

2010: Driving 

south on Interstate 

91 this morning 

as I crossed the border 

into Massachusetts, I saw a 

blue sky with patches of pink 

clouds shaped in a huge cross 

whose vertical part touched 

the earth. 

Long lines of evergreens 

stretched on either side of 

gray asphalt, reminding me of 

childhood drives to Bayport, 

Long Island, to catch the 

ferry for Fair Harbor, Fire 

Island — vacations I took for 

granted. 

How much of this country 

consists of long stretches 

of gray asphalt that run 

through forests and housing 

developments, past cities like 

Springfield and Hartford, past 

shopping malls that contain 

Barnes & Nobles, Best Buys, 

Bed, Bath & Beyonds? 

It is hard to imagine what 

the Eastern seaboard looked 

like before the Industrial 

Revolution. It is harder to 

imagine that Americans will 

give up their addiction to gasoline 

in spite of its increasing 

price, not to mention global 

warming, extreme weather, 

and food shortages. 

E VERYTHING seems to be 

moving faster. I am reminded 

of the Weimar Republic, 

when men dragged carts full 

of paper bills to the grocery 

store to exchange for milk. 

My food budget was $49 a 

week six months ago and now 

is $75. 

I love the co-op but can no 

longer afford the high price 

for local food and find myself 

standing in the aisle at 

Hannaford. There, I notice 

that the price of canned fruits 

and vegetables has risen, too. 

I look for bargains at Dottie’s 

Discount Foods and go to the 

own version of the Twin 

Towers — a tourist attraction, 

but not for tourists. 

P EOPLE FROM all over the 

county were gathering at pulse 

points — in front of A Candle 

in the Night, outside the parking 

lot of Brown & Roberts, in 

the Harmony Lot — anywhere 

they could see what was left of 

Brooks House from behind yellow 

police tape. 

Someone who had watched 

the fire in the night said they 

could see it going from room to 

room until it hit the firewall. 

No one who lived there was 

hurt. No one died. That was 

the miracle of the place. 

TONI ORTNER, a poet 

and writer, teaches at the 

University of Connecticut in 

West Hartford, Conn. She 

serves on the board of directors of 

Write Action, a regional consortium 

of writers. 

Dollar Store. 

Instead of purchasing 

brand new bestsellers for the 

readers in my family, I go to 

the book sale at the Brooks 

Memorial Library and find 

four used books in good condition, 

pay 13 bucks, wrap 

each in festive paper, and mail 

them off to Miami. 

I’m reminded that I want 

to visit my brother, and I 

found the round-trip airfare to 

Miami has risen to over $500. 

The price of gasoline fluctuates 

wildly day by day and 

the public receives no rational 

reason. If the price of gas 

keeps on rising, I will have to 

find a place in West Hartford 

so I can sleep near my job. 

T HE POLITICIANS are discussing. 

This is what they 

are good at. They are discussing 

whether or not to extend 

unemployment benefits 

for Americans who are out of 

work for two years. 

The unemployment rate 

is around 10 percent and not 

getting lower. I am not interested 

in supporting tax cuts 

for those who earn $200,000 

or more a year. People are 

lucky to find a job. I know 

people with Ph.D.s working in 

Walmart. 

I read in the AARP 

Magazine this week that people 

who are retired are declaring 

bankruptcy in record 

numbers. Affluence is defined 

as earning $75,000 dollars 

per year. With this high 

income, you would barely be 

able to pay bills if you lived in 

New York or Los Angeles, although 

that is not my worry. 

ESSAY 

But 59 apartments gone. 

Approximately 80 people 

homeless. 

Local personality Alfred 

Hughes Jr., who lived in the 

building, posted on Facebook: 

“Mon cher amis I am very 

touched by your outpouring 

friendship and love. 

Brattleboro is the beaming light 

dimmed for a flash. I’m alive!" 

Main Street, with its fragile 

economy, was closed off. “No 

lunch at Amy’s,” I overheard 

someone say. 

Important businesses are 

under water — Brilliance, 

Wasteland, Adagio, Dragonfly, 

The Book Cellar, and Jumi 

Shop, which has been destroyed 

by fire for the second 

time. 

