This Week’s News
Proctor settles on concept for town office
By RUSSELL JONES The Proctor Selectboard has settled on a design concept, the eleventh draft so far, for renovating the town offices to make them handicap accessible. They met for a special meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 6, to discuss what the selectboard and the designing firm said was a nearly finished design. “A lot of […]
Test scores show students close to poverty falling behind their peers
Free and reduced lunch program comes under fire By RUSSELL JONES A snapshot from the state of how local schools performed on state tests show a sharp disparity in performances between those on free and reduced lunches and those who are not on the program. Now, a new change in federal law could compound that […]
The Brandon Buzz
A tribute to Art Doty By BEN LAWTON Art Doty was indeed the father of mosquito control in the Otter Creek valley. During the early 70s, the Lake Dunmore /Fern lake Association had been doing some mosquito control, albeit primitive by modern standards. The group involved in the spraying asked Art if he would be […]
Youth Conservation Corps makes trails, bridges through marsh
By RUSSELL JONES WEST RUTLAND — A small group of dedicated youth have spent the past two weeks toiling in the hot sun, braving mud and mosquitos, to improve the quality of the trails in the West Rutland marsh. The Vermont Youth Conservation Corps has been working on a project in the area to clean […]
Otter Creek wetlands class change altered after opposition
By RUSSELL JONES BRANDON — The steering committee that has been working to reclassify the Otter Creek wetlands from a Class II wetlands to a Class I wetlands announced this past week that they would be seeking to change the classification only for parcels of land that have willing landowners. The move comes after the […]
Photos of the Week
Sports
Fall Sports Preview: Phantoms program ‘building nicely’ with eight returning
The Proctor boys’ soccer team, currently 3-0, is young but relatively experienced — only 3 seniors are back to lead the team this year — but coach Chad Wilson feels his program is building nicely. They have 19 players on the team, up from 14 last season.
Fall Sports Preview: Young Otters lineup looks to build solid foundation
Four years ago, Dick Williams began his tenure as the Otter Valley boys’ soccer coach with an almost blank slate. He worked to develop his players and over the years it started to show some success.
Fall Sports Preview: Horde on the hunt for third 2019 state title
The girls program at West Rutland has been dominating Division IV for months. After running through playoffs and capturing a state title in hoops last winter, they took to the diamond and brought home another state trophy in softball in the spring.
Fall Sports Preview: Phantoms look to ‘head in’ to finals for third time in a row
The Proctor Phantoms girls’ soccer team is hoping that the third time is the charm. They’ve lost in the state finals game to Arlington two years in a row by the score of 3-0, but this year head coach Chris Hughes is excited about the upcoming season.
Fall Sports Preview: OV girls ready to face challenges of Division II
The Otter Valley girls’ soccer team has high expectations for themselves. Led by veteran coach John White, the girls’ team petitioned the VPA to move up to Div. II from Div. III because they wanted a bigger challenge.