Cavendish Update 9/2/22: ATVs/Workshops/News/Events
/
READ THE CAVENDISH VT FACEBOOK PAGE FOR THE LATEST NEWS
Have a safe Labor Day Weekend!
9/2/22
1. FU to SB Mtg where ATVs were discussed
2. Cavendish Info
3. Annual Phineas Gage Walk and talk
4. Covid update
5. Events
1. FOLLOW UP TO SB MTG WHERE ATVS WERE DISCUSSED: At the August 17 Select Board meeting, many in the audience complained about current issues with ATVs being inappropriately used on the roads in Cavendish,
Steve Laskevich, Vice President of the Reading ATV (RATS) group, in response to the complaints, posted the following information. I understand your concerns and anguish towards ATVs on your roads. .I spoke with Warden Tim Carey this morning about these issues you all are having and he has asked me to share his cell number along with the number for David Lockerby who is the other warden serving the Cavendish area.
Warden Carey can be reached at 802-793-2776
Warden Lockerby at 802-917-6263
State Police Dispatch 802-722-4600
Every time you have issues with these clowns, please contact these wardens. Share the locations, issues, times and any patterns you notice.
2. CAVENDISH INFO
• Black River Water Testing: Thank you BRAT for helping to keep us safe this summer with weekly water testing of the Black River. Due to the periodic heavy downpours, the e-coli levels were very high on Wednesday morning’s water testing. The EPA’s limit for safe swimming is 235 CFU
Greven Field 1,990 CFU (unsafe conditions)
Cavendish Gorge 345 CFU (unsafe conditions)
Buttermilk Falls: 2,420 CFU (unsafe conditions)
Tolles Power Dam (Perkinsville): 128 CFU
Twenty Foot Hole (Reading): 194 CFU
West Hill Road Rec Pond (Ludlow): 68 CFU
• GM board votes to put $20 million renovation bond before district voters: At the Aug. 25, the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District decided to move forward with a multi-year, $20.5 million project to renovate its three school buildings. The vote was 6-1 — with three members absent — to put a 20 year bond before the voters of Andover, Baltimore, Cavendish and Chester at the general election on Nov. 8. Chester Telegraph
• Cavendish Fire Dept BBQ The Cavendish Fire Dept. will be holding a BBQ on Sept. 3 (Saturday) from 11 to 3 pm while supplies last at the Cavendish Fire Hall
• Learn About Composting; Win a Free Composter: The Southern Windsor/Windham Counties Solid Waste Management District, in conjunction with the Cavendish Energy Committee and the Town of Cavendish, will host a workshop specifically about composting on Thursday, September 15, 2022 at 6:30 p.m. in the Cavendish Town Offices, 37 High Street, Cavendish. Masks will be required for all. Since July 1, 2020, food scraps have been banned from household trash. Residents are required to compost at home or use a facility (the Cavendish Transfer Station provides this service). All attendees will be eligible to win the door prize of a new Soil Saver composter and may order composters for residential use. While these bins normally retail for $100 each, they will be available to workshop attendees for $65. Please bring exact change or a check; there will be no way to process credit cards. A second drawing will be held for a compost pail, good for kitchen use to gather scraps bound for the composter. These pails will also be for sale at the workshop for $5 each. Residents of Cavendish and any other town are invited to attend. To sign up for the workshop, or for more information, please email cavendishcommunityconservation@gmail.com. If you'd like to purchase a composter but cannot attend the workshop, please email your order. While sign-up is encouraged, walk-ins will be welcomed.
• Benson’s Chevrolet collects school supplies: Benson’s Chevrolet of Ludlow, Vt. is currently collecting back-to-school supplies for Ludlow, Mount Holly, and Cavendish area schools, until Sept. 10. Items may be dropped at Benson’s on Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. – 12 p.m. The primary items needed are as follows: #2 Ticonderoga pencils, colored pencils, manual pencil sharpeners, erasers, crayons, washable markers, pens, two-pocket folders, kids blunt-tip scissors, 8×10 white boards, fine tip Expo markers, Elmer’s Glue, glue sticks, composition notebooks, one-subject notebooks, binders, construction paper, art supplies, highlighters, sticky notes, sanitizing wipes, facial tissues, and paper towels.
• As rents skyrocket, massive federally funded rental assistance program to ramp down in Vermont: A pandemic-era rental assistance program that has doled out more than $130 million in federal funds to keep Vermonters in their homes will begin to significantly ramp down in just a month. The Vermont Emergency Rental Assistance Program will stop taking new applications for rent and other housing expenses beginning Oct. 1, according to the website for the Vermont State Housing Authority, which administers the program. Utility applications will be accepted through the end of the year, but utility payments will end Dec. 31. Participants who receive other types of rental assistance, like Section 8 vouchers, will no longer be eligible for assistance from the program, known as VERAP, as of Oct. 1. Existing VERAP participants will receive reduced assistance based on their income as of that date. VT Digger
• Plan, but don’t panic over heating oil prices, officials say
3. ANNUAL PHINEAS GAGE WALK AND TALK: Horrible accident. Phineas P. Gage, a foreman on the Rutland Railroads at Cavendish, VT was preparing for a blast on Wednesday last, when the powder exploded, carrying through his head an iron instrument, an inch and a fourth in circumference, and three feet and eight inches in length. The iron entered on the side of his face, shattering the upper jaw, and passing back of the left eye, and out the top of his head. Singularly enough, he was alive at two o’clock the next afternoon, in full possession of his reason, and free from pain. This is how the Boston Courier and the Boston Daily Journaldescribed Cavendish’s famous accident that occurred on Sept. 13, 1848
On October 3, 1848, a letter by A. Angier of Cavendish, VT, appeared in the Christian Reflector and Christian Watchman. Describing the accident in more detail, it ends with the following comments, “Altogether, it is one of the strangest occurrences on record, and will form a subject of inquiry for the learned physiologist. We live in an eventful era, but if a man can have thirteen pounds of iron in the shape of a pointed bar, thrown entirely through his head, carrying with it a quantity of the brain, and yet live and have his senses, we may well exclaim, What next?
