BELLOWS FALLS — Bellows Falls Police Sgt. Mario Checchi was cleared of alleged misconduct Monday, according to a brief announcement by the Vermont attorney general's office. The attorney general's office said it reviewed the investigation conducted by the Vermont State Police last year and found 'no credible evidence' that Checchi violated. Central Elementary School is seeking a certified elementary teacher to teach either a 3rd or 4th grade class for the 2020-2021 school year. The ability to work collaboratively with interventionists and specialists to provide engaging and differentiated learning opportunities for all students is essential, as is a commitment to understanding and supporting the social-emotional needs of children. The Vermont Journal and The Shopper are upbeat weekly publications with a neutral standpoint, dedicated to accurately reporting news, events, sports, and other activities in the Okemo Valley, Connecticut River Valley, and parts of the Upper Valley.
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Vt. town battles to save roadside mural from state ban
BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. - The idea seemed as innocent as apple pie with a scoop of fresh-churned ice cream: A mural painted on the side of an old red barn, in the vintage style of a 1950s postcard, urging passing travelers to head south to 'See Bellows Falls.'
Proudly commissioned last fall by a hopeful band of locals who are trying to revitalize this once-tired riverside village, the mural was meant to draw tourist traffic to their up-and-coming downtown, where a smattering of cafes and galleries have established a tentative toehold in once-vacant buildings.
Instead, the large, vibrant painting just off northbound Interstate 91 captured the attention - and the ire - of the state's Travel Information Council, a little-known but powerful commission in charge of keeping billboards from blocking the state's treasured scenic vistas. A Made in Vermont mini-drama ensued. Alerted to the mural's presence by a local newspaper story, the council swiftly ruled that it violates the famously onerous state laws that govern road signs. The state ordered its removal in February, stunning members of the Bellows Falls Downtown Development Alliance, who commissioned the painting for $3,000 and spent another $1,000 fixing up the barn. By last week, the dispute had made its way to the state Legislature in Montpelier, where the mural's defenders hope legislators will vote today to preserve it, by making a rare change to the state's 40-year-old billboard law.
'Bellows Falls is hurting, and here's this little group trying to get people to come here - just begging someone to turn right instead of left - and Big Brother is bouncing down on top of them and telling them they can't do it,' said Frank Hawkins, the local sign painter who created the 7-by-30-foot scene on a clapboard barn next to the Exit 6 ramp. 'The state is right, it is illegal, but just because the law is there it doesn't make the law right.'
Since the passage of the signage law in 1968, state officials have kept vigilant watch over those who would clutter the landscape. They have ordered trucks bearing signs removed from fields and driveways, swept up countless political signs from highway right-of-ways, and pried signs out of tree trunks. Above all, they have kept their highways free of billboards.
Vermont is one of just four states that ban billboards; the others are Maine, Hawaii, and Alaska. By all accounts, the stringent rules are popular with tourists and residents. In tourism surveys, visitors to the state list its lack of billboards among their favorite things about their travels there. Vermonters, meanwhile, do their part to alert authorities to violations.
'Vermonters take the billboard law very seriously, and are quite proud of it, and things that run afoul of it quickly get reported,' said John Zicconi, spokesman for Vermont's Agency of Transportation, which helps police the roads for signs.
The sign outside Bellows Falls (state officials decline to call it a mural) broke the law in several ways, he said. It is bigger than the 64 square feet allowed; it is visible from the interstate exit ramp; and it is located beyond the village borders, outside the place it advertises.
When state and local officials met last month to discuss the removal order, the Bellows Falls contingent hoped to strike a compromise, possibly by removing the word 'See' from 'See Bellows Falls' to tone down the sales pitch, or remove the directions to the village that are painted in one corner. But the council said no words at all would be permitted.
'I asked if it would be acceptable if we changed it to 'Avoid Bellows Falls,' and they said no,' joked Charlie Hunter, a local artist who leads the downtown alliance in this former mill town of 3,500 people.
The proposed change to the billboard law, drafted yesterday by legislators and expected to be approved today, would save the mural by creating an exemption for hand-painted signs on structures more than 25 years old, that promote Vermont's designated downtowns, and are within 3 miles of the town they advertise. About two dozen downtowns statewide, including Bellows Falls, have met the criteria for the designation, part of a state economic development program.
The Travel Information Council opposed the exemption, citing fears that it will open a 'Pandora's box' of roadside advertising. 'We still don't think this is good policy,' Zicconi said.
National anti-billboard activists agreed. Florida lawyer William Brinton, an expert in billboard law, was not familiar with the proposed change in Vermont, but said any exemption could open the door to a legal challenge by an outdoor advertising company - potentially threatening 40 years of vigilance. 'They need to be very, very careful,' he said. 'It sounds like they better be getting some great legal advice.'
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Job Details
- Job ID: 3430356
- Application Deadline: Posted until Filled
- Posted : January 19, 2021
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- School Street
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- Phone: 802-463-4346
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