Views of Dummerston - 2021#4 - Fall

Art by Gary Blomgren

Volume 31 Issue 4

Fall ~ 2021

Free • Since 1990

It Hit Us Harder Than Irene

The Salmon Brook is returning to its normal size, though still showing some power, after it washed out the bank just above the bridge on the East-West Road just past the junction with Schoolhouse Road.

“We know the valley streams that when aroused Will leave their tatters hung on barb and thorn.”

Directive

Robert Frost

The culvert remains in place, but most of the road is gone, where the Canoe Brook passes under Greenhoe Road, just north of the intersection with Canoe Brook Road.

photo by Sarah Bergh

The Day Brook originates up on the eastern flank of Spaulding Hill, then flows down across the top of Hague Road, passes just east of the intersection of Day and Green Mountain Camp Roads, is joined just above the bridge under the East West Road by the stream which gathers water along the entire west side of the East West Road, then flows by our house before going under the Quarry Road and out to the West River. It’s a fair-sized bowl of land that drains into the Day and East-West Road brooks. Twice in the nearly forty years we have lived here next to the brook, before the fourfoot diameter culvert pipe under Quarry Road was replaced by the new culvert, there were storms that overwhelmed that pipe, resulting in swirling pools of water which spilled across and washed out the end of our driveway. Interestingly, tropical storm Irene formed a similar pool which came to the level of our driveway, but didn’t spill over.

The Day Brook comes within less than ten yards of our house, which sits about five yards above the normal level of the brook. When the brook gets roaring, there is always the concern that it might erode the bank and undermine the house. But I assure my wife Linda that the combination of big rocks and tree roots knit into the bank, along with the wide flood plain on the other side of the brook, keep us safe.

During the evening of July 29th Linda and I observed that we seemed to be getting a lot of rain that day, on top of all the rain we had gotten in the previous few days. Then at about nine o’clock, I noticed an unfamiliar noise coming from outside, a deep, heavy clunking sound. We decided we should investigate. Bearing flashlights and clad in our rain jackets, we walked out the front door and were astonished to see continued on page 14

photo by jared clark

By Roger Turner

2 • Fall, 2021 • Views of Dummerston The Views of Dummerston is a quarterly newsletter published by a group of citizen volunteers since 1990, and has non-profit status through the Dummerston Community Center. Mary Lou McBean had the original vision for and was first editor of the Views, and Gary Blomgren created the original masthead art.

The current steering committee includes Roger Turner (editor), Michelle Cherrier (co-articles coordinator and calendar), Fred Lee (layout), Sara Ryan (ad coordinator), Linda Rood (co-articles coordinator), and Lee Ives Tice (mailing). We always welcome new interest in joining the committee.

SUBSCRIPTIONS:

The Views is mailed free of charge to all residents of the town of Dummerston. It is also available online at viewsofdummerston.org. We encourage people to help us save printing and mailing expenses by cancelling their print subscription and accessing the Views online at viewsofdummerston.org; to do so please email Sara Ryan at: subscribe online@viewsofdummerston.org.

If you are not a resident of Dummerston and would prefer to receive a paper copy of the Views, you may subscribe for an annual cost of $5. Mail a check made payable to Views of Dummerston, with your name and mailing address to Lee Tice, 230 School House Rd., East Dummerston, VT 05346.

ARTICLES:

We welcome all articles related in any way to the town of Dummerston, including news of town organizations, personalities, history, or activities. Email Microsoft Word documents (preferred) to: articles@viewsof dummerston.org. Typed or hand-written articles can also be sent to: Michelle Cherrier, 72 Miller Rd., East Dummerston, VT 05346.

CALENDAR:

Any (non-commercial) event you would like listed on our Calendar of Events should be emailed to: calendar@ viewsofdummerston.org, or mailed to Michelle Cherrier at the above address.

NEXT ISSUE:

Submissions due: December 28

Views will be mailed on: February 16 ADVERTISING:

Rates: All rates are for four issues, however a large or small box ad can be placed for just one issue at an adjusted rate. Payment should be by a check made out to the Views of Dummerston, and mailed to: Sara Ryan, 53 Greenhoe Rd., East Dummerston, VT 05346

Small Box Ad $55

Large Box Ad $85 Information/Inquiries: Contact Sara Ryan at: ads@ viewsofdummerston.org, or at 387-0110.

SPONSORSHIPS:

Sponsorships of $25 for four issues augment our ad revenues to provide us with operating funds. You will be notified when your sponsorship is up and invited to renew. If you wish to become a sponsor or have questions, contact Sara Ryan as above.

Digital Views Available Featuring easy navigation, clickable links, and full color, we’re sure you’ll love it! viewsofdummerston.org

Dummerston Selectboard Meetings Recorded and televised by BCTV and online at www.brattleborotv.org. (Select “Watch”, select “Watch On Demand”, select “Playlist”, scroll to “Dummerston”, select meeting.)

Claussen and Meyer Join Grace Cottage Hospital Board

By C.J. King Al Claussen and Karren Meyer have joined the Grace Cottage Family Health & Hospital Board of Trustees.

Claussen holds an MBA in Business Administration from Norwich University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Maine – Orono.

He works as project manager for Noho Health, Inc. in Brattleboro. Previously, he was branch officer for Berkshire Bank, in Manchester, VT, and before that, he spent fifteen years as a store manager and category sales manager for Yankee Candle in South Deerfield, MA. He was awarded a wholesale leadership award in 2014.

He is chair of the West River Education District board and clerk for the Windham Central Supervisory Union, where he is responsible for fiscal controls and governance.

A resident of Townshend, Claussen lives with his wife Tammy and four sons.

Meyer earned a Master of Education from Cambridge College and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in art education from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. She is currently pursuing a second Master’s from Castleton University.

She teaches driver education at Leland and Gray High School and was named the 2019 southern Vermont driver educator of the year and the 2020 Vermont driver educator of the year. Recently, she also received a national

teacher of excellence award. She is Leland and Gray’s “Refuse to Use” coordinator, working to discourage teens’ use of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco, and she is president-elect for the Vermont Driver Traffic Safety Education Association.

Meyer grew up in Falmouth, MA, and has lived in Vermont’s West River Valley area for 23 years. A resident of Newfane, she lives with her husband Steven and their son and daughter.

She has volunteered for many civic endeavors, including West River Valley Thrives, the Moore Free Library (Newfane), and Timpson Hill Preschool (Williamsville), and she has been an avid Grace Cottage Hospital Fair Day volunteer for many years.

“Grace Cottage is well served with these new additions. We are grateful for the time and energy that Al and Karren bring to the board,” said Kevin Meyer, Grace Cottage Family Health & Hospital Board president, and president of Mary Meyer Stuffed Toys.

Grace Cottage Family Health & Hospital includes a 19-bed hospital and ER, a primary care clinic, a full-service lab and radiology department, and both inpatient and outpatient physical, occupational, and speech therapy.

The Messenger Valley Pharmacy, a full retail pharmacy owned by Grace Cottage, is located across the street from the hospital. For more information, go to gracecottage.org or call (802) 365-7357.

Cribbage League Forms at Community Center

By Todd Davidson On hot Tuesday evenings throughout July and August, the (new) Dummerston Cribbage League met for social league matches at the Dummerston Community Center. Over nine weeks, fourteen players played a total of thirtysix matches in a rotating schedule of the players available for weekly play.

Our league winner was Kathy Steinem of Colrain, MA, who won the final week’s match/ playoff in fine fashion against Nan Stefanik, to finish at the top of the table. Kathy is the mother of Whitney Harrison, and both of them joined the summer’s play along with Whitney’s children John and Alana, who were available to fill out the tables when needed. Both Paul Normandeau and Randy Bright earned perfect attendance, and all that that feat encompasses!

