Cavendish Update 5/6/11 John Brown/Events/Green Up Day

The 5/6/11 Cavendish Update Contains
1. Cavendish Green-Up Activities for 2011
2. VT 15th Least Affordable Place to Live in the Nation
3. BRGN 3rd Annual Spring Rummage Sale
4. Okemo Valley Chamber of Commerce News
5. Walk and Talk Series in Cavendish
6. Cavendish Civil War: A letter regarding John Brown’s stay in Proctorsville
7. Snow Academy Applications for McCostis Scholarship Fund Now Being Accepted
8. Cavendish Events 5/6/11-5/13/11

1. Cavendish Green-Up Activities for 2011
The official state Green-Up Day is Saturday May 7. In keeping with this, any one that would like to participate on Saturday may pick up official Green-Up bags at the Town Office during the week prior, do roadside clean-up on Green-Up Saturday (or any day during the week prior) and then take the filled bags and other debris collected to the Cavendish Transfer Station for free disposal. The free Green-Up debris disposal will be honored on May 7 only.

The Cavendish School Green Up participation is Tuesday May 10. Adults are encouraged to participate. Meet at 2 pm at the Town Highway Garage on Main Street (Rt 131) in Cavendish and get your assignment. Work gloves; green-up bags; and safety vests will be provided. The Transfer Station will be open between 4:30 and 5:00 pm for proper disposal. A BBQ will take place at 5 at the Cavendish Park, behind the Town Office and will include hot dogs, hamburgers and a veggie option.

Special note, 2011 is Vermont’s 41st Green Up Day and it’s Cavendish’s 250th Anniversary. Let’s keep this tradition going! We need your help. FMI: 226-7291

2. VT 15th Least Affordable Place to Live in the Nation
A national report confirms that renters in Vermont struggle to find affordable places to live. In 2010, Vermont is ranked the 15th least affordable state in the nation, according to a new report jointly released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), a Washington, DC-based housing advocacy group, and the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition (VAHC). The Vermont Housing Wage is estimated at $19.04. This is the 15th highest Housing Wage in the nation and the 4th highest growth rate for Housing Wage change from 2000-2010, at 65%.The Housing Wage is the amount per hour, working full time, and only paying 30% of their income on housing, that an individual would have to make to afford a two-bedroom apartment. Affordability has also declined in the rural areas of Vermont; rural Vermont ranks 8th highest for the most expensive rural areas in the nation. Vermont’s Housing Wage for the rural areas of Vermont is $16.91, a 58% increase since 2000. This ranks Vermont as the 5th highest increase for rural, non-metro areas nationally. Working at the minimum wage in Vermont, a family must have 2.3 wage earners working full-time – or one full-time earner working 93 hours per week at minimum wage – to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment. Press Release VT Digger

3. BRGN 3rd Annual Spring Rummage Sale
Black River Good Neighbor Services is holding a gigantic Spring Rummage Sale at Fletcher Farm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 20, 21 & 22 from 10am until 4pm on Friday and Saturday and until 2pm on Sunday. All proceeds from this sale go to benefit the needy in the area. here is what you can do to help:
• If you have anything to donate, please call Audrey Bridge at 802-228-3663 to arrange a drop off time. Drop offs will be accepted at Fletcher Farm starting May 16th but be sure to call so someone can be scheduled to meet you and accept your donation. Fletcher Farm’s Barn is located at 611 Route 103 S. We are accepting Summer clothing (please hold winter items for the Fall Rummage Sale). Furniture will be accepted gratefully (nothing broken or torn please). Please do not donate items that are stained, ripped or broken. If you are unable to drop off a furniture donation, it can be picked up by our volunteers if arrangements are made in advance.

• If you have a vehicle and some time, Black River Good Neighbor Services could use your help to move items from Mill Street to Fletcher Farm.

• Volunteers are needed to help work the sale as well as setup, so please come and help.

• There will be a table selling baked goods. So, if you can bake an item to donate for selling, please do so. This proved to be a very popular addition to the Rummage Sale.

• Please come and buy some of the great bargains.

FMI: Audrey Bridge at the Black River Good Neighbor Services Thrift Shop at 37B Main Street or call her at 802-228-3663 or email her at BRGNS@tds.net for further details. Details can also be found at www.brgn.org.

4. Okemo Valley Chamber of Commerce News
The May edition of the May Okemo Valley Chamber of Commerce News has been posted to the Cavendish Update Blog.

