Poultney voters defeated an article 549-302 on Tuesday, July 9, to loosen zoning bylaws and let a Dollar General come to town. The article would have let property owners bypass the Development Review Board by permitting mixed commercial and light industrial uses in the village. “It would have significantly reduced the oversight,” Poultney Planning Commision…

By Curt Peterson BRIDGEWATER—In 2018, Bridgewater wrote 12 percent of all traffic citations in the state. The topic is a bone of contention among members of the three-person Select Board, and a hot topic among the town’s 936 residents and handful of businesses. “Being Vermont’s biggest ticket writer does not enhance Bridgewater’s reputation,” said Lynne…

Staff report WOODSTOCK—The Norman Williams Public Library’s heating and cooling system failed, so library staff and volunteers are offering home delivery of books, DVDs and magazines, for free. “We can deliver right to our patrons at home,” said Norman Williams Public Library Director Amanda Merk. The library has long offered home delivery at the request…

Staff report The Green Mountain Trails in Pittsfield are becoming part of the Rochester Area Trail Alliance. The RASTA board voted last week to add the GMT network, which features 25 miles of trails, to its chapter. “We thought it was a pretty good, natural fit,” said RASTA President Angus McCusker, who made the announcement…

By Curt Peterson HARTLAND­—Todd Heyman and Suzy Kaplan have created Fat Sheep Farm and Cabins in Hartland to emulate the popular European farm-stay destinations — where guests live and work on a real farm and pay for the experience. Accommodations are all new since 2017 when their first farm-stay visitor occupied one of the five…

By Ed Larson Just before 10 a.m. on Monday, July 1, workers from Fabian Construction unearthed what they believed was a human skull at a construction site on Green Hills Lane, in Rutland City. The work was being done partially on the roadway and on property owned by Central Vermont Motorcycles. John Center, of Fabian…

By Katy Savage A Woodstock organization is trying to get more residents in the expensive town by helping people buy homes. With an anonymous $500,000 grant, the Woodstock Community Trust is buying homes, fixing them and selling them at a reduced rate. Jill Davies, a Woodstock Select Board member who spearheaded the idea in December…

By Katy Savage The shuttered Green Mountain College has hit the market with no sales price. The private liberal arts college in Poultney, which was founded in 1834, is listed for sale by Colliers International in Boston. V/T Commercial owner Tony Blake, who is representing the property locally, is looking for bidders. There is no…

By Julia Purdy Those familiar with the West Creek Road in Florence will notice new activity at the former Silver Birch Equestrian Center location, formerly operated by Cheryl Hathaway. New owners Sarah and Justin McKeighan purchased 11 acres including buildings and riding ring May 30. The McKeighans have a lease-purchase agreement on another 150 acres,…

By Curt Peterson West Windsor’s Ascutney Outdoors, which has been providing access to groomed slope and back-country skiing via rope tow, will be sporting a modern T-bar lift starting with the first skiable snow next winter. “The slope is so popular we ran out of lift capacity,” said Ascutney Outdoors board member Glenn Seward. “With…

By Curt Peterson RUTLAND—Local residents are concerned that rail cars filled with fuel will be stored near their homes as two dangerously deteriorated downtown bridges in Middlebury will be replaced by a tunnel during the summer of 2020 for a cost close to $71 million. At a June 20 meeting on Hickory Street in Rutland,…

John Ditcheos died at his home in Woodstock, in his favorite easy chair, on June 18 at age 88. He was born on Sept. 12, 1930, in Hightstown, New Jersey and was the son of Nicholas and Alexandria Ditcheos, and younger brother to George. Ditcheos spent his early life with his family in his father’s…

Staff report Two online insurance marketplaces, QuoteWizard and Lending Tree, recently compiled data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and released a report June 6 outlining e-cigarette usage by prevalence. The findings could force the hand of insurance companies to create a clear designation on e-cigarette use. In 2018, 3.6 million middle school and…

The first quarter rooms and meals option tax numbers indicate a strong season. The option taxes brought in about $215,000 for Killington this year, up from the five-year average of $204,550. “It was a good winter as far as rooms and meals,” said Killington Town Manager Chet Hagenbarth. Local business owners reported a good season,…

By Curt Peterson Caroline Olsen’s college-age stomach aches evolved into a thriving young business making cashew milk products in Woodstock. According to the Nutty Life LLC website, nutty-milk.com, Olsen’s addiction to frozen yogurt while studying at Boston College upset her digestive system. Suspecting lactose intolerance, she switched to almond milk, but found little relief. Inquisitive,…