In tracking high hands every week, we ended

the league with a number of 24-point hands, but the elusive 28 and 29 pointers remained unattainable.

We anticipate a winter league on Wednesdays, beginning on January 5, 2022, meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. at the community center, and running for ten weeks. The league is a great way to meet other players in the area. Once the holidays are over and the nights get colder, you’ll need to get out and shake off the frost.

All skill levels are welcome – if you don’t know how to play, but would like to learn, feel free to come out and we’ll get you up to speed! You don’t have to play every week; we all travel or have things that come up, so we put out feelers every week to see who can make it.

If you’d like to join, e-mail Todd Davidson at todd.saintex@gmail.com and we’ll add you to the Google group that will be sending out notifications as the start date approaches.

The Views of Dummerston Mission Statement

Providing reports of town organizations, and stories of townspeople and their good deeds, in promoting cooperation and understanding toward creating a more “ideal” Dummerston.

“All who read may also contribute!”—Mary Lou McBean, founder, Views of Dummerston

Views of Dummerston • Fall, 2021• 3

town government

Storm Costs Reimbursements Explained

By Terry Chapman It has been a busy time for the selectboard.

The July 29th storm produced significant damage around our town, including to our highways. The board would like to thank the highway crew, town office, Lewis White, contractors, and all those who helped get us back up and running.

A survey of the damage was done with the Vermont Agency of Transportation and documented for FEMA. Documentation of all repairs will continue as they are made. As of this writing the latest update from Vermont Emergency Management is that Windham County did meet

the threshold assessment of one million dollars for FEMA aid so Dummerston will qualify for disaster assistance. The next step to the process is the governor will submit a request for a federal declaration in the coming weeks. The application will be reviewed by FEMA and will be forwarded to President Biden who has the ultimate authority to approve or deny the request.

While this process is lengthy, we are still able to repair the damage that has been done. We have paid out over $170,000 in repairs with more to come. In order to cover the costs, we have directed the treasurer to secure financial credit.

If the declaration is approved the breakdown

Zoning

Portable Storage Containers Are on the Clock

By Roger Jasaitis

Zoning Administrator

Portable storage containers have become a popular option for construction projects in Dummerston. You may have seen them at building sites in town being used to store construction materials and tools. As zoning administrator, I want to give residents a “heads

up” that if a portable storage container is on your property for over a year, the zoning bylaw considers it a structure. It doesn’t matter what you use it to store. At that point you must get a zoning permit for the unit. Please contact me to put in an application for a zoning permit if you have one of these on your property.

Email to: zoning@dummerston.org or call 802-275-5739.

of payment responsibility is as follows: 75 % will be covered by FEMA, 12.5% by the state, and the town will be responsible for 12.5% of the costs. Payment would be in the late spring or summer of 2022. FEMA will only cover damage to a specific spot if it meets a minimum of $3,320 for costs of the repair. The board will update you as we continue through this process.

We have begun working on the budget for the next fiscal year by sending out budget requests which are due back by October 20th. The board will have budget work sessions throughout the rest of the year, finishing up by the middle of January. We look forward to hearing from everyone as we work through the budget.

The adoption of the animal control ordinance is complete and residents can visit the town website to review it. There are still numerous vacancies on various boards and commissions in town. If you’re interested in volunteering please visit the town website to see the list or contact a selectboard member. As always if you have a question or concern, please don’t hesitate to reach out to one of us.

Sponsors Alvino & Bea Fantini Paul & Jody Normandeau

Listers

Reappraisals Complete But for Paperwork

By The Listers

reappraisal was conducted under very trying circumstances, but we are satisfied with the The reappraisal is closer to completion. result and thank the New England Municipal Site visits have been completed, new values Resource Center (NEMRC) for their hard have been established, grievances have been work to complete this difficult task. heard, and appeals to the Board of Civil Authority have been heard and acted upon.

Robert E. Dunklee & Sons What remains now, is to update the files on all 1012 properties in the town. This will 72 Flat Street take us a while.

Brattleboro, VT 05301 All in all, the process has been a relatively smooth one and we thank everyone for their patience and cooperation. This

Cindy and John Wilcox Michelle Cherrier & Philip Goepp Eleanora Patterson & Gordon Faison

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Sponsors Gordon & Linda Evans

Fruit CSA Sign Ups • Farm Market Baking & Hard Cider Workshops

Heather & Gene Rostov Akara Draper & Linnie Jones Elizabeth Catlin & Jared Flynn Cliff Adler & Lynn Levine

4 • Fall, 2021 • Views of Dummerston

town government Dummerston Conservation Commission

Conservation Stations Gain A Following

By John Anderson The conservation commission has had a very busy quarter, both following up on old issues and responding to the more immediate environmental concerns of our fellow Dummerstonians.

The trial run of our first mini-library-style Conservation Station at the corner of Hague and Green Mountain Camp Roads has been a success. Neighbors are finding it and availing themselves of the trail maps, books, and pamphlets that it contains. A second station is in the planning/construction stage.

The commission is consulting with the Army Corps of Engineers regarding mitigation of the work done while repairing the washed-out culvert that carries Mill Brook under the railroad tracks near Dummerston Landing. The work done turned a once complex ecosystem harboring many bird species, muskrats, snapping turtles, etc. into an oversimplified swath of dry habitat. While the repairs to the tracks were vital, the overall footprint of the construction was excessive and some restoration of the areas adjoining the tracks seems a reasonable goal.

The commission is also advocating for safer access to swimming areas near the covered bridge and has obtained selectboard approval to develop a plan for this site. We are currently coordinating with the Windham County Natural Resources Conservation District to apply for funding which would be used to create a design plan aimed at reducing erosion at the site while facilitating access by swimmers.

And now, having reported on the conservation

commission I’m going to ramble off into a report of the doings of some of our wild neighbors: the common loons that nest at Sunset Lake.

Nesting loon pairs, holders of territories, are routinely challenged by ‘floaters,’ loons that want to take over that territory. A floater loon, usually a male, will visit a lake, assess the physical condition of the resident male and, if it perceives weakness, it will challenge him for the territory. In the ensuing battle the resident male may prevail, it may be defeated and flee the area or it may (and often does) die in its efforts to retain that oh-so-vital nesting territory. When a floater challenges a nester and defeats or kills that nester it gains both a territory and a mate, the ‘widow’ of the deposed loon.

After battling a resident loon and either deposing or killing it, the floater will often kill any chicks fathered by the deposed bird. In fact, floater loons target territories that are successful, territories that have recently produced chicks.

In territorial takeover attempts that result in the death of an adult loon it is always the resident nester that dies. The resident that fights to the death. Never the floater.

Territorial challenges by floaters are routine occurrences for nesting loons and the constant proving of an individual’s fitness to father young, as manifest in its holding of a territory, keeps the species strong. Any loon that is in subpar condition may lose its territory, its mate, its young, and even its life.

For the last thirteen years loons have nested or attempted to nest at Sunset Lake and I have followed their successes and failures with much interest. In those years just six chicks hatched there survived to adulthood. One other was probably taken by a bald eagle. One hatched but was abandoned on the nest. And at least six others were killed by intruding floater loons.

During those same years, four adult loons also died in that territory. Necropsies showed that at least three of the four had ingested fishing tackle; hooks, swivels, monofilament, sinkers, or some combination thereof.

Presumably those loons with tackle in their gizzards were weakened by their reduced abilities to feed and were thus more vulnerable to challenges by healthier floater loons. And in fact, people bore witness to the last epic battles of some of these birds and to the subsequent killing of their chicks.

