Morgan Kimberlee Crossman Completes Masters Degree

Morgan Kimberlee Crossman, (RHS '03, URI '07) completed her Masters Degree in Early Childhood Development at Boston College in 2009 and worked at Boston Children's Hospital as Coordinator of three research projects for the past 15 months. She recently began her PhD studies at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA, continuing her research in Children with Disabilities and Special Healthcare Needs while working toward her Doctorate in Social Policy. Morgan is the daughter of Randy & Karen Levins Crossman of Rutland Town, and has a younger brother, Dustin (a Studio Art major at UVM).

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Chairs for the Chaffee -- A Chair-ity Event to benefit the Chaffee Art Center

Plans are underway for Chairs for the Chaffee, a dinner and auction "chair-ity" event to benefit the Chaffee Art Center. This will be on Sunday, October 24, 2010 at the Holiday Inn in Rutland, Vermont. The event will feature a silent auction from 4 to 6 pm and a live auction, recognition and dinner from 6 to 8 pm.

The Chaffee Art Center is one of the oldest arts organizations in the state, and has been providing Vermonters and visitors with opportunities to learn about and experience the visual arts for nearly fifty years. The Chairs for the Chaffee event will raise funds to support its 2011 operations. The Chaffee needs community support to make this event successful and continue with its mission of promoting the arts in our region.

Volunteers are gathering donations of auction items. They are looking for sports tickets, concert tickets, vacation stays, artwork, gift certificates for dinners, services, etc. If you would like to make a donation of an auction item, please call the Chaffee Art Center at (802) 775-0356.

Invitations for the event will be sent out soon, call the Chaffee (802) 775-0356 or email info@chaffeeart
center.org to be sure you are on the mailing list.

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Emergency Notifications in the Event of a Problem at the Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility

The Vermont Department of Corrections is mandated to provide Notification to its surrounding Communities of any Emergency Situation at its Correctional Facilities. The Marble Valley Correctional Facility Community includes Rutland and the Surrounding Communities.

The Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility is in the process of updating its Community Notification System. The system enables the Facility to instantly notify all subscribers to the system of any Emergency at the facility. Notification is made via Telephone to a number that you provide to us.

We have also donated this service to the Local Emergency Planning Committee (#2) for use during any Community Emergency Situations such as Natural Disasters or other Emergencies requiring Immediate Community Notification. The LEPC#2 serves all of Rutland County.

If you wish to subscribe to this system, which is Free of Charge, please contact: Don Nicoll, CO II, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility, 802 786 5830, don.nicoll@ahs.state.
vt.us

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Jay Hathaway Memorial Scholarship Helps Students attend Governor’s Institute on the Arts

One of Dorset’s most prominent citizens has been memorialized in a scholarship fund that allows high school students to attend the Governor’s Institute on the Arts.

Jay Hathaway died unexpectedly last September while bicycling with his grandson near his Dorset home. At the time of his passing he was a trustee of the Vermont Arts Council and the Executive Director of the Manchester in the Mountains Regional Chamber of Commerce. He and his wife, Terri, ran Peltier’s Market for many years and he was often referred to as the “unofficial mayor” of Dorset.

Last spring the Vermont Arts Council received an anonymous gift of $10,000 to create a memorial to Jay. His family decided that the best way to honor his spirit and imagination was to provide opportunities for young people to tap into their own creativity. The Governor’s Institute on the Arts had provided that for members of Jay’s family so they suggested the fund be used to help others attend.

For the next four years, four students each year will receive scholarships to attend the Arts program at the Governor’s Institutes of Vermont. GIV was created to provide intellectually and artistically challenging summer residency programs for high schools students. Students in grades 9-11 can attend Institutes lead by professionals in Arts, Math, Science and Technology, Asian Studies, Engineering, Information Technology and Current Issues and Youth Activism.

The Arts Institute is the oldest and largest and is held on the campus of Castleton State College. A typical day includes community chorus, classes led by teaching artists, workshops led by students, staff and faculty, and time to get to know other participants from around the state.

Marissa Achee of Rochester, VT was one of this year’s scholarship recipients. “My time at Governor’s Institute on the Arts can only be described with one word: magical,” she said. “Every morning waking up and being around people who, like me, are committed to being part of and creating art was magical. Every day since leaving GIA I have used the skills I gained from my teachers and peers...it has changed every fiber of my being.”

Karen Taylor-Mitchell, Executive Director of the Governor’s Institutes said the scholarship “has left an indelible mark on another generation of artists. The legacy created in his honor ensures that teenagers throughout our rural state can unite over common passions.”

“I can’t imagine a more fitting way to memorialize Jay,” said Vermont Arts Council Executive Director Alex Aldrich. “His own creative spirit was magnetic; his desire to share life’s good things with others was irresistible. Every day brought new ideas, new perspectives, and new opportunities. This is also the essence of the Governor’s Institute on the Arts.”

