BRADFORD—For now, it appears that the local school district will own a 10.2-acre property near the school to be used as an outdoor classroom for students at Newbury Elementary School.
Voters at the Oxbow Unified Union School District’s special meeting on Aug. 17 authorized spending $68,000 of surplus funds to buy the undeveloped, forested real estate in Newbury. Residents from both Bradford and Newbury took part, voting 50-38 to approve the deal.
NORTH HAVERHILL—Grafton County will partner with EX2, a communications and infrastructure company based in Nebraska, to bring broadband internet to all of the county’s towns.
The county’s broadband committee, along with EX2, have settled on a plan that will deliver broadband to the center of each Grafton County town, with each town ensuring that all of its residents have high-speed internet access.
WOODSVILLE—Haverhill schools will receive over $2 million in coronavirus relief funds that officials say will be used to improve conditions for student physical and mental health.
Priority projects targeted for completion this fall are an improved ventilation system in the Woodville High School cafeteria and gymnasium and window replacements, which were trimmed from the building renovations project undertaken a couple of years ago. The projects will be paid by funding received through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER, funds.
BRADFORD—The Community Visit taking place in Bradford in collaboration with the Vermont Council on Rural Development entered its next phase on Monday evening.
Approximately 60 people gathered underneath a tent in Elizabeth’s Park as part of the Moving Forward Together Bradford initiative. The meeting on Aug. 23 came after a series of theme-based forums were held last month at the Bradford Academy, Grace United Methodist Church, the Hub, and online. Additionally, surveys were circulated online and in print in several locations in town.
BURLINGTON—A Vermont man, who is charged with abducting a woman, crossing state lines, and sexually assaulting her in front of her son in Windsor County, has asked a judge to throw out the four felony counts he is facing in federal court.
Everett A. Simpson, 44, most recently from St. Johnsbury, maintained the two kidnapping counts and two interstate transportation of stolen car counts should be dismissed for a variety of reasons.
“This case should not be allowed to go to trial,” Simpson declared during the hearing in U.S. District Court in Burlington on the afternoon of April 12.
WOODSVILLE—The Haverhill Selectboard voted 3-2 on Monday night to spend federal coronavirus relief funds on a plan proposed by the town’s precincts.
The action essentially affirmed a decision made during a board meeting on Aug. 2. This time, however, the vote came after more than two hours of debate during and after a public hearing attended by dozens of people at the Clifford Memorial Building.
The funds, which will be distributed over two equal installments in 2021 and 2022, total $477,908.24, but represent a sliver of overall municipal spending. The 2021 disbursement, which the town received last month, is roughly 4% of the town’s 2020 total operating budget.
PIERMONT—In 1771, the few people living in Piermont gathered to form a church.
Back then, there was no pastoral leadership or church buildings. In those years, Sunday meetings were held in the houses of the early settlers. But as the town of Piermont grew and evolved through the years, so did the church, which remains today.
This weekend, the Piermont Congregational Church will celebrate 250 years. On Aug. 21, from 1 to 4 p.m., there will be a free barbecue and live music featuring Patrick Ross and The Fiddler’s Crew. All from the surrounding community are invited.
NEWBURY—Loretta Cruz, the new principal at the Newbury Elementary School, began on July 1. She succeeds Morgan Moore who left the school after two years.
Since then, Cruz has been working with a small group of staff to get the building ready for the students to arrive on Aug. 26, which is the first day of school. That’s when Cruz will finally get to meet most of the students.
Cruz has spent the last 17 years in a number of educator roles, according to her resume. She earned her principal’s certification from the Upper Valley Educators Institute in 2018, but NES is the first time she has been a school principal.
NEWBURY—The Vermont Department of Families and Children and private contractors Becket Family of Services have submitted proposals to state and local governments for the privately run Covered Bridge juvenile detention facility in Newbury.
The Act 250 application to the state government, was submitted on July 23, and a site visit followed by a hearing in Bradford on that application will occur on Aug, 25. Becket also submitted a proposal to the town of Newbury, and Becket attorney Jon Anderson expects there to be a town hearing on that application at some point in September.
GROTON—Voters narrowly rejected a resolution that would have proclaimed the town a Second Amendment sanctuary during a special town meeting last week.
The vote, held after less than 30 minutes of floor discussion at the Groton Community Building gymnasium, was taken by paper ballot after at least seven residents requested the procedure. The tally was 41 against the resolution and 39 in favor.