On Sunday, September 11, the Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) will be exploring the “what next” at their annual Phineas Gage Walk and Talk. The “talk” portion begins at the CHS Museum (Route 131, 1955 Main St. Cavendish) at 2 pm. This will be immediately followed by the walk to the site of the accident, ¾ of a mile from the Museum. Walking shoes are recommended. FMI: margocaulfield@icloud.com or 802-226-7807.
4. COVID UPDATE: For local information on testing, vaccinations, boosters, notifying contacts as well as other resources, including for Long Covid, please see the Cavendish COVID-19 Resource Guide.
Free Test kits: Available Monday-Friday at the Cavendish Fire Dept from 9-4. For weekends and off hours, call 802-226-7807
The public is invited to the Springfield library to receive up to four free at-home antigen test kits (that is eight tests total) while supplies last. FMI: Sue Dowdell, library director, at the Springfield Town Library, at 802-885-3018, email springfieldlibrary@hotmail.com.
Today, Sept. 2, is the last day to order free tests- covidtests.gov- from the federal government.
State: The VT Dept of Health Weekly Report August 21 to August 24, continues to report statewide community levels as low, with a total of six counties being ranked as having medium levels- Bennington, Essex, Orange, Rutland, Windsor and Washington.
• New hospital admissions with Covid: Increase from last week. 58 new admissions.
• Percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by patients with Covid: 3.89% (increase from last week’s 2.44%)
• Wastewater Monitoring: Increasing Johnson, Morrisville, St. Johnsbury, Troy/Jay, and Winooski. Decreasing Bennington, Brighton, Essex Junction and St. Albans City. No report for Barre and Newport City. Burlington showed slight increases
• Outbreaks: As of Wednesday, there were 12 active outbreaks of Covid, the same as last week, including 9 in long-term care facilities and 1 each in Non-Long Term Care Healthcare, correctional facility and other. There is 1 active outbreak listed for Windsor County, the same as last week. .
• Deaths: No deaths were reported this week.
FDA Backs Omicoron-based booster, paving the way for shots in Vermont next week.
Life expectancy in the U.S. continues to drop, driven by COVID-19
5. EVENTS
SEPTEMBER 3 (SATURDAY): The Cavendish Fire Dept. will be holding a BBQ on Sept. 3 (Saturday) from 11 to 3 pm while supplies last at the Cavendish Fire Hall
SEPTEMBER 5 (MONDAY): Labor Day, Town Office Closed
SEPTEMBER 10 (SATURDAY): Tenth Anniversary of the Vermont Golden Honey Festival 10-4 at the Golden Stage Inn.
SEPTEMBER 11 (SUNDAY): Annual Phineas Gage Walk & Talk. Begins at 2 pm at the Cavendish Historical Society Museum. The walk includes the site of the accident, which is three quarters of a mile from the Museum. FMI: margocaulfield@icloud.com 802-226-7807
SEPTEMBER 15 (THURSDAY): The Cavendish Energy Committee is sponsoring a composting workshop at 6:30 p.m. in the Cavendish Town Offices, 37 High Street, Cavendish. Masks will be required for all. State regulations on safety will be adhered to. The workshop is free and open to all. To sign up for the workshop, or for more information, please email cavendishcommunityconservation@gmail.com. If you'd like to purchase a composter but cannot attend the workshop, please email your order. While sign-up is encouraged, walk-ins will be welcomed.
SEPTEMBER 23-24 (FRIDAY-SATURDAY): Black River Good Neighbor (BRGN) Rummage Sale at Fletcher Farm.
OCTOBER 10 (MONDAY): Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Town Office Closed
OCTOBER 31 (MONDAY): Happy Halloween
NOVEMBER 9 (TUESDAY): Election Day! Proctorsville Fire Dept. 10-7. Town Office Closed
NOVEMBER 11 (FRIDAY): Veteran’s Day Town Office Closed
NOVEMBER 24 (THURSDAY): HAPPY THANKSGIVING
NOVEMBER 25 (FRIDAY): Town Office Closed
DECEMBER 3-4 (SATURDAY-SUNDAY): Okemo Valley INNdulgence Tour. Enjoy holiday decorations, warm drinks and tasty treats at nearly a dozen inns in the Okemo Valley. From noon-5 pm, tickets are $15 per person.