Northeast Kingdom Native and Renown Poet – Leland Kinsey – passed away on Wednesday. The following is a link to an article about the life and works of Mr. Kinsey.
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2016/09/15/vermont-poet-leland-kinsey-dies/90430600/
Mark and Lisa (Genco) Shelton are two talented, and generous performers, both graduates of North Country Union High School in Newport. They have donated thousands of hours to benefit worthy causes.
Next week Mark and Lisa will appear on the Northeast Kingdom Voice television show to talk about a fundraising concert scheduled for October 1 at the Haskell Opera House in Derby Line. During the concert, Mark will appear as Elvis Presley. Accompanying Mark and Lisa will be a band full of some of New England’s best performers. There are two shows – at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
One of the most versatile singers to ever come out of the Northeast Kingdom, Mark Shelton began his music career performing Elvis on the stage as a high school student at North Country in the 1970s (note photo of Mark as Elvis in high school with Jeff Sequin on the drums). Since then, he has performed all over the United States and points around the world. Lisa, who is equally talented, is the daughter of the Rev. John and Ruth Genco. She literally grew-up absorbed in the world of music.
This fundraising concert hits even closer to home for the couple. All proceeds will go toward Lisa’s ongoing battle with stage 4 lung cancer. She has been fighting the disease for 27 months.
In preparation for this energized production, Mark lost more than 155 pounds through diet and exercise. And leading up to the concert, to provide a more authentic Elvis look, he shaved off the beard he has had since 1983.
Please come and support a couple who have given so much to so many people.
Tickets are on sale at the door, or you can reserve them by calling the opera house at (802) 873-3022, or they can be purchased online through the Catamount Arts Box Office. For more information, go towww.captainradical.com
The Northeast Kingdom Voice, which is hosted by Scott Wheeler, the publisher of Vermont Northland Journal, airs every week on NEK-TV in Orleans County on Channel 17 on Monday at 6 p.m. and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.. The show will also be posted on Vermont’s Northland Journal website at www.northlandjournal.com later in the week.
LITTLETON—New England’s great hurricane of September 1938 remains one of the most devastating natural events ever to occur in the region. Besides killing nearly 700 people, the unprecedented storm caused over $600 million in damage and forever altered New England’s landscape.
The featured speaker for the Wednesday, September 21 event will be Lourdes B. Aviles, Professor of Meteorology at Plymouth State University’s and author of the 2013 book, “Taken by Storm, 1938, A Social and Meteorological History of the Great New England Hurricane.” Her talk will coincide with the 78th anniversary of the memorable Sept. 21, 1938 event.
The Great New England Hurricane, as it became known, changed everything from the landscape and its inhabitants’ lives, to Red Cross and Weather Bureau protocols.
Meteorology, forecasting, and storm preparedness were already in transition, and after September 1938, they would be changed forever.
The September 21, 2016, event is the first of two hurricane-related programs scheduled in the Littleton Public Library Author Series. On Wednesday, October 5, the series will host Corinth, Vermont, author Stephen Long, whose newly published book, “Thirty-Eight: The Hurricane That Transformed New England,” focuses on the impact the hurricane had on New England’s inland forest.
The upcoming September 21 and October 5 presentations will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the library’s McLure Program Room.
The author series, hosted by Littleton Public Library and funded by Bondcliff Books, will run through October with programs scheduled on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. The event is free and open to the public. For more information about the 2016 Author Series, contact Littleton Public Library at 603-444-5741.
During the last year, I opened up my radio and TV show to people struggling with opiate addiction, and/or their families, to allow them tell their stories. They have also used their experiences to help other people battle their own addiction. I have no doubt, these guests, through their stories, have saved lives. I commend every one of them. Click HERE to watch the very first show on the topic. It aired a year ago this week, featuring Ashley Marie Shashore (second from left), along with her former probation officer, Shelia Kennison Martin (third from left), and Orleans County State’s Attorney, Jennifer Barrett-Hatch (far right) The battle against opiate addiction continues, and there is a growing number of people taking part in the fight. ———- Scott Wheeler/Publisher Newport’s Main Street is coming to life with color. A group of local artists, and other area residents, have been festooning the fence in front of where the “Spates Block” once stood with their unique brand of work. Seems like everybody has an opinion about the art work. Some people love it, saying it helps cover the blight of what has become known as “the pit”, the hole in the ground left behind by the demolition of the block. Other people see the 
artwork as little more than graffiti. Personally, I don’t have a strong opinion one way or another, however, in the last day or so I have been reading on FB that this particular scene on the fence is causing debate. How can anybody debate a typical Vermont country scene? Here is how. Note that white building on the right? That is a church. Apparently some people have approached city officials that they are offended – or something like that – by the sight of the church, citing the separation of church and state. From reading online, there is a growing number of liberals, conservatives, believers and atheists etc., who agree such complaints in this case are over-the-top. In MY opinion, this church is not about promoting a religion. It’s art, a rendition of a traditional Vermont landscape scene. I welcome people to respectfully share their opinions on this topic.————– Scott
Vermont’s Northland Journal – is a monthly magazine dedicated to sharing and preserving the history of the Northeast Kingdom through the words of the people who lived it. Our website is www.northlandjournal.com To learn how to subscribe to the Journal, click HERE