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
OV coaches named coach of the year, other Otters make All-MVL teams
By RUSSELL JONES Six members of the Otter Valley baseball and softball teams were selected to the 2019 All-MVL teams, and OV softball coaches Kelly Trayah and Toni Poalino were selected as MVL Coaches of the Year. On the baseball diamond, seniors Josh Beayon, Reilly Shannon, Patrick McKeighan and Nate Hudson were selected for first […]
Slaters top Otters, 3-1
Controversial call ends OV’s title chances By Andy Kirkaldy An Otter Valley Union High School baseball team led by seven multi-year senior starters compiled an outstanding 18-win season this spring. But on Friday night the 19th, and most important, victory slipped out of the top-seeded Otters’ grasp in the Division II final in Burlington at […]
OV’s ‘comeback magic’ fizzles against Mt. Abe, 9-1
By RUSSELL JONES The Otter softball team has brought a kind of magic with them throughout the Division II playoffs. Comeback magic. They were down in every game they’ve played this postseason. Yet, no team has been able to top them on the scoreboard when it’s all said and done. That is, until they ran […]
West Rutland defeats Blue Mountain 19-9 in finals matchup
By RUSSELL JONES In many ways, what played out on Spartan Field in Castleton on Saturday, June 8, was very familiar for West Rutland fans. Just like in Barre for the basketball state final, the two teams fighting it out were the same, many of the players were the same, and West Rutland raised the […]
Otters comeback again in semis, ready for finals
By RUSSELL JONES The Otter Valley softball team hosted their third playoff game and for the third straight game they raised the collective blood pressures of their coaches and fans as they came back from the brink of elimination to win against U-32 by a score of 11-10. In what has become typical fashion for […]
