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.

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.

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.

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.

BRADFORD—A Winooski man faces a slew of criminal charges in Orange County and Washington County in an episode that began with a carjacking in Bradford on Sunday afternoon.
According to Bradford Police Department Officer David Shaffer, Donna Godfrey, 57, of Post Mills was in her car backing out of a parking space at Hannaford Supermarket on the Lower Plain when Christopher White, 37, feigned being struck by her 2017 Chevrolet Equinox. When Godfrey opened the door to check on him, White pulled her out of the vehicle and pushed her out of the way.