Springfield Hospital Proposes Covered Entrance

SPRINGFIELD, VT — “Shelter From The Storms” is the theme of Springfield Hospital’s special campaign to raise $100,000 this summer to build a covered entrance on its main building this fall.

“This project is long over due,” according to Larry Kraft, Director of Springfield Hospital Foundation. “Our ambulatory care patients are now being discharged from the hospital’s main entrance instead of the busy Emergency Department. This means even more patients coming and going from our main entrance.”

“With the winter storms a few months off, now is the time to do this,” says Kraft. “We want to provide the best care and most comfort for our patients.”

The covered entryway will be built over the current driveway. It will be able to hold two cars side by side. Its clearance will allow even a bus to pick up and drop off at the door of the hospital.

“This covered entrance will literally change the face of Springfield Hospital,” says Kraft.

To make a gift to this special campaign or for more information, contact Larry Kraft at 885-7644 or lkraft@springfieldhospital.org .

Area News Headlines Through August 29, 2007

The new - AND FINAL - edition of the Black River Reporter is available at www.brreporter.com.

Featured arcticles in this edition are:

New Head For LES Board

Jackson Gore Features Last Summer Event Friday

This is Last Issue of Black River Reporter

Officials, residents sound off with VELCO

Lake Rescue Buoys Stolen

Cavendish Water Worries Continue

Balloon Over Ludlow

Around 7:15 pm, Sunday evening, August 26, this quiet and lovely site graced the skies above Ludlow  as it appeared to descend over South Hill.

Friends of Library Hold Tag Sale in Ludlow

The Friends of Fletcher Memorial Library in Ludlow held its annual tag sale, drawing a very large crowd of area residents and visitors.  Pictured above is Joan Schwartz as she sells raffle tickets to Dennis Devereux of Mt Holly.  Proceeds from the sale benefit the library.

Ludlow Woman Aids Earthquake Victims

The recent earthquake south of Lima, Peru was of very personal concern to Rosa Donohue of Ludlow. A native of Peru, Rosa has both family and friends living in and near the quake zone. According to her, the major area hit by the earthquake, which registered 8.0 on the Richter Scale, was south of the capitol city of Lima in the city of Ica. Ica, a city of 120,000, saw about 25% of its buildings destroyed by the quake.

Rosa indicated that her family and friends are safe, other than being frightened by the impact of the quake and its severe aftershocks. Acting on requests from her contacts in Peru, she immediately set about collecting winter clothing to be shipped to Peru (since Peru is south of the Equator, this is the winter season there). Donohue called on her neighbors and friends to assist in this effort.

Ludlow friends and neighbors responded with gusto.

According to Rosa, she and husband John delivered nine "tightly packed" cartons to FedEx for delivery to St. Boniface church in Broward County, Florida. That church will be sending a container of clothing to Peru on Thursday. St.Boniface was delighted to hear that Ludlow was shipping winter clothing. It apparently had received volumes of light summer wear from Florida residents who did not realize the seasonal difference south of the Equator.

In addition to Rosa's natural tie to Peru, her husband, John, spent two years in Peru working with the Peace Corp.

Artists and Craftsmen Celebrate 60 Years

The Society of Vermont Artists and Craftsmen celebrated its 60th anniversary of presenting classes and programs at Fletcher Farm this past Thursday.  In 1948 Fletcher Farm property which included the Farmhouse, barns, sugarhouse and other outbuildings were leased to the Society of Vermont Artists and Craftsmen, a non-profit organization by the Fletcher Farm Foundation who continues to lease the properties to the Society.  The purpose of the Society is to provide instruction in the Arts and Crafts under the expert guidance of skilled professionals. This organization has operated the Fletcher Farm School of Arts and Crafts ever since.  Pictured above are members of Streetscape as they prepare their exhibit for the celebration.

Archer Mayor Big Hit Before Overflow Ludlow Crowd

Photo Black River Reporter

Archer Mayor, author of the Joe Gunther mystery novel series that features Vermont locales, addressed an overflow Ludlow audience last night at Fletcher Memorial Library.  The event, sponsored jointly by the Friends of the Library and The Book Nook, gave the ever relaxed Mayor the opportunity to describe his method of preparing for a new book along with the character development of not only Gunther but the other on-going characters in his books.  With over 65 people in attendance, this represented the largest program, audience-wise, presented by the Friends of the Library.