For more information on the Governor’s Institute on the Arts, visit www.giaofvt.org.

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Randall Drive-In Theatre Cartoon Night and Food Drive

Randall Drive-In Theatre in Bethel, Vermont will hold its annual Cartoon Night and Food Drive will be held on September 11th this year. Free full feature cartoon with donation of non-perishable food item to be donated to local food shelves. (at least one item per person in vehicle) Ticket booth for donations will be open at 6:30 Concession bus will be open at 7pm and through the movie selling at 1/2 off regular prices. This year's movie is Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!

The Randall Drive-In Theatre is located on Route 12 in Bethel, between Randolph and Bethel. For information call 802-234-7220.

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Rutland Railroad Day 2010

The Rutland Railway Association has announced its Rutland Railroad Day 2010 for September 18, 2010 at the Center Rutland Depot, 79 Depot Lane, Center Rutland, Vermont (next to the Carris Reels plant)from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M.

This year’s goal for the day is to gain funds to repaint the depot.

TheRutland Railroad Museum will be open and a new exhibit featuring the depot in Rutland City will be on display.

Progress on the restoration of Rutland Railroad caboose #45 can also be viewed.

The main feature of the event will be model railroad vendors. So if you are into model trains or are thinking of building your own layout and need supplies, cars, etc. this is the time to come and peruse what is available or special order that special item that you need.

The benefit barbeque will also be available with hamburgs, hot dogs, and cool drinks.

A live steam railroad engine will be featured by member Matt Rockwell.

The club is also looking for other live steam exhibits for the day. So if you have or know of someone who would like to demonstrate a steam machine, please contact Matt Rockwell@ 802-775-2074.

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Meet Bob Firpo at Grabowski’s

Longtime explosives expert and automotive Internet representative Bob Firpo is enjoying his time lately at Grabowski’s Stand on Route Seven, North Main Street in Rutland. Firpo has been selling fresh produce for the popular farm, prior to that he had an extensive automobile background and has performed many of the explosive scenes for Edgewood Studios films. Sam’s Good News Photo

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Un-Fair Memories

By Rosemary Finley

This is the time of year that people in our area happily recall past Vermont State Fairs. Everyone has a favorite childhood Fair story. You know like the time they snuck into the girlie show back in the “good old days” or the time cousin Charley ate six hot dogs and then took a ride on the octopus, oops! There have even been books and short stories that include fond references to the annual fair held in Rutland. My own childhood memories of the Fair are pretty bleak. They consist mostly of pressing my nose to the car window to catch a glimpse of the roustabouts setting up the midway rides and concessions as I passed the fairgrounds on my way home from my summer vacation.

For me the coming of the Fair to Rutland meant my summer was over and I had to head home to Connecticut to get ready for the first day of school. The timing was such that my family could never stay in Vermont for the opening day. The best I could hope for was that one of the adult family members would be kind enough to drive a carload of kids into Rutland from Pittsford so we could watch the colorful Fair equipment being unloaded and assembled the day before we headed home.

When I was very young my family left Vermont and moved to Connecticut to work in the defense plants making equipment for the war effort, that’s World War II. My mother was a native of Pittsford and every year during the last week in August we traveled to her old family home, the house that my grandmother had once run as the Beautyrest Inn at the foot of the hill in Pittsford, across Route 7 from what was then Parker’s Butcher Shop.

Our trip to Vermont usually started in the middle of the night because my father worked second shift and we would leave when he got home. It took much longer to make the trip from Connecticut to Vermont in those days, there were no interstate highways and cars were not as speedy. I could never sleep on the trip, I was too excited to be going to Vermont and I loved all the sights, sounds and smells that we encountered on the trip. In late August it was nice and cool early in the day and by the time we got to Vermont it would still be mostly dark with the mist rising from the valleys. Lights would be on in the farmhouses as the farmers started their day and smoke might even be coming from the chimney. The woodsy smell of the mountains in the early morning always indicated we were in Vermont.

Once we arrived, it was fun and games for us kids. With our Vermont cousins we ran the fields, prowled through the cemetery, caught minnows in the brooks, and dared each other to approach the “haunted” vacant house across the street. There were days spent swimming at Lake Dunmore, eating delicious hot dogs and driving back to Pittsford with darkness setting in and a beautiful rosy glow behind the mountains to the west. Sometimes we would be lucky enough to catch a movie at one of the theaters in the “big city” of Rutland. I think it cost 25 cents back then. Then suddenly it would be “Fair Time” and we would have to head for home.

Now I have come home to Vermont and can go to the Fair any time I want. But as an adult I don’t seem to view the Fair in the same magical light that I did as a child. Or maybe my viewpoint is just different. Where I dreamed of the rides and games and lights and colors of the Fair as a child, now I love the aromatic delicious food and enjoy the exhibits and entertainment that would not have interested me all those years ago. At least now the coming of the Fair no longer means the end of my stay in Vermont and thank God I don’t have to get ready for the first day of school any more!

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