“Water was pouring into 

Brilliance like a waterfall,” 

someone said. “And they have 

all their rugs in the basement." 

No one knows what kind of 

insurance people have. 

“So many businesses work 

on the edge, just to do business 

Politicians fiddle, America burns 

A commuter meditates on an economy that’s veering wildly 

t the successful close of 

A Leland & Gray’s production 

of Footloose , the Players 

thank all those who made the 

experience possible. 

At every show played to 

a packed — or overflowing 

— house, the crowds were 

treated to lively acting, singing, 

and dancing on stage. It is 

the efforts of those behind the 

scenes, however, that truly deserve 

recognition. 

Distracting as all the passing 

neon and drastic hairstyles 

must have been, the set was yet 

another artistic success, combining 

the deeply Southern 

feel of exposed wood with the 

memory of eighties tiling on 

the dance floor. 

This gigantic set stretched 

across the entire length of the 

main Dutton building, an impressive 

feat that would have 

been made impossible were it 

not for the help of able-bodied 

painters and carpenters, students, 

crew, and volunteers 

alike. 

In those many rehearsals 

where the beat of steps and pop 

songs rang out, one often heard 

the scream of a circular saw 

JOYCE 

MARCEL 

With the economy veering 

wildly, financial seers are 

as numerous as locusts. Every 

day I go on the Internet, I get 

20 e-mails from them, and believe 

me, I wish one of them 

were a prophet. 

People print instructions 

from FEMA, and store cans 

of food and two gallons of water 

per person per day, just in 

case. I ask myself which “just 

in case” might happen first. 

Some citizens have purchased 

guns and taken lessons at 

shooting ranges in case riots 

break out in major cities. 

Rumors thick as bats fly 

through the air. It is rumored 

that when the head of the 

Treasury Department tells the 

American public it will never 

default on FDIC, a bank takeover 

is likely in the near future. 

The Feds keep printing 

money, and the government 

goes more and more into 

debt. 

One financial maven advises 

people to take out checks 

of no more than $10,000 at 

a time from any of their remaining 

savings and quickly 

turn those checks into gold 

American Eagles and gold 

Canadian Maples in order to 

have something to exchange 

for necessities when the dollar 

becomes worthless. 

Letters on the Internet advise 

citizens to store gardening 

equipment and extra cans 

of gasoline to get through the 

panic of the first few days of 

what is starting to look like a 

forecast of the Apocalypse. 

D URING G ALLERY W ALK 

on Friday night, a smiling 

man approached me. 

”Excuse me, miss, but 

may I ask you something. 

Do you think you will get to 

heaven? Here, better read 

this.” He thrust a postcard 

with fine print into my hand 

and moved on to the next 

LETTERS FROM READERS 

Stage presentation of Footloose — 

or any other production — is the tip of the iceberg 

in the background and a slew 

of willing parents constructing 

a place for their children to 

dance. 

During the show, concealed 

behind a deceptively uninteresting 

black drape, a veritable 

hive thrummed with nerves, 

sweat, and hair spray. 

For weeks prior, the “Drama 

Mamas,” as they called themselves, 

had slaved in the depths 

of the costume room with assistant 

director Abby Hadden, 

hunting for the perfect pieces 

of wonderfully, colorfully horrible 

eighties clothing. 

Now, they waited backstage, 

armed with makeup 

brushes, bobby pins, and hair 

gel. Flying from cast member 

to cast member, they fought 

costume wrinkles and flat hair 

far and wide, proving themselves 

the unsung heroes of the 

production. 

Not only that, but they also 

kept the cast healthy. During 

breaks between shows and intermissions, 

these dedicated 

moms constantly fed tired 

students and bombarded exhausted 

vocal cords with cough 

drops and tea. 

In between our doubleheader 

on Saturday, we were 

provided an astonishing feast 

for dinner, and for a bone-tired 

dancing teenager, there is absolutely 

nothing more wondrous 

than a table laden with food. 

Thanks also go to the many 

volunteers who publicized the 

show through posters, and assuredly 

to those who graciously 

greeted, took tickets, and sold 

baked goods and coffee at the 

door, while at the same time 

desperately looking for director 

Ann Landenberger to tell her 

that we would yet again need 

to sell standing-room positions. 

