After a long, arduous “multi-level process,” Eaton’s ancestral home in West Fairlee “from valley to ridgeline” will be conserved in perpetuity. The property sits on over 400 hundred acres of fields and forest with meandering streams surrounded by green hills.
Orange County Sheriff: Incumbent Bill Bohnyak, 64, has served as sheriff for the past 15 years. He’s being challenged by Orange County High Bailiff George Contois, 73, a former deputy at the department who worked for almost three decades with the Vermont State Police.
Orange 1 House District race: State Rep. Samantha Lefebvre, R-Orange, hopes to win reelection, while former Rep. Carl Demrow, D-Corinth, is aiming to return to the capitol.
Orange County Senate race: Incumbent state Sen. Mark MacDonald, D-Williamstown, and former gubernatorial candidate John Klar, a Republican from Brookfield, are each focusing on how the state should respond to two global issues in their race for the Orange County Senate District seat: climate change and fractured supply chains.
BRADFORD—Last month, residents in several area towns received a glossy flyer from Seminars Unlimited of Keene, Texas promoting a free “Prophecy Seminar” to be held at Oxbow High School on Oct. 7.
According to the flyer, the seminar would be continued on Monday, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Attendees would receive free Bibles and study guides and would gain insight about the future and “hope in these days of uncertainty.” They would be given “specific and dramatic revelations of things to come—not from the psychics but “from the unfailing Word of God.”
Social media lit up immediately with commentary from community members.
FAIRLEE—Rivendell could turn to an outside company to develop a long-term maintenance plan for the district’s three campuses.
After a presentation at a meeting last week, the board authorized multinational corporation Honeywell to conduct a deeper dive of the district’s capital project needs.
BATH—Route 135 north of Woodsville is closed for three weeks. NH Department of Transportation will implement the extended closure for retaining wall work at the Narrows. It will last through Nov. 1, according to an announcement.
Work at the site was initiated in the spring and led to the temporary closure this summer and fall of one lane with Jersey barriers. Also, two temporary traffic lights at either end of the Narrows were installed.
BRADFORD—Mike and Kelly Morrissette are set to open Running Water Recreation Center on Saturday next to the Orange East Senior Center.
Upon entering space at 176 Waits River Road, visitors are met with 8,300 square feet in a family- friendly setting featuring brightly colored walls, sports equipment abound and dazzling bounce houses.
Years ago, it was the home of Upper Valley Press, then the Bradford Teen Center. Most recently, it briefly served as the temporary home of Old Church Theater.
BRADFORD—The Journal Opinion, an institution for over 150 years, has been sold. Michelle and Rodney Sherburne of Newbury became owners on Oct. 1 after purchasing the paper from Connie Sanville.
The last few owners have brought decades of experience in the industry to the job, and that extends to the newest co-owner and publisher Michelle who has been with the paper for 22 years.
WOODSVILLE—The fire that destroyed a vacant commercial building near a busy intersection last week is under investigation.
On Sept. 28 at approximately 3 a.m., a passer-by called 911 to report the old Modern Furniture/Way We Were building, located at 4475 Dartmouth College Highway near the Forest Street intersection, had visible flames shooting through the roof.
Upon arrival, the Woodsville Fire Department found the 10,000 square foot wooden structure to be fully engulfed.
WOODSVILLE—Students and teachers say student mental health and related issues are among their biggest concerns, according to a June survey of Haverhill Cooperative School District community members. Parents share those concerns, but also count improved student achievement and discipline among their priorities.
Nearly 300 students participated in the survey, while 130 parents and 73 teachers also took part. The survey results were reviewed in a slideshow presentation at Monday night’s school board meeting at Woodsville High School.
GROTON—For almost 13 years, Zac Conaway of Groton has been trying to get a former colleague, Jamil, out of Afghanistan. The efforts intensified just before the Taliban takeover a little more than one year ago, but thus far have been unsuccessful.
While deployed with the U.S. Army in 2009, Conaway transported material in support of various battalions located in the Kunar River Valley. For about a year, Jamil was assigned to Conaway as translator. In order to keep Jamil’s identity concea