5. Walk and Talk Series in Cavendish
On Thursday, May 12 the Cavendish Community and Conservation Association will continue its Walk and Talk Series with a focus on beavers and wetland habitat. Tim O’Donoghue, Cavendish resident and wildlife biologist will take us to a newly created beaver pond where we will observe the way the landscape has changed and the different animals that are drawn to a wetland area.

The event will run from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and we will meet at the Cavendish Town office. Be sure to wear good walking shoes or boots as the area may well be wet. In case of rain we will have a power point presentation in the Town Office meeting room. The Community and Conservation Association is collecting data on wildlife in Cavendish, specifically moose, bear, fishers and bobcats. We will have our map on hand for anyone who would like to add a sighting.

Also, please save the date for the next event. On June 12th we will sponsor an early morning bird walk with Alma Beals of the Audubon Society.

FMI: Tim O’Donoghue at 226-7023 or Robin Timko at 226-7736

6. Cavendish Civil War: A letter regarding John Brown’s stay in Proctorsville
These posts are made possible by the Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) and are archived at the CHS Blog.

This past week, Linda Welch, the CHS genealogist, e-mailed a letter written by Henry Bridge Atherton, a lawyer from Cavendish, to John Redparth, a biographer of John Brown, the famous abolitionist. Below is a copy of the letter, which further adds to the knowledge that Cavendish played an interesting role in the Civil War era. Not only was Governor Ryland Fletcher, from Cavendish, but he was a staunch abolitionist.

The letter indicates that not only was Brown seeking guns and money to help with his cause, but that he had begun to lay out the plans for the eventual insurrections in Kansas, which led to the death of five people that were pro slavery .

Unfortunately, the last page of the what was most likely a five page letter, is missing.

Proctorsville, VT Mary 9th, 1882

James Redparth Esq

I have sometimes thought the day would come where your publishers would issue another edition of your “Public Life of John Brown,” which was 1st published at Boston in 1860 by Thayer and Eldridge 11 St and 116 Washington St. I have been recently reading that book, and it occurs to me that, inview of the events following the execution of the old hero-the man-the freedom of the slave, the political results of the execution-and the history of our country in the past quarter of a century-you might perhaps to write that book and, if so, I would want a copy to side by side with the copy I now have in my library. John Brown and his son, Owen, I think it was, came here in the last days of Dec. 1856 or in the early part of January 1857- and spent some time on those days at my office-boarding at the Village Hotel. At that time I held the office of Secretary of the VT Senate- and our Governor-Hon. Ryland Fletcher, a brother of the late Hon. Richard Fletcher, of Boston, and Judge of Mass. Sup. Court- now my new neighbor. Our Legislature at the previous Oct. Session at Montpelier had passed an act authorizing Gov. Fletcher, in his discretion to furnish funds to an amount not exceeding twenty thousand dollars -$20,000-for the relief of the suffering citizens of Kansas-as you will find by reference to the session laws of 1856 in the Library-Our state casual care of __ General Gundry of Vergennes, VT had on hand quite an amount of guns-out of date & useless to our State. Gundry was authorized to sell or dispose of them. In some way John Brown had learned of these facts—and came here to examine the laws-and to confer with Gov. Fletcher. The Old man told us that the generosity of the people had so supplied the citizens of Kansas with food and clothing as none of this __ appropriation would be thus needed, least be thought possibly the Gov. might be authorized to let him have some of the old guns from the state Arsenal-He became satisfied on looking at the law, that Gov. Fletcher could not appropriate guns for the Defense of Freedom in the direction indicated. The Old man told us his objectives to enlist young men-pious and patriotic determined young men-not wild and -- profane ones in his service and that he proposed to rendezvous at Tabor in Iowa-just over the boarders from Kansas and await events. He showed me the enlistment papers as drawn up by him and most neatly executed. He said he expected on the return of Spring in 1857- the Missourians-becoming supplied themselves with a new stock of whiskey, would again invade Kansas-and he wishes to be ready to repel them. He said that courage of those invaders depended very much on the amount of whiskey they had. He was very conscientious-writing at my office table many letters in the time he was here. I offered him paper, envelopes—postage stamps-and he always left the dimes in the box to pay for them. The son was a light complexioned and sandy haired youth as compared with the father-they had the chains with them-that the borders….

