By Curt Peterson READING—The Windsor Central Modified Unified Union School District Board (WCMUUSD) voted to remove one full-time teacher from Reading’s faculty, necessitating grade reconfiguration and inspiring several teachers and parents to protest at the board’s August meeting. Reading voters, notoriously ambiguous about joining the consolidated district, first accepted, then rejected, then accepted the merger…

Vail purchase creates buzz in business industry By Katy Savage LUDLOW—A new Italian eatery is set to open next week. La Tavola Ristorante  will be open on Route 100 with an extensive wine list, full bar, authentic Italian menu and lounge. The owners, Fernando and Soa Uva, and manager Tony Lavalle run Tavola’s in Provincetown,…

School is officially back in session and fall is here but there are still tons of great things happening this weekend. Here are some of our favorites: Harvest Fair Sept. 8  All day Rochester’s annual Harvest Fair, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on the Park, Route 100 (Main St.) Rochester. Live entertainment all day, food, crafts, games, flower…

By Katy Savage WOODSTOCK—Over a bridge and up a long, private driveway, a 1700s farmhouse sits alone among hills of green grass. There are private mountain biking and hiking trails out the front door and a private swimming pond with beach to the side. This 186-acre property is special to Stacey Gerrish, who inherited it…

By Sue Durant KILLINGTON—On the “flats” of Killington, a small gray granite church and a couple of old red buildings nestle between the Ottauquechee River and a tree-filled mountainside. The scene looks like a postcard of an era gone by. On Mission Farm Road in front of the church, a bronze plaque identifies the site…

By Dave Hoffenberg KILLINGTON—On Sunday, Sept. 9, Moguls Sports Pub will host the fifth annual Pie in the Face for Chase charity benefit from 1-7 p.m. It’s time again to pie local celebrities and raise money for Chase William Kuehl and the Phelan-McDermid Syndrome Foundation (PMSF). Kuehl is one of only 1,500 children worldwide diagnosed…

By Curt Peterson BARNARD—About 35 people heard the evening of Aug. 29 that their town has three options for keeping their school open if the state Board of Education decides, as expected, to recommend forced merger of their district with the Windsor Central Modified Unified Union School District (WCMUUSD). The school district is not required…

By Katy Savage WOODSTOCK—James Steward sees the hospitality industry as a work of art—a theater with no script. “I love the interplay, the way the guests are constantly changing,” he said. “It’s refreshing itself all the time.” Steward, the director of the Princeton University Art Museum in New Jersey, purchased the 11-room Jackson House Inn…

By Karen D. Lorentz Okemo’s longest continuing employee, Executive Secretary and Administrative Office Manager Joyce Washburn, retired on Aug. 31 after 49 seasons. During that time, Washburn “has been one of the strongest contributors to the success of Okemo Mountain Resort,” stated Vice-President and General Manager Bruce Schmidt, who noted her “legacy of hard work,…

Robert Howard Webb of Lincoln, Massachusetts, and Brooklyn, New York, died Aug. 23 of Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s Disease. Webb was born Oct. 17, 1934, to Kenneth and Susan Webb, founders of the Farm and Wilderness Camps in Plymouth, Vermont. He spent his childhood exploring the woods and trails of the Green Mountains, cultivating…

By Katy Savage CASTLETON—The Bomoseen Golf Club is open despite losing all of its equipment in a fire Aug. 8. “Basically, we lost everything we needed to run the golf course,” said General Manager Jim Bassett. Three lawn mowers, weed trimmers, tools and golf carts that were kept inside a maintenance building are gone, said…

By Curt Peterson BARNARD—The Agency of Education published its long-awaited draft of “Default Articles of Agreement,” the adoption of which will be considered by the state Board of Education on or before Nov. 30. The Default Articles, required by ACT 49, will apply to any consolidated school district formations forced by the board under ACT…

By Julia Purdy CAVENDISH—Tierney Road has become the focus of contention among neighbors over the proposed reopening of a small rock quarry at the end of this mile-long town road that climbs a wooded hillside. Brightly-colored signs reading “Stop the Tierney Road Quarry” stud the roadside, with a few exceptions. Quarry opponents maintain that the…

By Katy Savage KILLINGTON—Megan Wagner has known what she’s wanted to do since she was 9. “I remember telling my dad when I was a little girl that I was going to own a bakery one day,” she said. Her father bought her cookbooks and let her “tear apart his kitchen,” when she was a…

By Julia Purdy RUTLAND—Curtis Bourque, born and raised in Rutland and a server/bartender by trade, stood at the counter of the Ruff Life Café, 46 Center Street, waiting for his takeout order of coffee drinks. He missed the old Coffee Exchange down the street, and when he saw Ruff Life open, a lightbulb went on.…