The plus side of these observations is that six loon chicks born at Sunset Lake probably survived to adulthood, enough to replace the four adults that died there. The downside is that—for whatever reasons—no chicks have been successfully raised in the last four seasons.

The abandonment of the chick I mentioned earlier that died on the nest was likely the result of a kayaker with a camera hovering around the nest causing the adults to leave the area prematurely when only the first of the two eggs had hatched. The death of one of the adult loons may have been the direct result of lead poisoning resulting from its ingestion of lead sinkers.

The most recent loon death (7-21-2021) was of a bird banded as a chick on Massabesic Lake near Manchester, NH in 2006. That loon had managed to survive for fifteen years! As its necropsy showed, it had ingested fishing tackle, some possibly lead based, and was severely underweight. Its body showed no signs of traumas inflicted by other loons.

So it goes. When you monitor the dramas of loons, unpleasant truths and ambiguous endings may be the result. The loons live by their own code. But there is a defiant note in the calls of loons. They live give-no-quarter lives and I have to admire and respect them for that.

For more information on the conservation commission go to http://www.dummerstonconservation.com.

Compliments of

Priscilla Svec, P.T.

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Sponsors Linda Rood & Roger Turner Nick & Joan Thorndike Dick & Harriet Virkstis Marcy Hermansader Lou Nelson

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Thank you for your business

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943 Park Laughton Rd. East Dummerston, VT 05346

VT Lic #536 Cell 802-258-0971 Home 802-254-6975

Views of Dummerston • Fall, 2021• 5

organizations Historical Society

Jared Flynn Discusses Dry Stone Walling

By Muriel Taylor Quarterly Zoom Meeting: On October 20th our membership and friends welcomed local dry stone walling expert Jared Flynn. Jared is a professional member of the Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain and has his master level certificate from the Dry Stone Conservancy of Kentucky. In 2010, Mr. Flynn founded The Stone Trust which, in collaboration with Landmark Trust, is headquartered at Scott Farm on Kipling Road. We learned that creating stone masterpieces that will last centuries is laborious, isolating, exacting and deeply gratifying work. Some examples of Jared’s varied creations are easily accessible.

Visit his website at . or, better yet, take a ride and visit the many dry wall constuctions at The Stone Trust at Scott Farm, or view the monolithic Moon Bridge at Green Mountain Orchards. You will not be disappointed!

Learning the details of dry stone wall construction only increased our admiration of its lasting beauty and Jared’s consummate skill. We were honored to have Jared with us.

Directors’ News: The rise of the Covid-19 Delta variant has postponed the reopening of our Schoolhouse to the public once again. The directors continue to meet regularly, as always, working on our collection, arranging meetings and planning for the future. In an effort to keep our historic building forever young, the Brunelle Construction Company has recently removed moss from our roof, installed zinc strips to prevent reoccurrence, and will shore up a section of the foundation in the late fall.

2022 Calendars are ready! The Scenes of Dummerston calendars are ready and waiting for you! The price remains at $10. We appreciate the generosity of C&S who provides a grant to cover the cost of printing.

New note cards have been printed, featuring four seasonal pictures of the

covered bridge ($5/set).

Also available are our signature black or red tee-shirts ($20) with the covered bridge motif and the Dummerston History book ($35). All of these items may be purchased at the town office (check or exact change, please), or by calling Jody Normandeau at 380-9027 or Gail Sorenson at 254-9311.

Membership: The Dummerston Historical Society encourages you to join us in 2021 as a member or volunteer and to come to our exhibits and meetings. We always welcome hearing your ideas for programming and events. Please note that you do not need to be a member of the Historical Society to attend any of our functions. Our Schoolhouse is handicapped accessible.

From our archives: In November of 1916, an extended family of nine, three adults and six young children, left South Dakota for Brattleboro, Vermont, with all their belongings packed into a railroad box car. The train trip took four days. Soon after arriving, Papa purchased a large house with 160 acres on Rice Farm Road in Dummerston. Built by Deacon, Dan, and LeRoy Wilder in 1844, this home still stands. Fay Morrison Eckerson was fourteen years old when her family migrated here, and many years later wrote a detailed memoir of her life on the Wilder farm entitled A New Frontier. With gratitude for her recollections, we share with you a touching memory of fishing with her Grandma. In Fay’s own words….

“Fishing was good at an eddy in the West River that our pasture joined. Must tell you about taking grandma fishing. Grandma was in her 80s–very tall, very thin and very blind.

She lived with her youngest child across the Connecticut River in N.H. When she visited us (Mama was the eldest of 10) I would spend hours combing her long still auburn hair and listen to stories about early days and the Civil

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War. Grandma longed to catch just one more fish. The opportunity came when she and I were left alone one day.

I guided her down the mt. & set her in a groove in a big boulder over the eddy and when the cork went under, I yelled, “Pull, grandma.”

It was a small bass but afforded her a great delight. Finally, she remarked that it seemed a little damp and I discovered that I had set the poor dear in the moss in an overflow from a spring. Now, to get her home quick and get her clothes dry! We all cared for her like a piece of rare china. I was young and strong, and grandma couldn’t climb very fast so I put her on my back with her bony legs sticking out thru my elbows. On the curve on the road, I met a strange man and he said, “What have we here?” I told him she was blind, and I had had her fishing. In later years when I knew him better, he said he questioned my sanity at that point. Grandma went to bed while I dried her clothes, and she never even caught a sneeze.

We had it for our secret as long as she lived.”

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6 • Fall, 2021 • Views of Dummerston

organizations Lydia Taft Pratt Library

Library Fosters and Supports a Sense of Community

by Dena Marger, LTP Librarian

If you ask almost anyone (who isn’t a librarian) what they think a library is, they will tell you it’s a place that houses books that are available to borrow. Most librarians, however, do not think of our libraries merely as book warehouses, and we certainly don’t think of ourselves as “warehousers of books” when we think about our jobs.

Recently, a Vermont librarian colleague

Sponsors Bruce & Catie Berg Gail & Lew Sorenson Barry & Elsa Waxman David & Nina Hutchison Kevin & Sara Ryan

spoke of a community member who had come to the library shortly after receiving a cancer diagnosis, saying that they “just didn’t want to be alone.” Almost every librarian has had the experience of being there to witness and assist people with deep emotional, economic, or health needs.

Another librarian said: “I think of the patrons we keep in touch with after they become homebound, patrons with family members in hospice, the folks who come in needing to make funeral arrangements for a loved one, or who are facing eviction and have no one else to help. Libraries do so much! Sometimes we share books, and often so much more.”

First and foremost, a public library exists to foster and support our community. Not everyone is a reader, but everyone can benefit from a space to learn, to be entertained, to interact with neighbors, and to access information. A community library exists for us all, and we always want to hear what our community members would like from the library. Obviously, we deal with space and financial/staffing limitations. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t always thinking about a future with a space more suited to meeting our community’s library needs, as well as the staffing to go with it.

As I write this, the summer has just come to a close with a fabulous event that the library hosted to wrap up our summer reading activities for children. Some fifty community members (split pretty evenly between parents and children) came out to see and learn about some of Vermont’s native animals and wildlife when we invited Mike Clough from the Southern Vermont Natural History Museum to visit us. In addition, our library participated in The Great Vermont Dragon Egg Hunt, an event conceived of by the Sherburne Memorial Library (Killington) in conjunction with the Vermont

Fairy Tale Festival. Over the course of the summer we hosted a weekly children’s story hour, and we have encouraged children to track their reading activities as part of the national Tails and Tales Summer Reading Program events. We posted a StoryWalk ™ on the fence outside our library, too. After having been shut down for most of a year, we decided to focus this summer on outdoor children’s programming.

