FAIRLEE—Make hay while the sun shines is the adage that comes to mind. Quite a few days passed before this reporter found Larry Martin off his tractor long enough to sit for an interview.
The weather has been mostly dry lately. Rain finally fell hard enough to keep him from haying on June 27.
During the growing season, when it’s not raining, Larry is busy mowing and baling hay and chopping corn on and around the farm along Route 5 on the Fairlee-Bradford line.
FAIRLEE—On a lazy Sunday afternoon in May 2007, the heart of Fairlee became a conflagration when the Colby Block burned to the ground.
Swirling flames pierced the bright blue sky. Those who watched that horror wouldn’t soon forget the heat of the fire on their cheeks. One of those bystanders, Berne Traendly, watched a lifetime of memories disappear into smoke while standing on the steps of Chapman’s, his family’s country store.
BRADFORD—Voters will decide if retail sales of cannabis will be a part of Bradford’s future in a special vote to take place Sept. 13 from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. at the Bradford Academy.
Vermont will legalize retail sales effective Oct.1, but it is still up to individual towns to decide whether they are willing to host retail outlets. Towns have no authority to regulate cultivators, manufacturers, wholesalers, and testing labs under Act 164.
NORTH HAVERHILL—The Grafton County legislative delegation approved a nearly $50 million operating budget for 2022-2023 during a meeting on June 24.
The vote was 17-0 with several members not in attendance. Although spending will increase by more than $1 million over the current year, the amount to be raised in property taxes will decrease for the second straight year.
Also on Friday, efforts to implement a delegation-led assessment and review of county facilities, including the farm and courthouse in North Haverhill, did not move forward.
BRADFORD—On a Friday afternoon in early June, librarian Gail Trede rang the bell at 10 a.m. to start weekly story hour. Trede, who children, and practically everyone else for that matter, call Miss Gail, has a four-legged helper these days.
A 5-month-old golden retriever named Waldei (pronounced Val-dee) who has been coming to the library since she was 8 weeks old.
Waldei, lives with Trede and her 93-year-old father, Hans, who suggested the name, which is German. Wald means “wood” and the “ei” feminize the name, so “Lady of the Woods.”
COOKEVILLE—Some 40 to 50 Corinth residents turned out for an informational meeting last week to hear from the EPA about plans to clean up the former Pike Hill Copper Mine, a Superfund site.
There will be one more informational session in July before a formal public hearing is held, likely in August on a proposed cleanup plan.
WOODSVILLE—Woodsville precinct has appealed the decision by the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration to invalidate two financial appropriations approved by voters at town meeting in Haverhill in March.
The DRA will hold a hearing on the appeal on Aug. 1.
NEWBURY—Sky-high fuel prices are putting a strain on town budgets and causing some to curtail plans for planned paving projects this summer.
At its June 15 meeting, Newbury’s selectboard voted to delay the repair, preparation and resurfacing of a section of Leighton Hill Road starting at the intersection of Route 302. It is not just fuel prices that run up the tab for paving.
Paving requires the use of construction materials such as culverts, sand, stone and equipment to put these in place, all of which have increased in price
FAIRLEE—A moratorium on hunting coyotes with dogs will take effect on July 1 in Vermont after a new bill was approved by the legislature this year.
The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department says that under S.281, hunters will only be able to pursue and take a coyote with dogs if they are on their own property and acting in defense of a person or property, or if they have signed permission from a landowner who has a legitimate defense of persons or property concern. This moratorium on pursuing coyotes with dogs will last from July 1, until the board is able to put rules in place requiring permits.
EAST CORINTH—The garden tour, a fundraising event, is not only back from the restrictions of Covid, but it is back “with a twist,” Blake Memorial Library’s director Jennifer Spanier said.
Traditionally, these tours featured gardens only.
This year’s Art, House and Garden Tour will include not only gardens, but historic homes and artisan studios and will take place July 2 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday, July 3 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Sightseers will wend their way through Bradford, Cookeville, West Newbury, East Corinth, East Topsham, and Newbury.