Previous brushes with the Daunais surname [Marguerite Daunais was the mother of Augustin Gingras aka Austin Shangraw, Lost Names in Vermont, Part 10] made me wonder if the surname Doaner evolved from Daunais.

Almost everyone in the Brandon area has been touched in one way or another by Naylor & Breen, the construction company founded by Rob Naylor and Peter Breen in 1978.

In last week’s primary, three-term incumbent Democrat Stephanie Jerome won the right to seek a fourth term representing Brandon in Montpelier, while Brandon resident Todd Nielsen mounted a successful write-in campaign on the Republican side.

Vermont has a national reputation for progressive politics with an emphasis on individual freedom. But there have been eras in Vermont’s past, even within living memory, when the state itself took actions that seemed to run completely counter to today’s commitment to civil rights.