But that’s not to say that everyone else got left in the dust! We recently acquired the equipment to make it possible to show movies outdoors on a large inflatable movie screen, and we showed two movies while the weather was good, aimed at attracting the interest of older children and, dare I even say it, teens! And, we’ve had an ongoing monthly book club for adults happening as well. Our book club has been meeting in person, but will likely move to an online (Zoom) format as the weather gets colder.

All of this is to say that the library is for YOU. We plan to show one more outdoor movie before the snow flies. (Hint: They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and ookie!) And, in the coming months we will be looking to improve our online offerings. We expect to be acquiring much better access to online eBooks and Audiobooks, accessed via an app and usable on an electronic device. We are also looking into the feasibility of acquiring access to an online streaming service. And, we will be launching our new library card campaign, designed to get a library card to as many Dummerston residents as we can. Library cards will be printed on hard plastic cards you can keep in your wallet with your library barcode right on it! Your barcode number is the necessary piece to use our online services. So, keep your ears alert for that! Winter is coming, folks, when it’s nice to sit by a cozy fire and listen to a really great audiobook!

Views of Dummerston • Fall, 2021• 7

organizations Community Center

Halloween Open House Returns!

By Ann Davis Falling leaves means autumn isn’t far behind. And that means Halloween! The Center is planning on having our usual open house this year. All the little ghosts and goblins are welcome to come and share our treats. Parents too, come on in and have a glass of cider and a donut and catch up on all the latest news with friends and neighbors.

The doors will open at 5:30 p.m. and we will close at 8:00 p.m.

The quarry wagon will be relocated to the Center in October so all may have a peek at it before it is covered for the winter. Construction of the structure to house the wagon has been put on hold until spring.

Moving right along into November, on Monday, November 1 at 7:00 p.m. Archer Mayor will join us for his entertaining book

talk on the newest Joe Gunther mystery, Marked Man. Come and meet our favorite author…he’s really great! We will have books available to purchase. An autographed copy makes a really special gift.

That’s it for now…

Remember to consider the Center when planning a get-together, party, workshop, class, or whatever the occasion when more space is needed. We have plenty of parking, a kitchen, playground, and we are handicapped-accessible so everyone can be invited. Call Jean to make your reservation at 802-254-9212.

Please remember to pick up after your four-legged friends because they are invited to play on our field too.

Many thanks to those of you who continue to support the Community Center. We wouldn’t be here without you.

Evening Star Grange

Grange Contributes to Homeless Meals

By Sallie May Secretary

It has been a busy summer for us here at Evening Star Grange. We continue to serve two senior meals to our loyal clientele each month, and have hosted four public suppers this summer, all of which were served as take-outs. However, with the lessening of COVID restrictions beginning in June, we opened up our indoor seating area to a few of our senior meals people who wanted to sit and chat while they ate with neighbors and friends whom they have not been able to be close to for the past year. Masks are optional, with most people still picking up and taking their meal home, but as many as 20-25 come inside and eat their “take-out” meal.

In August, Vermont Theatre Company held a single weekend (four shows) cabaretstyle musical show with limited seating, which was a very well received, excellentlydone showcase for the musical talent of some of our local thespians. The Grange provided some light refreshments during intermission and did quite well.

June and September had us doing “takeout chicken pie supper” with optional indoor seating. Our peach shortcake supper was

also take-out with a few more seated in house rather than not, and was also well received. Thanks to all of the folks who made this happen who are not Grangers. We could not do it without you.

We again had to cancel our craft fair in October due to the increase in variant infections in the area, and the church had to limit their apple pie festival to a drive-by.

In September, in conjunction with the church, we again are preparing and delivering one meal per month to the new homeless shelter on lower South Main. We will be feeding approximately 35 persons one meal per month, the third Monday each month.

If you would like to contribute toward this meal, get in touch with James Brown (802257-7816) or Sallie May (802-257-0387) or Rev. Dr. Shawn Bracebridge at 802-2570544 on how best you can help out.

Wishing all of you a peaceful and healthy fall. Enjoy life. Give generously, care deeply.

Richard Fletcher, foreground right , Rick Mills foreground left, Robin Ekstrom, background left, and Spencer Crispe, background right, are all knee-deep in mud building bridges along the Missing Link Trail. Other participants in the trail and kiosk building project are Frances Herbert, Snowball, Mary and Liz, Kate and Pete Dellner, Peter Wren, Geordie Heller, Adam Gilbert and Carolyn Mayo-Brown. Many thanks to Putney Mountain Association for their ongoing support of the Dummerston Missing Link trail.

Links are Forged Along the Missing Link Trail Robin Ekstrom gets muddy to put a section of bridge in place.

802-579-1474

8 • Fall, 2021 • Views of Dummerston

organizations Dummerston Cares

Cares Celebrates “Volunteer of the Season”

By Catie G. Berg

of spirit that has continued over the years.

Gurudharm helps clients of Senior Solutions with rides for shopping and medical appointments. He delivers Meals on Wheels in West Brattleboro, as well as food to clients of Groundworks Collaborative. Chances are that he has moved someone you know, perhaps in a wheelchair or on a stretcher, during his service as a transport assistant at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital.

Gurudharm has served the town of

The board of Dummerston Cares had the best problem—deciding which volunteer to celebrate this fall in the Views. We started this practice in the spring edition, giving our thanks to Lori Thibault and kids for Dummerston as a member of the selectboard delivering hundreds of meals from Everyone and as justice of the peace.

Eats!, a program that brought food to the As a years-long volunteer for Dummerston town’s center four evenings per week during Cares, Gurudharm has helped our Rides much of the pandemic. This project offered program by driving people to various appointfood security for some, ments, and has supported respite for essential our food program by delivworkers, and crucial ering meals from Everyone patronage for restauEats! in Brattleboro to rants in the area. In Dummerston Center for the summer edition of distribution. the Views, we thanked Gurudharm views the dedicated kitchen himself as a water protector crew that provides the by monitoring the West senior lunch at the River as it flows under Evening Star Grange the covered bridge. This on the second and work is part of the regular fourth Wednesdays of testing by the Souththe month. eastern Vermont WaterWe now thank the shed Alliance. His testing exemplary volunteer, for E. coli occurs during Gurudharm Khalsa! the summer’s swimming He’s been a resident season and reminds Gurudof West Dummerharm that water is life. ston village, with his When we at Dummerspouse, Catherine, for ston Cares describe our 17 years. Their son, work as “Helping Hands Ronan, works as assisfor Our Neighbors,” we tant athletic director certainly think of Gurudat Rider University in harm, and are thankful for New Jersey.

Gurudharm Khalsa of West Dummerston Village is Dummerston Cares exemplary volunteer all his selfless service to the photo by gurudharm community.

As a Sikh, Gurud- for the fall. harm performs “selfless service,” known as Seva, as a daily spiritual practice. Sikhism is the world’s fifth largest religion. Gurudharm also serves on the board students to be exposed to the highly transby Catie G. Berg of directors for Sikh Dharma of Massachusetts. missible Delta variant of COVID. Hence, Response ranged from “Good call!” to the good call to cancel.

This service demonstrates a generosity “That’s so disappointing!” These reactions The sponsor of the party, Dummerston to the cancellation of the End-of-Summer Cares, appreciates the enthusiastic response Party, scheduled for Sunday, September 12, of so many volunteers who helped plan the on the grounds of Dummerston School, were party. We knew we needed this! Hence, the right on target. disappointment.

