This Week’s News
Brandon passes budget on first try
In a marked contrast to last year’s drawn-out budget woes, Brandon voters approved the proposed 2025-2026 budget on the first attempt by almost a 2-to-1 margin.
Ethier, Haylon, and Reniche-Smith prevail in Brandon race
After a particularly crowded race, with six candidates vying for three available seats, Ralph Ethier, Jeff Haylon and Cecil Reniche-Smith will join the Brandon Selectboard this month.
5th officer to leave Brandon PD since December
Another Brandon PD officer, Corporal Michael VonSchleusingen, has tendered his resignation, bringing to 5 the number of officers that have left Brandon PD since December.
Names lost in Vermont, Part 44: Poro, Shoro, Gallipo, and Sharrow
The first three surnames, all ending with “o,” represent modified spellings from their original Québec names. Remarkably, all three families hail with the throng of émigrés from St. Hyacinthe who settled in our area.
An evening of short plays comes to Otter Valley this weekend
This coming weekend, Otter Valley Union High School welcomes Walking Stick Theatre Company’s annual production of short plays (also known as “The One-Acts”).
Photos of the Week
Sports
Otter Valley defeats Hartford, 36–34
The Otter Valley girls basketball team defeated the visiting Hartford Hurricanes, 36-34, on Friday, January 28 at the “House of Noise” in Brandon.
OV, Proctor, Westside winter sports teams kick-off the season
The COVD-shortened winter of the 2020-21 high school sports season is behind us, and the teams at Otter Valley are happy about that. The pandemic forced the school’s basketball programs, like those elsewhere, to play abbreviated seasons, and wrestling was sidelined for the entire season.
OV girl’s basketball drops opener
In a hard-fought season opening game in which the teams traded game-changing runs, the host Middlebury Union girls’ basketball team put together the decisive surge to outlast Otter Valley, 35-28.
Six Otters named to Second Team All-Stars
After a successful season this fall, 10 members of the Otter Valley football team received postseason recognition from the Division III coaches.
OV beats Mill River in quarterfinal, 12-6
The third-seeded Otter Valley football team outlasted visiting No. 6 Mill River, 12-6, on Saturday in a Division III quarterfinal and will play No. 2 Fairfax in a semifinal this coming Saturday.
