Mathias Takes Flight

Young Gymnast To Get Taste of Big City Ballet

Nine-year-old Mathias Toro, who is just finishing the third grade at Rochester Elementary School, is a talented gymnast who has been offered a life-changing opportunity. “About four months ago, my wife, Alecia, received an e-mail from the recruiting department of the School of American Ballet at Lincoln Center in New York City,” said Mathias’ dad, Alex Toro. “They said they […]

Hall Shares Plan, Draws Critics

NewVista Founder Meets W.R. Valley

  David R. Hall, the 69-year-old Utah engineer who has been purchasing properties in Royalton, Sharon, Strafford, and Tunbridge, with plans to build a massive development, spent two days in the area last week, both packed with meetings and media interviews. Over those two days, Hall sat down with representatives from Vermont Law School, Vermont Technical College, Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional […]

Law Puts Wind In Sails of DUI Court

Windsor County Serves as Model

When House bill 869 became law, Robert Sand, the Governor’s liaison to criminal justice programs, said it marked a “dramatic change in the criminal justice landscape.” One wouldn’t have known by looking. Governor Peter Shumlin signed the bill Monday with no public ceremony and little fanfare. The new Vermont law creates the possibility for DUI treatment courts to expand beyond […]

Fire Devastates South Royalton Home Monday



Cleaning out the bottom of the wood cookstove may have given a better draft to the stovepipe, where the fire started at the Williams home at the bottom of Happy Hollow Road in South Royalton on the morning of Sunday, June 5. Dale Williams said his father, Warren, had cleaned the antique Kalamazoo on Saturday because he had smelled smoke. […]

Conference Is ‘Catalyst for Change,’ Says Lynch

Calls Citizen Action Essential to Equality

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch has been fighting the gender wage gap from Washington, D.C., but a top-down approach won’t be enough, she said in her address to the Vermont Women’s Economic Opportunity Conference on Saturday. “We need citizens like you who are literally here on the ground, transforming our country, transforming our cities,” she told over 250 women convened […]

Stagecoach Seeks Route Input



Stagecoach Transportation Services is looking for the public’s input as it develops plans to expand ride options on the I-89 corridor. This new effort follows Stagecoach’s successful work last year to increase—substantially—its services along the I-91 corridor, from the Bradford area south to multiple locations in White River Junction and in Hanover and Lebanon, N.H. In the I-91 service expansion, […]

Vehicle-Related Violations Reported by Cops, Sheriffs



Three separate law enforcement agencies reported three driving-related violations during the last week. In the first one, May 31, Orange Co. Sheriff’s Deputy Bariteau stopped a vehicle being driven on Route 14 in Williamstown for defective equipment. It was discovered that the driver, Michael O’Brien, 29, of Randolph had an arrest warrant out against him for failing to appear in […]

Ramping Up Rides, Shaving Costs



The Stagecoach is managing to expand its services without ramping up spending by finding operational efficiencies, and by increasing ridership and revenues. According to Laura Perez, Stagecoach’s community relations manager, the need to cut costs was made apparent by a 2015 report from the state Agency of Transportation (Vtrans), showing that Stagecoach’s cost-per-ride rate in 2014 was “unacceptably high.” The […]

Domestic Assault In a Vehicle Is Alleged



An East Braintree woman was arrested late last week on a charge of domestic assault following an investigation by Vermont State Police, assisted by the Randolph Police Dept. Police at the Royalton barracks received a call Wednesday about 6:30 p.m. about an alleged assault that had occurred in a vehicle, which had been pulled into a pulloff on River Street […]

Motorcycle Crash In Granville



A Connecticut man suffered minor injuries last Friday when his 2014 Kawasaki motorcycle left the road on Route 100 in Granville. Tibor Pelle, 44, was traveling on Route 100 at about 2 p.m. when his cycle traveled off the west side of the roadway into a ditch, police said. The Kawasaki was damaged on both sides. The Granville Fire Department […]