Taking a cautious approach to the opening Not to worry! The party next time will occur month of school, administrators for the when the pandemic poses less threat. We’re Windham Southeast School District decided planning for next year. The party will be a Primary Care  Emergency Care  PT/OT to cancel large gatherings—except outdoor happy celebration of Dummerston’s whole Just up the road in Townshend sports. Viewing September as a time for community. We’ll revel with music, games, 365-7357 www.gracecottage.org prudence, officials didn’t want unvaccinated storytelling, food, and community pride.

Party Cancellation Turns to the Party Next Time

Views of Dummerston • Fall, 2021• 9

school news

School Opens with Everyone Present

By Julianne Eagan

also reveal new playground structures and outdoor learning spaces. The pandemic has fundamentally and permanently changed how On September 1, 2021, we welcomed all of we interact with the land that surrounds the our staff and students into Dummerston School building, and we are so excited about the for the first time since March 2020. Nearly energy and enthusiasm of our community as a month later, our gratitude for this fact has we embark upon a major redesign of these yet to fade, and we have been relishing our learning environments. Please take a walk time together. Thank you to everyone in the around the campus one weekend and visit our Dummerston community who has supported website at dummerston.wsesu.org to view our our students and school in ways both big plans for the outdoor space and learn how you and small. You have helped to keep us safe, can contribute. connected, and learning together, and we are The beginning of the year has brought new so grateful. faces to Dummerston School. Anna Bassett Dummerston School is a bustling place these is joining us as a new academic support days, both inside and outside the building. If teacher. Anna comes to us from Lincoln Street you have visited campus over the past month School in Exeter, NH, where she served as a or two, you may have noticed a brand-new reading specialist for seven years. Anna has silo located in the back of the building. Nearly also served as a literacy coach and reading complete, a wood pellet boiler will be heating recovery teacher, as well as kindergarten our school this winter and for many years to teacher, third-grade teacher, Title I reading and come. In addition, a visit to school would math teacher, and teacher ambassador fellow for the U.S. Department of Education.

Nicole Thomas is our new school guidance counselor.

Nicole recently graduated from the UMass School Counseling M.Ed./ Ed.S. program and completed her internship at Sheffield Elementary School in Turners Falls, MA, and South Hadley High School in South Hadley, MA. Nicole also worked for the last three years at Community House in Brattleboro, a residential program that focuses on the stabilization and assessment of children five to thirteen years old.

Our new kindergarten teacher is Hannah LindnerFinley. Hannah Walter Farm has a big heart and donated it to Dummerston School as an act of taught kindergarten love and appreciation for our school community. for four years at

photo by Julianne Egan

photo by Julianne Egan

Principal

Dummerston School PreK student Brayden shows off his really tall block tower in the Early Learning Center.

the Gordon School in East Providence, RI. Recently, she has supported both Putney Central School and The Grammar School in implementing nature-based practices, as well as serving as practicum advisor and instructor at Antioch University, and consultant for SAU 29 in Keene.

Kaitlin Tafe, our new special educator, continued on page 12

Macoun Apples • Apple Cider Fall Vegetables Open ‘Til Thanksgiving 10am-6pm Route 5, Dummerston

254-2051

10 • Fall, 2021 • Views of Dummerston Good Books

What I Read Last Summer

By Linda Rood The 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction was awarded to Louise Erdrich for The Night Watchman (HarperCollins 2020), her 17 th novel. This historical novel is inspired by the letters written by Erdrich’s grandfather, Patrick Gourneau, in the 1950s, describing his fight, as tribal chairman of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, to protect his tribe from the U.S. government’s attempt to terminate indigenous tribes through House Concurrent Resolution 108. The bill, passed in 1953, proposed that native tribes be “freed from Federal supervision,” losing their tribal status and made “full citizens.” What this meant was that longstanding treaties would be abandoned, tribal lands would be lost, and reservations and government services would cease to exist. It was an extension of Jim Crow disguised in noble-sounding legalese. The Turtle Mountain Band of North Dakota was one of the tribes that managed to survive this attack.

I have not been an enthusiastic fan of Erdrich’s work, although she is a highly respected and much acclaimed American author. This book, however, really captured me. First of all, the writing is beautifully honed, and I sometimes stopped to re-read a passage just to admire it. And, although there is a clear political agenda, the story is focused on the lovable main characters and the life of the reservation. Thomas Wazhashk, the title character based on Erdrich’s grandfather, works as night security for a jewel bearing factory which employs mostly native women (and which still exists). He is also tribal chairman. He spends his long, lonely nights in the factory conscientiously going about his duties, but also studying and writing letters, doing tribal business as well as long personal letters to loved ones. Thomas had been sent to one of the notorious government boarding schools and he writes his letters in the exquisite longhand script he learned there.

During the day, he takes care of community

Sponsors John & Karen Abel Arnold & Roberta Garland Orly Munzing & Bob Dunbar Mark and Lee Tice Fred Lee Bill & Kathleen Fleischmann

members in need, cares for his own family and small farming operation, and gets some sleep.

Thomas is kind, funny, decent, and quietly courageous. He recognizes the threat posed by the legislation he names the “Termination Bill” and throws himself into efforts to inform and organize his own tribe, and others, to fight back. He leads a delegation to Washington D.C. to testify before Congress. He is the voice of the political message of the novel, but is also a complex and endearing character.

Sharing the focus of the novel is Patrice “Pixie” Parenteau, a young woman who works in the factory, supporting her mother and younger brother. She is smart, serious, ambitious, as well as pretty and impressively physically strong. Through Patrice, we learn what a lifeline a job is to a family living in poverty, and the potentially dire consequences of losing even a day of work because of sickness or lack of transportation. Infusing some romantic comedy into the story, Patrice is the love interest of two young men in the community, Lloyd Barnes, a white math teacher and boxing coach, and Wood Mountain, a young Chippewa and the best boxer in the community. In a dark twist, Patrice’s sister Vera has disappeared, having gone off to “the Cities,” Minneapolis-St. Paul, to find work. The family has not heard from her in a while, and when their mother has a disturbing dream vision about Vera, Patrice sets off to find her, risking her own safety when she encounters the dark underworld of pimps and sordid criminals that have apparently ensnared her sister. Vera’s story is a deeply disturbing element of the novel, and is reflective of the longstanding and still current problem of disappearing and murdered young native women.

I am not doing justice to this good book. It is the most satisfying read I have had in a while, and at the end I felt like NYTimes reviewer Luis Alberto Urrea when he said, “I walked away from the Turtle Mountain clan feeling

Passings

deeply moved, missing these characters as if they were real people.” The novel, in the end, is about survival, hope, and redemption.

Erdrich herself said, “If you should be of the conviction that we are powerless to change… let this book give you heart.”

I also finally got around to reading Irish author Sally Rooney’s highly successful novel, Normal People (Faber&Faber Ltd., 2018).

Rooney, age 28 when this book was published, is touted as a “voice of the millennials,” providing a twenty-first century perspective on a universal coming-of-age theme.

Her characters are concerned about climate change, income inequality, and the evils of capitalism. They rely on email, Skype, and text messaging to communicate. It’s the story of Marianne Sheridan and Connell Waldron over four years. In high school, Marianne is a social outcast, raised in a wealthy though emotionally impoverished home. Connell is a popular athlete from a lower middle-class background, raised by a loving single mother who is also the Sheridans’ house cleaner.

Their disparate economic status continues to create barriers throughout the novel, but they are intellectual equals, both star students, and they find that they can talk to each other in a way that seems impossible with anyone else.

