NEWBURY—Dozens of residents who oppose a state plan to develop a juvenile detention center in rural Newbury registered their objections at a state land use hearing on Aug. 25.
The Vermont Department of Children and Families and the nonprofit Becket Family of Services want to remodel a two-story building on Stevens Place which was originally a bed and breakfast and which Becket had been running as a treatment center for several years. It will hold up to six male offenders, aged 12-17, in state custody. The facility and property will still be owned and operated by Becket subsidiary Vermont Permanency Initiative, but it will be leased to DCF and renovated with state funds.

ORFORD—The Orford Selectboard voted to accept the first installment of its American Rescue Plan Act funds following a public hearing last week.
The board held a brief hearing at the start of its regularly scheduled meeting on Aug. 25 to discuss whether to accept $68,100 in coronavirus relief funding. There was little, if any, public input.
And while there was some discussion about using the funds to build out the town’s broadband internet infrastructure, the three board members unanimously agreed to set the money aside for now.

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.

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.

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.