Wednesday, January 16, 2013
A look at how three people who have appeared in this space in recent months are faring in the new year. ∎ Thanks to some Valley News readers, Carissa Dowd may soon be out from under a monthly $250 back-rent payment. Two anonymous donors, working through their lawyers, have offered to help Dowd, a single mother who took on a second job to repay a large debt that stemmed from a dispute with her former landlords. In 2009, Dowd rented a two-bedroom apartment in Enfield
Sunday, December 30, 2012
After spending the last few years as a stay-at-home mom, Michelle Scelza starts work next week at the Visiting Nurse Association in West Lebanon as a health care data analyst. Sitting in the living room of her ranch-style home in Hartland, I waited for her to explain the new job in layman’s terms (the layman being me). But her husband, Chris, picking up on my complete lack of techno-savvy, piped in from the kitchen, where he was making lunch for their 20-month-old son, Vin. “She’s
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Other than lawyers and judges, I can’t imagine many people look forward to spending time in a courtroom. After what she went through 10 years ago, Carissa Dowd has even less reason to than most. In 2002, Dowd sat in a White River Junction courtroom, nervously fidgeting with a pair of sunglasses in her lap, while waiting to hear what the judge and prosecutor had in mind for then 23-year-old Alan Benoit of Springfield, Vt. On a spring evening in May 2000, Dowd had been
Monday, December 17, 2012
In their roles as Windsor County’s assistant judges, Jack Anderson and David Singer are accustomed to being the ones other people are trying to persuade. But for the next few months, they will be the guys doing the pleading. Anderson and Singer have the job of selling residents in Windsor County’s 24 towns on spending up to $2 million to upgrade the courthouse in Woodstock, which was built before the Civil War. Voters will give their verdict during Town Meeting balloting in March. The last
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Imagine sitting down at a restaurant and having the waitress suggest that rather than showing you a menu, she’d prefer to order for you. But if you really insist on deciding for yourself what to buy for lunch that would be OK. She’ll just have to charge you a “management fee.” For $10, you’re only going to get $8.20 worth of food. Welcome to the new ways of the United Way. The nonprofit organization still wants your money in order to do good, it just
By Jim Kenyon
Monday, December 10, 2012
Call me old school, but the “standards-based” grading system that the Claremont School District rolled out this fall takes some getting used to. Completing homework on time — if at all — isn’t a factor. Participating in class doesn’t count. Extra credit assignments won’t get you bonus points. A student’s fate seems to ride almost totally on how well he or she performs on “competency-based” tests. Claremont has done away with letter grades, too. Instead of the traditional A, B, C, D, F system, students
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Norwich is running out of money. What next? Bill Gates on food stamps? Last week, Town Clerk Bonnie Munday approached the Selectboard about allocating more money to get her office through the current fiscal year, which doesn’t end until June 30. With seven months to go, Munday has already used roughly $9,000 of the $12,000 that Town Manager Neil Fulton and the Selectboard allotted her for part-time help. Munday, who was first elected in 1995, went to the board after getting rebuffed by Fulton, who
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
At 7:30 on weekday mornings, Judy Trussell pulls a yellow neon vest over her jacket and takes her post in front of Tracy Hall in Norwich, where she’s a school crossing guard. After helping elementary school kids cross Main Street for an hour, Trussell heads into Tracy Hall, where she often spends the rest of the day working in the Town Clerk’s office. Except on Wednesdays. That’s when she reports to Norwich’s transfer station to help residents dump trash and sort recyclables. And as she’s
Thursday, November 29, 2012
So, you want a job at Dartmouth? Get ready to empty your closet, skeletons and all. Unless, of course, you’re looking to join the faculty. This summer, Dartmouth rolled out what was billed as a new “background check policy” and consent form, which was mailed to me anonymously. The policy required candidates for “all staff positions” (excluding faculty, naturally) to sign a three-page document that allowed the college to delve into their lives in ways that would have made J. Edgar Hoover proud. Did you
By Jim Kenyon
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Although the sun doesn’t officially set on Vermont’s 2012 rifle season until late this afternoon, I can predict with a fair amount of confidence that I won’t be among the 6,000 or so hunters who have shot a buck during the last 16 days. With a full day of hunting to go, I’m not being pessimistic. Just realistic. I tagged my last buck (and, by the way, my only deer) 39 years ago. While I was sitting on a stonewall, overlooking a bank of hardwoods,
