Photos by Nanci Blog

News You Can Use Weathersfield select board and town news : At the Jan.21 select board meeting, the petition to move funding for the new municipal fire department for FY2019-2020 out of the town’s General Fund and into a separate article on the March Town Meeting Warning was accepted by the board. Prior to the vote, town attorney Nate Stearns told the board that there was no requirement to place the petition/article on the warning. Select board member Peter Cole was concerned with the wording saying that he thought it was misleading in that the voters may interpret the separate article as “a quarter of a million (dollars) of new money and it’s not, there is new money involved there but it’s not $240,000 of new tax money.” Select board member Tom Leach was opposed to the petition’s presentation to the voters and the wording citing what he felt was false information being disseminated through social media. “This petition was put out there, unfortunately fueled by misinformation ...

Petition Moves Fire Funding Out of Town's General Fund The select board has called a Special Meeting for Tuesday, January 29 at 6:45 to address issues that have come up with the warning that was approved on Monday night. The warning draft contained in the select board packet, the one the board approved, was discovered to contain the incorrect General Fund expenditure. It was discovered that the fire department budget was removed twice from the General fund. The approved warning's Article 6 was worded: Article 6: Shall the voters of the Town of Weathersfield approve the expenditure of $1,003,402 for the support and operation of the Town’s General Fund? $912,461 shall be raised by property taxation, allowing the Select Board to set the appropriate tax rate. The article should have read: Article 6: Shall the voters of the Town of Weathersfield approve the expenditure of $ 1,261,799 for the support and operation of the Town’s General Fund? $912,461 ...

Winter Storm Sunday, January 20, 2019 Super Blood Wolf Moon I hope everyone saw the Super Blood Wolf Moon Sunday night. It was wicked COLD outside but the lunar eclipse was amazing. More photos:  CLICK HERE You know it’s a winter weekend in Vermont when you are: watching the snow fall outside, watching football on TV; looking through seed catalogues to make your seed order; and looking over the town’s proposed budget to be voted on at March town meeting. News You Can Use Weathersfield select board and town news : The select board was scheduled to meet on Monday, Jan. 21 to approve the proposed FY2020 budget and approve the articles for town meeting ballot. Voters will be asked to approve $1,003,402 for the general fund ($912,461 to be raised by taxes), $1,224,522 for the highway ($947,777 to be raised by taxes), $261,512 for the solid waste department, and to borrow over five years (two articles) $250,000 for the Center Road paving project and $160,00 for a new ...

I’m a science geek. I spent over 30 years working in science. I’ve had the good fortune to attend many events at the Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich, Vermont over those years but most of those events involved children visiting the museum too. So when the opportunity to cover “Montshire Unleashed” for this paper as an assignment came up, I jumped at it. What is Montshire Unleashed ? One Friday a month from October-April the museum is open to adults only (21 and over) from 6:30-9 p.m.. Adult beverages are served by the Norwich Inn, featuring Jasper Murdock Ale and wine and food vendors rotate monthly serving a light supper for purchase. This means that people who are young at heart have the run of the museum, no “little people” around. I’m sure if you’ve visited the museum with “little people” either your own, as a school visit chaperone, teacher, or with your grandchildren these “little people” get first dibs on the exhibits. So, imagine how fun it would be to have all tho...

Petition for Taxpayers to Vote on Municipal Fire Department Budget Gets Required Signatures. A petition has been circulated around town by Dave Fuller, and others, to move the proposed Municipal Fire Department budget out of the General Fund budget (similar to the Highway and Solid Waste Budgets, which are voted on by separate articles by Australian Ballot at Town Meeting -this year on March 5). The petition was turned in to the Town Clerk's office Tuesday afternoon with 141 signatures (122 are required-5% of the voter checklist). The article to appear on the ballot will read: Shall the Town vote to spend $265,070 of which $245,070 to be raised by taxes, for a new Municipal Fire Dept FY 2019-2020 ? It was unclear at press time how this will affect the budget presented by the town manager, Ed Morris to the select board on Thursday, Jan.10 at the board's special meeting. The board was scheduled to approve the final budget and town related articles for Town Meeting on...

A murder has taken place. Whodunit? That is the task at hand at the Windsor Mansion Inn in Windsor, Vermont this cold January evening. Innkeeper Gayle Ballard and crew at the inn have teamed up with John Bailey of “ Deadly Fun Events ” out of Greenfield, MA to create a life-size game of “Clue” on a grand scale. The guests are the actors and the Inn is the stage. Two weeks prior to your Murder Mystery Dinner (or weekend, see details below) you are emailed details of not only your character and the other characters taking place in this mystery but also a brief outline of the events leading up to the murder. This night, 23 guests have gathered for what seems to be an innocence three-course meal at a local inn turned floating casino. You arrive, give the secret password, and meet the other players over cocktails and light hors d’oeuvre. You can introduce yourself or your character or both. Your fellow guests may even be in costume (costumes are suggested but not required). This even...

Looks like a lot happened while I was away in Peru. Weathersfield select board and town news : The select board has put the regional policing proposal on hold but will cover Baltimore with current personnel. The town office has been having phone issues for some time and has authorized the town manager to enter into a 5-year contract with Comcast for phone and internet services not to exceed $779.20 per month with a $509.15 activation fee. The select board authorized moving $2,000 from the town office capital reserve to upgrade the phone system. The town manager recommended to the select board that they ask the voters for a loan of $250,000 for the Center Road Paving Project. How this would work was not discussed in detail at the board meeting on December 17. More information about the select board and the town contact Town Manager, Ed Morris, at 802-674-2626 or townmanager@weathersfield.org . Weathersfield School news : The school announced that fourth and eighth grade student...

Talk about the trip of a lifetime. I’m just back from two weeks in Peru, the land of the Inca. Or as one of guides called it “The land of possibilities.” My husband and I flew on a LATAM airlines direct flight from JFK airport in New York to Lima, Peru. It was an overnight flight; we landed at 8 a.m. in Lima. There is no time difference between eastern United States and Peru, but it was still close to an eight-hour flight, so we were quite tired when we landed, and who can sleep comfortably on a plane in economy? We are met by a driver from G Adventures, the tour group we chose for this trip. The driver takes us on a one hour drive from the airport to our boutique hotel in Miraflores-the upscale neighborhood of Lima right on the Pacific Ocean. Traffic in Lima is horrendous. I thought Boston drivers were bad. Here drivers use a serious of horn honks instead of directional to let other drivers know their intentions. It’s quite chaotic and noisy. I’m so glad we didn’t rent a car. We are...