Cavendish Update: 2/27/15 Forum/Memoirs/News/Events

2/27/15 EDITION OF THE CAVENDISH UPDATE

1. Town Meeting Informational Forum

2. Cavendish Related News

3. Memoirs of Philip W. Tiemann: Prelude

4. Iphonology Workshop

5. Events

1. TOWN MEETING INFORMATIONAL FORUM: On Tuesday, Feb. 24, the Cavendish Community and Conservation Association (CCCA) hosted their annual Town Meeting Informational Forum. While Town Meeting, Monday, March 2 at 7 pm, will start with the school agenda, the Forum began with the Town’s report. LPC-TV filmed the meeting and will be aired on Comcast and on-line.

Speaking for the Town, Rich Svec, town manager, explained that while many of the articles are similar to past years, there is a new article to bring the cemeteries under the selectmen’s jurisdiction. This was recommended since several members of the Cemetery Commission had resigned in the past year and of the three vacancies for the Commission, only one person was running. The town budget is up by 1.7% but if the voters approves article 4, the town taking over the burial grounds, the actual increase will be less than 1%.

George Thomson, Principal, discussed the CTES budget, which will be voted on by Australian Ballot on March 3. There has been a significant increase in students since October-13 in total-which requires the addition of a new teacher-once again the school will have one teacher per grade. Overall the school budget is up by 9.2%, however, the increased revenues brings this number down to 1.8% and when it’s all said and done, the tax rate will actually be slightly less this year.

For a full report on the Forum, please go to The Dish

2. CAVENDISH RELATED NEWS

CCCA Winter Newsletter: The winter 2015  newsletter for the Cavendish Community and Conservation Association is now available on-line

 Vermonters Affected by Anthem Security Breach: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont said Tuesday that 23,000 of its customers may have had their personal information compromised by a data breach at another insurance company. The BCBSVT customers in question are those who were treated in the 14 states in which Anthem, Inc. operates. The two companies have “reciprocal agreements,” through which some medical services are covered. Press Release 

 Scam: Vermont State Police would like residents to be  aware of an identity theft scam that is occurring. There have been reports of people receiving letters from both the IRS and Vermont Department of Taxes. The letters advise to complete the tax return they need more information. If you receive any letters asking for information that should be on the Form 1040  contact the IRS, Vermont Department of Taxes and the State Police.

VT Broadband Service Falling Short: Vermont has the second worst broadband internet access in the country according to a recent report from federal regulators. In 2013 Governor Shumlin announced 99-percent of Vermonters were connected to broadband. But the Federal Communications Commission just redefined what "adequate broadband speed" is, and when that standard is applied, Vermont has only 20 percent of the population covered. The FCC released a report in January about broadband availability in America. According to the report, at the end of 2013 80 percent of Vermonters did not have access to internet speeds of 25 megabits per second. WCAX 

 FCC Endorses Net Neutrality: The Federal Communications Commission has endorsed net neutrality in a 3-2 decision, which would regulate the Internet as a public utility. The decision means Internet providers, such as Comcast and AT & T, would not be allowed to create Internet “fast lanes” for users who pay more. The companies would also not be allowed to “throttle” or slow down delivery speeds. NPR 

3. MEMOIRS OF PHILIP W. TIEMANN: PRELUDE : Recently Mary Anne Butler and Peter J von Bartheld provided the Cavendish Historical Society copies of their National Registry of Historic Places Nomination Form  as well as “Coming to Cavendish, Vermont, During the Great Depression” Memoirs of Philip W. Tiemann. In addition to congratulating Mary Anne and Peter for having their property- Windy Hill,1715 Brook Rd- listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, we thank them for providing a copy of Tiemann’s Memoirs.

Philip Tiemann was born in New Jersey in 1900. He moved to Brook Road in Cavendish, VT from Chatham, New Jersey with his wife Isabel (Carr), and three children Wyeth, Ann and Joyce in 1933. Naming the property “Windy Hill Farm,” Tiemann wrote of the family’s early years in Cavendish in 1966, after his wife had died (1958) and just a few years before his own death in 1969.

Having no previous experience, they taught themselves subsistence farming and became involved in the Cavendish community-Teimann was at various time library trustee, auditor and selectmen. The Tiemann family gave up ownership of Windy Hill in 2000, when the youngest member of the family, Joyce, sold the place to a couple who used it as a second home. The house was resold to Mary Ann and Peter in 2012.

As a joint effort between the Cavendish Historical Society and Cavendish Connects, Tiemann’s Memoirs will be serialize in the coming weeks in the CHS blog and will include Cavendish history relevant to the various chapters.

A special note of thanks to Rich Svec for helping to convert  files.

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” was key to the Tiemann’s and other Cavendish residents way of life during the Depression. In recognition of the importance of these skills and their relevance to today, Cavendish Connects now has a Pinterest Board Yankee Thrift  to help users to “live within their means.”

If you have photographs of Windy Hill Farm and the related area, please either mail copies to CHS, PO Box 472, Cavendish, VT 05142 or e-mail to margoc@tds.net so they can be included in this project.

In the Prelude, Tiemann describes their reasons for coming to Cavendish. CHS provides an historical overview of Cavendish in the 1930s.

4. IPHONOLOGY WORKSHOP : Use your IPhone, Ipad or Ipod touch as a paintbrush! Janelle wilfong will conduct a four week class at the Cavendish library teaching participants how to: Use camera and video capture, and art apps Crossing platforms and making postcards, movies, using a light box to make video stills, and masking mediums and watercolors. Classes will be Saturdays at 4:00-5:00, from March 7th thru March 28th. Cost of class is 20.00. For more info or to register, call Terry O'Brien at 226-7289, or at dthuskies@hotmail.com

5. EVENTS: Upcoming events this week includes: The Cavendish Historical Society’s Annual Meeting and Irish in Cavendish Workshop (Saturday); Town Meeting (Monday);  and Voting (Tuesday);  For more information about these and other upcoming events, go to the Cavendish Connects Calendar. For events in the area, see the Okemo Valley Calendar.

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