The novel follows them to Trinity University Dublin where their social standings are reversed. Marianne happily finds her social peers and Connell becomes the lonely outsider.

In high school, Connell and Marianne begin an intense and passionate love affair which they decide to keep secret, for fear of their peers’ derision. Theirs is a deep intimacy which is interrupted time and again by painful misunderstandings and betrayals. There are echoes of Jane Austen and Dickens here in the issues of love across class. Each has something the other needs to be complete; Connor offers kindness; Marianne provides (sometimes continued on page 11

Births Elliot Richard Perkins

Eleanor Ann Conard

6-10-2021

6-15-2021

Eleanor Taylor Therrien 6-18-2021

Usha Rikhye

8-7-2021

Oliver James Corner

6-27-2021

Grant Annis

8-11-2021

Emilia Jane Pacheco

7-27-2021

Views of Dummerston • Fall, 2021• 11

DV Fiber to Bring Fiber to Southern Vermont How’s Your Internet?

letter at DVFiber.net and stay informed.

Meeting agendas and minutes are also posted

By Eric Lineback online. All are welcome to attend meetings When will DVFiber service be available in person or remotely. to me? This is the question I hear most Want to get involved? This broadband frequently. My answer: “Not yet, but we’re project is staffed entirely by volunteers, getting closer.” which is a major undertaking! Fortunately, Following up on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Great Works Internet (GWI), DVFiber will sign a master services agreement that includes a series of continued from page 10 contracts called Statements of Work (SOWs) brutal) honesty. They were “like two little for pre-construction, construction, operation plants sharing the same plot of soil, growing of the network, and internet services for all around one another, contorting to make DVFiber customers. room, taking certain positions.” This novel By the time you read this article, we is sharply focused and delivered in clear, expect that DVFiber will have contracted incisive prose. There are no fillers, no compliwith GWI for pre-construction work to be cated plot line puzzles to keep track of. It’s an completed by January of 2022. Pre-construc- absorbing study of adolescent love, in the end tion will be supported by a state grant from a book about growing up. As one critic said, the newly formed Vermont Community it’s a “future classic.” I couldn’t put it down.

Broadband Board (VCBB), the five-member The excellent tv adaptation is now streaming panel responsible for seeing that the nine on Hulu, and I am savoring it. communications union districts (CUDs) By accident, I seem to have immersed across our state provide high-speed internet myself in tales of adolescent angst. I finished service to all unserved locations. Vermont’s a book when I was traveling, and to fill the goal is to ensure that all residents have gap a friend gave me her copy of Amy and access to 100/100 Mbps symmetrical service Isabelle (Vintage Books, 1998), the first no matter where they live. (See VT Act novel by Elizabeth Strout (author of Olive 71-2021.)

Kitteredge). This is the fifth of Strout’s books Pre-construction tasks include: I have read, and I am a staunch fan. For a High-level design for the network to first novel, this book is a remarkably skilled include all 24 DVFiber member towns; narrative, and perhaps the fact that the author Pole surveys for the roads and parts of was 42 when it was published has something towns included in phase I construction; to do with that.

Detailed design for fiber-to-the-premises Amy and Isabelle Goodrow are the title (FTTP) service in areas to be built first; characters; Amy is the shy teenaged daughter Pole use permits and make-ready require- of single mother Isabelle, a nervous, socially ments for installation of fiber. awkward, lonely woman trying to do her Phase I construction could begin early best to live a respectable life in a small New next year. Phase II construction will follow England mill town, Shirley Falls, Maine. They as soon as possible, depending on avail- live on the outskirts of town, fittingly. They able funding. This phase will include all seem to have only each other and exist in a remaining locations in our district that do not painful state of mutual need and isolation. already have 100/100 Mbps service.

Strout is a master at delineating the tensions, Learn more and get involved silences, and distances that can grow between a To get the latest news on pre-construc- mother and child, a focus of her later novels as tion progress and projected timelines for well. We don’t know the reasons for Isabelle’s construction, sign up for the DVFiber news- single status. As the novel opens, we don’t

many of these volunteers have vast experience in the field, which is enabling us to forge ahead with developing a strong partnership with GWI. Anyone interested in helping to make a better future for everyone in our community can contact me at eric. dvfiber@gmail.com and let’s talk!

What I Read Last Summer

Sponsors Carolyn Mayo Brown & Gregory Brown Len Oppenheim Tonia & Whit Wheeler Cheryl Wilfong & Bill McKim Mary Lou & Bill Schmidt

know the reasons for the estrangement that has grown between mother and daughter. Over the course of a brutally hot, rainless summer, the story is unpeeled. In the background, a local girl has been kidnapped and is still missing.

There have been multiple unsettling burglaries around town. Amy, bright but untutored, had become attracted to a friendly male teacher who took an interest in her and this eventually led to a completely inappropriate and sexual relationship. When this and all the lies that enabled it were discovered, the rift between Amy and her mother became a chasm. Strout manages to find a way to navigate resolutions for the problems of her anguished characters.

I like that about her work. Her characters are flawed, yet sympathetic. Strout toys with the tragic, but veers from the edge, and leaves us with survivors, somewhat ennobled by their ordeals and even with the suggestion that they will soon be happy. Isabelle reflects: “But what could you do? People kept going; they had been doing it for thousands of years.

You took the kindness offered, you carried it around with you, knowing that over time they might change into something almost bearable.”

Be on the lookout this fall for new books coming out by Sally Rooney (Beautiful World, Where Are You?); Colson Whitehead (Harlem Shuffle); Richard Powers (Bewilderment); Anthony Doerr (Cloud Cuckoo Land); Amor Towles (The Lincoln Highway); and Jonathan Franzen (Crossroads).

And please don’t forget: I would love to hear from you about your favorite books from 2021 for the winter Views readers’ choice column. Email me at turood802@gmail.com, or give me a call 257-5608. And thanks!

12 • Fall, 2021 • Views of Dummerston

continued from pae 9 comes to us from Braintree, MA Public Schools where she served as special educator at the middle and elementary school level for thirteen years and was a member of the diversity, equity, and inclusion steering committee.

I am also excited to share that Marie Wright will be staying with us as our special educator at Dummerston School. Marie served as our remote special educator last year; prior to that, she served as academic support teacher at Oak Grove School before becoming a special educator at Guilford Central School.

Susan Gunther-Moore is filling a new position at Dummerston School, that of school social worker. Susan comes to us from Windham Central Supervisory District where she served as school social worker for the last ten years. Susan specializes in providing direct support to families, as well as students individually and in groups. She has extensive experience and training in teaching mindfulness as well as supporting teachers in understanding and implementing trauma-informed approaches and restorative justice practices.

Susan will be splitting her time between Dummerston and Putney Central Schools.

We are also so happy to expand our farmto-school work this year with the help of Tara Gordon who will be working with fourthgrade teacher Molly Stoner to coordinate activities and learning opportunities in our school garden. Tara is a mother of two, has a multidisciplinary background in the biological sciences, and serves as garden coordinator at multiple schools across the district. Tara finds gardening to be a wonderful way to instill a sense of purpose, grow awareness of our place

photo by Julianne Egan

School Opens with Everyone Present

Facilities manager Dan Bailey finishines tightening up the straps of a new outdoor climbing element in the Early Learning Center forest classroom while PreK teacher Molly Oglesby and students look on.

in nature, cultivate our curiosity and creativity as caregivers, and develop a closer interrelationship with the natural world.

Without a doubt, we continue to confront challenging circumstances we had hoped to leave behind with the close of last school year. However, we all learned so much last year - most especially from our students whose unstoppable joy, wonder, creativity, kindness, and enthusiasm were an inspiration to us every

day. It remains an honor for us to partner with all of you in support of the Dummerston School community, and we look forward to embarking on another school year together.