We are also grateful for the 

support of the ever-supportive 

local press who helped us publicize 

the production. 

Finally, thanks go to the parents 

of the amazing group of 

kids who took on this show. 

Whether volunteering, donating 

baked goods, driving to innumerable 

rehearsals, or just 

raising some really talented 

children, you all were an essential 

aspect of this production, 

and we are so grateful for 

your help. 

In sum, the stage 


Fire crews were still on the scene early Monday evening at the Brooks House. The 

rear of the building was heavily damaged by a fire that broke out Sunday night. 

on Main Street,” said a woman 

who once owned a store on 

Main Street. She didn’t want 

me to quote her by name. 

“Even if your store isn’t damaged, 

do you have non-fire 

passerby. 

That same night, I heard 

a loud knocking on my front 

door. Not knowing who it 

might be, I did not open the 

door. 

The knocking grew louder. 

Finally, I opened it to see two 

firemen who offered me a free 

radio for emergency broadcasts. 

They said that FEMA 

had given them enough radios 

for 12,000 residents in and 

around Brattleboro. 

All I had to do was plug it 

into my wall, as it was already 

programmed. That way, in 

case a train derailed or there 

was a blizzard, I would receive 

fair warning. I called a close 

friend and said how nice it 

was to open the door and get 

something for free. 

“Don’t kid yourself. 

They’re doing that because of 

Vermont Yankee and possible 

radiation leaks to prevent 

lawsuits. The plant doesn’t 

close for two years and they 

don’t want to take a chance,” 

she said. 

A S I DRIVE , my mind turns to 

Brooks Memorial Library. I 

hear two volunteers discussing 

how much they count on 

Social Security benefits. One 

asks the other why there is no 

cost-of-living increase for the 

second year in a row. 

My refrigerator holds six 

containers of yogurt, blueberries 

and raspberries I froze 

last summer, one carton of 

milk, and a broiled chicken. 

Restaurants are off the list, as 

are subscriptions. 

I buy five loaves of Italian 

bread and bring them over 

to the Baptist church, where 

homeless people are having 

dinner. 

Maybe before things get 

worse, we should learn how 

to make soap from lard and 

shear a sheep. 

presentation of Footloose — or 

any other production — is only 

the tip of the iceberg. Beneath 

the surface lies an intricate 

network of families and volunteers, 

amateur PR representatives, 

and excellent cooks. 

Within this web, we have 

cast and crew, students and 

teachers, both onstage and in 

the incredible audience beyond. 

We have a director who 

sends us e-mails at 4:30 a.m., 

and a disturbing number of 

parents who reply promptly at 

6:00. We invent a stage, capture 

a story, and disappear 

mysteriously to leave the space 

a gym once more. 

We are dedicated, creative, 

determined to entertain, and 

at the close of a show we are a 

family. 

Thank you, Leland & Gray 

Players; we’ve done it again! 

Melissa Soule 

Wardsboro 

The writer, a Leland & Gray senior, 

performed in Footloose. Her 

essay on the experience appeared 

in the March 23 issue. 

insurance for the business you 

lose when they close down 

Main Street?" 

I overheard a woman on her 

cell phone: “The biggest disaster 

in this part of the state! 

The building is condemned! 

They’re talking about leveling 

it! Basically, they’re going to 

have to rebuild Brattleboro!" 

I asked her how she knew 

all this, and she said she was 

“in the loop” because she was 

an insurance adjuster. She 

wouldn’t give me her name, 

either. 

I HEARD there was six feet of 

water in the Mole’s Eye. 

When I first came to 

Brattleboro in the late 1980s, I 

was afraid to go into the Mole’s 

Eye. I was shy. I was a stranger 

here. It took some courage to 

start hanging out there. It was 

riddled with town characters 

and as close to a singles bar 

as Brattleboro had back then. 

People met their mates there. 

And then settled down and 

stopped coming. 

I got my start as a columnist 

at the Mole’s Eye. It was more 

than 21 years ago, and they had 

great blues bands coming in 

from Boston every weekend for 

$4 at the door, with $1 Bud on 

tap. It was heaven, and I was 

allowed to write about it for the 

Brattleboro Reformer . 

