In Greenfield on June 17, a man was found not guilty of a crime that the government kept him in prison for 28 years for. His name is Elvio J. "Ralphie" Marrero. He is 65 years old. On June 17, he thanked his lawyers, Steven Van Dyke and Michael Hussey. The Valley Post asked Hussey for a comment. He referred the Post to Van Dyke. In a voice phone interview on June 18, Van Dyke told the Valley Post, “I'm feeling very relieved and grateful. The (Greenfield) Recorder (daily newspaper) article emphasized the alibi evidence. That was part of it, but it was largely the DNA evidence.” The Recorder article was published on June 17.
Van Dyke told the Valley Post, “A witness had claimed (Marrero) arrived at the apartment with blood on his hands and jacket. The DNA evidence showed it wasn't the victim's blood.”
An article published by Harvard university in 2016 said, “If, as conservative estimates suggest, 1 percent of people in prison in the United States are innocent, that would mean that 22,000 people are behind bars for crimes they did not commit. Many experts think the percentage is realistically more like 2.5 to 5 percent—meaning that some 55,000 to 110,000 wrongfully convicted people are serving time.”
The article is at:
https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/a-matter-of-conviction/
Van Dyke thanked two groups: the Committee for Public Counsel Services Innocence Program, and the Boston College Law Innocence Program.
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In Brattleboro, Isaac Evans-Frantz runs a group that has a web site at https://ActionCorps.org and he's on the Brattleboro select board. On June 16, Evans-Frantz told the Valley Post, “The Vermont National Guard should be here to fight fires at home, not sent to fuel fires abroad. The Vermont Guard has played a key role in responding to floods, COVID, and other recent crises. We should protect our members of the Guard and ensure that they are only deployed for combat when Congress has first deliberated U.S. participation. In Vermont, Action Corps encourages all candidates to endorse the Vermont Defend the Guard Act to protect our Guard, uphold the Constitution, and save lives around the world.”
Two people are running in the August 11 Democratic primary to be governor of Vermont. Voting starts sooner. The two are Amanda Janoo and Aly Richards. Last month, Janoo said that, if she is elected governor, she will sign the Defend the Guard act if the legislature passes it.
On June 15, the Valley Post emailed Richards to ask if she would do the same. The Valley Post sent the same question in facebook and instagram messages. As of June 19, Richards had not replied. Her web site does not list a phone number.
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In 2014, the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor closed permanently
because thousands of people marched in Brattleboro, and because
hundreds of people were arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience in
Brattleboro and outside the reactor three miles from Massachusetts and
a stone's throw from New Hampshire. Deb Katz was one of the main
organizers of these protests. She lives in the Pioneer Valley and runs
a group that has a web site at:
On June 17, 2026 VTdigger published a news article saying corporations are hoping to build a new nuclear power plant at the site where Vermont Yankee once stood. Other options the corporations are considering include a mega-battery facility and a data center.
On June 18, 2026, Katz told the Valley Post that Vermont governor Phil “Scott selling Vermont the nuclear kool-aid is unacceptable. Governor Scott insists that nuclear power is 'clean.' He supports bringing Small Modular Nuclear Reactors to the Vermont Yankee site. In an attempt to meet the state’s carbon commitments, the state wants to substitute 'clean' for 'renewable' to justify nuclear’s inclusion. Nuclear energy is neither clean nor green. We must do better. We need solutions that are truly sustainable and protect our communities.”
Katz said, “While Scott is a nuclear cheerleader, the Governor ignores the problem of the high level waste sitting on the banks of the Connecticut river. He in fact wants to make it possible to store more deadly waste at the site. Waste with no solution. Supporting an industry that has yet to solve its waste problem is irresponsible. Given climate disruption and acts of malice, we would be better served by leaders that address our vulnerability to the waste sitting on the banks of the river. Vermonters must demand the state and federal government take action. Contact your legislators.”
In November 2025, Katz told the Valley Post a giant corporation is
scheming to build a mega-battery facility at the nuclear waste dump
that now sits where Vermont Yankee once stood. “There are real
concerns that need to be addressed before the state or for that matter
the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission approves such a plan. This is not a small facility. There have been fires at battery energy
storage facilities. Millions of curies of high level nuclear (HLN)
waste remain on the site with no removal date planned. Fire plus
radioactive waste is a dangerous combination.”
Katz said, “Then there is climate disruption and the potential for
maximum precipitation events that cause flooding, compromising the HLN waste canisters as well as the battery facility. I understand (the Vermont town of) Vernon's desire to replace revenue from Vermont Yankee to support the town, but this may not be the right way to do it.”
Nina Keller lives in the Pioneer Valley town of Wendell and is active
in a group called No Assault and Batteries. In November 2025 she told the Valley Post, “The re-purposing of a radioactive site must not
prioritize corporate economies and overshadow environmental impact. Politicians and low-paid or volunteer town boards, optimistically are directed towards what they are offered as innocuous solutions. Because they are limited with time to investigate every issue, they are guided by professionals who profess to have conducted impartial research.”
She said, “The Vermont Yankee site remains a storage site for high
level waste. It lies above the vulnerable Connecticut river. Despite
ownership responsibility, that site remains ruined. It is a storage
site for high level radioactive materials. Battery storage is in its
incipient stages of development. Until local governments and town fire departments are assured of methods of securely confronting battery threats: fire, seepage, decomposition, waste, where local
infrastructure may be undermined and fire fighters are subject to
toxicity, battery sites must be on a slow track for being welcomed
into our communities.”
Laurel Facey is also active with the Pioneer Valley-based group No
Assault and Batteries. In November 2025, she told the Valley Post,
“Sites with high-level nuclear waste are sites that present major
safety concerns. As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says on its website, battery energy storage systems (BESS) 'can catch fire and release harmful gases that pose health risks to nearby residents and first responders.' Who in their right mind would choose to be anywhere near that place?”
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