Our next Dummerston Leadership Council is Thursday, October 14th, at 6 p.m. on Zoom and in person. We welcome and encourage all community members to join us. Please see our school website at dummerston.wsesu.org for Zoom links and agendas.

Sponsors Meg Murtha Jack & Judy Davidson Tom Zopf Winifred Vogt Joe & Anne Little Doug and Ann Kroc photo by Julianne Egan

Naturally Grown Vegetables Free Choice CSA Raw Honey 440 Miller Rd, E. Dummerston VT www.fullplatefarmers.com

Third-grade teacher Kathy Evans and students observe a newly hatched monarch caterpillar as part of their study of the life cycle.

Views of Dummerston • Fall, 2021• 13

Views from Prospect Hill, Then and Now

Views from the top of Prospect Hill on April 6, 2020 View to the west (above): Mount Snow with ski trails still snow-covered, and the pyramid-shaped top of Haystack to its left View to the east (below): From left to right, Jean Bombicino, Linda Rood, Eliza and Cliff Bergh (sitting on the John Evans bench), and Jim Bombicino (kneeling) rest after the hike up to the top of Prospect Hill with Mount Monadnock behind them.

photo by Carolyn Mayo Brown

The view from Prospect hill is always pleasing, and at this season of the year, May 27th, when the fields and pastures are green with fresh grass, the forests clothed with new leaves and the fruit trees in full bloom, the survey is truly delightful. Prospect is nearly 200 feet higher than the beautiful hill where the Central village stands below, and almost overlooks Black mountain on the southwest in the West river valley. From its summit ten churches are visible in the several villages exposed to view. A part of the thriving village of Brattleboro can be seen six miles southward. The Green Mountains terminate the view in the west and gradually slope downward to the valley between, fertilized by West river. that rushes on in its rapid course until it unites with the Connecticut a few miles to the south, and destined some day not far distant to furnish a path for the swift locomotive that carries wealth and enterprise whereever it speeds. The blue Ascutney rises prominent in the scenery 40 miles away to the north, and the woodland hills fade into the horizon far beyond. The granite hills of New Hampshire extend along the eastern sky and the grey old turret of Mt. Monadnock rears in sight far above the neighboring summits. A rich and beautiful valley intervenes, through which flow the tranquil waters of the Connecticut as they roll silently on to the broad ocean. These are some of the principal features of the surrounding landscape.

Consider, also, the cultivated fields, the numerous farmdwellings, dotting the hillsides, the grassy plains and the fertile meadows and many pleasing objects, too numerous for description, and it can well be said that the view is charming.

photo by Carolyn Mayo Brown

From The history of the town of Dummerston, by David Lufkin Mansfield (published in 1884)

14 • Fall, 2021 • Views of Dummerston

It Hit Us Harder Than Irene continued from page 1 water flowing across the area just below our driveway. The water wasn’t pooling this time thanks to the wide opening of the new culvert, but the sheer volume of it was causing a broad, rushing flood. Continuing around to the side where the brook comes closest to the house, we looked down into an unbelievable torrent, the surface of which was only a little more than two yards below the level of the yard. The bank was holding, but it was terrifying. The noise we noticed? The water was sweeping huge boulders down the stream bed, and they were thudding along, knocking into the ledge of the stream bed.

The most damage caused by Day Brook was at the top of Hague Road where, near its very source, it had gathered enough water to overwhelm the culvert and wash out the road.

And throughout Dummerston, the volume of water that rained out of the sky that day created havoc with our road system.

Road foreman Lee Chamberlin was on vacation in Maine on the day of the storm, but that evening he got a call from road crew member Tyler Lynch telling him that he had gotten a call about problems on Camp Arden Road.

Lee called Lewis White and asked him to call out the crew. As Lewis drove around, it became clear to him that, “This storm hit us harder than Irene,” and he and Tyler started calling contractors to get them working on the numerous washouts, with the intention that the roads could be passable by the next morning. “We were right on it calling the contractors, so we got them before the other towns did,” Lewis told me. The town crew

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worked more than twenty hours that Friday.

The contractors included Brian Barrows of Woody’s Excavating who worked on Stickney Brook Road, Glabach Excavating on Camp Arden Road, and Chris Bell Excavating who worked on Canoe Brook Road. Derrig Excavating did Waterman Road, Evans Construction did Spaulding Hill and Park Laughton Roads, Zach Grover repaired the top of Hague Road and a culvert on Quarry Road, and Renaud Tree Service cleaned up the huge tree that was undermined from the bank of the Salmon Brook and fell across the bridge at the intersection of East-West and School House Roads.

I did a drive-about the day after the storm in my little four-wheel drive truck, first heading up Camp Arden Road. Straight off, the start of the road had been washed away by water pouring down from Green Mountain Camp Road. That washout had been roughly filled in and was passable. At the end of the flat before starting up the hill, what was normally a little rivulet had swelled with a volume of water that also cut across and washed out the road. This had likewise been roughly filled in and was passable.

Further along at the culvert for Falls Brook, just past a sign that said “Road Closed,” a little machine from Glabach’s was putting a rough grade on a dump of gravel that had filled in a long washout there. I pressed on, cresting the hill just past the paved portion of the road high above the West River, then headed down the other side where another washout, at the location of another otherwise unremarkable rivulet, had been filled in. So I’d made it to the Farwells’ driveway, at the former Camp Arden, where machinery in the road ahead prevented any further forward progress. The Farwells’ driveway crosses what amounts to an approximately forty-foot earthen dam, bridging a gully between the road and the home site. There had been a couple of two-foot culvert pipes through this “dam” to allow the passage of water flowing down what is normally a pretty quiet stream along the upper portion of Camp Arden Road. Well, there was about a twenty-foot-wide section of the driveway

Wr i t e for the

Views

totally washed away, through a gash that was about fifteen feet deep. Sam Farwell told me that it’s clear that they now need a bridge across that gully.

Ed Anthes and Mary Ellen Copeland live at Deer Run Farm, nearly at the end of Camp Arden Road, before it narrows and proceeds another half mile to two houses at the very end of the road. “A big section of the road got washed out between Sam’s and Hector’s driveways,” Mary Ellen told me, referring to the quarter mile stretch of road past where I had to park in the Farwells’ driveway. “And just before you get to our house there was a six-foot wide by four-to-five-foot-deep chasm in the road. Also, we have a brook that goes down the far side of our house. The brook hopped out of its bank and created a new stream bed, then when it got down to the road, the water turned down the road headed toward Patriquins’ and washed out about 400 feet.”

Eventually Glabach’s crew worked its way up to Deer Run Farm. “They worked on the road during the day, then made it passable for us at the end of the day. Lewis told us our road was a high priority because there is no other way out. We were in bad shape. We were okay, other than missing the farmer’s market on Saturday. If we had had an emergency, it would have been difficult.”

When I turned around from the Farwells’ driveway, I decided to go up Hague Road and check out Falls Brook Road where it was clear that water had run rampant both in the brook and along the edge of the road. Houses across the brook from the road were now isolated above the distorted path of the brook. Travis Bristol got a call for his excavating service from 89-year-old Tony Ash who lives at the end of the road, with a driveway which crosses the brook over a culvert. The culvert was washed away, and Tony was stranded. Travis was able to rig up a walking bridge for Tony’s immediate needs, and within the next couple of weeks was able to build a new bridge for the driveway. Also, following a plan approved by Scott Jensen, a state river engineer, and with a permit to work in the actual stream bed, Travis worked to restore the brook to the path upon continued on page 15

The Views mission statement, written by our founder Mary Lou McBean, includes the phrase, “All who read may also contribute.” Since publishing our anniversary issue, we have gratefully received several unsolicited articles, including a poem! We appreciate people taking the time to write something about our beloved town, so please consider writing something yourself or suggesting an article idea and sending it to us.

