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GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Sunny, cooling down. There’s high pressure coming in today and we’ll see some gusty winds out of the northwest as it arrives, but mostly it’s a clear, calm day with highs in the mid 60s and lows tonight in the lower 40s—though the coldest valleys to the north could see some frost.
Where has summer gone? So asks Jane Masters, from Hanover.
One more time, with feeling: The West Leb “dry bridge” linking the 12A strip to Main Street in Old West Leb closed this morning at 7 for a year. At the link, the city’s info page about the project, its history, the detours, the actual work involved, etc.
Hartford police arrest two after Leb overdoses. On Friday, police searched a home in the Spring Circle trailer park, after three young people overdosed in Lebanon the week before. “Through interviews in Lebanon, it was determined the drugs were purchased from someone staying at 72 Spring Circle” in WRJ, the HPD says in its press release. The search found cocaine, fentanyl, and other controlled substances. Police arrested Haillie Fortune, 47, of Hartford, for possession of cocaine and fentanyl, and Shawn Hickok, 39 of Burlington on outstanding warrants. “This investigation remains active and more charges may be forthcoming,” the police department says.
Lebanon landfill gas-to-electricity plans: “The very detailed financial projections were very wrong.” That was city councilor Tim McNamara at a public meeting earlier this month, reports Sofia Langlois in the Valley News, summing up how the $6.6 million project has fallen short of expectations so far. The idea is to convert methane from the landfill into power—and though the microturbines, which went into operation last summer, are indeed producing electricity, the revenues aren’t enough to offset the city’s bond payments plus operational costs. The city, Langlois writes, plans to reevaluate the project in six months.
SPONSORED: Osher at Dartmouth’s fall term has arrived! Offering more than 60 courses spanning history, science, the arts, current events, philosophy, and beyond, there’s sure to be a topic that matches your interest! New instructors, new topics, and lively discussion all await this term, with plenty of opportunities to engage your fellow learners face to face or online. Don’t miss the many special events and travel opportunities open to both members and non-members! Osher at Dartmouth: Where learning, connection, and discovery meet. Sponsored by Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Dartmouth.
New in Sharon: “Hundreds, no, more likely thousands, of items for sale.” That’s at Stash, Jen Donahue’s newly opened store on Fay Brook Road, writes Dave Celone on his Upper Valley VT/NH Musings Substack. “Housed in a former cabinetmaking shop run by her family members Bob and Roger Donahue, Jen has converted the workshop into a retail space that brings long-forgotten and stored objects to light for browsers and buyers alike,” Dave writes, from children’s toys to salt and pepper shakers to jewelry and artwork and winter coats. Some of those coats will go for free to any local student who needs one.
A bucketful of facts about deer overbrowsing. “An average deer eats between 9 and 12 pounds of fresh forage a day—roughly two 5-gallon bucket loads,” writes Li Shen in Sidenote. That nugget comes from a walk led recently by the Windsor and Grafton county foresters in Norwich to talk about deer pressure on the landscape. As Li writes, Norwich and Hanover are “the epicenter” of high deer concentrations and overbrowsing thanks to land subdivision and a lot of land posted to keep hunters out. “Very heavy browsing can remove almost everything from the forest floor, leading to a park-like appearance devoid of the usual understory of seedling and sapling trees,” Li writes. “This space doesn't stay empty, it becomes a foothold for invasive plants.”
SPONSORED: Bring your shine! Positive Tracks Sweat For Good Games | Saturday, Sept. 19, 6 – 10 PM at Storrs Pond Recreation Area. Don't miss this outrageously shiny night that gives back to the Upper Valley! Tickets on sale now for a lip sync competition, food, drinks, DJ, and dancing. Cheer from the crowd or sign up to hit the stage with your lip sync team for a shot at the Sweat For Good Games Cup. After the battle, stick around for the dance party because the DJ is on deck! All proceeds support Positive Tracks' free programming, helping young people change the world through the power of sport. Sponsored by Positive Tracks.
Two rural Pomfret roads likely to see a surge in traffic this fall. Nope, not leaf-peepers or the dreaded influencers. Instead, major repairs to a road in Royalton will detour traffic along Allen Hill Road and Howe Hill Road in Pomfret. These “are not roads that are built to handle through traffic, and they’re about to get some,” Pomfret selectboard chair Ben Brickner tells Justin Bigos in the VT Standard. The reason? Repairs to Broad Brook Road in Royalton, at the site of a flooding-induced 2023 landslide. That work is due to conclude at the end of November.
“That’s where the country music fans are — in the smaller towns and areas”: the day Dolly Parton came to the Canaan Country Fair. It was 51 years before her death last month, in August, 1975, and “she was already a Nashville star but not yet a household name beyond country radio,” writes Molly Hughes in the VN. Asked why she went to small spots like Canaan, Parton responded with the quote in the headline. “Many of them are poorer families who can’t afford to go 100 miles to a city to see the shows,” she added. Hughes describes the scene, the Canaan Fair—which “fizzled out” in the late 1980s—and includes the full 1975 VN story recounting Parton’s visit.
SPONSORED: Calling all movie enthusiasts: Telluride at Dartmouth awaits! From September 16-20, the Hop will bring to Spaulding Auditorium advance screenings of seven incredible films from the acclaimed festival. Check out the full lineup of some of this year’s most anticipated Oscar hopefuls before tickets sell out. Sponsored by the Hopkins Center for the Arts.
If you’ve got to slip and fall three miles into the mountains, this is when you want to do it. At about 3 pm Saturday, search and rescue volunteers from all over NH wrapped up training on Cannon Mountain. Half an hour later, a call came in about a 62-year-old hiker who’d fallen three miles up the Old Bridle Path and needed to be carried out. Some 40 rescuers from an array of groups, including the Upper Valley Wilderness Response Team, responded. “Every one of the rescuers was needed for this long carry,” writes Lakes Region SAR on its FB post. “The team used litter passes over some obstacles and low angle rope belays over others.” Videos and photos at the link.
The Monday Jigsaw: A house being moved in Woodstock in 1909, pulled by a horse. Back in the day, writes Cam Cross on his Curioustorian blog, there were two ways to move a house: take it apart and then reassemble it; or drag it by horse. This week, he’s got the photo to show how it was done. Coming down the road: “How a single horse moves a building that weighs two hundred tons, which turns out to be a question about a machine and not about a horse at all” and more—like the Norwich Congregational Church being moved.
Today's Wordbreak. With a word from Friday’s Daybreak.
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And for today...
“The LA jazz scene is bursting with creativity right now. But many of the most interesting artists get ignored by the media,” wrote the music and arts critic Ted Gioia last month. “Today I want to add saxophonist Henry Solomon to the list of huge LA talents operating in the shadows.” Solomon has a new album out, but the video Gioia points to is his “remarkable evocation of Duke Ellington and Sidney Bechet—all recreated out on the pavement (probably his apartment building). Alas, it only has a few hundred views on YouTube. Let’s change that.” It’s over 1,000 now, but still too few. So let’s change that. Here’s Bechet’s “Blue Horizon.”
See you tomorrow.
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