By Meghan McCarthy McPhaul It was the dotted, orangey-yellow and black stripes that stood out, drawing my son’s gaze to the edge of the sandbox. A small caterpillar clung to the goutweed, munching away on the green leaves. At first we thought it was a monarch caterpillar, but the stripes weren’t quite right. Out…

Recently a friend forwarded to me a Facebook picture of my friend Betty Clark and me in a huge pile of leaves. The picture had been taken in front of my house and it appeared in the Rutland Herald in 1956. Our arms are raised up in the air and our grins go from ear…

“The Trouble with Harry,” the 1955 comic mystery film, was technically Alfred Hitchcock’s second movie set in the Green Mountain State: previously, the soundstage “mental hospital” in “Spellbound” (1943) was somewhat arbitrarily designated a Vermont address, a detail that bore little or no significance to the story. On the other hand, “The Trouble With Harry”…

I have pulled up out of my swan dive into obesity. After working so hard for so long, it has felt funny to take rest days. I took five of them, and in that time, I went from looking like a granite statue to looking like a combination of the Pillsbury Dough Boy, the Michelin…

Courtesy of Vermont Technical College Students get to learn, “Why Isn’t This Thing Working?” in a trade skills workshop. RANDOLPH–The recent Vermont state water quality initiatives, as well as flooding in recent years, has highlighted the negative impact on watersheds caused by farms of all sizes. In a spring 2015 survey of commercial growers on…

Courtesy of CSJ CSJ student Elizabeth Turco assembles packages of kid-friendly, nonperishable food for the BackPack Program at the Vermont Foodbank. RUTLAND—National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness week might still be two months away, but students in College of St. Joseph’s Provider Program aren’t waiting to do their part to stop hunger. Each Wednesday, as part…

Volunteers at the annual Shrewsbury Ham Supper sit down to feast after all the guests were served. This year marks the 63rd annual event at the Shrewsbury Town Meeting Hall. By Karen D. Lorentz Vermont has a long history of people in small towns coming together at community suppers and ice cream socials. The social…

RUTLAND—On Thursday, Sept. 24, Vermont State Employee Credit Union (VSECU) announced its 2015 Student LIFT (Loan Independence for Today) award recipients—its annual awards program designed to help Vermonters pay down their student loan debt by awarding three recipients with $5,000 each in monthly loan payments, on behalf of each recipient. This year’s award recipients are…

RUTLAND — Phoenix Books officially opened its doors Monday, Sept. 28, to a crowd of supporters and customers anxious to support the store, independent bookselling and the ongoing revitalization of downtown Rutland. “It’s a spectacular addition to downtown and a symbol of the ongoing rebirth of the city at large,” Mayor Chris Louras said. “The space, the…

By George Cook, Extension Farm Safety Specialist, UVM Most people know of the Great Chicago Fire of Oct. 8-10, 1871. From that conflagration came the establishment of National Fire Prevention Week with the first official proclamation in 1925 by President Calvin Coolidge. This year it will run from Oct. 4-10. The 1871 fire killed up…

By Lani Duke Rutland At last! Dorr Drive scheduled to reopen Friday, Oct. 2 Dorr Drive Bridge and the closed section of Dorr Drive are scheduled to open Friday, Oct. 2. If you're in a hurry, you may still want to avoid the site; traffic runs only in alternating, one-way orientations while finish-up work is…

CASTLETON—On Oct. 8 the Rutland Region Workforce Investment Board’s Council on Youth will collaborate with the high school counselors of Fair Haven Union, Mill River Union, Mount St. Joseph Academy, Otter Valley Union, Poultney, Proctor, Rutland, and West Rutland to organize the fourth annual Sophomore Career Summit. Sophomores from across the Rutland region will meet…

Keep up Vermont’s new hunting tradition: wear hunter orange The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department points out that last year was the second time in three years there were no hunting-related shootings in the state.  So far, 2015 is also accident-free and smart hunters can help keep this flawless record going by choosing to wear…

Hunters who take a bear, deer, turkey, or moose during the Vermont hunting seasons must bring the animal within 48 hours to the nearest game warden or to the nearest Vermont Fish & Wildlife reporting station. Below is a list of wardens and reporting stations in Rutland and Windsor County for 2015. RUTLAND COUNTY State Wardens…

Hunters are enthusiastic about Vermont’s upcoming Oct. 3-25 and Dec. 5-13 split archery deer hunting season, according to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department. A hunter may take up to three deer in Vermont’s two-part archery season with three archery licenses. No more than one of the deer taken during archery season may be a…