Views of Dummerston • Fall, 2021• 15

It Hit Us Harder Than Irene continued from page 14 which the road’s housing has been developed.

Referring to his difficulty finding the materials he’d have chosen to use for the work he did, Travis said, “We did the best we could, and we have to help our neighbors. Everybody was busy, including me, but you can’t not help when something like that happens.”.

My four-wheel drive came in handy when I left Falls Brook Road and continued up Hague Road. There are some steep driveways near the top, and water had washed down them, then down the road toward the washed-out Day Brook culvert further ahead, where the town road crew and Zack Grover were at work. I managed to turn around and get back down the road, headed for Stickney Brook.

I turned up Stickney Brook Road from Route 30. After crossing the brook and starting up toward Leonard Road, I noticed pretty quickly that I was driving on a new road surface and the field below the road was littered with gravel. It was a long stretch of road that had been washed out, but repaired in remarkably quick order.

Sue and Tim Janos live just below the intersection of Leonard Road and Stickney Brook Road. They could hear the roar of water coming down through the brook all night, and the pounding of rocks being swept along in the water. They became aware of lights and equipment working at 11:30 or 12 midnight.

The next day they could see the extent of the damage. “We’re lucky the culvert on Leonard Road got washed out so the water went out into the road and not down through our yard,” Sue told me. But the damage to Stickney Brook Road was so extensive that instead of using her driveway out to Stickney Brook Road, she had to drive across her yard and up on to Leonard Road.

That was the end of my tour for that day.

But I had also heard that Canoe Brook had

2022 Scenes of DummerstonCalendar Now on Sale Make sure to get yours at the Town Office or by calling Jody Normandeau (380-9027) or Gail Sorensen (254-9311)

done some damage at the bottom of Greenhoe Road. Canoe Brook drains another large basin which extends up along West Hill Road, then up Putney Mountain. I gave a call to my friend Cliff Bergh who lives just above the intersection of Greenhoe and Canoe Brook Roads.

“The culverts on our road didn’t wash away, but the water poured over the road and washed it out. The town came in right away; by the end of the next day we were able to get down the road, and by the end of two days we could do it comfortably. The contractor who was working on it said he hadn’t slept for a couple of nights.

They did a really good job.”

Salmon Brook also did some damage. Lee mentioned in the conversation we had that it had torn across Bunker Road, making a big mess there in addition to the damage down by School House Road where it had cut into its southern bank and taken down that big tree.

It’s been interesting collecting all the information for this story, and studying the maps of Dummerston to see where the streams flow.

I recommend that you choose the “terrain” option on Google maps, and notice the big bowls of land that feed into the major brooks in town – Stickney, Falls, Day, Salmon, and Canoe Brooks. The Windham Regional Commission has been of great assistance to the towns in the area, mapping culverts, and helping them to plan for upgrading their capacity to manage water. Culverts have been upgraded, roads crowned, and side ditches deepened and widened and lined with rip-rap.

If you drive on the section of Green Mountain Camp Road between the Hague Road and Camp Arden Road, you can see where all these water management improvements have been made, and that steep stretch of road handled this storm with no problems. Finally, we’re fortunate to have a dedicated, hardworking road crew who are greatly deserving

of our gratitude and our support. In addition to foreman Lee Chamberlin, the full-time crew includes Wayne Holden, Tyler Lynch, and Chip Hellus. Ron Hubbard, Lewis White, and Matt Bolster also pitch in on an as-needed basis. Everybody except Lee and Wayne, who were on vacations, worked that night of the storm.

Town Clerk Laurie Frechette wanted to emphasize what an “amazing job” Lewis did, jumping right in to manage the cleanup in Lee’s absence. “He was here in the office at 7 in the morning when I came in. He was in touch with all the contractors and knew where they were and what they were doing. Afterwards he sat with (treasurer) Charlotte (Annis) and went through the invoices making sure the contractor and materials suppliers invoices matched up which is necessary for our FEMA application, and sometimes they didn’t.” And speaking of bills, the cost of materials and contractor invoices came to about $170,000, which doesn’t include the overtime expense for town employees. Details of how the costs of the storm will be addressed are included in the selectboard article.

The town got hit hard, but our sense of community which prioritizes the importance of helping our neighbors, the solid relationships we’ve built with local contractors, the willingness of people like Lewis, who has been on the selectboard, to continue to serve the town, the importance the town has accorded to implementing recommendations to address the escalating impacts of our changing climate, all contributed to a pretty quick recovery from that very challenging storm.

FRENCH & FRENCH ATTORNEYS AT LAW 802 • 254 • 9000

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Office in Brattleboro

Sponsors Debbie & Dennis Baker Eleanor & Charles Fish Jan & Todd Brown Teri Robinson Marguerite Demotte Sallie May

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Dummerston Meetings Please note that these meetings will not be taking place at their usual locations. Please refer to the town web site, www.Dummerston.org, for updated information.

NAMES & TIMES & NUMBERS

Town Meetings Selectboard

Every other Wednesday

Planning Commission 1st Tuesday

6:00 pm 6:30 pm

Conservation Commission 6:00 pm 2nd Thursday

Community Center Jean Momaney 254-9212 Conservation Commission Web site: www.dummerstonconservation.com Dummerston Cares Message line & Fuel Assistance 258-5800, email: info@dummerstoncares.org,, web site: wwwdummerstoncares.org Dummerston School 254-2733 Web site www.dummerston.wsesu.org Evening Star Grange Carol Lynch 254-2517 or mrgjb@sover.net Fire Chief Rick Looman 258-1731 Fire Warden Ted Glabach 384-6994 Deputy Fire Warden Allen Pike 258-0100 ydia Taft Pratt Library L

258-9878 Hours: Tue. 2-6; Wed. 1-5; Thu. 1-5; Sat. 10–1 Web site: library.dummerston.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/dummerstonlibrary email: dummerstonvtlibrary@gmail.com Meals on Wheels Cynthia Fisher 257-1236 Selectboard selectboard@dummerston.org

Senior Solutions Carol Lynch 254-2517 Springfield Office 800-642-5119 Town Garage Lee Chamberlin 254-2411 Town Office Laurie Frechette 257-1496 email: townclerk@dummerston.org Veterans Assistance Contact Dummerston Cares message line or email.

Vermont Theatre Company 258-1344 Views of Dummerston views@viewsofdummerston.org WSESU 254-3730 Websites: Official Town www.dummerston.org Municipal Calendar http://calendar.dummerston.org Local Interest www.dummerston.com Senior Lunches Evening Star Grange, 2nd and 4th Wednesday; Reservations for in-house or take-out meals Call 254-1138 by 6 PM Tuesday, leave message

The Front Porch Forum

online at www.frontporchforum.com

Energy Committee 1st Monday

6:00 pm

Development Review Board 7:00 pm 3rd Tuesday at the town office

Community Center

7:00 pm

PTFO

6:00 pm

WSESD

6:00 pm

1st Monday at the Community Center

3rd Thurs. at the Dummerston School Library 1st & 3rd Wed., revolving locations

Dummerston School Leadership Council 1st Thursday

Historical Society

7:30 pm

3rd Thursday of Jan./April/July/Oct. at the Dummerston Historical Society

Senior Congregate Meal

Information/reservations:Grange 254-1138