Town Meeting Day

Today is Dummerston Town Meeting Day. Before COVID we would have gone to the Dummerston School for the day, starting at 10 a.m. in the morning. The Town business would have been done in the morning, school business in the afternoon. We would have voted on budgets, and special articles which can be put on the agenda by petition. We would have gotten up and asked a question or argued that people should vote yes or no on a particular article. We would have seen our fellow town-folk, many of whom we see only once a year at Town Meeting. A very nice lunch would have been served by the school kitchen crew - something one looks forward to every year. No in-person meeting today. We voted for town officers and for the various articles by absentee ballot. Ellen and I got our ballots a few days ago, filled them out this morning and dropped them off at the Town Office this afternoon. Some of the offices were contested and we had to do some research to decide who to vote for. It was exciting to learn that two offices - one on the selectboard and one on the school board - we were able to vote for an African-American woman. That is a first, I think. On the same trip I returned a big pot to the Dummerston Church, took cake to Afghan regugees at SIT, and went to the pool. In about an hour, John and Cynthia will be here for a birthday supper for me.

Deborah Stanford is running for a seat on the school board in Dummerston. She brings 35 years of experience as a teacher in the Bronx in both public and private schools. Her granchhildren live in the area.