It turned out I had opinions 

about everything, not 

just music. The column became 

a fixture on the pages of 

the Reformer . Now it’s in this 

paper. 

On Monday, I ran into 

Norman, the famous Mole’s 

Eye bartender, and Brenda, the 

famous Mole’s Eye waitress, 

coming around the corner from 

the Shriner’s to see the damage. 

Their eyes were big. They 

were holding hands. 

“They built it in 1871, and it 

cost $150,000,” Norman said. 

“I have a great sense of tragedy 

and loss. Such a devastating 

loss. I put in 30 years of my life 

in the Mole’s Eye. I lived in the 

Brooks House for a few years. 

Out of the ashes rises a new 

phoenix, but right now, I feel 

consumed with sadness." 

Norman reminded me of a 

column I had written about a 

blues guy from Northampton, 

“Vast” Ed Vadas, who had basically 

torn me a new one when 

I tried to interview him. He still 

remembered the piece I’d written 

about my experience. It 

was maybe the second column 

I’d ever written, and he still remembered 

it. 

One way or another, the 

Brooks House has played a 

part in the lives of almost everyone 

in the Brattleboro orbit. 

We shopped there, or had 

our jewelry repaired there, or 

bought books there, or drank 

there, or had a radio program 

there, or lived there, or pointed 

it out proudly when people 

came to visit. Even though it is 

a privately owned building, we 

all have a sense of ownership 

about it. 

The Brooks House has been 

on the National Register of 

Historic Places since 1980. We 

are hungry to see it restored. 

can think of no more stirring 

I symbol of man’s humanity to 

man than a fire engine. 

—KURT VONNEGUT 

~ Residential and Commercial ~ 

Our Own In-house Installation Team 

BEST KEPT SECRET 

IN THE AREA

16 THE COMMONS • Wednesday, April 20, 2011 

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 

Tiny art at 

the ‘Louvre of 

Londonderry’ 

Muralist Kim Ray 

assembles an exhibition 

of miniature works 

By Richard Henke 

Special to The Commons 

LONDONDERRY— 

Perhaps it takes 

someone who works 

big to see the beauty 

in things small. 

Kim Ray is a muralist who 

paints sides of walls that can 

be as big as 6 feet by 24 feet. 

Precisely because it would be 

completely opposite from the 

way she usually works, she conceived 

of the current exhibition 

for her Londonderry gallery as 

“The World’s Tiniest Art Show.” 

The show features 11 members 

of the Mountain Painters 

and Artisans group exhibiting 

more than 50 miniature and 

small works in watercolor, oil, 

pastel, fiber, cut paper, mosaic, 

jewelry, and mixed media. It 

will remain open until the end 

of May at Ray’s studio and gallery, 

now known as the “Louvre 

of Londonderry.” 

After all her work on such a 

grand scale, Ray feels the special 

delight of the small. 

“The charm of miniature art is 

in part because it can be held in 

the palm of the hand,” she said. 

“Miniatures entered the world 

of art as a new genre as early as 

the 16th century. To this day, 

these works, with their specific 

techniques, diminished format, 

and reduced scale, continue to 

evolve and remain popular with 

artists around the world.” 

Of all the artists in the show, 

it is Ray herself — the one who 

normally has the largest works to 

display — who has the smallest 

pieces here. She is pleased that 

all of the small works are under 

$100, making fine art affordable 

for everyone. 

Ray has been working as a 

muralist since 1995, at first only 

part time. After 2001, however, 

she quit her job as an educator 

so that she could dedicate herself 

full time to her craft. She 

has painted murals for people 

and businesses in and outside 

Vermont. 

After she completed a 

Vermont mural depicting the 

four seasons for the Mountain 

Market Place in Londonderry, 

she decided on a whim to email 

and invite then-Gov. Jim 

Douglas to the public unveiling 

of this mural last Nov. 28. 

She never expecting a reply, 

but not only did Douglas graciously 

respond, but to her surprise 

and delight, he agreed to 

attend the opening. 

Ray created her gallery when 

her 10-by-15-foot studio at home 

proved small for her needs. 

