This Week’s News
OV football stuns BFA Fairfax; will play division championship
Last Saturday, in a show of outstanding football, the Otter Valley Otters defeated the BFA Fairfax Bullets in a show of stellar offense and gutsy defense. On a raw day with occasional sleet, a crowd of 300 showed up in Fairfax to witness the semifinal game which looked to be a sure thing for the Bullets, who were undefeated at 10-0 versus the Otters at 5-4.
After 36 years of service, Steve Cijka retires as Brandon’s wastewater chief
Brandon has 22 miles of sewer pipes and Steve Cijka has been responsible for every last inch of them since July 5, 1988. Whenever a Brandonite takes a shower, washes their dishes, or uses the restroom, Mr. Cijka has made sure that the wastewater thus generated is collected and treated before being released back into the wild.
Brandon Budget meeting focuses on process
After last budget season’s conflicts and disappointments, the Brandon Budget Committee and the Brandon Selectboard are taking a different approach to their task this year.
Names lost in Vermont, Part 36: Wideawake, Morris, Brooks, and Smart
Over twenty-five years ago, after reading one of Christian Wideawake’s by-lines from the Rutland Herald, I commented to George Valley, “I wonder if Wideawake is a Native American surname?” George, raised in a Francophone family, did not speak English until he went to school. He said, “I bet it was Leveillé.”
Photos of the Week
Sports
Otter Valley wins on Senior Night
The Otter women welcomed the Wasps of Woodstock to Senior Night at the “House of Noise” on Friday, February 11 before a raucous crowd.
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.