Welch Tells TW3 "We should get out of Iraq"

Photo courtesy LPC-TV

Leo Graham and Ralph Pace, left, are shown during their interview with Congressman Peter Welch, right, on the That Was The Week That Was (TW3) program broadcast on LPC-TC (cable channels 8 and 10).

In an interview on the locally-produced "That Was The Week That Was" (TW3), Congressman Peter Welch (D,Vermont) stressed the need for the country to set a date when U. S. troops will withdraw from Iraq.  He termed the situation in that country one of "civil war" where our continued presence in the Iraq will only lead to further internal strife and terrorism.

Appearing on a special segment of TW3, broadcast on LPC-TV (Channel 8 and 10) prior to his "Congress in Your Community" appearance at Shaw's in Ludlow, Welch indicated that he continued to believe the on-going presence of U. S. troops in Iraq caused more problems than it solved. 

When questioned by Leo Graham, co-anchor of TW3, on how he voted on the recently passed wire-tapping bill that President demanded be passed by the Congress, Welch stated that he steadfastly opposed the bill.  He indicated that the majority leadership had decided it was necessary to approve this legislation but he could not support it.

He expanded on this topic noting that the "fear card" was being used as a driving force behind such legislation.

Welch responded to a question from Ralph Pace about the status of the healthcare system in the country noting that it probably was ranked number 35 in the world due to the fact that so many Americans lacked any healthcare coverage.   "Those who have healthcare coverage probably are receiving the best care in the world," he stated, "but because of the number of people without any protection, our overall system is degraded."

He added that the Catamount Healthcare Program, one that he sheparded through the Vermont Legislature in his last year as President pro tem of the Senate, was one of the best programs in the country in terms of making healthcare coverage available to many people previously lacking any coverage.

The full interview may be seen on the TW3 broadcast scheduled for Thursday at 5 pm on Channel 8 and 10.  Subsequently it will be aired at various times throughout the week.

Archer Mayor at Fletcher Memorial Library Aug 9

The Friends of the Library and “The Book Nook” in Ludlow are hosting an author appearance with Award-winning mystery author Archer Mayor on Thursday, August 9 at 7 pm.  The author will chat about his upcoming book and his new venture into self-publishing his older books.

Archer Mayor is the author of the highly acclaimed, Vermont based series featuring detective Joe Gunther, which the Chicago Tribune describes as “the best police procedurals being written in America.”  He is also the 2004 winner of the New England Independent Booksellers Association  (NEIBA) Award for Best Fiction—the first time a writer of crime literature has been so honored.  In addition, Archer is a death investigator for Vermont’s Chief Medical Examiner, a Deputy Sheriff for Windham County, VT, a volunteer firefighter, and the EMT captain of his local rescue squad.

Please join the Friends of the Library and The Book Nook August 9^th at 7 pm in the Community Room.  Please enter from the rear of the building.  All our programs are free to the public and the library is handicapped accessible.

BRAM Kicks-Off Capital Drive for Elevator

Pictured above are State Representative Dennis Devereux and State Senator Alice Nitka as they make their personal contributions to the capital fund drive of Black River Academy Museum.

The Black River Academy Museum (BRAM) had a great turnout for it's Capital Campaign Fund Kick-Off Party. The party was held at the Museum on Saturday, July 28th from 2:30 to 5:30 pm.  Special thanks go to the following guest speakers:   Anita Alic, Co-Chair of the Capital Campaign and member of the Board of Trustees; Richard Nye, member of the Board of Trustees, Georgia Brehm, Museum Director; Alice Nitka, Windsor Country Senator; Dennis Devereux, Area Representative, Bob Gilmore, Chairman of the Ludlow Village Board of Trustees and Frank Heald, Ludlow Town Manager.

In order to fulfill its promise as a vibrant and important educational and cultural resource for its community and visitors, the Black River Academy Museum has embarked on this campaign to raise $500,000 for an elevator tower with fire stairs and an ADA compliant restroom.  The elevator and ADA restroom will make the Museum handicapped accessible.  Those members of our community who have been hindered from attending programs on the second floor will have access with the new elevator.   It will also provide a second access from the third floor in case of fire and allow the Museum staff to once again make available to area school children their Award-Winning program "A Day in A One Room School" which is held in the one-room school on the third floor.

The Museum has already received an anonymous gift of $100,000 to begin its fundraising.  Also, the Board has committed $100,000 of its own trust fund and has $40,000 of previously raised funds to put toward the goal.   That leaves $260,000 to still be raised.

Anyone interested in helping with this project may send a check to BRAM marked Capital Campaign Fund. For more information contact the Black River Academy Museum at 228-5050.