Fun at the Ripton Fire Department open house

This past Saturday saw the annual Ripton Fire Department open house.  All of Ripton was invited to visit.

Town volunteers displayed their rigs and station for all to admire.

Kids tried their hands at firefighting with delight:

And we were all well fed by the chief and his crew.

All in all a fun Saturday.  Many thanks to the Ripton volunteers!

Ripton Post Office to close - or become something new

Once again our town's postal services face closing.

In this blog post I'll share the best information available as of this morning, July 23rd.  I welcome comments and corrections, as always, and will also follow up with new posts as events unfold.

The Ripton post office is to be closed by August 18th, as its current contractor is leaving.  As of that date "there will not be" a post office in Ripton. (Technically, it's not a post office, but a "contract postal unit".)

When the United States Postal Service (USPS) learned of Lisa's impending exit, they reviewed options for next steps.  These included:

1. Maintaining the "contract postal unit" as is, by soliciting contract offers;
2. Setting up a Village Post Office (VPO).  These are popping up all over the nation, with 322 at last count.
3. Ending service in Ripton.

They deemed option 1 to be unsustainable, due to falling revenue for postal services.  #2 looked best, and the USPS is currently in talks with some (unspecified) Ripton residents to set that up.  A VPO would be similar, except that it would not provide retail services, such as selling stamps and supplies.  How a VPO handles packages is yet to be determined.

If a Village Post Office doesn't appear, we Riptonites will have to shift mail services down the mountain to East Middlebury's branch.

What do you think?

I base these notes on the following sources:

• A notice from the East Middlebury Postmaster, Carol Bogen, dated only "July 2013".  It appeared posted to the Ripton General Store's bulletin board, and also as a letter delivered to my PO Box.
• Phone conversation with Carol Bogen this morning.
• " " " Tom Rizzo, also this morning.  Mr. Rizzo works in corporate communications for the USPS.

Brainstorming the future of our town cemeteries

Coming up next week:

The Future of Our Ripton Cemeteries
7pm on Thursday, July 18, 2013
Meeting at the Community House

"It is time for us to take a look at our cemeteries and determine how we would like them to be maintained, expanded, and documented consistently. The current funding model is not sustainable and requires immediate
attention. We really need a variety of perspectives. All Ripton residents are welcome.

Please join a brainstorming exercise to determine next steps and how you would like to be involved. The goals of this first meeting are to determine action items, a timetable, and a meeting schedule. Perry Hanson will lead and moderate the conversation."

(text received in email)

Rains becoming dangerous in Vermont

This summer has been unusually rainy, which has been annoying.  But now the rains might become dangerous to people and to roads.

Governor Shumlin warns us to watch for flooding.

“The ground is so saturated after days and days of rain that any precipitation can cause serious flooding at this point...

Vermonters need to use common sense in avoiding high water areas, keeping an eye out for flooding, watching the level of Lake Champlain, which is approaching flood stage, and notifying local emergency officials if they spot problems."

Road crews are working on some of the same roads Irene hit.

School roof construction is under way

The Ripton school's roof work is under way!