7. Snow Academy Applications for McCostis Scholarship Fund Now Being Accepted
The McCostis Scholarship Fund (MSF), a part of the Ludlow Teen Center (LTC), was established in 2004, to provide Okemo Valley youth an opportunity to pursue excellence through skiing and snowboard training. Started by Sue McCostis, an LTC Board member and an Okemo Mountain ski instructor, the fund was continued by her husband Dick McCostis, Safety Ambassador and ski instructor at Okemo Mountain, and head of the Windsor County Court Diversion Program. With his passing in July 2007, the MSF has continued through the support of friends and the Okemo community. The Fund has added additional scholarships-The Kevin Stillwell Snowboarding Scholarship, Than Durgin Snowboarding Scholarship, Peter Noyes Skiing Scholarship and the George Shaw Skiing Scholarship.

Applications for scholarships for athletes who wish to attend snow academies, such as Okemo Mountain School (OMS), are now being accepted until June 30. Applications for weekend programs and target terms will be accepted from September 1-Oct. 31.

Applicants for the Academy Snow Scholarships must:
• Be a full time resident of Ludlow, Cavendish, Proctorsville, Chester, Perkinsville, Springfield, Mt. Holly or Plymouth VT.
• Be enrolled in grades 7th-12th and in good academic standing
• Have a demonstrated interest in and commitment to skiing or snowboarding
• Parents or guardians are in need of financial support and are supportive of their child’s pursuit of training
• Plan to attend a snow academy full time for at least five months during the 11-12 winter season

The size of scholarships will be based on need and available funds. Academy scholarship recipients, and their families, are required to assist with fundraising. Recipients can increase the amount of their scholarship through participation in fundraising activities.

Those interested in applying must submit a completed application by June 30, 2011. Award notifications will be made by July 15, 2011. Applications can be obtained at the MSF website www.mccostisscholarshipshipfund.blogspot.com. Please note: An application is not considered complete until the tax information and letter from the coach/teacher has been received.

FMI: 226-7807 or margoc@tds.net

8. Cavendish Events 5/6/11-5/13/11
May 7 (Saturday): Vermont Green Up Day
• Kentucky Derby Gala, 5 pm - 11 pm at the Pot Belly Pub & Restaurant, Main Street, Ludlow, VT to benefit LPC-TV. Enjoy Mint Juleps, Southern fare, Kentucky Derby Pie and of course The Kentucky Derby! It will be a night at the races with an interactive wagering experience, raffles and music by 'Union Street' featuring Mark Huntley. Derby attire is encouraged. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door and are available at: People's Bank, The Belmont General Store, The Wine and Cheese Depot, Berkshire Bank, Ludlow Insurance, BRACC & LPCTV. FMI: Lisa at 802-228-7690, Kathy at 802-228-8777 or Michelle at 802-228-8808.

May 8 (Sunday): Happy Mother’s Day.
• Facilitated Meditation - 4 to 5 p.m. For more information contact Robin at 226-7736.

May 9 (Monday): Select Board Meeting, 6:30 pm. This event is taped by LPC-TV and can be watched on Comcast cable channels or at the website. Check the Cavendish Update blog for the Agenda, which will be posted when received.

May 10 (Tuesday): Bone Builders Class at the Cavendish Baptist-- Class from 10:15-11:45. FMI: Linda at Green Mountain RSVP & Volunteer Center of Windsor County at (802) 885-2083, or Anne Oakes or Andrew Ohotnicky at (802)228-5236, or Dot Ramsdell at (802)226-7870
• Cavendish’s Green Up Day.

May 11 (Wednesday): Okemo Valley Chamber of Commerce Mixer at Outback Pizza, Ludlow, 5: 30-7:30.

May 12 (Thursday): Bone Builders Class at the Cavendish Baptist-- Class from 10:15-11:45. FMI: Linda at Green Mountain RSVP & Volunteer Center of Windsor County at (802) 885-2083, or Anne Oakes or Andrew Ohotnicky at (802)228-5236, or Dot Ramsdell at (802)226-7870
• The Cavendish Conservation Association will give the next presentation in their Walk and Talk series. Beaver Ponds and Wetland Habitat, 6-8 p.m. Meet at the Town Office for an orientation and then proceed for an on site visit to a newly created beaver pond. In the event of rain, there will be a power-point presentation in the Town Office. This event will be led by wildlife biologist and Cavendish resident Tim O'Donoghue. FMI: Tim at 226-7023 or Robin at 226-7736
• GMUHS School Board Meeting, 5 pm at the High School
• Sit & Knit" at the Six Loose Ladies yarn shop, Pollard Building, Proctorsville Green, 2:00 -9:00 PM. Open to knitters, spinners, crocheters, hookers. Free. FMI: 226-7373