“After receiving a too large of 

a commission for the children’s 

area at the Northshire Bookstore 

[in Manchester, Vt.], I had to 

find a wall to paint it on,” she 

said. 

The space she found in 

Mountain Marketplace turned 

out to be so large that she decided 

also to open a gallery there, 

for herself and other artists in 

the area. 

“After opening the art studio 

as an ‘open studio,’ curious 

people and local artists would 

stop in to share in the process of 

art. Inspiring art discussions and 

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COURTESY OF MOUNTAIN PAINTERS AND ARTISANS 

Some of the miniature paintings on display this month at muralist Kim Ray’s studio, a.k.a. the Louvre 

of Londonderry. 

exchanges occurred,” she said. 

“There was a need for all that 

wonderful creativity of the artists 

to be showcased, and that 

is how the Mountain Painters 

and Artisans was established,” 

Ray said. 

“We are not a typical gallery,” 

she continued. “We are a community 

group of artists that support 

each other in our creative 

endeavors and bring that inspiration 

out into the community. 

We use each other’s strengths 

to become successful in the arts. 

We also have several supportive 

members that have joined due 

to their love of the arts and their 

goal as well to extend the arts 

into the community.” 

The Mountain Painters and 

Artisans is comprised of 11 local 

artists who work in diverse media: 

Martha Stevenson, folk art 

paintings; Vicki Greene, handmade 

collectible artisan dolls 

and fabric art; Ken Ahlering, 

traditional realistic oil paintings; 

Diane Bell, watercolor paintings; 

Linda Carthaus, luminous oil 

landscapes; Mona McGreevy, 

native birch bark paintings made 

with materials from the mountains; 

Esther Fishman, pastel 

landscapes; Lisa Sicotte, scherenschnitte 

(hand-cut paper 

scenes from nature); Elinor 

Katz, mosaic designs on vintage 

furnishings; Bob Ray, plein air 

Vermont oil landscapes; and, of 

course, Ray herself, who besides 

murals also works in many other 

media to display in the Louvre of 

Londonderry. 

The reason for Ray’s gallery’s 

name, the Louvre of 

Londonderry, is an inside joke: 

two of the artists in the group 

have the first names “Mona” 

and “Lisa.” 

Recently, Ray received a call 

from a 12-year-old girl from 

Pennsylvania who was planning 

to write a report on the “World’s 

Tiniest Art Show.” Ray asked the 

girl how she could possibly know 

of her exhibition. 

The young student explained 

that someone had posted information 

about it on the Internet. 

Ray was thrilled that someone 

living so far away could be 

touched by her art. 

“It was more exciting than 

Gov. Douglas coming to my unveiling!” 

she said. 

“The Artist’s Garden & 

Flower Art Show,” the next 

gallery show, will open during 

Vermont Open Studio Weekend 

2011, which runs Memorial Day 

weekend, May 28- 29. 

“Each artist of Mountain 

Painters and Artisans displays 

unique, one-of-a-kind original 

work that has been inspired by 

living in Vermont and nature. . 

Ray invites the public to meet 

the artists and see art demonstrations 

and experience the creative 

process throughout the day. 

The Louvre of Londonderry is 

located at the Mountain Market 

Place at the junction of Routes 

11 and 100 in Londonderry. The 

gallery is open Thursday and 

Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and 

Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., or 

by appointment, by calling Ray 

at 802-824-6555. 

COURTESY MOUNTAIN PAINTERS AND ARTISANS 

The Mountain Painters and Artisans in the space they 

call the Londonderry Louvre. Back row: Diane Bell, 

Vicki Greene, Esther Fishman, Kim Ray, Bob Ray. 

Front row: Lisa Sicotte, Mona McGreevy, Martha 

Stevenson. Missing from photo: Ken Ahlering, Linda 

Carthaus, Elinor Katz. 

NE 

NLY 

BRATTLE 

B R 

The 

and 

www.BrattleboroChamber.org 

The 

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802-257-2731 

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10 Browne CT PO Box 8245 

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Tel. (802) 257-5131 

Fax (802) 257-5837

Fire rages in Brooks House, leaving 60 needing ... - The Commons

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