Talk of the town

Lunch is on the line in what was initially conceived by Recreation Director Johnny Crossley as the “Battle of the Badges” — a blood drive during which donors could contribute a fresh pint of blood on behalf of one of the town’s emergency services.

It was a good idea — one designed to boost participation in the blood drive while rewarding police or volunteer firefighters or emergency medical technicians with pizza for lunch.

Why stop there? Crossley ultimately decided that all town departments should have a crack at free pizza.

They all will in a donor’s choice free-for-all that will be settled between 1 and 6 p.m. on Tuesday at the fire station on Mill Street.

Here’s where you come in. If you have a favored department and can spare a pint of blood, the American Red Cross will happily record your vote and bank your blood.

Just visit www.redcrossblood.org or call 800-733-2767 to make an appointment.

Do your bidding

BERLIN — The folks at First Congregational Church in Berlin had such luck with their first-ever online auction, they’ve revived it under a new name.

Out with the “Everything But the Kitchen Sink” and in with the “Spirit of Spring.”

Both online auctions — one held last year and the other where the bidding got underway Sunday and will continue through May 28 (also a Sunday) at 5 p.m. — are very similar.

Right down to the chance to win a batch of doughnuts (holes and all) baked by now-91-year-old Sally Chartrand, to a cruise on Lake Champlain.

Chartrand isn’t doing all the baking. Laura Cadmus, dubbed “The Pie Lady” by parishioners, is donating three for an auction where you can bid for everything from the chance to have an Italian dinner prepared in your home, to a home concert.

There is art, antiques, food of all sorts, books, gift cards … you get the idea.

We’d keep going, but frankly it’s easier to direct you to fccb.betterworld.org/auctions/spirit-spring-auction, so you can see the items for yourself and, well, do your bidding.

Curbside collection

BARRE — If you live in the Granite City and already have completed your spring yard work, never mind. If you haven’t, or if you could scrape some more leaves, grass, brush and the like together and don’t want to truck it up to the yard waste site in Barre Town, pay attention.

As city crews ready to make the rounds picking up items left at the curb starting next Wednesday, there are rules.

Here’s one of them: paper, not plastic.

When it comes to bagging leaves, grass and brush, use paper yard waste bags because the plastic variety won’t be picked up.

Here are two more rules: Don’t just stack twigs, sticks and branches at the side of the road and when it comes to woody debris size matters. Twine must be used to tie sticks and branches together, and if one of the latter is over 5 inches in diameter, it won’t be picked up.

The others are easy. City crews will be picking up “yard waste” — not household garbage. That means no cat litter. It also means no dirt, stumps, stones, lumber, concrete, bricks or asphalt.

If you follow those rules, what you leave at your curb before 7 a.m. next Wednesday will be picked up, though, it could take a day or two for crews to make the rounds.

Vote early?

BERLIN — When it comes to single-issue special elections, like the one almost no one knows about in Berlin next Tuesday, turnout always is going to be underwhelming.

Early returns suggest that will be the case, which could bode well — or not — for the Montpelier Senior Activity Center’s belated $21,600 request.

Typically, a Town Meeting Day decision for voters in Berlin, funding for the senior center in neighboring Montpelier wasn’t requested until after the deadline.

The select board, which recently agreed to warn Tuesday’s special election to correct the oversight, was told Monday night that 47 absentee ballots had been requested and 26 of them had been returned. By Wednesday afternoon, those numbers had swelled to 52 and 28.

While voting early is still an option, polls will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at the municipal office building on Shed Road. Though Town Clerk Rachel Giroux isn’t expecting an avalanche of same-day voters, it would be nice if more than 100 people participated in the decision.

Vote(s) of confidence

BARRE TOWN — Paul White won’t be passing the gavel to anyone after he was unanimously reelected as chair of the select board during Tuesday night’s reorganizational meeting.

White’s nomination drew a chorus of “seconds,” even as he sought to make clear he was willing to serve, but wouldn’t be offended if someone else wanted to take a turn serving as chair of the five-member board.

Enter, Selectman Bob Nelson, who suggested White take the votes of confidence he received moments later and run with them.

“You had a first, a second, a third and a fourth,” Nelson told White. “I think you got the answer to your question.”

Mr. Dressup II?

MONTPELIER — A week ago, we declared Morgan Brown “wedding ready” after learning the Capital City’s newest justice of the peace had purchased a brand-new-to-him-but-lightly-worn vintage suit in preparation for officiating his first wedding ceremony next month.

We were wrong.

Seems Brown went on a mini shopping spree after purchasing his spiffy Italian suit and tuxedo-style shirt from The Getup Vintage shop on Langdon Street last Wednesday.

We wrote about Brown’s vintage suit and on Friday learned he’d added to the look.

Brown tells us he found and ordered an affordable new (not vintage or used) Italian-made white boater hat, complete with a black sash and his name (first and last) embroidered on the inside. He also ordered a black silk bow tie.

Brown has never sported a bow tie before and has a “regular” one that works with the suit and will let the couple (and couples that follow) choose which look they prefer.

But for socks and possibly cuff links, we think Brown completed his head-to-toe look on Friday morning when he returned to Getup Vintage and snagged a reasonably priced, hardly worn pair of Florsheim dress shoes.

“They fit perfectly,” he says of the size 13s that complement his initial investment in the suit.

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